"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

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!