Chapter 2: Terra Incognita

I didn’t want to do this, not at first. My life back home was good and I would always prefer to help people, instead of fighting them, no matter who they are. I still don’t know exactly what drove me into joining the fight… maybe it was just anger at seeing my country invaded, or perhaps hearing about my friends enlisting. Was it the right choice? Can't say what I did made any significant difference, and none of it will compansate for the horrors I have seen.

The cold war... how did we even end up in this situation? Things are pretty bad, that much is obvious, hunger and migrations have already resulted in several riots and conflicts across the globe and the near future doesn’t look promising. However, to think this could escalate into open warfare... I don’t think anyone could predict that.

High level diplomatic talks were still going on when they first crossed the border. No one expected this, not even the high command. We were unprepared for the assault, thinking that it wouldn't come for at least a few years. We had underestimated how desperate our enemy was to get more resources, and paid a heavy price for being so careless. That doesn’t mean, of course, that we didn’t try to stop them, everyone did what they could to slow them down, fighting all the way from the Baltic sea to the Persian Gulf. Still, it wasn't nearly enough, one by one our cities fell, and within a year our forces had retreated all the way back to France. The continent was lost.

-x-

I looked through the scope of my weapon, staring at the outpost ahead. This is one is bigger than usual. There was a large number of people wandering around, all of them completely unaware of us. I could see the soldiers standing on their posts, easily distinguishable from the rest with their black armor. I allowed my lips to twist into a vague smile. They will never know what hit them.

“Come in Alpha, what’s your status, over?” A voice called from my radio. I knew who it was right away.

“This is Alpha, we’ve reached our location,” I answered, still watching the enemy base. “Ready to go on your mark, over.”

The person I was talking to was Captain Dante. He’s the leader of our company, currently tasked to infiltrate and destroy PAC Titans operating in the region. Not really an easy job, but good enough to buy us some time, while the rest of the army evacuates to Africa. “Alright Alpha, we’ll begin our assault in five minutes, over and out”. This is the third Titan we come across, and while we’re all tired from fighting, I can’t help but to feel some excitement coming up, mixed with adrenaline.

I could hear the cold wind whispering around us. Thankfully, me and most of the company were using full-faced helmets, which were heavier, but provided full isolation from the outside. My armor and equipment felt heavy, restricting my movements quite a bit, but that feeling also brought a small sense of relief, reminding me that I was fully protected from whatever might come.

I grabbed my radio with a free hand. “You heard him people, everyone get ready,” I said to the rest of my squad. “I want units one and three to attack the depot near the entrance; the rest will stay here and provide covering fire until we neutralize their forward defenses.”

I turned away from my scope and looked to my companions. Closer to me was my own unit, made up of one machine gunner and two riflemans. The machine gunner, corporal Elliot, was a nice guy, came from a British family, and would try to be friendly when outside of combat. There was also Private Dias and Medici, both of them quite new but fairly competent soldiers. Further away from me were the other units under my command.

I shifted a little in my spot, preparing for the upcoming battle. Once again, I looked through the scope of my weapon, aiming at a soldiers standing near a truck. “Okay, everyone take aim, we’ll attack on my mark…”

-x-

“We can’t trust them!” I said, trying to keep my voice down.

“What choice do we have?” The captain replied, crossing his arms. Around us, the rest of the company continued to discuss, whispering their opinions and objections as the two of us talked. “You saw what’s going on; we have no idea of what this could mean.”

I looked away for a second, thinking of a good answer. “Do you really think they’re just going to stand down and just forget about everything? We’re at war, for all we know they’ll shoot us the first chance they get!” I wanted to believe they were actually interested in a truce, especially after what happened, but I couldn’t risk it, not when the lives of my companions were at risk.

No one knows what happened. One moment we were fighting our way into the enemy Titan, the next, we’re still on the base, but in a whole different setting. After I recovered from this… “fall”, I was stunned to see a completely different geography, temperature and weather around us. It felt as if something had sent us to North Africa. All of us were shocked and confused, not really sure how to proceed.

However, as we pulled back and attempted to reorganize ourselves, we were confronted by something completely unexpected (after sudden teleportation, that is). At first, we thought they were PAC troops or friendly fire, the reality was… shattering, to say the least. We were attacked by something that wasn't human. They looked like weird horses or ponies, wearing scraps of armor and rudimentary firearms.

I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes. They had big heads, weird snouts and, sometimes, even horns. In addition, the color of their coats and manes went from light purple to deep red, the whole fucking rainbow.

How would any of this be possible? It makes zero sense, and yet the bodies were completely real. This was the kind of situation which leads any normal person to question their sanity.

What this could mean? I don't think even the PAC would do something like this. Plus, they are also calling for a truce, which they would never do unless they were just as confused as we are. The only thing I know for sure, is that all of this joined with our lack of signal for GPS and all types of long range comunications proves we’re a long way from home.

“Look Edward, I know you don’t like this,” Dante said. “None of us really do, but we won’t be able to figure this out if we have to watch our backs for the PAC too.”

I closed my eyes for a second. I couldn't ignore my anger at them. They were the enemy and even in a situation like this I still felt the need to fight them... but I could also see how stupid that idea was. There is something wrong here, something that goes beyond the war, and perhaps it would be for the best if we had the time to catch our breaths. “I suppose that’s true… still, we should keep our guard up.”

He nodded. “We will, lieutenant”.

That was the end of our small argument. Without further issues, we quickly stablished a truce and a few ground rules. It felt wrong to do this, just pretend nothing happened, even as bodies from both sides littered the ground. However, as Dante said, we don’t have much of a choice, and we don't have to like it. Soon, as we finally managed to take care of our dead and wounded, the dawn came and we were assigned to a new task… scouting.

-x-

The landscape isn’t very interesting. It looks like we’re in some sort of canyon, the soil lacks vegetation and is completely dry. Obviously, this place doesn’t see a lot of raining. I suppose we should try to find some landmarks to guide ourselves… since our GPS systems are offline. Where on Earth would we need to be to get away from satellite coverage? I mean, perhaps if we were somewhere in the pacific this might be the case, but this place clearly isn’t.

Maybe we’re in Central Asia? Or China? Both of these places have large deserts and are somewhat isolated… but that still doesn’t explain the freakish ponies. Goddammit… there’s a thousand questions going through my mind and not a single answer, hopefully we can find something around here, anything, that will help. Could this place be... beyond Earth? I really hope not, but I'm running out of explanations.

After we managed to look around the base and have a better understanding of our surroundings, I decided to push on. Eventually, after some walking, we spotted something. Our binoculars revealed some sort of old farm. The sight had brought a wave of hope to all of us, but as we got closer, we began to notice something was off. We sat down on a hill, not very far from the place, and gave a closer look with our scopes and binoculars. What we discovered was a new group of mutated equines. I also took notice on the state of the buildings, all of them looked very old and had a... strange design. They looked like something from the 1950s... with a different touch. In addition, it appeared they were not made for tall people, if the size of doors were anything to go by.

Well, I suppose what truly matters are the people inside, about six identified so far. If what we’re seeing is anything to go by, these creatures are probably from the same group that attacked us a few hours ago, during the night. Funny, I should probably be thankful, without them, it’s very likely the PAC and us would still be killing each other. I don’t really like the idea of having a truce with those fuckers, but I guess this is kind of a special occasion.

The place was similar to a refugee camp, like the ones back home. Ever since the crisis had begun, the growing refugee population gave birth to countless camps around the globe. The city were I spent most of my life, Tunis, was crawling with them. The fact that I was fighting against people in similar condition, makes me feel... guilty, in a way. I had spent over two years of my life dedicated to volunteer work for people in need. Now, here I am about to attack something scarily similar.

We had to do this. Until we have the situation under control we must consider any armed creature as a hostile. These people looked equal to the ones we killed previously, and they are standing too close to the PAC base.

I’m a lucky person, born in a wealthy family already well-established in Africa. During my childhood, I never had to live in one of those camps, or deal with the lack of resources, only seeing people in need while walking through the city at occasion. However, that didn’t stop me from helping the less fortunate, once I became older.

"You sure they're hostiles, son?" Asked Dante, through the radio "Wouldn't want to add civilians to our body count, over."

"It appears so, sir, they're armed and in the same state as the ones we took down, over" I replied.

"Alright, you have permission to neutralize them, be careful and don't take any chances, over."

"Acknowledged, sir, over and out."

It was time for action, this was not going to be simple (it hardly ever is), but we had a job to do. I didn't like it, but it was my duty. Now, there were four major points of interest, the three buildings, arranged around a central square, and a small hill to their right. We were stationed at a higher, but more distant position, facing the front of the farm.

Our group had seven people, four from my own team and three extras . The idea was to send Elliot, and another soldier, Private Dias, to the hill next to the farm, so they could provide covering fire. Meanwhile, the rest of us would split in two teams, the three extras on one, Medici and me on another.

When the time came, all of us would take down anyone wondering outside. The support team (Elliot and Dias) would suppress anyone still left within view, covering the rest of us as we advance towards the farm. Once there, each team would clear one of the side buildings, a shack for us, and a small barn for the others, and then both groups would clear the main house.

"Sir, you sure about this?" Dias asked.

"What do you mean, private?" I said.

"You know... attacking these people without provocation?"

"What we're doing is self-defense."

"Self-defense against people who saw an outpost pop out of nowhere with a bunch of armed aliens, can you blame them?" Elliot countered. "Then again, I guess the option of diplomacy went out of the window during the night…"

"Well, we can't do much about it now, can we? I don't like this either but they're still a threat. Anyway, you have any actual questions about the plan?" They all shook their heads in response. "Okay, let's go."

We split up, as one group went to the hill and the rest of us took cover by some rocks further ahead. I kept my rifle ready, watching the enemy through my scope.

Once the support team was in place, we all started to pick targets. Our Network Battlefield System (NetBat), which connected all our helmets to share information and communicate, allowed us to tag the enemy, and provided crucial information such as friendly tags and objective markers. I kept a tight grip on my SCAR-11 as I took aim at a pony, one of the horned variety (a unicorn?), with a bright yellow coat and white mane, using a spiked armor (all of them seemed to love that), seated against the wall of the shack with a spear on its hooves.

I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I did not enjoy killing one bit, but the tension of going into action… it was addictive. Yet a small part of me still felt bad for what we were doing, this is not how a first contact should go. I guessed everyone was having a similar reaction.

"Everyone in position?"

"Support team in position."

"Strike two in position"

"Copy that, get ready. Support team, on your mark."

A few moments later, Elliot and Dias opened fire, followed by the rest of us. The farm was quickly overtaken by a storm of bullets. I fired three shots, one of them missed, the other two hit the pony on the chest, there was no reaction, it simply fell down and stopped moving. In a few seconds, most hostiles were dead or taking cover, the automatic fire from Elliot keeping them at bay. We wasted no time in advancing, going fast and keeping our heads low.

It took us less than two minutes to reach the farm itself.

Reaching our objective, I switched to the under-barrel shotgun my assault rifle was equipped with, better suited to close distance. We carefully proceeded around the shack, avoiding the body of my recent target on the way and pressing ourselves against the old wooden walls, there was an entrance right next to us. I signaled Medici to hold up behind me, took a step closer, and turned into the small shelter.

What greeted me was terrifying, not the normal items like clothes, furniture and blankets, but a large number of… skulls, and other bones, organized along a few shelves, like a twisted home decoration. The bones obviously belonged to other equines, and I couldn't surpress the shudder that went down my spine as I saw all of that.

Why the hell would somebody do that? Now, as I said earlier, I get it they are not living in good conditions, but what I saw there was outright creepy. The kind of stuff you see in horror movies. Part of me is no longer that sorry about fighting them… Yet this also raise a lot of questions. Just who the fuck are we fighting against? Is this some sort of primitive tribal society? A local group of serial killers?

Snapping out of the shock, I told my companion it was all clear, and continued our advance to the backside of the main building. What few windows I saw were boarded up. There were no enemies as we reached the backside and took cover near a closed door.

"This is Strike one; we have reached the backside of the main building, what's your status, bravo?" I asked.

"Bravo here, we have secured the barn, but we got about three hostiles shooting at us from the front" The leader of Bravo said.

"Support team, do you have a visual?"

"Negative, only the floor above them" They replied.

"All right, bravo, keep their attention, we'll infiltrate the building and neutralize them."

"Acknowledge, sir, be careful in there."

This was something I wanted to avoid, these houses, apparently, were made for ponies, and as a result, we had a disadvantage once inside. We would have to duck under every doorway. The original idea was to use grenades once we were close, guess I will have to do it myself, from the inside. We had also considered the possibility of asking them to surrender, but because of the language barrier, and since none of them had drooped their weapons or done anything that could be taken as such, this was also out of question.

"Do you have anything in your heartbeat sensor?" I asked Medici. The device he was carrying did what the name implied, and worked as a small sensor we could use to detect enemies at close range, very usefull when clearing buildings such as this.

"I got five, sir, three close to the front, the other two are on the left side" He answered.

Keeping that information in mind, I slowly opened the door and sneaked inside (not easy when wearing full armor). I was in a small corridor; to my right was the way to a basement, to my left, the entrance to a kitchen. The interior was in a severe state of decay, the floor only had a few pieces of carpet on it, the walls had lost most of their color, and overall this place was no different to a warzone.

What stroke me as weird was the similarity this place had to something back home, I mean, the exterior being similar was one thing, the weather seemed similar, therefore the building would be, but the interior as well? In addition, the fact they had corridors and kitchens was confusing. Why would they divide their space the same way we did?

Anyway, I was not there to discuss interior design. I silently told Medici to go clear the basement, while I took care of the front, bringing one grenade to my hand as I said that. He got the message and proceeded to his task, going down to the basement and leaving my sight, while I peeked inside the next room, the kitchen. No targets inside, I guessed the other two must be on the second floor.

I brought a hand to my radio. "Support team, this is alpha; I believe we got two hostiles on the second floor to the left side, do you have a visual?" I whispered into the radio.

"Negative, all the windows there are blocked" I'm beginning to reconsider if that hill was so important…

Not wasting more time, I took a single step inside the kitchen, and took cover near the entrance to the living room, where the three main targets were. They were firing outside, completly oblivious to me. I didn't dare to take a peek, too afraid of revealing myself. I silently took the pin off, waited for a second, and sent the grenade inside the room, hearing a distinct metalic sound as it hit the floor. At that moment, one of the ponies stopped firing, and shouted something, just as the explosive went off, shrieks off pain accompanying the resulting bang.

There was no time to wait for the dust to settle. I quickly jumped inside the living room, weapon pointed and ready. The smoke cleared revealing the remains of the enemy, their bodies and armor torn by the shrapnel, two of them with those… mouth guns… and one wearing one of those… saddle… things… with rifles mounted…

"All right, enemy neutralized. Bravo, come inside and secure the rest of the first floor, I'm going to the second" I informed everyone.

Slowly I ascended to the next floor, once there I found myself again in a small corridor, to my right there were two doors, and in the end, a third one. I peeked inside the first, seeing nothing of interest, just some old furniture and empty glass bottles, before I pulled my head back, however, I heard the sound of the next door opening.

I had little time to react as something heavy made contact with my chest, throwing me back against the wall and leaving me out of air. My aggressor turned out to be a floating club, with several nails attached to it and a black glow around it. I quickly took notice of a pony behind it, white coat and spiked black mane, no armor on, his horn… also glowing? Was he using some sort of telekinesis? Does that mean I have to call him… a unicorn?

Before I could further think about terminology, I saw the club swinging back up, while the pony shouted something (curses, I guessed). I blocked his next blow (this time aiming for my head), with my assault rifle while pushing forward, getting closer to him; before he could react, I delivered a powerful kick to his chest.

As he went down (and the club stopped floating), I took aim and pulled the trigger, a single shotgun shell ending his life just as he hit the ground.

After taking a breath, I moved on, getting closer to the final door. My heart was pounding as I slowly pushed the door open, being extra careful this time. Despite my early experiences, nothing could have prepared me for what I found inside that room.

Another pony, not like the others, this one chained to the ground, blood covering its blue coat, blood from the stumps where the mane and tail should have been. I could see its ribs showing up on the chest, two big scars where the flank tattoos (which apparently every pony had) should be. The entire body had cuts and wounds, the extension of these injures made it almost impossible to know the real color of the coat. In addition, there was blood coming from between its legs... sexual assault.

Skulls from dead people is one thing, but this level of cruelty was simply sick. Why would anyone do this? More and more I was starting to see these people as hostiles, so far I haven't found a single thing that could indicate otherwise.

I forced myself to take a closer look, it was female, and it had been raped… Just as I was about to inform the rest I notice something, its chest… no… not it, a she… her chest was rising. She was alive, just barely. Almost by instinct, I took off my backpack and searched for a first-aid kit.

I didn't know what to make of all this, or if helping this pony was actually a good idea.

Again, I was thinking of why they would do something like this. Maybe this was some kind of interrogation? No, definitely not that simple, the extent of the damage and cruelty were too big. Whoever did this took plasure from the act. Maybe just a sick lifestyle. Did we got teleported to a world inhabited by psychopaths?

"Guys! I got... a civilian in here?" I didn't know for sure.

"Civilian? You sure about that?" Said Elliot.

"Yea, I'm fucking sure! I need help here, now!"

Just as I finished saying that, I got what I was looking for, and realized just how foolish I was being. The dammed thing was made for smaller wounds, like gunshots, not… not that. We would need a real doctor with whole fucking ambulance to actually do something. There was nothing any of us could do, those injuries were too big, and in that state of malnutrition…

Slowly her breathing slowed down. Part of me considered ending her misery, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so, instead I just stood there. Most of these wounds looked recent, if we had arrived here earlier, things could have been different.

Right before Medici arrived the… mare, spat some blood and died. Not much I could tell him, he was as stunned as I was. Killing someone in a normal fight is one thing, it's horrible, yes, but it is a “kill or be killed” situation. Watching someone die, in front of you, without being able to do anything to help...

After that, the rest of the mission went as usual. We made reports and took pictures with our tablets (every soldier was issued with one), took any items of interest, such as weapons, ammunition (same caliber as ours for some reason) and a few books and magazines (again, very similar to ours). With that concluded, we made our way back to the PAC outpost.

Nobody spoke anything on the way back. As I looked upon the brown and gray landscape (quite boring, frankly) I couldn't help but to wonder what we were doing. This was, by all means, a first contact situation, and how are we representing our kind? By killing over 40 of the inhabitants in the last few hours. I bet Hernan Cortez and his band would be proud.

Once we arrived, we sent our reports to the captain’s net and went rest, for a while. Normally I would take a shower, but the lack of water supplies prevented that, instead, I just took off my helmet and washed my face. I stared at my reflection once I ended, same darkened skin (after years living in north Africa), the familiar small scar on my left cheek from before the war, and my short black hair, cut military style, simple and efficient, just as I liked it.

"Edward, the captain wants to see you" Elliot called from outside.

"All right, thanks."

What the fuck now?

I quickly made my way to our commander’s tag, greeting my friends on the way, and avoiding the PAC people. We may be at truce, but I still get a little tense around them. Soon I was entering another small building, inside were Dante and a PAC officer, who was wearing a green beret… their commander if I am not mistaken.

"You asked to see me, sir?" I said while saluting.

"Yes, lieutenant, we need to discuss the recon reports and figure our next steps" Dante begun.

I nodded. "All right, what do you want to know?"

"I'm already aware of your recent reports, but I would like you to give a more… personal opinion on the matter, what do you believe we are dealing with?"

"Well, I think it's clear we are dealing with an intelligent species, but we haven't found any sort of large settlement like a small village or a town" I explained. "It's still early to say for sure, but all groups we have seen so far are not that large. If there was some sort of nation-state nearby, one with access to firearms, we would be aware of it."

"Good, what about you Captain Nevesky?" He asked the PAC officer.

"My men had similar findings, I have already told the sergeant in charge of scouting to come here," The men said in a Russian accent. "Meanwhile, the titan’s sensor have detected a… unusual amount of radioactive particles in the air."

"It could be natural of the planet’s atmosphere" I said.

"True, but I believe there is something else into it. There might be something else happening, all buildings and objects we found are in a state of decay, and we have the radiation and the lack of vegetation. Join that with the apparen–" Before he could end that, another PAC person entered the room.

He looked young, around his mid-twenties, like me. He tensed up as he spotted us, and then saluted to the officer.

"Ah, Sergeant Terenti, I was just discussing your recent reports" Nevesky said. "Would you kindly share some of your conclusions?"

"A-All right, sir, I think we have a good reason to believe this place was struck by sort of disaster. Everything around here seems to point that."

"Good, have you seen the most recent reports?"

"I was just reading the last one that arrived" In other words, mine.

With all that settled, we proceeded to discuss our main priorities. Right now we had the PAC titan essential crew, plus about a company of men, the majority of them from the EU. We also had a few vehicles, both land and air, but all of them were in need of repairs. With the lack of specialists and proper equipment it would take days, if not weeks, before any of them were in operational capability.

Now, here is where the problems begun, first there was the issue of water, we had enough MREs to last for about a month, even more if we rationed, but water for only about a week. There was also the issue with the wounded, the medical facilities of the “Surena” were only made to stabilize wounded, not fully treat them, as a result we were low on supplies. Lastly, ammunition, while our weapons relied on basic ballistics, meaning we could scavenge ammo from those ponies, the PAC used plasma-based case-less ammo, which we haven't found any, so they would need to conserve as much ammo as they could.

After a few minutes of discussion, we decided our course of action. We would keep this cayon secured and maintain a defensive stance to avoid attracting attention, at least until we had the vehicles and the titan back online. Our primary task was to find a water source, followed by other basic needs such as medical supplies, food and ammunition. Once these were achieved we would go to our bigger goal, find out why we were here and, if possible, establish contact with a more… civilized group of these ponies.

How exactly we were going to do the last one was beyond me. Every single one we approached had been hostile, and there was the language barrier. We could probably use the reading material we had found and the titan’s computers to organize their version of the alphabet, but as long as we didn't got into actual contact, it wouldn't help much.

Before we could put an end to this meeting, however, I was in for a surprise.

"Before you leave, we have an assignment for you two" Dante said.

"What do you mean by “you two”?" The PAC sergeant questioned.

"Despite our defensive stance, we still need to scout the area outside this sector, at least until we can find a proper map," Added Nevesky. "But since we don't want to draw any attention, we decided to send you two on this task."

What? I had to work with that fucker? Don’t get me wrong; I don't hold blind hate against every PAC, despite the war, but still, I'm not about to work side-by-side as if nothing had happened… I suppose I can try to remain professional, I'm a soldier after all; I don't have to liked it. Well, by the looks of it, the other dude was not enjoying this either.

"Are you sure about that, sir?" Said the sergeant.

"Like I said, we need to know what's out there, but we cannot risk drawing attention, that's why we are sending you two. There are very few people available and we can't just send anybody out there. I know this isn't easy, but I expect both of you to let your personal feeling aside."

"In addition, you are to avoid contact at all costs, remember, you're there for scouting, and only that. Both of you will receive active camouflage devices to help with that" Dante finished.

Great, now I just had to do an entire mission with a person that, a few hours ago, would shoot me on sight, piece of cake.

We were both given the rest of the morning to rest, eat and get ready. I wasted no time in doing so.

Around midday (another weird thing, it seems that the day was progressing just like earth), I took my weapon and gear and went meet the PAC dude. He was at the main entrance, this time in full armor. Time for the fun to begin…

Footnote:

SPECIAL: Edward Cooper

Strength: 7 [+]

Perception: 6 [+]

Endurance: 6 [+]

Charisma: 5

Intelligence: 5

Agility: 7

Luck: 4

Perk added: EU Grenadier – 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 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: Again, thank you to all from the “Fallout: Equestria” universe and sorry for any mistakes. Just so you people know, this story will have a dual perspective; Alex will see some chapters, Edward will see others.

E.U characters (so far):
- Captain Dante
- Lieutenant Edward Cooper (Protagonist)
- Corporal Elliot
- Private Dias
- Corporal Enrico Medici