Black smoke billowed from the wreckage. All that could really be seen through the crackling of fire was the sight of a man in a torn olive drab jumpsuit slowly tugging himself from the wreckage.
Jalalabad, Nangarhār Province, Afghanistan. June 21, 2024, 1800 hours
'This is Cougar 1-3, we are going down in grid Bravo-One-Niner-Six-Two! Repeat, we ar-'
A loud crash, followed by being smashed against the side of the cockpit. A black blanket swept over him, quickly wisking away the sudden influx of pain.
When he woke, he opened his eyes to an inky midnight and blue... colours loyal to night, and feeling a pain like a hacksaw pulverizing the meat and bone in his leg. He pressed through the pain, managing to undo harnesses connecting him to his seat, as well as disconnecting his helmet from the radio hanging from the control surfaces, like a child clutching a teddy bear, firm, and carefully cradled, in between rows of other electronics.
"Hey Nats, you there?"
Very faint coughing could be heard.
"Nats?"
Met with silence.
Popping the jammed hatch open-it probably jammed from a heavy object hitting the latch- on the helicopter was no small task. It took the work of a combat knife and a multi tool- a very handy tool for survival situations- before the man could open it even a mere eighteen centimeters. Even that took five minutes, all the while speaking words of encouragement to his fellow airwoman. After an eternity of trying to squeeze himself through the deathtrap, the man finally pulled his frame in enough that he could barely squeeze himself out. Unfortunately for him, a meter drop was waiting for him on the other side, causing the already excruciating pain to become even more unbearable.
"Nats, stay with me! Do not fall asleep, do you hear me?!"
"Ugh....."
"Nats!"
Ignoring the pain in his leg, he managed to stand, and, using his right leg as support, lifted the lid to the gunner's seat.
What he saw was blood. Lots of it. It made the rubber-coated floor of the cockpit slick with the crimson liquid.
"Oh shit, NATS!"
The gunner, Airwoman Natalya Timofei, was lying in a pool of her own blood. She had, from the looks of it, a piece of wood roughly 2 centimeters in circumference poking at a disgusting angle outward from her mid-thigh.
"Hi...ungh...Leo... I'm not doing too good am I?" She groaned.
" N-no! It'll be fine! I'll get you outta this one." He knew full well that help wasn't coming. The Russian Federation, as well as the U.S. Marine Corps, had had to pull back 50 kilometers, leaving the two exposed to the enemy on all fronts- who were probably closing in right now.
Four hours. That's the length of time it took for the man's only companion on the harsh journey towards home- to die. He had offered to pull out the stick, but Natalya, who had been really into medicine in her teenage years, had said something about a punctured femoral artery, and that pulling it out would lead to a faster death. It gave them lots of time to talk. They talked on subjects ranging from the weather, to the state of the war effort. He held onto her hand...even as she let it go for the last time. Her final words were: 'Never forget'
The blood from her body had splattered on his uniform's nametape. It said 'гавриков', roughly translating into 'Gavrikov' in English.
Burying someone had never been so difficult. Especially in the dark, with only the entrenching tool from the sidewall of his cockpit, and a broken leg. As it turns out, you dont have as much leverage when at a stature of half a meter lower than your ussual height. He dug a simple two meter by meter hole, putting a tarp from the heli's storage ( as, surprisingly, everything in the storage had been tied down amazingly, so not much had broken) over Nayalya's body so that he didn't have to look at her. Rolling her into the pit, he finished it off by burying her, and sticking her helmet (without the liner, and expensive equipment, of course.) by where her head was positioned. Putting her dog tags in his pocket, he quickly vacated the area of the downed chopper, but not before grabbing everything that could possibly be useful. It would attract every enemy in a five kilometer radius, so he needed to get out as quickly as possible. And so, he began a quest into the woods.
'Wait...forest?!'
A pale pink pony lay in her bed, she had been woken up by an extremely high pitched sound. It came from the Everfree, and that meant trouble. She'd tell Twilight in the morning. She went back to sleep.
Twilight Sparkle was a very studious pony. Even more so after after she ascended to princesshood, as she had more time than ever for experiments. She was doing one such experiment right now, testing her theory on transfiguring an orange to an apple. She was right in the middle of concentrating on her spell when a certain pink-maned pony slammed the door open, startling the purple pony, causing her to lose concentration and cause the orange to turn to an off shade of blue.
"Oh! I'm sorry Twilight! Did I-um- hurt anything too-um-bad?
"No, not at all! What do you need, Fluttershy?"
"Well...last night, I was woken up by a high pitched sound, like a bird." She said.
Twilight was confused. What was the problem with that?
"What's the problem there?" Twilight questioned.
"Um...well...when I checked on my birds in the morning, none of them had said they could make that high pitched of a noise. It was also..well...near the Everfree...Would you...um...mind checking it out...If you don't...um...mind, that is..." Her voice dropping to near indistinguishable levels near the end of her sentence.
"Oh sure! I'll just send a letter to the Princess...SPIKE!"She called.
"Yeah, Twi?" A small purple lizard came down from the upstairs area of the library.
"I need you to send a letter, you should start writing." She said.
"Ready." He began.
"Dear Celestia..."
'...It was a strange, boxy thing, with five[5] blades like a sword on top, and four[4] blades in a narrow 'X' pattern in the back..."
Even as Princess Celestia read the official report from the detachment of guards that she sent to find the... object, she was unable to comprehend just what it was, and she had seen many things over the years, ranging from the Equestria-Griffonia Wartime Crises, to the far more recent Changeling attack on the Equestrian capitol of Canterlot. Thoughts buzzed through her head, only one of quite a few being 'Is this thing dangerous towards my ponies?'. Object-9326A, as it had been dubbed for research purposes, had been moved secretly by cargo train, to a far more secure location than the middle of the Everfree Forest, a research lab in the heart of the castle. The team were comprised of a bunch of scientists from assorted universities. Sworn to secrecy, of course. Now, why the 'Alpha' in Object-9326, you ask? The guards had found just one more thing in their search. A creature. One in a shallow grave, marked with some sort of helmet, with a strange design on it. It had olive green...skin...as the scientists had called it, and a mane, roughly an inch long at most. Princess Celestia then had a thought. She thought she should see the creature for herself, as she only had reports from the scientists to go off of.
After dragging himself far enough away from the crash site, about 200 meters, which took about a day to complete, Leonid had to perform a check of what he had. Marking them down in his mind as he went, he started counting objects.
'1x PP-2000, 6 magazines[PP-2000, thirty round], 180 rounds for the PP-2000[9x19 parabellum], 1x MP/443 Грач, 4 magazines[MP443,17 round], 68 rounds[MP443, 9x19 parabellum], combat knife, multi-tool, Assorted MRE's, flight helmet, ACU flight suit....and that's about it!"
Leonid then...shit. He had to gather up branches for a shelter...with a broken-fucking-leg.
Dragging himself to the nearest stick that he could see- forty feet away- took around two minutes. The branch- was around seven feet long and perfect for what Leonid planned to use it for. Using the entrenching tool, he smashed the nose of the shovel several times into the stick, he snapped into two lengths that were about one foot long each, and a second, five foot long piece. Unzipping the upper portion of his flight suit, he went about cutting his undershirt, a white tank-top, into strips somewhere between three to six centimeters across, and varying sizing in length. Then...to reset the bone...a partially healed bone at that. Putting a portion of the stick in his mouth, he forced the bone-his shin, which had snapped inwards when he hit the sidewall of the cockpit- back into position. The pain he felt then and there was barely beneath that of when he had broken his leg in the crash. Using two portions of stick and the second longest strip of fabric, he tied his leg in a makeshift splint. He would have time to get his leg properly set when he got evac'd He accomplished getting up, that was good, and the added bonus was that the splint supported his weight, which was nice. Picking up the spare five foot long portion of stick, Leonid could use it as a crutch.
Now... Leonid had a long night ahead of him...
Princess Celestia slowly sauntered towards the heart of the castle. Being the heart of the castle, of course, it was bustling with servants. Servants rushed past her, in a rush to get where their designated spots. This early in the morning, not many wanted to talk, not yet being fully awake. A few greetings such as 'Hello, your majesty!', or 'Good morning, Princess!'. She was having a rather good morning. So, of course..., the morning decided to throw her a curveball.
"Hello, Cellie!" A gravely voice said.
Leaning against a pillar, not five feet away, was Discord, the local prankster, and the God of Chaos.
It was through grit teeth frrom which she spoke.
"Hello...Discord..."
If only she could have had the fool put to stone when she had the chance.It would have saved her from alot of headaches.
"Aw...why so mad at me? Is it because I nearly destroyed your so called 'peace'?"
"N-"
She was interrupted by the gray-goatee'd mischief maker.
"Bah! What fun is there in peace? None! A little chaos to spice things up now and again is nice!"
"You call destoying an entire town nice?!" She exclaimed.
"Eh. Could've gone better. A least I didn't kill anypony." Discord said.
Infuriated, she stormed off. Straight to the scientific teams lab. By the time she had gotten there, she had calmed down. Stopping at a heavy metal door, which was guarded by two Day Guards. Saluting, they opened the door. Entering, the guards closed the door behind her. The head scientist, Foot Note, was waiting for her. It seemsthe guards hadseen her coming and told the scientist she was coming.
"Hello, your majesty!" He said, bowing.
"Hello, Foot Note, may I see what the scientists have come up with?"
"Of course!"
The room's main floor was bustling with Equestria's finest teams of scientists and engineers, all having jobs to do. Looking to the center of the room, the object truely was one of the oddest things she had ever seen. Boxy, with blades like a sword, just as the guards had described. It's coloration consisted of dirty brown and tans, in blotches around the surface of light and dark shades of gray. It was a rather intimidating shape, even without knowing what it's purpose was.
"Would you like a tour, your majesty?"
"Yes, if you would."
After building his shelter, a simple lean-too, Leonid slowly, but surely progressed back to the helicopter, to make sure he had everything. Grabbing his PP-2000, he set off. He might not be able to shoot precisely, but he could sure as hell scare the living shit out of any animals he came across.
"I want those sandbags on the northeast side of the F.O.B. On the double!"
"Yes, Major!"
Having been setting up the F.O.B for a half day, it was nearly complete. It gave the company of guards stationed there sonething to do. The base, roughly a quarter mile by quarter mile in perimeter, was surrounded by a river on two sides, and flanked by a large pile of rocks on another. It sat in the middle of a large clearing, a tactical advantage if anything decided to attack.
Holy shit, that strange scorpion-bear-thing had been pissed. But that happens when you shoot an animal's offspring in the head. Lucky for Leonid, he ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. Heart pounding, he stumbled into a clearing, he slowed down and surveyed his surroundings. What he saw was a river, a large pile of rocks on the opposite side of the meadow. Looking to his right there was a...base?
Friendlies? We are in a dense forest. The Germans, maybe? Maybe I'm in the Black Forest, somehow? He thought.
With his PDW shouldered, he approached the base. As he could see it more clearly now, he could see camouflage netting surrounding what looked like an impromptu staging area, and pockets of creatures that looked...almost equine in appearance, actually. They were white with armor that looked like a mix between Greek plumed helmets with Roman plate armor, and bustling around carrying sandbags, setting up tents, and filling concertainer barriers with gravel and dirt. What they did next surprised him. They froze.
'Shit.'
