Author's Note

As the title suggests, I’m going to be adding some much-needed exposition chapters to help create some context for future events I have planned for the story and create a bit of world-building for Terran as a nation. Now, this does technically count as the Equestrian chapter because of the chapters ending, so the next chapter will take place on Earth. Just letting you all know.

Credit to 2-Dpanda for Veronica’s armor. It was almost exactly what I expected Veronica’s armor to look like minus the helmet.

also sorry it took a bit longer to submit this chapter, I needed more time to finish up the ending.

the obvious exposition chapter

Crete Greece, four years ago.

Before the little incident that landed me in Equestria, I had explored many exotic and fantastic places during my missions on Earth in the three years since Terran’s discovery. From the barren yet awe-inspiring deserts of the Sahara to the Lush and dense forests of the Amazon, I had almost seen everything Earth had to offer. But out of all the places I had been to, none beat the experiences I had on my mission to Greece. I was sent to Greece to stealthfully eliminate an abomination that somewhat resembled the mythological monster known as the Minotaur after it brutally killed a group of oddly old looking kids and their dog. It seemed like a normal mission just like all the others, but when Veronica and I were dropped off near Athens, we were both starstruck at the nation's beauty.

I guess why we both loved Greece so much was because it was so much like what the old pictures of Terran showed the land was like before the nation was engulfed in its many civil wars. By the time both of us were born, the land was practically one large no man's land, with only tiny pockets of what the land once was. That combined with the unrestricted expansions into nearby uninhabited islands for many years meant that by the time laws were placed to restrict expansion and preserve Terran’s multiple ecosystems, the land was almost on the brink of no return. Now while a few of my formative years were in one of the pockets of good land left, it didn’t last long before we were relocated to one of the crowded and polluted cities so the government could use the land to help build up crops, so I didn’t get many chances to create lasting memories of the “old Terran”.

But that’s beside the point, we were here on a mission after all. Now the “Taurian” was actually harder to find then we thought, which was ever so slightly frustrating when you find out the thing is fifteen feet tall, over twenty tons, and is as stealthy as a drunk elephant in Fort Knox. But when we did eventually find it, it was fittingly on the island of Crete, but that’s where the similarities to the mythological monster end. This abomination was officially classified out of the five general types of abominations as an Incuben, which are also known as mind terrors. Incuben got that nickname for having a surprisingly deep understanding of psychological warfare, which allowed them to use the abominations universal trait of body manipulation to turn themselves into one's deepest and darkest fears. Although this Incuben must have been a lesser Incuben as it was preying upon a more surface fear than a deep one, because who the hell wouldn’t run like hell from a giant flesh-eating bull man hybrid?! Yet despite that, this one was one of the few abominations I still have vivid memories fighting to this day, which says a lot when most abominations I fight leave my memory as soon as I kill them. But it wasn’t because the Taurian or the fight was memorable in any way, but because of what Veronica said to me beforehand that would soon be engrained into the back of my mind since then.

I can still remember sitting on the roof of one of the long-abandoned ruins that Crete held on the night we finally found the Taurian. The thing had just killed another group of civilians nearby and by using government-owned tracking technology, we managed to track the beast down to these ruins in Crete. We could have just rushed the Taurian right there and then, but Veronica convinced me that rushing into a fight with a beast like that would be asinine, so we were instead going to wait for it to leave the ruins and ambush it. I looked down the scope of my semi-automatic Terran rifle, impatiently waiting for the abomination to show it’s head. My rifle, like the rest of my weapons, had the insignia of my esper painted across its barrel, even though there was no tactical advantage in doing so. But I suppose as long as it doesn’t affect the Tore battery the gun uses to fire highly concentrated bolts of energy or the noise dampener that makes the gun virtually unhearable in battle, we can put whatever we want on them.

“Have patience Tamer. The last thing we need is you getting antsy before a fight.” Veronica pointed out, her voice filled with so much life and energy. She was crouched behind a marble pillar bellow me, her armor doing little to blend in with the marble, but since she was a Raigor, (Ray-Goar), she didn’t design her armor with the intention of blending in.

Now all Purifiers are classified into one of three “classes” when they gain their espers true power. They can become either a Tecly (Tech-Lee), who are more gadget-heavy but not optimal in full-out combat, a Burcin (Burr-Kin), who are best built for starting and ending fights, or a Terrgor (Tear-Goar), who are meant for longer engagements and heavy hitting attacks. But it should be noted that each class has two “subclasses” that each individual Purifier can choose to cater their fighting style towards. For example, I was classified as a Burcin, but I chose to lean towards its first subclass, the Blikin (Bull-Lie-Kin), which favors precise attacks and quick reflexes over all else. Now since Veronica was a Terrgor, she chose the Raigor subclass, which heavily favored close combat and an overall offensive fighting style.

To ensure each Purifier would have to choose their subclass carefully, the Terran government forced all Purifiers to design their own individual armor and weapons. This was mainly because each class and subclass had a major role in a squad that needed to be filled, so each Purifier would have to be dedicated to their role or else the squad dynamic would crumble. That didn’t bother Veronica one bit though, who designed her armor and weapons with unbelievable proficiency. This probably showed itself the most by looking at her Terran Shotgun, which was built with a first of its kind automatic interchangeable barrel that allowed the gun to switch between having two shotgun barrels or a singular gauss cannon barrel with just the press of a button near the trigger. She had further given it several personal attachments like a larger Tore battery and an attachable mini flamethrower that was meant to disperse hoards or burn down abomination nests with ease. She used that amazing imagination and creativity to help me design my armor and weapons, mainly giving my armor some much-needed changes, making my spear collapsable, and optimizing my rifles Tore battery so I wouldn’t need to let it cool down after every shot. That same brilliant mind also tended to save my behind in more than a few times. She mostly saved me from physical harm but on that one night in Greece, she saved me mentally.

I took a deep breath as I remembered to ask her a question I had been meaning to ask her for a while. “Hey HeartBreaker, before I forget I wanted to ask you something.”

“Shoot. But please not literally, we can’t afford another “Italy” incident.”

“Why are we even doing this?” I asked as I adjusted the zoom on my scope.

“Do what?”

“Well ever since the breach four years ago, our new orders as Purifiers were to stop any abomination threat across the globe right?”

I saw Veronica lean her head around the pillar, looking at the cave that was in front of her where the Taurian had entered, before answering. “Correct. “Stop the threats and protect the rest of Earths inhabitants.”. Where are you going with this?”

“And before then, our previous orders were to just keep the abomination threat down on Terran until those American idiots crashed their hunk of metal into that underwater hive, correct?”

“Right...where are you going with this?”.

“You’re not getting it! Why are we cleaning up THEIR mess? Especially when we have to fight through some of them to kill one basic abomination sometimes?!”.

“Because if we don’t, the abominations would overrun the rest of the planet. We’re the only ones who can put down an abomination for good. ”

I took my eye off the scope as I responded. “That’s a lie and you know it. We’re the only ones who can EASILY put down an abomination, but those firecrackers their military calls “firearms” can kill them too. I mean wasn’t it enough that we were risking our lives for our people, who actually knew we existed? Why must we now have to save the lives of outsiders who either will never know we exist or straight up try to kill us for doing our jobs?! I’m not saying what we’re doing is a bad thing, but why are WE doing it when by all accounts it’s not our job?”.

Veronica stayed quiet for a straight minute before she responded, thankfully with the Taurian never showing up during all of this. “How long have you been thinking about this?”

I took a moment before answering her, careful as I collected my words. “Ever since I got out of the E.R after my “chat” with Frostbite last year. It was usually hidden in the back of my mind during the day, but at night it would show up in the forefronts of my conscious.”

I heard Veronica sigh over the comm before she responded. “I wish you had told me about this sooner Cole. You know you’re supposed to come to me with these issues beforehand. But I suppose better late than never. Do you remember the very first line of the vow we took when we became Purifiers?”

“Of course. “As a Purifier, I vow to use my body as both the sword and shield to defend the innocent against the threats not meant to be.”.”

“Exactly. “Defend the innocent”. When we took that vow, we chose to be the ones to protect the innocent from the abomination menace, not just the people of Terran. The people who made it back then may have been unaware that there were others outside of Terran, but that isn’t an excuse now that WE shouldn’t protect them just because they aren’t Terran themselves.”

“Ninty percent of what gen two Purifiers are left would disagree with you on that.”. Sadly the majority of Terrans became very xenophobic towards any outsiders after their less than stellar first impressions. Most either considered the rest of humanity as inferior to them or as threats that needed to be destroyed. I’m not going to lie and say that I slightly agreed back with the latter sentiment back then since their first interaction with us involved one of them trying to shoot me in the head, but I’ve since then grown out of that mindset.

“Well we’re not them, we know that what we’re doing is right. As long as we keep doing this, these people will be safe from harm.”

“But what about all the times' innocent lives were injured during our fights with cartels and gangs? Aren’t we just putting them in danger when we do that?”.

“I think those people would rather have a couple broken bones than be dead.”.

“Tell that to the guy who was flung through that one building in New Jersey and broke almost every bone in his body.”.

“He got better! Anyways, my point is it shouldn’t matter where we are or who we’re saving, we still have an obligation to do our job.” Just then a loud roar echoed from the cave, catching both of our attention. ”How about we finish our talk once we deal with the Taurian?! Agreed?!”

“Agreed” I responded as I put my eye back in the scope, the end of my gun glowing a faint blue light. As the beast got closer, each loud footstep it made got louder and louder, which makes you wonder how it eluded us for so long. After a couple of seconds, I could see the red outline of the beast at the mouth of the cave thanks to my helmet, giving me an easy target to hit.

“I have visual. Permission to engage?” I asked, fully knowing the answer but I still had to follow protocol.

“Permission granted. Light it up.”.

And with that order, I aimed the scope directly at where its head was, wrapped my finger around the trigger, and pulled.

Sapphire Dazzle was sat next to the unconscious body of Signal Flare, his wounds thankfully hidden from view under the sheet. Ever since her talk with Pinkie Pie yesterday, Sapphire’s mind was almost completely dominated by thoughts of the white stallion, even during important moments like when Twilight found out how to stop Sombra permanently! By that point, she theorized that perhaps if she were to check on Signal Flare, the constant onslaught in her head would stop and she could actually get back to helping her sister save this crystal city that was called an empire for some reason. Her theory proved correct as when she sat down next to his body in the medical room, her mind immediately lost almost all its thoughts about him. It would have been a relief to her, but a new problem rose to replace the last problem, she couldn’t leave the seat. Now her body wasn’t stuck to the seat thankfully, but the moment she tried to get up her mind immediately went back to being ravaged by thoughts of Signal, which meant she was effectively being held hostage by her own brain to stay next to him. It didn’t help that whenever a pony passed her, they would look at her with curious expressions ranging from slightly perplexed to incredibly confused. “What is wrong with me?” She asked herself as she looked over Signal’s body, “Did somepony spike my drink with love poison when I wasn’t looking? Because that’s the only reason I can think of to explain this!”.

Signal’s snow white fur contrasted with the lime green bed sheets, which only further highlighted the dried blood and filth that covered his fur. The medics had to cut off the belt that held his wings against his body while operating, so she was able to see just how large in scale the wings were compared to his body. Even while under the sheets, at least a quarter of his wingspan was showing, leaving her to question what had to happen for his wings to grow so big. But that was a minor thought in her mind as the main question on her mind was why he was the one in the medical bed next to her. He didn’t have to jump in the way of the spikes to save Twilight, it would have been so easy for him to prioritize his own life over hers but he didn’t. Perhaps that was why Sapphire couldn’t stop thinking about him, Twilight would have been a lifeless corpse if he hadn’t taken the blow for her. Sapphire found herself unintentionally placing her hoof by his side, but she didn’t bother to move her hoof away from him.

“Who would be so willing to throw themselves into danger like that for a friend? Only a few ponies would only do something like that for family, so why did he do that for a friend?”. Sapphire knew the sad truth that for a nation that preached friendship and love, only a small percentage of the population actually took that philosophy seriously. Most ponies would throw their “friends” under the carriage if it meant saving their own flanks, so she found it odd that Signal would practically throw his own life away for his sister, who was just a friend to him. “Unless they’re more than just friends...in which case...that means their-EW! NO! Get those thoughts out of your head Sapphire! It’s NOTHING like that! He’s just a friend! a FRIEN-”. Sapphire found her sudden outburst was interrupted when her eyes fell upon a very much conscious and very much confused looking Signal Flare staring back at her. She was so lost in her own thoughts that the unicorn failed to notice Signal waking up in a confused panic, only stopping when she made her sudden outburst.

“Do you mind?! I’m trying to have my own freak out here and your freak out is getting in the way of my freak out!” He casually said, failing to notice the blush that covered Sapphire face. As he proceeded to continue to panic like a fool, Sapphire could only sit there on the chair, her normally calm and collected brain failing to process what had just happened. “I...I...I give up...” she mumbled before falling to the ground in a comical fashion, the last thing she saw being the still panicking Signal falling off of his bed like an idiot on top of her before her brain gave out to the contained chaos in the room.