City of the Damned: The Lost Ones

Chapters

1: Beginning of a Darkness
2: Alleanza Difficile
3: Rough Times Ahead

1: Beginning of a Darkness

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Location: Camp Echo, Baghdad
Perspective: Sergeant Nicholas

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"Alright people! Get those trucks moving!" A soldier yelled out, directing drivers and soldiers who were moving vehicles and supplies across the sandy desert floor of the base to a secured airfield next to the base where several C-130 planes awaited for departure.

This was Camp Echo, the second largest and well known joint military operations base in the country of Baghdad. Situated near the city of Ashall'a, and filled with over thirteen thousand joint troops from all over the world, Air Force, United States Marines, Special Operation Units, Medical Personnel, and other branches of the military among various civilian groups like scientists, constructions workers and others that were a part of news stations and freelance journalists, some others were students from various countries there on a tour of the facilities as they prepared to leave the base and eventually, the country itself.

After some talking and other things relating to politics, all of the bases and troops in the country were being called back home to the good old US of A, for some much needed rest and relaxation. Now, everything in the base, vehicles, weapons, armor and the tents. So far, nothing had been loaded up yet, what with the protesters outside the walls, and the planes still refueling, things were not going well, for the leading commander of the base that is.

A stoic female led this base, and she, in not so many nice words, was an absolute bitch. She was a hardened veteran of the USMC, ex-sniper and leader of Echo Squad for ten years running. She's kept this base running for ten years, having retired from Echo Squad at thirty and running the base after the old one retired from active service. Her name was General Fin, short and to the point like she is with her knife... ouch. This base had been around since the late eighties, and it was well known for holding off many terrorist groups and bombardments, and being home to Echo Squad... the heart and life blood of Echo Base, a squad my father had been a part of.

My name is Sergeant Nicholas Kennedy, I'm a part of my own squad, Fireteam Seven. We were small, five members and tasked with small missions and such. But for now, we were going home. Hopefully, I couldn't wait to go home and see my parents, who were no doubt still worrying their hearts out. I was sitting outside, watching helicopters land and more trucks drive in, empty ones who were preparing to evac the base. I don't know why we didn't just do it already, but we had to wait until General Fin did a speech for the media, the hundred or so reporters from several different countries were here to report on the famous base of operations as it was dismantled and its troops leaving to go home.

I could see them all around, carrying around their cameras and asking questions, trying to find that juicy little tidbit that'll skyrocket their careers into stardom where they'll make the big bucks. I heard so many voices talking, hundreds of different languages talking to each other. Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Turkish, and some other dialects belonging to this country and some others I had never heard before. It wasn't too loud thankfully, otherwise I probably would have clamped my ears shut.

"Heeey, Nicky boy!" I heard someone call to me over an engine noise.

Looking over the crowd I saw a jeep drive up to where I was sitting, nearly hitting a couple of other reporters as it stopped next to me. It was a simple jeep wrangler with an open top and roll cage with one of those nets draped over it. Sitting in the driver's seat with the biggest possible grin was a Freelance journalist I knew who was... well, in sort, a lunatic with more luck then you had fingers and toes. I watched as the man stepped out of the jeep, his boots hitting the ground and kicking up sand.

"Kevin," I nodded as he approached me, normally some soldiers weren't friends with journalists because they were mostly... well... vultures, to be honest with you. But Kevin was alright in my book, the reason was because he wasn't a complete asshole, just lucky and a bit of a mouth on him. "You here to do some scaving?"

"Yeah, you got that right!" He chuckled, "Figured I'd get over here to see my buddy one last time."

I smiled, "I'm touched."

"And to report on the base of course, that's more important."

Forget what I said earlier, he is an asshole.

"Really feeling the love over here." I rolled my eyes as several Apache attack choppers flew overhead, flying to the landing pad at our airbase. Yeah, this base was that big. Big enough to land several hundred fighter jets, cargo planes, and still have room for two of those behemoth planes from Russia. This base should be number one, but somehow... it isn't. "Got anything interesting to tell, Kevin? I'm sure you didn't come up just to say hi."

The man before me chuckled lightly. "Hehehe, coming here to see you may have been one of the reasons why, but the other was to tell you about the storm." he said, fiddling with his Nikon camera.

"Storm?" I asked, looking out into the skies. I saw a few clouds, but nothing storm worthy. Looking back to the man I asked. "What storm?"

"Just something on the doppler of mine." Kevin told me, going back to his jeep and lifting up the back flap of the net. I got up and followed him, hefting my M4 over my shoulder and carrying my helm with me. When I got to the back of his jeep, I saw the door was steel plated and behind it I saw several small TVs and some equipment I remember seeing used for tracking the weather and such. On top of his jeep I saw a small satellite dish and some other weather equipment.

"When did you go Twister on me?" A laugh escaped me as Kevin joined me, unlatching the back and messing with his gear.

"A while back I suppose when that weird storm came out of nowhere and swallowed up a small town, completely burying it under the sand." Kevin informed me, picking up a small box with a screen on it and placing it on his knee when he put his leg onto the back bumper. "They're still digging it out, but they haven't found anything yet."

I found my head tilting at that. "How could they not find it? How big was the town?"

"Not sure, and it was big enough to hold a little under three thousand people." He told me, flipping a switch and turning on the box. "Here we go!" He held it up, turning the screen to me. "See those?" He asked me, pointing to a big blob of green and blue.

"Uh, yeah... what are they?"

"That is the sandstorm I've been tracking for a few months, its been moving this way after it sucked up a bunch of towns and buried them completely." He explained, putting the box back and turning on his equipment. "So, I'm here to catch it on film and see just how powerful it really is." He grabbed a small black bag, one that I recognized as his camera bag, one he never left anywhere. He strapped it onto the back of his belt and adjusted his jacket, when he did I noticed the wooden handle of a gun in his jacket.

I jerked my head upwards at him. "You packing?"

Kevin looked perplexed for a moment before making a face of realization. "Oh yeah," he reached into his jacket, pulling out the gun and handing it to me handle first. "Its a little something I picked up in Iraq after ISIS almost took my head off for snapping a photo of their sniper, Shiek or, something like that."

I took a look at it, the build reminded me of Dirty Harry's revolver, nickle plated with a chrome finish and a wooden grip. I flicked open the cylinder, seeing six 44. Magnum rounds sitting in the chamber. "I'm going to go on a limb here and guess you didn't get this legally?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"... uhh..."

I shut him up and shoved the gun back into its holster. "You're lucky we're friends, but you owe me for not spilling." I told him, smacking him on the shoulder as he laughed nervously.

"Yeah yeah, I'll owe you one. Just don't expect me to suck your dick or anything."

"Damn it." I laughed, he joined and soon we were both laughing like a couple of loons. Ah, it was good to laugh when you know you're going home soon.

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Location: Ponyville, Equestria
Perspective: Derpy Hooves

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"~Mama!~" I heard calling to me from upstairs, I took a look and saw my wonderful daughter Dinky cantering down with her school supplies poking out of her saddlebags, a few pencils and books in both our native language and the Equestria Standard. I smiled as she trotted over to me, giving me a quick hug. "~I'm off to school now!~"

I nodded, reaching over and grabbing a small bag, I hoofed her the lunch I had made and kissed the top of her head. "~Be sure to have fun, and don't get into trouble.~" I told her, ruffling her mane, the young filly giggling under my assault. She fought me off, and won in the end before darting over to the door.

"~Bye mama!~" She cried before leaving, the door slamming shut and making my ears ring.

I could only chuckle as I rubbed a hoof against my ears. "~Silly filly.~" She always slammed doors, she didn't mean to of course, she was just so full of energy that she did some things she didn't mean to. A breathless laugh escaped me as I trotted over to the study and going inside, once I was inside I shook my head, dispelling the wall eyed vision I had to put up with. "~Having to put up with that is annoying.~" I voiced, rubbing my aching head as I looked around my study. Books and scrolls adorned bookcases and it smelled of cigars and expensive liquor, leftover smells from when my mother visited the other day.

I saw the easy chairs sitting around the fireplace, the burgundy colored chairs smooth and reflecting the lights from above. Small end tables sat by each of the chairs, one having a magazine on it and an ashtray filled with small ashes and a few cigarette butts. I sighed as I walked over to one of the bookcases, scanning each title I saw some books involving magic, flight, economics and so forth. I scanned them until I came to a book with a single symbol on its spine, a hoof breaking a chain. I pulled the book back, and the bookcase shuddered as I heard several gears clank and move.

Before I knew it the bookcase jutted out suddenly, expelling dust and moving to the side revealing a staircase going down. Without wasting time I moved onto the staircase, shutting the bookcase from the inside and shutting myself in the darkness. I carefully made my way down the spiral staircase, my hooves clacking against the metal as I descended into the darkness.

Now, maybe you're wondering just why I have this little staircase going down into a pitch black hole. There's a perfectly good reason for that... and I'll explain.

For years I have lived in Ponyville, working as the Mailmare and delivering mail to all of the ponies in Equestria. It was a hard job, and coupled with having to take care of Dinky and other chores it was almost tedious. But I love my Dinky with all my heart, ever since she came into my life. I vowed to take care of her and protect her from harm, no matter the cost. But, before I get ahead of myself, I should tell you I'm not just a mailmare.

Years ago, before I even thought of living in this town, I lived in Neighpon, just a few hundred miles away off the coast of Germaneigh and the Hooviat Union. I was a different mare back then, I like to think I still am that mare. I was an outcast because of who and what I was, my name non-existent, my profile black as a canvas waiting for somepony to paint it.

I reached the bottom of the stairs, and I came to a pair of tunnels, dug down below this place years before I was even born. Both led to different places, one led to the outskirts in the Everfree, and the other led to a massive underground burial chamber used during the Great Wars centuries ago. Used by the Earth Pony Tribes and such to bury their dead, but it wasn't used like that anymore. The dead remain however, their skulls and bones a grim reminder of what could happen should friendship and harmony fail.

I took a left, heading towards the burial chamber. The tunnel lit up by special stones placed in small crevices to allow one to see, very few know of these tunnels, and the ones who do have no idea how to get into them. Even Celestia herself doesn't know of them, which I have found strange, considering how long she's been around.

"~Somepony is coming~" I heard from afar, I sped up my trot eventually coming to the rotunda that dominated the underground. The rocky path led forward through the rotunda, with another path leading down over on the far right. All around me I saw other ponies dressed in cloaks, special ones colored black with a red trim and outline. Their faces were covered by masks, and at each of their sides I saw a long sword clasped to their belts, the Neighponease Katana, and above I saw a single banner, the same symbol from the book was on it, a hoof breaking a large chain that was shackled to the fetlock.

One of the ponies approached me, bowing their head before greeting me. "~Master Hooves~" She said.

"~Rise~" I told her, she did so without hesitation, her blue eyes locked on my own. "~What have you to report?~"

Another pony approached me, his cloak had seen better days as it was covered in scratches and it was torn. But he did not seem to mind. "~Master, we've reports from the other cells that Princess Celestia's Royal Guard is moving a caravan of supplies westward towards a warehouse. There are twenty royal guards in each, led by a captain~"

I thought for a moment, closing my eyes in thought. Twenty? I nodded. "~Take thirty of your best and intercept it, we could use the supplies for our ponies~"

the stallion bowed his head once more. "~Your will shall be done, Master Hooves~" Without another word, he vanished in a puff of black smoke, tricky unicorn magic.

Trotting past the young mare who was still next to me, I made my way over to the large path leading down, when I made my way over to it, I was greeted with a steep staircase leading down. I nodded to both the remaining ponies in the room and they followed me down without a word. The two behind me followed close, their eyes locked forward as they trailed behind me silently, any sounds from their hooves were non-existent thanks to their uniforms.

The path was was steep, but the stairs and holds made it easy to climb down. I lost track of how long we descended down the dark path, the path winding and long with the only sounds being a whispering wind and my hooves hitting the rocks. A part of me wondered if Diamond Dogs had a hoof in crafting these tunnels, I had never studied the architecture any. Maybe one day I will learn how these were made, so we could replicate them should the need arise.

Once we reached a small cliff, I soon found myself overlooking a massive underground sanctum. Lanterns were hanging from ropes, patrols of other uniformed ponies kept vigilant watch over the small shanty village below me. A small river ran through it all, forking into others that fed into several homes via a system built by several ingenious earth and unicorn ponies. All of these ponies, were what's left of my clan.

My name to everypony else is Derpy Hooves. But my real name is Cherry Blossom, of the Red Hoof Clan of the former country of Neighpon to the east. I am the sole Master of the clan, the current leading member and last of the Red Hoof Pegasi line. And these are my people, what is left of them after our homeland was destroyed by none other...

...then Princess Celestia herself, and its my mission... to exact vengeance upon what she has done to my family... to my home... to my people...

You will pay Celestia, for what you've done to us all...

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Location: Burned Out ISIS Safehouse, Baghdad
Perspective: Shiek

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"~Sheik!~" Someone called me from down below where I was sitting on my perch.

I looked and saw a young boy looking up at me with eager eyes, in his small hands he held an Uzi that was attached to his vest, one that was too big for such a child. He was my brother, Tik.

"~Yes Tik?~" I asked, turning back to my rifle's scope and peering through it. I could make out the massive base from here, the disgusting buildings, tents and concrete runways that made up Camp Echo along with the thousands of soldiers situated there.

"~Elder Yahol wants to see you!~" He informed me, adjusting his cap which, again, was too big for him.

I sighed, grabbing my rifle and climbing down from my perch from the second floor and climbing down the rocks jutting through the walls. I had learned to climb up most obstacles in my youth, climbing walls, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and scaling mountains. It was all training, training to prepare myself to fight against the American War Machine, to take them down before they cause mayhem and destruction. I had learned from my father long ago that Americans were nothing but pigs, people who enjoyed war and causing them, swooping in to save the day and take the credit even though they started it behind closed curtains.

Tik moved back as I hit the ground with a thud, standing up tall, I overshadowed my brother by a good three feet. My frame being close to six feet in height. I nodded to my brother and walked past him, messing up his hat and making him chase me. "~I'll get you for that Sheik!~"

I could only laugh as we ran through the halls of the abandoned safehouse, running past several other fighters of our group. Some would smile as they spotted us, others would shake their heads, or do nothing at all. The whole world saw us as monsters thanks to the propaganda being spewed forth from the media, but we were not... we were fighters, soldiers fighting for an idea, of a world free from tyranny. Sure we went about it using some... more brutal methods, but we were accomplishing something here.

We ran and ran until we got out into the streets, several people spotting us but paying no mind. I could see the elder, Yahol Simbabl standing with the rest of my squad. He was an older man in his fifties, dressing in a long shirt, a combat vest and fatigues. In his hands he held a shotgun, one liberated from an american soldier he killed with his bare hands. He saw me coming and waved me over, Tik following close behind.

"~Ahh, Shiek, I have been wanting to talk to you.~" His voice had a tone to it that I knew as one that meant he had something for me to do.

I stood up straight. "~Yes sir, about what, if I may ask?~"

The man looked out behind me, in the distance if one squinted they could probably make out Camp Echo. "~The Americans are about to drive a convoy up to the base, they are carrying over five thousand gallons of jet fuel to fuel their planes, I want you to take this group~" Yahol gestured to the group before me, all of them wearing black masks and other standard ISIS garb. "~And blow up that convoy, set fire to their base. I know for a fact all of their soldiers, and a good number of their supporters are their today, so this is an opportune moment to destroy a good portion of their forces!~"

He got several nods of agreement, and I just now noticed several of the fighters in front of me had RPG launchers and certain vests strapped to their chest. Each one carried an AK-47 assault rifle, and wore protective gear. "~Attack them now?~" I wondered, there were hundreds, if not thousands of armed soldiers at that base, attacking them wouldn't be a smart move.

But to my confusion, Yahol nodded. "~Yes attack them now.~" He pushed the others forward, making them run down the road. "~You will have support from the other cells nearby, that is close to three thousand fighters all together, this will be an all out assault!~" He held up his shotgun, and cupping his hand he yelled. "Allah Ackbar!"

He got a resounding reply from the surrounding fighters as they ran down the road, I could only turn and run to follow them. If we had to fight today, to bring them down right now... then so be it. I will make them fall with my rifle. I ran down the road, my brother Tik running alongside a child carrying a rifle too big for him. Having children fight a man's war was not something I liked, but we had to fight, for our parent's sake. I sprinted down the road, holding my rifle flat to my back with one hand while the other held onto the strap across my chest.

I quickly darted down an alleyway, turning right and running past pots, pans and other discarded dishware. A car blocked my path but I remedied that by sliding over the hood and landing on the other side, my cap almost fell off but I fixed it by turning the bill backwards and continuing to run down the alley. Eventually I reached a point where I could climb up, running faster I let go of the strap and rifle and leaped forward, grabbing onto one of the rocks jutting out and planting my foot onto another, quickly I started climbing up and up, I had to be careful when doing this, as I had twisted my ankle more times than I could count messing up a jump or mistiming a landing.

Spotting my last hand hold I grabbed it and pulled myself up, my muscles burning and my lungs sucking in air as I climbed onto the rooftop. Turning to my left I spotted the base was a bit closer now, and so I kept running in that direction. Hopping across the rooftops, I hit tiles and knocked a few off, ducked under clotheslines someone had hung up days, maybe weeks ago and hopped over small walls. Sometimes I would come across a narrow piece of roof that was an archway down below and I had to tightrope walk across it, it was nerve racking but it had to be done, I had no fear.

I walked across the narrow roof pathway, knocking over a few pieces of hay and straw before I came to a tall tower that overlooked parts of the city. These were scattered throughout, for use as a radio relay system by a radio operator that worked out of this city. They worked alright, for a dual purpose. High above I saw a perfect place to snipe from, and rubbing my gloved hands together, I started climbing up.

Today is the day they will all learn my name... Shiek.

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Location: Manehatten, Equestria
Perspective: Octavia Melody

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"Miss Melody, Miss Melody!" A young voice called out from behind me, it sounded like a colt. Turning my head ever so slightly I saw it was indeed a colt. Still in his teens and carrying a violin case in a saddle bag, he jogged up to me a tired expression on his face. "Oh, thank the stars, I thought you were running away from something for a moment there with how you were moving."

I raised a critical eyebrow his way. "May I help you?"

"Oh!" He stammered something and flaring his magic, he lifted his violin case out of the sadle bag and presented it to me, I noted the case was charcoal black, much like my mane was. "I was hoping, that since I caught up with you, that maybe you would do me the honor of signing my case?" He asked me, chuckling lightly. "I know it seems a bit odd but I was just ho-"

I cut him off by pulling out a fountain pen I kept and gesturing to the case, he held it up and kept it steady while I signed my name on the bottom in script. I could only grin ever so slightly as I saw his starstruck expression, when I pulled away he looked at the script with a smile.

"Oh thank you so much! This means a lot to me Miss Melody."

I smiled in kind, making him blush. "What is your name?"

He looked shocked that I would ask such a question, but answered. "M-my name is Fine Tune, Miss Melody."

I took a moment to look him over. His mane is neatly combed, and he faintly smells of some expensive cologne, suggesting he comes from a well off family. His violin... "Show me your instrument." I asked, he deftly unclasped the case and carefully opened to up, and to my surprise my eyebrow rose up, more shock then anything else. T-that is a Hoovian Original! the polished black wood, the silver strings and the unmistakable insignia of Hoovian's clan on the bottom right... there's no mistaking it. "Where did you get such an instrument, Mr. Tune?"

"Oh... uh, my father gave it to me before he passed away." He said, running a hoof delicately over the polished black wood. "He had inherited it from his grandfather, who got it from his father. Its really old, older then I think it is." Fine Tune explained, inspecting the violin.

I smiled sadly. Who would have thought a fan of mine would posses an instrument as old and beautiful as this? I trotted over next to him and placed my arm over his back, much to his shock as he gave me a questioning but not unwelcome look. "I am sorry for your loss Mr Tune." I said, getting a nod and a small smile from him. "Tell me, are you free this weekend?"

Fine Tune looked up at me, "Um, I have some classes on Friday, but other then that, yes I am." He looked me in the eyes, as if trying to find out why I was asking him this. "Why do you ask?"

I only smiled and reached into my own saddlebags, there I produced a small card I carried around and hoofed it to him. "Take this and go to uptown to the Echelon Estates, go to number 666. That is my Family's estate, show them this and you'll be accepted inside."

He took the card from me, holding it as if it were a precious artifact. "B-but why would you give me this? You don't even know me!" He half asked half yelled, I understood why. Who wouldn't?

"Simple," I told him, stepping back and saying. "You have a talent for music, I can tell by your cutie mark you are a musician, and you are carrying around an extremely rare instrument, and I can tell you have talent but that will only get you so far." I looked out into the streets of Manehatten, the ponies all walking in massive crowds as they passed by each other. "but in this world, practice is important if you wish to have a good life later on, so I am offering you the potential to practice with the best classical musicians this side of Canterlot... House Melody."

...

Oh dear, I think I broke him. I giggled as I saw his gaping mouth and wide eyes, his magic still holding onto the card. I trotted up next to him, still frozen as I leaned in close to his ear. "If you ever decide to unfreeze yourself, meet me at the estate this weekend, it'll be an experience you won't forget." With a quick peck on the cheek I turned about face and cantered away to my carriage that was waiting for me.

It was sleek and black like most of the family's carriages, with tinted windows and plush seats. The door was opened by my driver, I nodded to him and climbed inside as he took my Cello case and placed it inside in its usual spot across from me, sitting down on the burgundy seats I leaned back, closing my eyes as the carriage started forward at a leisurely pace. I took the time to think of my previous performance, it was rather bland compared to some of my others at Canterlot. The crowd was small, barely twenty ponies and most looked like they were there for something else instead of my hard worked performance.

It was a crime that so many ponies nowadays don't respect the classical arts like they used to, opening my eyes and looking out of the window I sighed. Oh what it must have been like back in Roamin times, where classical music was cherished by hundreds if not thousands of ponies and creatures all across Equus. I wish I could go back to those days, but I am stuck in this present era where wubs are worshiped and classical music is dying out. But Vinyl Scratch is making a good living, at least. I mused as I thought of my old collage friend, I didn't think she would get far with her talents, but she proved me wrong with her skills as a DJ, specifically a creator of said wubs.

Vinyl Scratch, or better known as DJ-PON3 turns the underground scene into a virtual mosh pit of hysteria and musical prowess, a goddess of the underground. Nopony is better then her at the turntable, at least as far as I know. I don't follow that brand of music.

The days of classical music are dying out, and before you know it the three houses will end up dying out, our musical lineage corrupted by the virus that is modern music. That's not to say the modern musicians are bad, they are doing well for them, its just that we don't particularly care for their style, as we of the three houses strive to keep the classical arts alive. There are other houses, but they are either too small, or scattered throughout Equus.

I was of House Melody, and if you asked me I would tell you it was the best house. But every other pony of their own house would same the exact same thing about their own, and before you knew it you'd have an argument on your hooves. House Melody was argubly the biggest house, having over three hundred members by blood and another two hundred extended members that were adopted, or brought into the family as an honorable member of the household. Which happened rarely, if it did, consider yourself extremely blessed, because that would not happen unless Father thinks you were the absolute best of the best, or you did some act that caught his attention that helped the family in some way.

"Miss Melody, we've arrived." I heard the cultured voice of my drive alert me.

With a sigh I sat up. "Thank you Jeeves." I said as we entered into the estate's grounds. It took a few moments but we stopped in front of the manor and the door was opened. I dare say, even though we moved at a slow pace, we got home faster then I thought we would. I must have dozed off. Stepping out of the carriage, Jeeves used his magic to pick up my cello case and hoof it off to a couple of bellcolts who carried it inside for me. As they did I took the brief moment to scan my home.

It was a large estate, possibly the largest in Manehatten's upper east side, situated near the bank of a clean and crystal clear river that flowed through the small park we had. Its large well trimmed lawns green and healthy, trees interspersed here and there with many colorful birds flying from them, a tall rock wall cut off anyone from seeing inside, thus ensuring our privacy from the outside world. Cobblestone paths led from the front door to a few side doors on either side, one large one looping around a fountain of several angelic ponies holding vases that spilled out water into the basin below, and another path leading to the garage.

The manor itself was quite large, four stories and built from the ground up by ponies of the old Blackclaw house. It was inherited by my ancestor, Philharmonic Melody in a game of poker... that is no joke. It had beautiful windows imported from Prance that shone like crystal in the moonlight, beautiful ornate doors crafted out of the finest wood, it was quite the sight to behold. A few stone dragon statues made of the corner stones of the house, giving it an intimidating look. My father rather liked dragons.

Trotting up the steps I made my way over to the double door, as soon as my hoof came into contact it was opened wide by two mares in waiting, both wearing the typical maid outfit. "Greetings Miss Melody." They both greeted me in their melodic voices, I've forgotten their names, but I do love their voices. Twins I believe they are.

"Girls." I nodded, walking inside I was greeted with the main room, which was only the finest rugs and paintings imported from Germaneigh and the late country of Neighpon. A crystal chandelier hung overhead, casting its light down below. A few decorative vases sat on end tables that were placed throughout the building, a duel staircase led upstairs with another going opposite of it to the third floor and so on. To my right I saw my several maids cleaning some of Father's prized possessions, and to my left sat a room with a few couches, chairs and tables for guests. Up ahead I would find the dining room, but that was not my destination.

Moving forward, I passed by another nameless maid and made my way into the back halls. This manor was so large, I can't count the times I had gotten lost as a foal and had cried for mother, only to be saved by either my brother, Silver or father, as mother was easily side tracked more often then not. The winding halls and the long corridors could be confusing to many if you didn't know them well, over the years I had managed to find my way around alright.

And just as I think that, I come across a dead end. I huffed, staring at the wall that held a mask of a Zebrican tribe I knew not the name of.

A chuckle sounded from behind me. "Lost again?"

I turned, facing none other then my brother, Silver Strings. The silver coated blue maned stallion being only four years older then me. "I am not lost!"

"Okay then, I guess you were interested in that mask then?"

"... yes, yes I was, what of it?" I asked, turning up my nose at him and looking away.

"Because its a fake mask that father bought at a pawn shop because it looked authentic, wasted five hundred bits on it." Silver chuckled, leaning against the wall.

I could only sigh. "Okay fine I am lost, are you happy?"

Another laugh. "Come on, I'll take you to father, you wanted to see him right?" Silver questioned, turning around and trotting off with me regrettably following suit.

"More like he wanted to see me," I commented, stepping into line alongside my brother, "did father not call you?"

A hum, then a shake of the head. "No, I don't believe so."

I nodded, if father didn't call Silver, then... what?

We both trotted down the halls of the estate, passing by several black shirt wearing ponies guarding several doors and trotting about with keen eyes hidden behind sunglasses. We eventually reached a familiar black door with our house's insignia on the front of it, crossed cello bows over a shield with the name Melody below. With a heavy sigh I knocked on it thrice, and it opened to reveal a mare dressed in a tight fitting suit with her mane pulled back in a bun. "Hello Miss Melody, your father is expecting you, and you as well master Strings."

I nodded as my brother and I walked into the dark hallway, leading to a large room where I saw several small TVs on the wall, and a large round table made of oak wood. Some more of the guardsponies were standing around, wearing black suits and trench coats, stoic expressions on their faces as I trotted inside. At the head of the table, was my father, Blazing Melody.

"Octavia." He greeted me, a glass of wine sitting near him.

"Father."

"Silver."

"Dad."

Father nodded to a pony who brought over a large steel case, one I recognized as one I've seen sitting in a certain room in the manor. Does father want us to- My thoughts were cut off as Father said.

"You're probably wondering why I've called you both here," when we said nothing he continued, "I've heard rumors of a small house of musicians on our payroll going rogue. They've broken the rules of our own house for the last time, it's time they... were punished." Father nodded to the pony holding the case once more, and the stallion levitated it onto the table and unlocked it, and inside I saw it... "Octavia, Silver, I want you two to purge the House of Sorrow."

Of course...

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Riverton, United States
Perspective: Kyle Keller

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"So I'll talk to you tomorrow?" I asked, letting go of the talk button on my Ham radio.

"Of course Kyle! I wouldn't miss tomorrow for nothing!" The crackly female voice of my best friend chimed back to me. "When we do talk tomorrow, you have to tell me more about how school is doing."

I sighed, clicking the talk button and replying. "Of course I will L, jeez, you're not my mom."

"I know KK, but still. Your schooling is important if you want to get a decent job in the world ya know." She told me, I nodded.

"I know... I know, thanks for the talk, I should probably get going. My mom is expecting me to help with dinner tonight."

"I wish I could come over for dinner, your family sounds amazing..." L replied back, making me sigh again. I wish she could come over, I really do. Damn countries being apart

"If I had a way to get you over to my house, I would so have you over. We could have a sleepover or something." I suggested, a joking tone to my voice.

When she replied she was laughing. "Hahahahaa, yeah maybe, that does sound kinda of fun. But you're a boy, I thought you weren't into that kind of stuff?"

"I'd make an exception for you." I told her, smiling even though she couldn't see it.

"Awww, that's sweet of you." Some knocking in the background, then a hurried. "I should get going, my roommate gets really pissy when I'm not there to help her make stuff."

I laughed. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow." I told her as she logged off, her radio going silent with a hissing noise. I leaned back in my chair, sighing as I stared at my gaming posters planted on my wall. Another night gone, and another night I have to spend not talking to L...

My name is Kyle Keller, or KK for short. And I had just got done talking to a good friend of mine I had met a year ago when my grandfather gave me his old Ham Radio, her name was L, and she wouldn't tell me anymore then that. I told her my name was KK, sort of a way for getting back at her for not telling me her real name. She just chuckled and accepted it. A year ago I was messing around with the radio, and I was about to call it quits before a voice came over the airways, asking if anyone was there.

That was the beginning of our friendship. But I wish I could meet her, but she won't tell me where she is, so I figured she would get in trouble with her parents if she did say anything, but I told her about where I was in case she ever got the chance to be able to visit. She must be overseas or something. L's no creeper so don't star with that, she's just a twenty year old just like me.

"Kyle! Come help me with dinner would ya?" My mother called, a grunt and I stood up.

"Coming!" I hate making dinner... damn it all to hell. Maneuvering past piles of video games, books and other things, I managed to get to my door and open it up... coming face to face with my younger brother, Devon. I eyed him, Devon being the second tallest member of the family behind me, and the lankiest. "Uhh... hey, Devon." I nodded, he only grunted, muttering something about me being a fag and a sinner. "Ookay." With a hum I bounded down the stairs, past my still mumbling brother and into the kitchen where my mom was sitting. Dad was out, still at work no doubt.

As I walked into the kitchen, I was greeted with my mother, five feet and a blonde, like me. My brother seemed to have inherited some shit manners from our Grandma, he's all clean cut and wears what he calls normal clothing. A clean looking blue polo shirt, beige pants and dress shoes. I could smell absolutely nothing from him, it's like he scrubbed his body clean until there was no smell left, not even body odor.

"Sooo, what do I help with?" I asked, eyeing the pots and pants.

"I'm leaving." Devon said, picking up a backpack off of the floor near the door and walking towards it.

"Uhh, where? Its like," I looked at my watch. "Eight at night."

"Church."

"... please tell me, you're not talking about those assholes next door?"

"If you're talking about the Westboro Baptist Church, yes I am going over there, I'll be back later." He told us, mom giving him a slightly disappointed look as he left the house.

I facepalmed, the smacking sound of flesh against flesh astoundingly loud. "Devon, you fucking... UGH!"

My mother sighed, having gotten used to my bouts of cursing long ago. "If that's what he wants you can't force him to quit."

"I can drop kick some sense into him, freaking Grandma messing him up like that." I looked to my mother, shaking my head. "He doesn't need to be like that, I'm pretty sure if god existed he wouldn't take to kindly to the WBC." I sighed, looking at the stove. "Gimme something to do before I vomit."

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Equestria
Perspective: Lyra Heartstrings

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"Okay okay! Jeez, I'm not a master candy maker like you are, calm down some." I told Bonny as I levitated some goop into some other goop... because I didn't know the correct terms to use, so sue me. Bonny watched my movements like a hawk, biting her bottom lip with this intense expression of concentration on her face. Her eyes locked on my own, it freaked me out... like... a lot. Yeah she was really strict, like, military strict but this was crazy even for her.

"Careful... careful... careful!"

"... I moved it three inches to the left... three Bonny... that's barely enough movement to make it spill!" I told her, moving the small pot over to the left. Admittedly this was harder then it looked, the pot was weirdly heavy because Bonny was using some magical substance in her batter that was making my magic harder to use, I didn't know what it was but I hope it doesn't make me drop this thing... I don't need an angry Bonny chasing me around all midafternoon.

"Still! What if you sneeze!?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "Then I'll still be able to move the pot, a sneeze isn't going t-" Bonny cut me off.

"What if you get bit by a bug!?"

"It depends on the bug, bu-"

"What if we get attacked by Changelings?!"

"Bonny-"

"Or what if Princess Luna comes in as Nightmare Moon!" Bonny cried, looking towards the front door in fright.

"Bo-"

"Or what if-"

"THEN I GUESS I'M SCREWED!" I yelled back, moving the pot over to the other and putting it down with a frustrated sigh. I sat down on my rump, crossing my arms across my chest and looking away.

Silence for a few moments before Bonny asked. "Lyra, are you alright?"

I only sighed, rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes before replying. "I'm just tired." I told her as she came over to me and putting a hoof under my chin, she lifted my head up so she could look into my eyes.

A scoff. "Your eyes are bloodshot, Lyra what have you been doing all night?"

I shoved her hoof away halfheartedly, rubbing my eyes still. "Doing important studying and stuff, secrets and whatnot. You understand right?"

She gave me a half raised eyebrow and an amused look as she helped me up. "Oh I understand, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the hoo-mans you have pinned up all over the wall in your bedroom." She chuckled, helping me up the stairs. Jeez I must have been more tired then I thought if I can't even go up the stairs, now that I think about it my magic must have worn me out. Great.

"its humans Bonny..." I corrected her, tapping her nose with a hoof. "And yes, you may be right."

Bonny could only shake her head, her curled bangs tapping against my cheek. "You and your humans, I'll never understand."

Without another word we reached my room at the top of the stairs, and wanting to prove I'm not completely useless, I magicked the door open and I was brought inside. It was a pretty average room, it had a desk, some bookcases filled with text books and such, and my walls covered in some musical posters. But if you walked in and looked at my work area - which was my desk - you'd see all of the papers strewn about on top of it, coupled with the drawings and sketches above pinned to a map of Equus. Bonny trotted over to my bed and I saved her the trouble and jumped onto the bed, the covers flying up and over me as Bonny sighed.

"Well, good night Lyra, get some sleep and hopefully you'll be able to help me later." I could feel her lean in closer to my ear, her breath tickling my ear as she whispered. "Don't think you're off the hook." She told me, I only whined in response getting a laugh out of her. "Night Lyra, sleep tight." With that done, she closed the door and disappeared.

I was about to go to sleep, but I found my thoughts straying towards a topic that had been the cause for much strife throughout my life. Humans, and their race and culture. Turning over I looked at my desk, and the map and papers crowding it. Years ago, before I was even born, the field of humans was a field my grandfather had pursued in his youth. It had taken him to all corners of Equus, and he had actually met my grandmother that way. On his journey, he had found many artifacts and managed to prove that humans had settlements at one point, most of them in the desert territory known as the Borderlands, a vast expense of desert wastelands and mountain ranges that divided Equestria and the Griffon Empire. It ran through across for hundreds and hundreds of miles, and was actually near a Leyline, the entire desert was surrounded by these leylines, making it extremely dangerous.

But my grandfather had actually gone in there once, and came out with several artifacts. Everypony called him crazy and nuts for going in there, but he came out of it alive, maybe with a few scratches and wounds but he lived a full life afterwards. After had had made it out alive, it was deemed off limits by both countries, but that didn't stop caravans from trying to travel through it instead of around, many souls had been lost trying to go through it.

I sighed as I stood up and got off of my bed and quietly walking over to my desk. There I looked up at the map, my eyes finding the Borderlands. The massive stretch of desert cutting through the map like a jagged knife dividing Equestria and The Griffon Empire, keeping them both apart. There were so many unanswered questions about the Borderlands, like what was it at first? Was it Griffon territory at first, or Equestrian? Nopony knows exactly, only that its been a heated debate between our two countries. And there's no way for anypony to take control of it, given the constant sandstorms and the sand wall making visibility zero.

One day... I'll go in there myself. I told myself as I sat at my desk, looking down at my grandfather's journal. I opened it up, and promptly fell onto it, my eyes closing as sleep overtook me.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Nevada Desert, United States
Perspective: Karen Richards

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"Whoohoohoohoo!"

"Watch it watch it!"

"I know what I'm doing, Keith!"

"Last time you said that you broke your fuckin' legs!"

I could only laugh as I revved the engine of my bike and speeding out in front of Keith's trophy truck, I kicked up sand and blocked his view as I sped over to a sand dune perfectly shaped for a jump, once I hit the dune I was sent flying high above, and over Lara's semi truck that was blazing across the road. "Hey Lara! Having fun!?" I asked through the radio as I landed on the other side of the road alongside a pair of dune buggies.

I heard the radio crackle and Lara country twang came roaring through across the airwaves. "Why wouldn't Ah be havin' fun?!" She asked, her truck blasting through a pile of sand and roaring down the wide double lane road that ran across the desert. All around me I heard the revving engines of my team's vehicles blasting across the desert, motorcycles, monster trucks, buggies, muscle cars, trophy trucks and some others. It was like Mad Max on steroids, so beautiful.

I sped up my bike, ripping past the buggies and up to a hill that overlooked out battlegrounds. The drive up was hard, but I managed to ascend and eventually I was sitting at the top, it was a big hill and was perfect as an overlook. I took off my helmet, letting my hair fall out as I overlooked the area. I could see everyone that was a part of my team ripping up the desert floor, whooping and hollering like a bunch of lunatics. I could hear the sounds of Metallica blasting from Lara's truck and her bullhorns as she drove down the roads, her massive truck and its giant trailer resembling a monstrous snake slithering across the sands.

This was life for me, the best kind of life. I could only smile as I watched them all have fun, they deserved it after all. We had won the Armageddon Championship once more, and had taken home the prize of twenty million dollars and the trophies for all of the races. No body stood a chance against my team, no one ever does. When we roll up into the ring, people stand in awe as we dominate the race tracks. Leaving none standing.

Another smile graced my face as I witnessed a bi-plane and mustang fly overhead, I waved to them as they did several fly bys. Hovering near a few ramp trucks we had set up were a few choppers, bikes and other vehicles jumped over them while their pilots prepared them for flight. We had damn near every brand of vehicle out here today, the rest were in our facility just a few miles away.

My name is Karen Richards, leader of The Stormriders, we may or may not be based off Mad Max elements. We're a team of junkies who specialize in whatever we find exciting, if it's a extreme sport that deals in racing, sledding down mountains, kicking up dirt, shredding waves or snow or involves wheels, we're there. Nascar, offroad tracks, snowboarding, surfing, destruction derbies, monster trucks, dirt bikes, whatever. We do it all. I made this team from scratch, created and here we are no, kings of the racing and sports industry. No one is more skilled then we are, no one can come even close to us... all except...

"Hehehe, well well well if it ain't the Stormriders~" I heard from my helmet radio, oh great.

I scowled, pulling the communication system out I clicked the button. "What the fuck Jared!? How did you get this frequency?" I demanded, pausing as of other engines filled my ears. The majority of my team had all gathered on the right side of my vision, all of their vehicles coming to a halt as they heard Jared's voice come in over the airwaves. "Where the hell are you?!" I questioned.

"Looky over in the mountains~"

As he said that, a massive explosion went off sending up a plume of black smoke and rocks. My eyes widened as a massive rock wall fell down, crumbling to pieces and giving off a sound of rocks sliding down.

"What was that?!" Keith yelled over the radio, I noticed his trophy truck driving my way and replied.

"Its Jared," I growled, seeing the massive plumes of smoke and sand being kicked up alongside the sounds of engines roaring. "Fucking asshole!"

"He's coming here? I thought he couldn't get past the mountain?"

"Bastard blew himself a path through," I told him, seeing the glint of steel and metal through the dust being kicked up.

Looking down the hill I saw Keith drive up the hill, his engine chugging and roaring as it pushed him up the hill. His truck was an old one, and a veteran among the racers, but it was still a powerful beast. The truck stopped next to me and I had to turn my head to block the sand from hitting me in the face, Keith cut the engine and unclasped the window before climbing out head first. A mop of dark brown hair under a hat dominated his head, and piercing green eyes locked on mine as he sat on the door. "What do we do boss, call the cops on him? He's violating the restraining order we got on him and his crew."

I could only scowl as I watched Jared's little band of misfits he calls racers drive into our territory. Jared Smith was the leader of a rival team of ours, leader of The War Pigs. He was a pig actually, a selfish cheating asshole of a man who led a band of cutthroat racers who didn't care for the sport, only the money and the fame. While me and my Stormriders do it for the fun, and the challenge of racing. We were hardcore, but we always played fair. Unlike the War Pigs, who cheated every chance they got, and managed to get away with it somehow. We had been at war for years now, not actual fighting or anything, just baseless threats and insults, and the occasional bar fight if we ran into each other.

But now, it looks like this is going to be different if he's bringing his whole team into our territory. We bought this land and we had free reign to use it however we saw fit, and now he's coming here.

Bastard. I thought as I put my helmet back on, Keith got the message and got back into his truck, clasping the window back up and starting up his engine. I revved up my own bike and sped down the hill, Keith following after peeling out, well... as much as one can in the sand anyway. We both drove down the hill where the team was all waiting. All of their cars, trucks and bikes sitting idle as Keith and I drove up, I slid to a stop in front of Lara's big rig, the massive double wide truck a behemoth monster that wasn't street legal in the slightest. I saw the Texan pop her head out through the top, her plaid shirt tied at the middle and her tank top stained with oil and dirt.

"What in th' hell's going on Boss!?" She yelled down to me, a few others asked as well, murmuring their agreements.

I turned to her. "Its Jared, bastard blew the wall off down the way!" I yelled back to her, getting a few outbursts from the crowd of racers gathered. "I don't know why but he's coming this way."

Lara only shook her head, getting back into her truck and closing up the top. I sighed, why in the hell is Jared breaking the truce we had? Sure it was a shit truce and the police made sure we did it so there wouldn't be anymore fights... okay I may have lied earlier, some of my crew do get into fist fights with the War Pig crew members, challenging each other to races in the streets and getting into brawls afterwards. Needless to say a lot of money spent on bail vanished into thin air, same goes for Jared.

And now, now he was coming into our territory. Why that was, I had no idea. I took off my helmet as I saw the massive convoy of vehicles headed this way.

At the front of it all I saw Jared's vehicle, a fixed up custom rat rod made for offroading. The top was lifted up and the wheels specially modified for off road driving and going up steep hills, the engine was also a V8 with a turbo charger. It was a beast when it came to speed, and it was his prized possession. Why he was driving it out here I'll never know. I watched several others drive up hot rodders, bikes, trucks and even a few buses in the mix.

Perhaps there is a part of you wondering why we all have such varied vehicles, well.., the championships and tournaments we are involved in are some of the most dangerous and hardcore in the world. You have to be talented and skilled with a vehicle of each category to compete, and it is tough. Good thing my team fits those categories, sad thing Jared's team does to. We were the only teams left, the others quitting or not having enough money to maintain everything.

I watched as the other convoy stopped, all of them spreading out to evenly match us in numbers. We both had size, at least five hundred members each and more vehicles then as healthy. Jared's hot rod stopped in the middle of it all, his convoy waiting behind them as they all tried to look menacing. When did this become a movie? I sighed and dove out to meet him, my own team mocking the other with looks and glares. I drove up in front of his hot rod and stopped, eyeballing the man inside before he popped open the top and stood. "What the hell do you want Jared?!"

Jared returned my glare with a smirk, his bright blue jumpsuit a stark contrast to his pale skin and blackened and rusty hot rod. "Just thought I'd pop on over and tell you the good news~"

I rose an eyebrow, frowning still. "What? That you blew up half the goddamn mountain side?!"

He only laughed, throwing back his head and laughing loudly. "Hell no, I've been meaning to do that for a while," He stopped laughing, leaning down and saying. "No, I'm here to tell you that you and your team are done." He told me, eyeing the rest of my crew with an unimpressed shrug. "The next championship that's coming up, you're sure to lose."

I only smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

"Oh yeah."

if either of us had bothered to look, we would have seen the massive sandstorm to the north baring down on our position.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Camp Echo, Baghdad
Perspective: Sergeant Nicholas

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

An hour had passed since Kevin had brought the storm to my attention, while I was sure it was just shit readings, a part of me couldn't help but worry that if this storm hit, something bad was going to happen. A gut feeling, or as my squad called it, Nicky's Sixth Sense. A stupid name for what they call my superpower, it was ridiculous to be honest. It wasn't a superpower, it was just common sense, no tricks or magic here. Its gotten my team out of more jams then you could imagine.

Kevin seemed to agree with them, having followed my fireteam when we got into firefights with ISIS and documented us. Taking photos and videos, he was an idiot for getting himself into some situations, but like I said... he had luck, and lots of it. He's been shot more times then I can count and he always came out okay, if I didn't know any better I'd say he had a guardian angel watching over him.

"Nicky, you hear that?" Kevin asked me, tilting his head slightly as he listened around.

I rose an eyebrow, all I heard was the sounds of vehicles driving by and people chattering, that and the protesters. "No, what do yo-"

*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG*

"Contact! We got contact!" A soldier yelled out, hefting up his rifle and running to the crowd. "Get back get back!"

"Who the fuck is it?!"

"ISIS!"

"Allah Ackbar!"

"Die Americans!"

I cursed, grabbing Kevin as a ISIS soldier fired at us from afar. The bullets hit the jeep and imbedded themselves in the metal. I grabbed my radio as Kevin pulled out his gun and camera, duel wielding the two. "We got ISIS contact outside the base walls! We need to get the civies outta here now!"

"Roger that." I heard, along with the sounds of people screaming all around me. Many of them jumped over the jeep and nearly hit me, but didn't thankfully. All of the civilian people we had on base ran for cover, hiding behind what tanks were still left out and jumping behind barricades. Some tried running out of the base only to get shot.

"This is fun!" Kevin cried, peeking out of cover and recording the firefight, his smile slowly turning into a frown. "Uh oh."

I gave him a look. "What?!"

"There's hundreds of them in the buildings!" He yelled back to me, ducking back into cover as a bullet nearly took his head off. "Fuck!"

Taking a few breathes I shot up out of cover, quickly aiming at the first target, only to find hundreds of ISIS soldiers running between buildings. All of them carrying heavy looking weaponry, in the roads I saw technical made out of cars and trucks blocking off any escape routes. And a really old tank. "Tank! We got a tank!" I screamed, getting several fearful looks from some civilians. One of our Abrams tanks revved up nearby and aimed its cannon, firing its cannon the massive round took out a soldier and imploded once it came into contact, destroying the enemy tank as I ducked back down.

It was chaos out here, and we were right in the middle of it. Every soldier on base got into attack positions, armed with everything from M4s, SAWs, Shotguns, M700 sniper rifles and 50. BMG caliber machine guns. Both sides exchanged rounds, taking out chunks of the other's defenses, cars exploded and people fell both good and evil. I shot out of cover once more and ran across the way, Kevin staying close behind me as he filmed everything. I slid into cover beside a Bradley Humvee, the gunner firing off his gun as one of my squadmates came rushing over to me. "Nicholas!"

My friend, the sniper of our group was a woman in her early thirties named Samantha, she was a private first class and a damn good shot. She sped over to me and took over as a smirk graced my lips. "Decided to get in on the action?!" I asked, peeking out of cover to shoot at an ISIS soldier, my bullets missed and ended up hitting his leg instead.

"Hell yeah!" She nodded, spotting Kevin she waved. "Hey Kevin, you enjoying filming?"

Kevin ducked as another sniper round almost took off his head, instead impacting the ground next to him. "I would be if that damn sniper would stop trying to fucking kill me!" He yelled, leaning out of cover and firing his revolver twice at a gas barrel, it exploded taking out the technical next to it and the four soldiers on it. "Fucking A!"

"Nice shot! Shame you didn't sign up to get into the USMC!" Sam remarked, aiming her own rifle and firing, taking off the head of soldier.

"Marine life ain't my style Sammy~" He chuckled, another sniper round nearly taking his head off. "Fuck!" He screamed, hiding behind the humvee.

Another explosion, and another truck had gone up in a fiery explosion taking several souls along with it. I leaned out and took aim at a man carrying an RPG, he could do some major damage with that, and I intended to stop him. But before I could he sprinted forward, jumping onto a tank and yelling something before hitting his chest... he exploded, forcing me to shield my eyes as the tank suddenly went up in flames. "Damn it!" I yelled, shooting at another PRG carrying soldier before I was forced back into cover.

"We got more vehicles incoming!" Someone yelled, pointing towards the battle in front of us.

Damn it! more ISIS?! I wondered as I looked towards the battle. There I saw several buses driving past the technicals, along with a few civilian cars and trucks. I saw no soldiers in them, just scared people inside trying to get away from the fighting. "Damn it! Cover those cars!" I yelled, waving at the bus. "Go over there!" I yelled, pointing to where the tanks were. "Go go go!"

Thankfully they listened and started driving that way, but a few cars that didn't make it onto the base got their tires shot out an they crashed, stuck within the firefight.

Damn it! A shot from above made me duck down, so I leaned back and scanned the rooftops with my rifle, trying to find said sniper before my vision suddenly went black. I fell back with a cry of surprise, hitting the ground as both Kevin and Sam yelled my name. I groaned but I doubt anyone heard me, shaking my head I saw out of my left eye Samantha looking down at me, her lips were moving but I couldn't make out anything she was saying. Kevin was kneeled down next to me, shaking my body and trying to get me to move.

"What?!" I yelled, finally hearing. My ears popped, much to my relief. "What happened?!" I yelled over the gunfire.

"I know who the sniper is!" Kevin said, picking up my gun and handing it to me. "Its Shiek! He almost took off your goddamn head!"

Shiek? I wondered, trying to get up as the ground shook and the skies rumbling. "What was that?!"

Both Kevin and Sam looked up into the skies, when I looked I saw several clouds gathering quickly, faster then thaey normally would. I got up, grabbing my rifle and going back to the fighting as the smell of rain hit my nose. I leaned against the humvee as my vision in my right eye slowly came back. Samantha came to my side and Kevin kept an eye out as more soldiers ran out of the base and a few tanks started up before rolling out to meet the ISIS forces in battle.

Looking up again I saw the clouds growing darker, blotting out the sun and to the surprise of me, and no doubt everyone else... it stopped the fighting. Gunfire ceased, engines cut out, voices died as we watched the storms above. The winds swirled and picked up, sand and dirt started flying and rain fell down from above much to the shock of us all.

What the fuck is going on?

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Camp Echo, Baghdad
Perspective: Shiek

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I sat atop the radio tower, my rifle held in my hands as the rain pelted my form. Needless to say I was confused, it hardly ever rained and it was clear a moment ago. I saw the storm clouds gather and rumble, lightning striking far off buildings, the cloudcover extending as far as my eyes could see. Which was quite far, even coupled with my scope the cover never ended. I felt it, in the pit of my stomach, something was very wrong. I saw everyone down below had stopped firing, they too were perplexed and disturbed, you could feel it in the air around us.

This was not natural, this was the work of something... different... something... unholy. It made me shiver, a tingling sinsation traveling down my spine and for the first time I felt truly scared. I looked out into the distance, and I saw it...

A massive sandstorm was coming, barreling towards the base... no... the city, it was massive, a monster of unparalleled size. It was coming faster than I had ever seen any storm do, I heard it roaring, as if it were a living thing, with sandy jagged teeth and slitted eyes locked on my body. This fight was over... for all of us. The storm was on us now, and I could only grasped onto the tower as the sandstorm bombarded the steel giant and my fellow forces below.

Is this the end?!

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Camp Echo, Baghdad
Perspective: Sergeant Nicholas

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"Son of a bitch!" I bellowed as the storm hit the base, it had come out of nowhere. I saw several ISIS soldiers get blown away by the sheer force of this fucking monster! I had to hold onto the humvee as the ground shook under us, knocking over several people and making the firefight practially impossible to do. Everyone had ceased the fight and substituted holding onto something for life, I had been in plenty of storms throughout my tours, but this was more intense then anything I had even seen before.

Kevin had done the same, holding onto me for some reason. I didn't have the strength or willpower to throw him off. I just held onto him and Sam as the storm raged on. Soldiers around us yelled and screamed, other fires started and were quenched by the rain. Sand and rain, not a good combo. The gunner had ducked down into his humvee and the driver, I didn't know where he was.

A few of the ISIS soldiers had tried to run across and kill whoever they could, only to be blown away by the storm or in a odd twist of fate, struck by lightning. A part of me wondered if Thor was actually real and having a hand in tossing around lightning bolts.

I tried grabbing my radio and talking to someone, anyone but the storm proved making communications impossible.

"What's going on, Nicholas!?" Kevin yelled, his gun having been blown away by the storm.

"I don't fucking know!" I really had no fucking idea what was going on.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Riverton, United States
Perspective: Kyle Keller

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I was outside when I felt the ground shake, it felt like an Earthquake was coming. There are no earthquakes here! What the hell? My thoughts were broken as I heard my friend voice his colorful opinion.

"What in the ever living fuck?" My friend and neighbor who was named D cursed, looking out down the road as he saw a wall of sand blowing this way. We both stood in shock nd awe for a few seconds, my mind trying to come up with a reasonable explaination for a wall of sand to suddenly appear. It was coming at full speed, ripping past parked cars and trees with such force I saw one tree get ripped down! "Shit! Kyle get inside!" He yelled, grabbing me and running for my house.

"Damn it! What is that?!" I screamed as we got to the door and barged inside. Mom was in the kitchen with Dad, complaining to him about something as we barged in. "Mom! Dad!" I yelled, hoping to get their attention, we needed ot do something! Hide! Or anything really!

"Ms Keller! We got a problem!" D yelled as he turned and locked the door and quickly closing the window drapes. "Get away from the windows!"

"What's going on!" Dad yelled as he walked into the hall leading to the door, his eyes boring into my own before looking over at D. "What's going on?" He asked us both.

I walked up to him and explained. "There's a giant frigging wall of sand outside coming this way!" I know how hard it must have been to believe that, but it aws true. We didn't live anywhere near sand! We were in the upper midwest for crying out loud!

He gave me a look that suggested he didn't believe me, nope... he didn't, I know that look all too well. Damn it Dad, I ain't lying! He moved past me and unlocked the door before going out. "What are you talking about, there's no wall o-" He was cut off as I saw the sand blast him full force, he hit the back of the door frame and to our shock, was blown away. But the door was left open and and was getting inside.

"Shit fuck!" D cried as he ran over, trying to close the door as mom's eyes grew in size.

"Paul! NO!" She screamed, running out the door and into the storm.

I chased after her, trying to stop her but I wasn't fast enough. "Mom wait don't go out there!"

"Ms Keller stop!" D yelled at her, trying to grab her and failing. She got sucked out into the winds and the door was blown shut, slamming hard enough to crack the wooden frame. "Damn it!"

"Mom! Dad!" I yelled, running to the door and trying to open it. D grabbed me and pulled me away as the glass windows on the door blew open, he turned and shielded me from the shards that rained down on us. "Let me go!"

He kept his hold on me, not letting go in the slightest and I knew he wouldn't let me go at all. "You're not going out there Kyle!" He yeleld at me, holding me back as tears flew from my eyes.

"Let me go damn it! LET ME GO!" To both our surprise I did the unthinkable, and punched D in the face, making him let me go. He fell back with a yell as I ran over to the door, I didn't get far as the ground shook and something flew from a shelf, knocking me in the head. I hit the floor hard as my vision blacked out, the last thing I heard was D calling my name.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Nevada Desert, United States
Perspective: Karen Richards

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"Boss lady! We got a problem!" I heard someone yelled, I heard soeone on Jared's side yell as well.

"What's wrong?" All I got was a frantic finger pointing to the north. Both groups turned to the north, and there I saw it... the massive wall of sand stretching as far as I could see and moving faster then I thought possible. I was speechless, everyone was quiet as they listened tothe ungodly roaring of the storm. Sounding like something out of a movie.

The silence was broken... by Lara.

"FUCKING MOVE PEOPLE!" She screamed through her bullhorn, starting up her truck. Everyone else followed suit, both sides revved and started their engines, everyone getting back into their cars or onto their bikes and driving away. I saw our team's bi-plane flying over there before, now it was flying back with the mustang in persuit. Both no doubt gunning their engines as hard as they could to escape the storm.

I threw on my helmet and sped around before following my group. Jared had led his team in the opposite direction, everyone yelling over the engines to get moving. No one spared any expense and slammed the pedals down, tearing up the ground and moving as fast as they could. The helicopters started up and flew back to our facility, along with whatever other aircraft we had in the air at the time. Dust and sand filled the air from our convoy moving full speed, I could barely make out Lara leading the pack, her truck's triple engines at max. How she managed to get three engines to function and get that monster moving I'll never know.

I managed to drive off to the far side, moving past other trucks and bikes I could make out some fearful looks among them, and others were nothing but adrenaline fueled grins. We had driven in worst situations... I think, not sure. But this was insane, more insane than usual. My heart was pounding in my chest, my palms sweaty within my gloves and my body shivering from some fear I couldn't place... was it the storm?

Suddenly I felt weightless, I was flying, my mind was spinning and I heard Keith's voice ring out in my headset but it was garbled and cut out before I could say anything. I was inside of the storm, it hit us full blast and blew me off of my bike. Suddenly I hit something hard, my helmet taking the full brunt of the damage, but it was enough to knock me out.

As the darkness took me... I could only hope my team was okay...

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Canterlot, Equestria
Perspective: Princess Luna

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

it would seem our day is coming to an end. I sighed as I made my way through the gardens to a balcony that overlooked the city. Today was a special day for me and my sister, special, in that it is the day our father was born. Yes he was gone... but he lives forever in our hearts, just like mother. Today, as my sister and I do every year, - before I was banished that is - we would stand together and look over the balcony, and watch the skies for a special treat from father.

I trotted along the stone path, guards and servants nodding to me as I passed, each one bearing a smile that I returned in kind. I kept my gaze forward, the balcony coming into view where my sister already stood. She was donned in her crown as always, and when she saw me coming she smiled a warm smile. "Luna." She nodded.

I nodded in return, giving her a smile of my own. "Celestia." I took my place by her side.

We both stood in silence for a few moments, just watching the skies above Canterlot. The faint sounds of the ponies below going about their day filling the air, above I saw a few pegasi flying merrily through the skies. Smiles on their faces as they passed by us with a wave, one we both returned. The skies were clear, though I did notice a few clouds to the north above the desert wastelands, a place my sister had called the Borderlands. This place had appeared short after my banishment, it was a place of mystery and peril, a constant sand wall blocked off any chances of going inside most of the time and there were constant storms inside. It was bordered off by Leylines, meaning it was dangerous, but ponies went inside anyway.

I remember a time when that land was a forest, one filled with many animals and lush trees... now it is a wasteland. It was massive, and if father were here he would have done something about it. But the place was a double edged sword. While it was an eyesore and managed to kill many who went inside, it blocked off any invasion and attack plans from our neighboring country of the Griffon Empire, who as of late have grown weary and tired of our country's lording over the others.

We did no such thing, but they thought differently.

I sighed as I looked into the skies above, Celestia joining me. Then it started, the skies darkened as the sun set on its own accord, and the skies began to glow as we were graced with father's last gift to us.

*Mood Music*

The skies glowed alight with a radiance my that neither my sister nor I could create, the shimmering blues and green hues mixing together amongst the twinking stars and lights above. Everypony below stopped what they were doing to honor this sacred sight, one that only happened once every ten years. The lights above danced and twirled, and a tear was brought to my eye. Father would always play with the lights in the skies for me, showing me all of the different colors and how they mixed and shone brightly.

It was such a beautiful sight that made me miss father so much, and mother as well. They were both so talented with creating such beauty in the skies and space, if only I could replicate such feats. I would forge something amazing, something worthy of honoring the two of them. But... I have so little to do with my own powers... anything less would be an insult.

"Luna, dear sister, are you alright?" Celestia asked me, coming over to my side and draping a wing over my back. "You're crying."

Bringing a hoof up to touch my cheek, I saw I was indeed crying. Tears stained my cheeks and freely ran down my face. "I am just thinking of father." I told her, still looking up into the sky.

She nodded and looked back to the skies. "I miss him as well, Luna."

I smiled sadly, my memories of him are ones I'll always cherish, ones I'll never forget.

But sadly, all good things must come to an end.

I felt the ground shake under my hooves, which made me look around in alarm. Celestia was doing the same as several guards started running around, yelling orders and wondering just what was going on. Suddenly my eyes caught sight of the Borderlands and the sandstorm going on there. My sister and I looked over at it, as did several others down below as lightning strikes bombarded the sand dunes and the mountains, the ground shook and the storm raged as the sands swirled in a massive supercell. I felt a familiar tug at my heart as my eyes caught sight of something moving around inside of the storm.

Then, suddenly... I heard a voice.

This is the end of harmony, and the beginning of darkness.

From the look on Celestia's face she heard it to. We both watched in horror as the storm raged and raged, throwing out trees and other debris, and sending out sand twisters that ravaged the nearby forests and lakes. We watched in awe as the storm eventually died down, the sand wall dying down and becoming nothing... The Borderlands were visible, massive dunes and hills, mountains and dead trees dominated this side of it, but beyond it I could just barely make out a small blackened form sitting in the desert.

I spread my wings, taking flight with my sister following close behind. I flew over to my tower, the one closest and the one with a telescope. I flew onto the balcony and galloped over to it, I wheeled it outside, my sister getting the idea and helping me by moving it with her magic. We both wheeled it outside and pointed the lens towards the desert. Down below I saw several guards in both the skies and on the ground clamoring over the Borderlands and the fact it was visible.

Moving to the scope, I leaned down and looked through it. The powerful magnifying lens enhancing my vision twenty-fold across the wastelands, I could see for miles and miles. I saw the mountains, the remains of the old forest still stood after thousands of years and looked like something out of a foal's horror story. The lands beyond it were the same, dead wastelands. I moved the scope and looked towards the blot I saw earlier, when I caught sight of it... I stood back, my eyes wide.

"Luna, what is it?" Celestia asked me as lightning struck several areas within the Borderlands all at once, booms and explosions sounding all around the massive expanse of the desert.

I sat down on my rump, looking her in the eyes. "There... there is a city there." I told her, recalling the massive buildings and structures that were not of equine or griffon origin. The city was massive, huge even and there were parts of it on fire. "There is a city in the Borderlands."

Celestia looked perplexed and walked over to the scope to confirm it. A few squeaks of the scope later and she saw it no doubt, judging from the slackjaw expression. "Its not possible..."

"It is sister... there is a massive settlement within the Borderlands." I told her, standing up and shaking my head. "I thought there was no way to build anything within."

My sister stood in silence, mulling over whatever it was she was thinking. "There is no way... but it would appear I was wrong..."

I stood there, looking out into the borderlands as more lightning struck the areas around it, eventually ceasing all together... and all was silent save for the wshiping winds cascading across the castle grounds, and the nervous murmurs of guard and citizien alike.

Perspective: Gaia

The world as we know it, is now changing. The gears of war are now turning, the pillars of peace and harmony crumble under the combined weight of greed, hate, misery and battle. The very foundation of friendship will be tested against the might of the thousands of angry souls and against the tyranny of the oncoming evil.

Forces, both good and bad will fight tothe death, Equus their battleground. Swords and axes, spears and halberds, assault rifles and rocket launchers their weapons. Chariots and bikes, airships and planes, carriages and trucks their steeds of war. Steel armor and bullet proof vest, magic and shields their protections.

There are no gods here... there is no help coming... the world of Equus will no longer know the peace it has had for eons... that peace, has already crumbled with the new arrivals. But they are not alone... others have joined them, some are good, pure of heart and noble of soul... some bad, evil in their hearts and their souls corrupt... others... not sure which side to take in this.

Secrets long since buried will be dug up, friendships made and brotherhoods tested.

This is the end of harmony, and the beginning of darkness.

Author's Note

I'm posting this now, why do you ask? Because I am a sad sad fuck, another reason below 8D

Because writing about war, soldiers, terrorists, and random civilians getting transported into potentially hostile territory and armed with more guns ammo and hormones then you can count is something that gives me a boner at night. Ahhhhhhhhh... I'm talking about like, a bone from a skeleton I can smack people with, what were you talking about?

I also love starting big stories people will get invested in and I'll never finish, it's something that gives me a boner... now I'm talking about erections silly :pinkiecrazy:

I also enjoy throwing in shit that people will probably complain about... such as ISIS, and the WBC (West Bore-o Bap-titty Church's Chicken) I'm curious if any intense political debates will ensue in the comments, or if this story will be flamed because of its... because its just there. I also despise the WBC, hence why they will be shat upon in this story, Don't like, oh well, I ain't stopping. This is not a hate fic, just some really intense stuff will be happening... WBC being shat upon, one of them because they are the absolute scum of the earth.

Enjoy another story I probably won't finish ever! )^o^)/ And vote for your favorite torture method now, you may see it later in the story! :yay: Cause we all know, monkey pandas love to torture you with straws.

... I don't fucking know anymore Dx

Also, the cover art, is something that I yet again, made from random shit on Google because I lack the money to get awesomer cover art, and anything that I could get as cover art would be too much for me to buy even if I had cash XD The cover IS ALSO HINTING AT SOMETHING. *shakes you violently but subtly*

Try and guess what that something is.

SHIT TO TAKE NOTE OF

Whenever these pop up in a sentence ~~ that means someone is talking in a different language. The entire story is in english, but when those little marks pop up, that means they are speaking a different language.

Example would be Derpy, she's speaking in Japanese, you can all thank this video for doing that to me. Now I see her as Japanese, fuck DX

Lara's Truck is a massive beast, like the War Rig from Mad Max Fury Road but a tad wider and longer. Imagine this

Crossed over with this

But the tanker is replaced with a wide trailer, and all of the wheels are off road.

Methinks next chapter onwards I'll be throwing in links of what some shit looks like, assuming google images holds what I need, if not, I'm fucked 8D

If anyone actually ends up liking this tripe, don't expect a shit ton of updates for it, this chapter took me about a week or more to write Dx its fucking long man. And I was too lazy to split it up, so enjoy this monster of a chapter, hehehe eue

Have any thoughts? Throw them down in the comments below, give me hate, give me love, give me doritos... specially if it's the third one :rainbowkiss: I'll love you forever~

This is also a side project I'll work on, because I'm a faggot and need something to waste time on when I'M BORED! Enjoy peasents and poni lovers~

Anywho, if you enjoy leave a like and a favorite, it makes Fluttershy happy~ :yay:

If you hate, throw a dislike, and some constructive criticism~ It makes Fluttershy cry tears of sorrow :fluttercry:

:heart: Buh bye for now you beautiful little shits you! :heart:

2: Alleanza Difficile

"Dum dum dee dum dum doo.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!~"

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Camp Echo, Unknown
Perspective: Sergeant Nicholas

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I... I don't know what happened after I was knocked out by that rock that flew out of nowhere, where it had come from I'll never know. But, whatever happened had the entire base in an uproar. Everywhere, soldiers were scattered about, some lying prone on the ground covered in sand while others carried the injured to the medical bay, half the base had been covered in sands, with a few smaller buildings and tents being buried under the sand. ISIS had all but disappeared into the city, having retreated when the storm vanished and leaving us broken and battered. They were no doubt in the same shape as us, beaten and broken.

I heard yells filling the air around me, people calling for help, for aid, medical attention or just someone's name. I saw a few helicopters had crashed during the storm, the pilots having survived thanks to a shit ton of luck. Medical personal hurried from one point to the next, making sure to help as many as they could. Both soldiers and civilians were injured in the fighting. I could only wonder how the city was doing, they were hit by the storm same as us.

Now that I thought that I could hear the sirens from the city, lot of people would've been hurt by this storm.

I was sitting by the humvee by myself, Samantha having left to help out with the other soldiers, and Kevin, well, he was filming everything as always. My eyes drifted down to my rifle, the M4's scope destroyed by Shiek's bullet. The glass was shattered and the bullet stopped an inch short of hitting my eye somehow. I almost died during that fight... Jeez. I sighed, taking the scope off and pocketing it. It was useless to me now, and I'm going to have to go get a spare from the armory.

Getting up I made my way across the base as soldiers ran left and right, shouting orders at the top of their lungs to get the civilian vehicles out of the way and to get them checked out. The cars that had gotten into the middle of the firefight were covered in bullet holes and the families inside, didn't make it unfortunately. We had to leave them for now until we could get them buried. Which wasn't going to be a fun job for anyone, but when is burying innocents fun?

The way to the armory was close by now, and I was about to jog the rest of the way there before I was stopped by Kevin who had run up to me. Nicky!" He yelled, jogging up to me and matching my stride. His clothes were covered in sand and were a bit banged up, but other then that he was alright save for a scratch on his forehead. "I got something interesting to tell ya."

I looked to him. "Oh?"

He pointed up into the night sky. "Its nighttime."

I looked up, it was indeed night. The sun having set a few hours ago after the storm settled. "Yeah, so?"

"... it was the middle of the day when the storm hit." Kevin told me, gesturing wildly. "How is that possible? I was awake during the whole storm, and it only lasted three hours, something weird happened when the storm passed over us, man."

I stopped walking, my eyes looking into the night sky. I saw hundreds, if not thousands of stars above going on forever. The sky, it was unbelievable clear. Sure the city didn't have many motorists but the sky was a bit clogged up, but now... now it was clear as crystal. I also noted the moon, it was... oddly bright and I could make out each of the craters on it in perfect detail. That is odd. Looking around, I couldn't help but shake the feeling something was off...

"Is your Nicky Sense going off?"

I looked at him with a deadpan stare. "... My gut is telling me something is wrong here, that is what's going off."

"... so... your Nicky Sense is going off?"

You ever get that urge to punch someone? But you never go through with it for some reason?

*FALCON PWWWWWUUUNCH*

Well, I went through with it. I punched Kevin in the stomach, my fist colliding with his gut as he was sent staggering backwards cackling like a retard. I only sighed. Nicky Sense I'll never live it down. I shook my head as I walked towards the armory, Kevin holding his stomach before he got up and walked away. As he did, I eyed the armory building.

It was a large warehouse kind of building with an underground storage bay for other weapons, anything the USMC and the other joint forces used could be found here, along with a metric fuckton of ammunition and parts. It was maintained by several soldiers all tasked with both protecting it and maintaining the weapons. I made my way down the ramp and to the door, opening it up I was greeted with the smells of oil and ammo, along with the sight of the waiting room and several soldiers standing around murmuring to themselves about what had happened. I passed by them, walking up to the requisition desk.

Sitting behind the mesh was a soldier everyone called Flak, tall lean muscle and speaks in short sentances. The older african man saw me coming and nodded. "Sergeant."

I nodded back and pulled out my broken scope, holding it out to him and saying, "Almost had my eye taken out, what're the odds of me getting a replacement scope?"

Flak took the scope I presented to him, inspecting it with a critical eye before putting it down. "Wait here." He said, getting up and walking away.

Man of few words. I remarked as I looked around the large room. The mesh and the desks were the only way to get ammo and weapons from the back, unless you were given permission to go into The Vault. On both sides sat two large steel doors, you had to have a passcode to get inside and it was not easy to get. You'd think being in hostile territory would give everyone free reign to grab whatever ammo you needed, but you needed permission and slips from the head of the base of the ones in charge of the armory.

From what I knew about what was inside of the armory from talk around the water cooler, I've heard there were Rocket Launchers like Javelins, guns that ranged in M4 Colt Assault rifles, M700 Sniper Rifles, 50.BMG Barrett Rifles, M7 Shotguns, 9MM Berettas, MTAR-21 rilfes, M249 Machine guns, and that was just a few of what lay inside of The Vault.

I heard footsteps and saw Flak coming back with a scope in hand, a replacement of what I had. He sat down at his chair, pushing a clipboard my way and saying, "sign here." Next to it he laid the scope down and waited.

Grabbing a nearby pen I leaned down and signed my name, when I was done I did a little flourish and grabbed my scope. "Thanks." I smiled as I walked out, my stride taking me to the door where I opened it once more and left, going back out into the night. I made my way up the small ramp and back onto level ground where I saw several people trying to dig out whatever was buried under the sand. Tanks, humvees, helicopters, if it was on the ground chances are it was buried. "Damn it."

A sigh escaped me as I left to go see what all I could do to help out.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: City of Ashall'a, Unknown
Perspective: Shiek

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I remained glued to the top of the tower for the longest time, my rifle having been blown out of my grasp by the storm. The tower I was on had been bent slightly and leaned ever so slightly to the left from where I was perched, I'm surprised this tower didn't fall down. I guess it was stronger than it looked despite its rusty appearance. The entire right side of my body hurt, and my face felt raw, no doubt the sand injured me from the sheer force almost taking it off.

Steeling myself I looked down to I saw several hundred people milling about, wondering what had happened no doubt. Moving my leg I started to climb down, making sure to take my time. The last thing I need is to survive a storm and end up falling to my death because I wanted to get down quickly. I made my way down, grabbing onto foot and hand holds, a few of the parts of the tower were missing and made climbing down harder, but I managed.

As I climbed I thought of the current situation. It was the middle of the day, close to twelve when the storm hit. From what my watch told me, about three hours had passed since the storm hit, and now it was night time. That made me curious and slightly uneasy, I wondered if I had passed out from the storm, but that didn't make any sense, my watch told how much time had passed, and it was still the same date. So that made me question just what happened exactly, there was no way it could have been night time, it wasn't possible and yet... here I was, climbing down the tower in the dead of night.

The city of Ashall'a was alive and bustling, people were coming out of their homes and were fearful, wondering what had happened. I wondered if my brother was alright, he better be, or else.

Eventually I had made my way back down onto the roof, fell down, falling onto my ass with a sigh of discomfort. I hadn't expected to be sitting up there for three hours, only for one hour at most before I went down to change positions. But now I was without my rifle, my body sore from holding onto the tower's steel handles and my face raw and itching. I turned around, crawling over to where I had climbed up before and eyeing the way down, I could easily drop down without much trouble, which is what I did. Scooting forward I kept moving until I slid down and fell, hitting the ground with a thump in the sand before standing up. My legs burned and my body ached, and I was tired.

I saw some people stop and look at me before moving on, either going back to their home to out of my way. I ignored the looks and moved down the road, forcing my body to jog at a steady pace down the road, away from Camp Echo. I had to find my fellow fighters, and where they went. Chances are they were hiding in the many safehouses throughout the city, or at our base at the furthest edge of the city's outskirts. That is where our main force was located, when I got there hopefully I can get some rest and aid.

Walking down the road I heard something soar overhead and for a brief second I thought it was a missile, looking up in alarm I saw no such thing. On the night sky and the millions of stars, and the strangely bright moon that shone light a giant lightbulb. Up above I saw several small objects, creatures of some sort flying over. I saw bright yellow eyes lock on my own before it flew away.

What is god's name was that? I wondered as it shot off before I could get a better look. My eyes were still adjusting to the light from the night sky and I couldn't get a good look at it, but whatever it was... What happened during that storm?

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Unknown City, Equestria
Perspective: Sergeant Blackwing

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I flew over the unknown city under the cover of night alongside five others, why were we here? At the behest of Princess Luna, of course. She and Princess Celestia suggested somepony should go and check out this city, and I volunteered my squad, and here we were. I have always heard stories of the Borderlands, and how dangerous they were. How many strange things lurk within, ponies who go in, almost never come out, and there was no way for anything or anypony to live within. And yet, here I was soaring above a massive city filled with... with...

I'm not entirely sure what they are. They reminded me of Minotaurs, but they lack horns, hooves, and wear clothing on their bodies. Their skin was many different colors, most tan or dark brown with a few white ones. Strange looking metal contraptions sat on the streets, some having wheels and others burnt out shells. Many of the creatures down below had not heard us flying above, so we took the chance to split up and cover as much terrain as possible. This city was large, very large, covered in many tall and short buildings, houses and hovels, reservoirs placed throughout running between buildings with bridges crossing over them, towers standing six to seven stories, and in the distance I saw a large building that I could only describe as a palace sitting atop a hill overlooking the city itself.

I saw hundreds, if not thousands of these creatures milling about, dogs and cats, and a few goats also walked amongst them. And up ahead, I saw something that did not fit into this city's build. While most of these buildings were old and dirty, and the roads made of sand and dirt. The massive complex I saw was clean, grey buildings with hundreds of the other creatures moving about all dressed in uniforms that would hide them well in desert terrain. I landed near it, sitting atop a small building that gave me a good vantage point. Folding my leathery wings to my sides I crouched down low and observed through a small scope on my crossbow.

The area I was looking at was big, with many large steel contraptons sitting about. Some had large wheels, others had treads and some had an odd large propeller on top of them. Many were buried under the sand with hundreds of the creatures digging them out, many yelled out orders and it made me realize this was a base for a military. Yet, I saw no spears, or swords... but I did see most of their weapons and it made my eyes widen. They have firearms?! That was not good, firearms were Illegal to have in Equestria and anypony caught with them were arrested and fined several hundred thousand bits. These creatures had many firearms, some I had never even seen before, they were big and sleek looking, with scopes and odd configurations, some people lugged around larger looking ones with boxes that clinked with every movement, suggesting plenty of ammunition.

This worried me greatly, not only was this a strange city filled with creatures I knew not the name or origin of, but they had a military armed with hundreds of firearms, all of which I had never seen before and looked quite deadly. The base was large, with huge buildings made of concrete. Hundreds of soldiers wandered about, patrolling the perimeter armed with rifles and such. Orders and yells filled the air as they moved around the smaller metal carriages, some having been on fire recently.

Suddenly, my radio crackled in my ear. "Sergeant Blackwing."

I clicked my radio, holding a hoof to my ear. "Yes?" I whispered.

"Ma'am, we found another settlement just south of the city, it looks to be a large town with more of those creatures in it. Looks suburban with a more modern city going further in, lots of them are coming out of their homes and looking around, I also see what looks like Law Enforcement trying to keep the peace, armed with firearms, and there's a lot of them moving around." My lieutenant explained to me, there was more?! "That's new."

"What is it?"

"The carriages seem to move by themselves, no ponies are pulling them, and from the sounds of it, it is run by some sort of technology... this is unreal." He breathed. "Orders?"

I thought for a moment. All of these carriages move by themselves, the entire city and the town next to it with a military and law enforcement armed with illegal weaponry, and they number in the hundreds if not thousands. "Continue scouting out any other settlements near the city, I want the four of you to split up, two of you cover the city and see if there is anything else we should be worried about, and the other two scout out the mountains, there could be more in there."

"Yes Ma'am." I heard before my radio crackled out. I stood up, flaring my wings out before taking flight, I should report back to Luna on our findings.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Unknown Canyon, Unknown
Perspective: Karen Richards

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

When I woke up, I felt lightheaded, my body hurt and I could hear the wind all around me. Which made me wonder, just what in the fuck happened to me, and my team... My team! I shot up, my eyes opening wide only to see nothing, "Damn it!" I ripped off my helmet, an intense pain making itself known in the back of my head making me bite my tongue to keep from yelling. I looked around, noticing I wasn't covered in sand, instead I was in between two rocks with several mountains around me and tall cliffs. "What the hell?" I voiced, standing up despite the pain in my legs, looking around I saw I was in the mountains, desert sand covered the ground below and the rocks were chipped and jagged.

All around me I saw nothing but rocks, boulders and pathways leading deeper in, with a few going towards what I guessed was an exit of sorts. Looking down I saw my bike and I quickly climbed down to it, thankfully once I got down I saw it was relatively undamaged. The paint was scratched and a few metal parts had dings and scraps, but it looked alright. Picking it up I flipped out the kickstand and sat it up so I could do a damage assessment. The wheels were alright, the treads covered only in dirt and other debris, the front plate that held my bike's number was scratched and bent all to hell, that would have to be replaced. Moving around and taking a seat on it, I checked the key and turned it to on, then put my foot on the starter, I kicked it down once, a sputter. Once more, another sputter, I grunted and tried again then my bike roared to life.

"Good boy." I cooed, patting my bike as I looked for a decent path out of the canyon, the pathways were wide, very wide and thankfully devoid of rocks and such. A few archways made out of pure rock stood overhead, and the path, now that I could see properly, it did in fact lead out of the canyon. My keen eyes made out several paths leading up into the rocks, perfect for a bike to drive up onto should the need rise. Behind me I saw the path lead deeper in, what was behind there I had no clue.

Suddenly my radio buzzed to life. "K*Bzzzz* are you t*bzzzzzzzz*"

I picked up my radio, clicking down the respond button. "Hello? Keith is that you?" I asked, hopefully he was alright, he was my second after all.

"Oh thank go*bzzzzzz*ou're alright, I thought you were a goner." He said, his voice clearer. "Where are you Karen?"

Looking around, I shrugged. "I'm in a canyon, bunch of orange rocks and shit. I found a path that leads out into-" Squinting my eyes I could see the path leading out into a desert, "-a desert, not sure about the path behind me though." I told him truthfully. There was no telling where I was, we could be miles apart. My thoughts were broken when I heard the distinct sound of Keith's engine roaring nearby the canyon walls making it difficult to pinpoint where exactly.

"I think I know where you are, stay there!" Keith told me, the sound of the truck getting louder.

I could hear it much louder now, and turning my head to look down the path leading into the canyon I saw Keith's truck, and it looked like shit. The windshield was covered in cracks and part of it was broken off, the hood and frame itself dented and beaten. The lights on the top and front still worked, shining brightly and making me wince, I brought up my arm to shield my eyes as the truck came to a stop near me and the engine died. Keith quickly unclasped the side window and hopped out through the window landing on his feet as he ran over to me.

The man looked worse then I had ever seen him, his eyes were bloodshot and his clothes a mess. "Karen, are you alright?!" He asked me, checking me over and stopping once he saw the back of my head. "You're bleeding!" I could only laugh at the man, the six foot tall Midwestern american scowling at me for laughing at such a notion.

"Well that tends to happen when you smash into a rock after being blown off by a fucking sandstorm you genius." I chuckled as he sprinted back to his truck, ducking back into the window and rooting around for something. As he did I felt of the back of my head, wincing when I hit a soft spot. Pulling away my hand I saw droplets of blood staining my gloves, I was bleeding after all. Another day, another scar. I sighed as I hear Keith's footsteps running back to me, him carrying a medical kit he kept in his truck. "Its not that bad, jeez."

"I'm not going to have you driving around while you're bleeding, so sit down and shut it." He told me, bopping me on the nose and making me snap my jaw at him.

"I'm not a cat, don't boop me."

"You act like one, always hissy."

"Asshole." I growled, he only smiled and proceeded to work on the back of my head, him moving my hair out of the way with the grace of a drunk man. "Where's everyone else?"

Keith sighed, dabbing something on my wound before saying, "I don't know, I haven't heard from anyone except Lara, and she's still trying to find the entrance to the canyon." He explained. Making me wonder how Lara's truck was doing, the monster was built to last and stand up to whatever was thrown at it. I could only hope she was alright. "As for the rest of the team, I can only assume they're scattered around the canyons and mountains here, where ever here is." He breathed a tired sigh, starting to finish up by wrapping a bandage around my head.

I couldn't believe it, a freaking storm hits us and we're all scattered around. Five hundred odd members of The Stormriders all spread out, we needed to regroup, now! I looked to Keith as he finished my bandage. "Keith, we need to regroup, you still have that flare gun?"

He looked a bit confused by made a face of realization when he knew what I wanted to do. "You're going to use it to signal the others?"

I nodded. "Hell yeah, now go get it." I told him, fixing my helmet as Keith looked around for his flare gun. As he did I scanned the canyon, I saw plenty of paths carved out of the rock that I could use, and the highest point above had several paths leading to it. I grinned. Time to call the storm. I chuckled as Keith ran back to me, flare gun and flares in hand.

"Okay, I have six flares, use them sparingly." Keith told me, tucking them into my backpack and patting me on the back. "I'll leave the canyon and go look for Lara, she has the rest of the flares and some other equipment I can use to find the others." That was a good idea, Lara had all kinds of shit in her trailer that could help us, hopefully it survived the storm.

He nodded and jogged back to his truck, hopping in as I revved up my bike. "Good luck Keith."

"Same to you, Karen, don't die on me." Keith ordered me, revving his own truck and speeding past me and down the path kicking up sand and dirt.

"I won't, mom." I chuckled as drove forward and up one of the paths leading up the canyon. I gripped onto my bike's handles as I drove up the rocky paths, I had driven up mountains before and jumped off of them like a lunatic... but this time, there was no safety nets, no helicopters to take me to the hospital in case I broke my legs or my body, and no medical aid... it was me versus the wild untamed power that was nature herself. And nature can be a bitch... depending on her mood at the time.

Small rocks jutted out from under my tires and made the ride more bumpy, other smaller rocks falling down out of my way or getting up under my bike. Rocks and pebbles clinked and clanged off of the metal, my body rocking back and forth as I tore my way up the path. The way up was clear of most obstructions, but I had to veer left or right to avoid large rocks or dead limbs from trees. My goal was at the top, a large plateau that would work perfectly. Several other small hills and large rocks were nearby the plateau, weirdly enough green grass and a few trees grew on them, another oddity I noticed among the others.

Birds flew overhead, cawing loudly and making me wish I had my Ipod with me, I loved birds and all, but these things were getting annoying and I wished I could block them out with some sweet tunes.

Looking back on previous expeditions up mountains, this one reminded me of a path I had driven up on my older Yamaha bike. It was dangerous, and no one had ever done it before, but I did. It was back in Africa, a treacherous mountain path that was said to be narrow and the surrounding forests filled with deadly natives. The natives didn't take too kindly to my presence there and tried to throw a spear through me, let's just say Yamaha is now my most favorite company ever, hence why my current bike was a Yamaha. The five year old bike never having let me down in all its years of riding through mud, snow, and dirt.

But my trip soon turned short as I reached a large flat area and was greeted with... I don't know what the hell I was looking at. I stopped my bike, flipping up my visor and looking at the scene in front of me. All around on the ground I saw bodies, but they were wearing samurai armor of all things, their swords clutched in their hands and sand partially covering them. I cut off my bike's engine and got off, taking off my helmet and placing it on the handlebar before walking over.

I had never seen anything like this before, and it creeped me out. And as for why I was getting closer to them, well... I'm an idiot, of course and I wanted to get a closer look. Looking at the bodies, I saw they were already bones, all of their flesh was long gone and eaten away by time and the sand that covered this area. Their armor was in decent shape, considering how long they must have been here. Their swords as well, while a bit rusty looked perfect, and they were everywhere. I did a quick count, finding at least thirty of them lying around on the ground covered in slash marks and arrows.

"Jesus." I muttered... there were none of these dudes back in America, they were Japanese last time I heard. Looking up the other path, I could see the remains of what looked like a wagon, as well as more bones of human bodies leading up the path... something told me the Plateau might not be such a good idea, depending. but if I wanted to find my team, I had to go up there. Moving back over to my bike, I climbed onto it and started it back up before throwing my helmet on and kicking my bike into overdrive. I sped past the bodies, making sure not to hit any of them as I traveled upwards.

Respect for the dead and all.

I could see arrows sticking out of some of the rocks and a few other skeletons, the arrows jutting out of their heads or whatever kind of armor they happened to be wearing at the time when they were here who knows how long ago. Swords and daggers, bows and axes, and even hammers among other older weapons were lying about up the path. I saw more wagons sitting around, still in one piece after so long of being out in this place. The bodies of other people were lying in the back of some wagons, while the other skeletons were on the ground, clutching onto gardening tools like hoes and shovels.

Where did they all come from? It made no sense, but as I made my way up I started seeing more things that shouldn't be here. I saw a small house, from like the feudal era of Japan standing on the hill supported by small thick oak wood stilts, a bunch of them were sitting around up this path, most of them with closed or broken doors. Looking forward, I saw there was a whole village up in this canyon! More bodies littered the ground as I passed through, most wearing armor made out of animal hides or wood, weirdly enough. I kept driving until I made it to what looked like a town center, an old fountain was sitting in the middle, it no longer spilled water into the basin and looked derelict and ruined. All around me I saw larger buildings and more pathways leading up to the plateau, making wonder what awaited me up there.

More bodies? A Samurai overlord looking dude? Who knows!

I turned and drove away from the town center, passing by a small cliff where I saw a natural looking pathway leading down into what looked like the rest of this village, down below I saw some more of those buildings, and to my surprise, my facility. I stopped, my eyes widening when I saw the massive three story warehouse like building sitting smack bad in the middle of the village own below. It was a massive clearing down there, the other smaller houses spaced out evenly and the facility having not a scratch. The way down wasn't that steep, and wasn't that far down either, maybe a forty foot drop. I couldn't believe it.

What the hell... is going on here? Did... did the storm do this? Did we get sucked into some weird world filled with dead Samurai bodies?! Shaking my head I continued up.

Eventually I reached the final leg, but I was stopped by what looked like a large wooden gate. Patterns of dragons and fire were carved into the old aged wood, and two guards from ages ago still stood. Arrows having embedded themselves into the blackened armor, their hands grasping their swords and their feet dug into the ground and stone. They were tall, really tall and... actually kind of scary looking. The gate, now that I looked was half open, so driving up to it, I squeezed inside and once more... I was greeted with quite the sight.

On the far left I saw a temple, a massive six story Japanese style temple that had an adjoining building on either side going forward, decorative looking statues dominated the area near it, some made to look like dragons, and along one of the paths I saw unused suits of armor standing guard. A garden path leading up into the temple was in front, with many still living flowers and foliage growing wildly, many of the species I had never even seen before were growing along the path and to the side. Up above I saw water pouring down, flowing down onto the rooftops and pouring into the gardens and flowing downhill and off the cliff to my right, a rainbow could be seen from the water sprinkles soaring into the air. It was beautiful.

To my right, was a cleared out area, the stone path from the temple ending under dirt and sand as the cliff faced the massive desert. The plateau was huge, big enough to land a plane... like that Bi-plane and mustang fighter I see sitting nearby... WHAT THE FUCK!?

I saw both of my team's planes sitting on the plateau, I guess they had gotten the idea to land here after the storm. I smiled, driving over to the planes and revving my engines loudly. I kept it up, the roaring sounds echoing off of the plateau's curved half circle shaped rock and echoing down the path and throughout the village no doubt. It was loud and beautiful. "GUYS!" I screamed into my radio. "Are you there!? Its me Karen!"

...

I waited... and waited... I was about to rev my engines again when my radio crackled. "Karen?!" I heard the distinct tomboyish voice of my bi-plane pilot, Lucy, call out. "Hot damn girl, you're still alive?!"

"Did you doubt her?" I heard Seth's voice chuckled, then to my right I heard. "Bout damn time Karen!"

I looked over towards the temple, spotting both my pilots. They were both looking pretty good considering we almost died in that storm. Lucy's jumpsuit was a bit dirty but it was still in one piece, tied around her waist over her tank top, covered in grease, oil and other plane fluids. Her green eyes smiling as she ran down the stairs.

Behind her trailed Seth, a younger pilot from Florida that joined up a long time ago. he was taller then most of our crew, six feet solid with a mop of red hair on his head he insisted on spiking up whenever he could, a matching goatee on his face to go with his bomber jacket and leather pants to complete his look.

"I thought that storm killed you both!" I told them, getting up and off of my bike before taking off my helmet.

"We're two of the best pilots in the world Karen, no storm is going to take us out!" Seth said before he spotted my bandage, cause he said, "Whoa, you alright boss lady?"

I nodded. "Yeah its nothing, just got banged up after I was thrown off my bike." I told him, looking around I asked, "So I guess you guys are alright?"

Lucy nodded her head. "Yeah, we saw this place after the storm ended and landed here. We would have landed on the ground buuut..."

"But what?"

Seth pointed out into the desert. "Go take a look down below."

I gave him a look before jogging over to the edge of the cliff, both of the pilots trailing behind me. What was wrong with landing down below? I would soon find out. The edge of the cliff curved up for some reason, but I didn't question it. Getting down on my knees I crawled over to the edge and looked down, what I saw what both shocking and strange. Down below I could see a group of people I didn't expect to see...

"Jared is here to." I muttered, shaking my head as I saw half of his convoy all milling about, yells from below made me wonder what was going on. "Did they see you come up here?" I asked, turning back to Seth.

Before I could get an answer, someone else spoke... someone I didn't see coming up this way. "Yeah I did see you!" Ah... there is he. Standing up and turning around, I faced down my rival and I was about to make a snappy retort, but stopped when I saw him. Jared's face was covered in blood, his suit was torn and shredded to pieces, and his entire right arm was covered in soot. "Hi Karen, miss me?" He coughed, holding an arm around his stomach.

"Jesus Christ, Jared." I muttered, walking over to him as both Seth and Lucy followed me. As I got closer I could see just how badly banged up his was, I was surprised he was still standing. "What in the fuck happened to you?"

He coughed again, moving his hand to cover his mouth and wincing when he coughed into it. "Damn storm got me and my crew," He growled, "stupid thing sucked us up and threw us out all over the place. My damn car got thrown down a goddamn cliff and I barely made it out before it blew up." He looked at me, noticing my similarly injured appearance. "Bet you would have liked that wouldn't ya." He chuckled before a coughing fit made him fall to his knees, blood covering his hand.

"Damn it Jared!" I yelled at him, going over to him. I may have hated the guy but I wouldn't wish death upon him, I kneeled down and checked him as he gave me a look. "Just shut the fuck up and let me help you, or you can go hobble down the hill back to your crew and get help, your choice."

He hesitated for a moment before nodding, "fine." he said, sitting down and wincing. "Where's the rest of your team?" He asked me, looking around. "I didn't see anyone else coming up here."

I paused as I took off my backpack, remembering the medical kit I kept in it. I could have used it on my head but I forgot, and I can't deny Keith's babying over me or else he'll be a little weird about it. "I don't know, I found Keith down below, and these two when I came up here." I told him, putting my kit on the ground before remembering my flare gun. "Seth!" I said, digging around my pack before pulling out the gun. Everyone flinched for a second before I handed it to Seth. "Go over to the edge and fire that into the sky," I then found the extra flares and handed them to him. "Fire three into the air, that'll get everyone's attention."

Jared eyed the gun and asked. "What's that for?"

I turned to him, smirking. "I'm going to call my team with that, and yours if you're nice~" I smiled. "We need to regroup, no telling where we are, and it'll be better if we're all together."

He only sighed. "Fine," he looked back to me, then to Lucy as she followed him, then he turned back to me and said, "listen, thanks for helping." Jared said, looking away as I made eye contact. "I know I'm a dick to ya and your team but I'm not a complete ass and I know when to say thanks, so... thanks."

I rose an eyebrow and continued fixing him up. "No problem." I said.

Maybe we weren't so screwed after all.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Riverton, Unknown
Perspective: Kyle Keller

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I woke up to the sounds of sirens and yells, along with the sounds of a few screams and crying. I managed to open my eyes, being greeted with the ceiling of my living room, looking over to my right I saw the coffee table and our TV, the thing was on but there was no signal coming in. Over by the window I saw D standing by it, looking outside with a baseball bat in his hands. "D?" I croaked, sitting up and getting his attention. He turned towards me, his nose bloodied with a pair of tissue wads stuck in them.

"Bout time you got up," He told me, walking over. For a brief second I thought he was going to hit me with the bat, but instead he handed me a water bottle, which I took. "You doing alright?"

I opened the water bottle, drinking from it before nodding. I put the cap back on and said, "yeah I'm doing alright..." I shook my head, trying to clear my head and figure out what the hell just happened. My thoughts turned to last night, when the storm came... D and I running back to the house... mom and dad... "Where's my mom and dad?" I asked, getting up slowly as D shook his head.

"I don't know, I haven't been outside since everything started going to shit." He explained, making me groan and walk towards the door, but he grabbed my arm. "Wait a second."

"Let me go D, I have to g-" I was shut up when he thrust a backpack into my arms and another bat. "What th-"

He shouldered his own bat, saying, "if we're going outside we'll need these bats. I saw some people losing their shit outside and the cops are mobilizing everything they got, if we're going to find your parents we have to do it fast." D said, moving towards the door and opening it, making a bunch of sand fall into the doorway. "Let's roll out kid."

I put the backpack on and held the bat close. "Thanks man... and I'm sorry about your nose."

He laughed and waved a hand. "You barely did any damage with those chicken arms of yours," He smirked, making me raise my bat. "Let's go!"

I only ran outside after him, and into the cold night air. I just now noticed D had a flashlight on him and was shining it down the road. Sirens filled the air around me, along with officers yelling orders to others. The town of Riverton had a really big police force, with most of them being former marines and navy, numbering in the hundreds, last time I looked online it was close to three hundred police officers, SWAT and so on. And every one of them was out in the town now trying to keep everything from spiraling out of control no doubt.

Just what happened? I could only shake my head as both D and I ran to the right, where my parents were blown away. We passed by the neighbor's house, the one containing the WBC family and whoever they got following them... along with my brother, the house was in good shape but I was still worried about him. My friend D was on the opposite side of my house, living with his older brother Vincent and his girlfriend Jessica. Up ahead was a whole line of houses on either side, my family and I living in the suburban area of Riverton, which was located near a river, one that went behind my house.

Further up ahead, one would have seen the road end and loop around a large tree with a long metal railing at the end to prevent people from going off road, beyond that you could see a nice field and a city in the distance... but instead I saw dead trees, hills, and a long snaking dirt path leading through a small desert filled with even more dead trees, along with a small mountain wall in the distance Making my eyes widen, D was the same way, both of us running to the edge of the road and seeing the path going on and on through the desert. The desert road was made of rocks and cobblestone, something I didn't expect to see.

I looked to D, my friend doing the same. "What the hell?" I asked, what was this? We didn't live near any mountains, or deserts!

He could only shake his head slowly as several more people came out, eyeing us before seeing the road and the forest before murmuring to each other in worried and confused tones. Suddenly he looked out behind me, pointing with his bat with his mouth agape. "Is that a fucking mountain?"

I turned around, everyone of our neighbors - including the ones I disliked the most - and my brother turned to where he was pointing, and I did in fact see a big damn mountain in the distance, one with smaller hills and mountains surrounding it and extending to the north for a good long while. A mountain wall cutting off everything south... "D... where are we?" I asked, turning around as everyone around us started getting nervous, each one murmuring to themselves or their family and friends about what was going on.

D only shook his head before he yelled, "look!"

I whipped my head around, just in time to see a bright green flare soar from a small area near the plateau of the mountain. This was followed by two more flares fired a few seconds afterwards, all three lighting up the night sky and broadcasting to everyone nearby there was someone alive up there. I ran towards the backyard of the house on the end of the road, and closer to the desert. The backyard went on for a few yards before ending in sand and rocks and a few trees that were still green. I moved past the houses, running as D and a few others were following me as I looked out into the desert, trying to get a better look.

I didn't see much, or hear anything... except a very loud truck engine... truck engine? Turning around and looking towards the forest, I saw several dead trees get plowed out of the way by a truck, I think it was a truck anyway. The thing was huge! It looked like something out of a sci fi movie, the trailer was long and wide and the truck itself was big, the cab looking more like a tank than anything else, three turbochargers stuck out of the hood as it blasted its way through the trees and towards the mountains, the engines roaring like a bunch of monster trucks going full blast.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled as it left the tree line and sped across the desert towards the mountain, a few bikers and a modified muscle car following it closely. I watched them as they drove away, a part of me wondering what the hell was going on, and if we were even in America, or even our world for that matter.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Camp Echo, Unknown
Perspective: Sergeant Nicholas

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"Sir!" Someone yelled, getting the attention of his superior. The man turned around to the private as I eyed him as well, wondering what was going on. "Up near the mountain!"

"Mountain?" I asked, a tone of disbelief lacing my words, looking to where the young man was pointing before I did see mountains, and three green flares flying up into the sky. "Is that one of ours?" I wondered, we used flares to contact choppers and help sometimes, but I don't think it was this color. Ours were bright red, these were green.. maybe it was someone else in trouble?

The Master Sergeant looked out to where the flares were with a pair of binoculars, a frown on his face before he clicked his headset radio. "Ma'am, we got possible friendlies in the mountains about sixty clicks from our position, do we check it out?" He asked, a garbled reply was his answer before he looked towards a pair of pilots. "You two, get up into the air and scout out that position!" He ordered, turning towards me. "Nicholas!" he yelled,

"Yes sir!" I saluted, wondering why he used my name for once.

"You've been promoted to Gunnery Sergeant," he told me, much to my shock. I was promoted?! Why was that, I didn't do anything to earn it... did I? "The general wants you and your fireteam to go check out a disturbance near the southern side of the city, so get moving!"

I nodded. "Sir yes sir!" I picked up my rifle from where I had sat it down and jogged away, once I was far enough I let out an explosive sigh I didn't know I was holding. Gunnery Sergeant just like that? General promoted me, why did she do that? I didn't exactly do anything during the fight no one else was already doing. Why the promotion? I shook my head, no point in questioning it now, I'll just accept it and move on until i learn more.

Jogging towards my squad's usual hangout I thought about those flares as the helicopters behind me lifted off into the air, leaving the base and heading towards the mountain plateau to investigate said flares. I wondered who would be up there and why, could it be another branch of the military that went up there? Better yet, why was there a fucking mountain? There were no mountains near Ashall'a, or hills, trees or any of that. Just desert, and yet, I saw some trees out in the desert, dead ones along with that mountain wall in the south heading in both western and eastern directions.

It was strange.

I could think more about it later, right now I had to get my team and check out the southern area of the city. Up ahead I saw my team had already gathered, getting the same idea as me to meet here. I also saw Kevin standing with them, talking to the team's driver who was sitting in our humvee. They all saw me coming, and I yelled. "We got a mission."

"What would that be Sarge?" Danny, our driver asked in his Brooklyn tone, chewing his bubblegum. I don't think he could get anymore WW2 on me then he does now, with the net around his helmet and a pack of cigarettes tucked in behind them, and a playing card on the other side with his sleeves rolled up.

"That would be Gunnery Sergeant now, I just got promoted." I told him, bopping him on the nose and turning to the rest of my team. I saw Private First Class Samantha Harding with her rifle, ready to go. Our team's medic, a short man with glasses and more courage then you could believe. Corporal Howard Glasgow, hailing from New York like Danny. And our team's gunner, a British man who used an L85A2 as his main firearm, he was a Sergeant like I was before I was promoted, and his name was Cheron O'Shannon.

Cheron looked at me like I had grown a second head. "You were promoted?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was weird. I was just cleaning up and the Master sergeant called the general, and she just promoted me. But that's not important now," I pointed out to the south. "We got a mission directly from the general, we got to go check out the southern sections of the city for a disturbance."

"Disturbance? That's vague." Danny chuckled, ducking his head back in before I could bop him again, with another chuckle he started up the humvee as we all hopped inside. Samantha took a seat in the back with Howard sitting on her other side, Kevin was in the very back with his camera bag, hoisted over his back as he kept an eye out. I was in the front seat, my rifle between my legs and my eyes on the front. Cheron was perched by his gun, beret tilted slightly to the side as he watched the horizon. Out Humvee was pretty standard one, but it lacked the top over the bed giving Kevin a good view of everything behind him and to the side.

He pulled out one of his cameras as we started driving across the base's roadways, headed into the city. This would be a dangerous route to take no telling if ISIS or any other kind of groups may be hiding, waiting for us to drive by then blast us with an RPG or an Anti-Tank mine. I could only hope we didn't run into any trouble, hopefully some of Kevin's luck will pass on to us, lord knows we might need it.

Once we passed by several of the guards at the entrance to the base, we entered the city. And it was a mess, the buildings were covered in sand and the people were outside trying to clear out the front of their homes and businesses. Shovels were passed around along with hoes, trowels and whatever else could be used to move the sand. A few of the smaller and weaker houses had collapsed and people were digging them out, pulling out people who had been buried. I wonder how many had been killed because of this storm?

I didn't know the death count, but I know we had lost a lot of people back at base. I had lost a lot of friends to combat with ISIS and other terrorist cells, and even dehydration... losing some people to a damned storm, that was no way to go.

"Something on your mind Sarge?" Danny asked, chewing his gum as he maneuvered past several cars and people clearing out the streets. He turned to me, his expression one of curiosity.

I sighed, leaning back. "Just wondering how many people we lost in that damned fight, and the storm." I answered, looking out into the streets. I saw several people give us stares as we passed by, I could only guess what was going through their minds right now.

Stupid americans...

Why don't you help us?

Infidels.

I shook my head, sure there were some like that throughout the city, a bunch of people who despised the base and everyone in it. We have had our base attacked by tons of people, protesters, hate rallies, terrorists, even a few skirmishes with the resident army base on the other side of the city near the palace. The palace, I shuddered. That was where the mayor of this city lived, a man named Abbas. He was, in short, a very harsh and dangerous man. I had only met him once when me and my team were going to the palace to protect him from some rebel group that wanted to overthrow him and establish their own rule.

I can understand why they wanted to do such a thing, he was an absolute dickhead. He kept several women in his palace, all of them his wives and had his own personal guard that patrolled throughout his home. His palace was huge and overlooked the city, and he would overlook it, lording over it as if he were a king., hoarding all of the money and the good things for himself and whoever he likes. I can't believe a man like him would be leading a city, and yet here he was. The man also had his hand in everything, the few small gangs within the city, every business and even the military. He paid the military outright cash to do his bidding, maybe messing up a few stores so they'll pay for more protection, or even have them guard his buildings.

Now, maybe you're wondering how I knew this, I had seen it... I would have reported it, I even had proof I could have used to get him out of office and get someone else trustworthy in... but you remember General Fen right? Well, she saw the video I had recorded of a brawl between Ashall'a's military forces and a few drunk teens and their friends. They were shot on sight, left to rot in a back alley. I had taken it to Fen in hopes she would have us to something... she destroyed the tape, saying it wasn't our duty to interfere with Iraqi military operations. I called bullshit on that, and I ended up getting demoted and thrown into an MP jail for that little bit.

Damn bitch was a harsh general, and I think demoting me was uncalled for. But that was in the past, and this is now... now hopefully we can actually do some good. Form what I understand, there were no mountains near Ashall'a, just flat desert terrain, and now I'm seeing trees, mountains, rocks and hills... these didn't belong here.

"Uhh..." Danny's voice had a stunned tone to it as we slowed down. "Sarge... you might want to see this."

Were we there already? I wondered, looking forward and... I just stopped, my breath was gone, my eyes wide and my shoulders slacked. I saw houses... not the sandstone houses of Ashall'a, or even huts or any of that... I saw actual houses, the kind you'd see in a small midwestern town in America. I saw lush green grassy lawns with sand piles covering them, houses with broken windows and very perplexed people wandering around, with even more in their houses looking outside at us with shocked looks. I saw even more of them in a crowd in the street, looking towards us and the city behind us with shocked and confused faces. "What the fuck?" Was the only thing I could say on the matter.

"Uhh Sarge..." Danny piped up again, stopping the humvee. "Um... are... what?" He didn't even know what to say... neither did I for that matter.

Cheron ducked down into the humvee as Samantha and Howard got out, Kevin hopping out as well to document I bet. "I think we should ask them what is going on, they might know something." Cheron suggested, hopping up and climbing down.

I could only nod as I grabbed my rifle and exited the humvee, opeing the door and stepping out into the suburban town... god that felt weird to think. How did I end up driving through hostile territory and end up driving into a town that belongs in the US? I watched as the group of people in front of us scatter slowly,being both afraid and probably scared and confused. I saw kids and elders, teens and adults watching us. I stepped up to the front keeping my rifle down before turning my attention forward. "My name is Gunnery Sergeant Nicholas Kennedy," I introduced myself, eyeing the people before me as my team gathered behind me. "I'm the leader of FIreteam Seven, stationed at Camp Echo." That got a few murmurs from a few teenagers and adults. "Can anyone tell me exactly what this place is?"

Out of the crowd a teenager walked forward, followed by another who had a bloody nose. Both held bats and had backpacks on, looters? The teen spoke. "You're in Riverton, Sergeant Nicholas." He said. The teen was close to my height almost, a foot shorter and had shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. The teen behind him was taller with cropped black hair and blue eyes. "Umm... forgive me for asking, but..."

"Go on." I urged him.

"Did you guys end up in a sandstorm?" He asked, making my eyebrow raise up...

I narrowed my eyes slightly, biting my lip. "Yeah... we were..." I jerked my head towards the group. "Did you all happen to experience a rather strong sandstorm?"

To my surprise I got several nods and murmurs of agreement from the group, one man stood forward though and asked. "Do you know what' going on?" He asked, holding his arm which looked injured. Several other people voiced their own opinions on the matter, soon everyone started asking us questions.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"What's happening!?"

"What was with that sandstorm?"

"Can you help us?!"

I couldn't answer all of these questions, I didn't even know if we could help ourselves!

"Alright people!" Someone yelled, followed by several sirens. Looking beyond the crowd I saw several police interceptors drive up alongside a few SWAT vehicles. They parked behind the crowd, blaring their sirens a few times and flashing their lights to get them moving. "Get a move on! This is official police business!"

Several in the crowd grumbled but departed, clearing the streets and returning to their homes or yards. The two teens gave a look at each other and bolted down the street, running like their life depended on it. The police cars stopped near us with the SWAT vehicle screeching to a halt, and before I knew it the back was thrown open and SWAT officers in full gear stormed out with officers taking up positions behind their cars, guns raised and pointed at us.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I yelled, holding up my own gun and aiming at the first man I saw. "Hold your fire!"

"Put down your weapons!" One officer yelled, people around us started running now, barging into either their own homes or their neighbors to hide. "Put down your fucking weapons!"

Samantha shouted back. "We're United States Marine Corps!" She aimed her own rifle, finger off of the trigger.

"I said put down your goddamn weapons, or we will open fire!"

Casting a glance back at the humvee, I saw Cheron had hopped back onto the gun, aiming it at the officers. "I wouldn't suggest that officer!" He yelled back to them, arming the M2.

Goddamn it you could taste the tension in the air.

"Damn it, everyone hold your goddamned fire!" I screamed, holding my gun tightly. Beads of sweat ran down my head as I watched each of the officers and SWAT glare at us, most of them looked beaten and battered, what had they been dealing with since the storm? "We're not putting down our weapons, we're not here to cause any trouble, we just want answers!"

"So do we pal! Get in fucking line!" One cop yelled at me, his gun hand shaking.

I growled under my breath and looked around. If we didn't do something about this situation, there'll be bloodshed, and I don't need any innocent blood on my hands.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Outskirts of Trotland, Equestria
Perspective: Daring A.K. Yearling Do

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"Madam? Excuse me, madam?" I heard a rather cultured voice asked me, nudging my side. "Miss Do, can you please wake up?"

I snorted, not budging an inch. I heard a sigh along with the sounds of retreat hoofsteps, I grinned inwardly, my plan working... or so I thought until a bright light pierced my eyelids like a thousand burning swords. I groaned and threw my pillow over my head, whimpering like a pitiful child.

"Miss Do, while it is rather amusing to watch your writhe in pain from the sunlight like a vampony, I must remind you that today you must get ready for little adventure west into The Borderlands." He told me, making me snort in amusement.

I grunted, asking, "The Borderlands?" My muffled voice questioned sarcastically. "The Borderlands are closed up by that damned sandstorm," I reminded him. Nopony could get in, and even if they did they couldn't survive inside.

Another sigh. "That may have proven true a few days ago, but now it is clear of the storms." He said, his voice as smooth as silk.

I sluggishly dragged my pillow off of me, turning back to look at my butler, he was a black coated red eyed unicorn stallion named Sebastian. He kept his smile on his face as I slowly sat up, creepy bastard. "The storms are gone?" I asked, a hint of curiosity creeping into my voice. He nodded to my question and I sat there, eventually turning to look at the wall. Its pastel blue colors reminding me of the seas of Prance and its people. Could they really be... I hopped out of bed, shaking off my covers as I trotted over to my window, it already being opened by Sebastian.

I took flight, flapping my wings and going outside. I flew up towards a tower that sat on my family's estate, the large marble tower holding a rather powerful telescope my late father used to catalog the stars. I flew in towards the open window and onto my father's telescope perch, there I sat down and looked into the scope, seeing the sky... and the sun.

"Bucking hell!" I cursed, closing my eyes and turning the scope.

"Perhaps it would be wise to look towards the Borderlands, Miss Do." Sebastian chirped from the doorway.

I turned towards him, scowling slightly. "I know that."

"Of course, forgive me for speaking like that."

I rolled my eyes, as if he would actually mean that. I turned the scope to face the fabled Borderlands, a place I had learned was full of more mystery then your resident temple or burial ground. I had heard from my grandfather that he, along with several others had actually managed to go into the damnable place once, and they actually retrieved several artifacts, most of which are sitting in my family's vault inside of the house... ehhh, okay, maybe house ain't the right word.

My name is Daring Do, and I am an adventurer and author of the Daring Do book series in which I tell my stories of my adventures all across Equus. They had all grown stale over time, it was always a temple and I always ran into one of my enemies during my adventures. Like Hoofblade, the Prench assassin, or Iron Horn the Minotaur... or even Ahuizotl and Dr. Caballeron.

I needed something new and fresh for my next book, I already had a name. Daring Do and the Mystery of The Borderlands. I had joked about it with Sebastian and told him, if the storms ever left, be sure to wake me up and prepare my gear for me so I can get going. I never thought it would actually happen, and yet.

My eyes searched the wastelands from high above, and I saw it, the sandwall that I had always stared at were actually gone... and in place of it I saw, a canyon? That was odd, but the land beyond it hadn't be cataloged yet so it makes sense there may be some weird things in it. I saw a mountain wall extend to either direction, as if nature herself blocked it off with a wall and a canyon with a who knows how deep drop into the unknown. A cloud cover extended for a few miles in all directions, expanding over towards the city of Trotland. The bustling metropolis having been built rather close to the Borderlands like Ponyville, Canterlot and several other cites and towns were. I don't know why that was though, planning failure is what it feels like to me.

A smile broke out onto my face, this was going to be one hell of an adventure.

Getting up I flew out of the window and back home, if Sebastian did as I asked, then my equipment should be all ready. I flew back into my room and over to the door. I was about to open it before it was opened already, by Sebastian. "What the buck Sebastian? How do you do that?!"

"... magic."

"... it's always magic with you."

"Indeed, I am a unicorn after all." He smiled.

I groaned and moved past him, heading down the halls of my family's estate. This place was large, having been built a hundred years ago by my grandfather's father and mother, the estate had at least fifty rooms, five kitchens, two dining halls that could seat fifty, an Olympic sized swimming pool, a sauna, garage... basically a lot of really expensive shit that millions of bits have been plunged into. I inherited it from my father after he passed away some time ago, and I had been living here ever since. It was a big place, and the only other residents were Sebastian, my butler and caretaker. Two sisters who were obsessed with explosives and technology called the Blast Sisters, and the groundskeeper, a stallion named Wingsly.

I didn't particularly like living in this place all by myself with only a few ponies around, but eh, what can I do? Not much, I don't really need anypony else around, Sebastian helps out a lot by keeping the place clean, Wingly keeps the grounds looking perfect and maintains the gardens and whatnot, and the sisters... well... they do some fun stuff with me sometimes.

Making my way down the hall, I turned down another hall which lead to my special room in the house, it was centered in the middle near the back. I used it as my main hub for all of my adventuring throughout the world, it was where I had all my equipment and such. Whenever I went out on my expeditions, both of the sisters would operate the systems I had set up, most of it being equipment my grandfather and father had found and got up and running. Most of it was video and communications equipment that I used to record everything for future reference.

So far, it a worked out well, and if I was right, this expedition into the Borderlands was going to be one heck of a good one. I sped up, excitement filling my body as I galloping across the hall, speeding past paintings and statues of ponies and creatures from all over the world My father collected. I had seen all of these a hundred times before, most were from Prance, Neighpon or even Germaneigh.

"Hey DD!" A mare cried, plowing into me once I reached a intersection. I fell to te floor as I was nuzzled by the mare, who was no doubt... BP, or Bast Powder. "Whatcha doing?"

I laid on the floor as I looked into the mare's orange eyes, her own staring back at me with childish glee. "I'm gearing up, in case Sebastian didn't tell you, The Borderlands are open up and I'm heading out." I told her, pushing her off and standing up. As I did I gave her a once over.

Blast Powder was a well built mare at the age of twenty four, the older sister of Fuse and one who was good at making explosives and other ordinance. She had a messy black mane with an orange trim to it, bright orange eyes and a smile. Don't let her looks confuse you however, she's more then capable of killing somepony should she have to. Her body, the front anyway had scars on it, her mouth had two that always gave me a chill, two on either side of her mouth that curved upwards giving her a permanent smile, several scars on her fetlock and on her chest. From what I learned from her sister, BP had a rough life before coming here to work with me.

"Really?" BP asked me, tilting her head as her bangs fell in front of her eyes. She made no move to fix it. "Awesome! Let's get going downstairs then!" SHe said, charging her horn.

Uh oh.

Before I could even think of stopping her, we teleported and I found myself downstairs... upside down, on the ceiling... oh fuck. "SHIT!" I yelled, falling down before I quickly righted myself mid air, flaring out my wings and flapping to correct myself. "Damn it, Pow!" I yelled at her, who was giggling to herself as she pulled herself out of a trash can.

"Hehehehe, whoops!" She cried, shaking her mane loose of the trashy bits hanging in her mane. "My bad!"

"BP, what did you do to Daring now?" Fuse asked from where she was sitting at a desk in front of one of our computers.

"I kinda almost maybe sorta possibly came close to killing her." BP chirped, cantering over to her sister as I landed with a huff. I'll never understand BP.

With a sigh I trotted over to the table sitting in the middle of the room, and on it I saw all of my gear was sitting on it as requested. "Nice~" I hummed as I looked over everything. Most of my gear was scavenged or bought from around the world, found in shops, stores, caravans, where ever. My backpack was one of those items, a black pack with a harness that could go around my barrel and fit snugly without getting caught on anything. A coil of climbing rope and a hook, should I find myself flightless once again - which happens a lot more than you think - an ear piece/video camera so I can stay in communications with Fuse during my adventures and something she can use to record everything. Several random items that'll be useful, a flash crystal - for lighting up dark areas - medical kits, flares, scarf and goggles, some tracker chips for Fuse, a rolled up sleeping bag, my wingblades... and finally, the heart of my equipment, sitting side by side next to a pair of holsters were my HK USP Match Pistols, a gift from my father before he passed.

Given that Equestria has outlawed guns for use by civilians, there weren't many suppliers of guns and other firearms. So the only way you could get them was on the black market, or other sources. Dad said he got these from The Borderlands when he actually went inside, they had been heavily modified to fire from special hoof gauntlets. They were made for something else, I can tell just from looking at them everyday.

Time to gear up. I grabbed my back, shoving all of my other items into it before strapping the pack on. I clipped holders shut around my barrel before grabbing my guns, holstering them inside of my jacket to keep them hidden. I then grabbed my hat which was sitting nearby and placed it on top of my mane, and then my earpiece/camera, shoving it into my ear before testing it. "Fuse, can you hear me?" I asked, whispering into the mike as I put on my wingblades, shifting the metal pieces to fit onto my feathers and protect them and not get in the way.

Fuse nodded. "Yeah I read you loud and clear, but I can still hear you whispering ya know." She giggled, her chortles echoing from where she was sitting.

I sighed, trotting over to the mare as she turned to face me. Blast Fuse was the more level headed sister, and an impossibly gorgeous pegasus. She had a spiky-esque black mane with bright yellow stripes in it that reminded me a bit of DJ-PON3, except it was longer and she had braids hanging off the opposite side of her head. Golden eyes searched my own as she smiled, crossing her arms over her light grey fur.

A dull clanking noise alerted me to BP who waddled over, her prosthetic leg hitting the floor with a metallic thud each step. I forgot to mention that, she had lost her leg somehow, and still won't tell me how. Guess it has something to do with how she got the other scars.

"So when are you heading out boss?" Fuse asked, holding up a pack of smokes to her sister who took one eagerly before lighting both her and her sister's up with a spell.

"Right now actually, once I'm across the threshold, I want you to record everything that goes on, video, audio, whatever and back it up on the hard drives we got." I told her, getting a nod from both sisters. "BP, I want you to have the G-Launcher ready at all times, there's no telling what I'll be seeing in that place and I may need some additional equipment."

"Already loaded boss lady." BP said, trotting over to a computer and tapping it. "Got one of the pods loaded with your favorite toy." She winked, and it wasn't a friendly one, but more of a flirtatious one.

Eh, I would, maybe... no shame.

With a nod I started towards the door leading to the backyard, my gear shifting with each step ever so slightly. I was doing it, I was finally going into the Borderlands, a land of untold mystery and adventure, a place that I would soon map out and explore, and extort as much as I can. Who knows what treasures lie within, a treasure hunter like me, always gets her prize. Yeah, I know, from the books I'm a noble adventurer who fins great artifacts that could potentially destroy the world and I give them to Celestia. That's all just a bunch of shit for the fans, those are actually very valuable treasures that are worth a very pretty bit in the right hooves.

"Madam," I Heard from beside me, spotting Sebastian standing outside by a statue, a slight frown on his face as I approached him.

I smiled at him, tilting my trademark hat. "Come to say goodbye?"

Suddenly I found myself enveloped in a hug from the stallion, this was surprising. He held me tight, and to be honest, I was at a loss as to how to respond to this. "Saying goodbye would entail you never coming back," He pulled back, looking me in the eyes with genuine concern in his eyes. "But you're going to come back," He said, fixing my hat and dusting off my jacket. "You always do."

I tilted my head at him. "Why are you so worried?" I questioned him softly, I was curious.

A sigh was my answer, followed by, "Despite what you may think about me, Miss Do, I care about you, I always have ever since I saw you cradled in your mother's arms thirty years ago." He looked away, ran a hoof through his hair, now that I looked I could see a few strands of grey in it. "Every other place you've gone to, I wasn't worried... but now that you're heading in there... into The Borderlands... I'm worried you'll end up like your father and never come back." He told me, his eyes finding mine once more. "I just want you to be careful in there."

Sighing softly,, I couldn't stop the smile from reaching my face. This was a first for me, I don't think he's ever been worried for me the entire time I've been rooting through tombs and getting chased by cults. But now, he was afraid... afraid of losing me. I trotted closer to him and drew him into a hug, saying, "Don't worry Sebastian, you're not going to lose me." I told him, planting a small kiss on his cheek before winking and taking flight, flying high above before zipping past the trees and over the mansion towards the Borderlands.

I flew fast, while I wasn't as fast as that mare, Rainbow Dash, I could still fly pretty damn fast. I flew past the city of Trotland, past its sprawling mega buildings, warehouses, factories and stadium as I closed in on the border of Equestria, and to the Borderlands. As I neared it, I could see mostly desert landscape, but that wasn't the big kicker, the big kicker was below, separating the land was a massive chasm that reminded me of the Great Divide in the Marejave desert. It was huge, and extremely deep with the very bottom just barely visible. I could make out some faint wreckage at the bottom, and figured it was as good as any place to start.

"Daring to Fuse, do you read me?" I checked my radio as I soared down into the canyon, the whistling sounds from down below were loud, and looking closer I could see wind was blowing rather harshly to from the north, creating a sort of funnel and blowing sand southward. This canyon was huge! Maybe even wider then the Great Divide, and more rocky. The rocks jutted from and I saw some metal and wiring hanging off of some, rusted and corroded with age.

"This is Fuse, nice to see you made it, how's The Borderlands so far?"

I shrugged mid-air, I didn't exactly have an opinion on it yet, I didn't truly enter it yet. Wait, does the canyon count? "I'm in the canyon, there's a massive canyon cutting the Borderlands off from the mainland and-" I looked to the left, then to the right, it went on for quite some time, "-it goes on for miles in both north and southern directions, I have a sneaking suspicion this canyon wraps around the Borderlands creating a sort of barrier to prevent anypony from getting in."

"That would explain why some ponies never came back, they fell to their death." Fuse agreed, then added, "But how did your dad get across?"

"He was a pegasus remember?" I chuckled, finally coming closer to the ground, jeez how far have I flown down? It feels like forever. I landed on the ground at last, sinking a bit into the sand before steadying myself. "I hit the ground, havin a look around."

"I'm recording." Fuse chimed in as I looked around.

I could see sand pile in a directions, along with some half buried carriages sitting near the Equestrian side of the cliff. Bodies of long dead ponies sat inside with a few lying outside, wearing tattered remains, their flesh rotted from time and eaten away by the sand making them look like dried out husks. It was nothing new, I had seen many dried out and dead bodies during my travels, both old and new. They had been here for a long time I could tell, their fleshy husks already peeling away from the strong winds, which reminded me to put on my scarf and goggles. Once I did I kept looking around, trudging through the sand.

Moving forward, heading south I had seen a lot of carriages from the Equestrian side, most of them having crashed down here from up above and their occupants crushed within. It was a terrible way to die, but hopefully quick and one I wouldn't experience anytime soon. Bags, chests and other items were strewn about, fallen from the carriages as they fell from above. I saw clothing, old looking armored suits, swords and some bits from an older era. I pulled out one of the tracker chips, a small round device that was indestructible, which BP proved it by sticking a pound of explosives on it and detonating it, in a toilet for some reason... that was fun to clean up. I stuck it on one of the chests, which beeped once it was active.

The reason for these chips was for Fuse, so she could catalogue the locations of useful potentially valuable items and send in a special drone to pick it up. I had a lot of technology used for extracting treasures, but sometimes I liked to do it the old fashioned way. But now, I was going to use every asset I had to explore this land. The light on the chip beeped once, twice, then started flashing every three seconds as it transmitted back to Fuse.

"Signal's coming in nice and clear boss," Fuse reported back to me, some faint typing coud be heard along with a huff. "Found something did ya?"

"Yep, some junk, but some of it might be useful," I told her as I sifted through some of it, I found some old bits, a dagger and some other crap. "Some old Equestrian bits, those might be valuable, a dagger, a bit rusty but, it can be cleaned. Some clothes, bleagh." I tossed them aside, trotting through the sand and continuing south. More carriages, goddess they were everywhere, just how many people thought they could enter this place?

"Hey boss," I heard BP chime through the radio. "Up ahead, you see what I see?"

I squinted my eyes, looking out ahead. I saw some sand, sand and more sand. "I don't see anything BP, you're going to have to be specific!" I told her, moving through the storm.

"On your right, in the wall!"

A groan escaped me as I turned to my right, and I could see something now. It was faint, but I could see it. Taking flight, I flew over to it, while the sandstorm was strong, I could still fly well. I could see something big, the sandstorm down in the canyon made it hard to see, but I coud see it was half buried in the sand and leaning precariously to the left, half of the rock wall had fallen onto the top of it keeping it from falling. Form the way it was shaped, it reminded me of a ship, colored white with a red line going across it, I saw hundreds of windows lining its starboard side with lots of boats tied up high above, big life boats with faded orange tarps tied down onto them. I saw even more windows high above, along with sand falling down.

My eyes widened as I saw it was a massive ship, much bigger than any pony made ship, or even griffon, minotaur, this was no ship from any country I had been to. It was made of pure steel and metal, and groaned as the sandstorm hit it, loose flags and tarps fapping in the wind. Oh my goddess. I stared at it for the longest, time, on the bow I saw the name of the ship.

CARNIVAL FREEDOM

"Is that a ship?" Fuse questioned breathlessly, I was likewise speechless. How could something like this be down here?! It was huge! Big enough to hold thousands of ponies!

"I... I don't know Fuse," I told her, backing away from the massive ship and landing down below. I probably should have watched where I was going, because I ended up hitting something and tripping back. "Whoa!" Something behind me broke and I heard metal screech and something split open before I fell into something, hitting a soft sort of surface before rolling down a bit and hitting my head. "Ow damn it!" I yelled, my voice echoing in the darkened... whatever it was!

"Daring, you alright?"

"No!" I yelled back, rubbing my head. "I fucking fell into a damn hole!" I told her, reaching into my pac and rooting around for my flash crystal. I eventually found it and hit it against the ground a few times, striking it up and making it turn on. Once the light blue hue of my crystal shone brightly and helped me see, I saw... a whole lot of bones... and they weren't pony. "What the heck?" I wondered, scrambling backwards before I hit something that felt like a door. I shone the crystal brighter, looking around the inside of whatever it was I was in.

I saw hundreds of large seats all lined in a row on the far left, far right and one right down the middle. In every seat I saw bones strapped in, dried husks of some kind of creature that reminded me a bit of gorillas. They were all wearing clothing that was tattered and torn, suitcases and other bags were lying around, and above me I saw some small compartments had been opened up, showing more bags. Below me was sand, lots of sand, and a carpet, I could also see a few large carts had been topped over, broken glass from small bottles and glasses were lying on the floor around them, along with more bodies dressed in an official looking uniforms.

Behind me I saw more of the same, seats with hundreds of these bodies seated, all of them looking like they died months, maybe years ago. I had just fallen into a tomb, and I had no idea what these things were. "Fuse... do you see this?"

"Oh my," I heard her breath, in a way that suggested she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "This is... very interesting... you're in there for barely an hour and you already found so much weird shit." I couldn't help but laugh at that, but then I reminded myself I was in a tomb and decided to get out, heading for the hole where I came in at. "You going to mark it?" She asked me.

"Nope, I don't think there's anything interesting down there, but if you want me to." I grabbed another chip, turnign it on before smacking it against one of the seats, it beeped and started transmitting as I flew out and into the storm. "I'm heading south again for a couple of miles before I head up to level ground."

"Alright, good luck Daring."

"Thanks." I smiled, flying down the canyon, passing by more wreckage and sand dunes. This adventure was already looking exciting to me, I had found so much stuff and I wasn't even in The Borderlands yet. Maybe, just maybe... I'd find my father's final resting place. He had died in this place, and I wanted to find him, so I could give him a decent burial even though the sand might have done that for me already. I sighed.

Little did I know, this was only the beginning of the weirdness...

Author's Note

*Sees Downvotes are greater than the upvotes*

Heheheh, anywho.

I think I enjoy writing out Karen's perspective a hell of a lot more then anyone else's, I think its because I wrote her and Jared's group with the post-apocalypse in mind, hence the varied vehicle usage and such, hehehe. I love me some post-apocalyptic stuff, so expect a lot of that in upcoming chapters.

As for some of the other things, I wonder if I messed up a few of the military things, guns and such. Not sure if I got em right, I have no excuse, I'm just a lazy fuck. And everything concerning General Fen, yes, she's that much of a bitch.

Annnd onto the officers, yes they have every right to act like that. Shit got nasty real quick when they teleported, wouldn't you flip your shit if you found your nice little suburban town in the middle of a desert? Who knows who'll fire the first shot. And concerning Cheron... just accept it.

Finally, onto Daring, yes I wen kinda Tomb Raider on her, I couldn't help myself. I had to, and yes there will be a lot of character perspectives in this. Any characters you're curious about seeing? Throw down a few names, who knows, maybe they'll pop up. I fucking love how I wrote out Derpy last chapter 8D

Also, the thing Daring Do was in, was this thing.

Isn't that nice? Lotta people died in the sands, no way to escape, one can only wonder what's on the ship :rainbowlaugh:

I also apologize for any spelling mistakes and double K's L's or J's. Those buttons are being absolute dicks to me right now.

Enjoy the darkness, solve the chapter title for it holds a hint to next time, and I hope you'll leave a comment filled with jam and jay and joo and jew and boo and everything else that rhymes with it 8D

BYE SUCKAS!

3: Rough Times Ahead

"I came here to kick gum and chew ass, and I'm all outta gum!"

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Samurai Plateau, Unknown
Perspective: Karen Richards

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

"Karen!" I heard Seth call over to me after I finished up with Jared, looking back at the man I saw him looking a tad worried. "We might have trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" I asked him, listening to the sounds of approaching bike engines from the entrance to the plateau. An hour had passed since the flares were shot up into the skies, and several of my own team, along with Jared's had arrived. Mostly bikers and a few runners whose vehicles had been ditched or destroyed somehow. Jared was sitting nearby on the steps of the temple, everyone else was looking around the place, conversing with one another. Even though we were two separate groups, everyone tried to be peaceful.

Seth came over to me and pointed out into the skies, the winds were blowing up into the plateau and I could hear them whistling amidst the rocks. However, I also heard something else... thudding in the air. Helicopter? I made my way over to the edge, being mindful not to step to close and fall off. I could see two small black objects on the horizon near a larger speck, I could just barely hear the sounds of the wing blades cutting though the air.

"What's going on?" One of Jared's guys asked, looking out into the skies.

"Choppers are inbound," Lucy told the man, staring out into the skies. "Military, Blackhawk choppers, marines from the looks of it."

"Marines?" Another man asked, followed by several other people who walked up to look.

"Are they here to help us?"

"Why're they here?"

"Maybe they know something about what happened!"

"Or they're the ones who caused this shit!"

Sighing I turned around and yelled, "Everyone calm down!" Half did, the other half just murmured quietly. "We'll see what happens when they get here, for now... we wait."

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: City of Ashall'a, Unknown
Perspective: Shiek

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I had retreated into the city's alleyways, my allies were hidden amidst the population, in hideaways and the sewers below. I didn't know why, until I saw it myself, the city's own military forces, specifically the Baghdad military forces that were stationed here. They patrolled in their trucks and humvees, no doubt heading towards the US base, Camp Echo. People who were still in the streets ran into their homes, hiding from sight. I had hidden myself, crouched behind a dumpster in an alleyway as the trucks disappeared down the road.

I had to get back to the base.

Turning away from the street I ran through the alleyways, dodging people and animals as I ran towards the south east. My leaders needed to know of this, at once! We were somewhere else, everything was different in the skies. I knew the skies well, and the stars... they were different.

The alleyways were clear, only piled with sand and trash like always. Up ahead I saw people coming out of their homes, looking around in fright. They had felt the storm full force, and while I wished I could have helped, I had to check on my little brother.

He better be okay.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Ponyville Burial Tunnels, Equestria
Perspective: Derpy Hooves

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

After making my way down the incline, I had decided to check on the ponies. So far, they seemed to be doing rather well, considering the living conditions. "~Master Hooves,~" I passed by one of the small shacks, and I saw an older pony sitting on a mat looking at me with a smile. "~It is good to see you well.~"

I returned the smile, "~Likewise, my friend, how are you doing this day?~"

He chuckled, saying, "~It is day?~" At my nod, he continued. "~It is getting harder and harder to keep track of the days I am afraid, living underground does that to you.~"

A sad sigh escaped me, for so long have these ponies wished to return above ground, to live in peace and in the daylight... I promised myself, I would give them the day... someday, they will see the light again. "~One day, we shall live above ground... I promise,~" I looked out into the shanty city built beneath the town of Ponyville. "~We will...~"

"~I knew your father,~" The stallion told me through squinted eyes, "~He was a good stallion, trustworthy, faithful to the clan... you remind me so much of him.~" He smiled once more, bringing a bit of warmth to my heart. "~I have no doubt you'll do good by us, Master Hooves.~"

I gave him a thankful nod, moving away from the shack and down the walkway. The flowing water snaked in through waterfalls that were dug from the surrounding lakes above ground, and thanks to our unicorns, they managed to put some wards in place that kept the water from flooding the shanty city. Various small rivers covered the floor with small planks placed over them so you wouldn't step in the water, some parts of the cavern had been dug up and turned into lakes, and had several more wards put into place so the water didn't become to tainted.

I dare say, without the unicorns, we probably wouldn't have survived long down here.

A few foals passed by me and my guards with a laugh, I gave them a small smile as they went about their little game of chase. I've learned over the years, that foals are our future, and it is through them that my clan have survived. They were everywhere, young and full of life, being taught the ways of the Red Hoof Clan, training to eventually serve the master of the clan, which is me... and eventually... Dinky will take over, once I die, or retire...

Dying seems more likely...

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Riverton, Unknown
Perspective: Kyle Keller

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

Me and my friend ran back to our house as the yells started, Swat and Police forces came dashing down the road once those military guys showed up. And I couldn't help but grow more suspicious as time passed us by, mostly because they were from Echo... I knew that camp all too well, it was a massive military base stationed somewhere in the middle east, and was sanctioned to be shut down... but now they're here? This didn't make any sense, how were they here?

This only further cemented a theory I had formulating in my head.

D was in the living room, bat held in his hand a he tried to screw with the tv to no avail. Nothing was picking up, we were getting no signal, another bit of information adding onto my theory...

Me, I was in my room, staring at my radio as the yells outside escalated. I wondered if L... I shook my head before sitting down and picking up the radio. After taking a moment to switch it on, I heard the tell tell crackle of the airwaves. I sighed to myself before pushing down the button, and asking, "L... you there?" I had no high hopes of hearing her voice, cause my theory was a strange one. It wasn't that late, and the fact that there were soldiers from Echo in my town only further made me think of only one possible conclusion...

We were not on our world anymore, there was just no way. The sky looked so different, the moon was seriously bright, and there were more stars then I thought there were before. As well as a bunch of constallations I've never seen, bunch of them I couldn't even name! I know it sounds crazy, but that's the only thing I can come up with.

Suddenly, my thoughts were cut off when I heard my radio crackle, someone was responding.

"K-Kyle?" I heard over the airwaves...

It was L.

She can still contact me... but how!

"L? Is that you?" I asked, I had to make sure, if it was... then how in the hell is she able to contact me?

"Y-yeah, its me, Kyle... what's going on? You never call me this early." She noted, and as I looked towards my window, I could make out the sun rising... in a really odd way that made me think I was in a cartoon.

Whoops, forgot we kept a schedule. Clicking the talk button, I replied. "Listen, L... something really... weird happened last night."

"What happened? Are you alright!" She asked me, worry lacing her every word.

"I... I'm fine... its just..." I responded, unsure of how to even explain what had just happened. "Its... a long story..."

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Intersection Near The Borderlands, Equestria
Perspective: Warrior Assassin Black Lotus

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

I stood on the branches of an oak tree, my blackened robes keeping me hidden even in the bright light of Princess Luna's moon, as did the leaves and foliage growing along the desolate road leading to the damned Borderlands... a place cursed by dark magicks. My keen eyes kept watch on the road, as my brothers and sisters all remained hidden, silent as ghosts, predators stalking their pray. I saw my master, Veteran Assassin Iron Sword down below, behind a bush with his blade drawn, the silver blade sharpened with deadly precision.

My blade was sheathed by my side, along with my short sword and several daggers. We were strong warriors of the night, and day, trained to be the perfect killers and protect our realm from evil. And so far, we have done well in regards to that. But as of now, since our banishment from our homeland, and its destruction, we have become small and weak, but now we have begun to grow strong once more. And it is all thanks to Grand Master Assassin Cherry Blossom.

She has sent us on this rightious crusade to feed our people, and we were more than happy to do so.

The night wore on for some time, the bugs becoming a quick nusiance to the more... novice trained assassins of our order. But eventually, our patience bore fruit, as I picked up the the sounds of a carriage headed this way, several actually along with the sounds of armor clanking together. Royal Guards and their clanky armor, I'll never understand.

Up ahead I saw them approach, the first of three carriages transporting both goods and supplies to an outpost nearby. We were sent here to take it from them, and give it to our people, the ones so quickly thrown to the gutter for who they were. It made my blood boil just thinking about it, my family and my friends alike, thrown aside like common garbage, street trash. And our people were still thrown around Equestria, living the lives of beggers!

I slowly began to draw one of my throwing knives, intent on drawing blood first, when I felt a presence next to me. Turning my head ever so slightly, I saw another Warrior Assassin by my side, a luner pegasus like myself. "Stay your blade... for now." She warned me quietly, wearing robes colored a dark midnight blue color, and baring the symbol of our clan on the shoulders of her robe. "Wait, until we can block their exits, then strike."

I gave a thankful nod to the mare, it was foolish of me to think about attacking right now. They were still arriving, and if I had blown our ambush, they could have easily galopped through our defense, leaving us in the dust. It was best to wait until we could get them clustered, blocking both of their ways out before striking and taking what we wanted from them.

We waited... and waited...

The convoy of carriages and wagons all drove down the path, the guards stood on either side, all armed with spears and crossbows, with swords dangling from their armor's sides, short silver blades with golden ornate hlts and guards. Their armor and weapons seemed more for show then actual combat, which made me wonder why Celestia even bothered giving them this so called armor to wear on a mission such as this in the first place.

My eyes narrowed, taking in the locations of the guards as they slowly came to a stop, why were they stopping? I saw my master give the signal, throwing his hoof down and giving us the order to attack. For one brief moment I hesitated, as my brothers and sisters all darted out of the bushes and tree tops, attacking the convoy head on with swords drawn and daggers thrown.

And in that moment of hesitation... I realized it saved my life...

As the convoy, suddenly exploded outward, taking out several assassins and royal guards in one explosion. I fell from the tree suddenly, hitting a few branches below as I saw the fallen royal guards stand up, and return pour ambush, with one of their own. After my fall, I saw with horror, there were more then just twenty guards, there were dozens more spilling out of the carriages! All wearing strange armor and wielding weapns far beyond anything I have ever seen them wield before.

They attacked without hesitation, slashing and spearing my comrades, with almost sickening smiles on their faces, battle cries filled the air, along with the screams and yells of those being killed or injured. I shot up, grabbing my sword and jumping into the fray. I jumped onto one of the bigger guards, quickly slashing at his armor and finding it too tough for my katana. I bucked off of him, as he slashed his greatsword at me, barely nicking my tail during my backflip before I landed on the ground, standing and observing my opponent.

He was a big unicorn, wearing armor that looked like it was more than for show, it was bulky looking, with thick armor plates around the chest, barrel, legs and neck with a helmet with two small glowing eye slits, and a hole for his horn to poke out through. He carried a large greatsword, that to my shock was enchanted with something to cover it in sparks.

"Come on little assassin filly~" He cooed, waving his sword my direction. "Come on so I can kill you and rape your fucking corpse!" He yelled before lunging at me.

Oh, he's one of those guards, Luna damn it! The stallion charged at me, and I had to jump into the air and fly before he tried to pin me down. He missed, and charged after someone else instead, the mare who had stopped me earlier was lying prone on the ground, eyes wide and terrified from the arrow in her barrel. Circling around, I anaylized his armor for any weak points, I had to find some way to down him before he did more damage.

I reached into my robes, pulling out a small round ball before flying down towards him, he didn't see me coming as I threw the ball, it impacting with his armor before exploding in a ball of flames. "Ahhh! You bitch!" He bellowed as I landed next to my fallen sister, quickly hefting her up before throwing three knives towards him, the two missing as the third hit one of his leg armor joints and got jammed into it. "CUUUUUUUUUNT!" The stallion realized he couldn't move as fast, so he chucked hsi sword at me, barely missing both of us as I flapped my wings and took flight, throw two more explosive balls down onto the unicorn before flying towards then woods.

I flew over the battlefield, as my brothers and sisters were slaughtered one by one, what had happened? Did they know somehow we were coming! I shook my head, they couldn't have known...

Unless... somepony betrayed our order...

I landed in the trees as I thought that, setting down my injured comrade. DId somepony betray us? If so, who would do such a thing? To go against our order... to violate the trust Gand Master Hooves gave to us...

It was unthinkable...

But...

A groan broke me out of my thoughts as I turned to my comrade, I knelt by her side, checking her wound. She had taken an arrow to the barrel, just below her wing joint. "This will hurt."

"Just... pull it out, i can handle it." She ordered me, I nodded, clenching the arrow's shaft in my teeth before pulling it out, yanking it out of her robes as she cried out amidst the clashing of swords and daggers. "AHHH!"

I tossed it away, quickly throwing a medicinal herb patch onto it before grabbing my blade once more and turning around, spotting the large guard ripping off his leg armor. Effectively seeing himself free to continue his battle, he bellowed as he yanked a hammer out of the wagon, swinging it around and knocking several of my assassin comrades away, into the trees and rocks, their cries and snaps of bone were all I heard before they fell still.

I cursed, before several flaming arrows struck the ground near me. "Ahh!" I cried, standing back, as more flew into the woods.

"Kill them all! For the Glory of Princess Celestia!" One of the guards cried, the others cheering their own cries for the sun matron before beginning to kill the wounded assassins. I tried to find a way past the flames, but they grew too hot, magically enhanced to grow stronger and bur quicker. My way to the others... was cut off.

"Come!" My friend told me, grabbing my hoof to stay my blade. "We must flee, there is nothing we can do for them now!"

"This is cruel! leaving them to suh a fate!" I retorted, wanting nothing more then to spill the blood of those damned guards!

But my friend... made a good point. "And who would tell our Grand Master of what has happened!" She questioned me, turning me around to face her fearful blue eyes. "We must flee, so we can tell Grand Master Hooves of what has transpired, of what has happened, if not, then our deaths will be meaningless!"

I returned her stare for some time... before looking back...

I'm so sorry... my friends...

The two of us left the fight... disappearing into the night, as the last of our comrades... were slain...

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: House of Sorrow, Manehattan, Equestria
Perspective: Octavia Melody

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

After leaving the mansion, we had taken a carriage ride across the city, until we finally reached the House of Sorrow. The building was like most of the houses going under, delapidated. Broken windows, battered front doors, and no one to greet us, and the street was filthy. Most of the ponies trotting through the streets stayed away from the building, they had good right to, the place looked abandoned.

But the music... I could hear it, coming from within.

My brother sat up, opening the door and helping me out, the steel case on his withers. We both stepped out, and onto the cold pavement outside the building. A sigh escaped me, it has been quite some time since we've had to do something along these lines. We were no strangers to it, but...

Father needed it done... and we shall do it.

"Nervous, sister?" Silver asked me, turning to face me with a look of curosity.

I took a moment before shaking my head. "No." Was all i said as I took the case from him, moving towards the front door and giving it a curtousy knock. My brother stood by my side, donning a cloak of sorts, however... I knew why he wore such garb.

After waiting a few seconds, the door creaked open, revealing the face of a teenage colt no more then thirteen at most. "H-hello madam, how may I be of service to you?" He asked, adding, "I am sorry if its in regards to meeting with Mister Sorrow, as he is currently busy as of this moment."

I looked into the colt's eyes before replying, "I am Miss Melody, of House Melody, I am here seeking an audience with Mister Sorrow, I do apologize however, as we cannot leave until we have seen him."

The beige colt bit his lip, looking back before nodding his head, letting us in past his gaunt form. Whoever hired this poor little colt needs to be reprimanded, the poor thing hasn't looked like he's been fed in ages. As we made out way inside, I took notice of the decor, which I must say is rather atrocious, horried torn paintings faded from age, the walls and floor were in poor shape, the carpet in one of the rooms was covered in mold of all things, and I do believe I heard some ponies copulating in the next room.

Silver comfirmed my theory, saying, "Seems somepony's having the time of their life." With a quick look into said room, he pulled back, disgust written all over his features. "Having sex in the middle of the room, with little regards for other ponies' walking in... what has happened to this place?"

I shook my head, neither knowing, nor caring. I had little information about House Sorrow, only that Father intended to clean it up, and replace it with ponies more capable of running it. It needed more then cleaning, it needed to be burned down.

A sigh escaped me, as we went further into the establishment to seek out Mister Sorrow. From what I can remember of the stallion, he was well connected in the underground of Manehattan, having several contacts within certain groups, mostly prostitution and drug rings, last I heard anyway.

Perhaps Vinyl knows of him?

Anyway, the stallion was by no means, a perfect pony, certainly not one to be given another chance... hence, why we were sent here.

To clean up the mess... as it were...

Once we arrived at the staircase, we proceeded up to the office I believed to be on the second floor. So far, most of the Sorrows were guant looking ponies, looking as if they hadn't eaten in quite some time, mares with too much makeup on lingered by doors or in rooms, a few stallions made their way into those rooms, doing Celestia knows what. Music however, came from one such room, and it drew my attention away from our current objective.

Upon reaching one of the more... untainted rooms, I pushed on the already open door to peek inside, and there I saw him. A young colt standing near some old books, a few tattered musical pages sitting in front of him on a small stand as he delicately plays a prinstine looking Cello held in his hooves. He was a bright orange color, with a dark red mane wearing sunglasses over his eyes. He played a somber tune, one that spoke of great pain.

Before I could even speak, Silver stopped me. "Foung somepony that caught your fancy?" He asked me, teasingly.

I sighed heavily before shoving him back, headed towards the office with a scowl. "Let us finish this business, I grow tired."

The stallion behind me chuckled, before following me closely. As soon as we reached the office, I was appalled by the shape it was in, and hesitantly, pushed on it to make it open. It gave way with a loud squeaking noise, and we were shown the room in which the Sorrow House was run.

I was... disgusted, I would say. The office was in shambles, covered in stacks of moldy papers, boxes leaning against one of the windows and poorly maintained furniture. Two burly looking earth pony guards stood inside, wearing tattered clothing and smoking heavily, as their boss, whom I believed was Mister Sorrow himself, the pony was a unicorn, and a rather well dressed one at that. He sat behind his desk, which was mostly obscoured by junk and cigar butts. He donned a clean looking suit, with a dead lily flower pinned to the lapel, and in his lap was a rather young looking filly, wearing makeup and smelling of some expensive perfume of whih I knew not the name of.

The stallion's beady brown eye turned towards me, the other one a milky white coloration with a scar present over it. His mane was greased back, a disgusting sheen to it that I did not want to find out what was on it. He smiled a toothy smile, blackened and yellow teeth were shone and i had to hold back my lunch from spewing forth from my muzzle.

"Ahh, Miss Melody!" He greeted me, the filly turning towards me before looking away just as quick. I saw she had a blackened eye, and several bruises on her body, and now I fully understood why father sent us.

Scum...

"So good ta see yew luv," He greeted me, and I could tell where his eyes were going, what he truly wanted to say and do. He glanced over at my brother, offering him a nod, "Good ta see yew boy, what 'ave yew been up ta?"

"Running my business in Manehattan, and working for dad, of course." Silver replied, looking just as disgusted as I felt. This entire building was a mess, filled with filth, disgust and waste. And it was clear they did not offer music as their business, but rather prostitution, drugs and pornography.

"Heheehee, still workin' fer that old codger?" He grinned again, his hoof running along the filly's flank, above her cutie mark. She couldn't have been more then eight, nine at the most. "Yew and yer sis should work fer me~ Put those sweet flanks ta work, huehuehue." He laughed, his eyes moving to both Silver and my flanks, I could see he wanted nothing more then to rut probably the both of us. From what father told us, he was a disgusting stallion, with his hoof in just about every prostitution ring in Manehattan.

It was time we ended this.

He was making me sick to my stomach.

"Mister Sorrow," I began, as the cello shaped case rattled on my withers. "Do you know why we're here?"

"Ehh, no, I don't." He told us, looking confused.

As he should be.

"Father is..." I started, pacing around the room as Silver took my case, leaning it on a chair facing up. "DIsappointing in how this... establishment, has gone down the drain... as it were." I cleared my throat, pausing by a bookshelf and seeing most of the prized and classical works by musical geniuses were replaced with erotic works of fiction. "He has sent us to..."

I turned to face him, as beads of sweat trailed down his forehead.

I believe he knew why we were here now.

"Clean up." Silver finished for me, a soft smile on his face.

Mister Sorrow suddenly frowned, pushing the filly off of him and she began to limp away, her hind leg dragging behind her. I spared her a single look as Sorrow yelled, "What right 'ave yew ta come into my house and tell meh its gone down teh drain eh?" He bellowed as he got closer to us, the smell of many different kinds of alcohol filling my nostrials. "I'm makin' money yew worthless harlot!" He then made to grab me.

Bad mistake on his part.

I coountered his grab, gripping his head and throwing him past me into the bookshelf near me, he crashed into it with a yelp as his guards looked ready to piss themselves. Sorrow stood up, blood on his forehead from a cut as he charged me again, I once again countered hiim by throwing him behind me and into Silver, who caught him before pushing him against the wall.

"Game's over Sorrow, your house is to be purged..." He grinned, as I opened my cello case, revealing what was inside.

A small battle saddle, fitted for myself, with two firearms hooked onto it with drum magazines. Both were polished, and the clips quickly put on as I put the battle saddle onto my back before facing Sorrow's guards. "I do apologize, its not personal." With a click of the trigger...

The purge began.

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]
Location: Riverside, Unknown
Perspective: Gunnery Sergeant Nicholas

[0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0]

We had managed to stop screaming at one another, thankfully, but weapons were still drawn and pointed at one another. The officers had taken cover behind their cars, while we were on the other side of our humvee, Danny had called for backup, which we had gotten in the form of a Stryker, and two more humvees, the police did not know what to do except hold their position. The people were still in their houses, with a few brave, or perhaps stupid souls hanging out on their front lawns. Some people from the city had followed us, also doing the same, taking cover and watching, while others even had cameras and were recording what was going on.

I don't know how long we were going to be at a stand still, but I knew this was going to get us nowhere. If we were going to be in unkonwn territory for this long, then we needed to be making friends, not enemmies. I sighed to myself, steeling myself for what I was about to do. While I was no negotiator by any means, I could at least try.

Worse comes to worse, we have a small war on our hands.

I suddenly put my gun aside before standing up, holding out my hands as I walked out. "Don't shoot! I'm coming over!"

"Nicolas!" Samantha hissed, as Kevin pulled out another camera and began to record video.

You asshat.

I ignored Smantha as I carefully walked out into the open, all guns aimed at both sides, and I was walking right into the crossfire. Looking at most of these officers, I dcould tell they were tired, no doubt having been here since the storm started. An entire city, two thrown together, no doubt there were looters having the time of their lives in the city further east, I could hear the sirens and gunshots.

One officer walked out suddenly, brandishing armor and wielding a Colt Police Carbine. He looked like I felt, he didn't want this happening either... maybe I could find common ground with him. "Just... stop, right there, if that's alright." HE told me, holding out his hand as I obeyed.

"Gunnery Sergeant Nicolas, Camp Echo, Fireteam Seven." I introduced myself, hands still held up halfway.

"Lieutenant Randy Miles." The officer introduced himself, giving me a nod. "Riverside Police Department... why come over?"

I sighed through my nose, for starters... "We shouldn't be fighting right now," I told him, putting my hands down slowly. Gulping, and adding, "We have no idea what just happened, same as you lot... fighting isn't going to solve anything."

Randy nodded slowly, carbine held towards the ground. He looked like he was thinking. "I know it ain't, but it ain't my call, I'm afraid, its up to the chief."

Another sigh escaped me, a quiet one. Hopefully if we ever met this chief, we could talk some sense into him, and hopefully put a stop to this little fight we had going on before it got any more intense, the last thing we need is innocent blood spilled because we were spooked. We needed to team up, gather information from everyone and figure out what was going on. If we didn't, we'd all be in bad shape.

"What if you got both your leaders to talk this out?" I suddenly heard, and looking over to my right I saw the civilian from earlier looking at us both, holding his bat in his hands. "You get your chief," He then looked to me, "And you get your general to talk things out, come to a peace agreement, the people here don't need any fighting going on, they're spooked enough as it is."

The kid had a point. "True," Randy muttered. "You're Hunter, right?" He asked the man, who nodded. "Ah, same eyes, I suppose."

"I think we can do that, I can call my general on the radio, you call your chief... and let's stop this before it escalates." I said, hoping we could stop this. For now it was just a stand off, but there wasn't much to stop this from turning into a bloodbath. I wanted answers, and damn it I was going to get them.

Randy took a few moments to think about it, while Hunter stood off to the side, looking tired just like everyone else. Finally, Randy spoke. "Alright, for now we part ways, but hopefully," He smiled suddenly, saying, "We can all share a beer after this, god knows I need one."

I nodded, my own smile on my face. "Same... same..."

And so we parted ways, with Hunter retreating into the house he came from. Hopefully I would be drinking a cold one after this, or five. The entire base was on edge, the officers as well, maybe even those who were up in the mountains nearby, hell...

There may have been more who were pulled into this situation just like we were...

Only time would tell.

Author's Note

All I can say... is I am sorry for not updating as fast as you'd like.

And to please not rush me with new chapters, I cannot write as fast as most might think.
:ajbemused:
Enjoy~
:pinkiehappy:

Also tried to use Google Translate for the assassin ranks above, I got some shit in return that did not spound right... eh.

DON'T RUSH ME FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!
I WILL FONG YOU!

Good day my lovelies~
:heart: