XCOM: Hard Contact

Chapters

Prologue: Mistakes were made
First Contact Part 1
First Contact Part 2
F.N.G. Part 1
F.N.G. Part 2
Science is fun

Prologue: Mistakes were made

I try to remember the way things were, but it gets harder every day. So many stories of defeat, so many faces of death. Reports are coming in from every country; it’s a well coordinated attack. The militaries of the world are severely outgunned, like the best of our firepower is nothing but a joke to them. All our defenses have been shattered, all our forces on the run. Regrouping
Somewhere
This was why we were created. The Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, or XCOM for short. We’re our world’s last hope for surviving this war. Our Forces are made up of the greatest soldiers our nations have to offer, aided by our most advanced technology. We have made leaps and bounds in the war against these unknown aliens, and discovered something remarkable. Another Alien Species, one that was actually friendly, and willing to help us in our ongoing struggle for survival. Yet even with our newfound allies, things are looking grim. The casualty rates are enormous, larger than anything we’ve ever experienced. My soldiers fall daily, each of their faces and names blending into my mind, haunting what little sleep I can get.
Remembering the way things were use to give me hope, but the truth is…
I’m starting to lose faith

~~~
“This is Rouge One, we are arriving above the crash site now. Initiating flyby.”
“Rouge One, what’s your SITREP?”
“Uh, unclear.”
“Negative copy. Say again Rouge One, over.”
“Holding at one thousand feet, It’s madness down there sir.”
“Do you have a visual on the object?”
“Affirmative. I can’t make out what it is from here, but some kind of green glow seems to be emanating from it, moving through the streets.”
“Rouge One, repeat your last, the glow is spreading?”
“Ya, it seems to be some kind of gas… I think I see some bodies down there. It looks like it’s some kind of chemical agent Colonel.”
“A biological attack? Someone wake up GSG9, this is their jurisdiction.”

~~~
“Luna?”
The princess’s eyes slowly opened, as she exhaled slowly.
“Y-yes Celestia?”
They were sitting in the throne room, completely empty save for the two royal Alicorns. They had just concluded the day’s business in the royal court, and were just about to conclude the day. But something was wrong, very wrong.
“Is everything alright?” Her sister asked.
She wanted to say yes, to shrug off what she had as just a bad feeling. But she knew it was much more than that. As the Princess of the night, she spent much of her time looking at the night sky. The planets, the stars, each of which Luna studied intently, mapped, and generally tried to understand. As a result, she had a sort of connection with the realms beyond Equestria.
“No, everything is not alright.” She replied, closing her eyes once more. “Something is wrong. Very wrong.”
“Within Equestria?” Celestia voice sounded curious, but with a twinge of worry. Luna shook her head,
“No, not in Equestria, not even on this planet. It’s somewhere very, very far away.” She opened her eyes, focusing on something far more than the here and now. “I don’t know what exactly what’s happening, but I feel… Pain…. Suffering….Fear…” Her eyes widened in horror. “And…. Death I think. It’s as if some beings were experiencing war, but it’s beyond that. This level of suffering is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before, and I have a horrible feeling that it’s only the beginning…”

~~~

Western Germany
Lieutenant Katelyn “Kate” Holt
US Delta Force
October 9th, 2012
0400 hours

“Run this by me again,” Grinch said, checking his rifle for the third time. “Why are we investigating a terrorist attack on German soil?”
“The German GSG9 team went missing about an hour ago,” This came from Colonel Maze on the radio. “They’re scrambling other forces, but they’ve asked us to investigate since your squad is the closest to ground zero.”
“What’s our objective sir?” Sandman asked, checking his gear along with the rest of his squad.
“Priority one is to find out exactly what is happening on the ground,” Maze answered. “Priority two is to locate the GSG9 team if at all possible. Get on it Metal team.”
“Copy all sir,” Sandman turned to his team. “Masks on, we might be dealing with a chemical agent down there.”
The four soldiers sealed the gas masks over their faces, all making one final check before they were deployed.
“Approaching the landing zone,” The pilot said. “Opening doors.”
The Blackhawk’s two side doors opened wide, revealing the small town that was glowing with a neon green color.
“Hey, look down there.” Truck pointed toward a nearby ship, drawing their attention to a flaming wreck.
“Overlord, we’ve located the crashed German helicopter.”
“Roger Metal Zero One, any sign of survivors?”
“Negative, nothing’s moving down there.”
“Alright, set her down nearby.”
As the helicopter moved to land, Truck looked at the sole female member of the team.
“You’re pretty quiet over there Kate.” He said.
“I’ve just got a bad feeling about all this,” She replied. “Something’s not right here.”
The helicopter landed at the end of the street, as the four commandoes moved out in formation. It was a mess, cars were overturned an in flames, abandoned police vehicles with doors opened and sirens running, and chunks of buildings remained missing.
“Overlord, you getting all this?”
“Affirmative. Move down the street but be careful. Whatever did this could still be out there.”
“Copy all,” Sandman said. “Truck, take point.” The soldier nodded, taking cover behind a statue. The rest of the squad followed suit, spreading out across the street.
“Keep your eyes open, check every corner.” Grinch said, obviously feeling the tension in the air.
“What do you supposed did all this?” Truck thought out loud. “I mean, I’ve never seen any kind of terrorist attack like this before.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sandman responded. “We’ll put a stop to whoever did this.”
Kate remained silent, not feeling in a talking mood. She slowly made her way to an overturned police vehicle. She heard something that sounded like a half moan, half gurgle. Slowly, she looked around the side of the vehicle,
Her breath caught in shock
“Holy hell…” She whispered. What was in front of her was truly hideous, something she couldn’t even call a man anymore. He was mutilated, his face now unrecognizable. He reached out towards her, then collapsed to the ground, stone dead.
“What do you see Zero Two?” Maze demanded. Kate swallowed hard, then touched her earpiece.
“Looks like a member of the German team sir, what’s left of him anyway.” She said. “It looks like something…” She was cut off as her radio blasted in her ear.
“HIIIIILLLLLLFEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”
The voice sounded like that from monster movies, and chilled Kate down to the bone.
“Was that your man Metal Zero Two?”
“Negative sir, that was someone else.”
“Hiiiiiilllllllffeeeeeeeeee……”
It came again, much weaker this time.
“Colonel, what’s he saying?” Sandman asked.
“He’s saying…. Help me.” Maze’s voice sounded curious. “The transmission is coming from that building at the end of the street north of your position. Advance and infiltrate that position, but stay in cover.”
“Yes sir.”
Slowly, the team moved from one cover position to another, taking nearly ten minutes to move up a street that should have been a two minute walk.
“Hold up,” Sandman said. “I think I’ve got something over here.” Kate looked over towards her squad leader, watching him move up toward a bus stop.
“Overlord, I just found another member of the GSG9 team. But this doesn’t make any sense, it looks like he’s been dead for a week.”
“What do you mean?” Truck asked.
“The body color and deterioration does not line up with being dead for less than an hour. Even more weird is how he died. It looks like something actually came out of him from the inside!”
“Overlord, I have visual on the object that’s making that glow,” Grinch said. “Permission to approach.”
“It’s the only cover between you and that building,” Maze said. “Permission granted.”
Kate heard Grinch take a deep breath, then he sprinted toward the glowing rectangular object. He slid behind it, looking it over.
“Talk to me soldier, what is it?”
“I haven’t got a damn clue sir. But there’s no way this is a satellite.”
“Copy that Four. Alright team, time to get in that building. Stack up on the south side door.”
The four Americans all moved toward the building, showing elite precision as they took position by the door.
“Do it Grinch.” Sandman ordered. Grinch kicked the door open, as the Americans flooded into the building.
From what Kate could tell, it was a warehouse, with boxes stacked together around the wide room. The only source of light was a low hanging light in the center of the room. Behind it stood a man wearing a German GSG9 uniform, his face masked by shadows. In one hand he held a shotgun, and a grenade in the other.
“Helfe…..” He whimpered.
“Overlord, we’ve got eyes on the target, he’s armed.”
“Copy Metal Zero One. Alright team, get to cover, but do not approach.”
“Alright, fan out team, five meter spread.”
“Colonel, can you talk to this guy?” Truck asked. “Let him know we’re on the same team so he’ll drop his weapons?”
“My German’s a bit rusty, but I’ll give it a shot.” Maze answered. The Soldiers silently moved into cover as their commander spoke over the radio.
“Hallo, wir sind American Special Forces. Wir sind hier her gekommen, um Ihnen helfen kann. Wir sind nicht ihnen Schaden. Bitte werfen Sie Ihre Waffen.”
“Hilfe….”
“It looks like he might be in shock sir.” Kate commented.
“I agree, but we can’t just leave him in this state.”
“Ok. Truck, move in and disarm him. Carefully.” Sandman said.
Slowly, Truck rose from cover. Walking in a non-threatening fashion, he approached the shocked soldier. The man made no move as Truck grew closer, his arms and weapons staying at his sides. Truck paused as he arrived in front of him, his brow furrowed. He reached up and grabbed the low hanging light, bringing upward to shine light on the man’s face.
“My god…”
The man’s face was a pale, ghost white, with glowing purple eyes. A flowing trail of purple flowing from the back of the German’s head toward a dark corner near a small box.
That was when Kate saw it.
A small grey creature with large red eyes that was about half her size was standing next to the box, only slightly illuminated by the light. The purple glow emanating from its waving hand. Suddenly, it clenched its hands in a fist.
The GSG9 operative raised his shotgun. Before Truck could react, the man fired point blank into his face.
“WHAT THE-”
“TRUCK IS DOWN!”
“WHAT’S HAPPENING DOWN THERE?!”
“METAL ZERO THREE IS DOWN!”
The German pulled the pin on his grenade, holding it in the air as if it were tribute for a god.
“GRENADE!” Kate yelled, ducking behind her box. The grenade detonated, eviscerating the German. Kate looked over to Sandman, who had dove to the ground to protect himself. Suddenly, one of those grey creatures appeared behind him, bringing up a small weapon on its arm.
“Sandman!” She yelled. “At your six!”
Sandman whirled around, bringing his weapon up, but he wasn’t fast enough.
The creature fired two bolts of green energy right into his face. Sandman’s body collapsed to the ground, half of his head burned away. Kate gasped in shock, as she sprinted away, trying to find new cover. The creature fired at her, but thankfully the shots had gone wide of their intended target.
“Overlord, Metal Zero One is down!” She yelled as she rolled behind a box. “We’re taking fire from multiple unknown X-rays!”
“This guy’s got me pinned down over here!” Grinch cried. Kate looked over her cover to see her last surviving squad member hiding for dear life behind a metal crate as a third creature was firing more green energy bolts at him.
Her elite training kicked in, even as her mind was still reeling at what was happening in front of her. She raised her rifle, taking precise aim, then squeezing the trigger. Three bullets struck the alien, two in the torso, and one piercing the creature’s head.
“You’re clear Grinch!” She yelled. The commando broke cover, getting behind a nearby box. He pulled the trigger on his own weapon, killing the creature that had ended the life of their squad leader.
“That was for Sandman!” He growled. Before Kate could respond, Grinch cried out in pain, his back burned black as his body fell forward.
Acting on pure reaction, Kate squeezed the trigger, emptying her weapon’s magazine on the horrifying creature that dared to kill her last squadmate.
Everything fell silent. No more creatures appeared from the darkness, none came to take her life.
Kate slid to the floor, her heart hammering inside of her chest so hard that she feared it would explode. She sat their silently for several minutes, her eyes wandering from body to body. Finally, she was aware of someone screaming in her ears.
“-Zero Two? Metal Zero Two, respond! Dammit Kate, answer me!” It was Maze.
“Overlord….” She started slowly. “All hostiles are down. The rest of Metal team is KIA. It’s over.” Her voice was shaking now.

“Get me the hell out of here.”

~~~
“Hello Colonel. In response to the alien threat, this Council of Nations has chosen to activate the XCOM project. You will have full command of this new unit, comprised of the best soldiers the world has to offer.”
“With all due respect sir, I already know the best, just let me make a few phone calls.”

XCOM PERSONEL
CPT. C. Davis “SPAR”, FAC, USA
SGT. N. Powers “CLICK”, MI6, UK
LT. K. Holt “KATE”, Delta Force, USA
CPT. V. Reznov, Spensnaz, Russia
SGT. J. Salter “JOKER”, FAC, USA
SGT. K. Salter “KAT”, Search and Rescue, Canada
CPT. K. McTavish “SOAP”, SAS, UK
CPT. Z. Kayes “DINGO”, Mercenary, USA
CPL. J. Vollen “JESS”, GSG9, Germany
LT. N. Dimitri, Spensnaz, Russia
SGT. K. Davis “FROST”, SEALs, USA
PVT. J. Poulle “SABRE”, GIGN, France
PFC. L. Minder “ICE”, ADF, Australia
LT. M. Cuevas “DUSTY”, FAC, USA
LT. J. Jacks “THANE”, FBI, USA
MSGT. T. Mgee “FIXER”, Mercenary, Ireland
LT. M. Derek “ANGEL”, Mercenary, USA
SGT.D. Garrett “GHOST”, FAC, USA

“These are just a few sir. We’ll be as ready as we can be.”
“I’ll have to trust you with that. Do not be careless with the lives of your troops. Good luck Colonel.”

~~~

Twilight’s head hurt tremendously, as if it was a ripe melon read to split. Her eyes were still closed, but she could feel rubble underneath her hooves. She slowly stood up, opening her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a ruined building, the walls collapsing in on themselves and windows shattered. It was destruction on a level she never saw in her life. Outside, she could see other large building, most in even worse shape than the one she was in. The architecture was much similar to that which she had seen in large cities such as Canterlot and Manehattan, and yet they were… different in a way she couldn’t put her hoof on. This was definitely not Ponyville, or even anywhere in Equestria for that matter.
Where was she?
And on that note, how had she gotten here?
She struggled to remember what had happened, and was rewarded with only hazy recollections of her, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack stumbling across a blue phone booth, Rainbow Dash pressing a lot of buttons against Twilight’s warning, hearing some shouting, then turning to see Lyra, Ditzy, and Doctor Whooves running towards them while-
The Doctor
Twilight had heard several crazy stories about him, but had never really believed them. But was it possible?
Had he really somehow sent her to another world?
Behind her, she heard a menacing growl. She didn’t even turn to look, she just ran for her dear life, as bolts of green energy began to zing past her.

~~~

XCOM Headquarters, Madagascar
December 27, 2012

“Come on, please?” Spar begged, trying to give his best puppy-dog eyes.
“I already told you no,” The scientist said, not even looking at him. “The laser weapons aren’t ready for testing yet.”
“But you said they would be! Are you getting behind schedule Tex?”
“Behind your schedule maybe,” She shot back. “Our schedule is doing just fine. Maze told us to work on the autopsies first, then laser weapons.” Spar gave her an unhappy look.
“You know how bad I want my hands on those weapons.”
“Yes I do know, which is why I’m half tempted to delay them even further, if the future of the earth wasn’t in our hands.” The soldier gave the scientist a suave smile,
“Really? Are you sure my irresistible charm can’t speed you up a bit?” Tex nearly fell out of her seat laughing.
“Please,” She snorted. “That didn’t work back in Moscow, it won’t work now.”
“You and I remember Moscow very differently…” Spar grumbled. Tex opened her mouth with a reply, but an alert sound pinged from her computer. Raising a brow, she went over to it.
“That’s strange…” She mumbled.
“What is it?” Spar asked.
“A power flux. A massive one, bigger than I’ve ever seen before.”
“Where?”
“:London.”
“London? That was hit hard over a month ago, what the hell could have caused that?”
“I’ve got no idea, but I’ll take a bet that it’s the aliens cooking up trouble.” She pressed the intercom. “Colonel?”
“I see it Tex.” Came Maze’s almost robotic response. “Spar, get your team together, I want you to go investigate.” The soldier raised a brow.
“How did you know I was down here?”
“You’re ALWAYS down there Spar.” He retorted before cutting off the transmission. Spar felt some heat rising in his face, and made a mental note to kill his commanding officer when this was all over.
“I uh, guess I’d better get going.” He said. Tex nodded,
“Stay alive Spar, I need someone to act as a test subject for my brainless men experiments.”
“I always knew you loved me!” Spar called back, activating his radio. “Joker? Get the rest of the squad together and meet me at the Skyranger in five minutes.”

~~~

Twilight was still running, her hooves feeling like they were on fire. But she couldn’t stop, the monsters were still right behind her. She didn’t what they were, but the weapons they were firing were causing destruction, and while she couldn’t believe it, those things were trying to kill her.
Suddenly, a piece of debris caught her leg and she tripped. She tried to get back up, but she knew it would be too late. She turned around to face the monsters one final time, and saw a familiar Rainbow figure behind them.

“Hey bozos!” Dash yelled, grabbing their attention. “Try to catch me!” They started firing their weapons at the Pegasus, as Rainbow flew in the opposite direction with the monsters behind them.
“Psst! Twilight!” The unicorn looked over to see Doctor Whooves standing in the doorway of a nearby building, waving for her to follow him. “Hurry!”
“But Rainbow Dash-“
“She’s keeping them distracted, come on!” Twilight followed him inside, and realized that Ditzy, Applejack, and Lyra were also in the building.
“Twi!” Applejack cried. “Thank Celestia you’re alright! I was afraid those things had gotten to ya!” Twilight acknowledged her friend, but turned back towards The Doctor.
“Where are we?!” She demanded. The Stallion simply shook his head.
“I don’t know,” He admitted, “Whatever Rainbow Dash did to the TARDIS, it sent us here. But I don’t even know where here is.” Outside, he heard laughter. “Speaking of our Rainbow colored annoyance…” He walked outside to see Dash floating in the air. “I thought you were leading those things away?” She rolled her eyes.
“Psh, please.” She said. “I lost those losers in less than ten seconds. They’re no match for my speed!”
“Keep your voice down!” Whooves hissed. “We don’t want to attract more of them!”
“Lighten up! There’s nothing they could do to the Rain-bow Da-” She was cut off as a green bolt of energy clipped her right wing. She fell to the ground, screaming in agony.
The creatures had returned, and were firing their weapons wildly. Whooves grabbed Rainbow’s fur by his teeth, hauling her back inside while she continued screaming.
“Rainbow!” Twilight cried, rushing to her friend’s side.
“Those things are getting closer!” Lyra cried, looking out a window.
“What do we do?!”
For the first time in his life, The Doctor had no idea what to do. His throat clamped shut, not being able to speak.
Suddenly, sharp crack filled the air, as the creatures fell to the ground, oozing yellow blood. Voices soon joined them,
“Whoohoo! That’s my third kill today!”
“Bullshit! That was my kill!”
Ditzy looked at him, surprise in her wall-eyes.
“There’s someone out there,” She said. “Should we try to get them to help us?”
“That’s probably a bad idea,” Applejack said “Did you hear them? They were talkin’ about killin’! Like it was nothing but a game!”
“Hey, did you hear that?” All the ponies froze as they heard the voices outside.
“I did, they’re might be more sectiods in that building.”
“Alright Delta, stack up on the door. Breach and clear.”
“NO WAIT!” Whooves cried, his voice returning to him.
“Who’s there?!” The voice demanded.
“Please,” Twilight said, her voice pleading. “One of our friends is hurt! We need help!” The voice outside paused for a moment,
“Alright, we’re coming in,” It responded. “Stand clear of the door.” The ponies quickly moved away from the area, as it bursts open. Four bipedal creatures moved inside, weapons in hand and their bodies covered in camouflaged clothes. All of them froze in shock, their eyes as wide as the ponies. For about thirty seconds, they all stood in silence, just staring at each other. Finally, one of them spoke.
“…Uh, Joker…..”
“Ya…..”
“….I think I’ve finally lost it.”
“Me too Spar, me too…..”

First Contact Part 1

London, England
October 20th, 2012
1000 hours

“Exiting station into West Street now, are you in place?”
“Hostile forces moving into the plaza, we’re getting overrun!”
“Requesting airstrike at location!”
“This is Falcon One, we’re hit! We’re hit!”
Everything was screaming around Major Coats. He wanted it to stop, for silence to reign for just a few precious seconds, to let his head clear and help his migraine go away.
But he knew it wouldn’t stop. Maybe not ever.
These creatures, no, these monsters they were fighting were unlike anything that they had ever fought against before. They were ruthless, killing or taking anyone; men, women, children, it didn’t matter to the invaders, and the humans were almost powerless to stop them. Their bullets would just ricochet off of the bigger aliens’ armor, their jet fighters seemed to be nothing but nuisances to the UFOs hovering around the city, and even their heavy tanks’ armor would melt under the plasma weapons of the aliens.
But the fight wasn’t over. Not yet.
And Coats would be damned if he allowed these mongrels to take London.
“Where the bloody hell are the Americans?” He asked everyone in the command center. “Didn’t they promise us some support?”
“You haven’t heard?” One of them said, not looking away from his Drone feed. “The Yanks are under attack on their own home-front, getting their arses kicked from what I’ve been hearing.”
“I doubt they’ll be sending us help anytime soon.”
“Well that’s just bloody perfect.” Coats mumbled. A female soldier approached him, saluting.
“Sir,” She said. “We have an emergency report from MI6.” He raised a brow, but accepted the report. His eyes widened in shock,
“Why the hell wasn’t this brought to brought to my attention earlier?!” Coats whirled toward a communication officer. “Are there any Special Operations units in London right now?” The man blinked,
“There’s an SAS unit across the Bankside Pier, just completing an evacuation assignment on Summer Street.”
“Get them on the radio. Now!” The man did as he was ordered, pressing a few buttons on his computer.
“Major, you’re on with Captain McTavish.”
“This is Bravo Six, we hear you loud and clear Baseplate.”
The soldier’s voice was laced with a heavy Scottish accent.
“Bravo Six, you are being re-directed to MI6 headquarters for a priority extraction.”
“Who’s our target?”
“The Prime Minister.” The whole room fell silent at those words. “MI6 HQ was hit about ten minutes ago, and we’ve lost contact with everyone inside. All agents, all personnel, even the Prime Minister’s security detail have all gone silent.”
“What makes you think he’s still alive?”
“His emergency beacon in active, and we can’t just take the risk of assuming his death. It’s all up to you now Captain, don’t let her Majesty down.”
“We understand sir. Bravo Six out.”
~~
The carnage was all around the city. Smoke plooms rose into the already dark and gloomy skies. Fires raged from blasted-out storefronts, and many of the dead were still lying where they had fallen. Screams seemed to emanate from every direction. Cries for aid, for medics, and death itself could be heard around the shattered capital.
Soap was just thankful that the helicopter blades drowned out the worst of the sounds. The other members of the SAS team were also silent, staring out at the destruction laced out before them. It cut each of them deep to see the Capital of their country burning as it was.
“Status report Bravo Six.”
Soap placed his finger to his ears,
“We’re about to cross the Bankside Pier into the river, about three minutes out from MI6 headquarters.”
“Copy all Bravo Six, stay on course. Baseplate out.”
The two transport helicopters began to cross the wide river that divided the two sections of London, and Soap turned to his men.
“Alright Lads, listen up,” He said. “We’re crossing over into hostile territory, these creatures own this side of the city. Which means we won’t have any backup if we run into trouble. So cover one another and don’t try anything stupid, understood?” The soldiers nodded. “Alright then, lock and load!”
“Captain!” The pilot screamed. “Incoming at our ten oh clock!”
“Evasives!” Soap shouted back.
A small UFO came streaking in at high speeds, firing large plasma bolts at the humans. Two bolts tore through the tail of the adjacent chopper, sending it crashing into the river. Another bolt took off one of the propellers.
“We can’t stay airborne!” The Pilot shouted. “I’ll have to take her down!”

~~
December 27, 2012
1300 hours

“Alright, let’s just calm down a second.” Spar said, breaking the silence. “Do we all see the same thing in front of us?”
“You mean small colorful little horses?” Ghost asked.
“Yep, that’s what I’m seeing too.” Dusty said.
“…Actually, we’re ponies.” Twilight squeaked. The four men visibly cringed.
“…Did that purple one just talk?” Joker nodded,
“Yes, yes it did.”
“Oh good. Should we all go get our section eights now or later?” Spar asked.
“Excuse me,” Ditzy said nervously. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what are you?” The soldiers seemed confused by the question, luckily the answer came from an unlikely source.
“They’re humans!” Lyra exclaimed. “Observe.” Suddenly the pony appeared next to Spar, leaving the Captain wondering what kind of sorcery would allow this small Pony to teleport in such a way. Lyra began pointing, “Two arms, two legs. Notice their limbs don’t end in hooves, rather in hands with five fingers. Along with the fact that they are hairless except for a sort of bush on their heads. See?”
“Hey give that back!” Spar said, grabbing his signature boonie hat that Lyra had taken.
“Humans?” Applejack asked. “Ya mean like those creatures from old pony tales?”
“They don’t look like myths anymore to me.” Twilight said.
Meanwhile, the humans were looking at their resident expert on mythological creatures.
“Uh, Dusty,” Ghost said. “Any ideas?”
The medic looked thoughtful for a moment, then took a step forward, pointing a questioning finger at Twilight.
“Unicorn?” He asked hesitantly. Twilight bit her lower lip, but nodded. Dusty turned to Ditzy. “Pegasus?” The Mail mare also nodded. Finally, he looked to Doctor Whooves. “Uh…”
“Earth Pony.” The Doctor simply said.
“Right… of course…” An uncomfortable silence filled the room.
“Ok group meeting!” Spar announced, as the two different species each formed their own little huddles.
“Ok, so let me get this straight.” Joker began. “We have found yet ANOTHER alien race, but instead of aggressive conquerors who aim to kill everything in sight, these are colorful talking ponies who seem to be about as helpless as children.”
“That’s what it looks like, as crazy as it is.”
“This is real right?” Ghost asked. “I’m not really passed out in the base after Reznov gave me some of his vodka right?”
“Only if he had enough alcohol to make us all so drunk that we would be sprawled on the floor.” The soldiers knew it was very possible, actually.
“Either way, we know the protocol of how to deal with this situation.”
“There’s protocol of how to deal with magical talking ponies?” Joker asked.
“Not what I meant smart-ass,” Spar said between gritted teeth. “I mean the one where if we meet a friendly alien species. We take them back to base for questioning and analysis.”
“Do you really think these ponies are aliens?”
“Gee, I don’t know Ghost, do they look like they’re from around here to you?” Dusty asked sarcastically.
“With the way things have been for the past few months, it could start raining chocolate milk and I wouldn’t even bat an eye.”
“Point taken.”
~~
“So let me see if I understand,” Twilight said, still trying to wrap her head around what she was seeing. “We are in a world ruled by these…. Humans, a species from the old days, and that Lyra has always nagged everyone about being real?”
“Hey!”
“Yes, that is true,” The Doctor said. “But it’s a bit different now…” Applejack raised a brow.
“Ya’ll have been here before?” She asked.
“But of course, many times.” Whooves looked around the wrecked building they sat in. “Though it was in much better shape the last time I was here.”
“I hate to interrupt…” The ponies all turned to Rainbow Dash, who they had forgotten about in all the confusion. Dash was sitting on the floor next to them, biting her bottom lip and trying to hold back the tears as her hurt wing continued to burn like fire. Ditzy hesitated for a moment, then walked over to where the humans were standing.
“Um, excuse me…” She said, her voice trembling slightly. The humans turned to Pegasus, obviously trying not to stare at her Wall-eye.
“Uh, yes?” Ghost asked.
“My friend is hurt,” Ditzy said nervously, motioning with her hoof toward Rainbow. “Is there anything you can do to help?” The four soldiers looked towards the Rainbow-maned pony.
“Dusty, go check it out.” Spar ordered. The medic gave him a surprised looked,
“I’m a medic, not a veterinarian!” He protested.
“Just do what you can.” Spar hissed back. Grumbling, Dusty made his way over to Rainbow.
“Show me where you’re hurt.” He said. Rainbow opened her mouth, but then closed it again, gritting her teeth and fighting against the pain. Instead, she stretched out her wing. Over the edges of the wing, where her cyan coat had once covered, now was black burned skin.
“Hmmm… Plasma burn.” Dusty said, recognizing the type of wound that he had seen far too many times. “You’re very lucky.”
“Lucky?!” Rainbow Dash sounded outraged. “My wing feels like it’s been through Tartarus! Twice!” Dusty glared at her.
“I’ve seen men get hit with plasma and their entire chest disintegrates. You were just nicked, no permanent damage, just pain. I would call that lucky.” He snarled, not happy with the mare’s attitude. He took out some First-Aid spray. “Now stay still, this’ll help.”
“Hey, what are you-“ Rainbow suddenly winced in pain as the Medic sprayed the Medicine on her wing. Then she sighed in relief as it began to work.
“That should take away the pain, and speed up the healing process,” Dusty said, putting the spray back on his pack. “Still, I wouldn’t use that wing for now until we can get a better look at it back at base.”
“Back at base?” Twilight repeated. “Is that where you’re taking us?” Spar nodded.
“Our Commander needs to see you in person, it’s also the safest place on the planet right now.”
“And if we don’t want to go with you?” Applejack asked, clearly mistrustful of the humans. Spar shrugged,
“If you want to stay here wandering aimlessly, be my guest. But you should know, we are the only friendly faces around here, almost everything else that moves will try to catch you, blast you into pieces, and blast you into oblivion.” Applejack gulped audibly.
“Ah, uh, see your point.” She said.
“Good. Now I’ll see to getting us a ride out of here.” Spar put a finger to his ear. “Overlord this is Delta lead, do you copy?” Static answered him. “I can’t raise central, what about you?”
“Nothing here.”
“Just static here.”
“Something’s majorly interfering with our comms.” Joker said.
“That is most likely caused by the electronic waves that signaled our… arrival.” Doctor Whooves said.
“Sounds about right.” Dusty said, shaking his head. “Nothing’s ever simple…”
“It’s no big deal, we’ll just head for the secondary LZ,” Spar said. “We should be clear of the interference there. Then we’ll call for pickup.” The three other soldiers nodded their agreement. Spar turned to the ponies. “Alright then, stay close to us and you’ll be safe.” As they started out, Spar spoke over his shoulder. “Oh ya, and welcome to London. What’s left of it.”
~~
“Baseplate, our chopper’s down! We’re on foot!” Soap yelled, sprinting to find cover as fast as he could. “We’re on clover street and heading north!”
“Understood. Bravo Six be advised, our drones have spotted a sizeable enemy force headed in your direction.”
The six commandos immediately moved behind burning cars, blown out buildings, and crumbled walls for cover. Up ahead, Soap spotted movement, as about eight aliens that appeared to be half machine started towards their direction.
“Floaters!” Someone shouted.
“Weapons free!” The humans opened up with their weapons, but the floaters found their own cover. Soap sprinted out of cover to find a better position, and one of the aliens took a shot at him. He felt the heat on his face as the plasma bolt barley missed his head. He rolled into nearby storefront, pulling a pin out of a frag.
“Grenade!” He shouted, hurling the object at the floaters. It rolled under a car that they were using for cover. It detonated, the explosion engulfing three of the floaters. Another Alien moved up on the British position. One of the men fired, but missed, a mistake that would cost him his life. The poor lad was cut down in a wave of green plasma, his burned body falling to the ground. A nearby Commando lifted his MP5 over cover and fired at the floater on full auto. Most of the bullets pinged off of its metal armor, but two lucky bullets struck it in the head, bringing the creature down. The fight continued, as bullets and Plasma flew through the air. One of Soap’s men broke cover, arming a grenade as he did so. He was cut down by an overwatching floater, but not before he managed to throw the grenade, its explosion taking down two more floaters. The SAS quickly surrounded and gunned down the last two remaining floaters. After eight minutes of brutal fighting, the humans had already lost a third of their men, and they hadn’t even crossed the street.
We’ll be wiped out before we ever get there, Soap thought.
“Baseplate, we need another route to MI6, we’ll never make it at this rate!”
“Affirmative Bravo Six. We have found you an alternate route, head down to the nearest Metro station, that should be safer than above ground.”
“Copy that, we’ll get on it now.” Soap waved to his remaining men. “You heard him lads, get moving!”
~~
The four soldiers made a defensive perimeter around the ponies, keeping a sharp eye out for any alien activity as they headed to the Landing Zone, but so far it had gone without incident. The ponies, however, were transfused with the city. They stared at every building, seeing every plasma scorch on the walls, and the wrecked remains of tanks, cars, and even a few crashed planes. Once, Spar saw Twilight look sick to her stomach when she saw the charred bodies that littered the streets. He guessed that ponies weren’t use to war, but he could relate. He felt the same when he was in his first combat zone.
“What… what did all this?” Lyra asked, her enthusiasm now obviously diminished by the horrors of what she was seeing.
“The damn aliens…” Ghost mumbled.
“Ya’ll mean those things that ya killed?” Applejack asked. “They did all this?”
“No. Well, not just them.” Joker said. “There’s many different kinds of aliens, and they each breed a new kind of nightmare.”
“I can’t imagine you just let them do all this.” Twilight said.
“There was nothing we could do,” Spar said his voice a little hoarse. “They had us outsmarted and outgunned, we fought back whenever and wherever we could. We finally managed to beat them back, but just barely.” Spar took a look around the ruined city itself. “This use to be a beautiful city, I had a lot of friends here.”
“Did they get out in time?”
“…Not all of them.”
They continued on in silence for a while, until they came across a street that was blocked by a crashed helicopter.
“Oh that’s great.” Ghost said. “Looks like we’re taking the long way around.”
“Ghost, with me.” Spar orders. “Let’s see if we can cut through that building.” The two men moved to the building next to the crashed helicopter, standing next to a large hole in the wall. Spar squinted, “It’s kinda dark in there,” He said. “Ghost, toss in an electro-flare.” The demo-man pulled the cylinder out of his belt, then tossed it inside. It illuminated what seemed to be the main room of a warehouse.
“Looks clear boss.” He said.
“Alright, move in, but stay alert.” The pair fanned out as the ponies followed suit.
“Alright, I see the exit ahead, just stay close and we’ll-“ He stopped talking, as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. More specifically, the glowing yellow reptilian eyes.
“Thin Men!”
~~
“We’re going deep, and we’re going hard.”
“Surly you can’t be serious.”
“I’m serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”
As they finished welding through the grate, the four SAS soldiers entered the secret entrance into MI6 Headquarters from the Metro tunnels. From what they had been told from Command, it had been built during the Second World War in case they needed to get back into the building if the Nazis were to ever take London from the allies. The secret tunnel led them to bathroom, a hidden door behind the stalls. It was a mess, plasma scorched walls, bodies of agents who had made their last, desperate stand in the bathroom. Soap could tell by a few of the bodies that some had saved the last bullet for themselves.
“My God…” One of the soldiers said. “Do you really think the Prime Minister could survive all this?”
“We have to look.” Soap said. It won’t a suggestion. The trooper sighed, and took point. The four maneuvered through the wrecked offices, drawing closer to the beacon. Suddenly, the soldier on point motioned for them to get down.
“Movement,” He whispered. “Eleven O’clock.”
Ahead, moving through a hallway, a small group of gray humanoids with large eyes were moving toward them.
“Dammit,” Soap cursed. “As soon as we engage them they’ll alert every hostile in the building. We’d never make it.” They were silent for a moment, then one of them said.
“Maybe we can’t, but you can.”
“What?”
“We’ll distract them, led them away from the beacon. You can go rescue the Prime Minister.”
“Not gonna happen, that’s a suicide mission for you lads.”
“We know what we signed up for sir, we know what we have to do.”
Soap felt hollow inside.
“May God and her majesty be with you boys.”
“And you as well sir.” The three men stood up, and started running in the opposite direction of the beacon shouting as they did so. The Sectiods followed, obviously too consumed with the humans to look behind where Soap was hiding. Once the aliens were gone, he broke out of cover, moving as quickly as possible. As he drew closer, he realized that the Prime Minister had been placed inside a safe room, and that the heavy metal door had been blown open by the aliens. Bodies were stacked up, both aliens and human, on both sides of the door. He placed himself next to the door. Taking a deep breath, he moved inside,
Only to be met with the barrel of a gun.

First Contact Part 2

London, England
October 20th, 2012
1130 hours

The MI6 agent pulled her gun away faster than Soap, as they quickly realized they were friends with the speed of seasoned soldiers.
Short, with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, the agent in front of him was certainly attractive, but Soap knew better than to even attempt flirting.
“Click?” He asked.
“Keneth.” She said, her eyes showing exhaustion. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” In the Corner, Soap could see the Prime minister hiding under a desk, but no one else in the safe room, save for the pile of corpses in the doorway.
“Are you the last one here?” Click nodded.
“The Minister’s Security detail was the first to go, then more and more agents died, I’m the last survivor.” She shivered. “Those bloody aliens just kept coming.”
“Hey, it’s alright,” Soap said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We’re getting out of here.” Click snorted.
“You plan to get us out of here by yourself? A nice idea, but it would be suicide.” Muffled sounds of fighting came to their ears. “What’s that?”
“Some lads doing a suicide mission so we don’t have to,” Soap said, his voice choked with sadness. “So let’s not let it go to waste.” Click hesitated a moment, then nodded.
“Alright, just give me a moment.” She said. The agent moved over towards the man cowering under the nearby desk. “Mr. Prime Minister, we’re getting out of here.” The man nodded silently, rising from his cover.
“Right then,” Soap said, peeking out the door. “We should get moving.”
“And where exactly are we moving to?” Click asked. “Please tell me your plan isn’t to shoot our way out the front doors.”
“The same way I came in, there’s a hidden door in the men’s toilet room on the floor below us,” Soap explained, quietly taking a step out of the safe room. “It leads straight to the metro tunnels. From there, we’ll head towards the nearest station, then signal for evacuation.”
“Simple enough I suppose.” Click responded, falling in to cover the group from behind. They moved in silence for a few moments, before Click asked. “What’s the situation like outside?” Soap was silent for a moment before answering.
“It’s bloody ugly,” He admitted. “London is lost, we’re really just fighting now out of stubbornness and refusal to accept it.”
“But… how?”
“We’re outgunned here Click, you know that. We just can’t compete with their firepower in a million years.”
“But there must be some way,” She insisted. “Isn’t there anyone who can lend us any support?”
“The rest of the world’s got their own problems. Reports are still comin’ in from everywhere. Washington, Moscow, Tokyo, Rio, New York… more every hour. It’s chaos right now, with so many dead and MIA, trying to establish a command structure has become hell.”
“So there’s no united front to stop this?”
“There is.”
Both soldiers looked in shock at the Prime Minister, who had remained completely silent until now.
“What do you mean?” Normally, Soap wouldn’t ask such a question of his country’s leader, but right now he wanted to know whether there was a slimmer of hope for the future.
“A few weeks ago, right after first contact was established, The Americans called an emergency summit to help create an organization meant for the sole purpose to counter the invasion.”
“And? Was it formed?”
“I don’t know,” The Minister said, shrugging. “I was summoned back to London before the final vote could be taken, and the bloody aliens attacked before I could get news of the final decision.”
“Well that’s just bloody perfect.” Soap mumbled. They had finally arrived at their destination, as the SAS commando opened the secret passage. “Well, this way out.”
~~
December 27, 2012
1330 hours

“Get down!” Spar shouted, taking his own advice as green energy bolts of death filled the air around the group. The experienced commandoes quickly took cover behind crates and fallen metal containers. The ponies dived for the ground, covering their heads in total panic.
Joker took a shot with his M-14 sniper rifle, the bullet ripping through a Thin Man’s head. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the ponies that were currently cowering on the floor.
“Spar!” He shouted. “We’re too exposed here! We gotta move!” The squad leader ducked under a plasma blast, then nodded.
“Dusty, on the count of three, drop a smoke grenade in front of us, then lead the ponies out of the warehouse on the west side! We’ll cover you!” He blindfired over his cover. “Three! Two! One!” Dusty pulled the pin on the grenade, hurling it over his two squad mates’ heads. The device exploded, sending a large plume of smog between the invaders and the squad.
“Come on, let’s go!” Joker shouted at the ponies, motioning for them to follow him. The equines, terrified out of their wits, followed the soldier’s instructions.
“Cover!”
“Covering!”
Spar and Ghost started slowly walking backwards, firing their M-8’s into the smoke as they did so. Plasma bolts zinged past their heads, but it was clear that the aliens were firing as wildly as the humans were. Once they had backed out of a door leading back into a street, Spar slammed it shut.
“Move it! Double time!” He yelled, running down the street. The rest of his team was already on his heels, the ponies actually running ahead of him with their four legs.
“Overlord, this is Delta Two requesting priority extraction! Does anyone copy?” Dusty was saying into his radio. “Dammit!”
“Any luck?”
“Nada, if only static could call us a bird.”
“Sure, while we’re making wishes, I wish for a pony.” Joker started to laugh at his own joke, then stopped. “Oh wait…”
Ahead Lyra collapsed, the unicorn not being used to so much physical excursion.
“I….. Can’t…” She panted. Then she suddenly found herself in midair, being picked up by a pair of strong arms.
“We can’t stop!” Spar said, carrying the pony as he ran. “Keep going!”
“But where are we going?” Twilight asked between breaths.
“Anywhere but here!” Ghost yelled back.
As if on cue, the street came to an end, the surrounding roads blocked by collapsed buildings.
“Shit, now what?”Joker asked. “We’re cornered. And I’ll bet those Thin Men weren’t alone.”
“Then we’ll make our stand here,” Spar said, putting Lyra down. “Joker, set up an overwatch position by that overturned car. Dusty, take the others into that corner of the fallen building over there, should be safe enough for them. Ghost, set up your remaining claymores around the perimeter, make sure we have some pleasant surprises for our guests.”
“On it Cap.”
The soldiers set to work, following their orders while keeping a wary eye for any aliens.
“Perfect.” Joker said to himself, looking out from his firing position through his scope.
“Excuse me.” The sniper looked to his left, seeing the purple unicorn that he had heard called Twilight.
“Shouldn’t you be over there with Dusty and your friends?” He asked.
“I know, but I just wanted to ask a question, if you don’t mind.” Joker looked over his shoulder at his kill-zone, then shrugged.
“Sure.” The mare looked over to where Spar was standing, the Captain keeping watch on the street ahead.
“I would like to know more about your friend over there,” Twilight said. “Spar, I believe his name is.” Joker laughed.
“Get in line, much smarter men than me have tried to figure him out, and they got no further than I have. You know it took three years of us fighting from one warzone to another before he even told me his real name.”
“So… What is his real name?”
“Ah, now that is information one has to earn,” Joker said, smiling. “Why don’t you fight in a war beside him for a few years? Then maybe he’ll tell you.” Twilight seemed horrified by that suggestion.
“Me? Fight? Oh no no no.” She said, shaking her head. “I’m not a fighter.”
“Really? You’ve never been in a fight in your life?”
“Well, yes I have.” She said quietly. “But only when my friends or innocent ponies were in danger!” Joker’s smile widened.
“Good. You’re even more like a soldier than you thought.”
“Anyway,” Twilight said, changing the subject before it ended in a place she didn’t want it to go. “Can’t you tell me anything about Spar?” Joker rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful.
“Now these are just rumors, but some speculate that he can’t be killed.” He said. “Why, I can recall once he was bit by a cobra.”
“By Celestia! What happened?”
“Well, after three days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.” Twilight stared at Joker for a few heartbeats, before the man started laughing. “Nah, I’m just puling your leg. But seriously, if you’re so curious, why not just talk to him once we get out of here. If we get out of here…” Twilight sighed and nodded, then looked amused as she heard Rainbow Dash.
“OW!! That is NOT helping!”
“Look, do you want me to help ease the pain or not?” Dusty said, frustrated with his new “Patient”. Before Rainbow could make a retort, Ghost bumped into them.
“Whoops, excuse me.” He said.
“Set it right over there Ghost,” Spar directed the explosives expert. “It’ll be out of the way so none of us will accidently set it off, but it will be in just the right spot if the aliens try anything stupid.”
“How many claymores have you set up?” Dusty asked.
“Uh, five so far, this is my last one.”
“Wait a minute,” Lyra said. “You already set up five of those explosive devices, isn’t that enough?”
“Manfrede and Johnson thought so,” Spar said, his voice betraying no emotion. “What was left of them came home in a manila envelope.”
“From Manila, ironically.” Ghost added. Lyra’s eyes widened, and she didn’t answer.
The preperations continued for another minute, the ponies gathered in a corner, whispering to one another under the watchful eye of Dusty, and the other members of Delta squad keeping an eye out for the invaders. Then Joker whispered into the radio,
“Heads up guys, two floaters at twelve o’clock.”
The humans immediately got out of sight, but in positions so they could see their oncoming enemy. As expected, the floaters were coming down the street slowly, looking through windows, hunting for the humans.
“Standby….Standby….” Spar whispered, letting the aliens draw closer. “Smoke ‘em Joker.”
A crack filled the once silent air. Then another. Then another.
The first bullet struck the lead floater right in the head, sending it crashing to the ground with a cry of pain. The second hit the other floater right in the armor, the lead slug pinging off, but the third round struck one of its fuel lines, engulfing the alien in a fiery explosion.
“Hoorah.” Joker smiled, changing his magazine.
“Let’s not celebrate just yet,” Ghost said. “More incoming.”
Taking the place of the floater scouts were the three Thin Men they had encountered earlier, joined now by four small, large eyed sectoids.
“Wow, looks like we really pissed them off.” Spar mused. “I’m flattered.” He lifted his rifle from cover, aiming down the sights and squeezing the trigger. A burst of fire erupted from the rifle, the bullets cutting down one of the sectoids. The remaining aliens wised up, taking cover behind anything they could find, two of them setting off claymores before finding said cover. The invaders returned fire, their plasma bolts slapping against the soldier’s concrete cover. Joker piped up, taking out a Thin Man with his sniper rifle before ducking back into cover. The ponies kept their heads down, watching in horrified fascination of the battle taking place in front of them.
Spar took another shot, the bullets pinging off the alien’s cover.
“Damn it,” He cursed. “Missed the target.” As he brought his weapon around to reload, the Thin Man seized the advantage, using its spring-like legs to bound to Spar in one leap. Twilight looked in horror, as time seemed to slow down. The human looking up at his attacker, trying to reach for his other gun, the human-like alien opening its mouth to spray Spar with its poison spit.
Before Twilight even knew what she was doing, she was up on her hooves, blasting a spell at the menacing alien. It fell to the ground on its back, but Spar had already recovered, putting two bullets from his revolver into the Thin Man’s head. It exploded into a dark cloud of poison, but the human remained out of the deadly smoke.
Panting, Spar returned to cover, placing the magazine in his rifle. He looked confused, but he quickly returned to the fray. As soon as he looked back over his cover, he felt like he would have rather been poisoned. A large green alien tore through the street, paying no heed for its own safety.
“Oh son of a bitch!” He swore. “Muton! Incoming!”
“My bullets aren’t doing jack-crap to that thing!” Joker yelled. The muton stopped, then started firing a steady stream of plasma bolts flew toward Spar.
“This thing’s got me pinned down!” He shouted out. “Burn him Ghost!”
Seeming to appear from nowhere, the demolition soldier leaped from a nearby collapsed building, landing on the muton’s back. The alien let out a roar of anger, reaching backward to slap away the nuisance. Ghost placed a C4 charge on its back, leaping off the alien. Landing hard on his shoulder, Ghost activated the charge.
“Lights out!” He shouted. The explosion tore the Muton into a thousand pieces. “Haha! Hooyah bitches! Hoo-fuckin’-Yah!”
“I hate to interrupt,” Joker said, ducking under another plasma blast. “But we need to get out of here, like NOW.” Spar was already ahead of the sniper, his finger to the radio piece in his ear.
“Overlord, this is Delta actual, do you copy? Repeat do you copy?” Once again, static answered him.
“It’s no use!” Dusty called. “Our signal is still too weak!”
Spar gritted his teeth in frustration, then suddenly stopped, an idea popping into his head. It was a long shot, but he was willing to try anything right now. He changed his radio to play on all frequencies.
“Karma? Karma, do you read me?” Silence. “Karma? Dammit Karma, answer me!” A few more heartbeats of silence followed, then a female voice answered.
“Holy Hell, Spar is that you?” The former communications officer sounded surprised. During the time Spar had known her, Karma had always spent her free time scanning almost radio frequency around the world for kicks. At the time, Spar had found it very annoying, but right now, it might just save their lives.
“Ya Karma, it’s me. I need a favor.”
“Was that an explosion? Where the hell are you?”
“No time to explain, can you redirect and boost my signal to frequency Cobra-Lima-Eleven?”
“Ya Ya, just give me a second.”
Spar blind-fired over his cover, before hearing a clicking sound over his radio.
“Mayday Mayday Mayday! This is Delta actual, we have priority intelligence assets and we’re under heavy fire by enemy forces! We require immediate extraction! Repeat immediate extraction!” Spar kept his voice under control, but added a tone of urgency.
“This is Central, we hear you loud and clear Spar.” Maze’s voice answered. “Omega squad is two minutes out for extraction, standby.”
“Oh standby,” Joker grumbled. “Great.” Another voice broke the radio’s static.
“Delta Squad, this is Rogue Nine, Standing by to provide close air support.”
“I take back what I said, I love you Colonel!”
“Mark your targets and we’ll take them out.”
“Rogue Nine, we have nothing left to mark the targets with,” Spar said. “We are sitting in a street corner, everything north of us is hostile! Coordinates Lima Lima Mike Foxtrot!”
“Roger that, inbound with ordinance. Keep your heads down boys. Nine out.”
“What’s gonna happen?” Ditzy asked, poking her head slightly above cover. Dusty quickly pushed her back down.
“A lot of explosions,” He said simply. “So you may want to stay down and cover your ears.”
The ponies took his advice seriously, getting as close to the ground as they could, trembling. The humans ducked behind their cover, shielding themselves from the blast, as the jets came roaring in.
Unlike the sleek and swift F-22 Raptor, the F-50 Raven was not designed for stealth, it was built for maximum damage with the heaviest armor humanity could make. And now, this top-of-the-line fighter was about to rain death down upon the invaders.
“Rogue Nine, bombs away.”
The cluster bomb struck the already ravaged street, destroying everything that had been left standing.
“Hell ya! Whoo! You just made my day Rogue Nine!” Ghost shouted, pumping his fist in the air. Then he stopped, spotting movement in the smoke. “Oh HELL no!”
“Christ, these things are persistent!” Joker cursed.
“This is Delta, X-Rays are still coming at us, where the hell’s that extraction?”
“Right above you Delta One.”
The Skyranger roared overhead, floating right above the squad. It fired its small machine gun into the street, taking down a few aliens before flipping around and opening its hatch. Four more humans came down the ramp, laying down a steady stream of covering fire.
“Come on, this ain’t no pleasure cruise!” The lead one shouted. “Let’s go! Chop chop!”
The humans each broke cover in turn, covering one another as they pulled back to the Skyranger. The ponies watched, unsure of what to do.
“Everybody in!” Spar shouted, waving them inside. “Go! Go!”
The Equestrians obliged, running to the safety of the Skyranger as fast as their legs would take them. Once they were all safely aboard, Spar joined them, and a female trooper at the end of the ship banged on the wall.
“We’re all aboard!” She yelled. “Let’s get moving!” The pilot obliged, closing the hatch and lifting the Skyranger off the ground. Only now did Spar release the breath that he hadn’t realized that he’d been holding.
“It’s damn good to see you Boss,” He said, slapping the man on the shoulder. Boss smiled,
“You know, with all the times I’ve saved your ass, I should start charging you.”
“Haha, there wouldn’t be enough money in the world for me to pay that bill!”
“Hey Scorch,” Ghost asked the man next to him. “Did you bring any extra charges with you?”
“Of course I did. Why?” Scorch asked, eying him. “Did you already use all of yours?”
“I had too!”
“Even the Thermite?”
“I didn’t pack any Thermite…”
“What? That’s rule number twenty-nine man!”
“No, rule twenty-nine is never say no to med-kits!”
“No, that’s rule number fourteen!”
While the two bickered, the only member of Omega squad who seemed to notice the new visitors raised an eyebrow, looking at Joker.
“I don’t think our anniversary is for another few months,” She said to her husband. She spoke with a slight, lilting accent, hinted even more by the patch of the Canadian flag on her uniform. Her blonde hair clashed with her emerald green eyes “But even so, how did you even know I liked ponies?” Joker shook his head,
“Thank bleeding-heart Spar, for that.”
“Sorry for bringing our guests unannounced Kat,” Spar said, smiling. “But our friends here needed a fast way out.”
“Stop talkin’ about us like we ain’t here!” Applejack said. She was suddenly aware that everyone in the Skyranger was now staring right at her.
“My God…” Boss mumbled. “These were your priority assets?”
“Yes. They’re also from another world, but at least they’re not out to conquer our world.”
“And you’re sure this just isn’t some plot by the aliens?”
“I’m sure, they were trying just as hard to kill them as us.”
“Fascinating,” Fixer, Omega squad’s technical expert, looked the ponies over. “And how did you reach our planet?”
“That is not a simple question to answer.” Doctor Whooves said, stepping forward. “For now, I can explain it simply as an experiment gone wrong.”
“Fixer, could you hand me the camera?”
“Huh? Oh sure.” He handed over the device.
“Merci,” Kat said, aiming the device at the ponies. “Tex is going to have a field day with this.”
~~
“Baseplate, this is Bravo Six,” Soap said, moving slowly up the stairs of the metro station. “Priority package is in possession. Awaiting extraction.”
“Bravo Six, enemy air forces are to heavy in your area to get birds in, head northwest and we’ll ready units.”
“Bloody hell…” The commando mumbled. “Come on, just a bit further.” A large explosion was heard the next street over, forcing the Prime Minister to jump.
“What was that?!” He demanded.
“That,” Soap replied, a smile forming on his face. “Is called incentive. Let’s move our arses.”
They continued to move down the street, until the UFO that had attacked earlier suddenly appeared overhead, and began a patrol pattern. The three humans quickly ducked inside of a local store.
“Baseplate, we have a problem. Enemy air contact is right above us, no way we’ll be able to get in birds.”
“Way ahead of you man,” This voice wasn’t from command, but it was certainly familiar. “Looks like I’ll be pulling your ass out of the fire again Soap.” The SAS Captain didn’t quite believe what he was hearing, until Click pointed into the sky.
“Look!” A formation of five F-22 Raptors were streaking toward the UFO at high speeds.
It was Cole Tharen, the American hotshot pilot.
Rogue Squadron had arrived.
“Looks like the Yanks were able to send some help after all!” Click yelled triumphantly.
“It’s bloody good to see you mate!”
“Hold on, we’re gonna clear the skies of these assholes.” Cole said over the radio. Now that the jets were closer, he could see differences between these fighters and the Rogue Squadron he had seen before. The major difference was the wing décor, where the flag of the United States had once been seen was a shield with a Latin saying that Soap couldn’t make out.
The five Raptors immediately split apart, going in different directions in hopes of forcing the UFO’s pilot to hesitate. It didn’t work, the ship chasing after the lead Raptor, firing plasma bolts that barely missed the fighter’s cockpit.
“Phew, that was close.”
One of the Raptors came streaking in, firing its pair of missiles that slammed into the UFO, sending it slightly off course, but showing no exterior damage.
“Stay on him!”
The ship tried to shuck to fighter off its tail, but the pilot was stubborn, staying right on its tail.
“Fox Three!”
Four missiles came from the belly of the Raptor, screaming toward the UFO. They all struck with a resounding boom, as the smoking and spiraling craft crashed into the river and did not rise back up. The jets circles around their kill in victory.
“Haha!”
“Yahoo!”
“Nice shooting Dare!”
“Baseplate, this is Rogue leader. Hostile air unit is down, we’ll continue to keep the skies clear.”
“Affirmative, birds are arriving now.” As if on cue, two more aircraft entered the area. The first was a standard Chinook, one that Soap had personally ridden in dozens of times. The other was unlike anything he had ever seen, it had the wings of a plane, but had to large jets inside the wings, which allowed it to hover above. Both craft set down at the end of the street, a squad of SAS soldiers streaming out of the Chinook, taking the Prime Minister in a protecting detail. When the ramp of the second craft opened, a single man stepped off. Wearing standard urban camouflage with a Green Beret on top of his head, was a man Soap honestly thought he would never see again.
“Maze?”
“Captain McTavish,” Maze said, walking towards him. “You are now under my command. Under the orders of her Majesty, you are now part of the XCOM project.”
“Now hang on a second,” Click protested. “You can’t just take him away!”
“Actually, I can.” Maze said flatly. “And as luck would have it, you are to be coming with us as well Ms. Powers.”
“Wha- Me?” Click stuttered. Soap looked over toward the other SAS soldiers.
“I don’t know…”
“Go Captain.” All eyes turned to the Prime Minister.
“Sir, are you sure?”
“Remember when you asked me about the united front against the invaders?” Soap paused, then nodded, turning back towards Maze.
“Lead the way.”
~~
The rest of the trip in the Skyranger went by silently, as the ponies didn’t feel like talking after watching the violent skirmish, and the humans had no idea what to say. Luckily, the Skyranger was an incredibly fast vessel, taking them from London to the Madagascar base, codenamed “Desert Spring”, within a half hour. Once the hangar doors opened, letting the craft land inside the underground base, the hatch opened, revealing a largely empty hangar bay, save for one figure. To Spar, Maze looked exactly the way he did when they had first met, save for the Colonel’s rank and the XCOM patch. Each of the soldiers each exited in turn, saluting their commanding officer as they did so. The ponies just gaped in awe, looking all around them at the base, as Maze looked them over.
Spar had known the man for nearly ten years, and if he had learned anything, it was that rarely anything ever surprised Maze. Even now, the man gave no hint to his feelings, his cold blue eyes looking over the Equestrians. Even though he and Spar shared the same eye color, the former leader of Delta squad always managed to unnerve any man with just a look. Finally, his gaze flickered over to Spar.
“Alright I give up.” He said. “What the hell are these things?”
“Their ponies.”
“No? Really? Figure that all out by yourself did you?” Maze asked sarcastically. “I mean what are they doing here on earth?” Spar shrugged.
“I ain’t got a clue in hell honestly.”
“I can answer that,” Whooves said. “But, it would be better if I could speak to someone who is well educated in the realm of science. Is there anyone like that around?” Maze stared at the Earth pony, his face betraying no emotion.
“So you can talk.” He said. “Interesting. To answer your question, yes we do. Our top scientist is coming as we speak, should be here any second now.”
“Good,” Applejack said. “Then we can use this time to finally get answers. Where the hay are we? And what’s goin’ on around here?”
“Spar hasn’t told you?”
“We were in the middle of a warzone,” The Captain explained. “Not a great place for answers.”
“Fair enough, I’ll give you the basic version then.” Maze took a breath. “You’re on the planet Earth, where us humans are the dominant species. Or rather, we were. We are currently facing a hostile alien invasion, of which we are trying to repel.”
“We saw some evidence of that.” Twilight said quietly. “Do you know why they’re doing this, what they’re after?”
“We have no idea,” Maze responded, shaking his head. “All attempts to contact them have failed. All they’ve done has cause destruction and death. If I had to guess, they want to either enslave or destroy our entire race.”
“That’s terrible!” Lyra gasped, clearly horrified at the prospect of the destruction of the race that had captured her imagination.
“But that’s why we’re here.” Boss interjected. “We were made to drive off this invasion.”
“Is it working?” Twilight asked.
“About as well as we can be,” Kat said, shrugging. “We beat them back whenever they show up, but they’re still as unpredictable as ever.”
“Sorry I’m late!” All eyes turned to look at a now open hatch, as a very attractive woman wearing a white lab coat walked in, staring at the tablet in her hand.
“Oh this’ll be good,” Spar smiled. “Hey Tex, look up!” The scientist did as instructed. She paused for a moment, then smiled.
“Ah, hello Doctor.”
“Doctor Stritzel,” Whooves said, a smile on his own face. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.” Everyone’s jaw dropped, and even Maze couldn’t help but blink in surprise.
“You KNOW each other?” Spar demanded.
“Of course,” Tex gave the soldier a sly smile. “You wondered where I was when I vanished?” Tex had disappeared for over a year, only just re-appearing before the invasion began. She turned back to Whooves. “So, what brings you here Doctor?”
“I have terrible news Tex, please come with me.” The two went into a corner, whispering to one another.
“What do you suppose they’re talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Probably something way over our heads.” Spar answered. Suddenly, Tex lifted her head.
“WHAT?!” She stormed over to the Cyan Pegasus. “YOU BROKE THE TARDIS?!”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Dash protested. “I accidently crashed into that panel!”
“So let me take a guess,” Maze said. “The device that sent them here is no longer operational, which means they can’t get back home. Am I right?”
“I’m afraid it’s much worse than that.” Whooves said.
“You see, a hole has been ripped between our world and theirs. Which means more portals might open between them.”
“Are you telling me that more of them could be sent to our world?”
“I’m afraid so.” Tex said. Maze shook his head.
“That’s just perfect. Still, we can’t just leave them to the aliens. I suppose if we come across them, we’ll have to rescue them and-“
“Now hang on just a minute.” Applejack said, stepping forward. “Ah don’t know much about this place, or war or any of that stuff, but your people are gettin’ hurt and dyin’. You say you’re trying to stop them. I want to help.”
“Me too!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Me three!” Lyra piped up. “I just found you guys! No way I’m losing you now!” Maze stared at them for a moment, then shook his head.
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not,” Twilight said. “You’re being more than generous with all your help, we want to pull our own weight and help your people.” Maze considered.
“Any objections?” He asked the humans.
“Nope.”
“Not here.”
“They could be useful.”
“Then that settles it.” He turned back to the ponies. “We’ll take any help we can get. First, we need to get you trained and combat ready.” Boss snorted audibly,
“I don’t envy the person who gets the job of training them.”
“You shouldn’t. It’s you.”
“Haha, poor basta- wait what?!”
“That’s right, you and Spar will train them. Delta and Omega squads will temporarily be combined under Dusty.” He started walking away. “Now need to get back to the control room, and we’ve all got jobs to do.” Then he stopped, turning around. “And we don’t tell anyone about this yet, ANYONE. Not the Council, not Hellsing base, no one. Got it?”
“Hey, I’m in no hurry to get my Section Eight.” Spar said, shrugging. Maze smiled and turned around.
“Welcome to XCOM.”

(Who will join the fight next? You decide! Vote in the comments for which pony you want to see join XCOM next! For now, enjoy a sneak peak at the next chapter!)

“I know you’re scared,” Spar said, gripping the soldier’s arm. “But we need to get to the White House, and we can’t make it without your help. Can you hang on for just a bit longer?” The young man swallowed hard, then nodded.
“Yes sir, just let me-“
“Incoming!” Another guardsman shouted. The UFO came roaring in, firing its plasma cannon at the vehicles. One struck the Humvee in front of him, sending its flaming hulk right towards Spar. He was suddenly aware of something poking his side.
“…Demand that you wake up!”
The soldier’s eyes snapped open. With a shout, he reacted, pulling out his pistol and knife with a single practiced move. He pinned his attacker against the wall, his pistol burying into her soft belly, and it was only then did he remember where he was. The poor pony was staring at him, eyes wide in horror and heart audibly thumping. Spar took a few deep breaths, then spoke.
“Don’t do that again.” The mare gulped, then nodded.
“Trixie will remember that for future reference.”

F.N.G. Part 1

Lyra could feel her heart pounding inside of her chest, as she hid behind the solid concrete pillar. Ahead of her, three Sectiods had taken up position behind their own cover. The Unicorn had fought her way this far, and the aliens still weren’t letting up.
Somewhere behind her, Ditzy lay, victim of a plasma shot to the chest.
Lyra shook her head clear. She couldn’t get distracted right now, she had to focus on the mission.
She took a deep breath, making a quick glance at her weapon, a gun modified by the humans to wrap around an Equine’s foreleg instead of being held by hands.
She winced slightly as her enemy fired again, hearing the objects flying all around her. When they stopped, she readied herself to counter-attack. The voice of her instructor filled her head.
That’s the beauty of shooting, it requires no thinking whatsoever. All you need is focus, you can forget about everything but the gun itself. Just aim and fire.
She exhaled, poked out from behind the pillar, and fired.
The felt the kick on the weapon as the burst of bullets flew away.
Lyra smiled a bit as her target fell to the ground with a satisfying bang.
Before she could celebrate, another enemy volley struck her cover. If she remembered what Spar had told her correctly, objects like this could only take one or two hits. Which meant her cover wouldn’t last another go around with the Sectiods.
Without thinking, she bolted away from the pillar, sprinting as fast as she could for a mailbox that was ahead of her.
She was not more than five feet away when she was suddenly thrown backward, feeling an immense pressure on her midsection.
Lyra’s entire body suddenly locked up, and she cursed herself for not noticing the second Sectiod that had been on overwatch, just waiting for her to break cover. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice overhead.
*Simulation Terminated*
*Simulation Terminated*
Simulation Results:
Aliens killed: 8 of 10
Good
XCOM Operatives killed: 2 of 2
Poor

Lyra sighed as she lied there; the simulation jacket she was wearing had locked her in the “dead” position.
She became aware of a shadow casting over her figure as Spar knelt down beside her.
“You did exactly what I told you not to do,” He said sternly. “You NEVER make a dash for cover like that when you see aliens trying to surround you. Remember what I taught you: If you’re in a situation like that, use your grenades. Tex might not like it, but a soldier’s life is more valuable than a few weapon fragments.”
“Sorry…” The unicorn said quietly.
“Don’t apologize to me,” Spar said. “It’s your ass on the line here, not mine.” The man stood up and turned to the corner where the control room was located. “Unlock their vests, and reset the targets.”
“Yes sir.”
Lyra felt the jacket unlock, and she slowly rose to her hooves. She saw Ditzy float up alongside them, rubbing the area she had been hit.
“Those Paintballs sting.”
“More incentive for you not to get hit by them.” Spar replied. The soldier glanced at his watch. “Alright, ten minute break, then I want you two at the range so we can get in more practice with the Explosives.”
“Why don’t we head their right now?” Ditzy asked.
”I think Boss and his group are using it right now for their explosives training.” As if on cue, the floor shook a bit from what appeared to be an explosion and Boss’s angry voice shouted.
“DAMMIT APPLEJACK! I SAID ON THREE! TRY FUCKING LISTENING TO ME NEXT TIME, WILL YOU?!”
Spar couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend’s rage.
He and Boss had both started out their careers as members of the United States Marine Corps. Although they both had long moved on past that, they still had some memories of the sadistic Drill Sergeants that had taught them the very things that would later save their lives dozens of times over. And unfortunately for the Ponies, the two had very similar training methods.
*Captain Davis to the Research Labs*
*Captain Davis to the Research Labs*
Spar sighed, and started for the door.
“If I’m not back in time, just go back and refresh yourself on the basic weapons.” He ordered as he exited. As the door shut behind him, he caught a glimpse of an older man standing in the control room wearing glasses and a green uniform.
“Doctor Shen?”
“Ah, hello Captain,” The head of Engineering said. “I’ve just come down to see how the new recruits are doing.”
“And what do you think?”
Shen looked back out at the training area.
“I think it’s quite impressive, considering what you told me when they first arrived.” He said, raising a brow. “I hope you’re not pushing them to hard.”
“I’d be lying if I said I was taking it easy on them,” Spar confessed. “I’m pushing them as hard as I can without breaking them, Maze didn’t leave us with much of a choice.”
It had only been a little over a week since the Equines had first arrived, and the two Special Forces Captains had wasted no time in starting their new recruits’ training.
“And how have the results been?”
“Much better than I would have even imagined,” Spar said. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much at all. But they learn at an incredibly fast rate, and they’ve got no short of eagerness.”
“Do you think they are combat ready?”
“I don’t think I’d say that, but Ditzy and Lyra got eight out of ten in the simulation, that’s pretty damn amazing when you consider they’ve only had nine days of training.”
“Indeed,” Shen said, nodding. “I take it my modifications worked well?”
“Yes, their weapon systems are working without a problem.” Spar started for the exit. “I’m sorry to cut this short doc, but Tex wants to see me.”
“A moment Captain,” Shen said, holding up a hand. “I notice you are still wearing your standard gear, is there a problem with the armor we’ve made?”
Spar glanced down at what he was wearing, the standard uniform for the U.S. Military, save for the XCOM patch where his unit insignia had once been.
“The Hydra Armor is exceptional Doctor,” He said. “But it does not suit the needs of my squad.”
“Oh?”
“If this was a regular war, it would be exceptional to our needs. But this is not a regular war. My team is Special Forces, which means we need to be mobile and quick, and while your armor can certainly take a hit or two, it’s also big and bulky.”
“We both know your regular body armor will do nothing against plasma weaponry.”
“That’s a risk I’ll have to take.” Spar said, opening the door to the lift.
“Just be careful, I’d hate to be the one that tells Doctor Stritzel that you died due to your stubbornness.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” The soldier replied as the door closed. He took the lift up to the second level of the base, the door opening to recreational room.
Currently, six XCOM soldiers were occupying themselves during their very brief time of break.
Ghost and Joker were sitting on the couch, playing Left 4 Dead on the Xbox.
Dingo, a Lieutenant with short dark hair and always wearing dark sunglasses, was playing pool with Natasha Dimitri, Trident squad’ sniper whose skills earned her the nickname: “Reaper.”
At the bar was, as usual, Reznov; Trident Squad’s Captain. The man was a cross between your stereotypical Russian and the Heavy from Team Fortress, he could outdrink anyone Spar had ever seen, and yet could make killing aliens look easy while falling over drunk. Next to the Russian, drinking Scotch, was Captain Kenneth “Soap” McTavish, one of Spar’s oldest friends and rivals.
“Hello Gents.”
“Hey Mate.” Soap nodded. “Thought you were on duty.”
“I am, just passing through to the tech labs.”
“Ahhhh….. going to see Tex, da?” Reznov started laughing. “I see what’s happening…. You two need too... uh… How do your people say it Soap? To Shag?”
“What’s up with him?” Spar asked, raising a brow. Soap shrugged,
“He found one of Dusty’s Philosophy books,” The Scotsman explained. “He thinks he’s seeing sexual tension everywhere.”
“Like you my friend…” Reznov put a hand on Soap’s shoulder, his words slurring. “You and that bookcase… Hahaha…”
“Ok, I think it’s time we cut him off.”
“We cut him off over an hour ago!” Dingo called.
“Then how is he still drinking?”
“He carries flask in his boot.” Reaper answered.
“Which boot?”
“Both.”
Spar shook his head, and turned to his drunken friend.
“You better slow down.”
As he left the room, Spar heard Joker yell.
“Dammit Ghost! You startled the Witch!”
After a few minutes of walking through the base, and receiving several salutes, Spar finally arrived in the tech lab.
“OW! What are you doing?!” He was greeted by the sound of Rainbow Dash complaining.
“I am trying to finish fixing your plasma burn,” A dark voice responded. “If you would sit still and shut up for just a couple minutes, I’ll be done.”
With long black hair and crimson eyes, Piper didn’t seem very qualified to be the chief Medical Officer of XCOM, but anyone who had ever been in her care could testify that she was best of the best, even if she was unnerving to all of her patients, even wearing black and other dark colors against regulation, not that anyone really had the guts to order Piper to follow the rules.
“Twilight said I was lucky the blast didn’t hit an artery,” Rainbow said nervously. “What would have happened if it did?”
“Oh,” Piper said, flashing a wicked smile. “We’d probably have to amputate the wing.”
Rainbow suddenly went pale, and another voice shouted,
“Piper!” Tex walked over. “You don’t need to terrorize our new guests!”
“Sorry,” The Medical Officer replied, the creepy smile still on her face. “Just trying to make her feel better.”
“Well it didn’t!” Rainbow squeaked.
“That’s enough,” Spar said, stepping forward. “Rainbow, head on down to the range, Lyra and Ditzy are already down there.”
Dash gave a salute, then enthusiastically exited the labs. Piper glanced at Spar, sending a chill down the man’s spine, then left for the Med Bay.
“Have I ever told you,” Spar said after the door closed behind her. “That Piper reminds me way to much of Alma from F.E.A.R?”
“Yes, you have.” Tex chuckled. “Multiple times.”
“Well, I mean it.” He walked over to the Doctor’s desk. “You wanted to see me?”
“Ah yes!” The scientist said, handing over several papers to Spar. “Here are the results of the examinations we conducted on your training squad.”
“What all did you test?” Spar asked, looking over the reports.
“What didn’t we test?” Tex grumbled. “I did X-rays, I did more X-rays, blood tests, DNA analysis, I even did MRI scans. You have no idea how hard it was trying to get that rainbow one to sit still…”
“Learn anything interesting?”
“Oh yes.” She smiled. “I won’t bore you with the details, but from what I’ve learned, the three subspecies of our Equine friends are quite different.”
“Oh?”
“Take, for example, the Earth Pony; like Applejack and The Doctor. They’re definitely the base species for all of the Equines, their bones are much stronger, their bodies much more resilient. The Pegusi; like Rainbow and Ditzy, are much more fragile, their bodies made for flight. They’re bones are a bit lighter, almost like birds, but the muscles in their wings are incredibly strong, which explains how they can have sustained flight. Unlike Unicorns; similar to Twilight and Lyra, have the weakest bodies of all. They’re bones aren’t very strong, and their muscles weaker than most. However, they obviously make up for this with their ‘magic’ that seems to emanate from their horns. But I can’t find any scientific reasoning for it, nothing in their blood or bones seem to be able to generate it.”
“Maybe it’s because it really is magic?” Spar suggested.
“Magic is just science that we don’t understand yet.” Tex smiled. “And I intend to be the first human in history to understand it!”
“Well, you’re certainly in a good mood today.” Spar answered, a smile coming to his face as well.
“I finally completed all the tasks Maze ordered me to accomplish yesterday, which gave me a few hours to relax. I decided to refresh my mind with a good movie.”
“And what would that be?”
“Les Miserables,” Tex answered. “Kat recommended it.”
“The one that’s still in theaters?”
“Correct,” She gave him a knowing look. “Two and a half hours of excellent music and performance.”
“Two and a half hours? Of singing?!” Spar shook his head. “That actually sounds like the literal definition of hell.”
Tex snorted.
“If you’re done criticizing my taste in movies, maybe you’d like to help.”
“What do you need?”
“The Doctor just finished a device that can detect tears in our world,” Tex said as she moved to a computer. “But we need more power to help boost it so it can come online. Can you climb down to the power circuits and boost the power output?”
“Sure.” As he moved toward the ladder, Tex tossed him a flashlight and an earpiece.
“Use this to keep in contact.”
“Got it.” Spar said as he climbed down the ladder.
The underground construction of the base had been perfect for keeping the base’s location secret, but was a nightmare for construction crews, who had nowhere to go but down when they were looking for where to put the power circuits. As a result, Spar found himself in a dark, cramped compartment lit only by his small flashlight.
“Spar, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Alright. Try to find one of the circuit breakers, it should be simple to locate.”
As he started making his way through the small maze of wiring, he realized he had a chance here, a chance to learn more about what his squad mates were always questioning his trust of Tex over.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Uh, sure I guess.”
“You said that before we rescued you, you were attached to an army unit, right?”
“Drafted would probably be the more appropriate word, but yes. When the aliens hit Denver, the Twenty-Seventh Armored rolled into town. They needed a Science Expert, and the Military Experience I got from being around you guys made me a prime candidate.”
“And this unit was wiped out?”
“Yes. We never even got close to Denver, the aliens just ripped them apart, I was lucky to escape with my life.”
“That’s how you ended up in those woods we found you in?”
“Correct. I set off my beacon as soon as I thought I was safe.”
“Right… The beacon…”
Now the conversation was reaching the point where he hoped to get some answers.
The beacon that Tex had used to summon a rescue hadn’t been any normal beacon, it had been one Spar had given to her before she disappeared, one that was used specifically by and could only be detected by members of United States Special Forces.
“What about it?”
“Why did you use that beacon in particular?”
“I…I didn’t have any others.”
“Don’t lie to me. You were a part of an entire unit, one that had multiple beacons. You used the one beacon I gave to you years ago, one that you’ve held on to for God knows how long. I want to know why.”
“…. Do you remember what you told me when you gave it to me? What you promised me?”
“I promised that if you activated it, I’d come running.” Spar answered, continuing to duck-walk around the compartment.
“And you did. Although I didn’t expect you to bring me back here, push me into a lab, and tell me all of humanity would be depending on my research, by the way, thanks for that.”
“But you still turned to me,” Spar said, spotting the circuit breaker. “And that’s what I don’t get. We hadn’t seen each other in years, and I’m sure you found plenty of other saps over that time, why pick me?”
“First, you’re the best soldier I know. And second… do you remember what you asked me? The night before I left…?”
Spar paused, letting out a long slow breath.
“I remember not getting an answer…” He said quietly.
“What was that? I didn’t copy.”
Spar hesitated, then flipped the switch.
“I said the power has been boosted; tell The Doctor his device should work fine now.”
As Spar made his way to leave the compartment, he heard another explosion below him.
“JUMPING JESUS ON A POGO STICK APPLEJACK! I SAID ON THREE! THREE GOD DAMMIT! DO I HAVE TO COUNT IT OUT FOR YOU?! ONE, TWO, BLOODY FUCKING THREE! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU LEARN TO COUNT?! ON YOUR STUPID FARM?!”
~~~
“So run this by me one more time Miss Sparkle,” Maze said looking at the holographic image of the Earth in the Command Center. “What exactly is this device supposed to do again?”
“It is simple,” Twilight said. “We just look for anomalies in the photon lines around the global continuum that can make for a rip at the sub-atomic level that can help us detect tears in the space-time continuum. Any other questions?”
Maze blinked once, then turned to the Doctor.
“What exactly does this thing do?”
“It tells us where tears between our world and this one are opened.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I have already taken the liberty of hooking it up to the global network.” The Brown Stallion walked over to the control panel. “Once I press this button, it should begin operation.” The Earth Pony pressed the green button.
“… Alright, is something supposed to happen?” Maze asked, raising a brow.
“It is working at full functionality. It will alert us when a tear is opened.”
“And when will that be?”
“Who knows? Tears are random, it could be tomorrow, it could be next week-“
Alarms started blaring, as the global map began to focus itself.
“…Or it could be right now.” The Doctor studied the map. “It seems we have a hit.”
“South America…” The Colonel mumbled. “Right outside Rio… Do we have any squads near that location?”
“Alpha Squad is only a few clicks away,” a Control Officer reported. “They were running a surveillance Op in Rio.”
“Send them over to take a look, I want to know if anything came through that tear.”

~~~

Why do you fight the inevitable?
Your species is doomed, you have seen it.
We are your future
Your genetic destiny
Submit now
Or face certain death

“Lieutenant?”
Kate suddenly snapped her eyes open, looking into the face of her concerned Sergeant.
“Sorry Thane,” She apologized. “I just dozed off.”
“Heh, our fearless leader,” Frost snickered. “Falling asleep on the job.”
Kate narrowed her eyes.
“This ‘Fearless Leader’ of yours if just a few seconds away from telling Colonel Maze about your personal game stash you smuggled into the base.
Frost’s eyes widened.
“You wouldn’t…”
“Try me.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Maze’s voice came over the radio. “But you lot have a mission to do.”
“Colonel?!” Frost started. “How much of that did you hear?!”
“All of it Corporal.”
“Son of a-“
“What’s our objective sir?”
“According to the Doctor, a Tear between our two worlds opened up somewhere in that area. It just closed a few minutes ago, but we want you to make sure nothing came through.”
“And if something did come through?”
“You know the drill, take it back to base for analysis.”
“Copy all Overlord, Alpha One out.”
As Kate signed off, she felt the Skyranger land, as the back hatch opened.
“Overlord, this is Big Sky. We’ve reached the AO, request permission to deploy.”
“Affirmative Big Sky, Alpha Squad has permission to deploy.”

The four soldiers set foot into the jungle, the noises of animal and insect life all around them.
“Alright, how do you want to run this LT?”
“Split up and run a standard search pattern,” Kate ordered. “Thane, you and Watch take the North. Frost, with me, we’ll take the south.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Watch said, motioning to Thane with her head.
“So how will we know if we see anything?” Frost asked, looking around the forest.
“Well, you saw the ponies back at base,” Kate said as they walked along. “It’ll probably stick out like them.”
Frost stopped.
“You mean like that?” He pointed. A small blue and purple figure was darting around, obviously confused and lost.
“Yep, like that.”
The pair started sprinting after it, following the noise and color.
“Stop!” Kate yelled. “We just want to help!”
The creature looked over its shoulder, but only ran even faster.
“Damn that thing is fast!” Frost huffed.
“It has two more legs than us!” Kate growled. “Put your fucking SEAL training to good use and speed up!”
“Yes Ma’am!” Frost gritted his teeth and sprinted even faster. “Stay with it, I’ll try to cut it off up ahead!”
“Got it!” Kate shouted as her squad mate broke off in another direction.
The human slowly started to gain on the equine, due mostly to the massive endurance that she had been forced to master in Army Ranger School and later Delta Force training and had been refined by years on the battlefield.
In her mind, she was counting down.
3…2…1…
“Get it Frost!” She shouted.
Out of a bush up ahead, a net suddenly shot out, covering the blue creature. It struggled, yelling and fighting against the net. Kate quickly ran up to it pulling out the ARC Thrower Doctor Shen had manufactured to capture aliens alive. It fired an electrical burst out of its barrel. The creature twitched slightly, then collapsed, unconscious. Frost came up to join her, panting.
“Well, that’s one hell of a way to test a prototype.” He said.
“You can say that again.” Kate put a finger to her ear. “Big Sky, this is Alpha One. Precious cargo in hand, ready for pickup.”
“Affirmative Alpha One, we’re on our way.”
“Well this is weird…”
“What is?”
“This pony thing.” Frost leaned over to get a better look. “It looks like it’s wearing a wizard hat and cape…”

Author's Note

I am so very sorry for how long I'm taking with these chapters. I thought I would be faster to put them out, but I forgot to factor in laziness and stupidity...
Anyway, I hope to start writing more often now, so hopefully I can update more often.
Thanks guys!

P.S.
If a drunk Russian is found stumbling around your neighborhood, claiming he fights aliens, please don't send him back
-Colonel Maze

F.N.G. Part 2

Wolf Pack Private Military Company Compound
Tokyo, Japan
October 21st, 2015
0200 Hours

W continued to read all the reports while listing to her boss ramble and ask questions in her ear, silently thanking whatever entity above for giving her the ability to multi-task so well.
“Run it by me one more time,” Dingo, the Head of the Wolf Pack Private Military Force, voice came through W’s Blue Tooth. “What’s the situation?”
“For the fifth time, and I have been counting,” She responded through gritted teeth. “It’s hell all over the world. It’s a full scale invasion, and they’re cutting through the World’s armies like they’re nothing but butter!”
“It’s the same over here in Australia,” Dingo answered bitterly. “We barely got out of Sydney alive.”
“We?”
“I picked up this kid who calls herself Ice. She’s Ausie Special Forces, pretty good in a fight.”
“Are you safe?”
“For the moment. We managed to get off the Mainland by hitching a ride with Talisman on one of her planes, although ‘safe’ is a relative term right now…”
“Tell me about it,” W said, pulling a flash drive from a nearby computer before deleting all of its content. “The aliens are knocking on our front door right now too; all of our combat teams have either been deployed or evacuated. I’m gonna be bugging out myself soon.”
“Before you do, get me a detailed report of the attacks while you’re still in the Command Center.”
“You want this now?!”
“Now’s as good a time as any.”
W sighed, and brought up the reports.
“Alright. There’s heavy fighting in Moscow, Rio, Vancouver, and Mexico City. Washington D.C, London, Berlin, and Chicago are under siege and will probably be lost within a couple of days. We’ve lost all contact with New York, Beijing, and Paris. North Korea and Ukraine have been completely overrun by the Aliens. The Americans have taken heavy losses in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and are about to pull and declare most of the West Coast to be in the Occupied Zone.”
“God Damn… What about the Middle East? Any word from there?”
“The X-Rays tried to move in, but the Israelis kicked their asses.”
“Well, that’s one piece of good news at least.”
“Savor it; I don’t think we’ll have any more coming for a while.” The ground began to shake under W’s feet. “Shit, the aliens are pushing; they’ll be all over the area in only a few minutes!”
“Get your ass out of their W, we’ll find a place to meet up in all this madness. Dingo out.”
W signed off, grabbing her bag that was full of flash drives that contained detailed information on every Wolf Pack operation, legal and otherwise. As she exited the Command Center, she hit the lights, shrouding the entire building in darkness.
She was alone now, all staff members having already evacuated long before her. W maneuvered her way around the deserted office area, the only sources of light coming from the windows of the battle raging outside.
She activated her Blue Tooth again, tweaking it so it would pick up and contact via radio frequency. She had to contact the last Combat Team that was still deployed in the city.
“Rocket? Rocket do you copy?”
“Loud and clear.” A female voice replied.
“What the hell are you still doing here?” W hissed. “I ordered everyone to get out of the city!”
“You can’t expect us to just turn tail and run.”
“Tokyo’s lost, there’s nothing we can do to change that.”
“But we can still-“
“Listen, we’ll get our crack at the bastards soon enough, but for now we need everyone alive.” W pulled out her modified Smart Phone. “Is your IFF active?”
“Of course.”
“Alright, hold on a second.” She ran a trace on Rocket’s position on her phone, bringing up a map of Tokyo. “Alright, about four blocks southeast of your position, there’s a police station. Get there, and have Fox hack into their systems.”
“Alright, what are we looking for exactly?”
“Security Camera footage, the more we know about the Aliens, the better off we-”
She was cut off by the sound of movement in a nearby hall. Muting her earpiece, W quickly ducked behind a cubical. Using the reflection from a nearby window, she saw two small grayish-humanoids crawling on all fours moving out of the hallway.
My God, they’re already this far. She thought.
Silently, W withdrew her Mini-Uzi Submachine gun from her bag, waiting for the aliens to draw closer. Then, when the creatures had turned away, she rolled out from her cover, gunning down the Sectiods with precise bursts from her weapon. The aliens collapsed to the floor, yellow blood splattering the walls.
Taking a deep breath, W rose back up to her feet, and unmuted her earpiece.
“W! Are you alright? I thought I heard gunfire!”
“You heard right, but I’m fine.” W answered, reloading her weapon. “Get that footage we need, then meet me at secondary RV point Lima.”
“Copy all. We should be there in about two hours. Amazon out.”
W signed off, and was about to get moving again, when her phone flashed an alert.
*ENCRIPTED MESSAGE ARRIVING*
W raised a brow, before a distorted voice began to speak.
“If you’re receiving this, then you are an individual who has become very well acquainted with life and death situations throughout your life, and have been chosen to help counter the recent Extra-Terrestrial Incursion under status Black Viking.”
W blinked, she remembered such a phrase from her time as a CIA agent. Black Viking was a contingency plan for all Special Forces members to initiate a full-scale Guerrilla War in the instance of the United States or any NATO country was occupied by a hostile force.
“If you are able, come to the coordinates that is being transmitted. The fate of the world, our world may very well depend on it.”
W read the coordinates given, then furrowed her brow.
“Madagascar? What the hell could be there?”

Desert Springs XCOM Base, Madagascar
December 15th, 2015
1100 hours

"Spar, I gave you my answer."
"Think for a second here Maze! You're passing up an incredible opportunity for what?!"
"Why don't you think for a second?" The Colonel replied, continuing to walk across the Catwalk above the Command Center. "You're asking me to send ponies, a bunch of girlish-alien ponies to the front lines of our operations? Hell no."
"Don't do this to me Maze..." Spar said, keeping the same pace as his commanding officer. "You told me to get them combat ready and by god I got them combat ready. Now you want to just throw all that away?"
"I wanted them to be at least familiar with weapons and combat systems, nothing more."
“Bullshit, you don’t just make two of your best Captains train rookies just so you don’t use them!”
Spar knew that he was one of the very few people alive today that could talk to Maze like this, it was a privilege he intended to use to his full advantage.
“I understand where you’re coming from, but I-”
“Look Maze, just trust me!” The soldier moved to be in front of his old friend. “How many times have I let you down?”
“Three hundred and ninety six times.”
“Three hundred and ninety FIVE times,” Spar corrected. “That little incident in Rio doesn’t count!”
The Colonel sighed, and was about to reply, when a control officer from below started waving to get his attention.
“What is it?”
“Alpha Squad is now arriving back with the package sir!”
Maze glanced at Spar.
“We’ll finish this conversation later,” He said, activating his intercom microphone. “Ghost and Dingo on deck to escort package, all Equine assets to Out Processing to receive the package, Captains Spar and Boss report to Out Processing control.”
“Back to work then…”
~~~
The Skyranger descended from the large open hatch into the underground base, its twin jets spitting flame as it landed in the hangar. Maze watched the ramp drop, and four very weary soldiers walk down it.
He sympathized with their exhaustion, Alpha Squad had been in the field for the last three days in South America with very little time to rest.
The Leader of the squad, 1st Lieutenant Katelyn Holt, gave a sharp salute.
“Sir,” She said. “The Package is secure and all squad members are accounted for.” She said this last statement with a hint of certainty, and Maze could understand why. Kate had been the only survivor of the Delta Force Team that had made first contact with the Aliens. Officially, she had been cleared for duty by the psychologists, but anyone who knew her could see the scars that she still carried in her eyes.
“Any injuries?”
“No sir. They’re just tired.”
“Good work. Get some rest, your squad is now on stand-down.
“Yes sir, thank you sir.”
As Alpha Squad left the hangar, Maze waved Ghost and Dingo forward to the Skyranger. Inside, they found the Pony unconscious, strapped to a medical stretcher.
“Geez, they have the thing strapped in like it’s a mental patient.” Ghost murmured.
“It’s just procedure; this thing ran from Kate and her squad.” Dingo explained. “Better safe than sorry.”
“Right…” Ghost said, eyeing the pony with caution.
“Oh don’t be a sissy,” Dingo said, rolling his eyes. “It’s out cold, it won’t bite you.”
“I’m not a sissy,” The Demolitions Expert shot back. “I’m just making sure.”
The pair put the stretcher in its wheeled position, then started down the ramp.
“Is this thing wearing a hat and a cape?”
“Haha it is. Looks like a pony Dumbledore!”
“What? Have you even seen those movies? It looks nothing like that!”
“Well, it’s a magician! Close enou-”
Dingo stopped, as the Pony’s eyes suddenly snapped open, darting around to see what was around it and struggling against its restraints.
“Uh, Colonel! This thing is awake!” Dingo yelled. Ghost turned around to look at their new guest.
“Hey take it easy,” He said softly. “We’re not going to hurt-”
The Pony’s magician hat fell away, revealing a glowing Unicorn Horn. Its restraints suddenly snapped away, allowing it to leap to its hooves. It kicked Dingo in the stomach with its hind legs, the soldier stumbling backward while clutching his stomach. Ghost tried to grab the Unicorn, but it made a magical blast that knocked him off his feet. The Pony leaped off the stretcher, trying desperately to get away from the XCOM Troopers. Dingo chased after it, getting ready to tackle the alien into submission. The Unicorn levitated a nearby coil of while and launched it at the Lieutenant, wrapping it around his legs and tripping him to the deck. As the two soldiers tried to recover, the Unicorn began to charge its horn in preparation for the next attack.
“Trixie stop!”
The pony turned to see a fellow unicorn standing in the doorway into the base.
“Twilight Sparkle? What are you doing here?” Trixie demanded, narrowing her eyes. “Are you responsible for all this?”
“No! Well, not exactly.” Twilight waved her fellow Unicorn in. “I’ll explain everything, at everything that I can.”
Trixie hesitated, then followed Twilight into the base, retrieving her hat as she did so.
Meanwhile, the two commandos picked themselves up off the floor, Ghost glaring at Maze.
“With all due respect sir, what the hell were you doing just standing there?!”
“Just enjoying the show Sergeant.” Maze said, exiting with a smirk on his face.
“Alright, let’s get our stories straight.” Dingo said, pointing a finger at Ghost. “If anyone asks, there were fifty of them! And uh they were… Guerrillas!”
~~~
“And that’s everything we know.” Twilight finished.
“A world filled with humans?” Trixie asked. “Facing an alien invasion? It sounds too farfetched, even for you Twilight Sparkle.”
“But it’s true!” Ditzy insisted, coming to her friend’s aid. “We’ve seen the aliens first-hoof! They tried to kill us!”
“Indeed,” The Doctor said thoughtfully. “It is also highly likely that based on what I’ve observed, these creatures will not simply stop at this planet.”
“You mean those things could even attack Equestria?!”
“It’s possible,” Whooves admitted. “Though I doubt any of us want to test that theory.”
“Back on subject,” Trixie said, obviously trying to bring attention back to herself. “These humans are just letting us stay here and protecting us out of the goodness of their hearts?”
“Not quite,” Twilight answered. “We’ve kinda told them that we’ll help them in their war…”
“What?! You’re helping the humans fight a WAR?!”
“But they’ve agreed to help us get home!” Ditzy said, coming too her friend’s defense. “We haven’t been exactly rolling in options since we’ve arrived.”
“And like the Doc said, these varmints might attack Equestria next!” Applejack pointed out. “I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’m not about to let that happen!”
Trixie looked thoughtful for a moment, then seemed to strike a heroic pose.
“Then it’s lucky for these humans that The GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE is here to help them!” She said confidently. “These creatures will be no match for Trixie’s limitless magical prowess!”
~~~
“Well, at least she doesn’t lack confidence.” Boss noted flatly.
“From what I’ve gathered, she seems to be some sort of entertainer.” Spar replied. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think ‘The OK and SOMEWHAT MEDIOCRE TRIXIE’ would draw much of a crowd.”
The two Captains were watching their Equine allies through the one-way glass in out-processing.
“Maybe so, but she’s still a braggart. I’d be surprised if she was any use to us at all.”
“Don’t be so quick to judge, you saw what happened in the hangar.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that the ‘braggart’ in that room just made two of the most elite soldiers on earth look like minimum wage mall cops. If we can hone that, find a way to direct them to the invaders, imagine the damage we could inflict on them!”
“You really think you see something there?” Boss asked, eying his friend coolly.
“I do.”
“Well in that case,” Boss said, turning to leave. “You get to train her.”
“Great…” Spar grumbled. “Lucky me.”

~~~

“Alight Soap,” Fixer said, looking down the range with binoculars. “You’re up. Ya got two aces, a suicide king, and an eight of hearts so far. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Soap aimed down the scope of his sniper rifle, looking at the rows of playing cards that they were playing their game with. He located his target, put it right in the crosshairs, then pulled the trigger.
“Nice!” Fixer called. “Ace of Diamonds! Three of a kind!”
“Don’t feel bad now boy-o,” Soap said to Joker, reloading the bolt-action rifle. “I always win in games of cards.”
“Alright Joker, your turn.” Fixer said. “Take your best shot.”
“With pleasure.” The sniper said, taking his shot within a second of being given the green light.
“Five of Spades; Spade flush.” Fixer said, putting down his binoculars. “Not good enough.”
“Hey, hold on a second.” Joker replied with a smirk. “Isn’t that a STRAIGHT Flush?”
Fixer frowned, bringing the binoculars back to his eyes.
“Hold the phone.” He said. “Two…Three…Four….Five…Six of Spades! Straight flush!”
“Son of a bi-”
“I believe that is game, set, and match.” Joker said victoriously, striking a pose. “Please ladies, control yourselves, there’s enough Joker to go around.”
“Right, that’s why you’re the bloody marksman and I’m just the bloke who tells ya where to shoot.” Soap said sarcastically. “There’s your damn money. Rematch next week?”
“You know it.” Joker replied, shoving his payment into a front pocket. He turned to leave the firing range, when he saw Spar and Twilight standing just fifty feet away. The Unicorn was holding a standard XCOM pistol with her magic, but Spar was looking irritated.
“Twilight, just aim down range, and pull the trigger. That’s all there is to it.” The Captain said.
Twilight bit her lower lip, aiming the pistol shakily, then stopped.
“I…I just can’t do it…” She whimpered. Spar let out a long, slow breath.
“Joker!” He called. “Can you help me out here? I need to tend to our newest recruit.”
“Of course Spar.” Joker said, moving next to Twilight as his friend stepped away. “Something wrong Twi?”
“I can’t do it…” The Pony mumbled. “I can’t pull the trigger, knowing what it will do…” Joker nodded knowingly.
“I understand completely.”
“You do?”
“I do.” He leaned against a nearby wall. “When I was first made a Scout Sniper, I had never been in combat before. When I was deployed for the first time, I was doing recon of an area when I saw an enemy insurgent. I had orders to shoot any and all hostiles on sight, but I felt uneasy, the reality of what would happen if I pulled the trigger weighed on me.”
“What did you do?”
“I choked. I let the guy go, telling others that he was unarmed, figuring it wouldn’t be a big deal.” The sniper looked down. “Two days later, I got word that the guy I let go was a bomb maker for the insurgents, and one of his IED’s ended up killing two of our Marines.”
“That’s horrible!”
“That’s war.” Joker said, shrugging. “It’s kill or be killed, and it’s not just your life on the line, it’s the life of your friends as well.”
“I..guess…”
“Here, look at this.” He drew his pistol, the same model as the one Twilight was holding. “This is a gun. It’s not inherently good or evil; it’s what I choose to do with it that matters. I can use it to protect a friend, or,” He whipped around, firing the quick shots into the head of the Sectiod cutout being used as a target. “I can use it to kill an enemy.”
“It still doesn’t feel right…”
“No, it doesn’t. It never will. But you have to remember one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“That you’re not fighting because you want to, you fight because you HAVE to. If we don’t do it, our friends will suffer.”
“…I think I understand…” Twilight said quietly.
“Good.” Joker said. “Now let’s try it. Bring up your weapon.”
Twilight did as instructed.
“Aim down the range.”
Twilight looked slowly down the sights.
“Take a deep breath.”
She felt her heart hammering inside of her chest.
“Squeeze the trigger.”
~~~
Royal Castle
Canterlot, Equestria

“Name?”
“Storm Chaser.”
“Species?”
“Earth Pony.”
“Gender?”
“Stallion.”
“Occupation?”
“Archeologist.”
“OTHER Occupation?”
“CIA Agent.”
“Alright, what’s the heart of Queen Chrysallis?”
“Lock, you know it’s me.” Storm said flatly. “I’ve been here dozens of times; the Royal Guards have me on record. Do we really have to go through the whole secret code thing?”
“Uh, yes. What’s the heart of Queen Chrysallis?”
“Princess Cadence,” The Agent replied flatly. “Now will you please let me in, I’m already late for my meeting.”
“Alright alright,” The Solar Guard said, opening the door. “Go on in, the Princess is expecting you.”
“Well then let’s not keep her waiting.” Strom grumbled, slightly annoyed at the delay.
As a member of the Celestial Intelligence Agency, Storm had spoken to Princess Celestia on many occasions. Equestria was a peaceful realm, but it didn’t just get that way for no reason. It was from the blood, sweat, and tears of hard-working agencies such as the CIA that made Equestria the beautiful and safe haven it was.
Upon entering the throne room, Storm could see the Alicorn Princess that was roughly twice his size sitting on her throne. The Earth Pony removed his signature Brown Fedora from his head, bowing in respect.
“Your majesty,” He said. “You wished to see me?”
“Yes Storm, please come in. We have much to discuss.”
He nodded, rising back to his hooves. When the doors shut behind him, leaving him alone with the Princess, Celestia spoke again.
“I have a mission for you. One of the utmost importance, I’m only trusting you and few others.”
“No offense Princess,” Storm said, confused. “But wouldn’t it have been easier to just send the mission details to CIA headquarters and have them pass it on to me? I mean I always love visiting but…”
“No. I want this to stay as quiet as possible. Not even CIA will know about this.”
“Whatever this is,” Storm said slowly. “It must be important.”
“I’m afraid it is much more than that,” Celestia shook her head. “Three of the Elements of Harmony have gone missing.”
Storm felt an icy knot fit itself in his stomach.
“Are we talking about the actual Elements themselves?” He asked. “Or the bearers of the Elements?”
“Both.” Celestia replied. “Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and my student Twilight Sparkle. Their Elements have also disappeared with them.”
Storm now understood why she wanted to keep this a secret. If word got out that half of the Elements, among the beacons of hope to all of Equestria, had just vanished, there would be chaos. Fingers would be pointed, people would be blamed, and Equestria’s enemies might choose the moment too attack, believing them to be weak.
“And you have no idea where they might be?”
“None. It worries me, Twilight never goes anywhere without letting me know first.”
“Perhaps they were needed somewhere? Taking their Elements with them?”
“Perhaps…” Celestia murmured. “But then what of the other elements? You must have them all together for any of them to work.”
Storm was sure there was a logical explanation for it all, but he couldn’t think of anything right now.
“Alright, I’ll learn more once start my investigation. Where should I begin?”
“Go to Ponyville and talk with her friends. Keep it quiet, but learn what you can. Agent Daring Do will join you once there.”
“Daring will be helping?” Storm asked, his face brightening.
“Yes, I thought that would make your day better.” Celestia said, chuckling. “Are you and her-?”
“What? N-no!” Storm stuttered. “We’re just-”
“Ah, it is none of my business anyway.” Celestia waved it away. “Just please find my student and her friends.”
“I’ll do my best Princess.”
~~~
Desert Springs XCOM Base, Madagascar
Firing Range
December 17th, 2015

“Target Nine!” Spar shouted.
“Target Nine!” The Equines repeated.
“Lyra, take the shot!”
The unicorn fired her weapon, the bullet impacting on the cut-out sectiod’s midsection.
“Hit!” Boss reported.
“Your turn Applejack! Fire!”
This time, the round bounced off the far wall.
“Miss! Re-engage!”
The next bullet struck the target’s foot.
“Hit. Barely…”
“Do it RD!”
Dash fired, trying to aim at the distanced target.
“Miss! Re-engage!”
She fired again, getting frustrated at the difficulty of the long-range shot.
“Double miss.” Boss said, shaking his head.
“Don’t you start that crap now Dash!” Spar barked.
“Yes sir…”
“Go Trixie, just like I showed you.”
Two shots went off, both hitting the target.
“Hit… even though you should have only taken one shot…”
“Was their ever any doubt?” Trixie asked, smirking.
“Cut the gloating! Twilight, let’s see what you’ve got!”
Before the humans could even blink, a hole appeared in the target’s head.
“Hit! Damn good shot Twilight.” Boss commented.
“Oh yes,” Spar said, smiling. “They’re ready.”
~~~
“I’m telling you it’s true.” The Doctor said, leading the way into the lab.
“Doctor, I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime, and I understand a lot.” Tex said, following the Pony. “But alternate universes? I can’t believe it.”
“But you believe in time travel? And Teleportation?”
“Those are concepts I’ve seen with my own eyes, and they have scientific backing. That does not.”
“Oh really?” Doctor Whooves asked, turning on the computer he’d been given. “So if I had proof, you’d believe me?”
“If it was undeniable, yes.”
“Well then,” Whooves said with a smirk. “Take a look.”
Tex turned, confused. On screen was what looked like the Science labs they were currently in.
“Ok, I don’t get it.” Tex said. “It’s just a video of our lab.”
“Is it? Look closer.”
Tex did as she was instructed, squinting. Now that he mentioned it, there was some differences. A computer in a different area here, a test tube that didn’t belong there, and a woman that looked nothing like her in wearing the head scientist’s lab coat.
“Who… who IS that?” Tex demanded.
“If I were to guess, that’s you in another dimension.” The Doctor said casually. “Or at least, your replacement. Her name is Doctor Vallen, at least that’s what her name tag says.”
“So this… really is another world?” Tex asked slowly.
“Yes. It really is. Another world with their very own XCOM.”
“Fascinating…” She whispered, looking closer.
The possibilities of this find…
“Doctor Tex?”
By reflex, the Scientist turned the monitor off.
For right now, I want only me and The Doctor too know about this…
She turned to see Colonel Maze standing at the doorway, brow raised.
“Am I interrupting something?” He asked.
“Oh of course not.” She lied. “Just running system diagnostics.”
The Colonel stared at her for a moment, and she was worried that he hadn’t bought it. But Maze just shrugged.
“Alright then. Just came down here with a proposition.”
“Oh?”
“We have a new squad arriving, ordered here by the Council, but they look green as grass to me.” He gave an evil smile. “I was hoping you would ‘welcome’ them to our base.”
Tex matched the Colonel’s smile.
“Oh yes. I’ve wanted to stretch my legs.” She said. “I’ll meet you down there. Make sure to call Delta Squad down to see along with our Equine friends, I’ll show them a few tricks.”
Maze nodded, then exited the labs, Doctor Whooves en-tow.
Tex turned back to the computer.

File
Save as:
“Project Window”
Classification: Doctor Jordan “TEX” Stritzel only

She shut the computer down, then started making her way to the combat simulation room.
“This is going to be fun…”

Science is fun

Desert Springs XCOM Base, Madagascar
December 17th, 2015

*ALERT! COMBAT SIMULATION IN PROGRESS*

* TRAINING GROUNDS WILL BE LOCKED DOWN UNTIL SIMULATION HAS COMPLETED*

“RUN!”

“OH GOD! WHERE IS SHE?!”

“I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!”

Watching from the observation center, the members of Delta Squad, Colonel Maze, and the Equines watched as a group of four terrified soldiers fled across the arena in an attempt to escape their attacker.

“Hey guys,” Spar said, arriving late to the party. “I didn’t hear about any training going on, who’s in there?”

“A squad of newbies.” Joker said over his shoulder.

“And Miss Doctor Tex has joined them.” Ditzy chimed in.

“Wait, what?” Spar went to the window. “You put them up against TEX?"

“Correct. I believed that she could show our new friends here some new tricks.” Maze nodded at the ponies. “Plus, we’ve all seen that she has been getting a little irritable lately, probably from being cooped up in that lab for days on end. The way I see it, beating the ever-loving shit out of some new saps is the best way to blow off some steam.”

“But… she might kill them.”

“Hey, better them than us.” Ghost said, shrugging.

“I don’t understand…” Twilight said, furrowing her brow. “I thought Tex was the head of the research department, she’s not a soldier. Why are you all so sure she’ll win?”

“Oh you’ll see soon enough…”
~~~
“Come on men we need to move! Double time!” The new squad leader said. “Hell, I’ll settle for single time…”

“Maybe we should just fight,” Another said, leaning on a nearby cinderblock while trying to catch his breath. “Otherwise she’ll just start picking us off one by-”

A hand suddenly grabbed the man’s collar, yanking him over the cinderblock.

“-ONE!”

Tex shoved the soldier to the ground, slamming a fist into his stomach, driving the wind from the man’s lungs. The scientist hauled the man back to his feet, using him as a human shield as the others members of the squad fired, their simulation rounds slapping Tex’s poor victim.

“Ow I’m not Tex! I’m on your side! Stop shooting me assholes!”

The scientist kicked her human shield toward one of his friends, sending them both crashing to the ground.

“Watch it!”

“You watch it!”

“You idiots!” Their Squad leader shouted. “Let me show you how it’s do-”

The man was cut off, as Tex slammed her fist into his jaw, unleashing a ferocious barrage of blows into the man’s torso. He staggered back to where the other members of his squad were.

“Nice Demonstration Sarge… “

“Oh shut up…”

Tex chuckled, tossing their training weapons away, but keeping the Sergeant’s shotgun slung over her shoulder.

“Hey sweet-cheeks!”

Tex looked over to her right, then ducked as a training grenade went right over her head. The thrower was the last member of the opposing team, his body in a fighting stance.

“Forget about me? Step away from the idiots!”

She smirked, but decided to humor him, readying her own combat stance as the two circled one another.
He made the first move, lunging forward with his right fist in full swing toward her face. She smoothly ducked under the blow, giving two quick punches to his ribs. The soldier winced, trying to come back around to slam his fist on the crown of her head, but Tex was much faster, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back.

“God Dammit!”

The scientist twisted him back around, then kicked him right in the chest, sending him flying back and colliding with the others who were just picking themselves off the floor.

“Strike!” Tex whooped triumphantly.

The four soldiers were now back up on their feet, groaning.

“What do we do Sarge?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never hit a girl in my life!”

“Ya, I noticed! Try harder!”

Tex now smiled outright, clearly enjoying this.
She charged forward, catching the soldiers off guard as she turned the sprint into a sliding kick into the first man’s groin.
As that poor soul fell to the ground while writhing in agony, Tex made a sweeping kick that sent their Sergeant to the floor.
She sprang back up, focusing her attention on the two that were still standing. The biggest one tried to tackle her, but the scientist was able to redirect the force of the attack, rocking back on her spine and launching the man skittering across the floor and finally slamming into the wall behind her.
As the final soldier charged forward, Tex transformed the motion into a back-hand spring, kicking the man in his face as she made the acrobatic move.
She charged forward again, launching a volley of blows against the disoriented man. Making one final move, she struck the soldier in the center of his mass with a flat-palmed blow, sending him flying back like he had just been hit by a train.
Taking a glance back, Tex could see the first soldier slowly standing up, and she decided to have just a little bit more fun before she was done.
Moving like a cheetah that was about to finish of its prey, Tex kicked the man on the back of his kneecaps, sending him right back to the cold hard ground.
Pinning him right where he was with her left foot, she brought the “Borrowed” training shotgun to aim right at him.

“Oh no, Griff!”

Tex squeezed the trigger.

“Yipe!”

*CLICK*
*CLICK*

“Private Griff! You should be ashamed of yourself! We’ve run out of ammo again! That’s YOUR responsibility!”

“Huh, I guess this is the first time my laziness has ever saved my…”

He trails off, as he suddenly notices that Tex has shifted the way she is holding the shotgun, now holding it as if it was a golf club. His eyes widen in realization, and he sputtered.

“Wait WAIT WAIT!!!!”

She clubbed the man right in between the legs, the blow even making the males in the observation room cringe in pain. All was silent for a moment, until Griff opened his mouth to squeak.

“…WHY WON’T YOU JUST KILL ME?!”

Tex now laughs out loud, and looks to where the observation room is. She made a cutting motion with her hand, letting everyone know that those poor sods most likely had enough for one day.

*COMBAT SIMULATION COMPLETED*
~~~
The Equestrians all stood with there with jaws wide open, not quite believing what they had just seen.
The Colonel and members of Delta Squad on the other hand, appeared unfazed. Well, except that all of their hands were folded forward in protection of their midsections.

“Well that was certainly entertaining, if not slightly disturbing.” Joker commented.

“No kidding, you better watch your back Spar. Or better yet, watch your front.”

“Screw off Ghost.”

“Well, we have successfully scared the living hell out of the new guys using nothing but our top scientist,” Dusty said, turning to Maze. “What do ya wanna do with them Colonel?”

“Just send them to the other XCOM base, let them be Madam Hellsing’s headache. I doubt that they would feel welcome here anymore anyway.”

“Sounds good to me, I wouldn’t like them here personally."

“…Alright, time out.” Rainbow said, obviously speaking for the entire group of equines. “Why are none of you shocked?!”
“Miss Tex just took down all four of them! Not even breaking a sweat!” Ditzy joined in. “How did she just do that? I thought she was just a scientist!”

“She was, a long time ago.” Spar said with a smirk. “Then she met us.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a long story,” Maze said, shrugging. “Let’s just say that she spent an extended period of time with us, and she picked up a few skills. She's a good study...”

“Then why in the name of Celestia is she a scientist in here and not out in the field dealing with the aliens?” Applejack asked.

“For a couple reasons,” Maze answered. “One, she’s the best damn geneticist I’ve ever met. She understands more about DNA and biology than the better part of the entire US Science Department. Two, despite what you might think after that little demonstration, she’s not among our best fighters. She’s far more valuable in that lab than on the battlefield. But being able to hold your own against an enemy squad doesn’t hurt either.”

“Note to self: When Doc Tex tells you to stay still during examination. Stay the buck still.” Rainbow mumbled.

“Hope you girls were paying attention, cause I don’t think she’ll do it again.”

“Speaking of which,” Maze said, turning to Twilight. “Miss Sparkle, I believe that I have decided what your position at XCOM to be. If you would come with me.”

“Oh…ok…” Twilight said nervously, following Maze out. As the pair departed, Spar looked to the others.

“I suggest the rest of you get some sleep while you can. Things are quiet for now, but there’s never a guarantee that it’ll stay that way.”

~~~

“Now Miss Sparkle,” Maze said, leading the way into the command center. “Your friends tell me that you are very good at organizing and keeping track of things. Is that true?”

“Well, I’d like to think so.” Twilight stared at the Holographic image of Earth like she always did when she entered central control, amazed at the constant shifting of colors and arrows. After all, she’d never seen anything like this in Equestria.

“Then here is where I want you to be. You will be assisting me here in the command center, helping me organize and keep track of all of our soldiers and air units that are deployed around the world. Think you can handle that?”

“I…Believe so.”

“Good. Now let’s get you familiarized with that image of Earth that you seem to be so enamored with.” Maze said, chuckling.
“That seems like a logical place to start.” Twilight nodded enthusiastically, wanting to learn more about it. “I understand the basic geography of our planet by now, what I don’t fully understand are the colors and the arrows.”

“Alright, so the different colors represent the different areas of control on Earth. Red areas represent the zones that are currently occupied by the Invaders. Including North Korea, Ukraine, Western Russia, Western France, much of the UK, Northern Japan, and the US West Coast.” He rotated the image around for the Unicorn to see. “You with me so far?”

“Yes, I had assumed as much myself. But what about the other colors?”

“The other colors represent the major remaining Human powers in the world, and the arrows represent each of their forces. Red arrows represent known Alien units.” He set the image to slowly turn. “Green Represents the United States and her remaining forces.”

“There’s a lot of Green arrows strewn out across the world…”

“Most of the American Armed Forces were away from the continental United States when the invasion began, cut off from their own forces. Right now they’re helping out with whatever friendly forces they can find.” Maze explained.

“I guess that makes sense…”

“Moving on, Blue represents NATO and it's forces."

“NATO…” Twilight looked thoughtful. “Isn’t that the Alliance between a bunch of Western European Nations?”

“And Canada,” Maze said. “They were hit hard during the initial attacks, especially Germany and the UK, but their remnants still make up an invaluable fighting force. Next on the list is the Yellow color, representing SEATO. Have you studied up on what that is?’

“Isn’t that the… Asian version of NATO?”

“That’s probably the best way to put it, yes. You’re a pretty fast learner, I’m impressed.”

“Learning is what I’m best at!” Twilight said proudly.

“Then you won’t be disappointed here, cause we learn new things seemingly every day. The last real human power in the world that you’ll need to know is Russia, they’re represented in purple.”

“So… that big purple blob is Russia right?”

“Correct.”

“So why are there Red, Blue, Green, AND purple arrows all in one place in Russia?”

“Where? Oh I see what you’re talking about. That is Moscow. One of our combat teams was just dropped in there to help.”
The Colonel made his way to the control panel, putting his headset on. “Which means we’ve got work to do.”

~~~

Moscow, Russia

“I can’t raise anyone on the radio! I think we’re on our own!”

“Keep trying! If you can’t get anyone here to help spread around the love, we’re screwed!”

“No pressure man!”

The soldier swore out loud, clinging to the side of the armored vehicle for dear life as the air around him was heated up by the plasma bolts singing all around him.

“Mayday Mayday Mayday! This is Corporal Russell of the US Eighth Mechanized! We are pinned down and surrounded by enemy X-rays! Does anyone copy?!”

The soldier blind-fired over his cover, just to have a plasma bolt melt his M-4 right in his hands from a shot that was way too close for anyone’s comfort.

“Shit!” He cursed, trying to shake the pain out of his hand from the searing heat

“Muton!” His friend yelled, diving to the ground as the big alien began to lay down suppression fire on the three poor humans.

“To anyone who can hear this, we need help NOW dammit!”

The Corporal’s radio suddenly crackled to life, as a voice with a heavy Russian accent replied,

“Ask and you shall receive my friend!”

A nearby Sectiod’s head suddenly exploded, as Reaper started her harvest of headshots with her sniper rifle. Sabre came out of a nearby building, the Frenchman laying down covering fire with his FAMAS as Jess and Reznov exited next.
The Muton turned to face the newcomers, just to get blasted in the face as Reznov fired his AA12 on full auto. The shotgun was thundering in his hands as the buckshot sprayed down the green hulk. Jess fired a burst that took down the second Sectiod, moving to see if the other soldiers were hurt.
The final Sectiod tried to break from cover, but Reaper was already after him, the former Spetsnaz soldier throwing a tomahawk as she back flipped over her cover. The hatchet drove into the alien’s skull, yellow blood splattering on the street.

“Holy hell…” One of the Americans mumbled, eyes widened at Reaper. “Did she just…?”

“Kill a Sectiod with a back flipping hatchet attack?” Jess said, the German rolling her eyes. “Yes, yes she did.”

“She is, what you call, showoff.” Sabre mumbled, reloading his rifle.

Reaper simply gave them a confident smirk, retrieving her weapon from the corpse.

“Control, cancel mayday. An XCOM unit just showed up and saved our sorry asses.” Russell signed off on the radio, turning to face Reznov. “We owe you one pal. Had you not gotten here when you did, we probably would have been literally toast by now.”

“It is no problems friend,” The big Russian said. “What were you doing out here away from the main force? The streets of my homeland are no longer safe for such little men to wander alone.”

“We were assigned to make sure that no aliens were moving to flank us. Besides this small pocket here, we haven’t seen anything else. What are you doing here? If you don’t mind me asking sir.”

“I’m afraid that is official XCOM business that we are not at liberty to divulge,” Sabre said, shooting a look at his Captain. “I’m sure you understand.”

“Yes sir.” Russell glanced back at his friends, who seemed to in relatively good shape all things considered. “We should probably get back to the others now. You should probably do the same, no offense to you guys but this place is crawling with x-rays. Do you have your own transport?”

“Niet. We were dropped in from Airborne transportation craft."

“Then you can ride with us.” The soldier nodded to the damaged Humvee. “Pile in everyone.”

“That’s gonna be a little cramped…” Jess said, eyeing the vehicle that was designed to carry only four troops that was now being suggested to carry nearly twice that amount. In GSG9, they had always been given a plethora of transportation that they’d never really have to worry about losing space. Jess didn’t consider herself to be claustrophobic, but she didn’t find the idea of sharing a vehicle with half a dozen others, including the three Americans and her giant Russian Captain, to be very appealing.

“Well ma’am if you’re worried,” One of the Army soldiers smiled at the German. “We could always lap sit.”

“Idiot!” His friend slapped him on the back of his head. “She’s XCOM man! She could kill you just by twitching her eye!”

On second thought, this could be enjoyable.
~~~
Ponyville, Equestria

“You’re sure you interviewed all of the other Elements of Harmony that are still here?” Storm asked, resisting the urge to slam his head into the table from sheer frustration.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Daring answered, obviously none too happy that her fellow agent was questioning the work she had done before he had arrived. “Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. Rarity, the Element of Generosity. And, of course, Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. So unless someone found a giant pile of shiny necklaces laying in the back of a warehouse that reveal hundreds more different kinds Elements of Harmony, yes I have questioned all of the remaining bearers of the Elements.”

“Alright I was just asking, sheesh…”

It was quite a pathetic sight to anypony who knew what they were looking at. The pair was seated in a table on the outskirts of the town. The Agents in her Majesty’s Secret Service were almost pulling their fur out from sheer frustration. It didn’t happen often to the Archeologists, but the case that they had been assigned to solve had seemingly gone cold.
They were tracking the disappearance of not one, not two, not even three, but SEVEN ponies. Three of them being Elements of Harmony; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. After interviewing the other Element bearers, they had learned that none of the three had ever told their friends that they would be going anywhere, very unusual indeed. The Apple Family had given a similar story, that one day Applejack had just disappeared seemingly into thin air. No note, no messages, no warning. And Rainbow Dash, the loyal yet lazy Pegasus, hadn’t reported in for weather patrol. At first, her bosses hadn’t been too surprised, as the Wonderbolt hopeful had often been late due to love of sleep. But they had started getting worried after she hadn’t even been in contact with them after a second day.

Another three missing were Lyra Heartstrings, Ditzy Doo, and an Earth Pony known only as “Doctor Whooves”. After speaking to several residents of the town, they had learned that it was not uncommon for The Doctor and Miss Doo to disappear for several days at a time, nopony knew where they went really, and occasionally Lyra would seemingly accompany them. There had been several inquiries made of the CIA to learn exactly who this “Doctor” was, but the Princesses had determined that he was not a threat to national security and therefor did not warrant an investigation. Now, obviously Storm and Daring were wishing that someone had just knocked on his door and asked the damn stallion. They probably would have gotten more information if they had placed a chameleon with a pair of binoculars on a nearby tree to spy on the Earth Pony as he hung his bowties out to dry.

The final pony who had gone missing had been a showmare named Trixie Lulamoon. The odd thing was that her cart had been found outside of Trottingham, nowhere near Ponyville. The only thing that gave the agents reason to believe they were connected was the fact that the police investigators had found absolutely no trace of her. The door had still been locked, no signs of forced entry, all the lights still on. Trixie, like the others, had seemingly ceased to exist in the world.
No evidence to help the two tired CIA Agents had been left behind by any of them.

“I think I have a theory…” Daring said.

“You do?” Storm perked up. “Care to share?”

“Alright, so we know that Ditzy, Lyra, and the Doctor like to vanish every now and then.”

“Right.”

“What if they’re just in another one of their group trips right now? That it’s just a coincidence that they’re gone right now.”

“Maybe…” The Earth Pony rubbed his chin. “Where does that leave the Elements?”

“I think they were kidnapped. Probably by some Nightmare Moon Fanatic or something.”

“I’m with you so far…” Storm nodded. “Where I make the bad jump in logic is the showmare. How does she fit into this little theory of yours?”

“Maybe it’s coincidence that she went missing now too?” Daring didn’t sound convinced of that herself.

“I don’t think so.” The fellow Archeologist shook his head. “There’s too much history between Lulamoon and Sparkle to simply shrug this off as a coincidence. So why would you kidnap three Element bearers in Ponyville, have the other three in your sights, but decide to go out of your way to kidnap a pony who ISN’T an element bearer?”

“I… Don’t know.” Daring slumped in defeat. “I just can’t think of a full explanation for all of the facts.”

“There HAS to be an explanation.” Storm insisted. “We don’t just LOSE half of the Elements of Harmony into thin air!”

“...We’re gonna have to look in the Everfree, aren’t we?”

“Afraid so.”

“Great… and I just got these clothes washed…”

~~~

Moscow, Russia

The Humvee arrived at the command post in downtown Moscow, a colorful mix of soldiers, weapons, and armored vehicles as soldiers from three different continents had gathered here to face down the hostile invaders. As the XCOM Captain exited from his vehicle, he was greeted by an old friend.

“Colonel Markov?”

“Reznov! My friend!” the two men gave each other a big bear hug. “It’s been far too long!”

“That it has my friend, that it has.”

“Where have you been comrade? We have not seen you since the city was taken!"

“I was recruited into XCOM by some old American contacts. I did not want to leave the Motherland, but Dimitri and I have done some good work for the sober Colonel Maze."

“And you’re back now?”

“Did you think that I would miss the glorious day we retake out city? I will be the first one breaking out the vodka when our flag is once again flying over the Kremlin!”

“If that happens today…” Marcov grumbled, leading the way down the street that was filled with tanks and APC’s. “Reznov, we have been here for over a week with little to show for it. Your XCOM teams have been here for a while as well, and they have only changed things slightly.”

“That is because you have not had true Russian blood from them my friend! Today will be different!” Reznov made a sweeping motion with his arm, taking in all that was around them as they walked on. “The American and British tanks will make holes in the alien scum’s formations. That is when we will hit them with everything we’ve got.”

“That is a next idea Reznov,” Marcov shook his head. “But we would be walking in knowing nothing. We have no idea how many enemies are ahead of us. We’ve having trouble getting supporting aircraft to make sweeps, and we cannot risk sending any other soldiers ahead of the main force.”

“It matters little, I will take of it.” The XCOM soldier activated his radio. “Overlord, this is Trident One. Do you copy?”

“Loud and clear Captain, what do you need?”

“We have problem here of knowing enemy numbers. We need an Arial Reconnaissance made ahead of allied positions in the city.”

“Copy all Trident One, I’ll see if I can send an AWACS your way to make a recon sweep.”

“Thank you comrade, and any firepower you can send our way would be most appreciated.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Overlord out.”

Reznov signed off and turned back to his old friend.

“It is being handled.”

“How did you do that?”

“We have access to more resources than you my friend, or at least our commander does.”

“Must be nice to have blank check….”

“Trident One, this is AWACS ‘Magic’. I heard you lads needed some eyes in the sky.”

“Da comrade, transfer over to allied command and they will direct you on what must be done.”

“Copy that mate, transferring now.”

“Alright, our recon has arrived.” Reznov said. “Now you will learn all you need to learn about the alien scum in front of us.”

“You never cease to amaze me Reznov,” The Colonel chuckled. “It’s good to have you back.”

“It is good to be back in the homeland my friend.”

A voice came from Marcov’s earpiece, and he turned to answer it.

“And that is what is seen? All of it? I see… Da Da, we will commence immiediatly.” He glanced over at Reznov. “It appears the enemy has set us several guarded positions. But now that we know where they are, we can avoid them without too much difficulty.”

“Then the time for our action has come.” The big man smiled. “I must go back to my team.”

“Then I will see you once we have taken our glorious city back and the blood of our enemies runs under our boots.” The two men shook hands one last time before going their separate ways.

“You’ll buy the victory drinks, da?”

“Just focus on getting back alive my friend and I will treat to greatest Vodka in all of Russia!”