Chapters You stare out of the window, watching the dust bunnies hop along the dusty road. Following their wake, you look back at the three other Humvee's following your own, each containing three of your squad.
"Hey Sarge, forgive me for asking, but where in Equestria are we?" You turn to look at Third Sergeant Bon-Bon, hooves on wheel, staring straight ahead.
"In the middle of the bucking desert, Bon. Can't you see?" Lyra replies from the fifty-caliber turret behind them.
"Headed where?" With a jerking motion, she swerves the car to avoid a pothole.
"Where?" You watch ahead, looking for one particular town. "Continue driving, and we hit Appleloosa. Take a rest, then we head to Fillydelphia."
Bon-Bon's hooves noticeably tightened on the wheel. "Fillydelphia, Sarge? The front lines?"
"Heads up. Appleloosa in sight." Lyra shouts from the turret.
The third car explodes into a ball of flame. Somepony shouts "INSURGENTS!"
Before you can react, they are upon you.
What do you do?
Draw your gun
Pull out your knife
You fumble for the KA-BAR strapped around your leg.
Buck.
Grabbing the handle, You immediately tumble from the relative quiet of the Humvee into a massive firefight between your twelve man squad and the insurgents.
Buck.
Lyra opened fire with her fifty-caliber, turning several ponies into red mist.
Buck.
Making a rush, you charge straight into the fray, slashing left, right and center. Several of them go down in a gush of blood before they wise up to you.
Buck.
It isn't long before your body is riddled with bullets, of varying size. The pain is overwhelming, yet you still move. That is, on the floor.
"Incoming fire has the right of way."
-Unknown
Your adventure is over.
You stand a stare at the helicopter like an idiot. It finally spools up and jumps into the air. You watch, dumbfounded as it soars over your head and towards your team.
It opens fire, cutting down specialists like trees. Any return fire is paid back with rockets. Your team is decimated in seconds. The pilots then notice a certain black speck that is you, standing right in their approach pattern.
You barely have time to duck as it comes back for a pass directly over your head. Unfortunately, you are not so lucky the next time. The helicopter rams into you and drags your battered and broken body into the air, dropping it at over a thousand feet in the air.
"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe."
-Unknown
Your adventure is over.
You pull the trigger and the tube emits a bright light. The missile leaps out and heads for the Comanche.
Unfortunately, the missile is easily evaded. It begins a slow, gentle curve skywards, plummeting back to the earth soon after. You watch with a sick certainty that you are going to die.
Well, at least your team got away.
"Aim towards the Enemy, wait for tone."
-Instruction printed on Rocket Launcher
Your adventure is over.
The computer registers the speeding aircraft and begins to warm-up the targeting system. The tube emits a stuttered tone, indicating a partial lock-on.
Hoping for the best and fearing the worst, you pull the trigger. The impulse sends an electrical shock wave into the belly of the rocket, igniting the solid rocket motor, propelling the 3KG warhead at 750 m/s out of the tube.
The rocket leaves a bright contrail as it homes into its target. It slows as it nears the doomed helicopter, and unloades its HE payload into the engine.
It cough's once, spewing metal shrapnel everywhere. The ragged hole the missile tore into the chopper proves to be too stressful on the frame, and it disintegrates.
You cheer tiredly, watching as the wreckage descends directly upon you, knocking you out cold.
Wake Up
As you trot along, the brownish desert slowly gave way to greenery, and before you know it, the Everfree surrounds you.
Feeling a little spooked, you continuously look around for your teammates and any other life-threatening monsters. A rustle of leaves, the howl of the wind, the sudden flash of lightning. All these serve to overload your senses.
You look up at the clouds, thinking Please don't rain?
The clouds belch and drop their load. You trudge on, soaked to the bone.
Suddenly, three things happen at once. One, the ground trembles. Two, the trees to your right rustle wildly, and three, you heard your name being called out faintly.
What do you want to investigate?
The rumbling ground
The rustling trees
The mysterious name caller
Dust jumps up and stings you tired eyes as you trudge along the railway track. In the distance, you can see a giant dust cloud approaching.
"That's gonna be a problem..." You watch the thing swell in front of you. Turning tail, you run like you never ran before. The stinger case slaps nosily against your side, making you wince every time the lock cuts your hide.
The race to Dodge was harrowing, but you barely made it into the relative safety of an abandoned railway train. The sand whips through the holes in the rusting metal chassis. You scrabble inside your field pack for some dressings, and perhaps a bottle of beer or some alcohol.
Instead, you find a ripped scarf, and a bottle of cider. It will have to do... You lay them on the floor, preparing to cover your injuries.
Suddenly, the glass bottle shatters. Not by some telekinesis magic, but with a bullet.
A fifty caliber Anti-personnel flechette bullet. You think to yourself as you examine the hole. The brown cider drips onto the sandy ground.
A howl echos through the camp. That is also worth noting... You think to yourself.
What do you want to investigate?
The Sniper
The Howls
Buck that shit, I'm treating my wounds!
Good old Appleloosa. Once a tiny city where only trains stopped, it had evolved into a bustling metropolis.
Of course, that was before the bombs fell. The once high and mighty Appleloosa is now nothing but half destroyed slums.
Warily, you glance around, keeping and eye out for the inhabitants of said slums. Appleloosa was the site where Biological bombs were dropped during the early stages of the war. Who knew what effect they had on the inhabitants of the city?
The dripping pools of greenish water emitted sounds every now and then, as if the souls of Old Appleloosa were incarcerated in them. Although a little foreboding, they did look a little inviting. Especially since you're covered in fine sand and grit from the desert. The drips slowly draws you closer, making you feel like dropping everything and taking a quick bath.
You stop, look around, and quietly reprimand yourself. The mission comes before creature comforts.
Suddenly, off in the distance, you hear an explosion, sounding a lot like a frag grenade one. As you take a look, you can also see a smoke column drifting, in the opposite direction.
What do you want to investigate?
The explosion
The smoke column
Buck that shit, I'm taking a bath!
Dropping your guns where you stand, you quickly strip out of you dirty Battle Dress uniform and dive into the water.
You are not the first imbecile to join the souls of Old Appleloosa.
"In war, truth is the first casualty"
-Aeschylus
Your adventure is over.
Pushing through the trees, You go investigate the source of the rustling of the leaves. Suddenly, what looks like a chicken pops up.
"Huh? A chicken in the Everfree?" You wonder out loud, watching the chicken's antics. It seemed like it was hiding in a bush. You move and push open the branches...
The BDA personnel will find your body later, turned into shining stone by the cockatrice.
"All warfare is based on deception."
-Sun Tzu
Your adventure is over.
You fumble for the M-16 strapped around your neck.
Buck.
Grabbing the handle, You immediately tumble from the relative quiet of the Humvee into a massive firefight between your twelve man squad and the insurgents.
Buck.
Lyra opened fire with her fifty-caliber, turning several ponies into red mist.
Buck.
Aiming down the sights, you immediately acquire a target and proceed to blow it's head apart. Turning, you continue firing until you've run dry. Yanking a grenade, you throw it and take a certain amount of pleasure in the ensuing explosion.
The rush of insurgents slows to a trickle. You relax and become complacent. Picking off targets, the trickle turns to drips.
"Cease fire, cease fire!" you shout as you watch the remaining ponies turn tail.
Smiling cockily, you watch the rest of your squad gather and survey the wreck. The third car is toast, but the occupants barely managed to escape.
"Get back to the cars, four men in each now." You order. The team nods and rushes away to do your bidding. You decide to do a little search around the battle site.
As you climb a ridge, you notice a soft noise. Just a quiet, repetitive swish . Almost as if...
You charge up the rest of the hill. As per your thoughts, there lies a... "Comanche?" You whisper in fear. The helicopter is filled to the brim with deadly Harpoon missiles. It begins to take off.
What do you do?
Gawk at the awesomeness
Run like hell
Staggering back, you take off, running like you never ran before. "Spec team DELTA! Get outta thee now! Comanche on approach!" You shout into the radio, hoping they can hear you.
Evidently, they can, because in the distance, you see the three Humvees doing donuts. "What about you, Sarge?" Lyra answers your calls.
"Drop the Stinger missile for me. I'll hold them off. Just split!" You yell. You can see the black bow being roughly thrown onto the ground, and the Humvees headed in three different directions. The Comanche spins for a while and goes after another Humvee. The target explodes, but you see the team jump out and hoof it.
"Damn it." You reach the case as the helicopter loses interest in the moving targets and settles for the sitting duck. You.
You get out the launcher and aim it at the approaching helicopter.
What do you do?
Just blindfire
Wait for a lock-on
You crack open your eyelids, and see the same old tired sun cross the same old tired skies. An angry buzz keeps emanating into your ear somewhere. Sitting up, you survey the immediate area. Not much to see, besides cooling remains and flash-burnt glass.
Tapping on your ears, you find the source of the crackling. You pull out the traumatized remains of a field communicator, watching it spark and crisp. Standing up, you take stock of your surroundings.
You still have your M-16, your KA-BAR knife, the Stinger case and your field pack. Other than that, your radio is fried and it seems as though the emergency attached to the side of your field pack was ripped off and lost in the crash. Which means no flares, no drones and no extra ammo.
You sit back and think to yourself. "If I am to survive, I might as well find my teammates."
You pull out a map, and scrutinize it. The team split into three, so Alpha, Bravo and Charlie fire teams. It looked as though Alpha headed towards the Everfree forest, Bravo to Dodge junction and Charlie to Appleloosa
Where do you want to go first?
Find Alpha Squad
Find Bravo Squad
Find Charlie Squad
