A Common Enemy

Prologue

“♫Go tell that long tongue liar, go and tell that midnight rider. Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter. Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down…♫” The music in the APC was interrupted by the squad radio.

“Misfit One-Three, this is Misfit Actual. Be advised we are crossing the LOD in two mikes, over.”

“Copy that.” Campo responded.

“Yo, does anyone else not get what the fuck we’re doin here?”

“Quit bein a fuckin hippie Montes!” Chaffin responded, while lightly punching Montes on the arm.

“I’m just sayin, bro. If this is about the PLR we should be in Iran – not Iraq.”

“They’re crossin borders, dawg! PLR is the right people, all right? They don’t make ‘em any righter.” The argument between them was cut short by Lt. Cole, the field operations commander of Misfit.

“Misfit One-Three, this is Misfit Actual. We have a situation developing here, get your team dismounted and into the staging area ASAP.” Lieutenant Cole informed the squad, with the same calm seriousness he always had.

“This is One-Three, copy. Out.”

“What the fuck are we stopping here for? Our objective’s 20 klicks north of here.” Montes asked, not wanting to go into the fight he wasn’t briefed about.

“I don’t know, Montes.” Campo responded, shutting him up. “Yeah, let’s get out on the road!” Campo yelled over to the APC driver. The APC slowed down and stopped, knocking the squad towards the front from inertia. “Ok, let’s go!” Campo ordered the squad as Montes pushed open the doors. “Move!”

“I guess we’re late to the party. Where’s the LT?” Montes asked a nearby marine on patrol.

“Hang a right up here.” The marine answered, pointing to an alleyway market area.

“Thanks!” Montes yelled back as the squad walked to the alley. “Hey, you ever wonder how this part of the world gets so fucked up all the time?” Montes asked.

“I just work here, Dave.” Blackburn answered. The squad walked into the alley, passing by a marine searching a civilian, and another civilian being escorted by 2 marines. They soon reached Lt. Cole, and gathered around a makeshift table with a map of the area.

“Gentlemen, welcome. As you know we’re dealing with the PLR insurgents crossing over from Iran. A lot of sectarian tension. I counsel you to remember, gentlemen. The people of this country are not your enemy – the PLR is.” Cole told the squad, nodding as he did so. “At 0930 we lost contact with Viper squad. They were investigating a possible IED near Spinza Meat Market, and that’s a pretty fucking bad part of town.” He was pointing to an area on the map, which seemed to be a pretty open area from the map layout. “We believe the PLR are involved. I’m sending you in to find our marines, provide support and calling CASEVAC if necessary. You’re the quick reaction force, gentlemen. I’m trusting you to handle this. Let’s go find our marines!” Cole was now finished briefing the squad and giving them their orders.

“We’re on it. Let’s go!” Campo ordered.

“Uh, Twi? What is this new magic spell yer talkin bout?” Applejack asked, wondering why Twilight would want them all to come to the library for a new spell or whatever she said.

“Yeah Twilight, aren’t you gonna tell us what it is?” Rainbow asked, actually interested in what it does.

“Well, it’s a spell that will open up a hole which will allow us to see anywhere we want in Equestria without anypony knowing we’re there. So, if I wanted to see what was going on in the Sugar Cube Corner kitchen right now, I could open up a hole in the wall and it would allow us to see inside the kitchen.” Twilight explained.

“Like a magic mirror!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing into the air higher than physically possible.

“Sort of Pinkie, except this is real.” Twilight told her.

“So, where does the hole go, not the one on the wall, but the one in the kitchen?” Rainbow asked, very interested in this now.

“The hole would be transparent, and if the pony touched it, they would go through it, unless it was on the wall. Then they would be walking into a wall. This isn’t a portal.” Twilight answered.

“Well, I’d sure like ta see what’s goin on in the Ponyville school house. Make sure Apple Bloom aint doin’ no more of that “Gabby Gums” stuff.”

“Alright Applejack, I can try. But I’ll need a few specific ingredients.” Twilight answered in her usual serious tone.

“So, what do you need?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m going to need a storm cloud, 6 bottles of zap-apple jam, crocodile saliva, and some spider silk.” Twilight answered, leaving her friends to get the items.

[3 hours later]

“Alright. We got all of the ingredients?” Twilight asked, now enthusiastic that they would be able to look anywhere they wanted. “Storm cloud, check. Saliva, check. Silk, check. Jam, 6 bottles, check.”

“So, Twilight? What’s the storm cloud for?” Rainbow asked her, confused on why she would need a storm cloud for magic.

“Presentation.” Twilight answered.

“All right, put this in there, mix that, put the jam in, now for the tears. Rainbow, kick some lightning out of the cloud, please.” Rainbow flew up to the dark cloud she had brought and kicked it, sending a lightning bolt into the mix. “Great! Now we just put this on the wall!” Twilight threw the solution onto the wall, but something was…odd. The solution opened a hole, but it was completely black. The school paper couldn’t have closed down yet.

“Uh oh, twilight? I forgot Gummy was an alligator, not a crocodile.” Pinkie told her, this time without her usual sing-song voice.

“That’s not good…” Twilight only got those words out before she and her friends were sucked into the hole. The hole then disappeared from the room.

[5 Minutes later, location unknown]

“Ugh…everypony okay?” Applejack called out.

“I-I think so…”

“That was fun! Can we do it again?”

“I’m fine Applejack.”

“Yeah…Twilight, I thought you said it wasn’t a portal.” A very annoyed cyan Pegasus said.

“It wasn’t supposed to be, but Pinkie gave us alligator spit instead of crocodile spit.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s alright sugarcube. Nopony was hurt.”

“So…where are we?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know.” Twilight answered. “It doesn’t look like Equestria, it doesn’t FEEL like Equestria. It’s way too hot, even for Appleloosa.”

“My my, wherever we are, it has horrible décor. I mean, just look at the colors, and the room itself!” They just tuned out Rarity while she went on her rant, but she did have a point. They were in a dull gray room, with smaller rooms with frames of what seemed to be wood, and which the walls of them were chain link fences. It had about 3 lights hanging from the ceiling, and coming from one of the rooms was a box with 2 wires coming out of it, they went across the floor, and into an air vent.

Where in Equestria are we?