Operation Tartarus

Beginning

      "So, to recap, you want me...to kill a bunch of dirty old pedophiles.", a voice recapped, in a tone that just spoke of doubt.

A reply soon came through the phone in the form of a man, impatient and angry,

" In short, yes. These...freaks should be exterminated quickly, and messily."

A chuckle soon was heard by the voice, one filled with mirth.

The voice spoke, "  Why should I? "

The man growled, and hissed through the line" I thought you were proffesional enough to-"

The voice interrupted,"Relax, you haven't stated the paycheck, and I raise the quality of the job for the money."

The man, now relaxed and brimming with confidence, told the voice, " I'll give ten million in advance, and three hundred more for a job well done."

       The voice gave a low whistle, and replied, " You want controversy, or a job well done?"

The man relaxed in his chair and told the voice where he would deliver the money.

The voice grinned, though unseen by the man, and said, " Wait for a month or so, and watch the news, would ya? You should stay   current."

        The line was cut, and the man, and the mercenary, were pleased.

Time skip:2 weeks, before Bronycon

        A hooded man e-mailed people who were in Montana to bring certain resources where. He also bought an M4 with an underside grenade launcher, as well as a 9mm Glock, each with their respective magazines. The mercenary managed to get his hands on an M1918 Browning with 2 magazines. He ordered explosives, ranging from a grenade, to a Molotov. The mercenary looked at his fake passport, fingerings his classic Ka-Bar knife. " Jack Ozcard. Huh. At least it isn't Jamie."

     He strolled into his car, and drove to the airport. As he hit a red light, Jack groaned in frustaration, and shook his head. A knock on the window made him look up. A young man, early 20's by the looks of it was with his friends, and asked Jack a question.

His voice, full of cheer and joy soon spoke, " Hey, ya know where the airport is, friend?"

Jack frowned, and eyeing the stoplight, shook his head.

      " Ah well. Hey you kno-" He was cut off by the car truck behind Jack honking at the group holding up traffic. "Oh buck! This motherbucking antibrony!"

Jack didn't hear the rest as he drove off. He arrived at gate 7 and walked in. He looked around and waited in line for an hour or two.

     "Hey.", a voice said.

" Jack looked up. He really needed to pay more attention to his surroundings. These people were going to be the death of him.

     " Hey." Jack replied.

     " So, where you headin' to?" the person, female by the sounds of it, asked him.

Jack looked at the woman. She was short, and looked slightly crazed. He shook himself and told her.

     " I'm going to Montana, ya know to the convention."

     " Oh! Me too!" She excitedly grinned at Jack, revealing missing teeth

Jack, now uncomfortable, said,

     " Really? Umm, who's your favorite horse?"

     " You mean pony?", The woman replied.

     "Yeah, whatever.", He replied, annoyance in his tone.

     " I really like Applejack! Her butt must be great, ya know from all the kicking. It seems so sexy! I could masturbate to it for forever!"

Jack felt bile in his throat, and pretended to break down into a coughing fit, breaking off all conversation with the disgusting lunatic.

    A voice suddenly awoke Jack from his sleep.

"Your passport?"

"Bwu-huh?", Jack confidently, and elegantly replied.

The worker glared at Jack." I need your passport."

Jack handed him his passport.

"Prick"

Jack passed the worker and started walking into the plane.

He was about to go into the plane before the copilot stopped him. " Hey, you see the new episode of MLP? "

Jack sighed and sat down in his spot, his eyes closing, and his breath evening out.

"Fucking pedos", he thought.

"...12,000 feet, please put on your seatbelts and thank you for flying the Pony Express. Good Day."

Jack sighed in relief.

He exited the airport, and waited for one of his friends to pick him up, Andrew. He was an expert in Krav Maga, and smoked heavily.

     A sleek black car drove up, and Jack opened up the door and sat down.

"It's fucking three-fifteen in the morning. Let's get to Jerry's and get our stuff.", A man with a cigarette in his hand said.

Jack nodded, and took a nap during the drive.

He was going to need it for his job soon.

     Jack entered Jerry's house and a tall, burly man greeted them.

" Hello sir.", Jack spoke.

The burly man nodded, making a ' follow me' symbol, and walked into the house.

      ack retrieved his weapons, and brought a pack of cigarettes into the car.

Jack, lugging the guns to the car, spoke to his accomplice." Andrew! Get your ass to the house and get some stuff. We gotta go before sun's up."

Andrew grumbled, and jogged to the house, and after a bit of time, came back and put his stuff in the trunk.

The burly man walked inside, and sat in the back seat, nodding at both of them.

They were ready to get their paycheck.

Jack climbed up to the top of the building, setting explosives in some hidden areas, while Andrew and Jerry copied him.

He thought he saw an old man watching him, but shook his head, and he was gone.

     After the MLP-MSP introduction passed, they donned their masks. He checked his gear and fingered the detonators, his friends copying him. in the 'mane' hall, the announcer spoke up." Welcome the new singer Bla-"

"-BOOOM!"

    An explosion rocked the hall, and the people who weren't injured in the blast were crying over merchandise or their ears.

An old man with his wares simply grinned. He vanished into thin air as Jack walked by.

Jack looked over the shop. It felt...strange. Like he should ignore this place.

Jack saw a black flashlight and grabbed it. It felt nice, at least.

     As he walked away, a humming sound made itself apparent to him as he walked away from the shop.

Lights appeared behind him, and he whipped around, M1918 in hand.

" Ya shouldn't have done that, lad.", a voice spoke up.

Jack quickly aimed his rifle, and, finger on the trigger, pressed.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. He repeated the action to have the same result."I forgot the safety!"

The merchant snapped and the sound of water flowing filled Jack's ears as he screamed. He fell to the floor in agony.

He passed out to the sound of laughter, and the sight of people dying.

      After a while, he woke up in a forest, coughing out green liquids. Jack ignored them for now.

Pain filled his head as he staggered up to a stand. He leaned on a tree, and groaned.

     "Wait, tree?" There were no trees in the convention.

For the first time since he woke up, he looked around and blinked.

Bright green was everywhere he looked, with soft browns to contrast it.

It was either the quietest forest he ever heard, or he was deaf.

Everything was bright, even the darkness, and the air reeked of sweet chocolate.

      " Where the hell am I?!"

He was in a forest, a bright one at that.

The trees had faces carved on them, probably a warning for trespassers.

He looked around. Jack was in the middle of a forest.

Why would they put warning signs in the middle of a forest. Why am I in a forest? If the bronies, or the store owner dumped me here, why do I have my gear? Am I in a coma? Maybe. I should get to civilization, find out the rest.

     Jack quickly placed his Select fire Glock 18 in his hand, and flipped the safety. Everything was close quarters, and he could barely stand. He looked for any sign of movement, and sighed in relief when none showed.

Need higher ground so I can link up with Jerry, and Andrew.

Jack leaned against the tree, and slowly, walked, his head pulsing, and lungs burning.

He listened for a river, or animals, his ear straining for anything.

Water flowed to his far right, but he could barely see, even with bright colors surrounding him.

He saw the river, and tripped over a rock while limping there.

Pain rushed throughout his body like a Taco Bell dinner burning through your anus, a fiery hell consuming his body. Blood started pouring from his nose and knee while he pinched his nose to stop it.

In one hand he grabbed his knife, and after making a quick fire, catered his knee, while biting a cloth.He took a quick nap after he screamed.

     He woke up, and noted the trees were darker, and the sky as well.

"Night time then." His body felt better, his mind sharp. He picked his knife up, and with difficulty, hacked a large branch off to make a makeshift staff.. Highschool carpentry was good for something, right? The branch was sharpened, repeatedly, until a sharp stick was formed. He supposed it was good enough to use against the foliage.

The bright colors had returned, as well as his headache from standing up. He set to creating a fire with the leftover shavings and chunks.

"There are no animals, and I'm getting hungry."

      Jack needed to eat soon. He drank from the river, the occasional pebble choking him for a bit. Coughing, he reached for his M1918 so he could clean it, no doubt it was dirty and he was eager to clean it.

       As his hand reached for his firearm and grabbed nothing but empty air. He realized something important.

"I didn't bring it with me when I left. ", He thought, clenching his fist, before stopping from the pain.

  "Damn it!" The sudden irritation in his throat reduced him into a coughing mess and nearly stopping the fire.

      Eventually he slept, without any dreams to sleep in. He woke up to darker trees, his headache almost gone. He needed to get to shelter. A cave would be nice to sleep in, as long as there were no bears in the area.

       A sudden growl made him limp away, until he found a low hanging tree in a small cave. Jack pushed the tree so it blocked the cave, and lit a fire. He grabbed his Glock after attempting to scratch the dirt off with his Ka-Bar.

He shivered for a second, and he realized he was holding the flashlight.. He dropped them and fell into a deep sleep.

-Equestria, Canterlot-

Princess Luna was having a bad day. She got into a shouting match with several royals, including the infamous Blueblood, and her sister, Celestia over her rights. She groaned, and nodded to her night guards near her room.  The ponies parted, and opened the doors to her room.

     She walked into her room and saw a picture of her and a Griffon laughing, each with bruises and blood on them. It had been painted at the end of the Transinium war, a type of mana nullifying metal. The Griffonstone Empire had sided with the Equestrian Union saying it too dangerous, and had won against the Minotaurian tribes, and the Draconian rebels. The war was won after a year, but many had fallen. Nonetheless, seeing the ponies and griffons bond was amazing, and heartwarming. Luna had found that Transinium ore was respected and used commonly. Luna, furious, demanded an explanation, and Celestia stated that she was overstepping her boundaries, which led up to a challenge for a duel.

     The Princess of the Night rubbed her temples.  As soon as the nobles started laughing, she found that a warrior was no longer respected in this day and age, unlike a millennium ago. Guards were decorative ponies.

     Luna had used to be a famous fighter, in Griffonian martial arts. She was happy, rich, and talented, until Discord attacked, flooding the world in chaos. She might not relish in the cheers of the crowd as they screamed her name, or enjoy that feeling when she released the bowstring into an enemy. She might not see hope show itself on a foal as he saw a rescuer from his slavers.

She would never see the relief on her knights' faces when they see her rescue them from impossible odds.

       The one thing she could do, was dreamwatch. She could monitor dreams for a fraction of her mana, clear nightmares, or visit dreams for a bit more mana. She would tire in the morning, but it would be worth it to let Ponies be free of their fears. She has not encountered many lucid dreamers in all Equestria  Luna wished she could help other races, but Celestia letting Discord free and harm the planet without an adequate punishment, strained relationships with other countries, and Luna was not allowed to dreamwatch.

       Luna supposed that she should start the night, and after seeing the sun lower itself into the horizon, she brought her mana to her horn, and gently pushed the moon into the sky, panting heavily.

"I have no stamina. ", she thought amusedly.

       For the next minute, Princess Luna gathered her energy for the stars in the sky. Concetrating on her horn, she focused her mana into a single point until pinpoints started shooting out of her horn randomly. Gritting her teeth, she focused before she fired a blast of pure dark mana into the sky.

       She waited for the stars to appear.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And topped it off with waiting a bit more.

Why aren't they coming out? I had enough mana, and I don't think I need to get my mana get refilled. The only reason this is if she didn't have the privileges renewed unto her, or if mana is dropping around me to restore itself near me.

     A rule of magic was that the more you used magic, the more mana you could receive, which you would receive out of your surroundings, even other ponies.

    The sound of a crashing glass shook her, and she bolted to the Hall of Glass.

"Princess! I'msorrypleasedonthurtmewewerejoking!" The workers there were playing darts on their lunch break, and broke the image of Luna hugging Celestia, nailing Luna in the face.

     The princess on house arrest shook her head and used her remaining mana to patch up the window, lecturing the ponies on proper work conduct.

"Thy work shouldst be thy pride. Worketh hard, worketh smart. When thy work is complete, enjoyeth thy friends and thy children. Taketh breaks only when necessary. Succeedeth in this, and thou willst be rewarded greatly. " She spoke commandingly, yet not unkindly.Luna smirked to herself, and walked away, throwing the darts at the board while she did so. She then proceeded to hit bullseye after bullseye splitting the darts each time. The ponies' jaw dropped and they started working on the next window with relish, scrubbing the window till it shined like Lunas wolfish grin.

     Jack woke to a growl next to him, and drew his sidearm, switching the safety and pulling back the hammer. Aiming at the tree in front of the cave. What appeared to be a wooden wolf jumped over the tree, baring it's teeth. Jack, eyes wide, fired off four shots, the first two going wide, and the third hitting it's paw, and the fourth nailing it's eye. Jack waited for other wolves before switching mags, saving the other magazine for later. Another wooden wolf jumped at him, before he pressed the trigger, only to realize he hadn't pulled the hammer back. He grabbed his M1918 and slammed the butt into the wolf. A minute passed before he realized he did not bring the rifle in with him.

     " What the fuck? Maybe I had it on my strap? No, I didn't, the strap was damaged, and I doubt I am that stupid. Did someone happen to have left one here? Seems like the only explanation, seeing as this has a flashlight on it. One that is black, like mine. [i/]" He picked up his flashlight and shined it into the corners of the cave and saw what appeared to be burned wood and an empty can of tuna. He looked at the wood, and touched it.

" *Recent, and feels warm, but not like a fire, more like a microwave. Speaking of wood, the hell are those wolves?"*

He walked over to the creature and felt it.

*Warm, like the burnt remains, just much hotter. He turned around to the mouth of the cave, and saw something impossible.*