TCB: Changeling Experimentsby SarpZChaptersChapter 2: A Forgotten HideoutChapter 3: Inside The BunkerChapter 1: From Beginning to PresentChapter 2: A Forgotten HideoutThey had tried their best to move the vehicle but it was no use, wheels were stuck so hard and the mud was too slippery to move on it. "Alright, one more time, three two one, now!" Stephen, Cheng and Sasha were pushing the vehicle from all sides while Olivia was pressing on the gas to move it. "Come... on!" No, it wasn't moving. Olivia stopped pressing as everyone stopped pushing. Stephen waited for a moment to have some breath, then punched the metal surface. "Just move God damn it!" He then leaned on the back of the vehicle and started breathing slow and heavily. Everyone was waiting for his order but it didn't come. Sasha was the one who spoke first "So, what now?" he asked unsurely about how Colonel would respond "It's getting dark..." Stephen lifted his head to face his teammates. Sasha was right, it was getting dark, they needed a shelter and they still couldn't get the vehicle moving. "We will try out later, for now we need somewhere to spend the night." He then stood up and headed to driver seat "Olivia what is the condition of the armored?" Olivia was from US just like Stephen, a middle aged woman, a soldier, a mechanic. She lifted her head with a flaslight in her hand and turned to Stephen. "Well, systems are working perfectly fine, it has nothing do with inside. Can't say the same about those I'm afriad" she pointed at wheels of the vehicle. "Do you think we can stay inside it?" asked Stephen. Olivia glanced at the wheels, mud and turned back to Stephen "I don't suggest that, we may drive it worse than now by putting more pressure." "We should look for a shelter." Stephen turned to others "We will split, and look for somewhere to spend the night. A village, a house, somewhere safe enough to stay a while." He reached to his backbag and took out four transmitters "Take these, if one of us find a place, we will inform eachother. Understood?" Everyone took the transmitters from Stephen "Yes sir!" "Just in case, keep your weapons with you." he said as everyone headed to different directions. -30 Minutes Later- Forest, just the Goddamn forest and nothing more. 'There has to be a civilisation somewhere around here!' Stephen thought himself, he was walking for almost half an hour now but he can't see anything except long, moist trees around him. He continued to walk further without any idea where he was. What else could he do at the moment? He wasn't even aware where he was heading, he was lost in thoughts again his memories... Three years ago, life in Florida was continuing normally, people were enjoying their lives, some of them going to their jobs, kids and teens going to school... And there were the ponification camps working. Everyday tons of people were getting converted like it was nothing unusual. Most of them were going to so called Equestria but of course there were the ones who prefered staying in their homes too. Stephen, personally didn't care about them much: Their lives, their decisions after all but of course not everyone were thinking the same way. There were people who hated this conversion process, like an anti-conversion group. They were called the Human Liberation Front, HLF for short. A terrorist group, formed by people who think the ponification is dangerous and will become a trouble in the future for humanity. World has seen them as a community formed by paranoiac people and didn't take them serious at first but their attack on the Atlanta Bureau, in State of Georgia, changed this situation. Thousands of humans and ponies died that day and government started to search for the person who is in charge of this attack. HLF was silenced, not completely but significantly. Their actions were weakened and became less dangerous. Well of course, every coin has two sides, if there was an anti-pony community, then there was an anti-human group either: PHL. PHL was a Equestrian terrorist group who believed conversion was the only way to cure humanity and Earth. And as everybody can guess their actions were formed by their ideals: Members of the PHL were converting people without their consent and ruining innocent humans' lives. Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria actually declared this group guilty and forbade any kind of action similar to PHL's at first. That was until that day. People were running away, screaming for help, some of them were crushing under another, children were crying, car alarms were ringing insanely. Stephen thought it HLF at first. He took cover behind a wall to observe what was going on. A few pegasus' flew past the crowd rapidly. 'Wait... Pegasi?' As they passed, a few glass bottles of purple liquid fell on the ground, some of them hit a man just in front of him, which fell down while running away. The man's body was covered with the liquid, he turned to Stephen and stretched out his hand to him "Help me!" Just as he did, his fingers started bend backwards, then forwards again, repeating the movement for a few seconds. Stephen watched the man's body transform, seeing every bone of his body bend, break and reshape inside with a great pain. Same thing was happening to everyone who contacted with the liquid in front of him. That man just screamed for help was not a human now, he was one of them, one of those ponies. Stephen stared at the unconscious body of him. The hand he tried to reach him with was nothing more than a hoof, his body was covered with a brown coat and there was a muzzle positioned under his eyes. "H-Holy shit..." Slowly, he reached to the former human in front of him to check if he is okay but then he heard flapping sounds nearby, pegasi were returning. Without hesitation, Stephen stood up and ran to the backstreet as fast as he could but fell on the muddy surface he was walking on, surrounded by long trees. He stood up again and looked around. He was very far away from the last place he was a moment ago. He was daydreaming about that horrible memory, that was why he couldn't make out how long it passed "Ugh, same shit everytime!" Yes this was not the first, in fact this was kind of a routine for him for a long time. Stephen shaked of and rubbed his eyes to be onself again. He checked his stuff and looked around. Yup he was far far away from their vehicle. "Excellent Steve! You did it again!" He opened his arms to congratulate himself. Just as he took a step forward to the direction he came from, he felt something sticky beneath his boot, something like jelly. He glanced at his boots, their soles were covered with something. He streched out his two fingers and wiped the sticky thing on them to take a closer look. A jelly like, hyaloid, slimey matter with greenish blue color. "Eew what the fu-" before he finished his swear, a hissing sound came behind him. Stephen quickly aimed at the direction of the sound. He switched the mode from safety to semi-auto and scanned the scenery. He didn't mind before but the trees in front of him were covered with that blue slime, same as on his boots. "The hell?" Stephen took a few steps forward, getting closer to the trees and bushes around them. A crackling came from the bushes. Stephen crouched, and reached out to the bush with his left hand while he held his rifle with his right. He slowly gripped the branch, just when he was about to lift it, his transmitter buzzed. "Colonel Cartwright, I found something. You gotta see this." It was Olivia talking. "Sir? Do you copy?" Stephen let go of the branch with an annoyed sigh and he stood up, Stephen pressed the button on the device to answer "Clearly Lieutenant. Report your location." "I'm in 327-North sir." Olivia reported Stephen looked at the trees once again "Hold your position Lieutenant." "Roger that." buzzed the radio. Stephen switched the channel to notice others, still not taking his eyes off the trees just for a moment. "It's Colonel Cartwright speaking, every memeber is coming to the direction 327-North, I repeat, 327-North." Radio buzzed again "Roger that." Stephen pulled his finger from the button and turned around to go meet the team. But just as he stepped forward, he glanced back at the slime covered plants one more time. Then he took the road to the meeting point. After a while the team was complete except Stephen and waiting for Olivia's report. Cheng was sitting, waiting for team's leader and Olivia was thinkering with her rifle by the time. Sasha, who is bored of this quite moment couldn't be patient "So what did you find Olivia?" Olivia turned to Sasha with a serious expression "We have to wait for Colonel. I'll report when he's here." Cheng stood up from where he was sitting and pointed towards the path behind the two. It was Stephen approching. From the look of his face, it was clear he was tired. After catching up with the rest of the team, he stopped where he was and looked at the curious faces in front of him. He made a move with his hand "Report Lieutenant." Olivia saluted, turned back and pointed at the trees ahead. "Sir, I found an underground hideout about five meters away, I thought we chould search inside and see if we can use it." Stephen stood silent for a minute, then turned to others "What about you? Have you found anywhere we can stay?" "No sir." Sasha replied and Cheng just nodded negatively. Stephen turned back at Olivia "Very well. Lead the way Lieutenant." Olivia straightened up and turned back to the direction she pointed before. "This way." Sasha and Cheng continued after Olivia, and after them Stephen was following. After a short while, they were arrived where Olivia led them. A rusty, metal, square shaped trapdoor was positioned at the center of the grassy ground around it. It reminded Stephen the old bunkers from World War II. Cheng ducked and took a closer look at the enterance, touched the rusty metal surface and turned back at Colonel, waiting for his decision. Stephen scanned the area around them and with a final sigh, he gave the word "We're going in." After his command, every member of them climbed inside. At last, it was Stephen's turn, he put his foot on the metal bar of the ladder and slowly got inside being careful not to lose his balance and fall. Just he was about to get in completely, he lifted his head and stared back at the way they came from. They were being stalked... Chapter 3: Inside The BunkerAs the team got inside, everybody siwtched their flashlights to investigate. The walls were in a good condition suprisingly, yes they were old and decaying but still strong enough to keep this place stable. The space was wide too, an average adult had to jump to touch the ceiling. There was a corridor extending at the other side of the room, leading to more rooms on both sides of it. The doors were made out of some kind of metal, -hard to tell the true material- left to decay for a long time ago. Stephen shut the trapdoor and switched his light as he came down. After taking a good look at the room, he took the first step. "Lets move." As he got closer to the corridor he lifted his hand back to stop the team. Then he reached out to a lever, wihch was positioned on the wall and pulled it down. The lights turned on and lightened the dark space entirely. He then turned back at his team "Everyone pick a room and search inside." Every soldier seperated and got into the different rooms ahead. Stephen took the second room and started scanning. The room had a table, a big refrigerator -just like a butcher's- and a few chopping knives hanging from the ceiling with hook cahins. The refrigerator wasn't working as expected and it was empty inside. The knives had blood stains on them; seemed like someone cut something alive in here before. And there was the table: Stephen got closer to the wooden furniture and took a closer look. It's surfce was covered with blood, dried a long time ago. And alongside of blood, there was something else covering it, that bluish slime... Stephen recognized this quickly and took a closer and more careful look at it. He touched the fluid with his fingers once again "What the hell are you?" As he wipe cleaned his fingers, he pulled his hand back. He gave a sigh and just before he was about to turn around, a voice boomed on his ear "Oh what the heck is that!?" Stephen backed away and aimed his rifle at Sasha, standing in front of him. After realized the situation that it was only his teammate, he put down his gun "Jesus, Sasha what is wrong with you!?" He stared at him with an enraged expression. Sasha looked at Stephen with an ashamed face "I-I'm sorry Colonel, It's just that... thing on the table. It seemed so strange..." He turned back at the table as Stephen came closer. "What is this thing?" he gazed at Stephen. Stephen was worried, this thing was the same material with what he had seen in the forest, on the trees. But the question is, what is this thing; and what does it belong to? "I wish I knew..." He patted Sasha's shoulder amicably "Lets go gather with the rest of team shall we?" The two got out of the room. Everyone gathered in the corridor and turned to Colonel who was coming closer with Sasha "So what have you found?" he eyed the members one by one. Olivia took a step closer "Sir, I have found a radio and a communication device. I am not sure if it works but I can try." Stephen nodded and turned to Cheng. Chinese man just opened the door right next to him and presented inside with his hands: It was a room with three beds positioned on the floor. Stephen turned to Cheng and nodded "Excellent Sergeant." Cheng just smiled and nodded like he was saying You're welcome. And finally there was Sasha who was rubbing the back of his head "The door of the room I went to search didn't open. I tried to open it but either it's locked too tight or stuck."Sasha looked like a student who forgot to do his homework at that moment. Stephen lifted a brow but didn't say anything. "And anything strange?" Olivia and Cheng nodded negatively while Sasha just glanced at him. "Very well then. Guys, I think we all deserved a good rest for our efforts today." He dropped his rifle and let go of his backbag with relaxation. "Tomorrow evening, we hit the road again. But until then" He opened his arms to both ways "enjoy your time!" He closed the door they came from with Sasha and headed to the bedroom. A hand caught his shoulder from the back. He looked back and see the blonde boy staring at him with his blue eyes worriedly. "Is something wrong Sasha?" Sasha looked around to be sure no one is listening, the turned back at Stephen "Sir, aren't we going to tell them about..?" Stephen's expression changed to serious and stood silent for a few seconds. "I don't think that will cause such a problem." They got inside the room. Stephen opened his bag and took out a canned beef stew then turned to Sasha again "Don't worry" he threw to can at Sasha to catch "we are leaving tomorrow and you know we have much bigger problems than some dirt. Don't let it bother you." he smiled at Sasha and had a return from him. Stephen then took out three more cans and offered one to Cheng, who was sitting on one bed and reading a book he got before they came here. "There ya go buddy." Cheng took the can and thanked colonel as he opened it. Stephen looked at the cans in his hands. The food wasn't perfect but it was good enough to eat. He then stood up and walked out of the room, headed to the other one which Olivia was working on the device she mentioned earlier. She was so focused that didn't even realize Stephen was inside. "So Oli, how's it going?" Olivia turned his head immediately with shock but after seeing it was just her leader she sighed with relief "Oh Colonel, couldn't realize you came over." Stephen got closer and sit to the chair right next to hers "Easy Oli, you can just call me Steve. I might be leading but we're friends after all." Olivia looked at Stephen with a warm smile. He offered the meal to her. "Hungry?" Olivia took the can, opened it and started eating with the plastic spoon she took from her bag. Thanks." she then returned to her work, as he kept eating. Stephen actually waited for her to talk more but it seems like she was too busy with the radio. Getting no word from the girl, he finally decided to start a conversation. "So... have you figured out what's wrong with this old fella?" he patted on the radio carefully, not to damage it. Olivia didn’t take her eyes from her work "It seems like the circuit board has burnt because of high voltage." She picked up the part and lifted up slowly. "It is impossible to make this thing work." She put the part back in it's socket and turned back to Stephen as she folded her hands. "It's no use." Stephen put his hand on his chin and lifted his brows then got up from his seat "Welp, okay then, at least you tried. Then it's only option to leave it as be..." He the stopped for a moment, focusing on something on the table. He pointed his finger at the big, dusty, metal object on the table, standing alongside the other parts of the device. "What is that?" Olivia turned to direction he was pointing at and took the object he meant. She took a closer look right after she blowed on it. "It's a video camera." Stephen took the camera from Olivia and opened the side screen. "Wow I remember I had one of these. Pretty old though." He then pressed the power button on it, not expecting it to work but surprisingly , one of the lights of it shined for a second. Stephen then turned back at Olivia with excitement "You saw that?" Olivia glanced at Stephen with a curious face not understanding why he excited that much. Stephen brought the camera to her face and pressed again, making the red light shine. "This thing works!" his excitment faded away just as he realized why isn't the camera working "But, it's battery is dead." Olivia reached out to the table and took out a cable with a smile "Maybe this can help?" Stephen took the cable and plugged it on the wall. Just he was about to start the camera, Olivia grabbed Stephen's arm to stop him. "I think we should wait for it to recharge" Stephen looked at Olivia quizzically. "This camera is old Stephen, we can burn it when we want to check it." Stephen pulled his hand back slowly and nodded "Very well. Then lets go have a sleep, tomorrow morning we can see what's hiding inside this little piece of metal." They headed to bedroom together, seeing two other members fell asleep in two beds. And there was the last bed, remained unoccupied. "You take the bed" Stephen reached out to his backbag, took out a sleeping bag. "I was prepared anyway." Olivia watched as he laid the sleeping bag on the floor. Olivia lifted an eyebrow "Are you sure?” She patted on the bed “We can share it if you want." she teased Stephen with a naughty smile. This actually made Stephen blush but he managed to hide it, he then turned back at Olivia and returned the smile "Not under these circumstances." After this long day, with the fatigue of the day, they both fell asleep and the night continued silently... Author's Note So yeah I finally started to get the action, and this is the time I start posting. Tell me in comments if I have any mistakes with writing or grammar. And if you have anything to say, usr the comment section below. Chapter 1: From Beginning to PresentRain, it was raining again. It wasn't actually unexpected since Stephen and his teammates were in the Blacksea Region of Asia Minor. But this doesn't make the situation any less annoying. The water drops hitting your face, sometimes shots you in the eye and ruin your vision, normally no one would care but now, as they were in a hurry and had no time to waste and no place for any kind of distraction. It was four years now since the war started and things were not getting any better since then. North-west of Europe has already fallen, destroyed by the force of the barrier which grows every moment. Stephen never understood why they were assigned to this duty: Yes they could stop those barnyard freaks but when it comes to that goddamn barrier, they stood no chance. No human-made thing could get through it: Bullets, missiles, jets, vehicles, even buildings! Those creatures, those colourful horses... Those ponies. What did they ever want from us in the first place? They just appeared in middle of the ocean, opened those bureaus -Conversion Bureaus in full name for the ones who don't know- who got in as a human, got out as a pony. That's what happened at the very beginning. They opened those bureaus to present us a better life. At first, it wasn't actually so bad, In fact it was even great: If someone who has a disease that can not be cured, such as cancer; he was healing instantly! But then... when they got outnumbered, that's when everything became avkward. First, ponies who remained or came to Earth started to suggest people to join the conversion process, then they started to follow humans they found to convince them to be converted. Then, several attacks occured by the group called PER -Ponification for Earth's Rebirth-, and then everything started: You think bureaus were the beginning? No, everything has just started. After these attacks became more often, organized forces formed up and appeared in cities, using the potion to convert every single human they find. These organized groups became bigger and bigger everyday, and then the truth was learnt: It was Celestia's orders, to convert every human. These organized groups were her armies and they were implementing the orders of hers. Of course, humanity's response didn't wait long: United Nations, or what has left from it; confronted the Equestrian army. The defensive battles succeeded and as a result, United Nations decided to attack Equestria to end this carnage. And then, that bubble showed up, covering every inch of the Island of Equestria: The Barrier. As I said before, no human-made object can trespass the barrier. As if this wasn't an enough problem for humans, the bubble started to grow. Grow and destroy whatever it come across with it. It was Celestia's spell that generating that bubble, and make it get bigger. After years, it almost reached the coastlines of America and Europe. Celestia's army managed to reach and capture Balkans. However, the barrier hasn't grown that far yet: So UN still had a chance to retake those territories and save people who were suffering there while they still have time. United Nations armed forces were fighting against Equestrians, forcing them to retreat but whenever they succeed, ponies return with more. That was where Stephen Cartwright and his team assgined to: The Southern Balkans Front. It was impossible to reach there from the European borders of Russia, Blacksea was no better either because of the Pegasi threat: So the only way to reach Southern Balkans was the Caucasus to Blacksea coastlines of Turkey. They were in an armored vehicle, heading through the west, the wheather was rainy and the path they were moving on was a complete mess, no road, no light: Only trees and the mud beneath them. This was making Stephen sick, he hated mud and the condition of the rainy weather was not helping at all "Can't this thing move faster?" he asked with boredom to Sasha, the Russian driver. Sasha was in his twenties from the look of him, probably going to university before the war started and now, he was here: Fighting in the battle. "We are going as fast as we can sir." Stephen actually knew they can't go faster, he was just bored and wanted to talk to someone. He then turned to Cheng to talk but he realized he wasn't conscious: He was asleep, the long journey left the old man tired. The Chinese man seemed too peaceful to wake so Stephen skipped him. Others were not different either. All of the team were sleeping except Sasha and Stephen. Well of course, Sasha cannot sleep since he is the driver but Stephen? It was complete different story, the nightmares he have were not giving him a break. Every single night, even in the most quite and peaceful night, they come find Stephen, and strangle him, cut his breath, torture him until he wakes up. Dark silhouettes were chasing him in an endless tunnel. Even he was tired, he was afraid to sleep; afraid to get caught in his sleep, afraid to die in his sleep, afraid to be lost in his sleep. A voice was trying to reach him "Colonel Cartwright... Colonel Cartwright? Colonel Cartwright!" Stephen jumped from where he is and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. "Sir are you alright?" It was Sasha "I was calling for you sir, you couldn't hear me. Is everything alright?" Stephen rubbed the back of his head and his eyes, he sighed with relief "I'm fine private Baranov" he then realized the vehicle was not moving "Why did we stop?" "I tried to tell you sir, it seems like we got stuck in the mud." Sasha stepped on the accelaretor to move the vehicle but it didn't work. "I think we should check it out" Stephen straightened up and got out of the car. Sasha did the same as the Colonel did. He scanned the vehicle from bottom to top: Yes, they were stuck in the mud. "Sasha, wake the others. We will need more hands to get this metal stack working." "Yes sir." Sasha saluted as he started to wake the team. While Stephen continued to examine the condition of the vehicle, a sound of rustling caught his ear. He suddenly turned around and looked for the source of the sound. He lowered the tone of his voice "Sasha... Sasha!" Sasha and Cheng were awake now, he approched to Colonel quietly. "What is it sir?" "Hand me that rifle over there" he whispered as he pointed to the M416 on the backseat of the vehicle "now!" Private did as Colonel ordered "One of them?" Sasha asked as he took out his pistol, ready to shoot. Stephen aimed at the bushes where the rustles came from "It might be." He then whispered to Cheng without changing his position "Cheng, go cover Olivia." Cheng did as the Colonel said and took out his shotgun as he took cover behind the vehicle. "I thought they couldn't reach the Asia Minor sir?" Sasha whispered anxiously, still keeping his position against the bushes. The rustling grew closer and closer, all of the team were tightened their grip on their weapons and finally, a four legged creature jumped out of the thicket. It was a white goat. Team waited for something unusual, maybe a spell or a trap? But nothing starnge happened. "Maaa!" Goat got away from them, hopping like nothing happened. Everyone sighed with relief and put their guns down. Stephen wiped the tear of his forehead "For God's sake..." he chuckled as he leaned on the vehicle. "That was close, wasn't it?" Everyone laughed with relaxation. "Lets get this thing out of that shit." Author's Note Alright, so I decided to write a fic with TCB plot and I hope I don't regret it. I don't guarantee anything.
Chapter 2: A Forgotten HideoutThey had tried their best to move the vehicle but it was no use, wheels were stuck so hard and the mud was too slippery to move on it. "Alright, one more time, three two one, now!" Stephen, Cheng and Sasha were pushing the vehicle from all sides while Olivia was pressing on the gas to move it. "Come... on!" No, it wasn't moving. Olivia stopped pressing as everyone stopped pushing. Stephen waited for a moment to have some breath, then punched the metal surface. "Just move God damn it!" He then leaned on the back of the vehicle and started breathing slow and heavily. Everyone was waiting for his order but it didn't come. Sasha was the one who spoke first "So, what now?" he asked unsurely about how Colonel would respond "It's getting dark..." Stephen lifted his head to face his teammates. Sasha was right, it was getting dark, they needed a shelter and they still couldn't get the vehicle moving. "We will try out later, for now we need somewhere to spend the night." He then stood up and headed to driver seat "Olivia what is the condition of the armored?" Olivia was from US just like Stephen, a middle aged woman, a soldier, a mechanic. She lifted her head with a flaslight in her hand and turned to Stephen. "Well, systems are working perfectly fine, it has nothing do with inside. Can't say the same about those I'm afriad" she pointed at wheels of the vehicle. "Do you think we can stay inside it?" asked Stephen. Olivia glanced at the wheels, mud and turned back to Stephen "I don't suggest that, we may drive it worse than now by putting more pressure." "We should look for a shelter." Stephen turned to others "We will split, and look for somewhere to spend the night. A village, a house, somewhere safe enough to stay a while." He reached to his backbag and took out four transmitters "Take these, if one of us find a place, we will inform eachother. Understood?" Everyone took the transmitters from Stephen "Yes sir!" "Just in case, keep your weapons with you." he said as everyone headed to different directions. -30 Minutes Later- Forest, just the Goddamn forest and nothing more. 'There has to be a civilisation somewhere around here!' Stephen thought himself, he was walking for almost half an hour now but he can't see anything except long, moist trees around him. He continued to walk further without any idea where he was. What else could he do at the moment? He wasn't even aware where he was heading, he was lost in thoughts again his memories... Three years ago, life in Florida was continuing normally, people were enjoying their lives, some of them going to their jobs, kids and teens going to school... And there were the ponification camps working. Everyday tons of people were getting converted like it was nothing unusual. Most of them were going to so called Equestria but of course there were the ones who prefered staying in their homes too. Stephen, personally didn't care about them much: Their lives, their decisions after all but of course not everyone were thinking the same way. There were people who hated this conversion process, like an anti-conversion group. They were called the Human Liberation Front, HLF for short. A terrorist group, formed by people who think the ponification is dangerous and will become a trouble in the future for humanity. World has seen them as a community formed by paranoiac people and didn't take them serious at first but their attack on the Atlanta Bureau, in State of Georgia, changed this situation. Thousands of humans and ponies died that day and government started to search for the person who is in charge of this attack. HLF was silenced, not completely but significantly. Their actions were weakened and became less dangerous. Well of course, every coin has two sides, if there was an anti-pony community, then there was an anti-human group either: PHL. PHL was a Equestrian terrorist group who believed conversion was the only way to cure humanity and Earth. And as everybody can guess their actions were formed by their ideals: Members of the PHL were converting people without their consent and ruining innocent humans' lives. Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria actually declared this group guilty and forbade any kind of action similar to PHL's at first. That was until that day. People were running away, screaming for help, some of them were crushing under another, children were crying, car alarms were ringing insanely. Stephen thought it HLF at first. He took cover behind a wall to observe what was going on. A few pegasus' flew past the crowd rapidly. 'Wait... Pegasi?' As they passed, a few glass bottles of purple liquid fell on the ground, some of them hit a man just in front of him, which fell down while running away. The man's body was covered with the liquid, he turned to Stephen and stretched out his hand to him "Help me!" Just as he did, his fingers started bend backwards, then forwards again, repeating the movement for a few seconds. Stephen watched the man's body transform, seeing every bone of his body bend, break and reshape inside with a great pain. Same thing was happening to everyone who contacted with the liquid in front of him. That man just screamed for help was not a human now, he was one of them, one of those ponies. Stephen stared at the unconscious body of him. The hand he tried to reach him with was nothing more than a hoof, his body was covered with a brown coat and there was a muzzle positioned under his eyes. "H-Holy shit..." Slowly, he reached to the former human in front of him to check if he is okay but then he heard flapping sounds nearby, pegasi were returning. Without hesitation, Stephen stood up and ran to the backstreet as fast as he could but fell on the muddy surface he was walking on, surrounded by long trees. He stood up again and looked around. He was very far away from the last place he was a moment ago. He was daydreaming about that horrible memory, that was why he couldn't make out how long it passed "Ugh, same shit everytime!" Yes this was not the first, in fact this was kind of a routine for him for a long time. Stephen shaked of and rubbed his eyes to be onself again. He checked his stuff and looked around. Yup he was far far away from their vehicle. "Excellent Steve! You did it again!" He opened his arms to congratulate himself. Just as he took a step forward to the direction he came from, he felt something sticky beneath his boot, something like jelly. He glanced at his boots, their soles were covered with something. He streched out his two fingers and wiped the sticky thing on them to take a closer look. A jelly like, hyaloid, slimey matter with greenish blue color. "Eew what the fu-" before he finished his swear, a hissing sound came behind him. Stephen quickly aimed at the direction of the sound. He switched the mode from safety to semi-auto and scanned the scenery. He didn't mind before but the trees in front of him were covered with that blue slime, same as on his boots. "The hell?" Stephen took a few steps forward, getting closer to the trees and bushes around them. A crackling came from the bushes. Stephen crouched, and reached out to the bush with his left hand while he held his rifle with his right. He slowly gripped the branch, just when he was about to lift it, his transmitter buzzed. "Colonel Cartwright, I found something. You gotta see this." It was Olivia talking. "Sir? Do you copy?" Stephen let go of the branch with an annoyed sigh and he stood up, Stephen pressed the button on the device to answer "Clearly Lieutenant. Report your location." "I'm in 327-North sir." Olivia reported Stephen looked at the trees once again "Hold your position Lieutenant." "Roger that." buzzed the radio. Stephen switched the channel to notice others, still not taking his eyes off the trees just for a moment. "It's Colonel Cartwright speaking, every memeber is coming to the direction 327-North, I repeat, 327-North." Radio buzzed again "Roger that." Stephen pulled his finger from the button and turned around to go meet the team. But just as he stepped forward, he glanced back at the slime covered plants one more time. Then he took the road to the meeting point. After a while the team was complete except Stephen and waiting for Olivia's report. Cheng was sitting, waiting for team's leader and Olivia was thinkering with her rifle by the time. Sasha, who is bored of this quite moment couldn't be patient "So what did you find Olivia?" Olivia turned to Sasha with a serious expression "We have to wait for Colonel. I'll report when he's here." Cheng stood up from where he was sitting and pointed towards the path behind the two. It was Stephen approching. From the look of his face, it was clear he was tired. After catching up with the rest of the team, he stopped where he was and looked at the curious faces in front of him. He made a move with his hand "Report Lieutenant." Olivia saluted, turned back and pointed at the trees ahead. "Sir, I found an underground hideout about five meters away, I thought we chould search inside and see if we can use it." Stephen stood silent for a minute, then turned to others "What about you? Have you found anywhere we can stay?" "No sir." Sasha replied and Cheng just nodded negatively. Stephen turned back at Olivia "Very well. Lead the way Lieutenant." Olivia straightened up and turned back to the direction she pointed before. "This way." Sasha and Cheng continued after Olivia, and after them Stephen was following. After a short while, they were arrived where Olivia led them. A rusty, metal, square shaped trapdoor was positioned at the center of the grassy ground around it. It reminded Stephen the old bunkers from World War II. Cheng ducked and took a closer look at the enterance, touched the rusty metal surface and turned back at Colonel, waiting for his decision. Stephen scanned the area around them and with a final sigh, he gave the word "We're going in." After his command, every member of them climbed inside. At last, it was Stephen's turn, he put his foot on the metal bar of the ladder and slowly got inside being careful not to lose his balance and fall. Just he was about to get in completely, he lifted his head and stared back at the way they came from. They were being stalked...
Chapter 3: Inside The BunkerAs the team got inside, everybody siwtched their flashlights to investigate. The walls were in a good condition suprisingly, yes they were old and decaying but still strong enough to keep this place stable. The space was wide too, an average adult had to jump to touch the ceiling. There was a corridor extending at the other side of the room, leading to more rooms on both sides of it. The doors were made out of some kind of metal, -hard to tell the true material- left to decay for a long time ago. Stephen shut the trapdoor and switched his light as he came down. After taking a good look at the room, he took the first step. "Lets move." As he got closer to the corridor he lifted his hand back to stop the team. Then he reached out to a lever, wihch was positioned on the wall and pulled it down. The lights turned on and lightened the dark space entirely. He then turned back at his team "Everyone pick a room and search inside." Every soldier seperated and got into the different rooms ahead. Stephen took the second room and started scanning. The room had a table, a big refrigerator -just like a butcher's- and a few chopping knives hanging from the ceiling with hook cahins. The refrigerator wasn't working as expected and it was empty inside. The knives had blood stains on them; seemed like someone cut something alive in here before. And there was the table: Stephen got closer to the wooden furniture and took a closer look. It's surfce was covered with blood, dried a long time ago. And alongside of blood, there was something else covering it, that bluish slime... Stephen recognized this quickly and took a closer and more careful look at it. He touched the fluid with his fingers once again "What the hell are you?" As he wipe cleaned his fingers, he pulled his hand back. He gave a sigh and just before he was about to turn around, a voice boomed on his ear "Oh what the heck is that!?" Stephen backed away and aimed his rifle at Sasha, standing in front of him. After realized the situation that it was only his teammate, he put down his gun "Jesus, Sasha what is wrong with you!?" He stared at him with an enraged expression. Sasha looked at Stephen with an ashamed face "I-I'm sorry Colonel, It's just that... thing on the table. It seemed so strange..." He turned back at the table as Stephen came closer. "What is this thing?" he gazed at Stephen. Stephen was worried, this thing was the same material with what he had seen in the forest, on the trees. But the question is, what is this thing; and what does it belong to? "I wish I knew..." He patted Sasha's shoulder amicably "Lets go gather with the rest of team shall we?" The two got out of the room. Everyone gathered in the corridor and turned to Colonel who was coming closer with Sasha "So what have you found?" he eyed the members one by one. Olivia took a step closer "Sir, I have found a radio and a communication device. I am not sure if it works but I can try." Stephen nodded and turned to Cheng. Chinese man just opened the door right next to him and presented inside with his hands: It was a room with three beds positioned on the floor. Stephen turned to Cheng and nodded "Excellent Sergeant." Cheng just smiled and nodded like he was saying You're welcome. And finally there was Sasha who was rubbing the back of his head "The door of the room I went to search didn't open. I tried to open it but either it's locked too tight or stuck."Sasha looked like a student who forgot to do his homework at that moment. Stephen lifted a brow but didn't say anything. "And anything strange?" Olivia and Cheng nodded negatively while Sasha just glanced at him. "Very well then. Guys, I think we all deserved a good rest for our efforts today." He dropped his rifle and let go of his backbag with relaxation. "Tomorrow evening, we hit the road again. But until then" He opened his arms to both ways "enjoy your time!" He closed the door they came from with Sasha and headed to the bedroom. A hand caught his shoulder from the back. He looked back and see the blonde boy staring at him with his blue eyes worriedly. "Is something wrong Sasha?" Sasha looked around to be sure no one is listening, the turned back at Stephen "Sir, aren't we going to tell them about..?" Stephen's expression changed to serious and stood silent for a few seconds. "I don't think that will cause such a problem." They got inside the room. Stephen opened his bag and took out a canned beef stew then turned to Sasha again "Don't worry" he threw to can at Sasha to catch "we are leaving tomorrow and you know we have much bigger problems than some dirt. Don't let it bother you." he smiled at Sasha and had a return from him. Stephen then took out three more cans and offered one to Cheng, who was sitting on one bed and reading a book he got before they came here. "There ya go buddy." Cheng took the can and thanked colonel as he opened it. Stephen looked at the cans in his hands. The food wasn't perfect but it was good enough to eat. He then stood up and walked out of the room, headed to the other one which Olivia was working on the device she mentioned earlier. She was so focused that didn't even realize Stephen was inside. "So Oli, how's it going?" Olivia turned his head immediately with shock but after seeing it was just her leader she sighed with relief "Oh Colonel, couldn't realize you came over." Stephen got closer and sit to the chair right next to hers "Easy Oli, you can just call me Steve. I might be leading but we're friends after all." Olivia looked at Stephen with a warm smile. He offered the meal to her. "Hungry?" Olivia took the can, opened it and started eating with the plastic spoon she took from her bag. Thanks." she then returned to her work, as he kept eating. Stephen actually waited for her to talk more but it seems like she was too busy with the radio. Getting no word from the girl, he finally decided to start a conversation. "So... have you figured out what's wrong with this old fella?" he patted on the radio carefully, not to damage it. Olivia didn’t take her eyes from her work "It seems like the circuit board has burnt because of high voltage." She picked up the part and lifted up slowly. "It is impossible to make this thing work." She put the part back in it's socket and turned back to Stephen as she folded her hands. "It's no use." Stephen put his hand on his chin and lifted his brows then got up from his seat "Welp, okay then, at least you tried. Then it's only option to leave it as be..." He the stopped for a moment, focusing on something on the table. He pointed his finger at the big, dusty, metal object on the table, standing alongside the other parts of the device. "What is that?" Olivia turned to direction he was pointing at and took the object he meant. She took a closer look right after she blowed on it. "It's a video camera." Stephen took the camera from Olivia and opened the side screen. "Wow I remember I had one of these. Pretty old though." He then pressed the power button on it, not expecting it to work but surprisingly , one of the lights of it shined for a second. Stephen then turned back at Olivia with excitement "You saw that?" Olivia glanced at Stephen with a curious face not understanding why he excited that much. Stephen brought the camera to her face and pressed again, making the red light shine. "This thing works!" his excitment faded away just as he realized why isn't the camera working "But, it's battery is dead." Olivia reached out to the table and took out a cable with a smile "Maybe this can help?" Stephen took the cable and plugged it on the wall. Just he was about to start the camera, Olivia grabbed Stephen's arm to stop him. "I think we should wait for it to recharge" Stephen looked at Olivia quizzically. "This camera is old Stephen, we can burn it when we want to check it." Stephen pulled his hand back slowly and nodded "Very well. Then lets go have a sleep, tomorrow morning we can see what's hiding inside this little piece of metal." They headed to bedroom together, seeing two other members fell asleep in two beds. And there was the last bed, remained unoccupied. "You take the bed" Stephen reached out to his backbag, took out a sleeping bag. "I was prepared anyway." Olivia watched as he laid the sleeping bag on the floor. Olivia lifted an eyebrow "Are you sure?” She patted on the bed “We can share it if you want." she teased Stephen with a naughty smile. This actually made Stephen blush but he managed to hide it, he then turned back at Olivia and returned the smile "Not under these circumstances." After this long day, with the fatigue of the day, they both fell asleep and the night continued silently... Author's Note So yeah I finally started to get the action, and this is the time I start posting. Tell me in comments if I have any mistakes with writing or grammar. And if you have anything to say, usr the comment section below.
Chapter 1: From Beginning to PresentRain, it was raining again. It wasn't actually unexpected since Stephen and his teammates were in the Blacksea Region of Asia Minor. But this doesn't make the situation any less annoying. The water drops hitting your face, sometimes shots you in the eye and ruin your vision, normally no one would care but now, as they were in a hurry and had no time to waste and no place for any kind of distraction. It was four years now since the war started and things were not getting any better since then. North-west of Europe has already fallen, destroyed by the force of the barrier which grows every moment. Stephen never understood why they were assigned to this duty: Yes they could stop those barnyard freaks but when it comes to that goddamn barrier, they stood no chance. No human-made thing could get through it: Bullets, missiles, jets, vehicles, even buildings! Those creatures, those colourful horses... Those ponies. What did they ever want from us in the first place? They just appeared in middle of the ocean, opened those bureaus -Conversion Bureaus in full name for the ones who don't know- who got in as a human, got out as a pony. That's what happened at the very beginning. They opened those bureaus to present us a better life. At first, it wasn't actually so bad, In fact it was even great: If someone who has a disease that can not be cured, such as cancer; he was healing instantly! But then... when they got outnumbered, that's when everything became avkward. First, ponies who remained or came to Earth started to suggest people to join the conversion process, then they started to follow humans they found to convince them to be converted. Then, several attacks occured by the group called PER -Ponification for Earth's Rebirth-, and then everything started: You think bureaus were the beginning? No, everything has just started. After these attacks became more often, organized forces formed up and appeared in cities, using the potion to convert every single human they find. These organized groups became bigger and bigger everyday, and then the truth was learnt: It was Celestia's orders, to convert every human. These organized groups were her armies and they were implementing the orders of hers. Of course, humanity's response didn't wait long: United Nations, or what has left from it; confronted the Equestrian army. The defensive battles succeeded and as a result, United Nations decided to attack Equestria to end this carnage. And then, that bubble showed up, covering every inch of the Island of Equestria: The Barrier. As I said before, no human-made object can trespass the barrier. As if this wasn't an enough problem for humans, the bubble started to grow. Grow and destroy whatever it come across with it. It was Celestia's spell that generating that bubble, and make it get bigger. After years, it almost reached the coastlines of America and Europe. Celestia's army managed to reach and capture Balkans. However, the barrier hasn't grown that far yet: So UN still had a chance to retake those territories and save people who were suffering there while they still have time. United Nations armed forces were fighting against Equestrians, forcing them to retreat but whenever they succeed, ponies return with more. That was where Stephen Cartwright and his team assgined to: The Southern Balkans Front. It was impossible to reach there from the European borders of Russia, Blacksea was no better either because of the Pegasi threat: So the only way to reach Southern Balkans was the Caucasus to Blacksea coastlines of Turkey. They were in an armored vehicle, heading through the west, the wheather was rainy and the path they were moving on was a complete mess, no road, no light: Only trees and the mud beneath them. This was making Stephen sick, he hated mud and the condition of the rainy weather was not helping at all "Can't this thing move faster?" he asked with boredom to Sasha, the Russian driver. Sasha was in his twenties from the look of him, probably going to university before the war started and now, he was here: Fighting in the battle. "We are going as fast as we can sir." Stephen actually knew they can't go faster, he was just bored and wanted to talk to someone. He then turned to Cheng to talk but he realized he wasn't conscious: He was asleep, the long journey left the old man tired. The Chinese man seemed too peaceful to wake so Stephen skipped him. Others were not different either. All of the team were sleeping except Sasha and Stephen. Well of course, Sasha cannot sleep since he is the driver but Stephen? It was complete different story, the nightmares he have were not giving him a break. Every single night, even in the most quite and peaceful night, they come find Stephen, and strangle him, cut his breath, torture him until he wakes up. Dark silhouettes were chasing him in an endless tunnel. Even he was tired, he was afraid to sleep; afraid to get caught in his sleep, afraid to die in his sleep, afraid to be lost in his sleep. A voice was trying to reach him "Colonel Cartwright... Colonel Cartwright? Colonel Cartwright!" Stephen jumped from where he is and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. "Sir are you alright?" It was Sasha "I was calling for you sir, you couldn't hear me. Is everything alright?" Stephen rubbed the back of his head and his eyes, he sighed with relief "I'm fine private Baranov" he then realized the vehicle was not moving "Why did we stop?" "I tried to tell you sir, it seems like we got stuck in the mud." Sasha stepped on the accelaretor to move the vehicle but it didn't work. "I think we should check it out" Stephen straightened up and got out of the car. Sasha did the same as the Colonel did. He scanned the vehicle from bottom to top: Yes, they were stuck in the mud. "Sasha, wake the others. We will need more hands to get this metal stack working." "Yes sir." Sasha saluted as he started to wake the team. While Stephen continued to examine the condition of the vehicle, a sound of rustling caught his ear. He suddenly turned around and looked for the source of the sound. He lowered the tone of his voice "Sasha... Sasha!" Sasha and Cheng were awake now, he approched to Colonel quietly. "What is it sir?" "Hand me that rifle over there" he whispered as he pointed to the M416 on the backseat of the vehicle "now!" Private did as Colonel ordered "One of them?" Sasha asked as he took out his pistol, ready to shoot. Stephen aimed at the bushes where the rustles came from "It might be." He then whispered to Cheng without changing his position "Cheng, go cover Olivia." Cheng did as the Colonel said and took out his shotgun as he took cover behind the vehicle. "I thought they couldn't reach the Asia Minor sir?" Sasha whispered anxiously, still keeping his position against the bushes. The rustling grew closer and closer, all of the team were tightened their grip on their weapons and finally, a four legged creature jumped out of the thicket. It was a white goat. Team waited for something unusual, maybe a spell or a trap? But nothing starnge happened. "Maaa!" Goat got away from them, hopping like nothing happened. Everyone sighed with relief and put their guns down. Stephen wiped the tear of his forehead "For God's sake..." he chuckled as he leaned on the vehicle. "That was close, wasn't it?" Everyone laughed with relaxation. "Lets get this thing out of that shit." Author's Note Alright, so I decided to write a fic with TCB plot and I hope I don't regret it. I don't guarantee anything.
