Chapters I was put in a cryogenic pod and launched out into space to find an IMC base. They kept attacking any and all ships that went through their territory so we figured 'hey, let's put a pilot in a pod and shoot'em out into the vacuum of space in hopes that he hits the target.' because that totally makes sense. Not!
The pod was designed to bring me out of cryogenic stasis upon impact. Because there's nothing but planets out in space. (Note the sarcasm)
Imagine my surprise when I was brought out of Cryo in a woodland area at night. I opened it up to hear voices in the distance.
"Slow down Twilight! We don't know it's a meteor! The IMC Mighta sent down a Titan. And ah don't want none a those big boys round my farm!" Said a girl with a clear southern accent. I didn't want to be caught off guard, so I grabbed my weapons and my SERE kit and climbed into the nearest tree with the best view. I watched as seven... girls? They looked female but they sure as Hell weren't human. They walked into the clearing, each armed with jerry-rigged weapons. But the one with lavender skin held a rusty pistol.
She immediately ran to the pod, inspecting all she could. She eventually noticed the SRS symbol on the inside of the pod.
"Uh... T-Twilight?!" Asked a pink haired yellow skinned girl in whispered panic. I looked to where she was pointing and wondered how I didn't hear it coming. A Brute Titan was hovering over the clearing.
"You are trespassing on IMC territory! Step away from the Cryo pod or be fired upon!" Said the pilot through the Titan's loudspeakers, leveling its missile launcher at the seven girls.
Rather than watching another group of friends torn apart by a Titan like I had seen so many times before, I aimed the only Anti-Titan weapon I had at him. As I readied my charge rifle, I aimed right at the weak spot that all Titans usually have, the optic.
The gun kicked like a mule but the beam temporarily lit up the forest. The beam hit the optic dead center, shocking the pilot inside. He looked to where I was only to see an empty tree. I looked straight up at the damaged Titan, and fired my grapple. The time it took for him to realize I was on him was also the time it took to climb on, take a power core, and hop off. He aimed his massive missile launcher at me, I lifted up a small detonator, pointing it at him.
"Boom." I said, pulling the trigger.
"What?!" Was all he could say before the satchel charge I placed on him detonated.
I watched as the burning shards of metal and Titan parts flew everywhere, taking my helmet off and lighting up a cigar.
"Fucking IMC prick." I said before taking a drag. I felt seven pairs of eyes on me, and heard a creaking click of a pistol hammer. I turned to see the seven girls ready to fight, the lavender one aiming her pistol at me. "You've got to be joking." I said before taking a long drag of my cigar, my Scottish accent thickly lacing my voice.
The lavender one simply fired a warning shot... I think. The way she gasped afterwards was not a good sign though. After she failed to execute me, I looked at her friends with a raised brow.
"Sorry, she gets like this. She doesn't really trust humans seeing as they invaded our home." A girl with rainbow hair said angrily.
"Why did you kill one of your own? Surely you care about your fellow IMC members yes?" Said a porcelain skinned girl with purple hair in a posh accent.
I was confused for a moment, but quickly understood. I held up my helmet, gesturing with my cigar at the SRS symbol.
"I'm an SRS pilot. Special Recon Squadron of the Frontier Militia. I hunt these fuckers down and point out their nest so the rest of the SRS can swoop in and clear 'em out. I'm one of the good guys." I said, taking another long drag. "I'm going to guess the IMC seized control of your capitol and used their superior firepower and tech to bring your civilization to its knees. I'm also going to guess they have you working constantly to remove precious resources for them with no benefits whatsoever."
This prompted a girl wearing a leather jacket with yellow and red hair walk forward, lowering her weapon, she seemed tense, but not hostile.
"How do you know about that?" She asked cautiously. I looked her in the eye, judging whether to tell her.
"They promised a good life for my family, but once they discovered an extensive network of naturally occurring fuel reservoirs on the planet, the IMC fracked my home until dust reigned over light. From what I've heard, the trains and space elevator remain in operation to this day, maintained by small communities of dispirited IMC employees tied to long term employment contracts. When my family spoke up against them, the IMC killed them. Shot them down in the street. I was eight." I explained. The girl gasped and lowered her weapon further.
"I fight to make sure no one else experiences that, and for every child the IMC scars for life, I make them pay in kind. I hate the IMC with every fiber of my being. So yeah, I might know a few of the horrible things they might've done to you." I said, popping the cigar back in my mouth, and blew a smoke ring into her face. She stared at me, coughing ever so slightly.
"So... if you're a member of this 'Frontier Militia' why are you here alone?" Asked the rainbow haired girl, hefting a make-shift spear over her shoulder. This question caused several curious/accusing looks thrown my way.
I exhaled another breath of smoke, "I'm a scout. My job is to find IMC bases and mark them for termination. If I can, I try to protect and arm the civilian population. That means I need to either speak to resistance members, or start a planet-wide resistance. Can you help me help you?" I said. The girls huddled up and whispered amongst themselves. I had audio enhancers in my helmet, it could allow me to hear every little word they said, but I kept it off. Eventually they reached a consensus and the girl wearing the leather jacket stepped forth.
"I'm Sunset Shimmer. You can come, but I'll be watching you." She said, holding out her hand to shake. I placed my right hand into hers, shaking it firmly. "You've got quite a grip there." She said. I took off my glove to reveal a prosthetic hand.
"You tend to get one if you have a metal arm. IMC set a Ronin on me once, bastard stabbed through my Titan cutting my arm off. I survived, and killed that prick. They never expect the pilot to stealth eject and use a Nuclear Rodeo. The name's Joe. Joe Miller, SRS pilot and Marauder Corps. scout. May I have your friends names?" I said, looking over to the remaining six.
"Um... I'm Fluttershy." Said the pink haired-yellow skinned girl.
"Ah'm Applejack" Said an orange skinned blonde wearing a stetson hat.
"I'm Rarity, a pleasure I'm sure" Said the posh girl
"HiI'mPinkiePienicetomeetyouareyougoingtobeournewfriend?" Asked a pink skinned girl with too many curls in her hair.
"I'm Rainbow Dash, that was Pinkie Pie." Said the rainbow haired girl.
"And I'm Twilight Sparkle. I want you to know I will be watching you every second you're around. I don't trust you, and I never will." Said the Lavender girl
"Splendid." I said, "Shall we get moving? The IMC will probably be wondering what the hell happened here and I do NOT want to fight more than one Titan at a time." This caused Sunset Shimmer to nod, and gesture back the way they came.
As we walked back, Fluttershy was hiding in her hair the whole way.
"If you're scared of me because I'm human, don't be. I protect civilians. Not hurt them." I said, causing her to 'eep!' and step away from me. I sighed, and then I saw a bird flying overhead. It looked right at me, and started its decent. I put my helmet back on, and the bird landed on my head. It then began pecking at my SRS symbol on my helmet. Fluttershy saw this and giggled quietly. I turned my head, bird attached to look at her. "You seem a little... Bipolar."
Fluttershy looked down at the ground bashfully
"Um... well, I get very scared of humans, they can be really scary when they have those Titan things. Um, why did you smoke that cigar? Those can be very bad for you." She said. I laughed lightly, Pulling out a small cigar container.
"Me and the lads used to have a tradition. Whenever we destroy a hostile Titan on a new world, we light up a cigar." This peaked her interest.
"Oh, do your friends not smoke anymore?" She asked. My smile slowly faded away.
"They were killed on Typhon in an Assault on an IMC base. They went out swinging, certainly more than anyone could ask of them. We were holding out for two Titans to secure a fold weapon... We failed. The fold weapon was put onto a ship, we had to pursue." I held up a small bag, and poured it's contents out into my open hand, revealing eleven dog tags. "They were the finest men and women I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Their sacrifice taught me a valuable lesson."
"What's that?" Asked Fluttershy. I turned to look at her.
"That even when facing overwhelming odds, random acts of courage and valor are miniscule when fighting side by side with your friends. They taught me there's a life outside the Militia, away from the IMC. But I've a long way to go before I get there." I said. Fluttershy looked like she was going to say something but we were interrupted by Sunset.
"We're here." She said, looking up at a ruined castle.
The last thing I remember was a bolt of purple energy blasting me in the face before unconsciousness took over.
Author's Note
For anyone who's wondering just what Joe sounds like, he sounds like Soap McTavish from the Modern Warfare trilogy. I just like his voice man... Don't know why. Just do.
Also, his loadout is an R-97 SMG, a Charge Rifle, a Smart Pistol, and a Dice Roll boost. He can use grapple and throw satchel charges. If you want a picture, I'll put one in teh Authors Note next chapter.
I woke up in chains. I looked around me to see a large mirror adorning the wall, and I was chained to a table. My helmet was still on but my weapons were placed on a table twenty feet from me. Using my helmet's audio enhancers, I could hear a discussion on the other side of the mirror.
"If he can kill a Titan with those weapons of his, we should reverse engineer them!" Said someone sounding suspiciously like Twilight.
"Look, I went with your plan to capture and interrogate him Twilight, but there's no way I'll allow that! If we fuck up, we'll have another galactic faction against us. We need allies, and the IMC doesn't play nice" Said a girl sounding like Sunset Shimmer.
"We don't know If he's telling the truth! That's why we specifically took him to the old base so he couldn't report anything back to his IMC comrades!" Said Twilight. I started feeling around my pockets for the one thing my friends made fun of me for carrying. I pulled out a hairpin and began trying to pick the locks on my handcuffs. Once they were unlocked, I left them hanging on to give the illusion they were still locked.
"We can't assume he's the bad guy in this situation when all he did was save us! I'm going to walk in there and ask him some simple questions. You can observe from here." Said Sunset. I heard a door open and close. Then the door to the interrogation room opened. Sunset walked in and sat at the table across from me. I stared at her for a whole minute before talking.
"The IMC's been raiding resistance cells haven't they?" I asked. This surprised her. She actually seemed stumped.
"Yes, but they're not normal IMC. They're... different." She said. "They have a strange symbol. Like a malformed Ram skull." She said, and I felt my pace quicken.
"Give me back my things and I'll tell you all about them." I said, she looked skeptical. "Alright, I'll give you a freebee. They're called the Apex Predators. Cutthroat mercenaries led by a man named Kuben Blisk. The slimy git got away after the battle on Typhon. I've been hunting that bastard as a secondary objective. Can I at least have my pistol and knife? I've been through a lot with those two." She looked back at the two mentioned items, and handed me the data knife.
"Here. I won't give you a firearm just yet. But... You did just give us the name of the man who killed Shining Armor. He was Twilight's brother." She said.
I looked down at the data knife in my hands, shaking my head.
"I'm sorry to hear that." I said. "I'm sure it'd be a comfort to her to know that I'm the only man he's afraid of." I said. Sunset cocked her head to the side.
"Why?" She asked, I chuckled darkly.
"I almost killed him, he never got close to killing me. To him, that means I'm slightly better than him, that's scary." I said, running a single finger along the blade to test sharpness. Still like a surgeon's scalpel. "If you want Blisk dead, you gotta get rid of the other Apex Predators. Think of them as a snake, but every time you cut the head off, the body thrashes around destroying everything. But if there's no body left, and you detonate the fucker, it's gone for good. Luckily for you, you're talking to one of the only pilots that can say they hunt the Apex Predators." I said, lifting up an APEX card.
"After I went on a killing spree, Blisk himself gave me this card. I gave him something too." I said, before leaning forward. "A bullet in his right shoulder."
Sunset looked at the Mirror with wide eyes.
"Ask him what he wants in return for killing Blisk." Twilight asked. But I beat Sunset to the punch.
"I want my shit back. No one touches my weapons OR equipment, and if you're joining me on this, you do what I say, when I say it." I said, turning my head to look at Twilight through the one way mirror. "And that's just a start. If you want the IMC gone, I need to contact the Militia fleet."
Sunset Shimmer looked at the one way, and then back to me.
"Can you see through that?" She asked, I nodded. "So, you could hear us and see us the entire time?" She asked. I nodded.
"To be completely honest," I said as I began lifting my arms, the handcuffs coming off. "I could've done that the second you walked in. But I wanted to be polite." This threw her through a loop. "Relax, I'd never hurt an innocent on purpose."
"Wish the IMC could say the same." Sunset muttered.
"You want to hurt them?" I asked. I turned to the mirror. "They could have several fueling stations and Titan manufacturing factories on Equis. But they always have an interstellar communications beacon. We should hit the fueling stations first. Then we can get some Titans. That'll cause some havoc." I said, standing up.
"What about the beacon?" Asked Sunset. I looked down at her, smiling beneath my helmet.
"That, Sunset, is a surprise." I said before grabbing the rest of my things. I stopped when I felt a blade on my neck. I looked at the mirror to see Rainbow Dash holding a knife to my throat.
"Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Asked Rainbow Dash. "I won't allow you to have any weapons outside of this room. Don't let this agreement confuse you. You're our prisoner. No weapons, Titans, no nothing!" She said, applying pressure to draw out a small trail of blood. I let my instincts take over, and in a matter of seconds, I had disarmed Rainbow Dash and had her own knife pointed right at one of her eyes.
"Hi. I'm Joe, the only hope you have at surviving the days to come. If you knew just what the SRS was you'd know not to fuck around when it comes to threats." I said to her. Her face went pale. "The only reason you're alive is because the IMC doesn't care if you're a rebel or militia. They'll kill you either way. I'll only kill you if you try to kill me. And guess what you just did?" I asked, inching the knife ever so closer to her eye.
"Stop!" Cried Sunset. I looked at her to see fear in her eyes. I looked back to Rainbow to see the same fear. I pulled the knife away from her eye, and threw it into the metal interrogation table. I grabbed the rest of my things and looked back to the two.
"I'm sorry. But you never should've held a knife of all things to my neck. Blisk loves to use knives." I said before running my finger along one of many scars on my stomach. "I'll start searching for a fueling station in the morning. You should all get some rest." I said before walking towards the door, without breaking pace I said "You'll need it." as I crossed the door's threshold.
As I rested my head on an ancient pillow, covering myself with a tattered blanket, I looked up through a hole in the wall. Gazing out across the brief open area before my eyes got to the forest. Where I couldn't help but imagine a Northstar charging up it's railgun, it's barrel leveled right at me.
Blisk POV:
"Oi! Marder! Where the hell is my payday!?" I asked. General Marder's hologram looked at me.
"You did not kill the Militia pilot known as Jack Cooper, who destroyed the fold weapon on Typhon. Not to mention the important members of the Royal Family and The Elements of Harmony are still alive even after Prince Blueblood's betrayal. And as long as Celestia and Luna are still alive, there will be no 'payday'. Marder out." The hologram faded away until I was looking at Aaron, a Tone pilot, looking right at me. He stretched his arms out.
"Find them, and bring them to me." I told Aaron. He nodded before getting into his Tone. He hefted his cannon onto his shoulder.
"No problem." He said in his deep voice. "There's an old resistance base in the forest near here. I'll start my search there." He said before his Tone walked away with him inside.
A Heist By Any Other Name
Joe POV:
There were destroyed Titans all around me, mostly IMC. I was inside a Monarch Titan, fighting alongside my friends. My family. Cooper and Briggs were headed inside the IMC base. We were supposed to hold out, but how could we fight off so many?
"Joe! Get your ass back to the frontline!" Yelled Helen, our unspoken leader. I rushed to the frontline, firing a barrage from my XO-16 Machine gun. I looked to the man I enlisted alongside. Greg was mercilessly gunning down IMC grunts. I turned back to the enemy to see a Ronin with it's blade drawn. It swung it's giant blade downwards, it's blade arcing with electricity. I was too late to warn him. The blade went carving through the metal like it was aluminum. The last thing Greg ever knew was pain and suffering.
His Titan detonated, propelling his body outwards in several directions. I looked at the Ronin to see an Apex Predator symbol on it's hull. I was furious, and unloaded an entire clip into it's face. He grabbed his Leadwall Shotgun, firing all four of its rounds. He ended up blowing the right arm of my Titan off.
"Warning! Critical Damage detected! Eject! Eject! Eject!" Said my Titan. I looked up to see the Ronin towering above me. It raised it's sword, pointing it down at me. I was thinkin about my life, about how nothing but fighting was in it. Then I looked to the corpse of my friend, and remembered all the good times we had. As the Ronin stabbed his blade down, I heard a large slam. I looked up to see Helen holding a fallen Ronin's Broadsword holding the Ronin at bay!
"Get up Miller, you're not done until I say you're done." Helen said after batting away the Ronin. She pulled me up, looking my Titan over. "Can you fight?" She asked. I looked around the cockpit to see the various controls and realized what I could do.
"Just get the enemy Pilots to swarm me." I said. She gave me a thumbs up before ripping the Ronin's Pilot out of it's cockpit. She looked at him for a moment before crushing him in her Titan's hand. I looked over the battlefield to see a large amount of IMC Pilots running towards me.
"Aw yeah! Free batteries and we get to kill a Monarch! Best day ever!" I heard a Pilot yell. I pressed a few buttons in a specific order, and placed my hands on the Eject lever. I waited until the Pilots began to climb up on me. The moment I heard one try to pull a battery out, I pulled the lever.
"Reactor Overload initiated" I heard my Titan say. I saw a small message at the bottom of the visual screen saying "Go get 'em Tiger". I smiled before getting sent 500 ft. in the air. I even saw the enemy pilot on my way up. I pulled out my Smart Pistol and shot him three times in the head. I looked down to see my Titan go up in a massive explosion. But as I landed, I heard a Salvo core activated. I had to watch as my family was murdered by an IMC Tone Titan.
I woke up screaming. I looked out to see a dark forest under a night sky. Then the previous day's events caught up with me. I remembered everything. I stood up and went to the main section of the building. There the seven 'mares' (As I was told to call them) were asleep. I watched over them for a moment before Fluttershy woke up. She looked around before seeing my helmet's glowing visor.
"Oh, hello Joe. Are we going to go now?" She asked. I nodded.
"I'll leave you to wake them up." I said before walking outside. I gazed up at the stars, wondering what the SRS would do when they get here. Would they give the peoples of Equis a place in the Marauder Corps.? Would they just leave Equis to grow on it's own? I didn't know which would be the better choice. I was brought out of my musings by Sunset Shimmer walking out looking like a zombie.
"Why do we have to be up now? It's the middle of the night." She said tiredly. I turned to her, wondering how they got this far.
"Have you never had night operations? Those are arguably the most important! Security will be lackluster at night because of guards sleeping on the job." I stated. She looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Look, do you want to hurt the IMC or not?" I asked, she nodded slowly. "Then go get the others. We have a heist to do." I said, walking in the direction of an IMC fueling station. How did I know where that was? The big ass shuttles flying in and out of it. You could literally see the fuckers flying in from orbit.
Eventually the seven mares caught up with me, following a trail of knife marks I left on trees. When they did, we were crouching on a hill overlooking the station. I watched as large green battery containers were loaded off and on the shuttles. My eyes eventually followed the trail of batteries back to the source. a bunch of MRVN's (Marvin's) were taking out the batteries and charging them up before putting them back into the containers. Then I looked up at a single watchtower lording over it all. I could swear there was a guard sleeping in a chair with his feet propped up on a console. I looked back to the seven girls.
"I'll take out the tower quietly. When I do, you seven go in and grab as many batteries as you can." I moved, still crouching, to the perimeter fence surrounding the complex. I took out a pair of pliers and went to work. It took three minutes but I'd made a hole in the fence big enough for people to run through. I walked through before deploying my grapple, pulling myself up to the roof of the tower. I leaned over the edge, looking in at the unsuspecting guards, and almost felt pity for them. I pulled out my smart pistol when I had an idea. I put a suppressor on it and readied myself. I took out a shaped charge, placing it in the center of the roof. I then threw a satchel charge as far as I could.
The satchel charge landed on a battery container as it was being loaded onto a shuttle, placed alongside several other containers. I waited until it was far enough away to seem like an accident, and detonated the charge. The only problem? The now crashing shuttle was headed towards the watchtower. I grabbed the shaped charge and leapt off the roof, using my grapple to swing towards the loading bay. As I landed, I took the suppressor off my smart pistol, stealth no longer being an option, and readied myself.
I stood alone as the girls retrieved batteries, firing off instant kill headshots at any and all grunts passing by.
"Joe! We're ready to go!" Yelled Sunset. I turned to look at them just as an IMC Titan landed in front of me. I used my grapple to pull myself onto it, pulling out it's battery, and popping a grenade in the empty tube. It's shields were down and It's health was halved. It turned to look at me before I fired off my charge rifle into it's optic, dooming the Titan. I watched at the pilot ejected, aiming my smart pistol at him. Our gazes must've met for a moment before I fired off three rapid shots, killing the pilot.
After holstering my weapons, I slung the battery over my back. I ran towards the girls, grabbing two batteries, one in each hand. When I got to them, four more hostile Titans landed in the loading area, searching the place for us.
"I'd rather not wait around while they try to find us. I say we head back. Agreed?" I said, getting nods from the girls. We then set out into the forest, lugging several batteries with us.
Aaron POV:
Blisk wanted me to stop tracking the targets and investigate whomever hit a fueling station near the forest. I suggested rebels, but he shot that idea down. Whomever it was, was skilled. Seeing as there was not only a wrecked Titan, but a dead pilot and several dead grunts. They also took out the watchtower and all the camera footage with it.
They weren't alone though, there were X's carved into the trees in a vague path, and a trail of energy residue. The kind left behind by batteries. A lot of batteries. The X's lead deeper into the woods, in the direction of the only possible hideout, I could kill two birds with one stone. But Blisk wanted me to investigate, not engage. If he wants them dealt with, he'll tell me.
In the meanwhile, I'll search through the MRVN optical camera feeds. There's got to be something that can tell us who did all this. The problem is, I don't know which MRVNs were where and when. I'd have to search through them all until I found what I was looking for, and that could take days. Unless...
"Hey, Cinder, I need your help with something." I said over my radio to a simulacrum who'd joined the Apex Predators after Ash. I waited a moment before hearing her response.
"This is Cinder, go ahead." She said in her obviously mechanical voice. I grinned, knowing that a simulacrum could do this task faster than I.
"What do you know about surveying MRVN optical camera feeds?" I asked, hearing a chuckle in response.
"What do you know about Tone Titan weapon systems?" She replied, giving me the answer I was looking for.
I might as well have designed them, seeing as I could've done far better.
Author's Note
Well, there you go! Another chapter in the story. You might be wondering why I changed the name from "Apex Rising" To "Apex Hunter". The answer is "Because I thought the name over in my head and decided this would better suit the story."
Any comments, criticisms or concerns? Let me now in the comments below!
Until next time on Equestria: Apex Hunter!
(Also, I do not own MLP or the Titanfall franchises (Although I wish I did), instead they belong to their respective creators and devealopers.)
-BurningCr0w
A Pilot Can Die But Once.
Sunset Shimmer POV:
I didn't know what to do. Joe, the SRS Pilot, was dying. My phone still had some battery life left in it, so I called Fluttershy. Ten minutes of trying to keep Joe from dying later, Fluttershy ran over to us, carrying a massive box with a red cross on it. She looked pale for a moment, before rushing to the fallen Pilot. She opened up the box taking out multiple medical supplies.
"How did this happen to him?" Fluttershy asked me. I looked over to the dead Apex Predator and his Titan, giving her an inkling of what went down. She took off the wrappings, only to immediately apply pressure to the wound. "He's got an opened artery!" She shouted to me. "I need you to get me some tourniquets!" She said to me before muttering under her breath "Step One: Apply pressure." And then she took a thick clean cloth and applied it immediately to the wound.
I rifled around in the box before finding a standard issue tourniquet. I rushed over to Fluttershy, handing the medical equipment. She then applied the tourniquet directly on the bandages.
"That should keep him from bleeding out any more than he already has, but he needs blood." Said Fluttershy, pulling out her phone. She speed dialed someone we both knew. "Hey Big Mac, I need your help with something... No not that..." She said, a small blush forming. "Someone has a ruptured artery, and I need your help getting him to a hospital... Yes Mac, someone. No he isn't IMC. Yes he is a friend. Okay, see you soon." She ended the call just in time for Joe to groan out some incoherent words, but out of all the words, one stood out.
"Emily... Emily..." He groaned out painfully. "Aaron... traitor..." He said before going into a mini-coma. Ten minutes later, Mac shows up with a red truck.
"Pick him up Mac, gently please." Fluttershy said. Mac did as he was told, lifting the fallen Pilot carefully and setting him down into the truck's bed.
"If we take him to a hospital the IMC will kill him!" I protested. Fluttershy just handed Mac an address.
"Take us there! If anypony can help Joe it's him!" She said urgently. Mac nodded, started up the truck, and sped off towards the address with Fluttershy and I tending to Joe. On a particularly bad bump, his groans of pain got louder. Fluttershy then got out a needle filled with a clear liquid and injected Joe with it. She muttered angrily at herself for not doing this sooner.
As we got to our destination, a condemned building in downtown Ponyville, Joe's groans of pain had gone quiet. Fluttershy hopped out of the truck, ran up to a door and knocked on it furiously. Eventually a pony came to the door, wearing a white button up and khaki pants.
"Who's hurt and how bad?" He asked in a gruff tone. She pointed to Mac who was lifting Joe out of the truck. "Human eh? Alright. Bring him in." He said, walking back inside. Mac and I carried him inside. We carried him through several hallways until we came to a large room, like a lounge, with a large table in the center.
"Set him down on the table." He said, walking into a separate room. We laid him gently down on the table. The Stallion came back with a bottle of George T. Stagg bourbon. He poured a large amount of the alcohol into a glass, before downing the entire glass in one go.
He then refilled the glass, and set several surgical tools in it. He pulled out a large cooler, opening it to reveal several blood bags.
"This is O negative blood. Universal donor, can definitely help him." Said the Stallion.
"Wait. Sorry, catch me up a bit, who the hell are you? And what why did you just drink that?" I asked. He looked at me with a deadpan stare.
"I am Bleeding Stitches. And the booze is both for sanitation, and the nerves." He said, pouring a small amount into a cupped hand before rubbing them together like sanitizer. "Now do you want me to elaborate or save his damn life?"
He went immediately to work, we had to leave the room for some reason, he didn't say. After two agonizing hours, we heard a voice.
"Who the fuckin' hell are you?!" Asked the voice.
Joe POV:
I had no idea where the hell I was. All I remember was killing the shit out of Aaron for trying to say her name. Then I saw Sunset before passing out.
"Relax, I'm a friend. I healed you, your friends brought you here." Said the apparent back alley doctor. I saw Bourbon on the table next to me, and I didn't need a second thought.
I took several gulps, feeling the burning sensation go down my throat and into my lungs. I looked at the doc, still holding the bottle, and raised it up.
"I'm keeping this." I said, and I noticed my shirt and helmet were off. I started looking around for them when the doc said something.
"With the amount of scars and metal you have, I think you need it more than I do." He said, eyeing the various scars made both by weapons and surgeons alike. "What exactly isn't human about you?" He asked. I took another long drink from the bottle. Most people ask that when they see my full body. My two colored eyes and robotic parts make for a weird combo.
"Arm, most ribs, spine, and my lower jaw. Most of it's Pilot and Grunt damage. The burns are from torture and Scorches... And if I told you what the barcode was for I'd gut you with that scalpel you're holding behind your back." I said, glancing at him. He looked stunned for a moment before setting it on the table. "As for the separate eye colors, I have Heterochromia." I said, I managed to get my shirt on just before the door practically exploded.
In ran Sunset and Fluttershy followed the pony version of a Legion. I mean, Jesus that guy's huge!
"Joe!" Cried Sunset as she rushed over two me. "You're okay!" She said. I looked to the doctor, shooting him a look that said mention my scars and I kill you. I looked back at her and nodded.
"I should be good to go in an hour or two." I managed to get out before being completely shot down by Fluttershy.
"You will do no such thing! You almost died!" She shouted at me, stunning me. Was this the same girl I met before? "You are going to rest and heal before you're going anywhere buster!" I looked at the other three in the room, only getting stern gazes in return.
"But the mission!" I insisted. Fluttershy simply replied with,
"Your mission can wait a couple days. Besides, you said we'd need to lay low." And with that, I was led outside before being driven to Sunset's apartment.
"Remind me, why am I staying at your place?" I asked, she looked at me out of the corner of her eye, head turned towards the road still.
"So I can make sure you don't run off and cause trouble." She said causing me to groan.
"Only Aaron could screw me over in death." I said, glaring at my injury in me reflection.
"Why did you do that to Aaron by the way? What you did better have a good excuse." Said Sunset as she drove.
I turned to look at her, and figured why the fuck not? I've already told her about most of my life, why not this part? Fuck it!
"I was in the 6-4 at the time, they're mercenaries with hearts of gold, I did a LOT of missions with them. Eventually they made me a member. Anyway, there was a girl in the 6-4, Emily. She was the youngest and least experienced of us. She was like the little sister I'd always wanted, and often times she'd be trying to make me smile, despite all the shit life threw at me." I said, taking out the bottle of alcohol, and taking a small drink from it. I felt the buzz slowly beginning to take effect.
"So, naturally Aaron was the big brother everybody liked. Emily and him got along famously, they were the dynamic duo. Whereas Emily and I were the Destructive Duo. A lot of missions went by, too many to count, before Aaron comes back with a card. He kept it to himself mostly, before telling me about it after I came back with mine. I knew he got the card from Blisk, he's the only one you could get one from, but I didn't know what he wanted to do until that night. He walks in my room, locking the door, and we talked. Eventually he told me he wanted to join the Apex Predators and that he wanted me to join with him. The thing is, I'd come to love the 6-4. Like family. So I refused." I said before taking another drink.
"One fucking mission later and Aaron shot Emily. That was how he got out. He shot Emily in the chest and ran, knowing the others would chase him and I'd stay. Nobody knew that just outside the complex, Blisk was waiting, and he used his Smart Core to kill my family all at once." I said, before thinking fuck the buzz and took a long drink once more.
"The worst part's the nightmares. Usually it's my unit in the SRS, but sometimes it's the 6-4. The 6-4 took me in after Typhon. Some shrink said it mas my mind trying to deal with the experience in a way that I'd understand more. Honestly, I think God's punishing me for my wrong doings. I lost three families in my life. My birth family, the SRS unit, and then my 6-4 task group." I said, stopping when we reached the destination.
"I still think that was unnecessary." Sunset said. I stared at her with a gaze that I knew would haunt her for the rest of her days. It wasn't scary... just broken.
"I had to watch as the girl I loved like a sister painfully bled to death. You don't know what it's like, watching someone you care about dying because you weren't man enough to tell your CO that your best friend's gone traitor. You've never heard six people cry out in fear before being cut off one-by-one. You've never had to bury the pieces and bodies of your family three times. so you don't get to judge what I do or how I do it." I said, walking down a sidewalk. "I'll be back in three hours!" I shouted.
"Where are you going?!" Sunset shouted back.
"To get drunker!" I yelled before drinking once more, praying that the screams would be drowned out by the booze soon.
Author's Note
To be clear, I stated this was in "Modern Equestria", but while most of Equis' weapons were confiscated by the IMC, the phones and other electrical appliances were not.
There you have it! In case you were wondering, no, Joe is not secretly a terminator sent by skynet to destroy Equis. That story is still in the works.
Also, Joe isn't really an asshole, he's just really angry at himself, and that anger can often be directed at those who bring up sore subjects.
Like it? Hate it? Don't care? let me know in the comments below!
Long He Stared Into The Abyss...
Joe POV:
I was walking down an alley, looking at the bottle of booze in my hand, wondering whether it'll actually numb the pain, when an IMC Grunt walked past me. He stopped dead in his tracks, turning to look at me. I looked right at him, and held up the bottle. He looked frightened as he accepted the bottle.
"So." I said, startling him a bit. "What made you join the IMC?" I asked, the alcohol slurring my voice. He looked down at the bottle before taking a swig.
"My father wanted me to." He said, and I chuckled. We both sat down, backs to two adjacent walls.
"My father wanted me to be a bloody psychiatrist. Me! Out of the three of his children he picked me to be destined to be a doctor." I said, drawing a chuckle from the grunt. "Then the IMC killed him." I said, dragging the conversation's mood into darkness. He looked up from the bottle to look at me. "I'm going to be honest with you here and say that I don't want to kill you. But I will if you tell your superiors that I'm here." He paled quite a bit. He pushed a duffel bag he was carrying over to me with his foot.
"What's this?" I asked him. He looked at me with pity, and something akin to empathy. He stood up, offering me the bottle.
"Sheep's clothing." He said. I pushed his hand, still holding the bottle, towards him.
"You'll need this more than me son." I said, getting up and carrying the bag into the dark alleyway.
By the time I got back to Sunset's place, the sun was rising and I felt like shit. No, not the 'hungover' shit. The 'regretting being a total arse' shit.
I'm used to hangovers.
I knocked on the door, hoping I wouldn't be outside for too long. The door opened to reveal Sunset with a deadpan 'seriously?' look on her face.
"I'm sorry. I was totally off my arse last night but that doesn't excuse my actions towards you and the others. I got something you just might like to see." I said, confusing her enough to let me in. I set the duffel on a coffee table in the middle of her living room, unzipping it as I did so.
"I ran into an IMC doubter last night." I said to her, pulling out freshly washed IMC Pilot clothes and armor pieces. "He gave me this. Must've been doing a pilot's dry cleaning under threat of either pain or death. Hard to tell with most of those Arsehole Pilots these days." I held up a freshly polished helmet, and pulled the radio from it, I needed to establish a connection between this helmet and mine. I heard Sunset clear her throat. I looked over to her to see her holding up a bra that was sitting in the bag as well.
"Great. You look like you're about her size. Get suited up, I have to do something. Do you have any tools and paint?" I said. She nodded and pointed to a door. I opened it to reveal a stairway leading down to a basement. I went down into the basement, and turned the lights on to see a hobbyists dream. Paints of various kinds lined the walls, and tools were all set up on a table in the center of the room.
I took off my helmet and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. It was my first helmet I ever got as a pilot. Was I really willing to go through with this plan? I glanced down at my SRS and 6-4 patches on my left and right shoulder. I looked back to the helmet, popped the top off a can of spray paint, and went to work.
Five hours later, I had successfully changed my Militia and 6-4 colored armor to look like custom IMC Pilot armor. I didn't want to do it, but I had to do it in order to avoid having to kill everything on sight. I applied one of many Apex Predator patches I had taken off my various kills over the course of my career as a Pilot.
I walked upstairs, opening the door, only to slam it shut again.
"For God's sake woman! Put the shirt on already!" I said through the door to the topless Sunset Shimmer.
"It feels like I stole these from someone!" She objected. I groaned at my horrible luck.
"You didn't. And if you want to help liberate your planet, you will put those clothes on. And you will help me get six more sets of IMC Pilot clothes." I said, determination clear in my voice. I could practically hear her confusion on the other side of the door.
"Why do you need six more..." She trails off as I assumed she just figured out what my plan was. I hear multiple sounds of cloth and armored plating shuffle around before she spoke again. "Alright, you can open the door again." She said. I opened it to see Sunset wearing the entire suit but had the helmet off for the time being. "How do I look?" She asked me. I smirked slightly.
"Like one of the bad guys." I said, gaining a chuckle from her. "There's only... one problem." I said to her. She looked at me quizzically.
"Your hair is too long." I said to her. She looked at me, slight panic in her expression.
"No it isn't!" She objected, grabbing at her hair that reached her shoulders. I shook my head.
"All pilots have short hair for a reason, try to put the helmet on." I told her. I watched as she tried to get the helmet to seal off to the rest of the suit but her hair wasn't letting the seal finalize. Eventually she took off the helmet, put her hair up in a bun, and tried again. After several more minutes of her trying (And failing) to put the helmet on, I was standing by with a comb and a pair of scissors.
"It's impossible." She said in a frustrated tone, setting the helmet down on a table next to her. She looked to me, and what I was holding, and seemed to have an internal struggle.
"You're not going bald, I can leave enough hair on your head to style and look good" I told her, gesturing to an empty chair in front of a mirror. "Now, I've done this for more than a few wide-eyed recruits, so what kind of haircut do you want?" I asked.
Thirty minutes later, I had finished the hair cut. Sunset looked at the mirror, staring at her reflection. She had a standard Militia haircut, as in she looked like a Tomboy with red and yellow highlights.
"What do you think?" I asked her. She glanced over to the helmet and put it on, I heard the suit seal off and watched as the helmet activated its HUD as her visor turned red. She turned her head to the mirror once more.
"I think I'm ready to fight for my people." She said. I nodded, muttering under my breath one sentence that I had no idea she'd hear.
"Welcome to the Militia."
Time Skip: One Week
After a week of undercover work, and persuading five girls to get their hair cut, (Mostly Rarity) we had finally procured weapons and planned out our infiltration of the Titan Manufacturing Complex or TMC for short.
The seven girls and I were walking through the hangar doors of the complex, only for me to pause in front of a MRVN with an empty cargo trolley next to him. I looked at the girls, who at the time were struggling with the weight of the batteries. I looked back to the MRVN.
"Yo Marvin!" I shouted to the robot. He looked over at us and saluted, signifying that he was ready to receive orders. "Put these batteries on the trolley and follow us." He did as I asked and we were then moving at a much faster pace. We bypassed several standard issue titans and headed to a large bulkhead door with the Apex Predator symbol on it. I looked over to another MRVN and nodded. He saluted and pulled a large switch.
The massive bulkhead door slowly ground open, revealing several unlinked Titans. They were Titans that belonged to mercenaries, not the IMC, so they should only have protocol's one and three. We walked over to an IMC Grunt holding a shipping manifest, he turned to us and sighed tiredly.
"Finally!" He exclaimed. "I was wondering when you eight would show up! We got seven Titans ready to go once you put your batteries in them, but the eighth one over there's got no data core." He said, pointing to my favorite kind of Titan. I pulled out a data core I had on me since before I landed on this planet.
"You let me worry about that son, get these seven green girls the basic package. Mercenary protocols." I said, walking over to the massive Titan, climbing up it's massive frame, before inserting the data core in the empty socket before placing the cover over it, making several smaller lights turn on.
"Power on, adjusting lens... Hello Joseph." Said the deep voice of the Scorch Titan. I patted the Titan on the chassis.
"It's been awhile buddy. Been a long while." I said, entering the colossal mech. "Marking seven as friendlies. You know this, I left your audio and video receptors in your AI Core on since before we started this mission." I said, adjusting the straps in the cockpit. "Try not to let the IMC know we're not Apex Predators, okay?" I say to the Titan as I open his hatch, revealing me to the outside world.
"Woah! We look awesome!" Yelled Rainbow Dash as she posed in a Northstar Titan, hands rested on her hips. Fluttershy managed to make her Brute Titan look as uncomfortable as she was, shuffling and looking at the floor. Applejack managed to get the hang of her Legion, it's massive gun now in her hands. Twilight took on a Titan I hadn't expected. I looked over to her to see a Ronin examining its' sword, and the hatch opened to reveal Ms. Sparkle herself. Sunset had an Ion that looked like it could take some major damage. Rarity was complaining about how her Tone looked, with a 'Garish' and 'Abhorrent' paint scheme. Pinkie Pie was dancing around in a Ronin, phasing in and out of reality on a dime.
To this day, I could never figure out whether she'd taken a modified Ronin, or if it was just Pinkie being Pinkie.
Then we heard a voice over the Apex radio frequency.
"Oi! You eight! Get over 'ere now! I got a job for you!" Said a familiar Aussie...
Blisk.
Author's Note
I'm not dead! Just doing college stuff! Also, B-Day stuff... yay... and stuff.
Hope you like this new addition to the story! Lemme know down in the comments.
And The Abyss Stared Back Into Him
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Joe POV:
"That was awesome!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, flying alongside me as we raced through the forest towards the Ruined castle. "Where'd you learn to do that?" She asked me incredulously. I looked back to her, huffing slightly at the strain of carrying one battery in each hand and a third on my back.
"The SRS taught me the tactics, but the years have taught me the finesse." I replied, looking back towards our destination. "We need to stash these batteries somewhere safe, somewhere away from our current base." I said.
When the eight of us got into the clearing around the ruined castle, I stopped halfway across, dropping the batteries.
"This is a good spot. Got any shovels?" I asked the seven mares. Sunset looked at me and nodded.
Two Hours Later
After digging a six ft. deep hole, we lined up the batteries and buried them, as the ground should hide their signatures from orbit.
"Alright, that's one thing off the checklist." I said, twirling my data knife in my hands. I looked over to see the seven were panting and sweaty. "You all look like you could use a break, why don't you head home? I'll still be here when you get back." I said, they huddled up and whispered amongst themselves.
When they were done they looked at me, and six of them walked out into the woods. Leaving Sunset Shimmer behind. Grand.
"I'm going to stay with you to make sure you stay at the ruins." She said, I laughed semi-loudly, stopping when I saw the determined look in her eye.
"You're serious?" I asked, she nodded. I looked up at the sky asking one question. "Why is it always me?" I looked back down at her, and the stare she was giving me. I sighed and asked one thing. "How much do you know about Pilots?"
Aaron POV:
After a few hours of sifting through cam footage, we managed to get a glimpse of the attacker. The lens was unfocused and he was moving too damn fast, but we could see the basic shape. Looked human, but then again so did most things on this planet. Cinder looked over at me, shrugging at my questioning glance. He didn't seem like anyone important, until he did one thing no local on this planet knew how to do.
He killed a Titan.
"He grabbed multiple Batteries." Cinder said, looking at the Green blurs in his possession. I glanced over at the woods, knowing my quarry was somewhere in there.
"Tell me, are there any structures in these woods that could provide shelter from the weather?" I asked Cinder, she looked over at a nearby Holo-Map, scanning it for any and all places I had just described.
"Just one. A ruined castle in a clearing around ten klicks from here." She said. "But, you already knew that didn't you?" She asked me. I turned to look at her, giving her a glimpse of my dark smirk.
"Tell Blisk I've got a lead on the ones who hit the Station. I'll wrap this up in less than an hour." I said walking away.
Joe POV:
"And that's why the Pilot is better than the Titan." I finished, Sunset held a confused look on her face.
"But one of those reasons was that the Pilot could call down a Titan. How does that make the Pilot better?" She asked.
"Sure, a Pilot can call down a Titan, but I can't tell you how many Titans I've seen get destroyed or replaced because of damages. But I can tell you the amount of SRS Pilots I've seen KIA." I said, looking out to the rising sun.
"How many?" She asked. I took off my helmet and handed it to her, pointing to the left side of it. She turned it over and gasped. Almost dominating the left side of the helmet were just north of a hundred tally marks. Small enough to not see at a distance but big enough to count up close.
"Yeah, a lot of good Pilots died on Typhon, even more in the Battle for Poseidon. I was just a rookie back then, but as my old CO used to say, "no one's a Rookie today." I turned to her, "Because all the rookies were dead except me." I looked back to the sun. "So many dead, but so many saved too." I said.
"What do you mean?" she asked. I pulled out two small pictures. I handed one to her, on the back said Before the battle. and the picture depicted smog in she sky, IMC Titans watching over a forced labor installation, and a boy lying on the ground covered in dirt and soot. I then handed Sunset another picture.
On the back of this picture said After the battle. and the picture had a light grey sky, and hundreds of refugees getting food from a nearby shelter. There were faint smiles on the faces of the civilians.
"Last I heard, the skies are almost blue again, and the water almost clear. But the best news I'd ever gotten from Poseidon, was that my old CO was starting a life there. She's got a wife and two adopted kids now. I said looking out over the forest. "I guess if she can start a new life, I could eventually settle down too." I said "But tha-" I didn't finish me sentence before I saw a red optic in the shadows of the forest. "Get inside, slowly and calmly." I said to Sunset, she looked at me in confusion.
"There is an IMC Titan hidden in the forest, he doesn't know I saw him. Walk. Inside. Now." I said, my low voice clearly showing the seriousness of the situation. She nodded and made to walk inside. I stood up, and walked towards a demolished section of the castle. Plenty of wall running surfaces and space to double jump.
I heard the Tone step out into the clearing. Bang! went it's 40mm Tracker Cannon, a round whizzed by my head. I sprinted to a wall, jumping onto it. I ran, jumping from wall to broken wall, praying the Tone doesn't kill me instantly. The Tone kept firing off it's cannon, the rounds flew by me, nearly ending my life. I felt as though I encountered this pilot before. Eventually, time appeared to slow down as I saw the Apex Predator insignia on the Hull of the Titan. But that's not what told me who he was.
It was the voice that came from it.
"So, you finally show your face. I've been waiting for this moment for a whole year Joe." Said the Pilot inside the hulking mass of metal and circuits he called a Titan. "I've learned a few new tricks since our last meeting." Said Aaron, the Apex Predator who betrayed the 6-4 and by extension, me.
"So have I Aaron!" I shouted, jumping over the Titan, throwing a satchel charge. "I trust you enhanced your Auto-Titan?" I hollered, ducking through various holes in the walls, hidden from him. He fired off a Sonar Ping, easily spotting me.
"You're Goddamn right you Scottish sonuvabitch!" He yelled. "I told you about Apex! I wanted us to join them TOGETHER! But you just had to tell Gates!" He yelled at me, firing off a round, piercing my left shoulder with shrapnel from the blast. I groaned in pain as I ripped the shard of metal from my flesh.
"Well, at least I didn't betray all I stood for." I groaned out to myself, applying what I could to stop the bleeding. I heard the Titan walk by where I was hiding. I ran out and leapt up on the Titan, pulling a battery out. I heard the Titan open up, letting Aaron out. Apparently he didn't learn much. I leapt off the Titan with my new battery when I felt an explosion of pain hit my waist. Time slowed down as I fell, I saw Aaron leaping over his Titan to get a better shot. I pulled a trigger twice in rapid succession. Aaron was consumed in the explosion, his body flew off the chassis of the Titan, landing three ft. from me.
I looked to the Titan to see the Titan it moving less like it was being driven, and more like it was driving itself. Great.
The Titan was emanating flames from vents on it's back, signifying it's health was near critical. At last some luck! I thought to myself before seeing the Titan activate it's Salvo Core.
"SHIT!" I yelped as I slid behind cover, feeling the earth shake as the rockets collide with the world around me, destroying the walls and ground in front of my cover. "How the fuck am I even alive?!" I yelled aloud before remembering the hostile Titan. I grabbed my Charge Rifle, aiming at it's optic, and unloaded five rounds into it. I ran up to the Titan, sliding under its massive fist, and fired a round into its groin. The Tone was now Doomed. As I stood up behind it, I threw a satchel at its legs, blowing them out from under it. It managed to turn around, only to see me standing, holding a my rifle fully charged.
"I hate Tones." I said before blasting the Titan into oblivion. As it exploded, I turned away, saying one thing to myself. "6-4 evermore."
I made my way to Aaron's body to find he's still breathing. I knelt down next to him and took his helmet off. He watched as I took my helmet off as well.
"What t-the hell are *cough* you doing?" Aaron asked me, coughing up blood. I looked at him, my face an emotionless mask. I took his helmet's external radio and placed it on my helmet, as the helmet decrypted the radio I looked over to see a discarded pistol one foot away from us. I looked back at him.
"Keeping a promise." I said before pulling out my R-97. "You know, the one I made to Gates? I told her I'd find you. And if we ever got into a situation like this, I'd execute you." I said whilst standing up, raising the barrel to his chest.
"Y-you think that killing me will bring them back?" He asked hoarsely. "It won't change a thing." He said. I looked down at the gun in my hand thinking about my next action. "You won't kill me Joey." Aaron said, staring me in the eye. I locked eyes with him. "Then again, everyone thought I wouldn't kill Em-" He didn't finish as I unloaded all forty rounds from the magazine into his chest. I saw the life fade from his eyes before putting an entire magazine in his head and detonated the corpse with a satchel charge for good measure.
I walked into the ruins to see Sunset Shimmer looking worried as I collapsed in front of her. I looked at my clothes to see blood dominate my arm and chest. The shrapnel must've hit an artery. Was the last thing I thought before passing out.
Author's Note
Here it is! another chapter in the story, and another in the works!
Just so you know, a klick is a military term used to denote a distance of one kilometer.
I included the anthro tag, but the actual appearance is like when the Main 7 Pony Up in EqG, but for everyone all the time, and with pony hooves.
I did this so their heads can fit into Pilot helmets easier.
Also, I'm thinking of giving him Dice Roll as a boost, with his Smart Pistol as a sidearm.
Let me know what you think of the story in the comment section below.
