Prologue
The fires are still burning across Canterlot, spewing black smoke into the otherwise pristine blue sky. My steps are unsteady as I approach the destroyed CP, the bodies of the men and women who’d stayed behind laid where they’d fallen. Without warning Celestia alights at my side, gracefully matching my uneven gait as we passed the Command Post heading through the ruined streets. It broke my heart seeing the places I used to frequent reduced to nothing more than piles of rubble. Something caught my eye and I crossed the street as Celestia followed. There, embedded in a fallen wall was a sign covered in soot and brick dust, I ran my glove across its surface to reveal the lettering, Pony Joe’s Donuts: Best in Equestria.
“How many got out?” My question seems to take Celestia aback for the briefest of moments before she replies.
“Half were evacuated between your Air Force and the Royal Guard, the others? They are out there somewhere” she said waving a hoof at the city around us.
At her response I shut my eyes tightly as my hands begin to shake, we just weren’t fucking ready. I tried to take a deep breath, but my temper flared and I hurled the sign into the street, Celestia’s voice cut through all of my what-ifs and maybes.
“Don’t. There isn’t one ounce of merit in it, trust me”
I lapsed back into silence as we continued towards our destination; we stopped at the edge of what used to be the palace gardens, now a smoking hole in the ground. I held my composure for a few moments, it was only when I felt the soft brush of Celestia’s wing across my shoulders that the tears began to fall. I wrapped my arms around the Princess and she responded by tightening her hold on me.
I don’t know how long we stood there like that, two beings comforting each other in the face of the horror of the last day before our embrace was broken by voices crackling over my radio.
“Any stations this net, this in Hitman 2-3 transmitting in the blind, we have cleared Canterlot airspace with 100 plus Equestrian refugees”
I sighed in relief; at least the Elements had made it out. That would have been a blow Equestria would never have recovered from. I lifted my eyes to the Canterlot skyline and the valley beyond; shattered bodies littered the land almost as far as the eye could see, deep furrows had been torn into the once beautiful landscape, in the distance I could see the rising smoke where Ponyville had stood.
“It is over” Celestia whispered, a single tear making its way down her otherwise pristine cheek.
I shook my head, “No Princess, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. Not by a damn sight”
The ground began to shake under our feet and I whipped around just in time to see a column of armored vehicles making their way down the road behind us, I recognized US military vehicles when I saw them and approached with my hands out to my sides, the lead Stryker halted and the commander waved me up onto the side skirts.
“Lieutenant Moresby, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, I’m looking for a guy named Forbes” he said holding out his hand.
I took it and scrambled up the side of the massive ICV, “You found him LT, what’s the word?”
“We’ve been ordered to hold here in case the motherfuckers come back, and to assist in relief operations, someone in D.C. finally pulled their head out of their ass it sounds like”
I smiled grimly at the thought when the LT’s voice snapped me out of it.
“Want one? You can keep ‘em, looks like you guys have been through hell” he said, holding out a battered pack of Camels. I snatched the pack from him with an appreciative nod, tapped one out and lit it as I sank into a sitting position next to the Stryker’s RWS, blowing the blue tinged smoke into the afternoon air. I watched Celestia land on the rear of the ICV and immediately lay down on the sandbags strapped there. I think she may have been out before she hit the deck; I thumped twice on the side of the hatch, letting Moresby know we were good to go. I sat there as the engine fired up and the column lurched forward, flicking the spent Camel over the side and lighting another one as we rumbled down the streets of Canterlot. One thought burning in my brain as a murderous smile found its way to my lips.
Payback is going to be a motherfucker.
For Every End a Beginning
Chapter One
One Year Earlier.
I walked into the atrium feeling apprehensive to say the least; I had gotten a cryptic phone call asking to meet downtown at a restaurant I knew of, but could never afford, with the assurances that everything would be explained. I arrived 15 minutes early per my usual M.O for these sorts of things; I took a seat and waited for my contact to arrive.
I suppose if I’m going to be relating this tale, we should start with introductions, my name is Zack, Zack Forbes, and I’ve been a cop in Montana now for going on 5 years, local Sheriff’s Department, nothing major. Which is another reason why this call has me stumped, but then again I’ve learned not to be surprised since “The Event”, as some news outlets have taken to calling it, they feel a teenage desire to be edgy and monosyllabic I suppose. Everyone on Earth should know what happened but I’ll say it again for the people in the back.
You remember the Large Hadron Collider? CERN was all proud of it for about 15 minutes way back when. Well one day a group of Eco-terrorists meshed with some doomsday wackjobs, and this pack of geniuses decided to attack CERN, crank the Hadron collider up to eleven and let her rip. Instead of dooming all life as we know it, they only took themselves out and cracked open a giant portal to a world that shouldn’t exist but does all the same: Equestria.
Now most of us believed that alien life would resemble anything other than what my neighbor used to raise i.e. Ponies, that’s where 98% of humanity would be incorrect, and to say that these things looked almost exactly like horses would not be understating the point in the slightest. Then the Princesses showed up and declared that mutual cooperation is the way to success and prosperity for both our species, it took a lot of convincing but they finally met with the U.N and got a deal hacked out that both parties were amenable to.
A few years after the Event, things have calmed down considerably, trade routes are open and there’s talk of permanent human immigration in the works. Hell I still haven’t even seen a pony up close yet, but that what I get for living in a state that is best represented by my High School partying career, nobody invited you, go home; you can leave the beer though thanks. I’ve just kept on doing my job, watching all of these wondrous happenings unfold; something tells me I won’t be out of the fight for ve-
“Mr. Forbes?”
I stood and took in my contact, he was about 5’7 with sandy hair, the kind of guy you’d miss in a crowd, but when I looked him in the eye everything changed, he had a look about him that suggested he’d spent time slinging lead at bad guys, unless my radar is way off. I took his outstretched hand.
“Just Zack will be fine Mr.?”
“My name isn’t important, what I’m here to offer you is”
I was a little taken aback by his cloak and dagger response, but I rolled with it, “What might that be exactly?”
No-name smiled, “I’m going to cut right to the chase if you don’t mind”
I shook my head, “I prefer honesty sir.”
He straightened his tie and leaned across the table slightly, “There is a unit being put together, best of the best from MIL/ LE, Intel community and Private sector, they want a cross border unit to police the human immigrants, make sure no undesirables fuck it up for the rest of us.
I cocked an eyebrow, “I fail to see how this involves me at all, I know the kind of guys you’re after and I’m not sure I fit that mold, I’m a nobody deputy from BFE Montana”
He responded by pulling a folder from his briefcase and sliding it across the table, “This is why”
I opened the folder, and I immediately saw things I’d hoped never to see again, needless to say I slammed it shut in a hurry. “Why in the fuck would you bring this up?!”
No- name simply smiled “Because you’re exactly the kind of guy we’re looking for, not many people, not even cops would run headlong into an incident like that. You’ve got the kind of mental toughness that fits our mold Mr. Forbes. The only thing left to say is yes or no.”
I checked my temper quickly, “If I say no?”
He shrugged, “This meeting never happened and you go back to being a nobody. You say yes? Well I can promise you answers, and the kind of top tier training, equipment and personnel that you’re used to. Not mentioning that we’re doing something good here Zack, we’re trying to maintain peaceful relations with an alien nation that cured cancer for fuck’s sake!”
The outburst only showed how passionate he was about this project, and try as I might I couldn’t help but feel that myself, and that the conversation had drawn, inexorably, towards this conclusion.
Stay in Montana at the SO and do what? Hide from the world now that there are so many amazing things in it. Fuck it we’ll do it live.
I smiled slightly, “Where do I sign?”
