The Black Nightmare

Some days after the meeting, Alexander discovered why the Princess had reacted such in a strange way when he had said the word ''LRPF'':

she had already met his superior, and after all it was a good justification. Or at least, it was for him.

When the LRPF was created, five years before, the Oil Crisis had just ended and the casualties were massive: what happened in that month is still classified, but the entire world realized that the enemy had been always in front of them, and they had not seen it coming. In the end they won, but not without sacrificing enormous economic resources. And a million of people.

Something like that must not happen again, and to be sure, was created a task force.

A new task force.

Something that would be indipendent from any national authorities and with the ability to be deployed everywhere at anytime. The Oil Crisis had showed the weaknesses of every army, in particular of US Army and Russsian Army. The United Nation's Security Council approved the project and activated the ''Lone Guardian'' protocol: the LRPF (Long Range Peacekeeper Force) was officialy born.

LRPF is different from any kind of army: first of all, it doesn't have any official equipment for his soldiers. Each nation can decide to finace the task force with money, weapons, aircrafts and even recruits. Men and women who decide to join come from every nation of the entire world. Same thing about the equipment. So it is not hard to see a korean officer using a F14 Tomcat.

They use to wear uniforms of their original country, and the only way to recognize them is their symbol: the gold astrolab.

This indicates their ability to fight anywhere.

The second point is their location: they don't have a main headquarters. Each country who sit in the UN bulding have at least one LRPF's regiment on his soil and a variable number of military bases.

To avoid any dispute, it was determined that the command of a detachment would be entrusted to an officer born in the land where it was located. So the French contigent is under the command of Colonel Andrè Le Serre and the British contingent of Colonel Jonathan Woods.

The objective of this task force is simple: keep the peace. Hard purpose, expecially if you put on the comand of each regiment a band of inept and obtuse bureaucrats with no experience on the battlefield. As William White.

Despite he was his superior, Alexander though he represented perfectly everything that was wrong in the LRPF: ambitious, selfish, lazy and distracted. Those were the words which came out from the Alexander's mouth to describe him. At least, when he wasn't angry.

The young Lieutenant Colonel was the first choice among the candidates for the role of commander of the new detachment in the Kingdom of Equestria. This would have meant for him a promotion to Colonel.

Unfortunately Colonel White was chosen for ''other''reasons (he was famous for having many contacts among the upper echelons), and Alexander had to settle for the role of second in command.

Luckily the work was not too bad: Colonel White was never in his place of work and preferred to attend private clubs in Europe, do military advice, intervene as expert in the lessons at military accademies and take part in galas.

That meant he was the real commander of the regiment. It was not important if he was officially the commander in chief or not.

For his soldiers he was.

He was the hero of ECA (European Continental Alliance).

The youngest Lieutenant Colonel in their military history.

They called him ''The Lion of Bruxelles'', despite he was born in England, after an operation during the Oil Crisis, which is still classified.

General Wolfgang admitted that, among their ''instruments'' to protect the Europe, he was probably the most effective, and even General Willem of the Royal Netherlands Army describe him as an officer who can unite the usual defensive operations, in which he had distinguished himself for his tenacity, with devastating offensive deep into enemy lines.

But he was not a ''lone wolf'': as an expert officer, Alexander know perfectly that a man's strength come not only from his own abilities, but also from who stand and fight with him.

Many were ready to fight for him, but few were ready to fight with him.

Jackal was one of them.

He has not always been as he is now. First he was Bill Knight, an expert Tenent of the US Army from Boston. Jackal was only a codename which was used during any covert operation. He didn't even have in mind the LRPF. Instead, he was planning to marry a woman who had met during one of his holiday back to Boston.

He met Alexander when his division were sent to Hong Kong, to help the British troops against the Chinese invaders.

Jackal, or ''Bill'', immediatly started to respect the young Tenent who, as he liked to say, had more brains in his finger than his superiors could have in their head.

But then, the Oil Crisis came.

While he was near San Francisco, during a recon operation, his squad were ambushed by a suicide track loaded with explosives.

In just one second he lost his soldiers, his friends, and almost his life.

When he woke up two months later in a hospital near Chicago, he was told by doctors that his body was still healthy, but hugely disfigured by burns. It was impossible to groped any skin graft, as the affected area was the entire body.

Alexander came often to visit him and, apart him, Jackal didn't see anyone else for months. Meanwhile, his marriage was been canceled and his ''wife'' never went for a visit.

Alexander was a wise guy, but he didn't understand one simple thing: Bill was dead.

He had been invested in full by an explosion that had not just reduced his comrades in flaming pieces of meat and almost killed him. It had also destroyed his sensitivity and any form of respect for human life.

The one who was lying in the hospital bed was no more his friend from Boston, but he was just someone who wanted to have revenge. Against who was not important. His only purpose was to kill.

This was his mission and his reason for living.

At the end the opportunity of returning to action came during a raining Saturday afternoon: Jackal was in the hospital gym, as every day, to retrieve physical fitness. Alexander was with him, and every time he made a break he liked to talk with him.

He was telling him that he had accepted the role of deputy commander of a new LRPF unit, but could not find a lieutenant to be integrated in the department.

This news was what he had been waiting for and he immediatly proposed himself as a candidate for the role.

Maybe Alexander should have realized what had happened to his friend, but he was too excited that he had finally recovered from what doctors saw as simple post traumatic depression.

Anyway, Jackal (he prefered to be called with this name) proved to be an excellent fighter and a smart tactician: he was famous for his brutal frontal attacks and indiscriminate use of terror. He soon realized that his aspect, despite he was covered by bandages, was enough to petrify with fear anyone he had met him on the field. During the LRPF's mission in Lybia, some commanders of rebel divisions had prohibited to pronounce his name, believing he was a demonic creature.

Jackal was never worried about his reputation, and indeed he sometimes seemed pleased.

Alexander had a good right-hand man but ,to achieve victory, the brute force is not enough. He needed someone who could be his ''eyes'' and ''ears'' on the battlefield. More simply, he needed a intelligence officer.

And his name was Takei Soryuta.

Actually, Alexander did not know much about him: he was a Tenent of Japanese secret service, a good military historian and a catholic.

Following some reports, he was smart, accurate, polite and incredibly calm. He was still quite strict with subordinates.

In the 1984, the Soviet Army launched a full scale invasion of Japan, in response to the rearmament of the country under America aegis, thinking to win quickly with a surprise attack. After one month the situation became critical: the entire Southern Japan was under russian controll, numerous japanese formations were completely wiped out and only few southern units continued to fight.

The Soviet superiority was a clear fact from the beginning: the JSDF (Japan Self Defence Force) didn't have any chance in a direct clash. They based their tactic on a advanced fleet and on the use of high-precision optics on their tanks; unfortunately they lacked of heavy armours for vehicles. Soviet's war doctrine was completely different: their strenght came from numbers, heavy tanks, artilleries and elitè infantry, as VDV (russian elitè paratroopers).

When the attack started, the 89th Guards VDV Division arrived as first on Japan's soil, and when the Japanese Navy realized what was happening, at least three thousands VDV's paratroopers had already landed with equipment and BMP-2's.

When the ECA decided to intevene, after the defeat of US Task Force Enterprise, Alexander were put on command of five brigades, with the objective of open a second front in the south and draw upon himself all Soviet units in the area. Obviously, he had an other plan.

He knew that Colonel Borodine, a Soviet commander, had his headquarters near Osaka: his capture or killing would have thrown Soviet troops into total confusion and given some time for his allies for a counter-offensive.

But before launching the offensive, the Tenent needed information about the position of the Soviet divisions in the country. The MI6 put him in contact with his japanese colleague, who immediatly agreed with the plan.

Alexander didn't know how he was able to collect so many information, but he did it: eight hour before the operation, the Tenent had a clear vision of the battlefield, with the position of each Soviet unit and the names of their commanders. Its seemed most of the enemy divisions were focused on the border in the north, trying to push foward through the japanese defences.

Alexander's forces were outnumbered by the enemy, so the young officer decided to strike harder from two direction: the 4th ANZAC Infantry Brigade and the 11th Royal Marines Brigade had to retake the airports of Nagasaki and Kanoya to cut of the enemy supply lines.

In the meantime he led personally a surprise attack to Osaka with the 3rd Commando Brigade and the 10th Mechanized Brigade.

The attack was a full success and in just two hours all the target was reached: Colonel Borodine was captured and an entire enemy division was been annihilated. Then the Japanese Army launched a counter offensive, with the RAF's air cover.

The Soviet forces were crushed and the entire 89th VDV division was surrounded.

In any case, the battle continues for a week, until the Soviet Communist government proposed a peace treaty. In practice was an unconditional surrender.

The treaty was signed, ironically, in Porth Arthur, where Japan had triumphed almost a century earlier.

The defeat accelerated the breakup of the Soviet Union, but also caused constant changes of power in the Kremlin leadership for the next years.

After medals and congratulations, Takei was honorably discharged.

For him it was fine; he had always nurtured a great interest in Italian literature, and was happy to dedicate himself to something quiet, in his house near Tokyo.

But old habits are hard to leave, that's why he did not take too long to decide, when Alexander came to offer him a reintegration into the LRPF.

Those were Alexander's vice commanders. Of course there are many other people we could talk about, but they have had a secondary importance in the course of events, therefore, they will be appointed only if necessary for a more suitable understanding.

In summary, a commander need three elements: good soldiers, good officers and a good place as headquarters.

The Princess had kept her promise, and in just one month, with a combined effort of her architects with humans, the LRPF had his first main base into Equestria's Kingdom: Camp Nova.

It was incredibly big, but after all its obective was to host one thousand soldier, twenty-six tanks, fourthy-five armored vehicles, six self-propelled artillery and sixteen multi-role helicopters. Or a regiment of Light Cavalry.

The camp was located about seven kilometers south of a small town called Ponyville, or at least Alexander though the name was that one.

Among the two place there was a large forest, which was formed by chestnut trees, willows, oaks and other trees. It was very large and thick, and it was no accident that ponies carefully avoided the place. They called it ''Everfree Forest'', and believed it was populated by monstrous creatures. Obviously the Lieutenant Colonel didn't believe these superstitions, but every night he aimed some artillery on the forest's edge, to be sure that whatever was there would not try to leave without being greeted by an avalanche of European iron.

The centre of Camp Nova was one of the most recognizable ECA's structure: the Regional Command.

This towering structure represented perfectly the ECA's defensive dottrine, and it was the centre of any operation.

The building was clearly prefabricated, but its iron wallboards were strengthened by half a meter of concrete reinforced .

There were four floors in total, and the last one was a helipad. Although the building looked like an old courthouse, with also a large outside staircase that allowed access to the first floor, the facility was very massive. It looked like a bunker.

Actually it was a bunker: its function was not only to serve as command centre, but also as last stand for european troops.

Two sturdy bunkers were guarding the entrance stairs, while others were placed in various locations and at different heights of the building.

On a side a garage L-shaped was positioned , reinforced too by steel structures and a heavy gate.

A funny thing is that european soldiers used to write motivational phrases with the paint on the outside of the structure, but, though it was forbidden, Alexander believed that they helped the morale of the troops. Obviously they were cleared in case of any official visits.

In front of the building, on a rod, under the astrolab, waving the European stars.

At a certain distance from the command center, it was placed on each side an underground entrance: these lead to a subterranean level, used for storage of vehicles, workshop and place for rearmament. Inside were placed Leopard 2 tanks, Flackpanzer Gepard vehicles, trucks, some Pandur IFV and even two M110 RA from United Kingdom.

Most of those vehicles was German. After the formation of the Union, in fact, Germany not only provided its Panzergrenadiers to the ECA, but also most of the vehicles, including the infamous Leopard tanks, that were second only to M1 Abrams.

Under this level there were another level, but no one were allowed to enter: what was placed behind three meters of concrete and a huge armored door was something so dreadful that it should not be used except in cases of extreme need. In all the other situations it was to beheld there. To make clear the idea of what was held in the underground bunker, the Lieutenant Colonel had a particularly appropriate phrase engraved on the door: Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

Around the Regional Command were placed the barracks for the troops: these structures had two floors and they housed not only the rooms of the soldiers, but also gymnasiums, nursing homes and an underground level used as an armory. They were made with the same materials used for the Regional Command.

There were lastly present a radar station, a photovoltaic station and an airfield for helicopters.

What was really impressive was not the camp itself, but the defensive system that protected him. When Princess's architects came to show the camp's project to the Colonel, he said that it was very good, but the perimeter was unwatchable: a poor metal fence and some watchtowers. Then he contacted some German and Spanish architects, who quickly sent a new project for the defensive perimeter.

The metal fence were replaced by a strong concrete wall and the watchtowers by Bastions, French concrete bunker in the shape of a truncated pyramid. On the top of these structure were usually put a small rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun.

Inside the base they were also placed SAM sites and heavy artillery emplacements.

But the most effective defense was the hidden one : for the protection of the most important location (the headquarters, the photovoltaic  station and gates) were placed Bulldog turrets, a fully self-automated defensive emplacement developed by Netherlands. Bulldogs used to be underground, but when a command was activated, these turrets emerged to engage any hostiles with dual 20mm gatling guns, for the infantry, and multi-rockets pods, for tanks and helicopters. When turrets ran out of ammunition, or the command was turn off, they returned underground to rearm and repair.

The appearance of the field, however, which looked more like a fortress, contributed to deteriorate relations with ponies and their local armed forces.

Despite Celestia's efforts to make the coexistence between humans and ponies as peaceful as possible, many of her high officials continued to look at them with suspicion and contempt. Every day there was an article in the local papers that railed against the occupation forces, as they liked to describe them.

In five months two tragic accidents occured and helped to increase the tension between the two species:

Alexander used to take out his troops each week for a military simulation. Around the base camp there was nothing for several kilometers, so it was a perfect opportunity to test the artillery.

Unfortunately, one day, someone made a mistake in providing the coordinates to artillery. When a officer realized the error, he stopped the simulation immediately, but not before four self-propelled artillery had already opened fire.

An isolated house near the forest was accidentally struck. Now, who was inside could have survive, being shot inaccurate. But unfortunately, the artilleries had shot four cluster bombs, which opened in the air splitting into ten bombs smaller but equally powerful.

The house had been hit by almost forty bombs.

Alexander sent a medical unit to help the wounded. But there were no wounded. Rather, there was no longer a house. The only thing that made it clear the presence of a earlier structure , were blackened fragments of wood around the craters.

The victims' bodies were later recovered. Or at least what was left of them.

The victims were five. An entire family of ponies caught by surprise around the table for lunch reduced into pieces of charred flesh.

Though the LRPF presented his official apologies, local newspapers exploited the news to increase hatred against humans, describing them as cowardly murderers.

An angry mob showed up next day at the gates of Camp Nova, and only Celestia's intervention avoided to transform the field around the base in a pool of blood.

After these events, General Francis O'Neil, also known as General ''Ironside'', reinforced the garrison with about five hundred US Marines. All this under the auspices of UN and USA.

Both the Princess and Colonel opposed this decision, but they were not heard. Alexander was quite suprised from this decision: he had always respect that old Four-Star General, and the fact that he had ignored him had made very angry and disappointed.

But then he realized that after all he was trying to do his best as a supervisor of the sector of the western Pacific. Unfortunately he was not used to working at a desk, without any direct contact with the field.

He believed that performances of power were still useful, thus the Marines were the best choice.

Unfortunately he had sent the hammer to do the work of the scalpel.

Despite the incident, Princess Celestia still believed that peaceful coexistence between the two species was possible. To reach her objective she had an simple idea but with high potential: she organized a joint military convention with LRPF.

Unexpectedly her generals agreed with idea, simply because they saw it as the perfect opportunity to show that their army, though not modern, it was not to be underestimated.

The simulation took place near Canterlot, and at first it seems to be a success: ponies and humans had forgotten any differences or resentment and began to work together.

For a week the air was dominated by a spirit of brotherhood, alternating lectures, demonstrations of tactics and new weapons of both sides and some sports games.

There was even a football match, even though Alexander had asked the arbitrator to facilitate a little the opposing team, to avoid too unfavorable scores. It ended in a draw, and no one complained about it.

But when Celestia's objective seemed to have been reached, the irreparable happened: during the last day there was a violent quarrel between some Marines and ponies of the Royal Guard. It's hard to say what they were discussing about. The only sure thing is that, when the dispute seemed to be about to calm down, somepony pronounced the word ''Slavers''. And then someone's finger slipped on the trigger.

About what happened next, there are numerous conflicting reports. Let's just say that, at the end of the day, doctors on both sides had much work to do.

But the situation becomes more critical when the others ponies and humans heard the shots: both sides thought of betrayal, and they aimed their weapons on each other.

In the end, the Princess's ''great idea'' turned into another source of conflict.

In any case, Celestia had not given up yet, and she wanted to try again another time. But she gave up when Alexader, bringing back the troops to barracks, made it clear that he had no intention of continuing with such failing attempts , and the coexistence between the two species was impossible.

Actually, he was having at that moment another kind of problems.

It started in a fairly stupid way: Alexander had noticed that since few months his stomach was in turmoil each morning. The morning jog tired him more than usual and sometimes had breathing problems.

He thought he was just tired, or maybe cold.

He remedied by doing some extra exercise and eating more vitamins. To patch up the stomach took some pills, and it seemed to work.

But soon the symptoms became more apparent, and did not escape the attention of his subordinates. He justified himself with a hint of irony, saying that age comes for all.

After all, he could not appear weak in front of his soldiers. It was not acceptable for him. For them he was a hero, a symbol of inspiration, and had to give the impression of being always above the limits of his body. But was that a problem? Would not that weakness mean for them that he was human, and therefore worthy of more respect?

But time passed and the symptoms became more acute; finally he accepted Takei's suggestion and made a visit to Sergeant Roland Doe, the medical officer.

Roland was an experienced military surgeon, able to treat any patient with great skill. He was also very polite and friendly, as well as professional.

After a short diagnosis, he told him that the symptoms were caused by stress and other minor factors, incuded a small intestinal disorder. He also said that often patients were too proud to follow his suggestions, risking their lives. Alexander had often found himself making speeches as this one to his subordinates, so he was in full agreement. The doctor gave him some medicine and sent him back.

A month later, however, symptoms appeared again and forced the young officer to returned to the doctor.

This time Roland performed a more thorough examination, with some blood tests, and asked him to come back in a week for the results.

But when Alexander stepped through the door of his small medical office seven days later, he immediately noticed the expression of concern and nervousness of the doctor. He gave him a chair and began to talk, but his speech was hesitant and fragmented.

He interrupted him, saying that if he had anything to tell to him, he had to put it directly. After all he had chosen a dangerous life, thus he expects some consequences.

Roland nodded for respect and said it.

He shows no surprise or fear. It was just petrified, as if he could feel nothing.

He had always received some bad news in his career, but never something like that.

Alexander asked if there were any chance of a full recovery. Roland said that there were, especially for someone with a lifestyle similar to his, but the biggest challenge would have been to exceed six months.

His mental attitude was as well important: the depression was sometimes much more serious than the disease itself.

He needed also to be as calm as possible, thus a blood pressure too high could cause severe sudden illnesses.

Unluckily, the last request was the hardest one.

After the first meeting at the Royal Castle, Alexander decided to investigate about the warning that Reginald had gave him before entering.

He sent some of his agents to take every information they could about Celestia's sister: but when they returned, they brought to him a legend.

Celestia and her sister, Luna, used to govern together over Equestria, one as princess of the Sun and the other as princess of the Moon.

The situation lasted for a while (almost two thousand years), until something gone wrong, and Luna tried to make a coup d'etat,

unleash a civil war, destroy their old castle and attempt to kill her sister. Oh, and she also turned into a creature called ''Nightmare Moon''.

To ''solve'' the situation, Celestia banished her to the Moon for one thousand of years.

Those were the only information about her. The rest were legends and superstitions even more unrealistic.

Nevertheless this information was enough for him to get an idea: undoubtedly the last part of the myth was impossible to believe. Armstrong had gone to the Moon, and if he had found an evil creature over there, he would immediately said it.

Therefore it was more likely that her coup d'etat failed, and she had been killed in revenge by her sister. But after all, there was nothing strange: in Europe these things were the norm just two hundred years ago.

But was strange why she had invented a myth like that; it would have been enough to say that she had tried to kill her, and the thing would have ended there. Her ponies would accept this version and the nobility would have been happy to return to his domain. The chaos doesn't benefit the aristocracy. Someone had noticed the same thing in France a hundred years before.

Also interesting was the way that everything happened: she used something called ''Elements of Harmony'' to end the war and defeat her sister. Alexander had no idea what these ''Elements'' were. Maybe a weapon, or maybe not. But he knew that whatever they were, he had the objective to inform immediatly his superiors. But not White. No, he was a perfect idiot. He would inform the ECA's High Command.

The answer was fast and they immediatly sent to him a small SAS team. Their task was to gather as much information as possible about these ''Elments of Harmony'' and, if they had discovered that they were a threat to Brussels, to immediately subtract them from the control of any local forces to take to a safe facility in Wales.

But weeks of work were unsuccessful: no one even seemed to have any idea about how they were made or where they were. The only information was contained in the Canterlot's library, and they were not very indicative.

The Two Sisters's old castle was examined dozens of times, first only with men, then with thermal scanners and advanced sonar, looking for any secret chamber that would reveal them what they were looking for.

At the end, Alexander gave to the SAS's commander a small unit with which to continue the research, and he focused on something else.

But fate decided to answer his question. And did it in the most irritating way.

One morning Celestia summoned him to the palace for, as written in the message delivered to him, an urgent and immediate issue.

Obviously he though she had intention to do another initiative to promote peace between the two species. Thus, while going to the Royal Castle, Alexander was thinking an excuse to be presented to justify his refusal. Or maybe she wanted to see him because Jackal had severely insulted one of her captains. Definitely there were a lot of things for which she could have called him.

When he entered the throne room, the environment was exactly as he remembered it, perhaps with multiple drapes. But he realized that about on half of those there wasn't the classic emblem that he was used to seeing. Then he turned in the direction of the throne, and noticed that there was one small detail different from the other times: there were two princesses.

A genius was not necessary to figure out who was the Alicorn sitting near the Princess: the drapes and her cutiemark were very clear.

Instinctively Alexander put one hand inside his jacket, where he held a nine millimeters. It was fortunate that the doctor had told him to manage stress, because otherwise he would have probably downloaded the entire magazine on her.

But something stopped him. Instead of pulling the gun and opening fire, he left it in the holster. Several times he would wonder what had stopped him. She was about ten meters away from him; he could never miss her. Alexander had killed before, so many times that he had lost count. As if it were natural.

Maybe because she was not how he would have expected her: she was much younger sister and not as frightening as legends painted her.

Celestia smiled to his reaction of surprise and she told him about what had happened the previous night.

Celestia was surely glad to be reconciled with her sister, but she did not know that she had just committed the worst kind of error that someone could commit.

Alexander was furious. Not only furious but also irritated, disgusted, betrayed and humiliated. He was so angry that he would gladly shot her in the face, if she was not his superior.

This would have been the perfect opportunity for him and his regiment to redeem themselves in front of the public opinion. Finally they would have start to respect him and newspapers would have ceased to define his men as mercenary killers. But what disgust and irritate him the most was that Celestia had not even informed him of what was happening. She had simply bypassed his authority.

He had been tricked by the only pony he believed to be sincere. Now everypony would understand that they did not need them. That their work could be done by anyone. Especially by a student, a cowgirl, a stylist, an athlete, a sort of environmentalist and a party animal (literally).

Besides the damage came the mockery. The ECA's high command was informed of what had happened, but instead of taking steps against him, opted on another solution. It was clear that these six were the only ones able to use the Elements, so the operation changed target: determined that they were not a threat, Alexander had now to put each one of these ponies under close secret surveillance, to ensure their protection. Also, a simple code name was assigned to them: The Six. Needless to say, none of them knew nothing of this.

The Lieutenant Colonel was forced to obey. But he was still very angry with the Princess, thus, when Discord tried to take out the entire kingdom, he kept his soldiers into barracks. He though would be easy for that creature to eliminate the Six, allowing his troops to intervene. Instead, they won again.

And soon Alexander realized the idiocy that had done: he had placed himself before his troops, reacted impulsively and almost destroyed the kingdom he had the task to protect. He realized that mattered little what others thought of himself or of his men. Instead was important his men thought of him.

But now?

Was it the end?

Did he spend his entire life fighting only to die there?

Were all his sacrifices, sufferings, renunciations of a normal life and a family useless?

No. It can't happen. Not to him.

He had endured too much to die in that way. The idea of defeat, of failure, was not accepted.

The situation was serious but Alexander was confident: he would follow the treatment established by the doctor and would win again. Meanwhile he would redouble his efforts and pursue his mission, as anyone would have expected from him.

Alexander had defeated hundreds of enemies. The fact that now was smaller and inside his body made no difference for him.