Standby for Titanfall

Chapters

Demeter Falls
Survival
Haunting
Welcome to Ear-...Equestria
Getting to know the Bat Man I mean Bat Mare
I remember Me
Bump in the night
What just happened? (Warning: Mature Content)
Know Thy Enemy

Demeter Falls

Author's Note

May Contain Some Spoilers for the 8th Mission of Titanfall on the IMC Side if you don't have the game and/or haven't gotten to the campaign mode yet. Read a majority of the prologue at your own risk.

Demeter Falls

The Eve of the Battle of Demeter

"Attention all Pilots, this is your commanding officer Vice Admiral Graves, please standby from your employer Mr. Hammond."

Groaning while in my bunk I heard my boss talk over the intercom system, and when his voice starts talking it means that it is time for me to roll out and stamp out another group of Militia for yet another fat paycheck that I can't even use.

"Are you receiving me Graves?"

Grabbing my combat fatigues I slipped right on in after grumbling in my helmet about it being too damn earlier for another mission since I was one of the first of many pilots to be on the ground at the airbase that held many of the ships that would have offered more defense to Demeter and me an extra few hours of sleep but nope, they got mostly crushed by the Leviathans and Dragons that broke through the Dog Whistle Towers after they came crashing down from the bloody Militia incursion.

"Yes sir, proceed."

Shuffling to the door I punched the 'open' button and stormed out, my mind slightly reeling from the effects of the mind scrub Spyglass put me through, said that by becoming a 'Fourth Generation Pilot' I would be more fearsome and lethal on the battlefield but I just think that he wants a blank slate to use at his beck and call like a good little drone like those Spectre's he has running around.

Reaching the loading bay armory I went up to the weapon rack and grabbed the Spitfire Light Machine Gun that I had modified to include a modified holographic sights and an improved bullet slammer to make sure that one your on top of an enemy Titan that they will fall down harder then Barker did on free-booze night back in Angel City. Shuffling the overly large weapon of war to my back I grabbed as much ammunition and ammo clips as I can before moving over to the pistol rack and grabbing my favored sidearm since I joined the IMC, the B3 Wingman and I do love my an old classic six-shooter that is heavy enough to be used as a club whenever it runs out of ammo in its cylinder. Grabbing twelve spare speed loaders and its corresponding aiming laser I stormed straight to the staging point where I was to meet Sergeant Blisk and the two other pilots that were going to drop with me planetside on Demeter.

"All loyal members of the IMC, I have been informed of the recent lose of our air support responsible for the security over Demeter. Rest assured I am presently fueling reinforcements to be dispatched from the core systems for the long jump to the Frontier. You will hold the port of Demeter this day. You will crush the terrorists last ditch attempt at disrupting our civilization and you will find yourselves relieved and reward, tomorrow. Vice Admiral Graves, our world is in your hands."

Hefting my Spitfire in my hands I can feel the stamped metal and molded plastic shift in my hands a bit, the odd feeling of having my mind scrubbed was starting to wear off but the feeling of it happening and fully knowing that I had made the decision to remove my memories not once but three times. That lone errant thought of me reluctantly and if not eagerly allowing my past experiences to be removed at the flip of a switch is probably going to be haunting me for the rest of my life.

"Yes sir, all pilots, prepare for battle."

As soon as the transmission ended between the two I grabbed my helmet off the rack and slipped it on, twisting it tightly as to prevent any air from leaking out and anything from slipping in, my HUD activating in the process as my visor blinked on with its traditional bright sky blue color as the antenna on the side of my helmet fully extends outward acting as a radio beacon and also as my only means of calling down my titan when it gets built, it needs to be re-built after it got stepped on by a Leviathan mere moments after I ejected out of it.

Damn thing is flat as a pancake when I last saw it.

Planet: Demeter

"Graves to all personnel, Demeter is the gateway to the Frontier, by attacking our largest refueling depot the Militia think they can shut the door on us. You will correct that perspective, Graves out."

As soon as Vice Admiral Graves started to talk I stepped onto the elevator platform alongside with Blisk and two other pilots, one of them was a female wearing a slick uniform meant to help blend in with her surroundings and was holding the Mk 5 Smart Pistol, I never liked that weapon much since it required time to lock on and kill when you can just point, squeeze and shoot, none of that fancy science and mathematical equations before squeezing down on the trigger to blow somebodies head clean off. The man to my right was wearing a modified grunt's uniform and in his hands was a EVA-8 Shotgun, the ammo drum on it was larger then normal so it was a clear indication that he went with the larger ammo capacity upgrade, good cause that thing makes a bloody mess of things when those shells make contact with the human body. Strapped to him was a few satchel charges, a RE-45 Autopistol with extra ammo mags and a love Sidewinder on his back for those pesky Militia Titans that will be falling down from orbit to assist the enemy in taking out Demeter.

Looking out the windows I saw that the battle for Demeter was clearly underway, I saw both Frontier Militia and IMC ships firing at each other, a few were even at point-blank range, the turrets on deck were firing as a group at a passing by Militia ship and in the distance a Militia ship explodes after taking damage to her superstructure. The elevator lift we were on started its decent to the drop pod area of the ship, the mere thought of climbing into those falling metal coffins still fills me with absolute dread since the only thing between myself and the cold vacuum of space along with the atmospheric shift upon re-entry is a glass window and two inch thick steel latch.

"Pilots, defend the hardpoints at all costs, if the Militia overload the reactor core its all over. Strap in."

Staring at Graves I saw that he was staring out into the battlefield beyond the blast windows, the pods behind him opened up to reveal the empty space within and with that the four of us charged in, climbed into our seats and pulled down the safety bar over our head and tightly on our chest, a bit tighter to Pilot Miko, that girl's chest is big enough to cause her enough discomfort when the bar was pulled down onto those chesticles of hers.

"Alpha One is a go. Anvil Two standing by. Bravo Three is good to go. Anvil Four is a go, I hate this part. Cut the chatter initiating drop sequence."

"I swear to god if I die down there please don't let my body get stepped on, I like my body to be intact and not crushed when they ship me home in a pine-wood box." the other pilot, Andy, said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice, I never did like the British bastard much, always full of himself and taking other peoples credit when it was never his own. I had a bullet with his name on it, and a knife, and a Charge blast just for him.

"Oh shut it Andy, your bad enough to deal with in the barracks or in the field so just this once, in this pod, will you just shut the fuck up?" Miko quipped, underneath that hood was a girl that was after my heart and my hand cannon, in more ways than one. This girl was always trying to get into my pants since she believes in the whole 'destined lovers' bullshit and I am not into crazy, that is one rule in my life that I follow and I follow it to the letter, 'Don't stick your dick in crazy', that is something you never do and if you do then you might as well hold on tight and brace yourself cause you will be in for one wild ride.

And speaking of wild rides, the hatch to this pod just closed and we were quickly moved out of the way till all we saw was a metal wall and ourselves.

"I think I am about to shit myself." Andy said as I was about to tell him to hold it in, the smell of shit in a small pod would be excuse enough for me to blow his brains all over the inside of this cramped metal deathtrap.

"Separation, Confirmed."

"Andy, if you do shit yourself then your life expectancy rate would be at its end and I would have to explain to your parents why I murdered you in front of the Sergeant and a fellow pilot. Now please, shut your trap before I shut it for you." I said with a deep growl, being born from a long line of soldiers and pirates has given me the innate ability to not give any fucks about what people say about me, after all being called ruthless and cold is just one of my many perks and charms.

"Standby, Approaching Shock Layer."

Our metal cage rattled as we entered Demeter's atmosphere, the sudden shift from black space to searing hot white was near-instantaneous but it quickly passed as it went to a bright orange, the sky light showing through as I saw for a mere moment another drop pod close to ours.

"Impact in Three. Two. One. Mark."

Shutting my eyes I tightened my grip on the rubber handles keeping me in place and as soon as we made contact with the ground I pushed the bars over my head, grabbed my Spitfire and stormed out of the drop pod before anything could drop on top of us or the very pod exploding for no other reason other then it hating us with a fiery hatred with the intensity of a thousand suns.

"Get your asses out of here and get inside! Do not let the Militia get a bead on you unless you like seeing your own blood paint the ground!" I shouted over the sounds of drop pods pounding into the ground, the grunts yelling at each other to move out and to stay together and of course the repeating blasts of the base's defense turrets opening fire on the oncoming Militia.

Running past all the other pilots and grunts I hauled ass to the nearest structure that was open and ran inside before ducking behind a large piece of machinery, the device was humming quite loudly and I was lucky enough to get inside because once I went past the threshold of the door I heard a noise that immediately disheartened me to the point where this battle might actually be lost. That sound was the loud tearing of the thick metal barrier on the far side of the compound told me that the defensive wall has been breached.

Breathing deeply I looked up to the second floor of the building I am in and my eyes catch the sight of the hardpoint terminal and with a sigh of relief I ran at the wall and jumped at it, my right hand holding the entire weight of my Spitfire as my left hand grazed the wall long enough for me to effectively run along the grain of the metal before I leapt off the wall, activated my jump-jet and shifted my legs over the rails and landed with grace next to the terminal.

"Pilots, I am taking over operations for Sergeant Blisk. This is a Hardpoint Battle, hold the hardpoints so we can shut off the reactor core before the Militia can trigger a meltdown. If they succeed the resulting chain reaction will destroy Demeter and result in the IMC being unable to reach the Frontier for years." the voice of Spyglass said as he entered everyone's communications link, his voice was nice to hear even when we got screams of dying grunts and pilots throughout the battlefield.

Standing by the terminal I checked the progress I was making as I heard footsteps behind me and with years of combat training and being a Fourth Gen. Pilot I immediately spun around and dropped to my knees as I raised my Spitfire into a firing position, and just before I could get a round off I saw it was Miko and Andy coming from the rear, the barrel of my Spitfire was poking Miko's thigh.

"Jesus Christ Gordon! Keep your instincts in check before you blew your friends legs off! Mainly Miko's leg since that bloody barrel is practically stabbing it." Andy yelled as I stood back up and positioned myself facing an undamaged window and past it was a large chunk of metal, an easy path for wall running.

"My name is Ramsey not Gordon, get it right Andy, you will do your best next time to remember that. And you two shouldn't be trying to sneak up behind me, I am beyond the two of you in field experience and I will not be hindered by the both of you getting shot by me or yourselves. Do you understand me pilots?"

"Ramsey my ass you cocksucker, I bet you fucking made up that name you piece of sh-" his words didn't get far as I shifted my right hand off the grip of my LMG, grabbed my Wingman and shot him in the left leg above the kneecap before calmly putting my revolver back in its holster and my hand back on the LMG pistol grip.

"You fucking shot me!"

"Talk back to me again and the next round is in your head. Now stay here and secure the perimeter, I will not have the Militia reduce this planet to a smoldering pile of glass, I want to be off-world and a glass of whisky in my hand when this is over with." I said with a low tone, being born from a long line of Irish blood and a bit of pissed off French.

Ignoring his stare to the back of my head I waited a few more seconds before the confirmation from Spyglass told me that the hardpoint was secure and that I should move on to the other two and stop the Militia from sending the reactor into a nuclear meltdown.

Like a linchpin being pulled I sprinted to the window and jumped through it and ran across the metal plate hanging in the air by a crane I moved swiftly across the plate metal before leaping off its smooth surface, my heavy leather and metal boots clanging loudly across the grates, my body automatically correcting itself as I rolled back into a standing posture with my Spitfire aimed at the face of a Militia Grunt, the look of surprise on his face lasted only a second before the LMG in my hands opened fire, tearing his head, and the bodies of the three other grunts behind him apart in a matter of seconds.

"Pilot, you are approaching a hardpoint terminal, capture it so I can reduce the pressure on the reactor."

Upon entering the small square room of the central reactor I saw that it was devoid of life with the exception of crates and the eviscerated corpses of the enemy, the blood pools gave this room some life since the dull grey and silver of the room finally had some color added to it with the splotches of red.

Storming the next room I saw what my objective was and past that was Miko, she was hanging above the large entrance leading to the massive breach in the wall and her Mk. 5 was in her left hand, her right was busy holding onto a knife that was embedded into the wall, her plan it seems is to way for an unsuspecting enemy titan to come under the doorway, she drops down and takes care of it rodeo style.

'Smart lass.'

It was when I was about to drop down to enter the central section of the reactor when I saw Andy limp his way to it and right before I can shout at him to get back he threw a large brown satchel into the hollowed section before pulling out a detonation device, squeezed the trigger and a large explosion erupted from within, sending three pilot bodies out of it, all three missing limbs and their weapons are warped from the superheated air and pressure from the room explosion.

"Damn it Andy I told you to stay put! If you hadn't thrown a satchel charge in there you would have walked in blind and get shot all to hell!" I yelled over the now raging firefight, Andy was in the middle of it as he took another round but to his other leg, effectively crippling him and sending him to the floor, his EVA-8 still in his hands as he dragged himself to the central area, using the hardened fuel containers as a shield before sitting inside. Leaning against one of the containers Andy sat there breathing heavily, he was bleeding out and will die soon enough but I didn't care, he was a threat to me and he was an IMC Pilot that was losing heart and faith for our cause.

Resting my Spitfire on the rails on the second floor I put my head near the stock and looked down the sights, waiting for Militia to run out in the open for me to mow down, it would be like shooting fish in the barrel with the exception that these fish can shoot back and they always scream in pain when you pierce through them with a heavy round.

"Militia is fifty percent of the way to overloading the reactor core. Pilots, your vaporization is inevitable should you fail to maintain of the hardpoints."

Hearing that the enemy was close to achieving their goal I had to pick up the pace with the slaughtering of all Militia forces within the vicinity and that was a tall order to fill on my own.

Rushing over to a nearby large metal crate I leaned against the cold unyielding surface before turning the corner and dropping to my knee before opening fire on a small group of Militia grunts and spectres, the heavy rounds tearing through the weak body armor adorned by the Militia soldiers, a few of them having their limbs torn off as blood and synthetic fuel spills all over the ground, the screams of the dying quickly followed before I put a single bullet into their heads from a lone trigger pull from my B3-Wingman.

Rat-at-tat-tat-tat-tat-at-tat came from behind me as I saw a friendly IMC Pilot, his name was Jonathon Quake and this guy had some big balls to be sprinting to cover while loosely firing his R-97 Compact Submachine Gun and with the luck this guy had, his bullets found their mark as a wallrunning pilot took nine out of fifty rounds as I watched the body tumble into the air before rolling into the red dirt and staining it a dark crimson with his blood.

It was as soon as he made it to the next batch of heavy crates did I get the signal from Spyglass.

"Titan Online, signal when ready."

With a green light from Spyglass I looked around for a good place to drop my Atlas down onto the battlefield and with a grin I saw a Militia Ogre laying down suppressing fire for a group of grunts and a pilot and with a locater given I looked up to see my titan fall from the sky before disappearing and immediately warping above the Ogre, and crushing it underneath its body from the speed of the impact and the sheer weight that came with the drop from orbit.

Running over to my baby I leapt up into the air before activating my jumpjet only to be snatched out from the breeze and gently placed into the chassis and as soon as the hatch closed I made my Atlas stand up, heft the chaingun into its proper firing position and stormed straight to Hardpoint A to help relieve it from the wave of Spectre's and Pilots heading right towards it.

Sprinting in the titan quickly helped me cover some lost ground as I watched from the safety of my armored coffin as small arms fire bounced off the bodyshields protecting me from actual harm and soon enough I saw a pilot running towards A, and he almost made it inside if it wasn't for my heavy ass foot coming down and crushing his body into paste.

"You get to wash that off." I heard Blisk say, how he knew about that I would never know but he is right, if me and my titan survive this mess I would be the one to hose off the blood and guts from the toes of this giant machine.

"Vice Admiral Graves, MacAllan has destabilized the core, shutting down the reactor now will cause a reverse-pulse detonation will result in the destruction of Demeter, the situation is untenable."

Hunkering down behind my Atlas who was standing by in Guard Mode I hide behind one of its legs to use as a mobile shield, bullets coming in from the front and side made my Atlas rotate on its central axis, the torso section shifting with the XOTBR-16 Chaingun in its hands as I heard the reports of gunfire echo from its barrel, the 20mm rounds sailing across open air as the lethal barrage of lead seeks out their targets.

Behind me was Miko, her Ogre was holding the Arc Cannon was putting it to good use while piloting it. She is pretty good at using that weapon as it can easily fry and destroy oncoming rockets if she can hit the lead one but the thing I dislike about that weapon is that it lacks the weight behind each arc to actually put a dent in a rival titan's armor, all does in my eyes is just zaps em and gives them a reason to put you down for messing up their vision.

Firing my Spitfire over the foot of my Atlas I breathed deeply before popping out of cover long enough to sprint to Hardpoint C, the building had a few racks of Spectre's hanging in there and was close enough to my titan to know that I am safe as long as it is standing watch and not being blown to hell.

As soon as I entered the structure a hail of bullets slammed into the wall overhead and around me forcing me to duck behind a crate and a passing robot, said machine took the machine gun sandwich like a champ but sadly fell apart into a pile of scrap metal. Slowly poking my head over the crate I saw a Militia pilot giving orders to a group of grunts and a two Spectre's, one of them looked like shit, the chest region was riddled with bullets and was just barely holding it together while the other was missing the right arm and was one arming it with a C.A.R. SMG, how one of them managed to pick that thing up from a fallen pilot only makes me worry about how many of us IMC Pilots are left alive.

What I didn't see coming was the orange ball being thrown at me by one of the grunts, a fragmentation grenade and I was fucked six ways to sunday with no other options at hand, I had the innate choice of being shot up by seven soldiers, being blown all to hell by the grenade or both.

Closing my eyes shut I brace myself for the inevitable end by grenade, the orange ball skipping across the crate, bouncing over my head and landing right in front of me by the wall, the orange orb glowed brightly for a second before detonating, sending shrapnel and searing hot metal fragments in every direction but most of all many of them went in my direction as I felt the hot metal colliding with my armor, the fragments easily bouncing off the metal plates on the exterior but a few managed to find their way around it, hitting the soft fabric that allowed complete mobility but sadly, moving was out of the question as I feel a particular piece of metal pierce through the bulk weave and jam itself into my left hand, smack dab in the middle of it.

"Oh that is going to leave a mark when this is over." I said with a snarl before grabbing the piece of shrapnel with my right hand, tossed it aside, grabbed my own frag grenade, pulled the pin and counted to three before tossing it over my head, the sounds of them screaming to get out was soon cut off by a loud thump that was followed by nothing, except for the sounds of battle going on outside.

Ignoring the obvious pain in my body from having a grenade explode next to me I hobbled over to the terminal, tapped in the command to shut down the reactor and once I pushed that lovely enter key I felt the ground rumble harshly and before I could get a good hold on the terminal I stumbled to the window facing a nearby Spectre holding facility and was face-to-barrel with an Arc Cannon. Staring at the four pronged barrel of the large cannon I felt myself have the urge to void my bowels before being reduced to a pile of ashes and melted metal but when I saw the four prongs pull backwards and the titan outside got down on a knee I saw that it was an Ogre and that the occupant had opened up the canopy to reveal Miko, and boy did she look excited, and maybe a bit happy to see me.

"You should have seen the look on your face! I may have not seen it but boy I bet you almost crapped yourself!" Miko said with glee as I gave her the middle finger in disgust, I knew that girl had a sadistic side to her but I never knew she would do such a thing in the middle of a battlefield.

Hiding back behind the wall I wait patiently for any sign of hostile movement or a friendly body to walk through the doorway and windows, knowing full well that if an enemy walks by they will end up painting the wall red and if its a friend, well a bullet to the arm or leg would remind them to signal to on the broadband but whatever floats these pilots boats.

Another rumble filled the room as the terminal turned on and was now flashing the IMC logo holographically, the reactor losing some pressure but the rumbling continued as the reactor continued to go into a critical state, said state was obviously known as my suit's environmental controls told me that it has detected a radiation spike.

Running out of the building I saw my Atlas on standby, its camera rotating to look at me and when I heard in my ear that my titan is now engaging enemy infantry I kept on running before leaping and activating my jump jet towards the titan, its left hand reaching out to grab me, the cockpit opening up before pushing me inside the safety zone as it seals itself up to block oncoming bullets and a single rocket.

As soon as my screen turned on I immediately set my attention on the grunts that has opened fire on me, their petty barrage of small arms fire was quickly put down by a barrage of my chaingun spitting out a hail of 20mm slugs, tearing them up and giving me the satisfaction that I am now no longer in arms way. Moving back I went to regroup with Miko, Andy was hanging onto her back trying to stay on as the wounds in his legs start to heal, the medical foam holding his blood inside his suit for now but he will need to have those bullets removed and stitched up.

"Pilots the core is going critical, I am sending evac ships near your location, were going to get you out of there."

"Oh thank god, Miko, get your sexy ass over here with your Ogre and defend the evac zone, we are going home!" I shouted over the radio, my Atlas doing its best to stay low behind a small bundle of crates, dodging a salvo of unguided missiles as they sail overhead and collide with the side of a building. Rising back up I raised my chaingun over the crates and unleashed a stream of hot lead at the opposing Atlas as its shields collapse from the persistent barrage of bullets before finally the pilot inside being forced to eject out, and right into the path of my bullets. His torn up body sailing pretty high up into the air before falling back down face first into the dirt.

"Negative, Command Override, All Evacuation Dropships, cancelled."

When Miko and I heard that, along with every other pilot on the planet, we all stopped what we were doing for a few seconds before scrambling for a means to survive the coming doom. The Militia pilots must have been thinking the same thing because not once during our mad dash to the fringes of the defensive line did we see a single Goblin Dropship fall from orbit to pick up their comrades. Everyone on the surface of Demeter that day was going to die just so the fleet can get away. Both sides just traded a large amount of lives for nothing.

"Damn it Spyglass what the hell do you think your doing!"

"Miko, get your Ogre over here and follow me, we can try to get away from the main fuel lines and escape the worst of the blast." I said through our com lines, a few other pilots from both sides heard it because I had just used the open air frequency, if anyone was going to survive this then it might as well be us pilots in our titans and those rodeo-ing on back.

"All Capital Ships, Autopilot engaged, forcing jump to minimum safe distance."

"Locke, friend, if we don't survive this, I just want you to know, that I hate you, I hate you so much."

"I know Miko, I know."

"I also love you, don't forget."

"You love me? Ha, I'll believe that when Spyglass gets that stick out his arse."

"Marcus, you told me fifteen years ago onboard the Odysse to take the ship, now I'm giving you the same choice. They'll follow you Marcus, just lead them. They can forgive a former IMC, look at me....."

Fifteen seconds till detonation.

"He really believes he can turn you sir?"

Five seconds till detonation. I looked behind me to see Miko and several other Pilots following close behind us, and looking back even further I saw the reactor and the large sparks of electricity arcing around it.

"It's up to you now my friend."

Three seconds till detonation. I made my peace with my god, hoping that in my death I can be redeemed and if not at least forgiven for the heinous acts I have committed over the years against other fellow humans.

"Take the ship."

The loud rumbling from beneath the grounds surface soon turned into a deafening roar as the reactor behind went critical and finally meltdown, the resulting explosion vaporized everything within a mile radius and everything past it was thrown with hurricane force winds, debris from the explosion going everywhere as the vaporizing heat wave rapidly approached us from behind.

I didn't even bother to look behind me, I knew this course of action was a long shot of actually working but at least we all tried to escape with our lives.

"Fuck you Spyglass!" was the last thing to grace my lips before the vaporizing wave made the world around me a blazing white wall of death before everything faded away into nothing.

Gap Between Dimensions

The feeling of soft fabric on my skin and the heavy weight of metal on my body brought me out of my unwaking daze, my eyes slowly blinking open as I felt my lungs clench tightly before the feeling of air rushed in, the air was stale and weak but it was air the same. Knowing that I can feel told my brain that I was still alive which I thanked the gods for sparing my life but when I opened my eyes I saw that my Atlas was inactive and that I couldn't see outside.

'Are my camera's covered by dirt and debris? Is the reactor damaged or has it been overloaded? Am I dead and this is purgatory?'

These were the thoughts running in my head as I started to stretch in the chassis, my arms popping as my blood went from its slow pace and return to its original rushing flow. My legs didn't move for a while but as soon as my blood touched the augmented veins I felt the energy pulse down and back up, the metal limbs turning on.

'Can't believe a Stryder crushed my bloody legs...that pilot might as well tore me in half for that little stunt.'

Bumbling around inside the cockpit I found the handle and yanked on it, the hatch opening up manually and what I saw waiting for me outside was both breath taking and scary as hell.

Outside was a prismatic array of colors, I saw things that would make the best of men coward away in fear and many other things that would make the same men scratch their head in confusion.

'Man, I wish I had a camera for this...I could make several hundred thousand credits for shit like this.'

I saw clocks of varying sizes, orientation, color, design and use fly on by, I saw comets moving along alien trajectories, hell I even saw what I think was an old british payphone box twirl on by before I saw a second one appear, and both opened up to reveal a tall lithe looking human wearing a swanky looking suit and bowtie, his skin looked pasty white and his hair was brown, I do not know why he is inside a payphone box let alone in the middle of what I can only guess is the edge of the universe but what came out of the second box made me wish I had a camera even more so then ever.

Standing there in the blue doorway of the other phone booth was an equine, a horse, and it was wearing a bowtie just like the man standing across from him. The horse standing in the doorway had a chestnut brown coat of fur, an equally brown mane and from the distance between us I think it had blue eyes, I can't tell on the gender from how far apart we are but what I can tell from this distance is that its jaws are going up and down and the lips on it are moving in such a way that it entails intelligence on a far higher bar then the standard horse, so in other words a talking horse with a tacky bowtie talking to an equally tacky suit wearing man.

Staring at the two beings talking to one another I nearly forgot that I was halfway out of my Atlas barely holding onto the hatch before quickly regaining my bearings, holding onto the metal bar for dear life as the prismatic colors around me started to move at a faster rate and that was my only warning as I looked down to see that there is an end at the edge of the supposed universe, it was rapidly approaching and it was a giant wall of white.

Closing the hatch before me I sat back down in the cockpit and held onto the hatch bar, praying to god that it stays closed and I don't get sucked out like a man suckling from a water packet through a straw.

The feeling of low gravity was soon taken away from me as I felt the full strength of a planet's gravitational field take hold on my Atlas and myself, it was similar to every other planet I have been on and yet this one feels somewhat strange to all the others. I can't quite put my finger on it but for some ungodly reason it makes me want to punt an innocent puppy and laugh evilly while doing so.

"Atlas Online, IMC Pilot, Please Standby. Standby. All Functions are working at 100% Capacity. Alert other Titans are within the vicinity, five IMC Titans and four Frontier Militia Titans. Warning, Titan is falling on an unknown world. Standby for Titanfall."

'Only ten of us made it out of Demeter Alive? Only ten...so many lives lost, all because neither side wanted to enter a hot zone to pick up their men. The Militia have the advantage now that they have destroyed the gateway into the frontier, the IMC will most likely rely heavily on the Spectre's to fight back. An army of robots, just waiting to be hacked into to turn on their masters.'

Unknown World, Apparent Time: Early Dusk

Looking at my screen I can see that this planet is verdant and full of life if I can trust what the cameras are showing me but what caught my eyes was that I saw little dots of what appears to be towns of some sort, maybe this is a frontier colony and they just never bothered to tell anyone that they found an empty planet? Whoever lives here must be happy since I don't see a single tower keeping any indigenous beasts at bay so this place must be safe from the local wildlife.

"Titanfall in Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark." the Titan OS said through the speakers and with a loud thud I impacted the ground first and behind me I heard and felt nine other thuds, all of them varying in weight based on the titan that dropped with me.

As soon as I made contact with ground, the hatch to my Atlas opened up immediately as if it was empty and was waiting for its pilot to jump and drive it like he stole it, which is odd since I am still inside and the OS didn't seem to notice me. Yet.

Slamming a fist to the side of the hull the Atlas immediately sealed itself shut and accepted me as its operator, and as my first course of action as the operator I want to see what awaited me outside. Tapping a button the hatch opened itself up again and what awaited me has simply astounded me, I saw trees as far as the eye, the dirt here was healthy and alive, there was birds flying all around us, looking at us in wonder as to what we are, and of course there was scorched earth around where our titans have made impact.

Bracing myself for what I will see behind me I grabbed the emergency R-101C Carbine and pulled out its only extended mag before slamming it back into place, every titan comes with one in the event the operator is weaponless at the time or is dropped straight from orbit and their titan is in a doomed state and is ejected out to survive the blast, this weapon though is like all the others, except it has my name carved into it, and the stock has a small pair of dice chained to it. Pulling back the chamber I slotted a round into firing position and gave myself a three second grace period before sliding out from my life saver and looked around through the sights of my carbine before slowly moving around my Atlas to see the other nine titans, all of them not moving or for that matter turned on.

"Hello? Anyone out there?" I said without using my intercom, I was talking like a normal person and like any other living being I was expecting a response of some kind, the one I got was silence and bird calls.

Going over to Miko's Ogre Titan I walked slowly up to it, still thinking that there might be some sort of hostile indigenous life just waiting for me to let my guard down to dig into an easy meal. Once I was within spitting distance I brushed my hand along the smooth and warm metal surface for the barest of four seconds before rapping my knuckles on its unyielding surface in hopes of a response but this time there was one, albeit it lasted only a second and it was a thud then an actual response in words.

"Miko?" I said in a hesitant tone, this is the first time in twenty three years that I sounded scared. "Miko!?" I said again but this time I shouted it out, and yet there still wasn't a response. "MIKO!" I yelled out and this time her Ogre opened up and out fell the girl I have been calling for, but in every way that I didn't want it to be.

"No. No no no no. No, damn it Miko no, you can not die on me now." I shouted at my friend, her body was barely moving and I knew that her time was running out, her breathing was practically at its end along with her ability to move under her own power.

"Hello! Is anyone out there! Anybody!" I shouted on all frequencies, open and closed for anyone to listen in and help me, but there was nothing but static and white noise.

"This is IMC Pilot Ramsey to any available IMC forces within the sector, I need medical evacuation immediately! I got an injured IMC Pilot who is suffering from radiation poisoning. Does anybody hear me! Anyone! ANYBODY!"

Far from the resting titans and away from me, the feeling of being watched wasn't apparent to me as I sat there grieving over the body of a fallen friend, my only friend that I had since I first became a pilot for the IMC. Far in the bushes away from me, a pair of blue eyes was watching me, just watching me hold Miko before they flashed green and quickly scurrying off to parts unknown.

Unknown Planet, Location: Cave, Time: Night

"This is Day 1 on an uncharted world, this is IMC Pilot Ramsey Oppenheimer, Fourth Generation Pilot, and the only survivor of the Demeter reactor core meltdown. At the time of the reactor detonation myself, Pilot Miko, Pilot Andy, and nine other pilots tried to escape the imminent blast that has no doubt completely destroyed Demeter and everything on its surface. We have made the decision to leave the raging battle behind to attempt to survive the explosion that has ravaged the planet's surface but sadly it seems it was all for nothing. It seems I am the only survivor of Demeter and this uncharted world so far has proven to have unknown indigenous population that needs to be added to the Dog Whistle Towers list of beasts to keep out. This is Ramsey, signing off." turning off the data recorder I shuffle back before sitting down on a rock, my helmet laying beside me as I look at my bandaged left hand and the bandages covering parts of my arms are held tightly in place.

Staring at the roaring fire within the cave I look at the orange flames, seeing nothing but the burning sticks and branches as the weather outside turns to absolute shit, the corpses of nine brave pilots lie in the ground, their graves made by the hand of an Atlas, their rifles, pistols, explosives and anything useful I could pry from their bodies are piled together. Miko's body was buried with her closest to the cave entrance, the only sign of respect I could give her. The titan's of the eight other pilots are shut down and are kneeling in a crude circle far from the cave entrance, a silent marker to any who would find us.

Canterlot Castle, Night

Sitting by the edge of the balcony was a lone figure, a tall, imposing being that stood watch over the realm of the night, looking out onto the country side but what has captured her undivided attention was the forest below the mountain she was looking over. Far to the south of her castle was where she saw the collection of ten meteors fall to the ground in a circle and it was not of her doing this time. She believed that somepony else was trying to mess with her duties as the night warden but when she reached out to find the source of the disturbance she found that there is indeed something out there, something foreign, something new. Her curiosity got the best of the night warden and as for her duties she must ensure that the foreign objects would not prove a threat to her little ponies.

The night princess took a deep breath before leaping over the balcony and taking flight, her large wings spreading open as the wind lifts her up and takes to the skies in search of the fallen meteors. Her search was a rather easy one as all she needed to do was look for the small wisps of smoke rising from the crash site.

What she did not expect to find was ten large constructs kneeling in a crude circle, all of them of different designs but all had signs of damage and decay, the freshest of the constructs had little if not any sign of damage to it, the designs on it appear to be fresh and with the tap of her hoof it was made of metal, something that has peeked her interest in the strange objects increased.

"We must tell my sister of this in the morning, for now these statues will stay here, whoever these warriors represent they must be important enough to be immortalized in metal instead of stone." and with that her wings opened back up and she returned back home, her mind filled with unanswered questions and new ones added to her already raised stack.

Unknown World, Location: Cave, Time: Night

The fire is dead now, my hands holding my carbine as I hear the sounds of howling in the distance, no matter what planet I am on there will always be wolves, my cold, dead gaze looking at the mouth of the cave as I pointed the weapon at the entrance and before long I saw the lone silhouette of a wolf like body in the moonlight. Raising my carbine I looked down the holographic sight and squeezed the trigger once to watch the head of the wolf explode into a shower of gore, its body fell over and twitched once before it stopped moving. The howling stopped for a few seconds before the howling intensifies and the silhouettes of four more wolves fill the cave mouth, their shadows easily entering the cave as one shadow was large enough to reach my feet.

Staring at the wolves I squeezed the trigger again, the muzzle flashing revealing my angry and dead face to the wolves before they exploded out, their bodies torn to bits as their howls turned into wails of pain and soon enough my rifle clicked empty with smoke steaming from the barrel with my eyes staring at the abyss that is the outside world and the graves beyond it.

Now I am truly, and utterly, alone.

Survival

"Day Two: IMC Pilot Ramsey Oppenheimer, I got only three hours of sleep last night and when I woke up I found that the wolves that I have killed are not wolves made of meat and bone but instead made of wood and leaves. At first I thought it was because I was still in shock from the traumatic events that happened yesterday but seeing the destroyed wooden wolves first hand, it only proves that this world is so alien to the normal verdant planets the IMC usually discovers. Further observations that I have made when I woke is that my Atlas has picked up a large signature while I was sleeping on its radar and although I can not verify it at the time it was a large enough of a blip to make it known and for a moment I thought it had picked up on a voice but any further attempts to scrub, enhance or modify the recording only proves to be a waste of time."

"Notes on the local wildlife: The wooden wolves seem to act like normal wolves back on Earth but can take a much larger beating for not having the usual sensory nodes in the mode that is attuned to having flesh, a strange chicken/snake thing was in my cave when I woke up and when killed its meat tastes way better then normal chicken when cooked, a large four headed lizard resides in a nearby swamp and mistook my Atlas for a saltlick and is now nursing a set of bruised heads, and lastly I have encountered a lion that has undergone an immense amount of mutation or an evolutionary response as it now has bat wings and a scorpion tail. I dub this thing a Uberlion and these things are extremely aggressive when provoked and are highly territorial. The latter part I know is that when I tried to carve into a second snake chicken it started to growl at me from my left, and when I lowered said chicken snake to the ground and let it be it stopped growling and left me alone. Note to self make a map of this place. PS: Find a way to hide the titans from any aerial view and from anything that could come from the ground."

"This is IMC Pilot Ramsey Oppenheimer, signing off for now."

Turning off the recorder for the day I lean back against the stone wall and put a hand to my face and sighed heavily. The local wildlife here all seems to be made to kill everything that moves, both flora and fauna are killers, I saw a planet lure in a chicken snake up to its petals before lashing out and biting its head, not letting go until it ran out of air and died. What came next was what I can now legally call a choking vine, it looks just like all the other vines that you would normally find in a jungle biome but this plant is different, it blends into normal vines and when its victim comes up underneath it, the 'leaves' on it, reach down and latch onto said victim to prevent them from running away while the vine itself strangles them to death, what they do with their bodies I do not know and I really don't want to know.

Looking at my new and improved firepit I saw the strips of chicken snake roasting nicely on the fire, the feathers from said chickens I have killed are just about as useful to me as a solid block of lead, and at this moment I could use some lead to replace any bullets I may have used or misplaced. Around my cave it was still the same, rifles in one pile, ammunition in another and separated by shell, bullet or charge pack, two separate piles of grenades, a few satchel charges and arc mines, and lastly a pile of pistols and anti-titan weapons. I know that I would have to go hunting again for more food and that I needed supplies badly, there is only so much a couple of survival kits can do and I need more metal and wood.

'During my fall I saw several towns scattered about so I can only guess that these colonists wanted to be separate as to not instigate one another and cause a fight to break out.'

Getting off the stone that serves as my stool I went over to the pile of pistols and grabbed Miko's Mk. V Smart Pistol, I felt water start to form in my eyes as I handled her favorite weapon, she made the modifications to have a better targeting computer, the same targeting computer that she used to berate me about being better at me when it came to calculus. She was right, my math is shit when it comes to this damn pistol. Pulling the magazine from its housing I saw that it was a full clip and a bullet was in the chamber, putting it back into its holding space I look down the sights one time before holstering it before moving onto to grab a RE45-Autopistol and a few arc grenades, knowing that an explosion from a satchel charge or a frag would alert everything to my presence and I am trying to maintain a low profile or as low as it could possibly get in a situation like this.

Heading out the cave I saw my Atlas get up from its kneeling position to try and follow me but with a quick wave of my hand it went back to Guard Mode and stayed behind, it would be hard to maintain a stealth mission with a metric ton of solid metal stomping behind me through the forest on my tail.

'I think the nearest town is....that way?' my thoughts this morning are a bit jumbled but after looking in the possible direction of the town I took a deep breath, said my prayers that I find some colonists that would be 'willing' to part with an ax, a saw and a nail gun.

My first steps to the town I can feel that today was going to be a good day for me, and hopefully the rest of my stay here until an IMC ship comes along and picks me up.

Ponyville, Dawn

At the same time as I was making my move, a very groggy and if not tired purple unicorn was just now waking up from her morning slumber, her mane disheveled, a bad case of morning breath, and her favorite book was resting on top of her head, her horn barely poking over the top of said book.

Yawning to herself as the sun's early light peaks its way through the window she rose from her bed, the book using her face as resting place slide off and landed on the floor with a soft thud and closing shut at the same time. The young mare's horn glowed a light purple, levitating the blankets off of her body as she rolled out of bed and dragged herself to the bathroom, her head suffering from a severe case of bedmane and she was groaning the entire time while uttering out the words "coffee".

It was when she was in the bathroom cleaning herself up and making herself proper for the day ahead, a small purple lizard walked out of the same bedroom, more lively then the unicorn that has just walked out but was still tired from last night's events that has transpired while he was stacking the bookshelves with new books.

As the young dragon stumbled into the kitchen after falling down the stairs and knocking his head against a bookshelf, dislodging a rather large tome from its snug home and found a new one on top of the purple drake. He wheezed for a second before pushing the heavy door stopping tome off of him, giving said tome a disliking kick before resuming his journey to the kitchen to find everything right where it belongs albeit the coffee pot was not turned on.

Grabbing a stepstool the dragon moved it over to the coffee pot and grabbed a can containing the coffee grounds before pouring it into a strainer and following after it was a pot of water before he closed the lid and turned it on. The sounds of the coffee pot being turned on alerted the purple mare on the second floor that her precious life source was being made and that her number one assistant was the one who made it, her ears swiveling around at the sound of buttons being pushed and a loud beeping noise signifying that the brew is done.

"Spike! Is breakfast ready yet?"

During the time it took the still groggy mare to make her way downstairs and to the kitchen her assistant, Spike, has made an assortment of food for both himself and his older sister. Laid on the table was pieces of toast, butter, jam, a bowel of gems, oat cereal, waffles and another bowel of gems.

"Yes Twilight, its ready!"

When Twilight went past the threshold of the doorway her sour morning mood was immediately lifted when she saw then smelled the heavenly aroma that frown turned upside down and sat down across from her little brother and started to dig in while levitating the morning's newspaper into her field of vision.

Early Night Meteor Showers or Strange Magic in Use?

Early yesterday night several ponies and gryphons saw in the night sky a strange phenomenon that has caused quite a scare in a fairly large number of ponies, many of them saying that it has not only disturbed them from their sleep but the resulting short earthquake that came after the aurora-like lights in the sky came to an end. Nopony knows as to what is the source of the strange lights but one thing is certain about last night, many ponies lost some sleep to calm down their foals from the resulting quake. When we spoke to the princesses about this, Princess Celestia said that she has nothing to say on the matter since she does not know enough to leave a comment while Princess Luna, the recently returned princess after her exile to the moon, has told us here at Neighsayer Daily that she may have found underneath the phenomenon a strange series of metal statues depicting strange warriors of an unknown race of different species. She has yet to figure out who these statues belong to or even what species they were created by but one thing is certain, the Whitetail woods now has some history behind its beautiful trees.

On page Six we have news that Spitfire may be a le-

At that part Twilight closes the newspaper and takes a sip from her cup of coffee, her mind now working to understand what she has just read. She was asleep at the time when the earthquake happened and the bright lights in the sky, what she is trying to figure is where the statues are located, what do they mean and who do they represent. Another thing her mind is racing through is that what could have caused the disturbance in the sky, she knows that Discord is back in stone after escaping when a bunch of fillies and colts were on a fieldtrip and it wasn't Luna cause even she doesn't know what caused it.

"So Twilight, what do you have planned for today? More book reading or are you planning on finding those statues that Princess Luna found last night?" the young dragon asks while nomming on a piece of toast, the golden brown piece of bread being torn to pieces in those razor sharp teeth of his but what has caught his undivided attention was on the back of the newspaper, particularly the news article on a certain white unicorn mare with a purple mane and tail in a spring style.

"Well" Twilight started before taking a nibble from her toast and a nom from her oat cereal before going where she left off "I was thinking on checking out those statues that Luna found but seeing how its in the Whitetail Woods and it boarders on the Everfree Forest and well...I rather not go in there alone like last time."

"Oh you mean the time you got lost and a cockatrice petrify you solid?" Spike said with a smirk on his face, obviously enjoying his older sister's discomfort at that old memory that happened a few weeks ago.

"Yes Spike, that time. But this time I will be asking the girls if they would accompany me to check it out, you could come to if you want." Twilight says and with a grin she levitates a the large tome that he had knocked off earlier and with a gentle flash of her horn the heavy book floated back to its resting place before her horn turned off.

Shaking his head he grabbed his plate along with any of the empty ones and waddled his way to the sink before dropping off the dirty plates into the soapy water.

"Nah, I'm good Twilight, I think I had enough adventures for one year and I would like to keep my scales attached to my body this time." and with that Spike went back to what he was previously doing the other day before the meteor show knocked down half the books in the library, helping Rarity with her clothes.

"Alright, take care and tell Rarity that I will need my dress stitched up, you know the one I am talking about right?"

"Yeah, the yellow one that you danced badly in?"

"Yes...that one...wish you would stop bringing up the humiliating events in my life up every time."

"Sorry, just sorta happens."

"It's alright, try not to get into too much trouble now Spike."

And with that the two separated, Spike went off to Rarity's boutique and Twilight went to Sweet Apple Acres to ask her friend Applejack and Rainbow Dash to accompany her with the probability of Fluttershy to go into the Whitetail Woods with her.

Unknown Forest, Time: 8:36AM

"Alright Ramsey...this forest has seemed to calm down, no more predators to ambush you and no more soft and cuddly rabbits to trap and kill for rations, just yourself and the trees." I muttered quietly to myself, for the past two hours I have been moving in a crouch, keeping my head low and my eyes peeled for I have been ambushed two times already since I first left the safety of my cave outpost. The first ambush was another of those Uberlion's and it was quickly dispatched with the well timing punch of my Atlas, the damn head exploded into the dirt when it got bloody ground pounded and its corpse is being put to use, Atlas is roasting its freshly skinned and gutted body over a large roaring fire. And as for the second ambush, a chicken snake was about to fall asleep but I accidentally stepped on its tail and woke it the fuck up, damn thing let out a loud ass shriek and was staring at me with all its soul, which it now makes a lovely chicken snake stew-in-waiting. One thing I learned about the tails of those things is that they can make a really good jerky if my survival knowledge serves me right that snake meat is hardy and full of proteins and is bitter if not cooked right.

Stopping in the tall grass I peered left and right before turning on my Active Radar Pulse, and everything turned a slight tint of blue but soon enough on the edges of my vision I saw an orange body moving towards me and when I recognized what it was I put away my smart pistol and pulled out my data knife, and readied it. Just as it was about to poke its head into the patch of tall grass I was in the wooden wolf perked its head up and looked away from me and into the direction I was going in before letting out a low growl and bolted off into parts unknown.

Poking my head through the tall grass I saw that it wasn't any intelligent life but instead it was a bear, a brown bear to be precise and it was standing there on all fours, looking at me in wonder and before I could remember what it said in the survival handbook on what to do when you've encountered a bear, it slowly walked up to me and gave me a whiff, its wet nose brushing against my neck before it moved back and nudged me with its nose, something that I would have expected to come from a dog and not a several hundred pound bear to do but at least it comes to show that this bear is trained in some manner.

'Man, what I wouldn't give for Blisk to be here to help make sense of all this shit. I wonder what would surprise me next? Talking dogs? Actual dragons from the old story books? A god walking among the common folk?'

Looking at the bear I can clearly see that he isn't just a common brown bear but one that has been tamed by man, the way his fur looks, the docile treatment, the adorable way he rams his head into my back to lead me to his master. Being nudged by a bear is one thing but to be directed on where to go by a bear is another matter, this bear was smart, clean, well kept and does not have bad breath, all of those things that should not go together for a beast of the forest and mountains but here it is, a smart helpful bear leading me to civilization, and I don't have any bear snacks to give.

"Bear, it would be nice if you lead me to your home instead of wherever it is we are going." I said, hoping that this bear would understand my words and lead me to his master's lair. And just like that I felt the bear's head nudge my right leg a few times before I took the hint that he understood what I had just said and with that I followed close behind said bear.

'Great, he understands English, now all I need is a tacky hat, a long tie, and teach him to speak English and walk on two legs and get him a sidekick and I can re-enact Yogi Bear.'

Taking a walk with a bear is something I did not expect to happen in my life but seeing how it is happening and that said bear is happily rubbing his head into my right hand expecting to be petted I can clearly say that my life is officially fucked sideways and off the rails. One does not simply survive vaporization in a giant robot suit only to be thrown into the universe's asshole and shat out onto a random verdant planet.

Before I could think on what could possibly surprise me at this point my vision clears up from the low lighting of the forest to a much more clearer focus as my eyes adjust to the increase in brightness and with it I see that the bear has indeed led me to his master's home, a wooden cottage by a stream with a pen for chickens. What really caught my attention was that there was multiple bird nests hanging in the trees above me and around the cottage, there was animals running around left and right and there was a dog house sitting on a small platform with a ramp leading up to it.

Staring at this cottage has started up my thought process and with it my helmet started its analysis on the building ahead.

"Planet: Unknown, Location: Unknown, Building: Cottage, Structural Material: Wood, Stone foundations, Ceramic plates for roof, Glass for windows. The building appears to be a reminiscent of Earth's more comfortable and modest homes for those willing to live in the rural outbacks. Basing on initial scans this building would seem fitting and comfortable for retirement. I recommend you buy one when your contract with the IMC retires in sixteen years, eleven months, three weeks and seven days. Warning, this building may belong to Frontier Militia or unrecorded colonists, approach with caution."

Taking my Titan-OS's advice into consideration I kept my smart pistol at hand and very slowly walked up to the front door of the cottage, my finger resting on the safety switch and standing to my right was the brown bear in which I have named Yogi.

Creeping along the grass line slowly my foot steps left a small impression in the soft grass leaving behind a rough boot-shaped dent but it was quickly covered up by the bear, seemingly wanting me to go into the building ahead which makes me worried for a second since bears shouldn't be this smart unless they have been genetically modified or trained by a very patient and highly intelligent trainer. Once I was at the front door I encountered my first problem of the day, the door would scrap against the top of my helmet and antenna, something that I find strange since all homes out in the frontier and in the core worlds were built to a standard to include people of all basic heights to the maximum of seven feet tall but this door was at six feet tall flat, not an inch taller or an inch shorter.

My second problem was that the door was closed and probably locked and I didn't have the key, and with that in mind I looked around in all the usual hiding spots that one would hide a key, I checked under the greeting mat, above the door frame, under the flower pot, in the flower pot, in the flower, and lastly under the separate stone slab that is under the greeting mat. Just when I was about to give up on finding a safe means of entering the cottage I placed my hand on the doorknob and twisted it before pushing inward and almost as if by magic the door slowly swings open to reveal the interior.

"Okay...that is strange but I'll take it. Now, onwards to adventure and whatever else comes afterwards." I said quietly before poking my head into the humble cottage, looking for any sign of life with my pistol at the hip pointing inward.

"Hello? Anyone inside? Anyone speak English or French or even German? Anyone alive at all? No? Alright then." I said and after three minutes of standing at the door with my dick in my hand figuratively and once it was about to press onto four minutes I stepped through the portal leading into the unknown person's home and looked around to get comfortable with my surroundings.

Before I even had a chance to properly explore this person's home, the bear Yogi decided to follow me in but there is a slight problem with that. He got stuck in the doorframe. With the roll of the eyes and the unhearable sigh coming from me I walked back to the struggling bear, his front half managed to get through the door but apparently his larger back half couldn't even fit.

"Come on big boy get your fat ass in here!" I partially shouted, tugging on both front paws of the bear as it let out a whine of sorts before I felt a little bit of give from the bear but he was still stuck in the frame. "Suck it in Yogi, I said suck it in!" again a little bit of more give came my way but he was still stuck but at least I think it was almost over cause there is no way I can explain this to anyone that lives here that a bear broke into their home and got stuck in the process. "Squeeze those cheeks together, squeeze 'em! Come on big boy I believe in you just squeeze your back half tighter then a virgin's cunt and you'd be home free!" and at that I heard, then felt a pop before falling backwards, with the bear falling on top of me.

Now, most people at this point would be freaking out that a several hundred pound bear laying on top of you but for me, this was almost familiar. Getting crushed by something heavy is almost a common thing for me, I got stepped on by a Stryder, rammed by Dragon upon titanfall, almost stepped on by a Leviathan and promptly punted by an Ogre and every time that happened it was because they were heavier then me, so a bear I could handle. That and I once dated a fat chick which ended up with me gasping for air after being sat on by accident.

"Dude...get off...your fucking heavy..." I said and waited for two minutes before adding a "....please?" to it, and that did the trick as the bear got off of me, licked my helmet before sitting there looking around with childlike curiosity as it was my turn as well to look around the house.

Well whoever lives or used to live in this home sure as hell loves animals, this crazy bastard has bird houses absolutely everywhere. There are birdhouses in the kitchen, in the living room, in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the spare bedroom, and even in the closet. And with each search of every single room I was met with the same thing as I did with the first door, it was six feet tall and I have bumped my head against the top so far six times and it was starting to grind on my nerves. The kitchen was small and the wooden table and chairs but all of them were not meant for me or for any tall human for that matter and my guess was they were meant for small people.

Next room was the bathroom, and that was what tripped my mental alarms that this is not a human settlement. The toilet was practically a few inches off the ground like the ones you would find in Japan back on Earth, and my god the toilet paper was not standard-issue four-ply or as what both the grunts and pilots have learned to call it 'Sandpaper Ass Cleaner', it was soft, delicate, something that a women would use since most can't handle the four-ply. I found in that bathroom over ten brushes, a crap load of shampoo's and conditioner's that I thought that this person is running a spa or bath house. After that was the guest room and the bed is like a slightly smaller version of my bed back on the Sentinel and the Colossus, the room was almost up to Spartan standards with the exception of the girly wallpaper and rugs but it seemed comfy enough to lay down on.

After that was the main bedroom and that made my hypothesis about this place not being belonging to any humans was right. The bed was once again too girly for man to comprehend, the wallpaper was a type of yellow you would find to be the color of butter, the carpet was green like grass and the picture frame on the already small table next to the bed didn't even hold a human being or anything resembling one, but it did have something that I know of and I had to grab and lift up the picture to my face to be sure.

'Horse...with wings...somewhat surrounded by five different horses with wings or horns...and their the bloody color of the rainbow along with their hair....well shit one of them does have a rainbow for hair. Looks like I just lost ten credits to Blisk if I can ever find him.'

As I stood there trying to get my brain to restart, the sound of a door opening downstairs did it for me as my mind went from 'What the fucking hell did my titan land on' to 'I got to bloody hide.', and hide I did, I would have went for hiding under the bed but I was too big to do that and there was plenty of stuff underneath it so that option was out, I could hide in the corner of the room with my data knife anchoring me to the wall long enough for the 'horse' in question to trot or gallop or whatever it is they do for movement and go on by then drop down to make a run for it but the size of the room killed that option faster then the explosion at Demeter so that left me with one option.

The closet, and yes, I hide it in, and no, it did not make me gay or a closet case. The only closet case I have is that I love crapes and I did not let any other pilot or grunt to find out about it, that's my little secret and it will die with me. Hiding in a closet is one thing but to be hiding in the closet that belongs to a horse is something that will take getting used to.

"Angel I'm home and I brought-oh Mr. Bear how did you get in here?" a gentle and yet fragile female voice said as I heard heavy steps come downstairs. To me the voice was female but what she said is incomprehensible since its an alien.

'Oh crap...I forgot about the intelligent bear...hopefully he doesn't stab me in the back.'

"A d-diamond dog? H-here? I gotta go tell the others about this!" and like that I heard the sounds of the heavy steps was gone and was replaced with the bear poking his nose into the closet.

'Fucking traitor!' I shouted in my head as I dropped from the ceiling in the closet, landing on my feet before quickly exiting the enclosed space and just as quickly crawling out of the second story window and landing feet first on the soft grass and into the backyard. I know that I have said that this girl...horse....whatever the hell it is loves animals but this is just fucking ridiculous. There was chickens walking around as if they owned the place, badgers and skunks milling around, birds chirping and flying everywhere and Yogi Bear is sitting upstairs looking down at me.

Taking the betrayal in stride I made my next course of action to leave the crazy animal house and head straight to the town that is on the edge of the horizon, it was a fair distance away from the cottage and it was past the river so I can guess that this person...horse....alien thing lives out here alone with the exception of the bountiful amount of pets she has. I think I also might have found a new temporary viable source of meat and fish from this cottage as well.

'Next stop, probable horse town, after that, cave to sleep and eat freshly skinned and cooked chicken snake and take a mean shit.'

It took me four minutes to reach the outskirts of the town from the horse's cottage and well, it lives up to the standards of that cottage because everything looks like it belongs in a history museum. Every single house looks like the standard buildings in the semi-intelligent era of Earth when it was just barely beyond the renaissance...that or these horses are in the middle of their renaissance...and me being here might mean I am there version of an angel...or a devil, hopefully the first cause I do not want to be crucified and left to rot in the sun while I am still alive.

One thing I learned in my pilot training is that being stealthy has its advantages and among those advantages was how to walk on egg shells and not alert anything such as human beings or the Dragons on Planet Leviathan. Another advantage was that I was trained in the parkour section of the pilot certification program and its a good thing too because I highly doubt that these ponies look up.

Crunching on some leaves I made my way to the outer edges of the town, my helmeted head on a swivel, my eyes moving about like a hawk searching for prey but in this case its horses that are all colors of the rainbow with a few having horns or wings or horns and wings if the picture in the cottage has any shred of proof to it. If anyone was watching me at this very moment they would think I am being a creepy stalker following his ex but in my case I am creeping about looking for anything not nailed down so I can acquire free items and materials to make my life here easier while I wait for evac.

It was easier said then done because when I arrived to the first building I peered around the corner to see more horses and the color variation between each one was enough to hurt my eyes and their faces...they were talking, and by talking I mean speaking in a language that I couldn't understand and probably could never know of without a translator of some sort.

"What the hell...horses....horses everywhere and of every color of the palette known to man and probably several known to monkeys. Is that, is that horse with a horn using some sort of anti-gravity device to lower that crate to the ground? What the hell is going on! And that horse is in the air! Great! Now I am dealing with horses that can fly with wings and horses with telekinetic powers, this is bad if not worse then fighting Dragons and Militia, I got to get what I came here for then get the hell out of here." I said and when I did say that I saw a few of those horses stopped what they were doing and immediately looked in my general direction and my eyes caught hold of six horses like the ones in the photo staring over here and I immediately duck behind the wall and quickly moved away while turning my A.R.P and just in time too because by the time I was behind the next building the six horses were right where I used to be.

'Great, my helmet mic is still on...bloody brilliant on my part. Well at least I managed to evade them for the time being but I bet they are onto me now...better play it safe and be quiet as the grave or self I will be ending up in one.'

Ducking under a windowsill and moving around a trashcan I came across the sight of little horses of all three types running around and laughing, many were playing childish games while three of them in particular were by themselves sitting under a tree and they looked like they were plotting something. That actually made me laugh inside, horses plotting something, I am not sure what would be more humorous at the moment, the horses being successful in their plot or seeing it play through till completion.

Silently moving through the back streets of the town I had to hide behind walls and trashbins to avoid being caught and so far I was doing a good job, except that I bumped into one horse on accident and it was a grey colored winged horse, the eyes on it were gold colored and the mane was dirty blonde but the key feature of this horse is that one eye is looking in a completely different direction and the strange thing is that this horse looks adorable.

"Hiya doggy! What'cha doin' all the way here from your mines in the gorge?" I saw the gray 'mare' open 'her' mouth and the words came tumbling out but I couldn't understand a word 'she' was saying but I just couldn't help myself as I raised my left hand to her head, placed my hand on 'her' mane and started to pet her, and well lets just say that I have somehow found this horse's weakness.

As if on queue she sat down on her hind legs as one of them starts to kick like a dog and her head leans into my hand trying to get me to keep petting her. Raising an eyebrow under my helmet I keep on petting the horse while gauging her height, it was at least give or take four-four and a half feet tall and I could guess that those wings aren't solely for looks but those eyes of hers...she could use some corrective laser eye surgery or a good whack to the back of the head to realign those eyes of hers.

'Okay I can officially say that this planet is beyond strange, horses with horns, wings or without either of the two, horses that act like dogs when petted, and for fucks sakes the wild beasts in the woods are ugly as sin and taste amazing at the same time.'

This went on for a few minutes, I scratched the back of her ears and rubbed her mane and she panted happily, tail wagged back and forth, wings flapped weakly while slowly extending outwards to full length and lastly her back leg kicking at the air. As this continued I slowly moved around the happy horse while still petting her before finally rushing off, letting her still think I was there until I was already gone, and I was glad I left cause I started to hear a stampede of hooves behind the two of us and by the time I was gone and standing near a giant gingerbread house they have arrived to see nothing more then a really happy winged horse staring off in two different directions.

Now, this house looks like a gingerbread house, smells like a baked goods store, and tastes like wood means that this building is not confectionary goodness but is instead a really convincing baked goods store that is probably the cause of several horses and/or people losing some teeth due to biting down on it. Staring at the wall I turned on my A.P.R. and looked inside, I saw in the room and located yet another horse but with the exception that this one is a bit round and chunky, had a poofy mane and tail, and was somehow balancing a large platter of something on her back before sliding it away into what I can hope is an oven. Looking around I saw another horse but this time sitting down and reaching out with one leg before pulling it back and dumping something into an object before handing a bag of sorts to another horse opposite of him I think, and then the horse closest to me in the building goes to the stallion and hugs him from behind and my vision returns to normal colors as I feared what I was about to see.

'Bakery it is...now to go around it and find a supply storage or a tool store if they have one.'

Sneaking around a bakery is easy since the loud noises of metal scraping against metal, the occasional chatter and the fact that people always use the front door unless they are doing some dirty deals or doing drugs. Scurrying around yet another building and a few horses that weren't paying much attention to their surroundings, a few flying horses were moving things from a trailer that is also floating, and I see two horses sitting on a bench, one laying on it a horse would normally lay down while the other one is sitting like a human being while sucking on what I think is a slushie.

My next stop was luckily what I think is the town's blacksmithing building if my ancient history classes in the simulators were correct, it would have a large assortment of tools hanging around and not nailed down or under a display glass, I would have just to go in and grab what I need and quickly extract myself before things get to rough.

Using the back door that was apparently constructed near the forge and ore smelter, something that probably shouldn't be done but I don't know anything about building construction besides deconstruction with explosives or a titan falling down on top of it. The sounds of a hammer hitting metal quickly filled my helmet as my visor adjusted immediately to the lowlight in the building, the only source of heat and light is the roaring fires within the smelter and forge and sitting by an anvil wearing a brown thick apron and a large hammer being held somehow in a hoof.

'Apparently these horses can hold objects in their hooves instead of just their mouth. How they can do something like this I can not say but I can speak for Blisk on this one. Things have gone tits up.'

Sliding along the wall and turning off my helmet's light as to not give myself away I shifted my hands onto myself, rather not let the horse with the heavy hammer know I'm here and use that as an impromptu club and crush my balls with it, I have enough painful memories that include my balls. Most recent testicular injury involved a heavy-duty taser, some booze, and a dare.

Looking at the wall containing all the tools my eyes spot a large saw with sharp teeth and it looked perfect for cutting wood, and resting next to it on a hook was a woodsmen ax and a few columns away was a normal hammer for nails, now I just got find some nails or just use wood that interlocks with other pieces of wooden planks like Linken-Logs.

Said nails I am looking for, they are currently unavailable cause they are cooling off and from what I can see they are approximately sixty-four of them and the looks I am giving them would make some people wonder if I am insane or not. The horse working the anvil on the other hand let out a loud snort and continued to hammer away, the wedge of metal I can guess he is working on is a sword blade and I can safely guess that its not meant for me, hopefully.

Turning on my A.P.R. I see that the stallion is still hammering away, completely oblivious to my presence and with that ignorance in mind I quickly scuttled my way around the forge, grabbing the saw, axe, hammer and the cooling nails but the problem with those was that the leather bag I placed them in was starting to overheat and soon enough caught fire. I had to quickly dump it into the water bucket near the stallion cause if I didn't I might have set the rest of the place on fire but still he ignored me and kept on working.

Checking my mission clock it said it was now ten-thirty in the morning and that I have all my mission items and only one alien horse saw me and I think I left a good enough impression on the grey one that I come in peace and can offer good head rubs.

Turning around and going out the back door my head was still focused on the blacksmith horse hammering on the anvil to not notice that waiting on the other side of the door was the grey horse from earlier and standing beside her was a butter yellow horse with wings and a pink mane, and this horse looked scared shitless just by being in my presence.

'That and just about every other grunt and low-grade pilot out there.'

"Hiya big doggy! Look I brought a friend!" I still couldn't understand a word being said but from the way her jaw was moving up and down and that she raised a hoof and pointed at the yellow winged horse followed by a smile that I thought was impossible since horses don't have much in facial features department but seeing it happen right before my eyes cements the idea that shit will never make sense to me ever again.

My response to being talked to by an alien winged horse with another of her kind next to her was to wave my left hand slowly before moving even slower around them. Their silent stares were starting to make me nervous, I do not do well under the scrutiny of others and having aliens do it only seemed to magnify it by a magnitude far greater then an Ogre power core. Still moving quietly around the two mares I stumbled into something followed by me following over on top of it only for my hands to land on something soft, possibly furry, and most definitely warm.

Looking up from where I had fallen I am helmeted face-to-muzzle of an orange horse, I am not sure what I tripped over but I somehow ended up toppling this horse and landed on top of her, and how do I know its a her? Well from the location of my leg I don't feel a twig and berries but instead two bumps and a sudden drop so that was the only indication I needed to the alien is a she. Staring at the orange mare I quickly got back up before pulling the mare back onto her hooves with a firm pull up on her right forehoof, the strange thing that came with this horse is that she was wearing a cowboy hat, now my head just wanted to explode from the things I have seen today. So far I have encountered a grey dirty blonde maned flying horse, a golden blonde normal horse, a yellow pink maned flying horse and now looking at the one who is currently scribbling something down on a piece of paper with a free-floating quill and inkwell is purple.

'God, I know you know that I never much believed in you, but right now, at this very moment, please keep my sanity in check before I explode into an anxiety attack along with a midlife crisis.'

"Er....hello there....strange...little...horses...um...I am just gonna be heading out now.....soooo......cya." I said before moving again, keeping my eyes on all the horses, my vision not one leaving the alien horses out of sight cause I do not want to be ambushed by them and just because they be horses doesn't mean that they can't pull something out of their ass and surprise me like a few pilots have done in the past.

About a few feet away from the horses I can see that they are following me now, and I know that they are right behind me because I kept feeling something poking and prodding me, something that the medics and doctors did when I came in before and after my pilot training. Turning around I quickly snapped my arm back and grabbed the quill that was poking me before snapping it in half and dropped it before turning back and walking forward, the effect of me breaking that quill was what I think is the equivalent of human group gasping, but it was short lived cause a light blue flying horse with the rainbow hair was flying in my face, managing to keep up and not hit any obstacles in the way. The actual horse responsible for poking me was the pink one with the craziest mane I have ever seen, it was beyond messy and she was holding a large stick in her mouth.

Smiling smugly under my helmet I slowly changed my direction and was now in the path of a tree, something the cyan flying horse never saw since she was too busy glaring at me and bad mouthing me, well I think bad mouthing since an angry stare followed by words is usually a sign of being insulted with words. That angry glare was short lived as she ran into the tree ass first, yelping quite loudly and since she stopped moving and I haven't, I have ended up moving under her and with how heavy she seems to be from the lack of motion, she got stuck on my helmet when my antenna is somehow holding her in place.

This was amusing as hell, not only did is this cyan flying mare flailing around like an idiot, but her friends if I can call it that are now moving a bit close and around me in a circle trying to remove her from my head but so far all attempts have failed. I see the white mare with the horn glow a tad bit before stopping with what I think is a fizzle sound and a confused as hell look on her face, then the same thing was attempted by the purple mare with the horn but her look of confusion was rapidly changed to one of curiosity as she levitated a fallen tree branch over to me and let it come into contact with my arm before it lost the purple aura around it as it fell to the floor and I just raised an eyebrow at that before reaching up with both arms to pick up the cyan horse before staring at her intently, her wings flapped wildly but nothing happened and then she gave me a look of shock and tried again before looking scared, her tail tucked between her legs in a defensive manner and I just laughed at this before putting her on the ground and kept on trucking before finally thinking I have led them off course long enough to finally return back to base camp.

'And now....plot course to camp!' my mind said and with that I made an immediate left turn and ran up a tree before running along the many branches and trunks in the forest, trying my best to evade and lose the following horses. Fun fact about using my jump jet in a forest full of flammable objects on a planet filled with strange alien horses living in renaissance style houses, very hot plasma exhaust doesn't easily set thing on fire as they normally did back home. Another fun note, losing the local wild life is easier said then done but after diving into the river and sinking to the bottom and crawling all the way back up river back to camp took the better part of the day and afternoon into the night was enough to lose them for now.

Crawling out of the riverbed and rolling onto the edge while opening my external vents to recycle air I let out a loud sigh of relief and with my hands feeling myself up to grab the things I have stolen and confirming that they are still on me I can release a grin before laughing to myself in victory at my progress at surviving the alien world.

"Huston, we have nooo problem." I said once I was back in my cave, the axe, hammer, saw, and sixty nails were all by the fire, drying off from their dunk in the cold water along with myself, the report I got from a MRVN that was stored in a modified Militia Atlas, this one was rebuilt to be a cargo ship crate mover but it has long since been modified to be combat ready but it still held a at-the-ready Mk. III Mobile Robotic Versatile Entity Automated Assistant and I was glad that there was one here because I am now using it for a simple purpose: To order the nine other titans to act as security while I am gone, and so far it is working swimmingly.

Grabbing a recently smoked fish on a stick I remove my helmet, mess my hair up with my left hand before chomping down on the fish and humming in delight to myself, the one thing in this world that can't go wrong is dinner and it is not disappointing me in the slightest.

"Today, today is a good day." I said to myself before sitting back against the crackling fire, the MRVN standing at the cave mouth working on a cut down tree that an Miko's Ogre has ripped out of the ground, the task I had given it was to turn that tree into strong planks to keep the elements of the wilderness out and the warmth in. The next task I would have given it was to make a ventilation shaft so the smoke doesn't kill me.

So far...life is crap and good at the same time.

Canterlot Castle, Night

"Sister, how many times have I told you, if those statues you have found are still there by tomorrow morning then I will send out a small platoon of guards to secure them and send in chariots to ensure that they get here safely but for now please get some rest, your working yourself up all over again." Celestia said as she walked along side her sister, neither of the two were looking at the other as their thoughts were currently on what was said the previous night and from what her student has sent to her via letter earlier in the afternoon.

"I know, I know, but please listen to me this time. I just want a small group of guards there just so nothing bad happens to them while we wait for the dawn to come. And from what your student has written, the possible creator of these statues is a diamond dog wearing some sort of enchanted clothes and armor and made off with some tools made by Claw Hammer." Luna said before thinking on Claw Hammer, remembering clearly the stallion that just barely graduated from the royal guard academy because of his problems with pay attention to the world around him when he is focused on a current task.

"Yes...Claw Hammer, Ponyville's resident blacksmith and an auxiliary royal guard if I am not mistaken, but what puzzles me is that how he didn't notice a few of his tools was stolen from him while he was there making them." the mere thought of thinking on how badly a guard she watched doing drills and practice in the field messing up royally in a small town making tools.

"Maybe he was busy making something and couldn't pay attention to the world around him, like how you are when your busy reading a book written by Pen Stroke." Luna said with a smug look on her muzzle, Celestia looking away as if she doesn't know what she is talking about.

"But for now, I will let your request for guards to be posted by those statues go accepted for now, but only your night guards and only your best for this one. Do not pick more then five for this one Luna." Celestia says with a sigh, knowing that if she keeps refusing her sister on such a simple request that she will just keep getting pestered till she can't take it anymore and snap at a pony that probably doesn't deserve it.

"Huzza! Private Requiem, Lieutenant Blossom, go to the barracks and pick up Nightshade, Bitterroot and Morningstar and tell them to suit up and fly out into the Whitetail Woods at the spot on the map and guard the ten statues until dawn comes and Celestia's guards arrive to relieve you." the lunar princess says to her two guards and with a salute from the two they beat their leathery wings before flying off to the barracks with all possible speed to grab the other three and to head off into the woods.

Whitetail Woods, Night

Flying over the tree tops of Whitetail Woods, Lieutenant Blossom and her entourage of four underling guards soar through the forest of green leaves as they rapidly approach to their target location. Private Bitterroot let out a small yawn as his messy beige mane flutters in the wind as Morningstar sails past him, her light grey and blue mane snaking behind her before she corkscrews back to her position in the flying group with a snicker as she sticks her tongue out at Nightshade.

"You know Lieutenant, I think this task of guarding some clunky statues is a waste of our talents as night guards." Private Morningstar said with a yawn, not too pleased that her early shift was interrupted to leave the safety and warmth of the palace walls behind to go out roughing it in the woods for something stupid and mundane like more statues to be added to the gardens.

"Private Requiem, please inform Private Morningstar as to why we are out here." the lieutenant said with a smirk on her muzzle, knowing full well that her favorite recruit will set matters straight with minimum effort on his part.

"Ma'am, with pleasure. Morningstar, we are out here because of the importance of the mysterious ten statues created by an unknown being, possibly a highly intelligent diamond dog that is probably living on the surface instead of living with a pack or clan below ground. These items of importance are classified by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna because they appeared at the exact same time as the phenomenon that happened last night." the young stallion said before giving a quick salute, his eyes spotting the clearing on the map he was given and waved over Blossom before pointing it out and let his commanding officer take the lead and land first.

"Brownnoser..." Morningstar mumbled before dropping into the trees and landing on the ground in the clearing alongside with the other four, all of them looking around trying to find the so-called 'statues of importance' that their princesses has dubbed of great value but from the look of things around them, there is no sign of trace evidence that they have even existed.

Looking around the large clearing, the five night guards searched up and down, high and low for their statues but ended up with empty hooves, that is until Bitterroot got lucky and found the large dents in the ground where the statues have been and when he found the small trenches where they have moved lead off to the mountains and Ghastly Gorge.

"Hey, LT. I found something! I think these statues we are lookin' for have been moved away over to the Gorge." he said in his usual baritone, the somewhat thick-set stallion pointing in the direction of the gorge along with the large dented ground obviously pointing to their quarry.

"Nice one private, come on fella's lets go found our prey!" Blossom said before flashing her fangs to her subordinates, and after a second they too flashed their fangs and followed after their officer, their thundering hoofsteps scaring away the weaker wildlife.

A few minutes of galloping in the direction of the dents in the ground soon ended up with them at a river and the Everfree Forest and Whitetail Woods bordering each other and waiting for them across the river, more dents.

With a flick of their wings and a short flight across they resumed their galloping after their target, all of them getting excited at the thought that they will finally find what they are looking for and get an early break.

What they found was a cave naturally made into the mountain side with eight of the ten statues put in a round shape around the cave entrance, with the ninth resting half way up the mountain and resting there for no clear reason and the thought of how it got there is confusing Blossom to no ends.

"We found them at least, and we have our thief in the cave, lieutenant, what do we do?" Requiem said while fidgeting in place, the sight of what they have been searching for is within view and the dog responsible for stealing those tools from a fellow guard was also here.

"Private, wait...I only see nine statues...where is the tenth one?" Blossom said quietly before hearing the sound of something heavy stepping behind them, and when she turned around and stopped dead in her tracks, her wings sagging to the sides along with her ears folding back and at the sight of their commanding officer being scared shitless the rest of her subordinates did the same and looked behind themselves only to see the tenth statue standing over them, a large blue eye staring at them along with two smaller ones connected to the large eye and resting above it was another blue eye and being held in its metallic hands, was a strange bulky object and at its tip it started to crackle with energy, a weapon Blossom just realized.

All five started to back up and quickly backed up into a bush only to be stopped dead in their tracks as Morningstar steps onto something metallic and before she could see what it was, they are all hit in a large cloud of electricity before falling over twitching in both pain and in a nerveless heap of flesh and bones.

Before losing consciousness, Lieutenant Blossom's eyes see the diamond dog they are looking for standing over her, shaking its head before raising a foot and bringing it down on her head, turning the light glow of the night into the darkness of the void.

Location: Forest Cave, Time: Night

I take that back, this day was good, until these ugly ass horses came here to attack me until one of them stepped on an arc mine and alerted me to their presence.

"Huston, we have a problem, and boy are these horses ugly as sin!" I said while dragging them to the other eight titans before putting them under their feet, pinning them in place until I decide what to do with them in the morning.

Haunting

I have seen this all before, every single night is the same damn bloody nightmare. No matter what medication I take or what illegal drug I shove into my veins I am still forced to endure that crap, every hour, every minute, every. Single. SECOND.

I never wanted this to happen and yet it did.

I should have seen this coming and yet, even with my supposed vaporization and high level radiation poisoning I still get the nightmare.

Just one night, that's all I am asking for, just one moment of blissful rest.

To never hear his voice again in that kind of pain, to never imagine the horror he witnessed.

There is nothing I wouldn't give to forget the past.

System: Troy, Planet: Beirut, Location: Outpost Gamma, Time: 21:26:47

Walking down the metal road on the surface of the outpost, I stared blankly ahead as Miko followed up from behind me. We had been talking about since our shift began on how bad we must have been to be ordered way the fuck out here. I learned that Miko was sent here by her commanding officer for disobeying a direct order to retreat and fall back to the dropships, her reason behind her disobedience was that if she didn't stay behind and hold the line for a few more minutes then those same dropships she was told to board would have been shot out of the sky. How she managed to destroy sixteen titans by herself with nothing more then a Styder holding an Arc Cannon will forever be beyond me.

"I'm telling your Miko this patrol is bullshit and so does every other soldier and pilot here, there is no way the Militia would come all the way out here to attack us when this planet is a complete and utter shithole." I said as I loosely held my Spitfire, Miko walking beside me as she walked backwards and relying on me to tell her if she is about to smack into anyone or anything coming her way.

"Ramsey, we both know that the Militia would come out here in the space boonies to raid this facility for themselves, they did so when they looted the Odyssey for some sort of archive on that rusty tin bucket so you can probably expect them to come here for whatever it is the big wigs are cooking up." Miko spoke as she pulled out her Autopistol and removed its magazine before sliding it back in, my eyes were busy looking forward and on the occasional glance at her chest to watch her breasts move ever so slightly in that tight stealth uniform of hers.

'That girl isn't wearing a bra again...I swear she is going to cause a few of the married soldiers and pilots here to be sleeping on the couch if their ladies are here with them.' my eyes lingered on those concealed globes of hers before going back to looking forward then upwards to see a Goblin Dropship slowly fly overhead before entering through the gravity well of the station before regaining its full speed and zoomed off to a landing pad off in the distance.

Tilting my head up I saw what was keeping everyone on this station alive and not an eviscerated mess from the never-ending hailstorm going on outside and when we discovered that this place had a higher gravitational field then any other planet it turned this slightly annoying planet to a 'Hellhole Planet'. One thing we all learned is that if we are to ever leave the safety of the gravity fields protecting this base we are to be in a titan with overclocked bodyshields or in a starship that can handle the persistent hail of sharp ice.

"So Miko, you got anything planned as soon as our shift for the day ends?"

"Yea, I got a message from mother that my father isn't doing so well and he might not make it through surgery so I have to check in on him and wish him the best of luck." her voice dropped down a bit as she turned around and slowed down in her walk a bit just enough to get in my path and bump into me in which I looped my Spitfire around her to trap her between myself and my weapon.

Pulling her close I held onto Miko as she sighed a bit in my arms, her head leaning to the side as I placed my own on her shoulder, and with a playful nuzzle from me and a foot stomp from her we separated as we both laugh it off. As we separated from each other a bit the two of us heard a small patrol of grunts march on by, what they are saying about is humorous at best.

"Hey Stan, you see those two pilots over there?"

"You mean the two walking across from us heading over to R&D?"

"Yes, the two hugging and shit."

"What about them?"

"How much you wanna bet that those are going to make a detour and head straight to the barracks to fuck each others brains out?"

"I bet you three hundred credits that they will fuck each other, but not in the barracks, most likely in between one of the crevices between the buildings."

"I'll get in on this action, four hundred credits that they just go behind a building and make the four legged beast."

"Alright, Tommy, you want in on this?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

Looking at Miko I saw a strange purple mist floating effortlessly, my mind almost stopped at the sight of the wisp but I ignored it, for the most part it could have been some exhaust from the R&D vents mingling with the rain.

As soon as they get done talking the two of us faced them as I gave them both middle finger salutes while Miko used her jumpjet to launcher herself onto my shoulders and do the exact same thing before leaping off and with a smug grin that couldn't be seen under my helmet I extended my arms out and caught her before she would touch the ground. Hoisting Miko back up and letting her stand up again we started to laugh together before returning back to our walk to one of the shield stations.

Once we were back on our scheduled patrol route we started to talk about what has been happening lately but the topic that eventually breached the surface was what happened in the Troy System.

"I still can't believe that they just attacked a colony! They had nothing to do with the Militia and now they got that traitor McAllen in their mix and he already stole whatever was on the Odyssey and now I hear that we are up Shit Creek without a paddle and the boat is sinking slowly." Miko said as I began to imagine what it would be like to even be in a shit creek without a paddle with the boat sinking and the first thing that disturbed me was why the hell was I in the middle of a river full of shit, secondly why the hell did I not bring a paddle? Like seriously who is fucking stupid enough to forget a paddle when in a boat and lastly, who the is stupid enough to even try to even sail in brown river, that is just nasty as hell since the smell would probably kill anyone that doesn't have the stomach to withstand all that is rank with it, or not even wearing a helmet for that matter.

"Wow Miko...that sure is imaginative...eww by the way. And I can believe that we attacked a colony cause I was there. I was dropped off when the Militia came in to try and stop us, and those new Spectre's sure know how to pick them apart. Sure it may seem wrong to target civilians but hey, they started all of this shit when they tried to break away from the core systems, its only fair to pull them back in and stop the loss of lives." I said while eyeing another Goblin Dropship drop through the barrier keeping us safe, but what was off about this one was that I was told along with everyone else on the base that we were only expecting one small vessel to come by to drop off supplies before going back to its carrier but seeing a second ship come by without anyone being told is something very suspicious.

As I watched the second ship fly over to the landing strip I saw a third one breach the barrier and follow after the second and after one was another, and another, and three more. Watching them slowly fly overhead I quickly looked at Miko who had seemed to have the same idea I had and quickly made our way to the LZ, the small patrol of grunts that was walking close to us was hot on our trail, apparently seeing the strange fleet of Goblin's fly overhead and not on schedule.

Breaking into a jog we started to make our way to the LZ, Miko had the idea to contact the tower that authorized the local landings of the Goblin's and the much larger freighters and cruisers but seeing at least a dozen of dropships just fly into the dome without any thumb's up from the tower and that we were only told that one was coming to give us supplies, that gave everyone on the base a crystal clear red flag.

Watching the ships slowly move over the landing zone we picked up our pace till we were all running, the soldiers behind us were having trouble keeping up with Miko and myself but as soon as we all made it to the ramp leading up to the strip I saw the tall tell signs of Militia, their shoddy uniforms and the way they talk.

The Frontier Militia is here on this outpost, and we only have a skeleton crew of soldiers and scientists with a handful of pilots and titans.

"Target the Militia! Target the Militia!" I shouted into my helmet as the operators in the tower finally understood the gravity of the situation as the base's AA turrets activate and as I raised my Spitfire to mow them down from the hip, a staccato of heavy anti-air shells begins to rain onto the Militia dropships.

"Target Everything!" I shouted again as all the turrets started to change targets and open up onto anything that is in the air, the IMC supply ship that arrived first had already touched down onto the platform but was surrounded by both enemy grunts and spectres.

Running up the ramp to a blasting ramp for a fighter that was once here, I ducked behind the metal and concrete barrier as a small hail of gunfire ricochets off the protective wall as Miko and the four soldiers behind us finally arrive and take cover as well.

"Alright everyone, pick a target, pray to god and blow their fucking heads off!" I shouted before pulling the pin of an arc grenade before counting to three and rising over the barrier and chucking that son-of-a-bitch like a snowball at Miko's face during a lazy day.

Just as I threw the arc, the rest of the people hiding with me pop out from the sides and top and in a display that shows the absolute horror on their unhelmeted faces as they are hit with .50 caliber rounds, buckshot, full metal jacket bullets and electrical shocks before hitting the deck in a heap of blood and meat.

Once the first group of intruders were eliminated we let out a short cheer and a couple of high-fives before watching the other Militia dropships deploy more troopers to the field, and our short cheer of victory had to be postponed as an Atlas Titan is dropped off via Goblin Dropship that has been modified with a open-able bottom hull.

"Shit! Miko get these guys to the nearest generator station and hold the fort down, I got this one." I said as I removed the half spent ammo drum from the Spitfire's housing and replaced it with a fresh drum and once I saw the ammo counter read a solid 80 on the little screen I ran at the Atlas just now getting up after making its three story drop to pick up it X0TBR-16 Chaingun from the floor. As soon as the Atlas stood up I charged at the imposing machine and before it could open fire on myself or on the others I ran underneath its legs before making the leap onto the back and climbed up the maintenance ladder before reaching the top and the internal compartment handle. Yanking off the protective covering I brought up my Spitfire to bear and once it was roughly aiming at the internal components I let it have it and let loose with a hail of heavy lead which in response the Militia on the ground started to open fire on me but their aim was sloppy at best as bullets pinged off the armor on my body and the titan's full metal covering.

It wasn't before long that the internal compartment was a mess of frayed wires, destroyed chips, bullet fragments and melted sensors, and just as my ammo counter hits zero the Atlas released a groan of internal structural failure and I was immediately launched into the air just barely touching the protective barrier before falling back down but I landed feet first on top of a BRD-01 Spectre, my right boot crushing its head as my left boot crushed its back.

And what became of the pilot that was inside the Atlas? Well apparently he got launched higher then I was and when he went past the barrier he got torn to shreds by the hail and when he came back down I saw nothing but frozen meaty limbs and icicle blood.

I thought that was a grisly way to go but he did join the wrong side and attack a base on the worst planet imaginable.

Once again I saw the purple wisp floating but this time it was over the wreckage of the Atlas, seemingly studying it before a rocket sizzled overhead and scared it off. Whatever the thing is, it seems to have been frightened off for the time being.

"This is IMC Research Outpost Bravo, we are under attack from a group of Frontier Militia. They have breached the perimeter through the use of stolen access codes and are now within the barrier. All IMC forces, fend off the Militia until reinforcements arrive from the Leviathan System."

Picking myself off the dead drone I moved over to where the concrete barrier was and went back behind it before running back to where one of the bunker's is located, the same one that I directed my little group to defend and apparently it was the R&D Department of the base and I saw a half blown-up MRVN crawling towards an ammo dump that has been hastily placed behind a few barricades to keep the Militia out but before it can reach the dump for rudimentary repairs it was shot in the back of its head by a stray round and it was rendered inoperable.

"What's the situation Captain Alvarez?" I shouted in the bunker as a clean-pressed IMC officer walks down a short flight of stairs to look at a monitor built into the wall before looking up to see me and winces a bit as a short report of gunfire goes off behind me, the satisfying sounds of a Militia soldier dying outside brings a short grin to me.

"Pilot, its not looking good, we got Militia forces all over the base with titans destroying the AA gun batteries keeping them from dropping more men planetside. I ordered what few men we have here to guard the power generators keeping this facility intact from the outside elements but they won't last long, at this point in time we will be overrun if we can not stem the flow of hostile forces from being deployed in the field." the aged captain said as he relaxed a bit at my presence, already knowing full well why I am here and how many bodies I have put in the ground.

"Anything we can do sir?" I said with a hopeful tone in my voice, I am not the kind of man to hold a position in one location while waiting for backup, I usually am on the move while staying close to my objective while pulling apart the opposition.

"Yes, there is. I need and the other remaining pilots on base to route these bastards and to keep these generators active. IF we lose those we are seriously fucked and there won't be enough ointment or medicated cream to make the pain stop. Get to your titans and stomp these motherfuckers a new mudhole." said the old Hispanic officer, I gave the console in front of him a quick look to see a power graph of the other generators, all of them steadily pushing to the red zone as the facility around us gets damaged or destroyed in the firefights.

"Gravity and Shield Generator at bunkers number one and three have been destroyed."

"Aye aye Captain." I said before giving a short salute and turned back up the ramp, my eyes on Miko as she pulls a soldier inside, the foolish youngster took a round in the thigh and wasn't bleeding that badly but would require stitches once the battle was over and maybe a shot of morphine to calm his ass down.

Quickly jogging to Miko I tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a cut version of our objective, to hold the line and keep the power from faulting into the red zone and we all end up swiss cheese. With a nod from her she checked her G2A4 Rifle before running out of cover with me providing fire support with a staccato barrage before coming up on her six, and before we could reach the housing building that held the IMC titans we both saw twelve militia soldiers get blown to pieces and once we reach the threshold of the metal gates that were blown open from the outside we saw what was the cause of death for those idiots.

It was an Atlas Titan holding up a 40mm Cannon and it was painted a rough cobalt and grey color to help it imitate the landscape to blend in and once we were spotted by it we saw it take a few steps forward before leaning down and opening up to reveal another pilot, one that I know all to well and Miko only a handful of times.

"Holy shit! Erik, damn good to see your in one piece. We got orders from Alvarez, we have to hold the ground we are standing on until the Leviathan reinforcements get here which is lord knows how long. There should be more friendly pilots coming here to get in their designated titan. Lets hope to god that we don't get fucked over." I said before climbing into my Ogre, the tan-painted walker turns on and activates the bodyshield before grabbing the 40mm Cannon in the rack beside it, the weapon painted with black and yellow stripes to give it the industrial warning look since this posses a hazard to whatever is at the receiving end, the small slanted ports covering the Ogre is where the electrified smoke is spewed out, how one can electrify smoke is something that will require a science person to explain it to me slowly and with small words.

Cranking up the AC unit I went over to the jammed metal gate and with a heave and a scraping of metal-on-metal action, the heavy bulkhead eventually gave as the sounds of interlocking gears yielded to the pressure being pushed on it and with that the doors are open and the three of us can leave this cargo area to relieve some of the IMC being held down by gunfire and explosions.

"Alright, Erik, you and I will head to the communication tower and make sure it stays in one piece so we can keep the bridge open between lanes, Miko head back to R&D and tell whatever pilots still inside to get to their titans and to spread the word around. We can hold them off, the Militia wouldn't send an attack force too small to be easily repelled and they would not send their entire fleet just to destroy a small research outpost on a crapsack planet to begin with." and truth be told that this battle seems to be leaning to us on the victory lane, that or I am just underestimating them and we are actually about to be fucked sideways.

Stomping across the metal deck of the facility, Erik and I made our way to the communication tower to see it under siege by give or take twenty hostile soldiers with supplemented with spectres holding Archer Heavy Rockets, and when I saw an thin orange line shoot out at the tower and destroying a part of the infrastructure, I knew that it had to be from a Charge Rifle. Raising our weapons to the enemy they split themselves off as I received multiple lock-on warnings on my HUD, the warnings turned into impact timers before I raised my hand and caught all twelve rockets in midflight before returning them to their senders, two of the bastards were not so lucky when they saw me catch their rockets and didn't bother to reposition themselves.

One asshole though, he had the balls to run up to me, throw his satchel charges onto my right leg, then had the audacity to squeeze the trigger and destroying the entire armored hull protecting that leg. The metal plating was melted and warped, its functionality was reduced by 78% and that it was somewhat on fire so that proved to be an eventual hazard to my health if that doesn't get put out real soon.

My response to all this nonsense that just transpired?

I chased after the bastard for a few meters, shot in front of him which forced him to make an about face before I stomped on him with the leg he just fucked up while shouting through the speakers.

"You motherfucker!" I shouted before stomping on top of him, his body immediately crumping under the immense weight brought down upon him resulting in a crunch and a pop before a large red gore splat appears underneath the plated metal foot.

"Gravity and Shield Generators two, four and five have been destroyed. This facility will fall to the elements in three weeks if the last three generators are lost."

"Do you know how expensive these things are?" I raised my foot in the air to see an arm twitch a bit before slamming it back down and did it again before staring down the gory mess.

"Do you even know how much money it costs to repair an Ogre let alone manufacture the required parts to put this thing back together in working order without leaving it in the shop for a week?" I shouted at the surviving militia before chasing after them, they all scattered like leaves in an autumn breeze, a few even tried to run by me but they failed to realize that only pilots do that when they know that they have a chance of doing the rodeo, and the satisfying sounds of bodies being crushed reached my ears.

"Well let me tell you asshole, its really fucking expensive! It comes out of my paycheck!" I said before punting one grunt with my left foot, I watched the poor bastard hit the wall before flopping on the ground from having his ribcage completely destroyed and the underlying organs damaged beyond repair or simply ruptured. I put him out of his misery by doing a classic curb-stomp, I saw the head go flying like a cap on a water bottle being tightly wrapped before released.

Tilting my Ogre to the crew defending the com tower I give them a salute of sorts before turning around to see Erik shooting at the retreating grunts and spectres, one particular robot exploded into a colorful shower of metal fragments and sparks.

Chasing after Erik isn't hard of a chore to do cause after all I had to watch over the little twat since we were young, our mother couldn't take care of us all hours of the day since she worked at a whore house and that we are considered bastards in all meanings of the word but me being the older brother by seven minutes I had to ensure that he didn't do anything stupid or reckless. And between the two of us I am the reckless and crazy of the family, next to father who should be rotting in hell, he was the one that is responsible and caring, two things that I was lacking in since I had to be a hardass most of the time as we grew up in Smuggler's Cove.

"Ramsey, double on back and take the high ground and cover me and if you see a chance to help the AA towers do so, we can't let them keep on dropping off more soldiers to help the living militia. I'll stick to the lower warrens and clear out anything that doesn't have an IMC ID Tag attached to them." my brother said and with a hidden grin I give him a thumbs up before he stormed up a ramp leading to the a cluster of wrecked anti-air artillery, the barrels bent and riddled with holes rendering them inoperative for the time being but served as a makeshift wall as a rocket slams into one of the long barrels, destroying the long tube leaving the top half left untouched before it fell over into the molten slag.

Slogging through the low waters that power the underground turbine that generates a small fraction of this facilities' power supply and standing beside the floodgate that controls the water flow was a Stryder holding a plasma railgun and at its feet a few soldiers placing satchel charges on the grates.

Seeing how that they haven't noticed me yet I slowly shuffled my way up to them, hoping that know I am there until I am right on top of them, but sadly I don't have that kind of luck.

"Oh shit, Enemy Pilot!" one shouted before quickly dropping the explosive device in the water before pulling out a Sidewinder, the micro-rockets coming into contact with the bodyshields but not doing much in the terms of any real damage but the when the other three ground soldiers pulled out Archer Rockets I made the decision to rush forward as fast as this twenty-three foot tall, thirty ton walking hulking death that is in dire need of a leg patch and paint job.

Charging at the Stryder headlong without even dodging the micro-rockets but as soon as the Archer's are fired I pushed hard on the pedals and shot forward, the rockets exploding on impact and when the third one collided with my torso it took down my shields and melted a portion of the impact zone, but I still kept on sprinting.

The walking toothpick though started to charge up his railgun and took aim, the steadily orange glowing barrel growing a brighter shade as the seconds ticked by but the other pilot wasn't prepared for what I had in set for em.

"Firing Cluster Munitions." my OS said in its mechanized tone and with a visible shaking of the HUD I saw the rocket stutter a bit in the air before sailing through the air and the Stryder barely ducked in time to avoid getting hit by the large explosive projectile but what it didn't coming was the fact that I was aiming for the support strut it was standing in front of.

Once the cluster rocket detonated upon impact I watched the smaller munitions explode erratically and with the sounds of explosions coming behind the Stryder the pilot discharged the fully-charged and my shields barely started to regenerate before collapsing again, the incredibly hot metal slug melted my left shoulder armor, but it did nothing to stop me from stepping on the group of soldiers beneath me, their movement was hindered because to them it was waist high but to me and the Stryder it would only come up halfway to our shins.

I heard the sounds of muted crunches as I stormed through the water, the railgun charging again but discharging too soon, the half heated metal denting the chest area a bit but not causing any lasting structural damage but it only served to anger me more, I put too much time and money into this titan to have it destroyed.

As soon as I was directly in front of the Stryder I reved my left arm back before coldcocking the bastard center of mass and from the heavy punch that has clearly drained its already weak shields from the constant bombardment from the smaller explosions going on behind it, the impact made it move back several feet and directly into the weakened support strut, snapping it in half and forcing the operator to make a choice of staying there to act as the new strut or to try to go past me to avoid being crushed under several tons of rocks and metal.

The enemy pilot choose the latter option and with a sudden burst of speed of one of its dashes and was right up in my face but with a simple back step followed by a headbutt or bodycheck, not sure which it is since I can't tell if an Ogre has a head but the result of the two are all the same, it ended in the Stryder stopping in its tracks and was stuck between me and falling debris.

Watching with amusement as the pilot tried to punch me with those skeletal metal arms of his but all it did was scratch the paint off and annoy me as my response was to hit him with the stock of my 40mm which actually pushed the titan back to get conked from above with a several hundred pound rock. Stuttering in its steps I saw the right arm come at me again but this time I was ready and with my left hand I caught the fist before with a sharp pull back I ripped the mechanical arm from its socket then dropped it in the water before dropping my 40mm Cannon to grab the left arm on the Stryder and yanked that off as well before slamming it back into the chassis with the metallic limb impaling the pilot within and causing the machine to fall over upon itself, right before a boulder roughly its size crushed it.

"Huh...well sucks to be him." I said to myself before kneeling down a bit to grab my 40mm from the floor then over to the Plasma Railgun, I placed the weapon on the two metal hooks on the back of my Ogre before lifting up the railgun, the thing had three shots left and that I have no clear idea as to how to properly fire this thing so I am just go to use it as a single shot rifle before using it as a club cause after all waste not want not.

Slogging through the shin high water I eventually came out and went back on my route to hunting down Militia soldiers, my new toy was quickly used up as I saw a pilot running on the walls trying to rodeo a friendly titan, and I never gave him the chance to as his body exploded everywhere and I could have sworn I heard a scream before the pilot's vaporization but I was too busy having fun.

The other two shots were wasted on a hostile Ogre who wasn't paying attention to me and was too busy firing his Quad Rockets and I am a man that does not like to be ignored by those lesser pilots so I did what any rational man would do to someone that was ignoring him.

Running behind the Ogre I gripped the barrel of the Plasma Railgun as if it was a baseball bat and with stutter in my step and the roll of my shoulders I broke the railgun on the Ogre's back and it promptly exploded from the battery pack inside of it discharge violently.

"Ding ding schools in bitch!" I shouted over the intercom as I reached back and unhooked the 40mm and gripped it firmly in both hands before unloading a trio barrage of heavy shells, the depleted uranium rounds crumpling against the hardened armor as a few manage to bypass the shields by most simply fizzle and fry before impact but it managed to do what I wanted it to do.

For the moment, anyways.

I watched the Ogre turn to face me before unleashing a wall of twirling rockets, the sixteen rockets that came out of the heavy weapon were easily sidestepped after I backed up with a dash booster. The bastard had some guts to use such a strong projectile weapon and as soon as I started to fire back in retaliation it was halted by a particle wall but what came next nearly made me shit myself out of fear.

"WARNING! Hostile Hornet Fighter is with the AO, Retreat to a covered position is Advised."

Turning around quickly I saw the grey fighter spacecraft hovering in place easily deflecting small arms fire and the Sidewinder's shaped charges but once the targeting system painted the ship to assist me in shooting it down it unleashed what I thought was its entire payload of missiles at me.

"Oh. Holy. CRAP!" I shouted before quickly diverting power from my smoke screen to the shield core and I slammed down and overclocked the output capacitors and my bodyshields became stronger, but even then my Ogre barely survived the onslaught. Each missile that slammed into my titan detonated taking a small chunk of the hexagonal barrier with it along with bits and pieces of my armor, each explosion creating enough smoke to provide cover, something that I used to my advantage to survive.

On a wing and a pray I somehow survived that shitstorm but my Ogre's condition was critical: it was almost quite literally one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel. I checked the condition of my ogre and saw that from head-to-toe I was missing metal plating, protective circuitry covers were melted to the frame and servos were a complete mess, this titan didn't have much left in it and it would take days or even weeks to get hunk of scrap metal back into working order let alone perfect condition.

Slowly getting back on my feet after getting forced down by the attack from the Hornet I stood up to see that it was coming around for a second pass at me after having been pelted by both small arms fire from a few IMC soldiers and spectres but when it came back to finish the job it was resting close to a building that was just below the angle of all the AA towers in the area.

"Well...I'm fucked." and as soon as I saw its nose pointing at me I just closed my eyes and gripped the ejection lever and waited for the end, an end that never came for me.

As soon as I opened my eyes I saw something amazing and miraculous happen.

My brother, in his Atlas, had sprinted from the roof top of a bunker and leapt onto the Hornet and proceeded to beat the ever loving shit out of it, ripping parts of the wings and engine off with each swipe of his hands and just as I saw the cockpit glass explode out and the pilot started to eject he was quickly caught by Atlas before being crushed in its steely grip and casually tossed to the side before Erik jumped off the doomed Hornet and landed in front of me, the fighter twirled in a death spiral down to the ground before exploding upon impact.

Looking at Erik's titan I saw the chassis hatch open up to see him smirking at me and when I opened mine up I gave him a thumbs up from both myself and my Ogre, and our titans did a high-five which was amazing to see because normal high-fives are boring but when done from the seat of a titan, it is epic.

"That's what I'm talking about Erik! From now on that is how you kick some ass!" I said we closed our hatches and started to open fire on the fleeing group of militia and it was simply amazing to see how the two of us were working in sync against our enemies.

"Oh it takes a dysfunctional motherfucker to pull some crazy shit like that! Next pilot I got watching my back better be as crazy as you are!" and from that saying we watched as less and less Goblin Dropships appeared over our outpost, our thoughts that the enemy was starting to fall back and that victory was within our grasp.

Hopping out the Ogre and onto the floor as the two of us arrived at a nearly overrun sector of the facility and the first person that came out of the ruined bunker was a grunt and I was glad that there was someone that survived but as he turned back to wave a few other grunts to come out he shouted at me a warning that I almost didn't listen to.

"Get down!" an IMC Grunt shouted as a short barrage of rockets sail past him and right over me as I dove at the cold metal grating, rolling over and looking at the smoke trail I saw the seven rockets fly through the air and make contact with one of the station's last active gravity control panels and soon enough the entire station will be endangered by the hostile elements without its gravity field until the eight stations gets repaired again.

Grabbing the R-101 Carbine from the floor as my Spitfire was left behind in my Ogre, I got back up and ran over to the grunt who shouted that timely warning, my body slamming into the bulkhead that lead to one of the stations remaining AA Batteries that are still under our control, the rest having been destroyed or in the Militia's hands.

Getting off the bulkhead I turned my head to the sky and saw the slight icy blue shield that kept us safe from danger sputter and weaken to the point of large ice shards fall down but at a normal rate of speed so it would just hurt instead of crushing or impaling anyone, the gravity pumps still worked but the shield that reduced the shards of ice into water was offline.

"All IMC Personnel, this facility is falling apart and it can not sustain any more damage, we must step up our efforts and eliminate the militia while we still can! If we can not protect the last of our generators then we will not survive the weather let alone the falling hazards. We do not have much time before this facility falls apart. Get it done."

And with that the private intercom system turned off and we were left alone in the dark, quite literally as it was night time and the sun wasn't due to rise in another three hours and we might not last that long.

Going to my Ogre I moved the emergency R-101 to my back and grabbed my Spitfire before hopping out but when I did so I felt and saw my Ogre begin to sway side to side before falling back and slowly slid down against a metallic wall and died, its reactor shutting down and I knew that at this moment that I had just lost my biggest advantage against the militia pilots and titans.

"Erik, this is Ramsey, my titan just kicked the bucket on me and now I am on foot, might wanna watch where you step." and with that warning I saw his Atlas give me a thumbs up and with cautious steps from the titan I maneuvered through debris and a pair of titan legs to get to the front lines with a few other pilots and soldiers, what few spectres we have left are guarding HQ against any incursions so it is just us meatbags holding the line.

"This is IMC Sixth Generation Pilot Gregor Khlaskavich and I need immediate reinforcements at the reactor station. I am the last man alive here, all my men are dead or are incapacitated and I will not last much longer without any help. If any one can hear this message, get your asses over to the reactor station now or else this base and everything within five miles will be bathed in nuclear fire."

Hearing that message I ran back to Erik and leapt onto his Atlas and securely gripped onto the handlebar and with slight yelp from the sudden acceleration of my brother using both of his dash accelerators and from seeing a three other friendly pilots, Miko included, following closely behind us as they ran on the walls to keep up and we soon reached the valley where the power station was located and at a steady forty-five degrees we descended down until we saw what was quite literally hell.

You see, this isn't just a nuclear reactor station, this station was mostly a thermal energy that worked solely on thermodynamics and that it was placed directly over a dead volcano that still had lava within it and because of where it is located it is generating enough power to keep this place up and running. But at the moment since this place was under attack and the intake pipes were all destroyed so we now had to rely on a nuclear reactor that powered just enough of the facility to keep everything running but knowing that we are using something nuclear to keep this base alive just screams a catastrophe is imminent.

From where the five of us were standing we say tracers flying back and forth, explosions from grenades or satchel charges detonating all over the field, there are dead militia bodies strewn about left and right, eight destroyed militia titans ranging from the mighty Ogre to the Stryder, and I mean holy fuck there was half an Ogre in the river of lava that was running toward the station, the bottom half was in the river of liquid rock as the top half looked like it was trying to escape the molten death but it never did make it. The Atlas that once belonged to the pilot we are trying to save, its body was destroyed beyond salvage, there was holes all over it and its cockpit was blown out like some back alley whore that had the worst case of prolapse.

Just that thought is enough to send a cold shiver run up my spine.

As soon as we got half way down the ramp the few militia soldiers that were left with their last two Ogres turned to face us, ignoring the last living thing standing in their way to engage us in combat. With a quick boost from Erik and a leap from me I was practically thrown from the safety of the bodyshields and was subjected to machinegun fire and buckshot, but by the good grace of god I somehow survived that shitstorm and landed within the facility through a gaping hole made by a series of rockets if the indication of scorch marks and shrapnel was any good indicator.

"Friendly approaching, friendly approaching!" I shouted before reaching where I was expecting Gregor to be located but all I saw was more Militia waiting for me, or well waiting for more of their men but all they saw was me and with my Spitfire in my hands and the way it was aiming at them from the hip, I just did what came naturally.

I squeezed down on that trigger with a death grip as if a crab was pinching the living fuck out of me, and the screams of pain that left the lips of these militia men and women was just a blur of wails and screams, I couldn't even tell who was screaming and who was laughing. By the time my gun stopped firing and that the bodies were leaking enough blood to fill a small boat I had reloaded my weapon before stepping over the bodies, occasionally putting a bullet in the head of a dying soldier to spare them the pain of a slow death, and it wasn't before long I saw my pilot, he was leaning against a desk with his right hand clutching over a bullet wound as he sat in a pool of his blood, his face looked pale and as his green eyes saw my uniform he lowered his Kraber AP Sniper Rifle and relaxed a bit, his breathing was starting to slow down and I knew his time was coming to an end.

Running to his side I kneeled down and pulled out the small first aid kit that was standard issue for all pilots but as soon as I got the syringe out to help stabilize him he grabbed my wrist weakly and shook his head slowly before his eyes turned down to my revolver and with a slight nod I pulled it and checked to see if it still had any ammo in it and with a flick of the wrist it slid back into its place.

"Friend, they can not be allowed past this point, do not let the Militia detonate the reactor. We are humanities best and brightest soldiers that has ever graced the solar winds of the galaxy...do not disappoint those that have given their lives to the IMC cause....do not...fail us....don't.....lose sight of your morales....we will prevail...send me off my friend....with a bang..." and with that I raised the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger, the bullet slamming into the desk behind him and with his last request completed I popped the cylinder open and pulled out the spent round before putting another in its place and putting my gun back in its holster as I heard the sounds of heavy boots running on the ceramic tiles behind me as I quickly ran up the nearest wall and stabbed my data knife into it, anchoring myself as I waited for the militia scum.

"I heard a gunshot over here! Come on guys there is just one IMC pilot in there and there is nine of us! We can totally take him on, he is wounded and is probably already dead!" I heard a feminine voice shout out to encourage those around her and with a round of gung-ho from them they stormed into the room only to stop as they spread out to search the room for any survivors.

They only had to look up to see my blue visor light and I would have been dead but they never did.

"Ma'am there is no one here, I guess he finally couldn't take it anymore and just ended it, what a way to go." one of the guys said as a few followed after in agreement, I slowly grabbed an arc grenade from my side and moved it to the hand holding the data knife keeping me up, and every so quietly pulled the pin and then dropped the rapidly glowing ball of electrical near the obvious female pilot and as soon as it detonated I attacked.

"Ambush! Get to co-ack!" a grunt shouted before feeling my knife cut his throat open like a salmon being gutted and before he could hit the ground I stabbed another in the skull between the eyes, the sudden puncture wound to the dome caught the guy offguard but he couldn't do anything as his body shut down immediately, the female pilot was stumbling around as her vision was completely scrambled.

The other grunts that were barely recovering tried to raise their weapons at me but it was of no use when it was up and personal as I grabbed arms and broke them at the elbow or dislocated them entirely, I kicked out legs and broken shins as their wails of pain filled the room, none of it was fatal because the female pilot was my real target.

Walking gracefully to my target I saw that she had removed her helmet and on an act of good faith for her I took mine off as well but I threw my helmet at her which she had to raise her arms to block which allowed me to get in the first blow punching her in the jaw with a strong left hook followed by a right uppercut but that was where the fight really began and all of my training kicked in. She responded in kind to me by kicking out my leg and sweeping me in reverse, forcing my left leg to bend backwards but it didn't faze me in the least as my legs were nothing more then prosthetics but it did hinder my movement and counters as I had a leg that was now useless to me.

For over ten minutes we fought, the sounds of screaming, yelling, huffing and puffing, cursing and shouting echoed out of the facility as we fought to kill the other, the girl trying to kill me so she can set the reactor to self-destruct while I was trying to kill her to prevent that from happening. Grabbing her by the neck I raised her in the air with one hand but she grabbed my right hand and bit into the meaty bit below the pinkie and chomped down hard enough to draw blood but I reacted by dropping her suddenly and landing on top of her with my foot stomping on her chest, forcing the air out of her lungs.

Gasping for air she wheezed and coughed trying to get the precious resource into her body but I stopped her temporarily when I stomped on her again and brought down my data knife to try to stab her in the heart, and as the blade got near that vital organ she grabbed my wrist with her left hand as she gripped my throat with the other as I did the same to her, our stalemate slowly was sliding into my favor as I snarled and growled at her as her grip on me started to weaken and as soon as it did I used what little strength I had left I pressed downward and the resistance I felt was quickly swept aside as the blade was plunged into her heart and with it, her strength ebbed away into nothingness.

I hissed loudly as her breathing faltered and failed and then nothing, her lifeless corpse laid there as I hobbled my way to each wounded soldier before slitting their throats, having no need for survivors or any extra mouths to feed.

Dragging my injured ass back to where my Spitfire was located I grabbed the large tool of destruction only to hear something through our intercoms, something good and strangely enough exciting.

"Attention all hands, we have captured the commanding officer for the Frontier Militia that was in charge of this operation when his Hornet was taken out of the air by an Atlas titan, the officer is Colonel James Kreden, he is number seven on the IMC's most wanted list. The militia forces are in disarray and I have news that our reinforcements are thirty minutes away, victory is imminent."

And from that announcement alone I let out a shout of victory and once I stepped out into the moonlight I saw that four outside had one as it turns out that leaving behind unexploded ordinance and to leave it unused had led the two Ogres to their downfall, Miko rushed over to me and helped me over to Erik who was now sporting a damaged Atlas, the left arm was completely gone, there was nothing but a stub but the rest was still intact, and for the most part it could easily be back in the action as long as he doesn't need to reload.

"Hey, guys." I said weakly as Miko sat by me as I rested on top of the Atlas, my body draped on it as she held me down so I wouldn't fall off the moving stretcher.

"Yea man." Miko and just about everyone else said at the exact same time.

"First round of drinks are on me." I said with a dazy grin, my body was aching but for the moment I was happy.

My mind started to get hazy as I skipped this part of the memory, something was watching me and I rather not let them figure out what was going to happen next, the constant sighting of the purple mist was evidence enough that something was probing my mind.

Twenty Five Minutes Later

"Colonel James Kreden, you are hereby charged with treason." I stated before punching him in the gut then backhanding him which was followed by my foot connecting with his back, the sound of bones cracking filled the R&D bunker as the heavy drops of rain can be heard from deep within the secure facility, the colonel grunting a bit from kick to the back but said nothing to me but look me in the eyes with the utmost of hatred.

"Being a leader of the Frontier Militia." I grabbed him by the back of his neck before lifting him off the ground and slamming the injured Militia leader into a bulkhead leaving a small dent and a tiny splatter of red across the metallic wall, his body stuck in place for a moment before I grabbed an outstretched arm and stomped on his elbow, crushing the joint and bending it completely in the wrong direction. At that point he couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a weak cry of pain, whimpering a bit from the sudden sharp pain of his arm being rendered useless.

"Ordering the deaths of IMC soldiers." kicked out his legs from beneath him forcing him to eat some non-edible metal plates and breaking a few teeth in the process before I grabbed the back of his head and slammed it back into the floor, breaking his nose and sending a small spray of his precious life source out, making a small puddle as I held him up for a moment.

"Destruction of private property." I lifted him off the floor again before tossing him into a shot-up terminal monitor and forcing his head through the ruined screen before yanking it to the side and breaking the frame off his neck, cutting deep and slightly damaging the muscles and meat under the skin. His ragged breathing was all I could focus on, the life slowly starting fade from those eyes of his, something that I had to take care of soon.

"And for the death of my brother Erik Oppenheimer." A single tear fell from my face and onto the fabric mesh that lined the bottom of my helmet, my hands reaching the protective head gear and with a sharp twist and lift I took it off before tossing it aside, my eyes staring with rage and vindication at the colonel and with that rage I wrapped both my hands around his neck and lifted him off the ground.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense you miserable little shit." I said before slowly shifting my hands from his throat to his head, slowly applying pressure to the weak parts of the skull as my thumbs slid over his eyes and with a snarl I steadily pushed them inwards.

The screams that left his mouth was music to my ears, the feeling of his eyes popping within his skull as my thumbs crushed them fueled me with such joy and when I felt his skull slowly begin to creak and break under the pressure being exerted on it and his screams of pain only grew louder.

"As a Third Generation Pilot, I sentence you to die!" I shouted loud enough for any surviving Militia soldiers and pilots that are nearby hear their commanding officer suffer the same fate they are going to go through once they are found after being interrogated for anything important.

With a snarl and rage flowing through my veins I felt the resistance that came from the bastard's skull finally give in and with it the sweet vengeance I crave has been fulfilled. I watched as his head crumples underneath the pressure placed upon his head, the skull cracking and breaking as I saw it very quickly, and explosively, explode in my hands, the ex-colonel's body falling to the floor as brain matter, blood, skull fragments and eye juice covers my hands but I just shake my hands of the gore in front of a group of captured militia soldiers, forcing them to witness his death.

Grabbing my B3-Wingman from its holster I slowly moved over to the lined up kneeling group of Militia soldiers, all nine of them glaring at me but when I without looking fired my revolver and hit the one in the middle in the gut, blood immediately pooling at the wound as I walked off out of the secured bunker and soon enough was standing at the sight of where my brother died.

All that remains are buts and pieces of his Atlas, the ashes now wet piles and whatever remains I could have recovered are now long gone, leaving nothing behind but ruined ashes and useless salvage.

Falling to my knees I placed my hands near the ashes, trying to give myself the courage to grab hold of them but I couldn't do it, this was all that was left of my family, and I would not desecrate it even if there was an improbable chance to bring him back.

"I...I promised to keep you safe...." I said, my voice cracking a bit as it the rain continued to fall but to a lesser extent has turned into a weak shower.

The showers soon died down as my eyes saw that the ground has turned into a grass field under a full moon, looking in all directions I saw nothing but fields of grass and in the sky was a full moon, large and round it was but this was all wrong, this isn't my dream and it wasn't done yet.

My ears heard the sounds of something steadily approaching me, it sounded like a horse and when I whirled around on my good leg I saw that it was indeed a horse but it was lacking in the actual horse department and was relying heavily on the mythical creatures sector.

This horse was dark blue, maybe even dark violet I don't know but that coat color is something that horses can't get naturally unless they have been dyed, the horse also had wings and a horn so I was just spitting in the ball park on this one so I can say that this horse was a horned pegasus.

"Such horrors you have seen, what would could cause such a rebellion to take place where brothers and sisters are fighting one another tools of such destructive force." the horse spoke and it was speaking in a language I could understand.

I did not like it one bit.

"The things I have seen from your perspective...you must let go of your past, do not let it cloud your judgment and lead you astray from your destiny in life." the horse said again but this time I could tell it was female from the feminine tone and the way it walked.

And how dare this bitch tell me to let go of my past! It is all that I have left and I will not lose the memory of my brother! No matter how painful it is or how dark it makes me feel about my own people or my chances of living long enough to get my revenge on Spyglass.

I pulled out my revolver and aimed it at her head, my thoughts clouded by both anger and fury, how dare she have the balls to such things to me when she hasn't even been through the hell I have been.

"You dare break into my thoughts, pollute my mind with your presence, and have the gall to give me orders?" I said before slowly squeezing down on the trigger, the mare let out a few hasty words before I shot her in the head.

"We did not mean to intrude upon your dreams we just wanted to help-" was all she got out before she hit the floor dead, a bullet hole starting at the base of her horn and exiting out the other end, and very quickly her body evaporated and disappeared and following after her he realm fell apart leaving me alone to fall into the abyss before being forcibly woken up by it.

It would seem I am going to have a little chat with these horses about staying out of my head.

Canterlot, Royal Palace, Luna's Chambers

Luna's POV

'-we just wanted to help-' and just like that the strange creature killed me, I do not know how the weapon in his hand killed me but it did its job just fine, forcing me to wake up and wake up no less with a mind splitting headache.

Quickly rising from my covers I grabbed my head in pain, groaning loudly as my hooves rubbed at my temples where I thought the pain was coming from but when one of my hooves reached up to the spot below my horn I yelped loudly as the pain was intensified significantly.

"OWW! THAT BUCKING HURTS!" I shouted in my ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE, something that was only deemed worthy when it was for those that threatened Equestria. But this male...this...Ramsey, has earned my ire for forcing me out of his dreams when I was just trying to help him.

Ramsey Pilot the Fourth, I will find you and when I do, I will give you a piece of my mind for hurting me in such a way that even my sister Tia wouldn't believe how much it hurts!

Cave

Ramsey's POV

As I sat in the cave breathing heavily I felt a chill run up my spine, the feeling of someone calling me out was strong and the vendetta that followed that chill only made me feel like I messed up.

"Eh...I will deal with it in the morning.

Welcome to Ear-...Equestria

"Day Seven: IMC Pilot Ramsey Oppenheimer, I have been making daily visits to the horse town that lies on the outskirts of the forest and acquiring certain items that I need to ensure not only my survival but the survival of the five prisoners I have under my watchful eye. Four days ago my dreams have been invaded by an unknown horse entity and she has seen my nightmare of the day my brother Erik was killed in action by hostile fire and unfriendly weather. I do not know how they managed to break into my mind but I do know is that they might be capable of ripping information from my head and I would be powerless to stop them. As to how they can do such a thing I have a few theories but it is solely based on the ones that have horns, the ones with wings can fly while those without wings or a horn and those with just a horn walk so I can assume that the horned ones have some sort of psionic power."

"Further evidence is needed for this theory but I do know is that any physical contact that tried to attempt with their mental powers are useless but when it comes to interacting with my mind then I have without a shadow of a doubt that they can influence it and I would be powerless to stop it."

"In other news the tree cage has been completed and the prisoners are now inside of it, all five of them are now safely inside and can not be reached by the scorpion bat lions or the chicken snakes and they are now easier to watch and monitor leaving me with more titans to send on patrol or recon runs."

"Lastly I have had my formal uniform pressed and cleaned by the MRVN in the event they find me and they come here in masse. I believe they would ask for peace talks and try to get me to release my prisoners over into their hands...or hooves...whatever the term it is for those horses. I have set all my titans on guard mode and they are not to engage anything unless they breach the outpost, I do not want to accidentally start a war when I am outnumbered by an unknown amount of possibly hostile forces, I may have the upper hand with the technological advantage and that my titans could possibly destroy a vast amount of the ponies but once they run out of ammunition then they would be useless other then be living battering rams or bulldozers.'

"This is IMC Ramsey Oppenheimer, signing off."

Turning off the recorder I stood up from my furnished chair and walked around the tree stump table before walking out the front door to my outpost, the weather has been shit lately as it hasn't stopped raining for the past seventeen hours. The horses inside of their cage are currently bundled up under a large quilted blanket that I had acquired from the horse town, the guards there are still trying to capture me but after all the failed attempts they have simply resorted to only watching me. It made the thrill of the chase boring now since they no long tail me, it was one of the few things here that I was looking forward to doing with these horses, besides messing with them or spending some hidden time with the grey pegasus mare with the funny eyes and apparently her daughter.

'That little unicorn sure is adorable, makes an adorable squee noise whenever I would pet her head. And I learned that day that ungloved hands putting some pressure at the tip of the horn would result in an injury equivalent to a bad paper cut.'

Walking over to cauldron that an Ogre made by cracking a large rock in half and hollowed it out, the rock served me well as a pot and the meat stew that the MRVN created for me and the prisoners was always served on time, the six bowls waiting patiently on the makeshift table, and with a bit of juggling on my end I brought the bowels to the cage, a small slot at the base of the bars. The small slot was large enough for the bowels to get through but small enough that they couldn't squirm through it, even the large stallion gave it a glance before shaking his head as the thought of him trying to get through it would only end in him getting stuck.

Turning my attention to the brains of the group I saw him simply watching me, his eyes not once leaving my visor but when it was his time to grab his bowl of meat stew he slowly moved through the throng of bat horses and grabbed his bowl with his wings before going back to his spot and started to eat.

Just as I arrived at the clearing to my camp I found out that the MRVN and the other three titans were busy reinforcing the tree wall around the outpost with another set of freshly uprooted and shaved trees and I had to look for the entrance because everything was blending into each other but I eventually found the way out when it was more bulky then the rest of the wall.

Pushing the heavy doors open I breathed a sigh of relief that there was nothing waiting on the other side, and the distance between this wall and the forest was a solid forty feet of open ground even though we wouldn't need that much line of sight to eliminate anything hostile. With nothing but my revolver and knife I left the safety and went straight to the horse camp for another day of reconnaissance and information gathering but today I had a good feeling that everything will change for the better.

The walk through the forest was strangely quiet today, I can't quite put my finger on it but everything seemed to be avoiding me as if I had the Bubonic Plague and that they were very susceptible of getting it from me. At first I just thought I still had some scorpion brains on me and that the smell of it was a really strong repulsive scent but when I turned on my sniffers I smelled nothing but fresh air and the occasional lovely scent of flowers so brain matter was out of the question.

Seeing how I had some time before I would reach the outer edge of the camp I had switched on my visor and went straight to the audio player, and after flipping through a few files I found the song I was looking for and with a satisfying grin I pressed play and closed the file before resuming my walk, slightly picking up the pace to go with the tune.

Jogging to the tune I brushed my hand along a few tree trunks and branches, whatever wildlife there is out here are simply avoiding me as I jogged past a scorpion lion and instead of growling or even letting out an intimidating roar it actually whimpered a bit before backing off and the look in its eyes were that of fear.

'What the fuck is going on?'

Before long I arrived at the camp's edge and I saw that everything was getting ready for something or someone important, whether they are sending an expedition to try and get me to come with them to settle whatever dispute there may be between us, but I do know that this place looks pretty damn clean for being a camp out in the woods.

"Warning: Hostile Indigenous Species approaching via airborne vehicle. Probably Hostile Leader Detected. Permission to Shoot down vehicle?"

"Negative Eagle_Eye, let them land, but keep your radar at short range, these horses might attempt to sneak their way in to the camp so expect the unexpected."

As I gave the order to not shoot down the vehicle I saw that it was being pulled by four horses, all of them are white, had wings and were wearing golden armor and the roman helmet and as for what was the precious cargo they were dragging behind them? It was a much larger white horse with both wings and a horn, the exact mirror opposite of the dark blue horse that invaded my dreams four days ago. Instead of having the night sky for hair like the other large horse, this one had the living embodiment of a rainbow of happy feelings...somehow that doesn't sound right or even feel right, and her eyes, even from fifty meters away up high in a tree and standing behind a thick branch I could tell were magenta in color and if I am seeing things, were looking right at me.

'I bet Miko would be questioning me how I can tell what her hair or eye color are from way the fuck over here without an optical scope. And my response is that I had to train my eyes to see far because I never get the chance to use the fucking sniper rifle, its like every god damn time I get to the armory, the sniper rifles are all gone and I am left with everything else.'

Watching the small army of horses salute to the large white horned winged horse I spied a few even bowed to her and that was when I spotted the golden tiara resting upon her head, the purple gem on it shone brightly due to the sun resting at just the right position and it was almost blinding, something that would have been a problem and luckily my helmet immediately cut the problem down with a sudden increase in the dark tint, the resulting glare being muffled down.

Holding on tightly to the tree branch I continued to spy on the apparent horse royalty, whatever rank on the pecking order of the royal blood line she was holding was enough to get a small army to salute to her and even a few other horses to bow down. There was something about this mare that I just couldn't quite put my finger on but she seems different from the others besides the obvious fact that she was royalty and that she had both wings and a horn, but the sheer fact that she knew exactly where I was as soon as she touched down from the sky in that wagon of hers.

'Does these winged unicorns have some sort of passive radar that only they have or is it some sort of psionic link to all of her horse minions and she detected me for not being a part of that link.'

I continued to watch the alpha female horse as she made her way around the camp, talking to her underlings and on occasion glancing over at me and whenever one of those horses would inquire as to what she is looking she would just shake her head and continue on. Something isn't right about this and I was not going to stick around and find out if she was planning an ambush for me.

Leaping down from the branch I landed on the tall grass with a thud and looking left and right to see if there was any armored horses and seeing none I made a beeline to my home, and not once saw hide nor hair of the guard horses and was quite surprised that there was nothing waiting for me by the front gate to the outpost and I was happy for the moment.

Opening the large wooden door and closing it shut behind me I took off my helmet and planted it on the new stump table and I went to lay down on my new bed made of large soft leaves and the soft inner core of a tree was soon occupied by my body as I closed my eyes and sighed, looking at my hand I opened up my roster and dragged new orders to MRVN and on the screen it clearly reads: "Watch the prisoners and make sure they don't try to break from the cage they are in." that and also to stop making furnishings for me, I am going for the Spartan Style not the relaxed and extravagant style.

Closing my eyes and relaxing my body I let myself loose and my mind drift off to simple times and to all the battles I have partaken in since I first joined the IMC. My run-ins with local pirates and smugglers running illegal drugs and weapons out to the homesteaders, killing hostile wildlife while the engineers set up and activate recently installed the dog whistle towers out in the frontier worlds, the one time I fucked Miko so hard that she ended up bow legged for a good three hours or the time where she leapt into my Atlas while the hatch was closing and dropped down with me planetside and ending up fucking each other senseless during the entire skirmish. I never really did get the smell out the chassis or even the stains...

Just as I started to reach my peak of relaxation and also seeing if there is anyway for me to regenerate myself out here in the boonies there was a knock on my door and my eyes snapped open to the sound of a second set of knocking. When I heard the knock again for a third time I let out a loud sigh, closed my eyes before hearing the simulated voice of the MRVN talk through the earpiece.

"Sir, the alien horses have arrived in numbers along with what must be there leader." I groaned a bit as I let that bit of information be absorbed, I was never one for being forced into peace talks since I always shot the things that caused a disturbance or annoyance to myself or what the IMC would declare an annoyance but this was just pushing it.

"Can you describe what the leader is wearing, might be just their commanding officer." I asked as I grabbed my Spitfire from its spot near my bed, slightly pulling back on the lever to see the bullet still in the chamber the readout counter below the iron sight still reading eighty on the little screen.

"Large, at least one and a half times normal height of the normal horses maybe twice as tall, golden crown, gold horse shoes that barely go half way up the shins, a golden necklace, a rainbow-like mane and tail, magenta eyes. Based on the crown that would make the alien horse society a monarchy. Based on collected data from the five prisoners and information from when you infiltrated their town this is a female and if the government system is a monarchy then this would make her a duchess or princess or even a queen, more information is needed. Alien horse has both wings and a horn and no information on the type is in the archives. Caution is advised." the MRVN said before cutting communications with me.

Taking a deep breath I pushed the door open and was greeted with a large white horse wearing exactly what the Marvin had told me not even a minute earlier as it was a large pristine white horse in golden adornments that was standing in the center of a formation of smaller white horses wearing what looks like ceremonial white and gold armor wielding spears in their hooves. Looking at each armored horse to the one standing next to the other I see that they are all identical in almost every way except the ones with horns, the ones with wings and the ones without any special attachment, they are all the same and that makes me wonder if these horses are like the BRD-01 Spectre's but for horses and not humans.

Closing my eyes and opening them back up I slowly walked over to the center of my camp, the five prisoners wiggling in the hold of the three titans, the MRVN busy placing strips of bat lion meat over the fire and dumping the scorpion tail into a pit that an Ogre has dug up to be designated as the trash heap, and the Atlas up top watching everything while its second eye is watching the sky for trouble.

Once I was standing in the middle of my camp I made a small hand gesture for the large white horse to come in, her guards forming a phalanx of spears around her but I knew and probably she did to that her guards wouldn't be able to stop shit from happening if things get out of hand. The nine titans in total aiming their weapons and ordinance pods at the group were in this exact a Stryder, an Ogre and four Atlas's with an assortment of weapons ranging from the XOTBR-16 Chainguns, 40mm Cannons, Triple Threat, Arc Cannons, and Quad Rockets.

As they approached the middle they stopped, the eyes of the guards staring at the titans pointing their weapons at them but at the silent command by my hand they lowered their weapons and stood at ease with the exception of Eagle_Eye standing watch way over head, not once taking his railgun off the sight of the large white horse.

Staring at the horses in formation I took a few steps forward and as soon as I did that the large horse leader did the same thing and soon enough we were a spitting distance away from each other and that was when I made the first move and offered my hand out in a friendly gesture and shockingly the horse leader understood what it means and raised a hoof to me and placed it into my open hand and we shook.

First Contact with intelligent alien life, and it just so happens to be intelligent horses with different configurations and has the grasp of metal working and masonry and mathematics and the ability to talk and form a government.

With the first handshake established I made another hand motion for her to follow me into the sheltered cave and she graciously accepted the motion with a head nod and she said a few words and two guards break off from the rest of the group and trail close behind her. Following my lead I walked back to my cave room and I opened the door before pushing it all the way open and let the three walk in first, my eyes trailing on their leader before walking into the door behind them and closed it.

'I hope this goes well or otherwise I am in some deep shit.'

Outside

Lieutenant Blossom of the Night Guard Corps. POV

Watching Princess Celestia walk into the cave that belongs to my captor, the tall armored diamond dog followed her in and closed the door after her and as soon as he did the giant statues resumed their combat stance with their crossbows of varying bolts. My eyes stared at the metal claws holding their weapons, how something made out of metal can maneuver with such dexterity around a boxy weapon. My gaze turned to Bitterroot, the large stallion simply just sat there with his tail occasionally twitching along with his wings, his stoic gaze looking off at the mountain side as he simply stared and breathed as my eyes looked at one of the colossal statues that had strange shapes wedged into it, it was unsightly but it looked like its armor was thick and heavy enough to survive dragon fire.

Wondering what could possible be of use for those strange indents my thoughts were cut short when I heard the sound of a few guards break from formation and went up to herself and the four others under my command.

"Lieutenant Blossom, how in the seven rings of Tartarus did you end up in a situation like this? I thought you bat ponies were good at nothing but silence and subterfuge and yet here you lot are, captured, and being held hostage no less." a gruff and loud voice said over the sounds of the muffled words being said within the cave. I turned my head to see who had spoken to me and once I saw who it was I promptly rolled my eyes and inwardly gagged at the sight of my rival, Commander Hailfire of Canterlot, a unicorn that excelled at combat magic but focused solely on fire and ice magic and has melted and froze many beasts of the wild and the occasional diamond dog and gryphon that would dare attack a fellow pony or raid a town.

Rolling my eyes I fidgeted in place within the cage before letting out a huff of annoyance.

"Commander, if you haven't noticed this is a delicate situation at the moment so please stop talking to me, these statues have eyes and ears and they know how to use them so please talk to us after we are free....whenever that will be." I said before resting a hoof on a digit of the iron claw and blew a lock of hair away from my eyes, the red and black strands blending together as the white coat of my foreleg comes back into view before I start to make little circles in the claw holding me up.

Turning my head away from Hailfire I turned to look at Nightshade who is currently freaking out in both a good and bad sense. This poor stallion is suffering from head trauma from an apparent kick to the head from when they were captured but now he has been babbling about getting skinned alive by the dog and be used as food. Shaking my head sadly I knew that once we are free that he would be relieved of his duty and be forced to stay in the psychiatric ward until the trauma passes, and he was such a good recruit to.

Looking down the lane of statues I saw that Requiem and Morningstar have decided to pass the time by falling asleep, both of them are not giving any bucks to the situation at hand and are simply letting Princess Celestia handle it.

Before any of the ponies could debate on who got caught or who is an annoying motherbucker the semi-silence outside was interrupted by the cacophony of overtly loud coughing coming straight from the cave and from that I saw the commander gallop past his peers and went straight to the heavy door but was stopped by one of the statues by slamming an arm down to block his path but that was a mistake.

Commander Hailfire stared at the metal statue in disdain before yelling at it to move out of the way but when I saw his horn start to glow blue and the large hand blocking the door was glowing the exact same color I put two and two together to come up with that he was trying to force his way inside.

I shifted my eyes back to the large statue and saw that the large central eye on it turned from the commander of the solar legion to its own hand and back to Hailfire and soon enough it dropped its crossbow and leaned forward to grab him, and since he closed his eyes to concentrate on the hand he didn't even see the one looming over him. As soon as it got dark over him he opened his eyes to see the hand wrap around him, quite literally plucking him off the ground with ease like a hawk grabbing a trout from the water, and for a moment I thought I heard a squeaking noise coming from him when he got lifted up.

Waiting for what would probably be a hostage situation with the statue and the rest of the solar guard, I felt my eyes widen a bit when he started to toss the commander up into the air before letting fall back down and catching him as if he was a rubber ball. I watched, along with all of the other guards that came and the three non-blubbering night ponies, stare the metal statue practically juggle Commander Hailfire for what felt like minutes, Hailfire flailing his hooves around as he tried to find something to grab onto but as he as practically being launched into the air as soon as he makes contact with the metal talons, and soon enough he started to turn green in the face and as soon as he touched the hand again his horn lit up long enough to teleport away from the statue only to land on his back

Watching him quickly get back up onto his hooves he shook his head and glared menacingly at the statue which I think tried to do the same thing, I can't exactly tell its expressions but when it stomped its right foot on the ground and let out a silent roar, opening both arms as if to declare a challenge but when it points the overly large crossbow at him my ears swiveled away from the pair and I heard the sounds of heavy steps alongside with hoofsteps.

Almost everypony in the camp turned to see Princess Celestia and standing beside her was the armored diamond dog and behind those two were her hoof picked guards.

And for the first time for everypony here, we heard for the first time the diamond dog speak equestrian, and swear in front of the princess at the exact same time.

"What the fucking hell is going on out here!" and with that we all had dropped jaws and pin-pricked eyes, and it wasn't because he talked, it was because of something else entirely.

Inside

Ramsey's POV

Closing the heavy set door behind me I moved quickly over to the wooden table and sat down on the other side as the large white horse sat opposite of me with her two guards flanking her. Staring at the guards I can tell that they are nervous about this and the slight lack of light isn't doing any good until the large horse made her horn start to glow before the glowing turned into a ball of white light and it floated off before touching the ceiling and sticking to it.

Next up was the supposed 'peace talks' and seeing how we are two different species and I am offworld so a spoken language is probably all but impossible at this point for humanity to make a universal translator.

That problem was easily solved when I felt something icy and cold poke at my mind before it started to be a more gentle probing and soothing stroke but what came next actually startled me.

"Hello? Can you understand me?" the voice said and by the gods was it soothing and gentle and oh so hot.

Thinking on what I should say since first impressions are important and all that other good stuff but what was more important to me was how she was capable of talking to me and how I could understand a word she is saying.

"Yes, I can hear you loud and clear." I said and with a thumbs up I saw the white horse give a smile before speaking up again.

"Good, now let us start off with introductions. My name is Princess Celestia of the land of Equestria." and that was where I was finally told what her title was and no longer had to guess her position of power.

"I am Ramsey Oppenheimer, Fourth Generation Pilot for the IMC from the Demeter System." I shuddered a bit when I said Demeter, the ensuing battle that has taken place there will forever scar me until the day I die or it gets removed from my memories when I regenerate in the medical labs on the IMS Colossus.

"Princess Celestia, I can fancy a guess as to why you are here out here in the boonies is because of the resulting titanfall out here and the capture of five of your operatives, am I not correct?" I said as I felt my head start to hurt and my insides start to feel like they are on fire, the pain telling me it is time to take my medicine to kill the radiation still eating away at me, a few more weeks of pills to take before I am up to speed and back to normal.

Still smiling at me she gave a nod before speaking up again, her voice just sounds absolutely angelic and it feels like just her words can sooth the pain away that is plaguing my body.

"Yes, that is correct though I do not know what a 'titanfall' is but your arrival has caused a disturbance in the sky before it has cleared up after your landing in your alien airship if you have one, and also that you are holding five of my citizens hostage."

"Well...Princess, those five are operatives for spying on an IMC Operative and that they were armed and armored at the time so they are not citizens, as for an alien airship, I have none. I arrived to this planet in the mobile battle suits guarding this camp alongside with nine other survivors from the reactor meltdown at Demeter." I said as I felt the pain starting to make itself more noticeable and now it was making my chest hurt something fierce.

"Mr. Oppenheimer, I do apologize for the actions that those five ponies have done-" she said and with it she clarified what the aliens were, they weren't horses but ponies, and that made a bit of sense, "but remember your in the wrong also for stealing those tools from Claw Hammer back in Ponyville." and with that I started to laugh internally at the name of the town I was in.

'Oh dear god that is hilarious! Next the princess is going to tell me that the rest of the cities within her country are all pony related! I can't wait to hear this shit play out.'

Once that was over with we started to talk about some of the more obvious things like who we are, where we came from, what history was like, do I have a criminal record and lastly if there is any illness she should be aware of. And she was right about me being sick, but she is wrong about being able to cure it.

I think.

Before any of us could go any further I let out a rather loud ragged cough and another before quickly removing my helmet and popping two red and blue pills into my mouth and swallowed them dryly, and after a few minutes the pain receded and my mind was clearing up. One thing I learned as a child was that medicine, no matter what age group it was made for or what form it came in, it would always taste like the worst cough medicine imaginable.

Looking back to the princess I can see that not only was she concerned with my health but the two guards behind her had their heads tilted, wondering what exactly I just took and what was the cause of my distress but when they tried to come over to see if I am okay I just waved them off and stood back at attention and stared at them without my helmet on, letting see my face.

"Are you alright?" was all she said before I started to wave my hand her off, something she understands clearly that I can handle myself under my own power, even if at the moment I feel like utter shit.

"Yea...yes...im fine...just a bit of radiation sickness is all."

"Radiation Sickness? Pray tell what is that and how does one cure it?" the pony princess asks while still trying to not help me, my thoughts are that its in her nature to help those in need.

"Well, to explain it in a quick manner is that it is a side effect when someone is exposed to varying amounts of radiation it causes many different debilitating effects but the most common ones are fatigue, weakness, nausea, headache, fever, and even diarrhea, but for someone that has absorbed a large amount of radiation then the end result is death, most likely less then forty-eight hours of exposure."

The look of horror written on their faces was clearly something never heard of so I can safely guess that these ponies never discovered uranium, plutonium or even for that matter anything radioactive. Still reeling slightly from the headache I move over to the wall and lean against it, breathing deeply, trying to calm my body down before resuming where I left off.

"As for a cure for radiation sickness, depending on how much the body has taken in the person can be saved but if it in the smallest to normal dosage then a few days in the med bay with proper medicine will cure them and in larger doses, comatose for a couple of weeks but for what I had just went through...I should be dead, dying or fine for now, and since I am still standing and not a pile of ashes on Demeter." and with that I slipped my helmet back on, turned on the visor and let the blue light shine in the slightly bright room.

Before we have a chance to talk any further the sound of something heavy slamming down outside the door was instantly followed by the thud of something equally heavy.

"Engaging Hostile Alien."

'Oh shit...that does not sound good at all.' and from the face the princess is making she is thinking the exact same thing.

Rushing to the door and yanking it open I saw that my Atlas was covering the door with a foot and was pointing the XOTBR-16 at a large stallion wearing more detailed and stronger armor then the others, the helmet he is wearing is also much more detailed and seems to be trimmed with gold or some other luxury metal.

Turning to face my Atlas I gave it the order to stand down and with that order it raised its left leg from the doorway and stood back up, the large machine gun still pointing at the armored pony but was no longer on the verge of turning him into a pink mist. Shaking my head at the display that is being made here I look over at my giant armored watch dog and went through its recording at the time where me and the princess entered my home and saw that this pony was simply responding to my coughing fit. Sharp hearing this guy got that's for sure.

"What the fucking hell is going on out here!" I shouted before pulling out my B3-Wingman and fired a single round into the air, the loud crack startled a flock of birds that heard the report of the revolver and every single pony that heard it immediately covered their ears with their hooves, even the large stallion trying to stare down my Atlas had to stop to keep his hearing.

As they all stared at me I walked over to my Atlas and jumped up its side before holding onto the hand rail that leads to the section of the hull that grants access to the internal circuitry of the central eye and other processing units. Once I was up top I looked around to count how many pony guards were present and to see if there was anything hostile was outside the walls but there was nothing but fleeing birds, a chicken snake running away, and even a small pack of wooden wolves retreating.

Waiting for the local wildlife to disperse and scatter to the winds and for the pony guards to calm the fuck down and not piss off one hundred tons of metal, wires, core energy, bullets and rockets. The standoff between my Atlas and the officer pony has cooled down but soon enough the two were at it again by staring angrily at each other but that was put to an end when Celestia looked at the stallion and with a nervous nod he stood down and was at ease, and with a nice pat on the top eye before hopping down and landing on the dirt with a muffled thud and a grunt from the drop.

Staring at Celestia I can see a faint smirk on her face at my little display but it was quickly withdrawn when the guards lined up in perfect unison and was standing at attention at her very presence and with that I made a signal to the all the other titans to stand down and maintain a defensive stance against any hostile wildlife.

"So Princess Celestia, now this little face between your pony and my Atlas is over, maybe now we can move onto a different matter such as..." I said before trailing off, not sure what to go on about since the prisoners were still mine to decide their fate and she didn't have much pull to say otherwise.

"Well Mr. Oppenheimer, I was hoping to discuss about the five captured night guards that you are holding within that wooden cage of yours." and once again she had that angelic smile gracing those lips of hers, I am not sure if she has some sort of bewitching effect on those that she speaks to or are near her but because of that smile I feel more compelled to listen to and obey her than I normally would go against authority.

Thinking on how I could negate her words I think on Demeter and immediately that strange calm that was cast over me was immediate set ablaze and any hold that Celestia had over me was gone in a flash.

"Princess, those five are mine, they were spying on me, they triggered my alarm system and got caught, and unless you can come up with a way for an equal exchange for these five lives then that line of conversation is over." I said, my hands resting on the Spitfire hanging in front of me, my right hand on the stock and my left on the barrel.

Looking at the five prisoners I can see that at the rate I would have to hunt and clean for five extra mouths I would be running ragged and the chances of a larger group of ponies coming to assist the fifty six or so armored ponies to get them back would make this delicate diplomatic situation harder then it would need to be. But if I only had one prisoner to handle and deal with, then I could get things to be running my way and maybe even get something out of this.

Before the princess could speak again I raised my hand to her to let myself speak first and with a gracious nod from her I spoke my mind.

"You know, I just had a thought that would benefit us both." and with what I have in mind I might be gaining a walking, talking codex on pony culture...if I play my cards right that is.

"And what would that be?" the white mare said with a slightly raised brow, seemingly trying to see what I am playing at.

"You would take your four prisoners, while I kept one as assurance that your ponies would not do anything foolish or reckless against me and that the one that stay behind could somewhat teach me of your culture and customs so in the future of our talks there wouldn't be any problems later on down the road." and once that left my mouth I could have sworn I heard the sounds of many people facepalming all at once and also the sound of someone laughing at my future misfortune.

After a few seconds I thought I made a mistake in making a demand from the princess but when she started to laugh softly I know that I have made the right choice.

"Yes, I do believe that would work, but I get to choose who stays with you. If you don't mind that is." and with a nod from me she trotted over to my prisoners and looked each one over and immediately looked at the one flipping his shit before tapping her hoof in front of the cage and with a nod from me the skeletal machine lowered his left arm to the cage and opened it up to the shaking stallion, grabbed him and let loose into the protective custody of the princess.

Next was the stallion opposite of the mental breakdown pony, same as the first she tapped her hoof and a nod later he too was released but as soon as he was on the ground he turned around to stare at the Stryder that held him and with a smirk I gave it the order to raise a single and slowly wave it as if it was scolding the little pony for doing something wrong. The look on his face was priceless and well worth the confused and slightly mad stare from the large white princess pony.

Soon the princess came up to the other two bat ponies, the last one gave a nod to the princess before the other to left with her leaving what I remember is the squad leader behind for me to use as a teacher of sorts to learn pony culture. I just hope the bat mare knows what she is getting herself into because I prefer to learn things at a fast pace and I hate slowing down for others.

"Well, there you go princess, four of your selected prisoners are now back in your hooves, and for my end of the deal." I said, slightly with glee as I can now put some of this behind me if only for a little while.

"Yes, Lieutenant Blossom, since Princess Luna could not be here I am temporarily taking her place on this matter and leaving you on loan to Mr. Oppenheimer, you are to teach him about us from the start of the era we lived here to the fall of Nightmare Moon, is that clear?" the white princess said and from what I heard it seems that Nightmare Moon is a badass.

As everything started to settle down I watched Lieutenant Blossom stretch her wings before cracking her back, the thought of cracking ones wings seems odd since breaking the hollow bones would result in being unable to fly, so how one can fly with broken wings seems like quite the challenge.

"Alright, Lieutenant, your quarters is within the cave, if you need anything just tap the MRVN roving around the outpost and leave a requisition order and I will try to take care of it. And if you do a good enough job in teaching me I just might tell you about the Battle of Demeter....erp...and maybe the Battle of Angel City." I said with a slight hesitation, Demeter is going to be hard to talk about that's for sure.

I expected no one to hear my stutter and pause but I was wrong.

"So...what did happen at Demeter that makes you shudder in fear?" those words that have escaped Celestia's lips made me stare off into the forest, the sun's orange glow dying down as the night soon was coming up, the memory of Demeter will forever dominate my thoughts as long as I live and there will be nothing that will be a stronger presence that will topple it from its high horse.

I turned to look at Princess Celestia one last time before she stepped onto her overly large chariot of royalty that somehow got in front of my outpost without alerting Eagle_Eye or myself, her eyes looking at mine through the helmet before I grabbed the heavy metal hand of my Atlas and was pulled back to the top hull and waved her good bye before speaking up loud enough for her to hear as her horn started to lose its glow.

"Your virgin ears are not ready to know the horrors that happened on Demeter, Princess." and with that her horn stopped glowing and with that she looked at me in a state of pity before tapping her hoof and with that signal the ponies hooked up to it started to run and beat their wings before taking off along with the rest the guards she sent here and just like that she is gone.

Turning around in my Atlas I see Miss Blossom standing there, looking at me with a confident smirk before I walked by her on the shoulder of my titan and snorted at her in disdain before I stormed off back to my camp where my titans were waiting for me and the other bat ponies were gone leaving only the apparent leader that has just been ordered to stay with me for the time being until they could as Celestia puts it 'get my accommodations ready' for when I am supposed to go to her capital. Not sure why she would want me to go there but I could probably ignore that request cause after all I am not her citizen and she did say that this land is not owned by her or her ponies so technically this is up for grabs.

Sadly though I rather not piss off someone that could create a translator for me to use so I guess I could visit her capital city and pray to god that it meets up to my standards. Better be some rocky road ice-cream there.

As they left I looked to the female lieutenant and waved her over she waited for me to lead the way and I did so by walking to the cave and opened the door for her, she rolled her eyes before hip-checking me and to my surprise she snickered at my reaction before flapping her wings a bit before laying down in my bed, curling up into a ball and took my leaf blanket for herself..

"Good night Pilot Ramsey." Blossom mumbled quietly before her breathing slowly tapered off to a gentle rise and fall, my guess is that she is a quick sleeper or something.

Rolling my eyes I left the door open before climbing into my Atlas, relaxing bit by bit as the custom made soft leather chair settled around my body, effectively molding to my contours as the AC unit turned on at a gentle sixty-five degrees, keeping me warm and happy for the night...something I now come to fear for obvious reasons.

"That's Fourth Gen IMC Pilot Ramsey to you Lieutenant Blossom, now get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." I said before turning away from her and leaving the secureness of the cave, the fire in the cave beating brightly as the warmth radiating from it heated her up from the coming night cold of winter.

This is going to be a long, long, long year.

Getting to know the Bat Man I mean Bat Mare

"What is this?" My new roommate said as she ran over to a small box on the floor and pulled out a glowing blue ball with her mouth, holding it right on the pin before dropping the grenade into her hooves.

"That's an Arc Grenade." I said with a groan as she picked up the blue grenade, the pulsing light was dim as it laid there in her hooves unused.

"What's this?" Blossom said as he ran towards my knife that was embedded into the table, currently stabbed into a bat scorpion stake.

"That's a data knife." grumbled before plucking it from the stake, with said meat still attached and took a bite out of it before slamming it back down onto the table and putting on my helmet.

"And this?" the bat mare said while plucking from a different box the same hand grenade.

"Another Arc Grenade." I swore that this mare was nosy as fuck, she was going into everything I had as if she was a child at the candy store.

"This?" she lifted up a large canister of blue pills, the canister itself was the size of an average water bottle.

"That is my bottle of radiation medicine put that down!" I shouted before snatching it away from her, the rattling of the drugs could be heard from the entrance to the back of the cave.

"Oooooh! What is this! Its a saddle bag!" she ran over before lifting up a brown satchel bag with a big warning logo on it with a slightly exposed explosive device poking from the top with some wires sticking out.

"Curse your eyes women! Put that down before you blow your ass off!" I shouted at her before yanking the bag from her grasp but that only served to make her go next to where the bag was and raise up to see what it is, and it was the detonator.

"Hey! What does this button do!" and like a cartoon show I saw the crazy mare slowly lower her left hoof over the button and I saw the blissful ignorance in those eyes.

"No!" I shouted before tossing the satchel charge out the open front door and watched it explode once it landed, the close proximity of the detonation threw me back a bit landing near Blossom who was holding the detonator in her hooves while her wings were unfolded entirely.

"Wow that was amazing!" she shouted loudly as if she was deaf but for me I was practically under her so my head was facing up at her barrel.

"WHAT!" I shouted back, my hearing temporarily screwed up from an up close blast as I dragged my helmeted head across her soft furred chest, the mare giggled as I did so but once I was sitting up I snatched the detonator from her hooves before conking her on the top of the head with it.

As Blossom started to rub her head with her hoof while she pouted at me I pulled myself off the ground and dusted myself off before taking my helmet off and plugged my nose with my hand before blowing out, my ears popping as everything started to ring as I got disorientated and fell on my ass.

"What was that for? All I did was push the little red button and the saddle bag exploded, what was wrong with that?"

"Blossom, what you just did was activate an explosive device and that could have killed the both of us if it was inside this cave. The heat would have cooked you alive while the pressure and shrapnel would have killed me." I said before bonking her on the head again before placing the detonator back into the crate then placed the grenade box on top of it just to be safe. My helmet soon was placed on top of it to act as an automated sentry, its visor acting like a camera as it was solely focused on the bat mare.

Grinning at the bat mare I picked up a chair that fell sideways before sitting on it and picked up my knife with the steak on it and took another bite out of it, it was already getting cold but it was still good enough to eat for a while before I gave up on it and gave the rest to her, which she gladly finished up for me and once she was done she was licking her lips before she licked the plate clean.

"Damn girl, hungry much?" I laughed at her as she kicked my shin, it didn't hurt at all since I couldn't feel anything where the legs begin but when she pulled her hoof back from the pain coursing through it I could only laugh even harder as she started to get all flustered. Her response was a simple one, to drop a satchel charge on my head that somehow got exposed. I nearly crapped myself as I screamed like a little girl as I dove behind the crates holding the exact same explosive I was running from.

Peeking over the top I saw Blossom on the floor, laughing her ass off with her hooves kicking at the air, her wings and tail were moving also, and I felt right damn embarrassed hell I might as well lost my man card for screaming like that.

"So Blossom, ready to talk about our culture and history?" I said as she licked some grease from her hooves, her face turning to look at me cutely before shaking her mane into a disheveled mess before trotting over to me, going to her saddlebag that Princess Celestia left behind for her and I to use, both of us had notepads, ink wells, ink cartridges and quills to use for this occasion.

"Sure, let me just get the stuff out then I'll be ready for this." and just like that she made it sound hot and naughty, something she didn't quite pick on until I started to snicker quietly.

Rolling her eyes she hoofed to me a notepad, ink well and a quill as I placed it on the table at the same time she did the same thing as I did, a smile on her face that reflected those pearly whites of hers and in response I did the same thing but in a more aggressive form with me barring my chompers at her.

"So Ramsey...anything you want to know about us?"

"Sure, tell me about your people."

"Erm...wanna be more specific then that?"

"Oh...you bat ponies."

"Oh...well...not often that we get ponies or in your case...whatever you are, would even want to learn about us because of our heritage and connection with Nightmare Moon."

"Nightmare Moon? Who is that?"

"One question at a time tubby."

"Hey! I am only slightly fat!"

"Uh huh...well anyways us bat ponies are actually called vamponies or sanguine equines. Our origins began in Equestria before the rise of the normal ponies and their exile from the northern regions. From what I know about my own kind we were once had a normal sleeping cycle that allowed us to be in the sun and night without any troubles. I don't know anything about our true origins but we first started our rise to power within a mountain village, our first capital was a hamlet and we eventually united all others like us under the same banner, sadly there was a lot of infighting before they came along..." she said as I started to make quick marks on the pad, only putting in the important information.

We used to be like the ponies from the north, eat fruits, vegetables, hay, flowers, grass, all that fun stuff that tasted bland to us until Nightmare Moon came to power, but that is for later. We didn't have a matriarchy like we do now, we once had an empire spanning in all directions but of course when those northern ponies showed up, it just sorta...died."

"Once upon a time we were normal ponies like them until we got this curse from Nightmare Moon, during the time Princess Luna was with us we were defeated by those northern ponies, the ones with feathered wings, the ones that glowed, and the ones that had neither but dumb muscle, we were reduced to almost nothing until the lunar being came to us and spared us from annihilation. In return, she wanted us to serve as her elite guard, an offer we grudgingly accepted at first, we soon filled that role to a T and eventually we started to forget bits and pieces of ourselves, our own identity steadily being stolen by the north, we hated them for it, we loathed all of them and soon enough our princess felt it, our anger, our hatred, our sadness and sorrow, but most importantly, our pain."

"As time passed on, years turned to decades, and eventually decades to centuries, our pain filled our lunar savior with thoughts and actions not her own, she became more cruel, merciless against Equestria's foes and when she used to ask for peace to the problem she then started sending assassins and spies to underhand and undermine her problems until they fell upon themselves. We didn't what was the cause of this steady and drastic change until it was too late."

"By the time Nightmare Moon came into power our numbers were more or less back at its original numbers but not its old strength, that was changed when the Nightmare granted us her power, with the rising of the moon we became stronger then any earth pony, faster then any pegasi, and more cunning then the average unicorn, but there was a cost to this. We had to pledge ourselves to the monster of nightmares...and with it came the second Equestrian Civil War, the first one was just a war but they called it a civil war because it was just ponies against ponies of a different shade but this time, it was sister against sister."

"After that everything just sorta fell into line with what the history books said, Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon, she gets banished to the moon for a thousand years, and we get shipped off to a mountain village to live for the rest of our lives, a mining village where growing food was hard because of the frigid air, hard soil and that nothing we had was resistant to the cold. We had to live off whatever we could hunt, grew or traded for with those northerners. We were once the rulers of Equestria and now....were nothing more then guards for the pony that saved and enslaved us. Isn't that a kick in the head."

As I let all that sink in I was absentmindedly writing on the notepad and when I looked down to see what I had wrote before accidentally saying it out loud.

"Celestia's a cunt...." and with that I quickly scratched that out, afraid of what would happen if she saw that and seeing how I wrote that underneath: "Celestia beat the shit out of her sister before casting her broken ass to the moon for a thousand year prison sentence."

"Soo....I do believe its my turn to ask you about the origins of your species." she said with a coy grin, her eyes peering into mine as I continued to scribble out 'Celestia's a cunt' from the paper but when her words snapped through I looked up to see her rolling her hoof as if trying to tell me to 'spit it out already'.

"Well....my people are humans, homo-sapiens, or if someone is lacking in the brain department, smart monkey people, our home world is Earth and from what our scientists said the planet is roughly four point five billions years old and as for the species itself, roughly one point seven million years old, give or take a million years or so."

"We stared as nothing more then apes, then there was a divergence and we started to become more upright and intelligent while the other half stayed the same, there loss I guess. As time moved on we started to adapt to the world around us, our body changing steadily and it wasn't before long we discovered fire and tool construction and after a hundred thousand years or so we continued to evolve to the point where we could speak even if it was choppy and poorly done so, we got to the point of stone tools and art, not sure which of the two came first but we pooled our heads out of each others asses and started down the road of intelligence."

"Eventually we started to form tight-knit socities that later evolved into towns, cities then nations, which of course led to countless wars over resources, land, legal issues, illegal issues, civil liberties and a bunch of other shit I can't be bothered to remember." I said while thinking on what the IMC has done recently, thinking on all the money they made that had boosted the economy of several star systems and planets, hell a few of the Frontier worlds were making money from this, just not as much as the Core systems.

As it reached nine in the morning our conversations switched from our origins to our dietary needs.

"Omnivore, pretty much everything that isn't grass, hay, rocks or dirt."

"Same here with the exception of the grass and hay, we can eat that but it isn't that good for us, we also eat flowers but its sort of eh to us...not that bad but not that great."

"Well at least you don't drink blood....right?" I said before laughing a bit, her facial expression shifted to one of laughter to the one of where someone ran over your pet dog and you were just told it is dead.

"Well...." and from that one word I was putting two and two together to get this response from myself.

"Oh god vampires are real here!?!" and truth be told I read a few books on them and I know that garlic is 50/50, a stake in the heart might not work, holy water is bullshit, a cross is semi-bullshit, but the sun might be overkill or bullshit.

"There aren't many vamponies left in the world after when Celestia cracked down on the night guard with Nightmare Moon's absence." she muttered to me quietly as if Celestia herself was listening in to our conversation.

"Sooooooo.....are you one?" I asked, kinda worried for my life cause if she is a blood sucker then I would have to lock her out of my Atlas whenever I go to bed.

"..." if I had a stake on me right now or a cross I would be reaching for them right now slowly.

"I didn't hear a no."

"Alright! I am a vampony! But I don't drink real blood only the fake stuff that gets diluted for the use of practice dummies during medical training or for the elite of the royal guards!" she shouted before covering her mouth with her hooves.

I started to think that if she is a vampire then how come all the times she came into contact with the sun she didn't burst into flames or start sizzling like a juicy steak on a hot pan. Or the time she was sleeping, not once did I see a coffin or some form of dirt underneath so if that theory is bullshit then everything I learned about vampires is a lie, except for the sparkling vampires, those are straight up fake.

"So basically you can drink blood but the crappy watery kind is all you get and it works fine....huh...I was expecting to hear that it doesn't do jack shit or that it makes the horrible hunger worse. At least you don't sparkle in the sunlight."

"In a nut shell....yes."

Moving my arm over to her I peeled back the protective mesh that kept my arm safe from small ammunition and presented to her my tanned and scarred arm to her.

"What are you-" I cut her off by moving my arm onto her lips as she pushed the offending limb away with her hooves.

"Just take a bite and get this over with." I said with a low growl, I am putting my ass on the line for this.

"But what if you-" I had to shut her up my jamming my elbow into her which earned a short yelp of pain from the both of us but she took the hint and looked for a good chunk of my arm where the blood is located.

"Just take a fucking bite you bit- OW!" I snapped at her, she bit at the meaty part of my arm and latched on it tightly.

"T'ere, appy ow?" she said while chewing on my arm, trying to get the blood flowing but all it did was make it flow faster as my adrenaline started to kick in, and once that transfusion activates it will take a few hours for it to die down.

"Fucking hell women! Sharp teeth or not that shit hurts!" I shouted loud enough and when my body moved back she followed me and with her weight she fell on top of me and I was stuck there on the ground with a leathery bat wing rubbing my face almost sensually.

I looked down a bit to see my left arm go slightly pale as the blood is drained from it as I also felt it go limpy like a wet noodle, something that would be amusing to see but to have actually happen to me is just plain strange as fuck. I felt that tongue of hers lick at the skin where her fangs sank in and it was strange, it wasn't sand paper like a cats or slobby like dogs but somewhat between the two, then there was the part of me petting her head while she feasted on me, I can't quite pin it but the feeling of being fed on was soothing...and it was creepy as hell that I had to stop.

"Come on now...let go of my arm." I said as I tugged my arm back a bit before she grabbed my arm with both hooves and held it tightly to her barrel.

"I said let go of my arm." I lifted myself off the ground with her still attached but this time she was glaring at me as she suckled at my arm, the feeling was still there but I was having a hard time feeling anything below the elbow.

"I fucking said let go!" I shouted before shaking my arm up and down and oddly enough she still managed to hang on as I tried to shake her off, her body comically going all the way before coming back down and it was at that point that I started to feel light headed so as soon as I dropped to my knees she kept on sucking my precious lifes blood from me but there was a problem with her plan.

I was practically right on top of her, and was feeling light headed so that was a recipe for disaster. I swayed back and forth for a few seconds before crashing on top of the vampire pony, my weight easily forcing her to let go of my arm just to breath and gasp as I felt her hooves try to push me off.

"Get off me you big lug!" I didn't respond as I let out a yawn and started to lean gently fall asleep, much to the unamused mare beneath me.

"Oh by Celestia's beard get off of me!" my response was to snore as loudly as I could which earned a scream of ire from Blossom as she tried to wiggle out from underneath me.

It did not work.

3 Hours Later

I woke up feeling completely refreshed and was strangely not suffering from any form of vampireic transformations or some other defect so I can say that the vampire disease is not cross species. I hope.

Rolling off the slightly squished mare I peeled her off the ground as she mumbled a bit saying that I was being too rough with her on the first date but I just laughed it off and took her outside. Something that most ponies thought was that if a vampony is out in the sunlight they start to sizzle and burn but when Blossom stepped outside, she just had to squint a bit and was feeling bothered because of the sun so the myth of them bursting into flames was busted.

"So, are you sure you really want to ride the vomit comet?" I asked, riding on top of a Stryder with its core accelerator active is a tall order, even for us it might induce vomiting or motion sickness because of all the moving around and at the high speeds. Basically if you have a weak stomach and can not handle the motion of the ocean, riding on top, in the hands or even inside the chassis of a Stryder should you ever climb aboard.

With a nod from her I climbed aboard the dark green Stryder with the missing middle finger on its left hand, I don't know how that happened but the story behind it must be awesome.

Turning on the exterior intercom I turned on the thin titan and as the reactor coughs up a storm and with some smoke billowed up and out from the vents but once it was fully activated and charged and with an open palm the vampony climbed aboard before being securely gripped by the skeletal hands.

"This is Ramsey Oppenheimer your operator for this evenings vomit comet ride, please keep all hands, feet, hooves and wings inside the titan at all times and have a pleasant day at Outpost Alpha!" and with that she got herself ready and tucked herself in a bit as I got myself into a proper sprinting position.

"In 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, Bye Bye." I shouted before punching it, Blossom did not see that coming as we lurched forward at an insane speed of 100 miles per hour from the sudden burst of speed and for a moment I felt my stomach flip on itself and from what Blossom just did, hers did the same thing as well.

Sprinting at top speeds I occasionally fired off a dash just to go a tad bit faster and that made my day whenever I heard the little pony squeak in terror and on occasionally I would be charging at a mountain wall before suddenly changing course. At times I feel like I am an asshole but remembering all the brain scrambling and wiping I went through I think I deserve to be a bit of a dick, like that sudden left turn to the river that slowly widened and got deeper the more we got closer to the soon-to-be-Outpost Bravo.

"If you look to your left you will see a river and trees, and to your right, more fucking trees." I said with boredom but when I suddenly boosted to the left I saw Blossom brace herself and nearly bang her head against the metal thumb.

By the time it was six we got back to the outpost, I let Blossom down on the ground once she made contact she took a few steps before going to the nearest bucket, which just so happened to be holding some grilse and she let loose firing her main cannon downward and the sounds of wet splashing followed by moans of pain told me everything.

"Don't worry Blossom, this time we are just going to go for a ride inside the Ogre, and this time its just going to be a scenic walk."

She merely glared at me before tossing her cookies again, I tried hard not to snicker at her weak stomach controlling skills but that was when I felt my stomach finally give in as I felt the contents of my lunch start to make its way upwards. I ended up doing the same thing she is doing but I upchucked into the bone pit and painted quite a few orange and brown.

When we were done doing the technicolored yawn I grabbed a canteen from my side and swigged around before spitting it out before going over to my heaving friend, and once she saw the metal water container in my hand she took it and practically drained the whole thing.

'Looks like I am going on a water run earlier then expected.'

A minute of collecting ourselves we eventually made our way to Miko's Ogre and climbed in, letting the leathery winged bat pony sit on my lap and same as before there was a lurch of speed before we started to walk slowly, the Ogre still holding the Arc Cannon I made it trade off with.

"Wow...this is amazing...its like looking through a window and the sides is like being underwater!" success, I have successfully amazed the bat pony, no more blood draining for me.

I hope.

About the time it was eight at night we returned back to the cave, the time I spent with Blossom in an Ogre with her sitting on my lap as she saw the world around her through what a pilot sees while they are piloting a titan. As we returned back to our camp I set my Ogre down within the wall by the prison cage and once we were set down she hopped out and I nearly fell face first but I recovered in time to only stumble. Blossom caught the sight of me slightly flail my arms around and responded by snickering at me as I gave her the middle finger, and since I told her what it means she just flicked her tail at me before snickering even more.

I opened the door to the cave for our dinner, and waiting for us in time was my MRVN, and on the table on two stone plates made by the same MRVN was some bat scorpion lion meat or as my bat friend has told me what it was, a manticore. As I ate my steak she went at hers with a ravenous hunger, I saw grease from the meat flew left and right and bits of meat went everywhere. Before I could even finish with half of my steak she got off her seat and her steak was already gone, and that was when she was looking at me then to my steak before coming over to me with a needy look on her face.

Staring up at me from the edge of the table was Blossom, she was staring up at me like a dog would at the dinner table when the food was served and the family would start eating, the smell would eventually hit the dog and then he would beg for a piece of it. And just like what a family dog would do for some scraps she was doing the exact same thing with the exception that her eyes were looking between me and the steak.

"Down girl, this is human food, you wouldn't like it." I said with a smirk, her ears went down and her wings sagged before her tail started to wag and she grew a devious grin as her wings folded back to her sides and her ears stood up on ends as she got into a pouncing position.

"No...No! Bad girl! Down! I said down! This is my bat scorpion steak! You can't have any oh holy crap!" I shouted the last part as she lunged at me, knocking over the table along with me, her mouth opening up to reveal a pair of fangs as I saw her eyes focused on my steak as I saw her tongue slip out of her open jaws.

Moving my arm up out of her range I put her on a direct collision course with my chest, and when she made impact I flailed my arms around while not once losing my grip on my knife with the steak attached to it and I slightly felt her teeth clamp down on a piece of metal of my combat armor on my chest. Rolling on the floor I felt her move across my body groping and pawing around and soon enough I felt her grab my arm and try to use her strength to pull it toward her and I watched as she tried to take a bite of the steak that was oh so close to her snapping jaws but I pulled the piece back at the last minute as I heard those teeth of hers snap closed.

As she let out a whine I let it come close to her lips and as soon as her tongue slowly slide out of her dark lips and just barely I saw the steak get flicked and as she tried to slither that tongue of hers gently around the blade I yanked it back and took a bite of the opposite end in front of her which served to set something off inside of her head.

"MINE!" she shouted right in my face before stomping a rear off directly on my gut as I let out a gasp for air which ended up allowing her to gain access to my steak but I dropped the knife on accident and as she lunged at my face she could stop herself in time and before I could try to throw her off of me our lips met and neither of us moved an inch as we were both shocked at the development that just unfolded before our lips broke apart.

As we simply laid there with Blossom being on top of me I just stared off to the sides as she laid on top of me, blushing furiously she stared at my uniform and I may not know what could be running in her head but I could safely bet that she is imagining me in it.

Minutes later she finally got off of me and apologized for her behavior, I responded by saying that I am the one that is sorry for taunting her at dinner time with what is apparently her favorite meal.

"We will never speak of this again." and with a nod from her we stopped being awkward about it and moved on, although my mind was currently assessing itself for what to do if she wanted more and if so, would I take the plunge into getting laid with an alien horse that was also a vampire that drinks the blood of the living.

It got extremely awkward that night when she asked to sleep with me that night, at first I just bluntly said no and thought it was over with but when it turned nine she asked me again but this time she was a bit clingy yet I remained adamant with my decision and said no, but once it hit ten I finally caved in and she let out a hoofpump while shouting yes.

"Just this one time Blossom, just once and that's it. Now get yourself ready cause I already am." and with that I left the cave and went straight to my Atlas, and that confused her because she thought I slept in a bed like her but somewhere else, low and behold I surprised her when my Atlas kneeled down and opened up, revealing my really soft and plush chair and before I could jump in she flapped her leathery wings and landing on the cozy seat and let out a sigh of pleasure.

"Enjoying yourself much little bat pony?" I said with a smug grin as she cutely blushed at me, her tail flicking around a bit as I let the Atlas grab me and gently place me with the chassis, I had to maneuver around Blossom before sitting firmly and comfortably within the soft leather chair with the night mare laying on top of me.

It took the both of us awhile to get comfortable with each other, I had to get in the right spot on the chair and had to deal with the additional weight of ninety pounds on my chest while she on the other hand, had to deal with getting comfortable with someone that held her captive for a few days, messed with her while she was imprisoned and finally using an alien as a pillow.

"I bet your enjoying this Blossom."

"Well...yeah...your warm and that this machine of yours is keeping the temperature even, and then there is the fact that you are not judging me for being a bat pony, most ponies just see us as a remnant of Nightmare Moon during her brief reign." she says quietly as her eyes look down at the IMC symbol stenciled upon my breast.

"Blossom, the next time one of them says some shit about you or your friends, just give me a call, I'll sort em out." I said trying to cheer the sad mare up, hell it always worked on Miko when she was drunk and some of the other pilots harassed her, those same pilots ended up with missing fingers, toes and on occasion, eyes.

"And pray tell, how will you do that?" she said, her eyes looking into mine, trying to question my sudden shift.

"Ever been in the vomit comet before?" I said as the memory of riding that rollercoaster came back to me, all the puke I rained down on the people below, it was quite the mess I left behind.

"You mean that carnival ride in Manehatten? Yes, I have, why?" and apparently these ponies have the same ride as well so I can easily torture those ponies.

"Well...lets just say I am going to send them on one way worse than that ride." I grinned at her while moving my Atlas around a bit, making her clutch onto me as I made it move around a bit before stopping and kneeling back down.

"How could it even be made much worse? Your practically guaranteed to eat your lunch in reverse if you go on that ride!" she said with some caution in her tone, obviously thinking that riding in a titan isn't so bad for your stomach.

"Trust me, the ride we took earlier in the Stryder, I was being tame with you. If I wanted to really make you lose your lunch then I would just need a Goblin or a Hornet." I said, thinking of holding the offending pony in an overcharged Stryder, the constant rapid acceleration from the boosters would ensure that they would hurl all over the place.

"Thanks Ramsey...erm...don't tell anypony about what happened in the cave or in here...many of the stallions and mares back in the barracks think that I am...a....a.." her tone steadily grew quiet until the end where it abruptly became a whisper as her tail steadily curled inward as if she was ashamed of what she was about to say.

"A lesbian?" I said with a smirk that earned me a smack upside the head with a leathery wing as I laughed lightly at her pouting face.

"A filly-fooler, yes." a blush encroached upon her face as I kept on petting her soft mane and coat.

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. And besides, I bet your liking every minute of this." I whispered to her as I gently rolled her ears in between my fingers which earned a soft purr from her.

"Shut up."

"Alright ma'am, sleep tight, and don't bite me." I snickered at her as she yawned at me, revealing her pearly white fangs at me and made a mock lunge for my throat as we both laughed a bit.

"Oh your no fun." her cute pout returned as I booped her again on the nose.

"That's the point." with a smug look on my face she rolled her eyes before grinning a bit as she thought up of something to do to me.

"Pfffffft." she blew a raspberry at me and I couldn't help myself but laugh at that display.

"Cute." I quietly said before booping her on the nose with my middle finger before resting my head back against the lip of the chair.

And with that I cradled her in my arms as she drifted off to sleep, my eyes started to slowly droop and with that I let my conscious state loose and slumped in the leather chair with a warm body in my arms, my mind imagining it was Miko to help me sleep.

'Bat ponies, a bat mare, a species hated for aiding a criminal made by a princess for not helping her sister in her time of need. I can't believe these ponies were capable of war and at such a savage level...both sides nearly committed genocide on the other. I just hope that I don't get caught in the middle of a war that these ponies have created.'

Author's Note

Foreshadowing!

I remember Me

"Attention all Pilots, this is your commanding officer Vice Admiral Graves, please standby from your employer Mr. Hammond."

I twisted in the chassis of my Atlas, I snorted a bit as a brief flash of a bulkhead and vision of space blurred across my closed eyes.

Shaking my head slightly I let out a weak groan, my hands twitching just enough to rouse the sleeping mare above me into moving around a bit, trying to get comfortable again to return to her sleep.

"Standby, Approaching Shock Layer."

My body jerks a bit as it goes through the same thing it went through as I fell from the sky in the pod, the movement was enough to cause Blossom to yawn from her sleep before looking down at me and she saw that I was sweating profusely and was shaking badly.

"Militia is fifty percent of the way to overloading the reactor core. Pilots, your vaporization is inevitable should you fail to maintain of the hardpoints."

Twitching my hands in the fashion of me squeezing the trigger on my Spitfire but in reality I am just squeezing on a bit of Blossom's body fat, the bat mare squeaking a bit at the pain but does nothing as she starts to shake me, trying to get me to wake up.

"Man down! Man down! We need a medi-evac on our location, IMC Pilot Rundall Copenhagen is W.I.A. and needs emergency medical attention!"

My grip changed to one of holding the man's hand, his dying breath was to make sure the bastard that lit him up to be blown all to hell, and when I turned to look at the deceased Militia Pilot that I had torn in half with a hail of gunfire I told him that it was already taken care of.

"Vice Admiral Graves, MacAllan has destabilized the core, shutting down the reactor now will cause a reverse-pulse detonation will result in the destruction of Demeter, the situation is untenable."

Pressing myself close to my Atlas I also inadvertently press myself against Blossom who at this rate is now agitated that I am doing this and went from shaking me awake to slapping me awake with her hooves.

"Negative, Command Override, All Evacuation Dropships, cancelled."

Just as soon as I watched the entire fleet in orbit hit their jumps and disappear from sight I felt a painful stinging sensation on my cheek as I am forced awake and am greeted with the sight of those beautiful golden eyes with the look of anger and worry on her face.

"It's about time you woke up! I have been trying to get your fat flank up for the past five minutes!" Blossom said, her hooves still holding onto my head as my face is all squished together and with my hands I removed them from my head and set them onto my chest.

"I am alright, jeeze girl you are worse then my whore of a mother when it comes to concern for my wellbeing." I said while pressing down on a button opening up the Atlas hatch and as soon as we both felt the sun shine down onto us and we felt the warmth being brought we both let out a groan as the sun made us wake up more then we already were at.

"So...got any coffee?" Blossom asked as I shrugged and fell out of the Atlas, landing on my feet before stumbling around a bit from being tired from going through another reoccurring nightmare.

Bumbling to the Cargo Atlas that was deactivated by the mountainside, and when I popped open my package crate I poked around, looking for what I needed.

"Let's see what do I have here, ammo, ammo, rockets, ammo, more rockets, a fifteen inch black rubber cock...wow whoever operated this thing must have had her kinks a priority. Hmmm...more ammo, another rocket clip, ah ha! Here we go, genuine black coffee beans and a grinder but no coffee pot or boiler...got any ideas on how to make this?" I said as I threw the black dildo over my shoulder and pulled out the silver cylinder and stepped back from the crate as it closed itself, I turned back to see Blossom holding the dildo in her hooves with a red blush on her face and I just had to laugh at her expression.

It was during my laughing did I fail to see the evil grin on her face and when I opened my eyes while in mid laugh she shoves the fake phallus into my mouth and my eyes shot open in shock and surprise as she took her turn to laugh her ass off.

In my defense I sorta had this coming but come on, really. Yanking the rubber dong out of my mouth I started to spit and lick my arm to get the taste of rubber while glaring at the laughing bat pony who was now on the floor rolling around.

Glaring at Blossom I held the fake cock in my hand and with a grin of my own I lunged on top of the mare and when she realized what I was doing I shoved the fake schlong into her mouth before leaping off of her and ran off to my Atlas and climbed and closed the hatch just in time to hear the sounds of a body bouncing off the outer hull.

"Get out of that shell you motherbucker! Face your punishment like a stallion!"

I opened the hatch just a bit just enough to see her flying right outside shaking her hoof at me as I laughed a bit before and closed the door in her face.

"No! Your just going to hit me with that fake cock! And I am not a stallion I am a man!" I said before opening my hatch to stare at Blossom flying there with the rubber dong in her hooves.

"Then take your punishment like a man!" Blossom said as I opened the hatch and gave her a middle finger before slowly closing it.

"Hell no!" I shouted again before closing the hatch again but this time there was a sound of something bouncing off the hull and I could phantom a guess that it was the black dildo.

I waited a good ten minutes before popping open the hatch and when I did I was immediately assaulted by a large black object and I knew that it was the dildo that Blossom was holding with her hooves, and the funny thing was that as soon as I opened the hatch she was sitting there waiting for me and made the toss.

I stood there hunched over with the dildo resting on the top part of the lower hatch, just wobbling there before stopping and I had a blank expression on my face while Blossom was laughing her ass off.

"Ha ha very funny, you got me. Now can we just get some coffee before I pop a blood vessel." I said as I kicked the black schlong off my Atlas and jumped down and landed next to Blossom and before she knew what was going on I reached under her armpits on her forelegs and hoisted her up and carried her over the black coffee bean canister and picked it up with my other hand.

Looking the canister over in my left hand I wondered how exactly we are going to go about doing this coffee making, and that was when Blossom and I came upon an idea.

"Steal a coffee pot from the ponies!" "Ask the Element of Laughter if we can borrow a coffee pot!" You can guess who said what.

"I can't believe you even said that."

"Oh get off my back Blossom, it was just an idea."

"Yea, an idea that just so happens to be illegal."

"But it was an idea!"

"An illegal one."

"Your no fun."

"Yea I know, but I am here to keep you out of trouble not lead you into it."

With a sigh and a roll of my eyes I let the bat pony down and with a flick of my wrist my Atlas came over to me and picked me up and put me back inside and that was followed by the main gate opening up with the assistance of an Ogre, the lumbering giant turning the wench and as soon as the bat pony and myself were outside the machine turned it back and closed the gate.

"So...to that pony town for the coffee pot and not steal it?"

"Yes, and for Celestia's sake please don't do anything stupid to make it worse for yourself." Blossom rolled her eyes as she tapped the side my Atlas, making sure I was listening to her.

"Oh please, what could I possibly do to make it worse?" I said with a bit of a chuckle but of course captain killjoy had to make an appearance. All I saw was a flat face and I had to rub the back of my Atlas to get the point across.

"Right, sorry, stupid question." in truth I pretty much did say a stupid question.

Three Hours Later

"So Blossom, these ponies, you said they are all herbivores correct?"

"Yup for the most part, earth ponies and unicorns are strictly herbivores while pegasi have been known to eat seafood like shrimps or fish. Bat ponies can eat meat but only a small amount, like a steak or something similar."

"And they are easily scared by things they don't know of, haven't seen before, are predators, lives in the Everfree Forest, things bigger then them and also pretty much anything that is unknown to them."

"Uh huh, especially the ponies in Ponyville since they right next to the cursed forest in the first place."

"And Celestia expects me to be able to interact with her people when they are going to run away screaming their heads off instead of calmly coming over and have a conversation with me?"

"Yea...you know I didn't expect it to be easy to begin with since they are still afraid of Princess Luna since she came back and they are still afraid of us bat ponies. Just because we look different doesn't mean we are a menace to society."

"Eh, your not really a menace and besides you bat ponies sure as hell look more fluffy and fuzzy then your normal counterparts. That and I bet you make a funny noise when you get squeezed cause the rainbow headed pegasus made one when I picked her off my head a few days ago."

The two of us were sitting next to a river that was near my base of operations, I was throwing stones into the river to help pass the time since I have television to watch and no internet connection to watch any videos and all of the movies I have in my helmet are rather to gory for a pony to watch or way to raunchy.

"Thanks for that compliment, normally almost all the ponies that us thestrals meet are scared stiff and don't move a muscle until we leave or they run away with their tails between their legs."

"Well it seems like those ponies need to grow a spine. If what you told me is true then Equestria, a country of herbivores, is surrounded by predators with an exception to the north since its a frozen wasteland and across the ocean to the east cause that place is full of ponies. And seeing how your surrounded by predators that are bigger then you by twice or three times your size and eat meat as their main dietary needs I am somewhat surprised that no one bothered to attack this place yet."

Scratching my neck I grab another stone and proceeded to try and skip the stone across the water but all it did was sink like a boulder in an ocean.

"This assignment is gonna suck. I mean come on, does she really expect me to just you know...adapt to this place and not act like a complete asshole when it is called for? I know that your princess wants to know 'more' about my 'people' but does she really expect me to just get up and change myself for her ponies?"

"I am not Celestia but I think I can answer that question for you." and in her best Celestia impersonation she rose to her full height and tried in vain to act like royalty, "Yes."

We looked at each other for a good two seconds before bursting out in laughter, I was busy bending over, my back facing the river as Blossom was rolling on the soft grass trying to hold her sides.

It was during this laughter that things went a bit off course. I was busy laughing and when it started to get to the point of it being kind of creepy I started to lean back to control myself but I was leaning to far back and when I started to fall over the river Blossom saw my decent and managed to catch me but the position we were in is a bit...odd.

I was hanging over the river, my back facing the water and my legs just barely staying on dry land, Blossom was digging into the grassy dirt with her hooves and was beating her wings and she was biting me in order to keep me from falling in the water. The exact location of where she was biting was my groin area, she was biting onto the metal codpiece and she was snorting in exertion and when she finally managed to pull me up and I was standing on my own power Blossom let me go but when she saw where her head was located and that her mouth was there it all went down hill from there.

Everfree Forest, Cave

Time: 9:38:56 PM

Sitting down in the wooden chair I let out a sigh of relief as I hear the news that getting kicked in the balls with an armored hoof did not crush or destroy my balls but she has managed to leave a sizeable hoof-shaped dent on my codpiece, something I thought that would be impossible but after seeing it happen firsthand I am now a firm believer that anything can happen here in ponyland.

It took me the greater part of three hours trying to convince her that it wasn't her fault, she was just trying to help me and that she did a good job, but said good job was ruined when she freaking mule kicked me into the river so that would qualify as a mission failure but at least she tried. In the end I resolved the situation by picking her up and letting her rest on my lap, her head currently on my thigh as my left hand slowly sifted through her mane, effectively petting her and earning myself brownie points with her.

"So....Blossom....I have something to ask you...." I said at first with confidence but as I thought of what I was going to ask her I started to falter in my speech until it was slightly unhearable at the end.

Tilting her head up to look at me she at first thought I was gonna ask her on a date or something embarrassing but when she saw my down casted gaze and that my petting was slowing down to the point of it being nonexistent.

"What is it big guy? Something on your mind?" she said with a bit of confusion written on her face, how she can know what I am feeling at the moment is slightly confusing me but at this point I could care less what confuses me and what scares me.

"Blossom....am I a monster?" I said with a bit of hesitation, clearly wanting to know what my only friend thinks of me.

"You. A monster? Well not really a monster, more like a jerkass but why the sudden question on who you are?" tilting her head to the side I just let my hands going to my helmet as I took it off and just threw it to the side, not caring about it for the time being as I let my hands drop into my lap as I let out a long and deep sigh.

"Blossom...we are both soldiers in our own way, we both have our failures and successes but that is where it ends. You protect the innocent from what goes bump in the night and you do it under a royal banner that cares for all of her citizens, but for me, I...I did things that would give me an execution if it was back in the Core Worlds. I fought for a private company that abused both the citizens out in the frontier and the planets they inhabited, the IMC destroyed the surface of so many planets that left it a crumbling stink hole all for fuel and the energy to power the Titans. The IMC said that they had the future of humanity at their forefront and cared for our future but it was all for money and power back in the Sol. System...I should have saw through their lies but I needed the money and I needed to find a job that I could keep an eye on my younger brother."

"I joined the IMC when I was only sixteen, I had to lie about my age and when they put me through the ringer to be trained as a security guard for a low-level office complex and when the Frontier Militia started to up the ante and firebombed the building I was in, I ended up shooting and killing three of the eight and was given a raise and a choice. To join the IMC Marine Corps or to take the risk of dying and become a Pilot, I choose the deadlier of the two. For three years I was stripped down, broken, beaten, drilled and trained until I was reborn as a weapon of destruction and death, to be directed and ordered to kill by my superior officer. My first mission was out on a planet called Perugia VII, there was a Militia outpost there and it was concealed within a small colony that had just finished setting up their Dog Whistle Tower to keep the hostile wildlife out and we were trying to figure out a way to destroy the bastards and that was when I had the idea to destroy the tower keeping them safe from the wild..."

"We destroyed the tower and within fifteen minutes it was overrun with Myrloc Raptors, they are like lizards but they move on their hind legs and they are hunched back with venomous claws and poisonous saliva, by the time we went in all we saw was eviscerated bodies and blood...our mission was considered a success but all of those lives lost...."

"Then came my real battle with the Militia...I was sent in along with a large contingency of Pilots to protect a refueling depot from any Militia but that was when the entire Frontier Fleet arrived and we had to make an emergency deployment and we had to defend the hardpoints that would allow the terrorists to refuel their ships to carry out further acts of terrorism against the IMC and Core World Systems. I was nineteen at the time and this was my first actual battle and the things I have seen...the sounds of gunfire, the screaming and yelling of the wounded and dying...so many people crying out for their mothers and fathers....I saw so many mangled and mutilated bodies and I helped...I thought it was for the greater good of mankind to end the rebellion and to restore order out in the frontier...but I was wrong. Then there was my next mission which helped push me for a promotion that started my mental degradation..."

"We arrived on an uncharted and relatively unknown planet and we were told there was a rebel outpost along with a group of traitors hidden away there by an informant. At the time we didn't know if he was bullshitting us or was telling the truth so they sent in a new series of combat drones field test and assist us and when we arrived we saw what was essentially the truth behind the man's words, and then we started to kill them all. I don't know what came over me but I had killed civilians, innocent women and children died by hands...and I was just happy that I was killing terrorists for the greater good but when my girlfriend told me what was going on...Spyglass gave me the order to be regenerated."

"At first they told me that all the damage my body has sustained over the three and half years can be healed and that I can be whole again, but at a price that I lose all my memories I have gained from the fighting. To lose all of my combat experience to start anew and be whole again, and I allowed it all to happen because I was weak minded. They fixed my body, stole the bad memories that haunted me for days, but they made a mistake during the regenerative process."

"But something went wrong, I don't know exactly what happened but the scientists and medics said that during the process there was an error and besides taking the memories of my past experience in warfare, they also somehow lowered my empathy for my enemies and at first I thought it was a good thing to not give a damn for the Militia during the missions and fighting but I learned too late that with each regeneration I would only get worse and worse...all to a point where I would recklessly run in deep into hostile territory to inflict as much damage as physically possible and it had the cost of both my legs below the knees. When my brother died I stopped caring for myself and those around me entirely and that was before and after my last regeneration, I got to the point of feeling hollow and useless until given an order...I hate this feeling with a passion."

"I only began to feel anything at all again recently...at the lose of my Miko and the betrayal by Spyglass did I finally regain what little of my humanity that I had left within this broken shell..."

"So I am going to ask you again...am I...a monster?" I said as I looked at Blossom, my eyes red as I tried my best not cry but when I felt a pair of hooves wrap around my neck and wings wrap around my back as I felt the presence of the bat mare holding me tightly and just like that the flood gate that I thought I had blocked away years ago came rushing out.

I sat there crying my eyes out, every piece of emotion that had been locked away through mental augmentation and regeneration has been released by the simple hug that Blossom is giving me, I don't know if it is because this world is based on 'Harmony' instead of Chaos or even the countless deaths that I had to see and endure through but because of her emotional support I can now feel again. If only it was permanent.

"It's okay Ramsey...its okay...your not a monster. You did what you had to do because someone held your leash. Everything will be alright." Blossom said as she held me, this weird warm, fuzzy feeling came back but it quickly died down when I spoke up.

"Blossom, I am responsible for the deaths of almost two hundred civilians, Celestia will know about this and when she does I can assume that it will be my ass on the chopping block. I don't know if this land has outlawed public or private executions but that mare just might reinstate it just for me." my voice was quiet and weak, I had lost the will to keep fighting back the monsters that lived inside my head.

"Ramsey, its not your fault! None of that was your fau-" I cut her off as an Ogre lumbers on by, ignoring the two of us as we yelled at each other.

"Yes it is! No matter how hard I tried, I could never escape the reality of what happened there. It hurts so much, seeing the truth for the first time with my eyes open. Someone is going to pay for my crimes Blossom, and I know that it will be me and the IMC, but that won't happen for the longest time...until I can get back home and tell the Frontier everything that they have done to me and the others..."

"My true self has been revealed Blossom, I am beyond redemption." I said sadly, my eyes staring down, tears dropping into the dry dirt as the salty liquid is quickly consumed by the earth.

"Ramsey don't talk like that, we can help you, we can help you get over what you have become and fix you for the better. We may not be able to restore your body to what it once was but we can sure as tartarus help you get better. We can help put your mind at ease and make your a normal pony again, you just got to let us in." the bat mare said as she hugged me with her leathery wings, I could have easily pushed her off of me but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

As we sat there with me crying on her head as she hugged me tightly I came to the realization that this might be my chance to start over, to wipe the slate clean and redeem myself and possibly the IMC. I believed in a united Core and Frontier Systems and I am going to ensure that happens.

One way or another, we will all be free.

Or die trying.

I don't know how much time has passed since we stopped to hug it out and seeing how the moon was just now shining through some cracks in the wall I decided to take a short rest, to help ease my mind and try to recharge myself before setting out to inspect the ruins I had found earlier. Getting off my chair I went over and laid down on the half-assed bed and shut my eyes, my mind replaying everything that happened throughout my life.

Sleep Realm

I was walking down a long corridor, I was alone, unarmed and my armor was destroyed, parts of it was melted, bullet ridden and missing, I don't ever remember having my armor in this degraded state but whatever is the cause of it being like this must have been something serious. The hall was devoid of life besides my own, the lights that are built into the corners of the ceiling are flickering on and off, there must be a lack of power in the facility I am in currently. Maybe I am in the remains of an old Frontier Militia base that was recently raided by IMC forces or maybe I am in the ruins of an IMC Garrison barracks after an attack, either option doesn't sound good or bode well for me.

Walking down the dark corridor I felt like hell, my body was weak for some reason, everything felt heavy like blocks of lead was weighing me down preventing me from moving at my fastest. I don't know why I am feeling like this or even why I am here but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer.

As soon as the light of the sun touched my feet I started to move faster, feeling refreshed, invigorated even, and with this renewed strength I moved faster until I was completely engulfed in the light of the sun until I was standing outside and what is a balcony overlooking something I didn't want to see.

The remains of Demeter.

A Living nightmare.

"So this is what thee is being haunted by. A past battle thou have partaken in." a voice said to my left and when I reacted by moving back and getting into a combat stance but when I reached for my data-knife I found that it was gone, my pistol was also gone along with my Spitfire so I just had my fists but as soon as I got aggressive I suddenly felt weak, flimsy even and I had to hold onto the melted handrails just to stay standing.

Trying not to fall over or even go over the edge and plummet to my death I tightened my grip on the melted rails, my eyes going from the rails to the lunar princess as she sat there, looking over the battlefield that is nothing more then several craters that cover the circumference of the planet alongside several dozen degraded metal buildings.

"Welcome to Demeter princess...where several hundred thousand people died all to turn the tide of a rebellion." I said with a hollow tone, my eyes going back to the battlefield, I couldn't pick out anything significant out in the wastes as all I could see was the glaring orange fireball in the sky and the hellish orange dirt and glass on the ground.

Slowly letting go of the railing I backpedalled until I hit a wall and immediately let myself drop to the ground, my body aching in what was at first was nothing more then a small and easily ignorable pain but after a few seconds it felt like my body was on fire, felt like my skin was melting and my muscles burning away but when I looked down at myself I saw that I was whole and yet at the same time I wasn't.

"Thee seems to be having trouble keeping thee's mind in check." the lunar princess says as I watched the battlefield slowly rewind itself before disappearing in a flash of a brilliant white light. As soon as the light dimmed down and eventually vanished I opened my eyes to see that the two of us was still on the balcony over Demeter but we are now looking from my eyes before the battle.

"Well it is hard to keep calm and not have a psychological breakdown when you are being forced to remember your worst day ever. I am sure you had your own 'Worst days of your life' moment spontaneously burst itself into your dreams when you least expect it to princess." I said as I looked at her, she briefly glanced at me and at first I saw anger in those turquoise eyes of hers but when she saw my shell-shocked face and hollow, dead eyes she eased her heated stare just a bit, seemingly knowing what I have been through.

As the two of us watched the prelude for the Battle of Demeter, there was a smaller flash of light but it was to my right this time and now standing there was Princess Celestia and my new roommate Blossom, the small bat pony waved at me before coming to my side and sat beside me.

"So these are what other hoo-mans look like. They look kinda funny." Blossom said as she saw Blisk walk beside me alongside with two other pilots stood behind us, waiting for the signal to get into the drop pod.

"Because Blossom they are wearing similar uniforms, and its pronounced hu-man not hoo-man." I said and messed with her ears, gently touching the fluffy tips which resulted in her slapping my hand with those soft ears.

"Grammar-Gryphon." she mumbled before whacking my right arm with a wing.

"Bite me." I grumbled as she nibbled the hand that was petting her, I quickly pulled my hand away as she giggled at my reaction.

"Be careful what you ask for, you know I will bite you if you ask me nicely." Blossom said as she looked at me with those golden cat eyes and batted those eyelashes, I had to look away before I get mesmerized by them.

"Not now...maybe later." I said with a groan, the two princesses looking at me now with curiosity but when I looked at them and waved them off they went back to watching my memory as Blossom laid her head down on my lap and started to watch my memory as well.

Going back to looking at my memory they watched the other me crawl into the pod alongside Blisk and the other two pilots, Luna and Celestia are watching the memory with great interest as they moved closer to me and Blossom, boxing us in but at the moment I could care less, as long as Blossom is here then I can keep myself together.

As the memory of Demeter comes to a close everything starts to get dark as the four of us finds ourselves no longer on the melted balcony overlooking the battlefield but instead we were all standing amongst the ruins of the reactor I was fighting in and around, the hollow shell of the once dangerous and prosperous building ring dull as a weak gale wind moves the red sand around us until we are surrounded by nothing but darkness, the warped and twisted metal walls and lastly ourselves.

None of us knew what was going on, even Princess Luna was confused as to what was going on because seeing how she was the dream master she would be able to get us out of here but something was preventing her and when we all turned around at the sound of something dropping down, the four of us saw a body hanging by a long length of rope, the end disappearing from view into the darkness.

I slowly walked over to the hanging body, my eyes not being able to leave it alone as I shuffled over to it, my body still weak and battered from what must be it experiencing the pulse-detonation of the reactor.

As soon as I got to the body I turned it around to get a good look at it and what I saw shocked me, it was me, my dead body being hung up by a noose. Looking my body over I saw that my armor has fell into a state of decay, it was falling apart, even the flesh has already rotted away to nothing, my muscles are still there but are broken and are broken, bits of it sticking out as my corpse gave a slack-jawed expression and when I looked at its waist, I saw that it still had the holster strapped in and when I went to reach for it I felt my hand grabbing onto something rough and rugged and with a sharp tug I removed the B3-Wingman that was still inside of it.

"It seems that reports of my death have been...exaggerated." a voice said behind me and when I turned around I was aiming my revolver at the figure only for my eyes to adjust to the sudden shift to see that it was myself, wearing an officer's uniform with my last name stenciled on it and all the awards I had received.

"What the hell...this isn't possible." I said, I was too confused to come up with an actual response, my mind on the fritz after having to re-watch Demeter and now seeing myself dead by hanging and seeing another me walking around, it is just too much.

"Oh I assure you, it is Ramsey." The other Ramsey said as he walked over to my corpse and smiled at it in a creepy manner.

"How." I said dumbfounded, how this was possible, I don't know.

"Not just how, Why!" he said as he started to walk around me slowly, keeping a fair distance away from me.

"You were never supposed to come here, to review a battle you had partaken in with others without consent from Spyglass or Admiral Graves." the false Ramsey said as I recalled back to what I was told back in the academy, thinking back to exactly what was said.

"As a member of the IMC and of the Interstellar Pilot Program you can not reveal or discuss anything you have seen or done with anyone outside of the military. If you do break this rule then you will suffer the consequences."

"What happened here was out of my control. I didn't want to re-live this moment in my life!" I shouted as the three ponies watched the two of me yell at each other.

"Was it really? None of this would have happened if you just forgot about it and pushed forward." the fake me said as he waved his hand at me, trying to dismiss what I was saying.

"But on you marched, and for what? To show these beasts of burden what monsters we are?" he snarled a bit at the end, obviously showing his disdain for these ponies.

"No, to show them that I am willing to better myself, I don't want to be like this anymore, killing innocent people. We are supposed to be helping the Frontier better itself and to further ourselves not bring it down to its knees and cripple them!" I shouted at him, I believed in the IMC for standing up for what is right not for greed and power.

"Your no hero, no savior, not even a martyr. Your talents lie elsewhere, on the battlefield killing our enemies and securing victory for our cause." The false me said as the shell surrounding us is immediately illuminated with active moving memories of all my battles as the three ponies behind me turned to see what I have done but that was when they all stopped and immediately turned into my first mission.

The colony that was harboring a Militia cell that was protected by a dog whistle tower.

"That isn't my fault." I said as the mares all watched the dog whistle tower steadily collapsed, it lost all momentum and started to fall over directly over the town.

"It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him and if the truth is undeniable you created your own." fake Ramsey said as the screams of the civilians started to play, all of their screaming can be heard as the ponies watched in horror.

"The truth Ramsey is very simple. I am here because you can't accept what you've done. It broke you." The screaming only got worse as the three continued to watch in horror, they tried to look away but everywhere they looked they saw more death and destruction.

"You needed somebody to blame, so you cast it on us and the IMC." the screaming eventually started to die down as I felt the hot tears steadily fall down my face, one of my worst moments in the military coming to light before two foreign rulers and someone I consider my friend.

"You know the truth is hard to hear, Ramsey, but it is time. You are all that is left of Demeter and the IMC can't let you live on forever here in ponyland." the false Ramsey said as he stopped walking around me and stopped right in front of me.

Pulling out an exact replica of my revolver and aimed it roughly at my heart.

"I am going to count to five, then I am going to pull the trigger." I stared at my other self as he waved the gun at me, I don't know what could possibly worse, the fact that I was going to kill myself or the fact that if the other me kills me, does he take control of my body? Either of the two are bad and not one of them are going to help me in the long run.

"Your not real, this is all in my head." I said as I know that this bullshit will end when I command it to but when I tried to force it all away nothing happened, and I know that Luna tried to dispel this crap and wake us all up but something seems to be blocking her.

"Are you sure? Maybe it's in mine. ONE." he said before pointing the ground away from me then pointing it back right at my heart.

"No, I know it is inside my head because I was dreaming of me playing poker with four dogs smoking cigars and wearing sunglasses and that was interrupted when Princess One n Two and Blossom came in out of nowhere!" and what a dream that was.

"No...everything...all of this nonsense your trying to pull, this is your fault!" I shouted as I pointed the gun at him, I tried to pull the trigger but for some reason I couldn't.

"If that is what you believe in then shoot me! TWO." he said but this time when I tried to squeeze the trigger I felt it finally give me some slack and that was when I made my move.

"Fine then." I said quietly before shooting him right in the head, the bullet going right through and blowing out on the other side, sending brain matter and skull fragments everywhere.

The other me looked for the injury that I gave him, and when he finally felt the blood steadily drip down his head did he realize where I shot him.

"It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him..." the false me says as he lets go of the gun, it didn't even make it to the ground before it faded away into the burnt sand that is now swirling past all five of us.

"And I am stronger then you and the IMC." I said, lowering my right hand that was holding my revolver before I slid it into the half-melted holster on my side.

"Whatever you say Ramsey, and no matter what happens next, just don't be to hard on yourself. Even now after everything you have done, all the blood on your hands, all the pain in your heart, all of the agony in your soul, you can still redeem yourself."

"Lucky you." and as he said that I watched him fade away into the background, Demeter steadily revealing itself from the darkness, the shell of the reactor losing the animated motions of my memories as everything started to return to normal, or as normal as it could possibly get.

As everything started to fade away I turned my back to the ponies and stared at my dead body still strangely hanging in place, its eyeless head staring down at me and just from that stare alone I felt weak in my knees and fell to them as I watched my corpse swing slightly in the breeze.

I eventually heard the sounds of hooves trotting through the soft dirt and sand before stopping just behind me, I was going to turn my head a bit to look at them but I was transfixed on my own corpse, wondering if that is my future, wondering if that is what I am to become for turning my back on the IMC.

"Ramsey...are you...are you alright?" I hear Blossom speak up quietly, I hear some hooves trotting closer to me and when I turned my head to look at who it belonged to I saw that it indeed did belong to Blossom the bat mare, but when she saw me look at her she saw just how dead my eyes looked.

I turned my head back to my corpse as I heard more hooves move closer to me and when they got close enough to me that I could practically feel their very presence touching me I let out a shuddering sigh as I then felt a leathery wing wrap around my back that was then followed by a fuzzy and fluffy pony head nuzzle under my neck.

Looking down a bit at Blossom I shuddered again before nodding at her just slightly as I barely heard what the two winged unicorns were talking about back there.

"...can't....did such a thing....against his..." "...a monster....be redeemed?"

I don't know what those two are talking about but everything started to fade inward as the surrounding landscape began to break apart like glass and before I know it everything is gone.

Awake

My eyes felt heavy, I tried to force them open but they didn't respond to my command and after what felt like an eternity my eyes eventually opened up revealing that I am still in the cave I fell asleep in but I was accompanied by someone when I felt something snuggle up to me and with a slow turn of my head I saw that it was Blossom, her cute snoring alerting me that it was just her.

Letting out a groan I moved on the leafy bed and maneuvered around the sleeping mare and once I was out of her snuggles I proceeded to walk out of the cave and I just in time see both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walking away from my cave and were climbing into a large chariot being pulled by four lightly armored pegasi and when I opened the door leading myself outside I saw Celestia cast a partial gaze at me before smiling ever so slightly and when Luna saw that slight smile she turned around to see me and then I saw something that I thought I would never see.

The lunar princess smiling at me, even though I shot her in the head for breaking into my mind at night.

'I can redeem myself, if MacAllan can do it and help liberate the Frontier from the IMC and Spyglass then so can I!'

Nodding at the two princesses I slowly closed the door behind me and went back inside before going back to the leaf bed and went back down, allowing Blossom to latch onto me again but this time I allowed myself to be hugged as I started to drift back to sleep but instead of getting a nightmare, for the first time in years I had received my best nights rest.

'Many decisions lie ahead for me...none of them are easy...but as long as I have these ponies to help guide me...then maybe...'

'I can be redeemed and when my time comes I make peace with my god and die with my honor and dignity intact.'

Author's Note

It strangely makes sense.

What he deals with during the day.

What he actually deals with at night.

Bump in the night

Groggily waking up the next morning I at first refused to get up and leave the comfort of my poorly constructed bed but it took the constant prodding of the other occupant that is currently resting beside me to get up. Once I was up and fully awake I left the safety of the cave and walked out the front door to see my titans either powered down for security rotations or are active and are ensuring that nothing is trying to breach the perimeter to get in. As soon as I made my presence known the three active titans that were currently on guard-duty they slightly turned to look at me before going back to their sentry-mode which left me on food-detail and lucky for me it was 'go-out-in-the-forest-and-kill-something-for-food' day which sadly means I would be a perfect target for predators that see me dragging back something edible.

Grabbing my Spitefire LMG and my B3-Wingman from the weapon pile and made my way to the large wooden gate, had it opened up before walking out and went out to go hunt for breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one go.

'I wonder what Blossom would want...maybe some fish? Or maybe more manticore....how about a dragon? I am sure this place has some dragons that no one would mind being turned into a delicious steak or stew.'

It was during my thoughts of food for now and later did something happen. At that moment something made itself known to me by letting out a low-pitch hiss and when I turned my head to face it I saw a pony that looks like a cross between an equine and an insect, it was not a pretty sight to behold let alone was it a friendly sight.

As soon as it hissed at me it was immediately stepped on by the nearby titan that it decided to land next to, the resulting squish with signature bug green blood splatter was the end result and that was a pretty sight, if anything its like driving down the freeway and seeing a flying insect collide with your windshield and seeing it explode everywhere. It would have been better if it was hit with the Arc Cannon cause it would have probably made a popping sound or better yet go flying into the electrical current because of the bright artificial light.

Once the small threat was taken care of I immediately turned to the gate and tapped on it for it to be raised and once I was on the other side it was lowered as I walked without a care in the world because nothing out here could threaten or harm me.

It also helps if you have a large force of Titans with a multitude of armaments at your disposal.

'I am going with chicken snakes, I bet she is going to love the way they taste after you cook them to a fine tender brown.'

Finding where those chicken snakes live isn't that hard, one just has to look for a large cluster of petrified animals and you are close to them, if you start seeing petrified animals with missing bits and pieces then you are in their nest and should keep your eyes away from them but still be able to see their feet to know where they are.

'Looks like a chicken, chirps like a chicken but hisses like a snake and does the little tongue thing like a snake, tastes amazing though. Wonder what it would taste like if I had some barbecue sauce, herbs and spices.'

Waiting for my prey to show up I didn't have to wait long as four chicken snakes came out of the woodwork, hissing and squawking at me but I just ignored them as I had my helmet on, the visor protecting me from the its petrifying gaze attack and that it wasn't alive long enough to keep glaring at me or even take a swipe with its claws. With a loud crunch of its neck snapping I threw it over a pile of bones and went about snapping a few more necks and throwing the fresh corpses into the pile and once I had five stockpiled I went back and picked them up before returning back from whence I came, hoping that nothing has changed while I was gone for twenty minutes.

The walk back to base camp was short and sweet as nothing tried to eat me or eat my dead birds although I have seen a strange new plant that I have never seen before take a nip at me, at first I thought it was a venus fly trap but instead it looked like some sort of bell shaped flower and it had the small plant teeth that the fly trap has. I promptly took a picture of it with my helmet before cutting it off by the stem and then burnt it with a lighter.

Being turned into plant food is not something on my to-do list.

Whistling a timely tune while holding the tails of my meal I came back to my camp to see that all is well, Blossom is busy messing with a giant finger on my Atlas Titan while the other titans were on their standard sentry protocol.

"Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Not really, your giant suits of armor got done scrapping that ex-changeling off the floor and threw its carcass over the wall, I heard a manticore roar before it went silent. Probably ate the little shit."

"No love for that insect pony I take it?"

"Buck no, those things are a parasite to all living things on Equis, they ponynap somepony you love and replaces them with one of their infiltrators and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference because they have copied the memories of the captured pony and transform themselves to look just like them and once the swap has been made they will proceed to harvest the love from the captured pony and the one being tricked to feed themselves and their hive. The ones that have been captured are placed into these cocoons that hang on the walls and ceiling and they just transfer the love between the two to feed and for the one being tricked the love is transferred into a magically charged gem to be brought back. Sometimes the more feral changelings just attack you when their hungry enough and they don't stop at taking your emotions and love, they would even drain you dry of your blood, they are like vamponies but we know when to stop and take just enough to get on by."

"Wow, that was very informative...how do you even know all this?"

"OH, well...umm...promise me you won't tell anypony that I told you this."

"I promise, hell who would even believe me?"

"The princesses."

"Right."

"Anyways, we learned all this a few decades ago, some of Celestia's royal guards found a small hive that was operating within Equestria and when they attacked they managed to capture a few and forced them to tell us everything we wanted to know. Once we had what we wanted they were given a mercy kill, they couldn't be allowed to escape and tell the others what happened there and well, that is one of Equestria's many dark secrets."

"Got any other secrets you would like to share with me?"

"Other then the fact that I am a vampony and can survive synthetic blood and that I pretty much have been trying to find a way to get into your pants because I am very horny right now."

"Wow, didn't hold anything back."

"Well it doesn't hurt to share what needs to be shared with others, especially when it involves somepony else that is better armed, armored and has me surrounded by giant suits of armor that move and kill without being worn. That and it helps to warn you ahead of time so you would know that I would try to hump your leg when we are sleeping together in the same bed."

"You are not humping my leg." I said as I dropped the five dead snake chickens on the ground and my robotic assistant started to get to work collecting them and getting them ready for gutting and cooking.

"You gonna stop me?" Blossom said with a bit of a smirk as she flew over to me, the titan she was playing with stood back up and turned back to the wall, looking over it with its chaingun pointing over the defensive structure.

"Yes, I will tase you if I have to." I said while putting down my Spitfire LMG onto the cold floor, carrying it around is a bit exhausting but being trained to haul that large hunk of metal makes it easier to haul around, but it is still annoying, especially in this blasted forest with all of these vines and shit.

"Tase me?" the bat mare tilted her head in confusion, rolling the words around a bit she then shakes her head, obviously not knowing what it means.

"Pretty much I am going to shock you like I did when I first found you and your friends." I explained it to the bat pony, she quickly got the message across as she remembers that night clearly.

"Bah, you won't little ol' me now." trying to bat her eyes at me in a sultry manner had no effect on me, in fact it did the exact opposite and made me pull out the stun baton that every heavy trooper carries with them whenever they are forced on riot detail.

"Wanna bet?" I said as I flicked my wrist, forcing the collapsible baton to fully extend and once it made its final 'click', it started to hum low with electricity coursing through its metal frame.

"No." Blossom groaned as I smiled before making the baton cave in and go back into its more docile state of being useless metal tube.

"Good girl." and with the threat of night humping over I returned to my previous task of getting the proper tools to do some maintenance on my weapons, especially my Spitfire seeing that I haven't given it a good thorough cleaning since Demeter.

Grabbing the personal maintenance kit from the cave I came back outside and plopped myself down on the ground beside my Spitfire and got to work disassembling it with my pneumatic multi-tool.

Taking the cover off I begin to take out the receiver, barrel and the other assemblies until it has been completely taken apart is now laying before me and Blossom on a dry plastic tarp.

"Wow, that's a lot of parts just for a giant metal repeating crossbow."

"It's not a crossbow, this is the Spitfire Light Machine Gun, this squad suppression weapon is used by the soldiers of the IMC and of the Militia. This weapon holds eighty fifty caliber rounds and can fire five-hundred-and-forty rounds per minute, those who give this weapon a large ammunition capacity can make it reach ninety-six bullets, sixteen may not seem like much but anymore and the increase in weight will throw off your aim and it will give the enemy a chance to put a bullet in you and then you will be in a world of shit. This heavy weapon has a high recoil when firing for a few seconds but after the fifteenth bullet fired the recoil will be non-existent due to the fact that this weapon is meant for long-sustained fire on an enemy position or on the back of a Titan you are rodeoing, that and this thing is fun as hell to fire except for those on the receiving end."

"Rodeo a titan? You mean climb on top of those giant things? That's insane! They can easily crush you before you can even get up there!" Blossom shouted as the Mervin finished de-scaling and de-feathering the beasts, leaving them primed and ready for gutting then cooking, a tasty stew will be made soon.

"Girl, you have no idea how easy it is to actually climb onto one of these things, especially during the heat of battle, especially during a battle. Everyone is busy fighting for their lives, trying to complete their objectives, capture that building, kill this ranking officer, destroy the supplies, steal the important piece of data from the enemy, whatever the objective is everyone would be too busy to pay attention to absolutely everything going on around them, and in that moment of weakness you strike, you mount the titan from behind, find its external hatch and rip it open to reveal the delicates inside and tear it apart. And if your crazy enough, strap it with explosive and get the hell out of dodge before detonating any of it." the sounds of flesh cut open can be heard from where we are sitting and with a glance on my end and a head turn on Blossoms we saw Mervin skin and gut the chicken snakes, preparing our lovely stew.

"If its so easy then how come they are not wearing lighter armor? It would be hard to mount something that can easily out run everything it encounters."

"Actually there is a titan like that, it has the lowest armor rating there is and it is the fastest, I wouldn't go in it but it does have its uses as a recon scout, we call it the Stryder while everyone else calls it a walking toothpick. I wouldn't use it unless it was necessary."

"Then what is your favorite?"

"The Atlas, its versatile, moderate, average, and I had it custom made and crafted, soft pilot seat, improved air-conditioning, custom-made music player and a seat warmer on the cold planets."

"How much did that cost you?" Blossom asked me as I though of how many paychecks from the IMC I had to use to get what I wanted out of my Atlas.

"Oh...I think a few dozen paychecks." I finally answered, I might have lied a bit cause in truth it costed me nearly ever single paycheck I received to even get the damn thing every single time my titan was destroyed or damaged in battle.

"A few dozen! Why?" I could say that I am rich bitch but that would be just rude, that and I am not that rich, just money smart.

"Because the damn militia kept blowing it up." I said as I scratched my head, my gloved hands barely doing anything to provide relief but at least the thought counts.

"How many times did they destroy it?" Blossom asked me as I mulled the question over, it has been a while since it was last blown to pieces.

"Oh let see, a few arc mines and a well placed archer missile, an ogre going nuclear, torn to shreds by heavy gun emplacements, rocket barrages, and lastly getting torn to pieces by dragons." the dragons are such a bitch to kill, especially when they swarm you like a bunch of zombie crows.

"Dragons ate your Atlas?" Blossom said while tilting her head in confusion, that saying should be made into a shirt.

"Not really ate, they cut, scrapped, and ripped off the protective metal plating that keeps me safe from gunfire, they almost got me if I haven't set my Atlas into a walking bomb." that wasn't my greatest moment but it was either that or or wait another twenty seconds for my electrical smoke cloud to recharge.

"You blew yourself up!?" Blossom shouted in surprised, I had to cover her mouth with my hand because this forest still has dangerous predators that I haven't seen, I don't know if they would or could attack this place.

"Nah, I ejected just in time before boom time, if I didn't then I would not be here now would I?" I said as I grabbed my small bowl of cooked meats.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Blossom says after finally getting it, that and she had to stop because my robotic assistant was waving a bowl of cooked chick snake meat in front of her.

As soon as we received our meal we started to chow down, Blossom couldn't use the rudimentary spork that I had offered her so instead she opted to just go the way of the dog and bury her muzzle into the stew. It got funny as hell whenever she came back up, the look of joy of eating freshly cooked, abit overcooked but still cooked meat, on her face is priceless, its like having sex in her mouth for her.

But for me its more like a better tasting ration block without the salt, pepper, extra bottle of bourbon to drink it with and a bottle of whisky to cook it with. That and not a single personal iPad in sight to play a game of angry birds...does this planet have a real life version of angry birds? It gotta have it, if it has talking horses and strange ass wildlife then it has to have real angry birds.

By the time we get done eating it is in the afternoon, time seems to fly by fast when you are enjoying yourself with somebody you consider a friend, it used to move at a crawl back home but here, it almost seems unreal.

"Hey, buddy." my batpony roommate asked me as I let out a snort, my mind was busy giving me a picture of beautiful women wearing grass skirts while dancing privately for me.

"Yes, Blossom is there something you need?" I said as I slowly came back to the boring waking world.

"I have been wondering for a while now, so if you would be so kind to indulge me." the bat mare asked as I sat up, not realizing that I was laying down at the moment.

"Depends on what you are going to ask me." I said while yawning, I don't know what this girl is going to ask me but seeing how she laid on some heavy stuff on me, like that she is horny and would be humping my leg in the middle of the night, it would be nice if she was human, hell if she was I wonder what she would look like.

"Its nothing personal, I just want to know if you have anypony that you worship? Cause we got Celestia and Luna, seeing how we always use their names in vain every single time we swear, that and Celestia is mostly worshipped during the spring and summer, Luna during the fall and winter, that and their parents but those are mostly prayed by the wild ponies that live outside of Equestrian control." the pony of the night said as I soaked in her words.

"Huh, that question isn't even remotely personal, and yes my people do have someone to pray to, but its all the same person with just a different skin color, clothes, language spoken, nationality and ideology, the same story told differently. Funny thing is about the religion of my people is that the person they pray to is fake, his not a god, he was just a normal man that was pretty much charismatic and attracted the attention of those lesser then himself to manipulate them, a few religions believed in multiple gods that are just as fake since they had either abnormal skin color or multiple limbs or just didn't exist because of it being fantasy and sparkles. I know for a fact that there are a few religions that can be mildly true such as those that pray to nature and the like because those could be real, but I personally don't believe in anything unless I can actually see it happen." I said in response, I know for a fact that plenty of people call me an atheist or a pagan for not believing in a god, hell the only god I believe in is Death, and that fucker will always get you, no matter how many times you cheat death, he will get you in the end.

"You mean something like Mistress Luna raising and lowering the moon?" Blossom said as she rolled over onto her back, playfully batting at my hand as I dangled it over her head.

"Uh huh...yeah, seeing how she can enter my dreams with another or in the case that happened with me, two extra ponies at the same time, I could pray to her but it would be more along the lines of me praying for awesome dreams and nobody trying to stab me in the back." I said as I wondered on that errant thought, Luna does look like a nice goddess for these ponies, almost same size as them, nice smile, adorable giggle when she visited me that one time, the best at chest and checkers.

"I think she does that also, just make sure you aren't having a wet dream cause she might randomly enter your dreams and see what is going on, I don't know about you but if you are a pervert and are dreaming of something really naughty she just might turn into a full blown nightmare." Blossom said with a smirk as I pulled my hand away from her slightly.

"Really? Even if its a really awesome wet dream?" I asked as I brought my hand back, its almost like I am playing with a cat that thinks my hand is a cat toy.

"Uh...maybe?" and there goes any sweets dreams I might be having for a while.

"Well at least I have a chance of either turning her on or straight up horrifying her beyond all physical comprehension." I think its only either of the two, maybe a hidden third option is in there somewhere.

"Your not going to think of lewd thoughts in your sleep, aren't you?" I defended myself, I made myself sound distraught and insulted but I played it off with a playful smile.

"Of course not, who do you take me for, some sort of asshole?" I smirked a bit as I made Blossom give me a flat stare of unamusement.

Rebuilding my Spitfire I placed the parts back together, clicking the smaller ones into each other.

"Your totally going to scare my princess aren't you." and in that moment I had a choice, I better say the right one.

"Yes." not the best choice but it can't possibly come back to bite me in the ass.

"Oh sweet Faust you're a monster." Blossom let out an exaggerated groan as she nips one of my fingers, I didn't feel it due to my armored glove but I did pull it back to watch the bat mare watch my hand with anticipation.

"Oh please, it could be worse." I said as I unknowingly place the barrel back into the Spitfire, firmly polished and oiled.

"How can it possibly get any worse." Blossom just had to ask me this, now its time to tell her.

"I could be thinking of two girls one cup." I said, that video is fucking disgusting, even for me.

"What on Equis's green grass is even that?" Blossom said in slight shock, apparently if its bad enough for me it must be outright horrifying for her.

"You don't want to know, trust me, its bad enough to be that it can even kill my boner." I said as I looked up, staring at the sun for a bit before looking back down.

"And here I thought that nothing can kill that thing." Blossom said teasingly as she stretched her wings, and just like a bat wing its all leathery with the little bone thing on it.

"Ow my pride." I said, grabbing my chest as I felt my pride take a stab.

"Do you even have any left?" I felt a little bit more of my pride die that day just from that offhanded comment.

"Oh I do, its just in a small jar somewhere." I said, I don't know where my pride went but I think a vast majority of it died.

As soon as there is a lull in the conversation I looked over my Spitfire and found that I have completely rebuilt my heavy weapon and it was sitting there by my feet ready for use.

"Welp...now that this conversation is over, now what shall we do?"

"Wanna go to Ponyville, grab a drink at the bar?" Blossom said, finally getting everything off her chest, I guess she was just frustrated for several different reasons and is glad that its all over, for now at least.

"That place has a bar!?" I yelled at Blossom, I really needed a drink and this girl has been holding out on me? I swear if she is also holding out on some top shelf cheap as hell booze then I just might strangle her.

"Yeah, it has a bar, why? Did you think that we know nothing about having a good time?" Blossom asked as we got up, I dusted myself off while slinging my Spitfire onto my back, the barrel pointing at the ground as I had left the safety on.

"To be honest, yes." I said, seeing how these ponies are mainly herbivores with the exception of them being able to eat the smallest amount of meat and fish, pegasi being able to eat fish more often and bat ponies can eat meat just fine...I also expected their booze to be shitty like that rice liquor...what is it called again....sake?

"Well guess what, we do know how to have a good time, just get Pinkie Pie involved and you are guaranteed a good time, regardless of what you are expecting from the party." I sure hope so, I don't know who this Pinkie Pie is but if pony names are based on verbs and adjectives or other parts of the english language then all hell is about to break loose as I tried not to laugh my ass off cause of their names.

"As long as its not a children's party, I'm game." I said as I stretched, my back popping back into place as I let out sigh of relief, its things like this that make the world go round.

"Great! Lets get going!"

Grabbing my hand with her mouth she starts to drag me over to the gate and as soon as it opened up she started to trot then gallop through the forest with me in tow, I guess she really wanted me to cut back and let loose with booze...she isn't gonna try to get me drunk just to fuck me in my drunken state right? She isn't that kind of person, right?

Right?

Running and galloping through the forest is the best thing for us to do, the local wildlife that would look at us and go 'Dinner' is best to be avoided and I rather not start stockpiling dead creatures since I don't have a meat locker or a freezer, if I had either of the two then I wouldn't have to worry about hunting every single day or eating a shitty ration.

By the time we entered Ponyville we were on the outskirts as we saw ponies going on with their daily lives, ponies running food carts, ponies operating stores, ponies playing with a frisbee and a football...how they are playing either of the two is starting to confuse me.

Once we arrive in Ponyville Proper I looked around and for the first time got to actually see Ponyville for its natural beauty and its safe to say that this sleepy little hamlet would be a nice place to settle down and raise a family, primarily because its calm, peaceful and its rustic appearance. Walking to the so-called bar took up a small chunk of time but that small chunk was easily wasted for me to see the town, I didn't talk to anyone because the ponies were afraid of me and only saw to slightly approach me to get around be because of the lunar guard standing beside me.

"So Blossom....bar? Where is it?" I said impatiently, its been a while since I had a good drink and I want to see if these ponies can actually pull off strong, burning bourbon.

"Easy there big fella, I'll get your booze fix don't worry." Blossom half chided and half snickered at me, easily joking because we both know that we want to get our booze fix on.

"I am not a drunkard Blossom....I just really enjoy a good drink." I stated while frowning which couldn't be seen due to my helmet which is a good thing, she would probably laugh at me for making such a face.

"It's this way Ramsey, don'tcha worry about a thing!" Blossom exlaimed before patting my leg with a hoof, I could have smacked it away but I was too busy watching a certain bubbly grey flying mare deliver mail, I think she is familiar...

The feeling of something bumping into mu hip I looked down and saw that Blossom was snickering at me and when I asked why shy pointed at the bubbly grey mare and I realized why, I was staring intensively at her and in her current position she had her flank facing us.

"Blossom, its not bad for a guy to stare at a women's assets, it makes us happy and also its for an educative purpose." I said with a wry grin as Blossom cocks an eyebrow at me.

"Educative?" I can tell that Blossom is not going to buy this at all.

"Yeah, to see which mare is the most beautiful in the aspect they are in." I said as I looked from Blossom to a different mare, she is slightly beige with a red mane and tail, her butt mark is a bunch of roses, no idea what that means.

"Really? Well then what aspect is she in?" Blossom asked me as I looked away from that mare and looked back to the bat mare beside me.

"Who has the best booty." I said proudly but quietly to where only she can hear it.

"You can't be serious." Blossom says with the flattest face she can muster.

"I am! You should see the list I made back home, its big." I said with a smile on my face and a shit-eating grin.

"I'll believe you big guy, I'll believe you." and with that we are off to the bar.

When we arrived at the bar it was absolutely full, there was ponies everywhere, the tables were full, the booths were full, even the counter was full, I don't even think we can sit down let alone order our drinks. All that changed when they saw Blossom, two ponies that were sitting at the counter got up, nodded at Blossom then promptly left the bar.

"Uh Blossom, do you know those two?" I said as the two ponies walked by us, their actions have confused me greatly.

"Them? Oh they are part of the solar guard, they are just here on break because they are in the auxiliary unit." Blossom says with a smile as she walks up to the counter and climb onto the stool and waves over the bartender.

"Well at least they get to spend their time having fun instead of attending to the barracks." I said as I sat down beside my friend and waited for the bartender to arrive.

"I take it that you weren't allowed too much fun in your off time?" Blossom said as the bartender arrives, she ordered a girly as hell martini while I ordered the hardest, strongest whisky they have.

"You have no idea." I said as the bartender came back and dropped off our booze before hurrying along to someone else that needed their liquor.

"So let me tell you about my time in the military..." and as soon as I started my time with the IMC military I told them from how boring it was during the off hours but as soon as a problem arises we are sent in to fix it, no matter how small but only if we are close to it, depending on how far we are planet wise we are sometimes sent in as reinforcements.

As I talked I know that more then a few ponies turned their attention from their glass or bottle and fixated it on me, and with more and more ponies listening in I made a few strories either funny or raunchy, the dirty stories I kept to a minium just to see their reactions and by god was it funny as hell.

"And let me tell you ponies, if your having sex and it doesn't feel right, its probably in the wrong hole!" and just like that every single pony in the bar, including the bartender whose name is Clinking Glass, to laugh their ass off.

"Come on ramseya, we'ove beetn hcere for hmours, timye to go homte." Blossom said in a drunken manner, obviously this girl is fuckin smashed, I mean this girl is straight up drunk to the point where she is not only slurring over her words but she is slurring over her body movement, she can't even hold her glass anymore.

"Alright, come on drunkyu, lets fgo home befroe you puke all over yourself obr all ovier me." I said, I am for the most part drunk but I can still talk sorta fine and walk with a bit of a wobble so its all good.

Grabbing my pony friend under her front legs and let her ride on my back, seeing that a pony is riding a human I let loose a chuckle while walking out the front door, waving goodbye my drinking buddies and walked out into the moonlight, we have been there from twelve in the afternoon to midnight, twelve hours of drinking. I think I almost broke my old record.

As we walk through the forest it started to rain and almost on queue I started to sing a very familiar if a bit old song from Earth that seems to fit the mood just right, for a drunk guy carrying an equally drunk if not more drunk friend home.

"Raindrops kepe fallin' no my sheed."

"Auedjt like the gudy whose foeet are too big for his bed."

"Nothing seems to jfit."

"Oh, raindroeps keep fallin' on my head."

"Keep a-fallin'."

And before I could continue with my singing I got a bunch of rapid taps from my drunk passenger and I immediately realized what is about to happen so, grabbing my pony friend off my back and placing her on the ground I waited only a few seconds before hearing the sounds of heaving and splashing sounds, the sweet sounds of drunk puking, a reminder that will be my fate soon enough.

Patting my puking friend on the back I waited patiently for her to get done but that took so long so I wheeled back and hit her hard enough on the back, forcing her to toss the last of her cookies all over the floor and almost knocking her down in the process but I managed to keep a firm hold on her to prevent her from falling into her own bile.

Once it was over I cleaned up her face, patted her on the head for a good job and picked her back up and kept on walking until we made it back home, the gate opened up and we walked in, I stripped myself of my armor down to my skivvies and laid down to sleep the booze away, I was immediately followed by Blossom who just collapsed on top of me and started to snore right off the bat.

"Godo night, sliily poniey." I slurred out before passing right the fuck out, the alcohol doing its job and made me go to sleep before I had a chance to even let my head rest on the faulty pillow I was using.

Morning

The following morning I was awoken to a pony nudging me rapidly.

When I opened my eyes I let out a groan before looking down to see why I was being nudged, I was naked, not from the lack of armor but from the lack of underclothes I was wearing, I was in the nude and Blossom was laying on top of me.

And we are connected at the hips.

'Oh god damn it....what the hell did we just do?'

Author's Note

I am back, its currently spring break for me and now I will be on and off, eh.

What just happened? (Warning: Mature Content)

Looking down between Blossom and myself I can see that we are clearly connected at the hips and I was buck ass naked, covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Staring at Blossom I can see that she too is sweaty, her mane is disheveled, her eyes filled with confusion and terror, and lastly I can the muscles of her vagina tightly constricting my cock that is still inside her, the muscles twitching and spasming is both an amazing feeling and great horror to me.

Why for the horror? Because she is essentially a beast of burden, a pony with bat wings and fluffy ears, and I fucked it. And that she is also my friend so in essence I fucked a friend that still is iffy on the friend part, and a wild animal, I don't know which is worse though. Another thing that is bothering me is that how did she manage to get my skivvies off without waking me up?

"Blossom...what the hell...did we just have drunk sex last night?" I said with a groan, my head pounding from the alcohol still in my system, making it partially into a hangover while Blossom on the other hand, clearly is suffering from a hangover but is somehow magically putting it on hold.

"Ramsey, I am sorry...I am so sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen I swear!" Blossom cries out as she tries to move but she barely moves an inch before letting out a moan of pleasure as her mare snatch holds on tightly to my dick, apparently it still thinks that we are having sex cause it clearly doesn't want to let go.

"Blossom, I can understand that last night we got very drunk, I can forgive you because of the drunk sex but you don't have to beg for forgiveness, stuff like this happens, I just didn't expect this to happen at all, especially with my first friend here, and a different species to boot." I said as I calmly, although still a bit weak from the hangover I manage to wrap my arms around Blossom, holding her to my chest as my right hand strokes her mane, I cooed softly to the distraught mare as she starts to cry into my chest.

"You don't understand Ramsey *sniffle* I was a virgin...but now *sniffle-snort* I-I raped you while you slept!" Blossom cried out as she kept on crying into my chest, her tears mixing with my sweat as I kept on stroking her mane.

"Blossom, I can understand where you are coming from, we were drunk and in your drunk stupor you saw me as an easy lay and also a means to lose your virginity, I am not mad at you, nor am I disappointed with you, its alright." I kept on stroking her mane as I talked her down from her guilt-ridden sadness, for the most part it is working just fine.

"Ramsey, from all the times you went to Ponyville and saw the royal guards when they showed up here, how many stallions have you seen?"

"I think only about three or five? Why"

"In Ponyville its roughly out of every seen foals born, only one is a colt, the rest are fillies. The can't be said for elsewhere when the birth ratio is much worse, for Canterlot its one colt for every nine fillies born." Blossom said before sniffling, from what she just said, that Equestria is roughly the land of horse women, and what little men that are left I hope are not used for breeding stock.

"Blossom...has it always been like this?"

"Before the Unification Wars....no, it was always fifty-fifty but ever since Discord came to power and then his imprisonment in stone he changed it to where its a slim chance that any stallions will be born and we haven't been unable to break the curse since then. " Blossom weakly says and that is when it all makes sense, these ponies are slowly turning into a dying species unless they can find a way to reverse the damage or at the very least reverse the situation. These mares are starved for male interaction because it is now so rare to probably hold onto a guy to have a life with when he can simply go around and have as many women as he want.

"Wow, that must really suck just have a stable relationship or even a family."

"Yes, it is...*sniffle*"

"I'll get going...I have to report this to Princess Luna, I guess this is it then...I eep!" Blossom said but as soon as she tried to get up I wrapped my arms around her and hold her tightly before sitting up, which just so happens to inadvertently forces myself deeper into the mare, the head of my cock bumping into some sort of blockage which makes Blossom let out a breathy moan of extreme pleasure that boards on a 'nyaa' sound.

"Your not going anywhere Blossom, not until I say otherwise." I growled at Blossom and increased the grip I have on the mare, my fingers digging a bit into her mane and fur, preventing her from fleeing without hurting herself.

"But I am a rapist, I should be getting punished for my crime not have a chat with the victim, this isn't right."

"Well make it right then, ask for permission first." I said which earns me a look of utter confusion on her face but for me I just smile at her, I care for her too much as a friend to lose her, hell she reminds me of Mako and this mare is the only thing keeping me afloat and drowning within my past sins.

"Can...can I...can we have sex?" Blossom said with her cheeks burning red with tried tear staining those very same cheeks, as she looked me in the eyes, I think that she is hoping to earn my forgiveness by asking for me to set it right.

"Yes, you can my little mare, and this time we both can remember how good it is." I said before pushing myself forward and capturing the stunned bat mare's lips in a passion fueled kiss.

WARNING MATURE CONTENT AHEAD

As soon as I forced myself onto Blossom by kissing her in a vigorous manner I moved my left and grabbed her flank and squeezed it tightly, ellicitating a squeal of joy from the mare as my right hand stayed behind her head, preventing her from breaking away as I felt the mare slowly being to grind and shake her hips, making my dick stir her pussy, her vaginal muscles gripping tightly to my shaft as its heated, velvety feeling rises a groan from my throat and a whimpered moan from hers.

Pulling back from the kiss a string of saliva connects between the two of us for a mere moment before Blossom licks it up and stares at me with a hunger I have seen in a few people let alone a few ponies as well.

With us sitting up I slowly lower my mare onto the bed, her back gently resting onto the soft leaves, her leathery wings fully extending to the sides as her forelegs curl up, making herself look more adorable and vulnerable. Looking down at the vulnerable bat pony I lowered myself on top of her, kissing her neck and taking small nips at it, the mare beneath me letting out cute little gasps and moans. As soon as I leave the bend of her neck I slowly pull myself out of the gasping, sweating mare only to earn a whine from her, her inner cunt muscles refusing to let me go only make the pull out harder because of our overly sensitive nerves being touched, almost making me blow my load earlier then I want to.

Once I have removed myself from her I see what I have to work with and for being a human being, and already knowing what lies down their for equines, seeing one up close and for a pony being sentient and being god damn sexy while she is on her back. Her vagina is just like that of a horse with the exception it is slightly smaller, cuter and also it looks like it is blowing kisses at me.

Moving my left hand from her flank I slowly started to trace around her puffy lips, the slightly rough but still soft fleshy texture feels nice, with each passing circle around her marehood causes her small mareish clit to wink at me while expelling a small seepage of her juices, her excitement clearly showing.

"P-please stop teasing me." Blossom squeaks out as I trailer around her button, poking it a few times which earns more high pitched squeaks and moans.

Ignoring her request I keep on teasing her, my finger tracing her marehood as I move my right hand onto her stomach and slowly traced it down, teasing her thin fur before stopping at her breasts or as they call them 'teats', they are almost like breasts with the exception that they don't get very large, almost the size of apples these pair are, and they soft looking and with just a gentle squeeze I watch Blossom let out a breathy sigh of pleasure as I gently message her breasts.

After a few moments of me teasing her cunt and messaging her teats I shift my right hand down to her winking marehood and spread her open, seeing her internal muscles spasm and twitch, trying to hungrily suck in my fingers and every time I almost allow them to be sucked in I pulled back out, earning a snort of annoyance from the mare but in a sudden switch I move my right hand to her tight puckered donut and with my left hand I inserted one finger into her and the temperature difference is like night and day.

Outsider of her marehood it is relatively warm but as soon as I inserted my middle finger into her it then turned into a sauna. With my middle finger inside the mare I started to slowly move in and out of her, her quivering flesh trying desperately to prevent it from leaving but in her current state of near-orgasmic bliss she didn't have much control and by pushing my finger all the way into her I watched as her body shook before she let out a loud whinny of joy as she cums. Instead of seeing the typical clear, feminine water that human females unleash when they have an orgasm, mares let out a slightly off-yellow juice and for a moment I wanted to taste her, to know what her flavor is but I stopped myself for now and let her ride it out before returning to bringing her to new orgasmic heights.

Gasping for air with a dazed smile on her face I watched Blossom dizzily look around as I pulled my finger from her winking cunt, a slimy trail connecting us together for a second before the chain breaks and falls on the floor.

"That...that was incredible...do it again....please." Blossom said as she lifted her head up a bit to look at me and to her surprise I started to tease her puckered star by rubbing my thumb against it before barging in without so much as a knock. The gasp that came from that action was worth the unamused glare that came my way but I didn't stop yet as I moved my other hand back at her quivering entrance and started to work two fingers in and out in a sawing motion before adding a third finger to the mix, followed by my pinkie finger as I turned my my palm upwards as my thumb worked her clit in a rapid-fire frenzy.

Hearing Blossom gasp is like music to my ears as my hand got to work forcing her to her second orgasm, my hand that is inside of her is apparently rubbing the pony version of the g-spot, or should I say p-spot...no, that just sounds stupid, incredibly stupid, even for me. Anyways as I kept on rubbing her g-spot I watched and heard her juices starting to come pouring out of her twitching pony snatch, it didn't last long because she started to breath heavily before letting out another whinny of pleasure as she cums again, the sight is beautiful to say the least, I haven't managed to make a girl reach her peak this fast let alone do it back to back.

Before she could get a chance to catch a break I removed my thumb from her clit and instead pulled my hand out as well and pressed my thumb inward to form an impromptu duck buck and looked up at Blossom with an evil smile on my face.

"Prepare yourself Blossom, this is going to feel amazing for you." I said with an evil grin, my eyes slowly making its way down to her cunt as it keeps on twitching and leaking juices.

"What do you me-oh my goodness!" Blossom started to speak before I catch her completely by surprise with what I did next.

As soon as she started to speak up I slowly inserted my entire hand into her pony pussy, her internal muscles immediately pressing down onto my hand, trying to mold itself to it as I slowly pushed my way into her, going against the steadily rising resistance of her flesh until I stopped at her cervix, looking at he belly I can clearly see the bulge of my hand and forearm nestled deeply inside of her.

"That...this feels amazing...how...I don't even think this is remotely possible." the look of utter amazement and bewilderment is clearly evident on her muzzle as her eyes slowly rolled up in her head.

"Oh but it is my fair lady, but it is because it is happening right now." I said as I begin to pump my fist slowly out of her and stopped when I saw my wrist appear at her entrance before slowly putting it back into her, the squelching noise that is made from the fisting can be clearly heard as I started to pick up the pace, I am able to get in at least six, maybe seven inches of my arm into the mare before pulling back out.

The rapid motion of my arm thrusting brings a joyous smile to the poor bat mare's face as she didn't last long as her vaginal muscles clamped down onto my arm as she comes again but this time coating my arm in her mareish yellow-tinted juices. Pulling my arm out of the exhausted mare I brought said arm to my face and deciding to know what she tastes like I licked from my forearm up to my fingertip and was surprised that she tasted strangely of spiced apples, very odd indeed.

I went along with this for several minutes, stopping every once in a while to switch arms and to let Blossom catch a breather before going back in full force, the cave smells like this mare's love juices and I could care less, this girl is going to be crawling or be carried by me for a while because she won't be able to use her back legs when I am done with her.

"I can't feel my plot..."

"Don't worry sexy, you about to not feel anything below the waist soon enough."

Before she could even come up with a response of any kind or variety, I lowered my head down between her legs, her musky scent is overwhelmingly powerful as I breath it in, filled my lungs with her scent as I look at my prize for a briefest of moments before I gave her twitching marehood a gentle kiss on her throbbing clit.

"Oh sweet Luna's teats!" Blossom shouts out as I feel her rear legs squeeze tightly around my head, locking me in place to prevent me from leaving but I have no plans on leaving this girl hanging.

Flashing my tongue in and around her pussy I tasted and savored her flavor, my tongue roughly working over her clit, prodding and lathering the nub of sensitive nerves ferociously as I feel her legs locked around my head start to buckle and shake, unable to maintain the strength needed to keep me down there but I stay out of duty and to see how hard I can make her cum and make her eyes cross to the point where they might get stuck like that.

While I take in her flavor and scent my right hand snakes its way up her flank and across her chest to stop at her neck and muzzle, caressing the soft fur before Blossom took two of my fingers into her mouth and started to suck on them, moaning all the while I am eating her out. The way she is sucking on my fingers and how she tastes slowly makes my cock harder and harder, it slightly lost its rigid mass from the light work I have been doing on the mare but with this it turned it around and now between my legs is my proud spire, ready to pierce the veil that lies between her legs.

'Alright Blossom, lets see how you handle this one.'

Forcing my tongue as far in as I can get it to, I start to move it in sharp motions, spelling out the alphabet in a meticulous manner, doing both upper and lowercase letters and with each passing letter I can feel her muscles rapidly twitching and shaking, straining against the assault before yielding to me by relinquishing a fresh spray of mare juices all over my face and neck, most of it going in my mouth and down my throat, I almost choked on it from how hard she sprayed it but I recovered and kept on going. By the time I am half way through the alphabet I pick up the pace, getting a bit sloppy but only for the sake of moving on and for Blossom's sake so she doesn't pass out from exhaustion, I finish up my spelling my name inside her. As soon as I finish the last 'r' she sprays me again, her legs no longer able to move as they hang limp beside my head, my ears hearing gasps of pleasure and if I could see her face, it would be completely in the state of utter bliss.

Climbing up from between her hind legs I grab my cock with my left hand with my right I pull it away from her muzzle and placed it on her hind leg to use as a handhold.

"What do you...oh...OH!" Blossom said in stark realization as I brought my hardened cock over to her quivering marehood and brushed my head against her entrance before steadily pushing my way in. With every inch I claim I let out a sigh of utter pleasure.

I had sex plenty of times over my life, but this surely takes the cake, her insides feel like heated satin, her juices lubricating my cock to make my thrusting easy, the tightness of her passage making the friction of the rubbing...I think this mare right here might have just switched me off of human females forever.

As soon as I hilted myself into the mare I let out a relaxed sigh of relief, the head of my cock rubbing against her inner sanctum and as soon as Blossom started to enjoy the new sensation of me being inside of her I started to slowly pull myself out before going back in, rutting the poor mare at a reasonable pace to just get myself into it.

Blossom wrapped her hooves around my neck as she held onto me as I got into the spirit of things, the sound of flesh smacking flesh can be heard in the cave we are staying in and with each thrust in my balls would smack her flank and Blossom would let out a gasp of pleased satisfaction.

"R-Ramsey...I'm close!"

"Already? Eh, you ready for the finale?"

"What is the finale?"

"This!" I shouted in glee as I lifted Blossom up, my shaft going in deeper due to the angle as I feel the head of my shaft slowly push at the blockage before I felt something yield and break through, a muted squelch followed by the bat mare in my arms letting out a long and loud moan of ecstasy as her cunt tightens up and spasms around my cock, her mare juices drenching my balls and thighs as she cums one last time before gasping for air as I let out a loud grunt as I empty myself into her. With each throb I fired load after load into the bat pony, I can feel myself become slightly lightheaded but I manage to keep myself standing as I hold onto Blossom tightly before slowly lowering myself to the ground to rest.

END OF MATURE CONTENT

Once the coupling is over I lay down on my bed with Blossom curled up on my chest with her head resting under my chin. For a moment we stay like this, me holding her as she cuddles with me and for a moment she looks up at me and as our eyes me we break into a kiss, our lips meeting the others in enthusiasm as my hands stroke her body in satisfaction and affection.

The two of us remain like this for quite a while, hearing nothing but each other breath as I scratched along her spine, earning a purr from the resting mare, I felt her small fangs prick my chest but I ignore it, this girl pretty much went through a marathon with how heavy she was breathing earlier.

With a satisfied sigh I nuzzle the pony head below me as the mare in my arms let out a content sigh, her wings twitching ever so slightly as I lean my head back and look up at the ceiling, the post-coital bliss clearly evident on our faces.

"So Blossom, was this everything you hoped your first time to be?" I said as I look back down to stare at Blossom as she lifts her head up to look at me, a pleased grin is firmly plastered on her muzzle as she snuggles into my chest, enjoying the warmth we are sharing.

"Oh yes that and more, because of you I am no longer going back to stallions, they can't do that thing you can with your fore hoof."

"Its called a hand, and yes I do think I did turn you away from your stallions as you turned me away from women, although if I do somehow go back I don't think my sanity would hold for long." I said as she giggles cutely at me before nuzzling into my neck more, her wings loosen up enough to cover my sides to keep me warm.

"So...Blossom, have you thought on what you done?" I said as I look down at the cuddly bat pony, her ears twitch a bit as I blow hot air in it.

"Uhh....no?" Blossom says meekly just as a grin forms on my face, an evil grin.

"Then it looks like I am going to have to punish you until you do remember." I said as I moved my hands to her back as I got myself ready to teach this mare a lesson, remember everything I tell you.

"Remember wha- eep!" was all Blossom managed to let out before I booped her on the nose and nipped her ear.

Looks like I have much to teach this young mare, hopefully she is capable of learning.

Author's Note

I know one of you would eventually ask for clop, and so I have preemptively did this chapter to quell your fears. If you have noticed me and Roran Dreamon are working together, he is my mentor kind of to make my stories better and we are gaming buddies, cya people later.

Know Thy Enemy

"Day Three: IMC Pilot Ramsey Oppenheimer, Last night I have encountered five bat horses spying on me until an Atlas I have reprogrammed to follow my orders found them hiding behind the bushes and when confronted by the Atlas, they back up into an arc mine I had laid down two days ago to act as a secondary perimeter. When I left the cave to investigate I saw them twitching on the ground and with a swift kick and stomp to the heads of each horse I have rendered them out cold and dragged their heavy asses to the waiting titans and had them be held in their hands to be used as prison cages. I had each one separated by at least ten meters so neither can do anything with the other and to isolate them to break their spirits but since they are aliens and do not speak English I would have to interrogate them the old fashioned way."

"On a different note, the MRVN has completed the doorway to the cave with four trees and made sure that it was a foot thick of wood and dirt to make it as protective as possible against anything hostile to me. His next set of orders is to use any spare lumber to create boxes for the ammunition, explosives and weapons and if later and I can find a pickaxe, start mining for metal."

"Lastly, I have finally managed to take a shit, I thought it would never come out and boy when it did I felt ten pounds lighter and that my shit had the density of a dying star. I could swear I can craft Thor's hammer with that dump and use it like he did but I highly doubt a heavy crap can even be used like that and still be considered a god's weapon of choice."

"This is IMC Pilot Ramsey Oppenheimer, signing off."

Turning off the recorder I went over to the pile of weapons and grabbed my Spitfire LMG from the top along with my revolver and spare ammunition before moving onto the arc grenades and the dead arc mine. What most grunts and pilots know that once an arc grenade or mine has been used it is destroyed, but actually when activated they only release their electronic payload and become a hollow shell, they can be recharged and used again, if you are smart enough to remember to plug it in for a refill and not shock yourself in the process. A dead arc mine is practically a heavy metal disk and often times used as a door stopper or a Frisbee when in the hands of bored pilots but today it is going to be used as an interrogation tool.

Opening the three inch thick heavy oak door I took my first look outside to see my captives are still being held in the hands of my titans and being squeezed ever so slightly to keep them uncomfortable, more pressure being added if they try to fall asleep without my consent.

Turning to the left I spot the pile of armor and weapons I had seized from the five, their dark colored armor would do nicely for a remodel into a pile of molten metal and their weapons as well but for me to do that I would need a large ass furnace to toss them in, and the only one I know of is back in horse town and I am not strong enough to even drag that large fucking thing back here let alone move it across a river.

"Warning: Multiple Threats Heading in Our Direction, Caution is Advised." the voice of a Titan OS said through my helmet and after flipping through all of the OS under my control I found it to be from my overlook on the mountain, the one holding a plasma railgun, an Atlas Titan that once belonged to a militia pilot named Timothy Wilson, that poor bastard died from radiation poisoning and several gunshot wounds. His titan was watching from the safety of the cliffside through the optical zoom interface and after plugging myself in to see what it was seeing I saw what it meant by 'multiple threats'.

It was a large squadron of flying horses pulling cargo wagons behind them which held boxes and other horses that couldn't fly with them. Guessing from how fast they are moving and how many there are I can safely guess that the five I had captured were just there to secure the titans and wait for these horses to properly secure and hold them. Not on my watch.

"Eagle_Eye, fire one shot at the lead cargo wagon, do not destroy it, simply clip it and wait to see if they drop below scope, if they don't then fire again and destroy it."

"Affirmative."

Standing on top of my titan I looked down at the five captives before promptly looking up at the mountainside and then seeing the tall tell orange glow coming from the long barrel of the railgun before it discharged, the bolt instantly flying out and from what the titan is seeing, slamming right into the first wagon and immediately setting it on fire and melting roughly half of the left side. Giving a fist pump I cut my connection to Eagle_Eye and jumped off my Atlas, landing on the ground next to one of the many captives, I have taken to calling them by numbers instead of anything to go by.

"So Number Four...how many do you think are coming to rescue your sorry ass? Fifty? A hundred? Maybe more?" I said in a light tone fully knowing that if this bat mare does decide to talk to me I wouldn't even be able to understand a word of it but if she could understand me then she would know that help is on the way for her.

"Nothing to say? Why earlier you were thrashing about trying to break free but all that did was dislocate a wing as it now hangs limply to your side, what a shame, I always wanted to see you fly after being tossed by an Ogre into a brick wall and see the fireworks happen. Maybe next time, no?" I patted her on the head before walking off to the next bat horse in line.

This bat horse, number five, was a big fella and I had to use an Ogre to keep him pinned down since a Stryder would more then likely not keep him down for long. He was not moving, struggling or even trying to escape, he just simply stayed there and stared up a the sky and ignored me.

"So Big Five, wanna talk?" I said casually while he just looked at the sky and snorted at me, "Nothin' then, alright, well...I guess from now on, I'll just call you Brandon since you remind me of him, how 'bout it, do you like that name there buddy?" I said and he just turned his eyes to me before rolling them and went back to staring up.

"Fine then, see you later Brandon, try not to dislocate your wing like Four did." and like that I left the big guy alone to his thoughts, whatever they could be but for now it was time to check up on Three.

Three, was straight up mare and I knew she was one because of a few factors, A: The crotchtits, B: The really feminine build and long ass mane, C: The curves on her should belong on a human girl not a horse, and D: The crotchtits. Now normally I would not try to be so easily seduced by the opposite sex but this mare was really trying to get into my pants and honestly, honestly, I did let her think she was winning in the battle for my heart but that battle was lost a long time ago, hell the only person that had a snowballs chance in hell was a barmaid in Angel City, that girl had the looks, a hot ass, nice tits, and she was of Swedish decent so she had that sexy voice also.

"So Three...how's it hanging?" I said while Three was being held by another Atlas, her legs and tail dangling below the metallic pinkie as she struggled a bit in the giant hand before slumping down and holding her head up in a hoof, blowing a stand of mane out of her face.

Like the other two horses this one too didn't make a lick of sense when her mouth started moving but it is fun seeing her try to seduce me, its like watching a guy try to confess his crush on a girl at a rock concert and she cant even hear a single word he is saying, except this time its more like the other way around and her words are lost in translation.

"Yea, well sugar tits it is nice chatting with you but I will come back to talk to you later, try not to do something bad while I am gone."

And with that I checked on Two, this stallion was straight up shivering in fear and I used a Stryder to hold him down, I ended up kicking him a little too hard in the head and whenever I come into his range of vision he would just shrink away from me and just start to bauble nonsense.

One was a complete enigma to me, he would try to study the Atlas holding him in place when I wasn't looking but whenever I came over to him he would stare at me intently as if he is trying to disrobe me with his eyes. I don't swing that way but I know a few guys back in the barracks that do swing in that general direction.

"So One, find a way to break out yet?" I patted his head before he moved his dome away, clearly not wanting me anywhere near him. "No? Good, cause unless you are operating the Titan or in control of its OS then there is nothing you can do but stay there and be a good boy." and with that I was off to the perimeter and went straight to the river, fish being on my mind and my knife being the tool to collect my meal alongside with five more to feed these bat horses. I don't know if they would eat it but I am going to experiment with it and hope for the best.

One thing I learned while hunting in the river that runs near my cave is that the fish there is always plenty and they for some reason love to swim directly into my knife, I am not sure if they enjoy being skewered by metal or just like shiny objects but either way I get my meal along with the prisoner's meal so its a win-win situation for me.

It was on my way back to the cave that I saw through my A.P.R. scans that in front of me was a small group of those scorpion lions and before I had a chance to turn around and take a different route back to the camp I heard a twig snap and I on reflex spun on my heel and I was face to face with a scorpion lion and it was licking its lips in a hungry manner as I saw that its eyes were focused on the fish on my waist.

Watching the lion stare at my fish I decided to slowly walk away from it, hoping it would lure it far away from its pack that I could take it on by itself and not be mauled by a pack of them and be killed on the spot. As I led the lion away from its pack I felt on occasion a breeze being made and turning around a bit I saw that it was trying to swipe at my fish and take it for itself but each time there was a swipe I would move slightly faster and be out of its path and a small growl could be heard each time it would miss. This time though, it got smart and started to move closer to me before taking his swipes, I honestly felt a few times the tips of the claws scratching ever so slightly against my back and was when the beast finally got lucky.

Raising a paw into the air and took a swipe at me, the heavy paw colliding with my body along with its claws raking across my left arm, the protective bulk weave and metal plating made the claws ineffective in harming me but the meaty paw though acted as a battering ram and I felt pain shoot up my arm as I feel the bone at the elbow pop and bend ever so slightly out of place making me gasp out in shock then yell in pain, the impact alone lifted me a foot off the ground and launched me a crude four feet away from where I was as my Spitfire was thrown aside as I lost sight of it being thrown into the bushes.

Quickly standing back up raising my good right arm into a fighting pose I lifted up my broken arm and got a good look at it, the bone was not poking through the skin and the pain was mild so it was just bent in the wrong direction. Jumping backwards I saw the lion scorpion take another swipe and this time I was ready as my right hand gripped the data knife that was strapped to my thigh and waited for it to strike at me again.

"Auto-Titan engaging hostile wildlife."

When I heard an OS say that over the com system I had a fraction of a second to see an orange blob fly through the air in front of me before hitting the lion thing in the head, making it explode everywhere along with half of its upper body. Well explode is such a strong word, its more along the line of melted and/or reduced to a pile of goop and from where I am laying down, it certainly left a smoking carcass that has the smell of cooked meat.

Looking at the cooked corpse at my feet and trailing the trajectory all the way to the mountain top I gave a quick wave and a thumbs up before walking over to wear my weapon was tossed picked it up, flicking off a few twigs and bits of mud off before sitting down by the tree it landed next to and placed my support weapon on my lap before looking at my arm and rolled my eyes and muttered a small string of curses at how unlucky I was today.

Staying in place I let my Spitfire stay in my lap as I reached around to my left arm, grabbed the forearm and with a tight clench of my teeth and a mental count of three I popped my arm back into place and proceeded to grab my LMG before slinging it around my back and got off the ground and grabbed the dead beast by the tail and started to drag it back to camp.

"Heavy ass fucking lion beast...have to be all ballsy, come after me when I got my lunch, try to steal my fish, and break my arm? Now here I am, dragging your sweet smelling meat around.......and what the hell is that smell?" I shouted out that last bit making a few birds take flight out of fear, the smell of cooked lion meat was strong but the pungent odor of something foul was also on the rise and when I realized that it has been roughly twelve minutes of me dragging a corpse through bushes, roots, rocks and grass that it had enough time to loosen up and lose its muscle control in its bowels, so evacuation was imminent.

Yelling and swearing as loud as I could I dragged the shitty lion all the way back to camp and in a rage I kicked a nearby leaning tree hard enough that my metal boot left a large foot shaped dent into it and as I went past it I heard the sound of wood snapping under pressure and weight before glancing back to see it slowly tumble over and land on the ground in a heap of leaves and branches.

After what should have been a few minutes of me going out to get breakfast and coming back to feed the prisoners, it has ended up taking forty-nine minutes to get from point A to point B and back to A since carrying a heavy ass corpse while it smelled like shit and ass while its cooked meat from the railgun round was attracting unwanted attention and I had to fire my revolver a few times to scare away any pest that dared get too close and tried to eat my lunch and dinner before me.

As soon as I arrived back at camp I dumped the corpse by the Stryder currently rotating a chicken snake on a spit roast over the roaring fire and once the bat horses saw what was behind me they all had the look of a starving person eyeballing their first actual meal in a long time, the big one infact was actually drooling at the smell of the bat lion being so close.

Moving over to my cave I opened the front door before handing the six fish to the MRVN walking by, sliding past him, and finally switching weapons from my Spitfire LMG to a silenced and standard optical scope Longbow-DMR Sniper Rifle as this weapon would be needed for my plan to return back to that town to gather more information on the horses that live here and to see if they could be a viable threat to me in the future.

Once I had everything that I needed for this little venture I exited the safety of my cave home to be greeted by the sight of a wood wolf staring at me from the safety of the forest trees providing it with ample amounts of cover but just as our eyes connected with each other it was abruptly ended when the wolf ran off back into the forest to never been seen without the aid of an A.P.R. unit or a sonar scope.

Walking back to the entrance of the camp I waved at the prisoners as two of them raised their heads to look at me, Four had the decency to wave at me before I left the safety of my titans but seeing how those five won't survive long without any means of getting water or probably any horse food since they might not like fish or bat scorpion lion meat.

"Well guys, I'll be back soon enough and I will bring back food and water! Hopefully water since I doubt you want to drink bourbon for the next few days." and with that I started to walk out and into the woods, my destination in my mind and the items I need to survive are bound to be there and if not, then I guess buckets and pans will do.

Ponyville

The town was still in the same condition I came in on with the exception that there are now a few guards out on patrol walking about in groups of three, each one keeping their eyes peeled for any danger or in this case, looking for me. I was standing on the outskirts of the town in the borders of the trees, the low hanging branches and bushes providing ample amount of cover and shade and from the safety of the low hanging branches I raised my rifle and peered through the scope, the lens magnifying everything I am seeing and enhancing my vision with a periodic wave of blue and orange.

"Hmm....three guards a group, each group being within spotting distance of another group....a small group of flyers moving in a large circular pattern overlapping two other groups....this is going to take some, no ALL of my cunning to get past them all and succeed in my mission.'

Once my course of action has been decided I started to slowly move at a snails pace to the edge of the town, my eyes looking around while at the same time periodically looking through the scope to see if there is anything coming down the main road, the same one I am taking to town. Seeing that there is not a single horse coming my way I stepped out of the shadows of the foliage and moved to a more shady part of the buildings, my eyes still searching for any signs of hostile horses or anything that would blow my cover and there is still no sight of a roving patrol of guards or any civilians taking a stroll.

Wondering where the hell the civilian horses are I kept on creeping about, turning my A.P.R. at regular intervals, keeping track of the guards milling about being loud as hell in their heavy metal armor, and the occasional flap of wings overhead of the aerial guards but I think they are failing in their spot checks cause I just walked on by a small group of flyers.

It was about three minutes into the town that I found where all of them were currently located, a large open section of the town and it was filled to the brim in what I think are cart stalls and horses, lots and lots of horses and smaller horses also and talking to a small group of the mini-horses was a zebra. Now at this point in time I have stopped trying to put things together about what is going on but after seeing that this planet is under the control of horses in a multitude of colors and variety, it is also inhabited by zebras, I swear to god I can't take anymore of this shit.

Ignoring the possibility of a mental breakdown I slowly backed away from the edge of the building before doubling on back towards a building that held a sign with a large ruck sack and a trio of assorted fruits, not sure what the building could possibly contain but seeing that the entire town's population was at the stalls so I can maybe say that it is safe to start looting some homes to find what I need, after all I am fairly certain that they won't notice a few pots and pans missing.

Just like the first time I was here the back door of the target building was unlocked and with a twist of the knob and a light push I entered the building to see a small thrift store of sorts, and inside laid what I can only think of things I could possibly need all in one location.

Sauntering over to the desk near the back door I peered around to make sure that this place was indeed closed, and looking around and seeing that the front door had a open/closed sign on it and was currently 'closed' since the 'open' part was facing inward towards me, and it was even better that this place had a cash register and it too wasn't locked or even empty. Staring at the cash register I tried to figure out how to open it but when I found a little button that didn't quite match what an old fashioned one have I pushed said button to see what would happen and it just so happens that it causes the register to open up, revealing a lovely row of gold coins, five rows of ten.

I may not be good in the knowledge of currency and mercantile but what I do know is that gold is a very important metal and it is always seemed to be used as a means of monetary value, and seeing that I have quite literally struck gold I am going to invest it in something important.

Like a new gun or the Icepick Data Knife.

Or maybe a new toilet cause the one in my room in the Colossus always seems to fail on me when its I am at the moment of truth and when my stomach is about to explode from chef surprise.

Pocketing the money into an empty magazine pouch I looked around and sort of looted the place or how a few burglars called it 'liberating', and liberate I did as I took a couple of buckets, rope, more thick nails, a paint brush and tubes of blue and silver paint. With all of my ill gotten goods I placed them a large trash bag that these fine horses have left for me in their back room, everything fitting nicely in its slightly snug home and with a heave I lifted everything onto my back and left through the rear entrance with all due haste since a thief should not be caught with his pants down while on the job.

Rushing back to my hiding spot in the trees and bushes I dropped off my acquired loot and made a quick look around before running back to the town, a few things I still need like some sort of fabric to be turned into an IMC flag, some whet stones to sharpen the ax that I took, more thick nails for my soon-to-be-outpost, and some salt to make jerky.

My friends said that there is a wide variety of jerky and it comes in so many forms like chicken, beef, roast and from what my more healthy friend said, fish jerky. Now what most would be thinking why would one go for fish jerky when beef jerky is always available and tasted a hundred times better? Well cause for the fact that I am probably no longer near an IMC or Frontier world or even have the possibilities of returning to one so the access to the best jerky known to mankind is out of the question so going to next best is now part of the plan, I mean really how bad could fish jerky be?

Crawling through the shadows of the alleyways I nearly bumped into a patrol of guards, I ducked behind a dumpster as they approached and tried my best not to breath or even move a muscle and to my luck they just kept on trotting by, none the wiser that I had just flipped them all off while crouching and moving backwards.

In all this was looking up to be an excellent day, I had my ill gotten goods and now I was looking for a large spool of fabric to be used as a flag, and what a surprise it was when my back bumped into a tall fence did I look behind me to see that I was staring up at a fairly large carousel with the exception that its a building and there are no plastic horses with poles in them all around the edges.

'Huh...I wonder what this building is for....certainly not a carnival ride or even a home...'

Questioning the building laid before me I slowly peered around before making a slow circle, my eyes looking any means of entry and it was easy to spot a few windows but when I found a side door that has been placed almost at a perfect ninety-degree angle with the front door with the exception that instead of being slightly better made and painted, the side door was cut in half horizontally and seemed to be made out of oak or yew, either of the two and it was unlocked while the front was locked up tight.

Looking to my left then to my right I jiggled the doorknob for a while and with a smile the door opened up partially, only the bottom half pretty much opened up but with a bit of a blind reach and a grope later the top half opened up and I walked on it, ducking a bit just like the other times I had to walk through a horse building.

My first impression on what appears to be a kitchen is that it is...

"White....why is it always white? I mean sure it is a nice color and all but still...it reminds me too much of the damn hospital and that fucking doctor's face...my god it just screamed 'imminent rape' and I just wanted to kick his bloody teeth in! Seriously what gives! Paint it blue, red, green, yellow, hell I would even go for the worse color imaginable, orange!" I almost shouted that last part, the color orange is not my on my top ten for many reasons, and one of them is that it belongs to a certain species of hostile fauna from the Leviathan System.

Fiddling around with a coffee pot and a toaster I wandered around a bit before coming to a closed door and after trying to walk into the next room only to go helmet first into the sturdy wooden portal, my face smudging up against the inner visor and with an irritated huff I took a step back and wrapped my hand around the doorknob, twisted and pushed and resulted in the same thing of not moving an inch. Growling a bit in anger I decided to try the exact opposite and oddly enough it worked, I wanted to slap myself on the forehead for not thinking that a door would exist that would be a pull instead of a push.

Rolling my eyes at my own stupidity I take a tentative step inside and my eyes catch one of the many prizes I am looking for.

'Cloth...spools and spools of fabric...ripe for the taking, now I need a blank slate spool so I can easily paint the IMC symbol....now where can I find a stark white or beige...oh...there it is....'

Resting on a table near a sewing machine ready to be sewn together into whatever it is the seamstress has planned for but for now it is to be postponed because that roll is coming home with me. Grabbing the roll from the table I tightly wound it up to the point where it couldn't fall apart unless someone messed with it and seeing how it was now in my possession I highly doubt that anyone would try and take it away from me.

Giving the spool room one last once over I tracked my steps back to the kitchen and as soon as I did I heard the sounds of the front door open up and as soon as that happened I quickly closed the doors behind me but I failed that when I heard the sounds of hooves coming over to me and once that happened I ran fast and hard and as soon as I heard the sounds of the door opening up I turned a corner, turned on my pulse and scanned around, my DMR close at hand and the spool in the crook of my arm and a chest pocket full of gold coins.

What I expected to happen was to run into a patrol of guards but instead I ran into a familiar sight and bumped into the same grey coated, dirty blonde and amber googly eyed winged mare, and boy was she happy to see me.

Staring down at the wall-eyed winged mare I helped her up, dusted her off, patted her on the head and went back on my way but when I turned back to see if she resumed whatever it is that she was doing, I saw the sight of her flying right at me but at a more leisurely pace and before long she was trotting next to me, her head underneath my left hand thought I started to scratch between her ears and as soon as I did so she let out a sigh of content and for me, it felt like I was petting a dog since she was almost acting like one.

'I wonder if these horses are not in any way related to dogs or if they are like this cause I have hands? I bet its real fucking hard to pet or scratch something when your only appendage is a blunt hoof.'

Keeping up with me I stalked down the roads, avoiding patrols, staying low from the flying guards and occasionally pocketing things that doesn't belong to me but the mare underneath my hand does not seem to care all with the exception that I keep on scratching her ears.

It was after an hour of me scratching this grey mare's ears and breaking into homes to grab things on my list that I eventually ended up dumping off my loot at the bush and somehow being directed to her home which is actually pretty comfortable even though the sofa is a bit low and I had to let her lay on my lap while I scratched those ears of hers and pet her mane, something that was oddly calming to me when the usual calming agent of a shot of whisky and a snort of coke does the same trick.

As I continued to scratch and stroke this mare the sound of the front door opening and closing quickly before the sounds of tiny hooves quickly pattered into the room we were in and when I turned my head to see the source of the noise I saw a mini-horse staring up at me, it was a slightly lighter grey/purple coat version of the mare on my lap with the exception that this one has a horn but had the same mane and eye color, I can probably guess that this is her child...not sure how one goes from wings to a horn.

Before I could say or even utter a word the mare on my lap started to say something and per usual I can't understand a lick of it and the smaller horse said something back in a girlish tone and soon enough the mini-horse jumped onto the sofa, went to my right leg next to what I think is her mother after she moved aside a bit and rested her head upon my knee and stared up at me with those adorably large amber eyes.

Normally I would resist the temptation to coo at such an overly cute and adorable sight but seeing how I haven't had the experience to deal with children or even had the pleasure of having one of my own, I let my guard down for just a tad bit and I instantly regretted doing such a thing at a moment of weakness cause now I can't stop petting the two of them and saying how cute the smaller one is.

I am sucker for cute and adorable things.

'I wonder what the titans are doing back at camp...hopefully holding the fort down and not killing my hostages or causing unneeded damage to the camp.'

Back at Camp

Titan Model: Atlas, Designation: Thumper

"Engaging Scouting Route."

Grabbing the 40mm Cannon from the ground and checking its ammunition container for the status of being full, a green confirmation goes through my circuits and with a brief signal to my operator that I have begun my pre-planned path from the center of Outpost Alpha, along the sides of the mountain bordering the outpost, through the bog that contained the four-headed hostile lizard, up to the ruined fortress and back round.

Rotating my central eye to its proper housing position I stormed out of the front entrance and hooked a right and moved alongside the fourteen foot tree walls, my upper sensory node looking at the five alien prisoners before resuming to look forward, all senses being needed to accurately paint a map of the current region my operator and the other OS's are in.

The journey through the forest was a quiet one at best, the local wildlife has been avoiding me due to my size, armored appearance and the occasional show of power by stomping on or squeezing the life out of any hostile fauna that would dare show any type of force against me. Entering the bog was simple enough, movement has been slowed down to ensure proper footing and to get a proper layout of the land, the four-headed beast was nowhere to be seen since its beat down by Sparky a day ago, but seeing how this place has no real use besides being a bog and nothing else, it has been moved to the folder of 'Ignore' while pretty much the forest being moved into the 'Industry, Housing, Resource' file right next to 'Important Idea's'.

Walking through the trees in the deeper part of the forest was a bit tricky as it was easily solved by crouching down and slowly trudging along at a reduced speed, the cost of speed was worth it when I came across a ravine and almost ended up going over the side and from what an enhanced zoom has shown me, falling into a river that leads somewhere unknown. Scanning this side of the ravine for a way to get across safely without risking any damage to myself and soon enough I found a bridge leading to the other side but it just happens to be made of wood and rope and many planks are missing so that is a bust for now.

Moving back to the beginning of the forest and the bridge I waited three seconds to warm up the quick-dash engines to turn on and as soon as they became active I pushed myself out of the trees with all possible haste, the heavy thuds coming from my feet anchors can probably be heard deep within the woods and as soon as my foot touched the edge of the rocks I heaved myself into the air and turning on my dash engines, the extra thrust sending me to the other side and safely on stable solid stone.

"New Path Detected: Following"

Looking down at the slightly used path that held the occasional stone brick I noticed that this was a road of sorts and whatever was at the end could be a place to gather new intel or useful resources to the operator.

"Current Objective: Recon, Altered. New Objective: Reconnaissance New Path and Possible Settlement."

Back to Ponyville

Ramsey's POV

Shaking my head at the thought that something could possibly go wrong with my titans I resumed petting the two horses resting on my legs, my head tilting downward to see that my time thinking has evidentially led to time passing by and for the two to fall asleep, while giving the occasional sigh from my hands scratching their ears.

'Huh...I got the magic touch to put horses to sleep with petting and scratching of the ears....just like the dogs back home.'

Tilting my head back against the wall I let out a content sigh, thinking that my break from thievery and mischief has been extended for an indeterminable amount of time and I was going to use that time to rest in a home that had a soft sofa and two living leg warmers.

It was during this happy quiet moment that there was a knock on the door and seeing how I was ambushed by cuteness last time I decided to play it safe and turn on the radar pulse, the blue color overlapping everything as orange waves coursed over my visor and just as I turned it on, there was four horses standing outside the door, three of them were guards cause they had on the obvious armor and roman helmet combo but the fourth horse standing next to them, I saw no horn or wings so this was a standard horse, but what gave it away that this was not a random search.

"Motherfucker....there goes my relaxation time...." Muttering under my breathing I quietly lifted up the two sleeping horses and placed them down gently before grabbing my DMR from the floor and rushing over to the second floor.

As soon as I reached the final step on the stairs I heard the front door get kicked in, waking up my two little leg warmers immediately and from what I heard they both tumbled off the sofa and landed on the floor with two distinct thumps followed by them yelling and screaming while I made my escape by opening a window in the bathroom, crawled through the small opening and rolled onto the roof before running off the side of it and landed on the stone road with a grunt and immediately took off in a random direction, keeping the radar pulse on.

Running between buildings is easy for me, but outrunning a bunch of horses wasn't, I had to periodically suddenly shift myself into a different direction before they can start to effectively gain any ground on me while I had to on occasion duck and slide under passing flying horses making their runs at me. Hell doing all this reminded me of the fighting at Angel City when we were looking for Barker and McAllen.

"Shit!" I shouted as I slipped on a wet patch of mud, my boot sinking in a good inch before I quickly caught myself and started to sprint again, the radar pulses showing me that I now had six guards to my rear, and at least all of the aerial guards watching overhead and the occasional guard dive-bombing in vain attempts to capture me but when one got particularly close to grabbing me I made the innate decision to even the odds.

Timing it just right I waited for one of the flyers to come down to try and grab me, my head on a swivel as I kept looking back at the guards, seeing them gain on me and when I turned my head up to the sky I saw one race down towards me, wings beating hard and just as this one guard got so close to grabbing me, I ducked down out of reach, waited for the guard to on by, and with my excessive training I grabbed the back leg before slamming him down in front of me just in time for my left foot to step between his wings, and the sounds of metal groaning from weight stress followed by something cracking. A horse screamed out in pain and I evaded capture, the six on the ground chasing me stopped in their hooves as they tended to wounded flyer while the others still in the air keeping an eye on me but that too was soon lost when I managed to make it back to the forest.

Huffing slightly under the tree line I watched as the flying horses circled around in loose groups for about three hours and soon enough they left the area, reverting back to their old patrol route and leaving me with a sigh of relief that they gave up so easily cause a usual IMC patrol wouldn't leave the area for at least a few days or until they are ordered back to their patrol routes.

What was supposed to be a simple raid for supplies turned into an evacuation of sorts with me being the evacuee, and before I could make a proper escape into the wild I had one last thing to do. Hefting my acquired goods over my shoulder I made my way through the woods, ignoring the occasional bird trying to land on my antenna and with a well said 'shoo' and the random hand wave to get them to leave me alone I was happily on my way home, that is until I came across an unusual sight.

Built in the within the boundaries of the forest was a shack of sorts and with a quick peek through the windows I saw that it held some sort of tribal masks and a large metal cauldron in the center. Now at first I thought it was strange that this forest had someone besides me living within the wooded foliage but seeing how that this world is filled with winged and horned horses then I can guess that they could live anywhere as long as they have some sort of roughage like grass or hay and seeing how this home is out in the sticks then this horse must get it imported or from the store in the horse town.

"Whoever lives here must be brave or suicidal...or both but hey they got some guts to rough it here with the bat lions and chicken snakes." I said to myself before moving around the home and into the general direction of my camp, and it wasn't before long that I climbed a twisted, gnarled grey tree to see where exactly I am currently at and I dropped back down to the ground when I found myself on the right track when I saw a tiny flashy speck on the edge of a cliff up top a tall mountain.

It was during my lone walk however did I find out where the cargo wagons landed with all the horses dragging behind them. They all landed within the forest, cleared out a large enough section and created a large enough military camp to land, disassembled and placed aside their wagons, large rows of tents were erected and even a latrine system was established. How they managed to do all this within a few hours and not get caught by my titans is beyond me but seeing how they must be at least a hundred strong and that they all looked like highly professional soldiers.

Leaning against a random gnarled tree I peered around the corner before slinking along other twisted, gnarled trees and with a happy grin on my face I can see that this camp is just getting into the swing of things and that all it would take to ruin things would be a fire or a bit of chaos.

Turning on my Active Pulse Radar I saw the many bodies of the horses moving about in what I see are scheduled patrol routes and it was with this in mind that I went around the camp while keeping my head down and still holding my grin I creep on by until I lost sight of the camp behind me and was now knee deep in the forest and was close to my camp because from the open breaches in the tree top I could see the mountain getting closer and closer until at long last I was back home, and not a moment to soon, MRVN was feeding the five bat horses some bat lion meat and the look of ecstasy on their faces proved to me that bat horses do consume and enjoy the taste of meat.

Before I could think on what else these horses would love to put in their pie holes but before I could think of testing out the chicken snake meat I felt the vibrations of something big coming behind me and when I turned around I saw Thumper walking up behind me, his 40mm still held tightly in those large metal hands of his.

"Hey boy, where have you been?" I said while going over to my cave home, grabbing the knob I gave it a light twist and a push before placing the nails down inside but the rest went back outside.

Looking at my helmet watch I saw that it was just a measly two in the afternoon so I had plenty of time to watch my enemy, to study them, find out what makes them tick, figure out any weaknesses they may have, and to see if there is any way I can sabotage them to the point where they would have to make a tactical retreat.

Going back out of the camp I quickly started to sprint back in the direction of the horse camp, my adrenaline transfusion I underwent kicking in as I felt myself feel lighter then air and moved faster then any other pilot in existence with the exception of one piloting a Stryder with its dash core activated. Barely feeling the wind moving across my body I flashed through bushes and shrubs, my steps can't even be heard by my own ears as I felt my blood pumping but soon it came to an end when I stopped at the edge of their camp and quickly set myself up in a nearby tree and covered myself up in a branch and a few leaves but it was good enough at the time.

Pulling my Longbow-DMR from my back I placed the stock to my shoulder and looked through the scope as I could still hear my heart beating in my ears as my eyes are fully dilated from the pump of adrenaline coursing through me, the crosshairs going across the heads of each horse in the camp with me occasionally making it bounce up in a fake shot, sometimes even muttering 'Boom, headshot' as I imagined their heads asploding into a fountain of gore as it normally would if I shot a Militia grunt of pilot.

Laughing to myself I wiggled a bit in the tree and that action brought the attention of a single guard, this lone horse looked just like all the others and had a white coat, golden mane and earthy colored eyes but in this case they were blue. Tilting my rifle away from the guard as I stared down from branch to see the guard come closer I decided to take a course of action and have some fun with the lone stallion slowly walking toward me.

Waiting for him to get closer I rotated myself onto the balls of my toes and waited, and waited, and waited until finally the stallion was underneath the branch I was on and I immediately slid off the piece of wood and landed onto his back and with all my weight I forced the horse down onto the ground and hit him upside the head with the butt of my rifle and rendered the guard unconscious. Dragging him into a nearby shrubbery I stripped him of his armor and placed it into a different bush and with an evil grin I climbed up a different tree and went back to spying on the horses.

"Hmm....several tents all in rows and columns....what I think is the supply depot is located at the upper left side of the camp with the rest of the disassembled wagons and lastly the commanding officers tent was at the center of the camp so infiltrating to get to the leader would be impossible without a cloaking system or some really good luck." I said to myself and no one in particular, my vision returning to the scope as I spied on a few horses going to the latrines I smirked at the possibility of me going over to the bathrooms and stealing all the toilet paper but seeing how I went through that nightmare I decided against it, no one should have to go through a toilet nightmare unless it is a well planned prank and that they had an emergency roll squared away for just such an occasion.

What most people do in their off time is their own thing but for me, I do absolutely nothing but listen to music, gamble on how many Militia we can kill, swap in burn cards for something better, check on the Spectre racks and see if I could put my name on one of them without getting caught but seeing how I am on a planet with no electronics, no booze as far as I know of, no porn, no internet, and no double bacon cheeseburger, so I now have to improvise.

Taking my Longbow in hand I made my way over to the latrines and waited for there to be at least one horse to be here alone, my plan to ruin one horse's day is about to begin and with a stroke of luck I heard the sound of someone going into one of the ten bathrooms and closed the door behind them. With a strong kick to the left side making it lean away from the rest I heard the sounds of someone yelling inside followed by a scream of pure agony, the smell that followed was quickly snuffed out when my helmet sealed itself away from the outside world but the damage was done.

Some unlucky horse just got covered in piss and shit and that smell will more then likely never come off.

After that I just resumed spying with the occasional mock headshot, my eyes drifting to each horse before bouncing the rifle up and before long my time here was running short.

As soon as it turned ten o'clock at night I decided to pack it in and go back home, my camp still secure by the time I make it back and once I entered my cave home I closed the door and set aside my DMR by my bed along with my Wingman, and once I was on my bed of leaves I closed my eyes and went off to the dream realm, hoping that my dreams this time would be pleasant or calming but instead it was of a day that will forever live on in infamy for me.

And I wasn't the only one experiencing that dream, as I too soon found out that there are things in this world that would dare break into the minds of others just because they think its their job to protect others as they sleep.

"Get down!"

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, I was working on this chapter while finding a job online, and also that the chapter had to be split in two parts because if I left it in one chapter it would have been moving way to fast.