The Conversion Bureau: Cold Warby An A10 WarthogChaptersPrologue: CollisionChapter 1: ContactChapter 2: ViewpointChapter 3: EscalationChapter 4: FlashpointChapter 5-Alpha: American AssaultChapter 5- Борис: Soviet AssaultChapter 6: Common EnemyChapter 7: StalematePrologue: Collision1548 UTC, September 7th, 1986, United States Air Defense Operations Center, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States The Airman sat at his terminal, shaking his head in dismay at the display's information. He raised his hand up and spoke, "Sir.." he said, quite softly, as he was quite clearly unnerved. The officer in command walked over briskly with an expression on his face that made his no-bullshit attitude very apparent. He put his hand on the shoulder of the enlisted man and asked quite simply, "What have we got?" He turned back to the screen, pointing at a green outlined map of the world, specifically an area in the Pacific Ocean, with amounts of distortion that to the untrained eye didn't look like much- but to a professional, it was very significant. "Navy AWACS just picked this up. Not sure what in the hell it is, but it's significant." The Commanding Officer narrowed his eyes, "Does the President know?" The man shook his head. So, I'll have to tell him, the officer sighed. He hated having to be the one to tell anyone anything especially not news like this to the President. Reluctantly, he walked over to the phone on a wall nearby and picked it up. He dialed a number and waited. "What the hell is going on down there?" He took a deep breath, "Mr. President, there's a situation developing in the Pacific," Silence. Two seconds of silence. "What kind of situation?" "Something, I have no idea what as of this time, has appeared on radar in the Pacific. It has a signature that indicates massive amounts of radiation." Reagan swore. He knew what this meant. "I'll talk to the Russians then," He said quickly, the phone line going dead quickly after that. 1605 UTC, 7 September, 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev's Office, Moscow, Russia, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Communist leader picked up the red telephone the second it rang, wanting a distraction from signing the documents retaining those killed in the most recent battle in Afghanistan. He didn't expect what he heard next. "Mr. Gorbachev, were you aware of a surge of radiation in the Pacific Ocean today?" Mikhail took a double take. Reagan was pissed, and he believed that the CCCP was responsible. More importantly, how the hell did he not know about this? Were his own men incompetent enough not to have noticed this? Or did they simply not want to tell him? As if on cue, two men wearing Soviet Navy uniforms entered the room, the one on Gorbachev's right carrying a portfolio. He took all of his will power not to facepalm, and instead waved them off. But, he had more important matters. He moved the receiver of the device back to his head and replied to the capitalist superpower's leader. "No, I am not, please tell me what is going on?" He said as calmly as he could, which, to be frank, wasn't very calmly at all. "There was a large area, 'bout the size of Texas, in the Pacific ocean that is now pulsing with radiation. I wanted to know what you knew about it." The Russian spoke his agreement before hanging up and gesturing the Navy men closer,"What is it, gentlemen?" "We have lost radio signals with one of our Typhoon class submarines and fourteen cargo ships. We have dispached a Kiev class to investigate." "These ships," Mikhal asked, already knowing the answer, "Are they in the Pacific?" "Yes. How did you know?" "Mr. Regan just informed me that there was a massive surge of radiation in that area. We might want to be careful." The first officer spoke, "Yes, I will inform the Captains." The two men walked out of the room, closing the door as they left. Gorbochev took his glasses off and rested his hand on his forehead, leaning back in exasperation. 4:30 PM September 7th, 1002 Royal Guard Central Command, Canterlot, Capital Province, Equestria Several Royal Guard commanders and officers trotted around quickly, knowing that the humans would react quickly to their arrival, and that they would have to prove they didn't want war. They would need to meet with some universal leader, even though the reason they are on this ill planet is because of a long division between two groups, both based on different perception's of the humans' greed. They decided the best place would be from what the best they could tell was a neutral country. It was also the headquarters of the United Nations, the humans' main diplomatic summit. A commander stepped over to a table with a chart on it in the middle of the room. He pointed his hoof at one of the solutions. It would be to take a chariot to Geneva with the Princesses and show that they only wanted the best for the humans. They would leave at dawn. The next day, Captain Shining Armor decided. But will that be soon enough? 1608 UTC, September 7th, 1986, USS Enterprise, The Pacific Ocean, Two Hundred Miles From The Barrier The Captain stood in the bridge waiting to here for any new updates from his eyes in the sky, planes that were currently searching for the source of the radiation. Little did he know, Russian YAK-38's and SU-24s were also doing the same job, on the opposite side of the barrier, his own government also had a couple classified tricks up their sleeve as well. An SR-71 Blackbird was already surveying the area, but he didn't need to know that. "Sir," Said one of the pilots, "It looks like- like a landmass." Normally, he would have called him crazy, but the other planes were all reporting the same thing. He grabbed his forehead and sat down. He could feel a migraine coming on. He picked up his full coffee mug and downed it in a single gulp. This was going to be one a hell of a day. Chapter 1: Contact18:42 UTC, September 7th, 1986 USS Iwo Jima Command Center LPH-2 Amphibious Assault Ship The Pacific Ocean 54 Miles From the Barrier The room was in chaos. They were close enough to send helicopters to survey the area that the barrier was believed to have engulfed, as well as search for any ships that had been unfortunate enough to be there at the time. It was certain that a cruise ship that had left port from Honolulu two days prior was in the are of effect, and had not had established any contact whatsoever since the barrier appeared. It was increasingly likely that the 2,000 persons on the ship had been a complete loss. The Marine Captain looked at the chart that showed the area that was affected. Samuel Johnson knew his men would have to go over to the barrier to investigate. They would probably send some of them in on CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters for search and rescue, and others would come in on other helicopters for offensive and defensive capabilities. Suddenly, he heard a shout from the bridge. Sam reflexively prepped his M16A2, and ran towards the deck. His jaw fell open when he saw what the shouting was about. A large purple translucent wall was now becoming visible through the dense fog. It was clear that there was a landmass on the other side, even if it was slightly faded. Sam wondered the only thing that a US Marine officer would in his situation- When are we going to launch the landing? The Captain wasn't an idiot- he knew they wouldn't just attack a plausible extra-terrestrial settlement without reason, Other than the thousands that are probably dead now, but it probably was an accident, and declaring war without reason would be stupid. Breaking out of his shock, he closed his mouth and proceeded back into the command center. But the Captain knew one thing- history was being made here. 1205 UTC, 8 September 1986 United Nations Main Office Geneva, Switzerland Europe Soviet fighters followed the vehicle as it had left the barrier, and had been doing so for hours now. Soon, the planes ran low on fuel and were replaced by other MiGs. As they entered Switzerland, they were replaced by Swiss F5's. Once it had landed on the street in front of the UN Headquarters, news crews swarmed the area with helicopters, vans and news teams. The ponies that were on the vehicle, that could be safely called a 'chariot' had entered a nearby building, including the exhausted pegasi carrying it. The news crews swarmed the entrance, but only a few could get inside, and for those that did, it was the greatest journalistic story in the history of the human species. The ponies wanted to speak with leaders from around the world, The United States and The Soviet Union, namely. Thus, the United Nations quickly notified Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbochev. Their mutual consensus on arrival would be eight days. 1222 UTC, September 8th, 1986 The Oval Office Washington, D.C. United States "Please say that again, I could have sworn you said a pony princess," Reagan said as more of a statement than a question to the man on the other end of the phone. "I did sir, and she says she's from a land called, uhm," it was audible he put his hand over his microphone and asked the pony in question, "Equestria, sir." The American president did a double take. Well, an alien's an alien, he decided realizing it didn't matter if they were little green men or pink ponies, they were other worldly visitors, and they should be treated the same, none the less. "I'll see how long it will take to get Air Force One ready, but you can expect me to be there ASAP." "Yes sir," The Swiss man on the phone replied. Reagan sighed, This was going to be a long month. 0954 UTC, 16 September 1986 Aéroport International de Genève Geneva, Switzerland Europe The wheels of the white and blue Boeing 707 touched down on the runway. Above,a pair of F-15s was orbiting the airport. The pilot of the outdated jet was handed over by tower to the ground frequency, as he taxied to a ramp. Air stairs pulled up to the plane and the actor-turned-president stepped out, smiling and waving for the cameras. He climbed into a heavily modified black Cadillac limousine that sported the Presidential Seal. The limo drove towards the UN building. The second he stepped out of his limo, he was surrounded by news crews, and if it weren't for the Secret Service agents and UN Guards, he would have been mobbed even more. However, he managed to dodge the reporters and enter the building. The Secretary General shook his hand, "Good to see you got here in once piece," "Well, you get used to it after a while," Reagan said in good humor. "So, are you ready for this?" the Secretary said moving himself in front of the American president, barring him from entering the convention room. "I've seen their pictures," Reagan replied, "I can handle this." The Secretary-General looked unsure, but stepped out of the way, allowing the two UN Guards to open the door. Immediately, Reagan walked over to the conference table and took a seat. Along with Celestia, sat Mikhail Gorbochev, Margaret Thatcher, Li Xiannian and François Mitterrand. Reagan was surprised about Celestia, still though, he had a goal, and gawking in surprise about someone's looks certainly wouldn't win him any friends. "Lady Celestia," He spoke, "Do you have any intentions for what you will do on Earth?" Celestia smiled, "I want to help you." Chapter 2: Viewpoint1047 UTC, 16 September 1986 United Nations Main Office Geneva, Switzerland Europe "Can you please elaborate?" Thatcher broke the silence that filled the room. "I want to liberate you from your corrupted forms," Celestia replied. Reagan gave her a curious looks, "And what do you think you mean by that?" "I want to fix your greed, and your corruption, and fix the mistakes your people have made damaging your lands, for there is still hope! You can take a potion, be free of your greed corruption and blood lust, as well as your physically inferior forms and come to live in Equestria!" All of the leaders at the table threw various deadpanned looks at her. Finally, Gorbachev spoke up in an attempt to change the subject, as well as know the fate of his ships, "What happened in the Pacific?" Celestia looked at him quizzically, "Do you mean the ships that were in the area that's now Equestria?" In return, Gorbachev nodded. "Those that were on the ships were converted into ponies and now live in Equestria." Mikhail looked angry. Very angry. However, his expression wasn't the only one betraying such emotion- Reagan looked shocked, wondering why in the hell someone would have the nerve to touch ships belonging to his beloved nation. Surprisingly, of all the people in the room, the Chinese leader spoke up. "Do you have any idea how many resources were on the ships? Do you know you just kidnapped two thousand Chinese citizens?" Celestia gave him a death glare, "Like it matters to you, all you care about is power, not your people. They will be happier in Eques-" "Then why don't you let people decide for themselves? Why do you have to do this against their will?" "Well, uh-" The all-powerful 'goddess' of Equestria was put at a loss for words by the American ex-actor. In return, Reagan put on a sly smile. "We can live in peace," Gorbachev spoke, hoping to avoid looking incompetent, "We don't need this, and you shouldn't either, we can work something out." "War cannot happen, however, you cannot continue your self-destructive behavior, so join me, or I will force it with my magic. And you won't like it." She brandished a large bottle from a bag nearby, levitating it over. The humans' surprise was quickly replaced by anger, and that fueled action. Reagan punched Celestia square in the face, knocking her down. Quickly, he rushed out of the room, followed by others. Two United Nations guards rushed in to take the place of the leaders who had fled. The first man pointed his M-16 at Celestia and fired, but a bright flash engulfed the room, and she was gone without a trace. The second solider walked over to the bottle that still lay on the ground, its contents soaking into the teak floorboards. Meanwhile, the first man continued to scan the room, confused by the disappearance of the alicorn. The man investigating the substance pulled his radio off his vest and called for a hazmat cleanup team. As he turned to leave, he slipped and fell right into the puddle of the purple liquid, and he screamed, making his comrade rush over to pull him away, but it was too late. The first human to be ponified by potion could only lie there as he lost his humanity. The world's leaders navigated the hordes of reporters, escorted by guards who were almost as good at this as they were, on their way to their respective transport vehicles. In the case of Reagan, it was his trusty Presidential Cadillac. His destination was the hotel he would be spending the night in, The Marriott. Fifteen minutes later, his percussion pulled up to the hotel. He walked straight into an elevator, and got out at his penthouse suite. He walked over to his bed and sat down, rubbing his face. Two Marines entered the room behind him, carrying a brief case, which Reagan knew was the football. He picked up the phone on his nightstand, and requested a secure line. "Sir, we're going to need to go to REDCON 2 for all of the Marines in the Pacific, and DEFCON 3 for all of our Air Force guys in Hawaii." "Uh- yes sir, Mr. President," The Secretary of Defense said on the other side of the line, "Will that be all, sir?" Reagan thought for a moment, "Yeah, that should be good." The General acknowledged and the line went dead. "Choryt!" Gorbachev cursed in his hotel room, "We're going to need to send more ships out there, landing ships." One of the officers that stood in the room with him saluted and walked away to make it happen. Then, the balding mand turned towards another officer, "We want paras on standby. We can't let this can't go wrong." The man nodded and followed the other man to a second section of the apartment. Suddenly, a bright flash engulfed the room and Mikhail jumped backward. Chapter 3: Escalation2013 UTC, 16th September, 1986 The Marriot Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland Gorbachev stood up in the damaged hotel room, completely groggy and disoriented from the blast. One of his guards stood up, carrying a AKS-74 Carbine. Alarms were blaring in the room and the sprinkler system was activated. The debris that was once a penthouse suite was now in ruins as the occupants that were now standing up tried to find their way out. In the doorway a black unicorn stood. His horn lit up, attempting to attack the surviving humans. As the magic from his horn started to suppress down the hall towards the men, a guard leaned out from his cover, pulled the trigger and fired two rounds at the unicorn who fell backwards into a pool of his own blood. The guards proceeded to help Gorbachev out of the building. 2034 UTC, 12:34 PST, September 18th, 1986 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California United States of America "Make love, not war!" The incredibly cliche protest tagline was shouted over the roar of the already loud protesters in the park. Sergeant Howard Johnson, of the San Francisco Police Department, sat in his Black and White Impala, in a parking lot not far from the heart of the protest. The protest, like many others around the world, was about the ponies. Was the world really that screwed up? Dropping everything because a bunch of colorful ponies appear in the ocean? Unfortunately for him, not everyone agreed with him. Especially not the notoriously liberal residents of San Francisco. The people protesting, were to 'give the ponies a chance', which in reality meant giving up. That's what they wanted; a different way of life. As was the way with most that lived in San Francisco. They wanted a simple solution. It was easier. And that was one of the greatest flaws with people, an easy solution, even with side effects, is often taken over one more complicated. As the officer moped about the problems with his species, a grenade of sorts hit the window of a fellow officer's car, he got a brief glimpse of it, enough to see the purple fluid inside of it, before it detonated and filled the entire cab with purple. Howard got out of his car and rushed to pull his colleague out of his car, opening the passenger-side door. Purple fluid spilled out, causing Howard to jump, finally realizing what it was. He rushed away, knowing that his friend was done for. He reached back into his car and began broadcasting a simple message: "We have an officer down, I repeat we have an officer down. With a 245 in progress. We need back up at Golden Gate Park ASAP." A dispatcher quickly replied, "I am going to notify S.W.A.T., they should be there soon, out." Howard acknowledged and put the radio handset back on the dashboard, turning around, with his service revolver drawn. His former friend, now a blue pegasus, was right in front of him, trying to tell him the benefits on ponification. The officer replied by telling him to fuck off. The pegasus began bawling as he swore. The officer backed away slowly and got back in his cruiser, turning the light bar on top of the cab on. He used the loudspeaker on the hood of the car to get the crowd's attention. "This is the Police. Cease caus-". His speech was cut short by the same end that was met by his colleague in the car next to his. And he didn't even know it at all. 2113 UTC, September 18th, 1986 USS Saipan, 45 Miles from the Barrier The Pacific Ocean The 19" TV in the mess hall painted an accurate view of the events transpiring in San Francisco, giving the Marines an idea of what was going on. A Force Recon Marine, Corporal Nathan Jacks, put a hand over his eyes. So this is what the world is coming to these days, he thought to himself as the program went on as the SFPD S.W.A.T. Team was fighting those putting up resistance, identifying themselves as PER. Nathan didn't like this- all this shit was going way too fast. He had already been told they couldn't get into Equestria- they had some type of force field. But they would have to figure something out. Too much was at stake not to. There would be a battle soon. It was a solider's intuition. The 'calm' before the storm, but this wasn't calm at all- it rarely was. Escalation of warfare isn't random, it never has been and never will be, but that didn't matter- what mattered was when the battle would begin. 2213 UTC, 18th September , 1986 The American Sector, West Berlin, The Federalist Republic of Germany Specialist John Richardson pulled a cigarette from the breast pocket of his camouflage fatigues. He put the cigarette in his mouth as he pulled a Zippo lighter from another pocket and lit it up. The solider was leaning against a tree in a park he didn't know the name of yet, and looked at his watch. He had 17 minutes left of his patrol. He was bored. Berlin was quite a boring place, so he had learned in the two weeks he had spent there already. He looked forward and saw he was lagging behind his team quite a bit, seeing the flashlights on the barrels of their rifles ahead of him. John jogged to catch up with them as he saw his friends hit the ground, their rifles dropping to the floor quickly. The men did not stand back up. Suddenly, he realized his cigarette had just saved his life. He pointed his M16 at the trees near his team mates. Pressed the transmit button on his radio, and began speaking quietly, "Command, priority transmission, this is Papa 3-4, Command, come in." "Go ahead, Papa 3-4." "Command, Papa 3-1, 3-2 and 3-3 are down. I repeat, I am all alone out here. I need immediate back up. I don't have eyes on any hostiles." "Roger, we're sending a Little Bird and two squads. Hang tight, 3-4." "Thank you, Command." Richardson didn't wait for a reply he moved his rifle towards a bush that he heard something in. Rather than risk his own death, he pulled the trigger. He heard a gasping scream as the rounds hit their mark. He moved closer. Something else moved in the darkness. He pointed his rifle at it. A man holding a water gun. Nothing but a simple, plastic yellow and green, probably five dollar water gun. "Who the hell are you," he said, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" He brought the sights of his rifle to his eyes. The unidentified man with the summer time backyard toy pointed it at the American, who quickly reacted by firing a burst of 5.56 right into his chest. Eliciting a yelp from an unidentified source. The Specialist pointed his weapon towards where he thought it came from and, sure enough, he had his M16 pointed straight at a crying pink pegasus. Wait, what the fuck? 455 UTC, September 19th, 1986 Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria The Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia's best and brightest, were gathered before her, as she told them her plan. "I don't know if that's really..." Fluttershy trailed off. "They can't do anything on their own, we need to help them." Fluttershy was far too nervous to argue, even though she knew it was wrong. But, she couldn't let her friends down. So she simply sighed and let them go on with it. The magical energy of the Elements of Harmony was used to expand the barrier. Chapter 4: FlashpointSeptember 24th, 1986 1254 EST The War Room, Washington, D.C. United States "It's still expanding sir- if we don't stop it within two weeks, Hawaii will be lost," The Naval Intelligence Officer said to Reagan as he stood there considering his options. "I want the Battleships- The Iowa and Missouri- I want them in firing range of that barrier ASAP. If that doesn't crush the barrier, well, then we'll be in serious trouble then." The officer nodded and proceeded to go on with the president's plan. Reagan knew he should get a plan together in case the barrage would not crush the barrier. September 24th, 1986 1602 GMT USS Sapian 60 miles from the barrier, The Pacific Ocean The first units of Force Reconnaissance were preparing for the assault. Nathan Jacks' team would launch as soon as the barrier fell, which, according to his commander, would be 'soon'. Nathan took that to mean that it would be at least a day before they would be on Equestrian soil. That didn't matter much, as they were letting him pack his weapons and gear already, so he grabbed his rifle- a Colt CAR-15. He also grabbed his pistol- a newly issued Beretta M9, which he didn't like compared to the M1911, but it got the job done. Next, he grabbed his combat pack. Now, he had to wait. September 24th, 1986 1712 GMT USS Iowa 22 miles from the barrier, The Pacific Ocean The massive battleship moved towards the barrier with her 16" guns ready. The ship lined up adjacent to the barrier and prepared to fire. The Captain on the bridge looked at the purple barrier in the distance and picked up a radio handset. He spoke simple words into the mouthpiece, "Fire now." The massive ship began to rock in the water as the massive guns fired. The massive sixteen inch rounds flying from the ship to their mark, twenty-two miles away on the barrier's purple surface. It took nearly a minute, but they saw the explosions from the deck of their ship, and waited, expectantly and eagerly for the barrier to collapse. As the sound wave from the explosion hit them they realized one thing; the barrier didn't collapse. This was disappointing,so the Captain told the men to reload and fire again. Two minutes later they had the same result. No failure on the part of the barrier, despite the massive amount of lead they just threw at it. Immediately, they called in telling the Pentagon about what happened. They were told to move to a thirty mile distance from the barrier to be in the 'safe zone'. 24th September, 1986 1725 GMT The Kremlin Moscow, Russia "-I know it seems ridiculous, but the barrier is still intact. We need to use nuclear weapons." "Yes, Mr. President, I can see that being a, uh, logical solution." Gorbachev replied. "I thought you should know, well, I think you know why." "I understand Mr. President." And with that, the Red Telephone went silent. 24th September, 1986 1746 GMT Equestrian Royal Guard Barrier Post #27 28 miles from Stalliongrad, Equestria The troops had already ran away screaming an hour earlier when the battleship had began firing on the barrier, and had just reassembled when something very loud and large hit the barrier, and it collapsed entirely. The ponies weren't even fully shielded themselves, as the blast killed many of them as well. Those that survived considered themselves lucky. Unfortunately for them, their death wouldn't be as quick as that of their comrades. They would all die slowly and painfully in months and years to come. 24th September, 1986 1800 GMT Multiple Positions around the Barrier Human Controlled Territory The Pacific Ocean From the East, Equestria faced the threat of hundreds of Russian paratrooper aircraft and amphibious assault vehicles, all of which were launched the second they received word the barrier had fallen. YAK-38's, KA-25's and Mi-8's were all launched from their ships as they began their massive assault. In the skies above, a fleet of Il-76TD aircraft, belonging to the VDV, were ready to drop thousands of paratroopers deep into Equestria immediately. Their odds from the West were just as grim, if not more so. Six American amphibious assault ships, two American Nimitz-Class Carriers, one British Invincible class, two battleships, twelve destroyers and an American Air Base in Hawaii only three hundred miles away, with the 101st United States Airborne Ready to deploy. American LCACs were being launched to deploy M1 Abrams tanks onto the shore of Equestria the second they made landfall, Harriers were already bombing positions that were now incredibly exposed after the strike. All in all, Equestria was about to have a really bad day. Chapter 5-Alpha: American AssaultSeptember 24th, 1986 ████ GMT Lieutenant ████ █. ████████, United States Navy, Callsign Mother Goose F/A-18 Hornet Fighter Aircraft Mission: Classified The F-18 moved quickly and loudly towards its target. The pilot moving his finger across the joystick lightly, knowing what his mission was. At the moment, knowledge of the operation was limited to twenty different people, but it would soon be known globally. As for the poor bastards the cargo was being delivered against, they should never know. The pilot's finger hovered over the red button on the joystick. He flipped the cover off, and pressed the button. He then broke off immediately and turned around. He knew what he had done, and he didn't regret it in the slightest. 24th September, 1986 1806 GMT United States Marine Corps 4th Expeditionary Unit, 4,500 Feet above the American Beachhead As the massive fleet of Marine helicopters flew above the shoreline, where an amphibious landing was taking place, the war now had an obvious beginning. For Nathaniel, this was a dream come true. Actual Combat! The man had spent the majority of his Marine years training, but had never had any actual combat experience. And here he was! In the back of a Huey, in a massive air assault on an island. Suddenly, four of the CH-53's in the back of the formation began to descend followed by two other AH-1's. Next, four CH-46's broke off, two going left, two going right. Four of the the other eight Hueys broke off into different directions as well, with another assault helicopter forming the spearhead. Nathaniel grinned as two Harriers flew by, bombing the guard post into oblivion below. The pilot told the crewchief they had ten minutes until landing, and relayed that to the Marines in the back. Nathaniel grabbed his M40 gas mask and put it on his head, and then his helmet, which was resting in his lap. He checked the action on his CAR-15, as well as the one on his M1911. He then loaded the M203 under the barrel of his rifle and gave a thumbs up to his squad leader. He was ready. The Huey touched down next to another helicopter fulfilling the same purpose as a Cobra circled above. The Force Recon Marines assembled behind a cottage on the outskirts of the town. The platoon leader spoke, "Gentlemen," He began, "The assault on the beach is about to begin, and the Equestrians will either try to fall back, or reinforce themselves. "Fortunately, we are in a perfect position to cut off the forces if they make an attempt at either. Remember, they will attempt to use potion first. They probably will use lethal force at some point, so if it's Royal Guard, shoot it. Oorah?" "OORAH!!" The platoon echoed back eagerly. The Lieutenant smiled. 24th September, 1986 1845 GMT Awaiting United States Marine Corps Assault Battalion, Central Stalliongrad, Two Clicks From Planned American Rally Point Alpha The battalion was certainly behind schedule, Nathaniel thought, recognizing they should have had the vehicles ashore by now. It didn't matter, the ponies were already parting like the Red Sea with the airstrikes at the beach head already underway. He was laying behind a pile of bricks, which provided more than adequate protection for him as he squeezed a couple of rounds off at the group that advanced on him. They weren't doing much, but he knew better than to let his guard down, because he knew the second he did that, they would surprise him and beat him at his own game. He stood up and moved to better cover, and to keep up with his squad, which he was covering. He caught up with them quickly as they made their way to known waypoints. "Psst!" He stopped. Five seconds... "Psst!" Again, but more urgent this time. He looked to his right and saw a purple unicorn in a room gesturing him forward. Shit, he thought, He hadn't been told how to react to this type of thing. Instead of abandoning the pony, he pulled his VHF radio off his vest and called his squad leader. The squad moved over to him and entered the house with him, after all, one of their primary objectives was to gather intelligence. So the stallion told the men about his involvement in the resistance, and where to contact other members, and who else would probably be willing to help out as well, which would certainly be useful for command on all sides of the war, and allow the commanders more freedom in carrying out acts that are questionable in terms of Geneva Convention, because while rebels are subject to Geneva Convention, these rebels were not under United Nation jurisdiction, causing a loophole which any JAG would have been quick to exploit under any means. The squad then moved out, to regroup with their platoon. Upon regrouping, the men immediately began digging a defensive position at the rally point. A Huey flew in quickly, dropped a couple of crates with ammunition and equipment for building a proper defensive line at the soon-to-be FOB. 24th September, 1986 1902 GMT United States Marine Corps Assault Battalion, Stalliongrad Beach Fortications, Five Clicks From Rally Point Alpha, The LAV-25's lead the landing, followed by AAV's and covered by helicopters. Within five minutes, the beach head was secure, with infantry immediately leaving their vehicles and hunting down fleeing Royal Guards. The soldiers immediately regrouped with their landing vehicles, as well as some of the soldiers who came in on the Super Stallion helicopters earlier. Off to the east and west, soldiers who arrived in Sea Knights secured nearby towns and villages, in order to maintain a supply line. The next order of business was to disembark the Abrams tanks from the LCAC's, which took very little time. As the units rallied with their vehicles, they began to approach the rally point, which was completely ready to become the first FOB in the war. Author's Note Soviet Assault Chapter Coming Soon! Chapter 5- Борис: Soviet Assault25th September, 1986 0841 GMT Novorossijsk Kiev-Class Helicopter Carrier, Soviet Naval Infantry, As alarms blared, the Soviet Naval crewman on the deck prepped the VTOL aircraft and helicopters for their assault. One lone man, who was not prepping for the assault, just stood their with his arms crossed. He was Captain Sergei Mager, he was a somewhat intimidating man, despite the fact he was in his mid-fifties. The Americans had proven themselves good at something and had taken the barrier out quickly and utterly. And now it was their turn to kick some ass. Mager put his hand over his forehead. Ponies.... It felt stupid to part of him, having to team up with the Americans just to fight some dumb ponies. But the other part of him knew looks could be deceiving, and both the Americans and Russians knew that the quicker they wiped that cyka off the face of the Earth, the less problems they would have. Now that the barrier had fallen, there wasn't much doubt the ponies couldn't pull much off after that; if nothing else their morale was certainly lowered. His thoughts were interrupted by a Marine officer walking up to him and saluted, he knew the man well. "At ease, Comrade Major," The Captain spoke to his friend. "Captain, all the vehicles are ready to go and we will launch the assault on your mark." The Captain nodded, "Good. Let's get this show on the road." 25th September, 1986 0851 GMT The Skies above Trottingham, Soviet Il-76TD Formation, VDV Airbourne Units, As the flight of the seventy-five planes flew above the town, Lieutenant Ivan Averin checked his rifle one last time as the side door opened, as well as the aircraft's rear cargo door. As the light above the door turned green, Ivan was the first out the door. He was followed quickly by other paratroopers as well as BMDs and BTRs. Close air support jets were assigned the task of hitting the position before the men landed, as to soften up the defenses of the Guard regiment holding there. The Lieutenant couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor ponies that were about to get their asses handed to them by the SU-24s. When his platoon was on the ground, he immediately got to organizing the squads in their assault. The rest of the company was to secure the rest of the town, as his platoon would take the South-East sector. The other units in the approximately 3,000 man division that had just landed near the town would set up defenses around the town, back the assault company up and provide support if needed. As Ivan led his men through tight corners in the streets, he made sure he didn't leave his men exposed. His AKS-74's safety was off, and there was a 5.45×39mm round in the chamber. He was surprised to be lacking encounters with the guards that supposedly held the city so utterly, especially with the bulk of the force protecting against Royal Guard reinforcements on the majority of the roads. He heard hoofsteps from around the corner and chanced a peek out from around it. He spotted a squad of Royal Guard troops. Not reinforced all the way in, he observed with a smile. He had a grenadier and machine gunner prep their weapons, as he knew that was the most effective way to take them out. On his mark they both crawled around the corner, aimed their shots and fired. The GP-25 round's detonation made a loud enough noise to get some attention, which prompted Ivan to order two machine gunners onto different rooftops, as to cover their position. As both men soon reported that it appeared a platoon was approaching, on either side. The men were outnumbered, but that didn't matter to Ivan, who quickly called in his position to the mortar teams that had set up outside town. The 82 millimeter mortar rounds, were fired, and the machine gunners had already began firing, but it takes time for mortars to hit. As more men began opening fire, the rounds started to hit. As these rounds hit, the ponies didn't bother to continue to aim their crossbows at the men and just started running. The Lieutenant ordered his men to continue clearing the sector and shoot any Guards on sight. Soon, the town would be theirs. 25th September, 1986 0942 GMT, 0042 Local Outside Trottingham, Soviet FOB, Soviet Naval Infantry, Russian Ground Forces, GRU Spetsnaz, VDV Operating Base, The Soviets had landed main battle armor on the shoreline, their T-80's and T-72's already at the FOB past Trottingham. The next task was to set up an FARP for their helicopters. A massive amount of equipment had been brought ashore by heavy lift helicopters and amphibious vehicles. As an Mi-26 dropped another large supply crate, Lieutenant Averin took another sip from his coffee. Too damn late for this, He thought casually, trying to shake off the lack of sleep that consumed him. He knew he couldn't get to sleep, the battle for Trottingham had been won, but they still needed to push up. Their forces would have to move quickly to fully exploit the advantage that they currently held over their enemies. His orders were simple; the base would use rocket artillery to attack a nearby guard post spotted by a scout helicopter two minutes earlier, and mobilize Averin's platoon to capture it, the platoon would then group up with the rest of his division which was planned to move Eastward immediatly. They were to be assisted by five BTR's and one Mi-24 for air cover, should the situation necessitate it. Having received these orders not five minutes after arriving at the newly constructed base, he had some anger to show for it. But all in all, it was a simple operation. Even as he got into the BTR that was to ferry him to the fortification, he had no doubt that his men could accomplish the task. These men had never failed him in Afghanistan, they certainly wouldn't fail him now, not to colorfully prissy ponies. Twenty minutes later he exited the vehicle, with the enemy position in sight. The Hind that was to give them support was on standby, as that would draw too much attention. Not that it really matters anyway, Ivan thought to himself before remembering the task at hand. He pulled the bolt of his rifle and started running forward, followed by his men. The BTRs moved behind them as they got closer to the compound. He heard the pinging of bolts hitting the sides of the APCs, some magic and others just conventional crossbow rounds, this of course didn't do much to the vehicles, and really just told the troops the enemy was now considered a armed and dangerous combatant and thus could be fired on without UN repercussions. The APC returned fire. Its heavy 25 millimeter cannon started tearing apart the ponies that had attempted to fire on them. One of the ponies launched a potion over the fence, hitting one of the Russian troops. Fortunately, all of the Soviet troops had prepared to face chemical weapons and were wearing their NBC suits. Another bolt was fired, this one piercing a solider's uniform and leaving him writhing in agony on the ground. This infuriated the Lieutenant and his men, and proceeded to fight with an even more aggressive rage, as their medic attempted to help the badly wounded man. An RPG hit their main barrack, setting the troops that were still trying to arm themselves ablaze. The burning ponies ran from the building, screaming. They ignored the burning ponies' pleas as Averin called for a medevac helicopter. He still knew their fight wasn't over- not even for the night. 25th September, 1986 1054 GMT, 0154 Local Second Platoon, Антон Company, 106th Guards Airborne Division Under the Command of Lieutenant Ivan B. Averin, Advancing on Dodge Junction, As the platoon approached the nearly entirely burnt out 'western style' town from airstrikes on the Royal Guard formations that were using the town for cover from airstrikes. Their strategy cost them dearly, as it gave them no place to fall back to, and no cover during the battle that was sure to ensue. Averin's platoon wasn't the first to arrive- and they weren't leading the formation either- they were off to the side of the town, attempting to cut off the Guard's retreat as the armored battalion launched the frontal assault. Artillery pounded the town, even as the Russian units got closer. The ponies attempted to fight back, only inflicting minor amounts of damage on some infantry units, as these units were damaged, others would cover them. They were surrounded; one platoon against a division, but to them it didn't matter- Celestia had ordered them to hold, and they would do so with their lives, even if there was no hope for them. The Lieutenant aimed down the sights of his rifle and dropped what looked like some type of commander, and was apparently leading a counter charge. What kind of primitive tactics are these guys using? Ivan thought to himself as he took out their color-bearer. It didn't look like the ponies were even bothering to be organized in this assault, and looked as if they hadn't fought a battle before in their lives. It was obvious why, to the Soviets, that if they had, they wouldn't be here to fight them. A pegasi warrior charged forward with a spear, making an obvious attempt to be a hero. His doomed plan failed him, as he had only made it six meters from the front of his line before he, like the others that had tried, was mowed down. Even though the battle seemed like it was an easy victory for the Russians, Averin realized he was out of rounds as he reached to put another magazine in his rifle. For him, it was a simple solution, rather than cease fighting to get ammunition and leave his men without a commander, he pulled his handgun out from its spot on his chest and opened up with that as well. 25th September, 1986 1108 GMT, 0208 Local The Skies Above An Unidentified Equestrian Highway, Flight 291, Myasishchev M-4, Soviet Air Force, "Choryt," Major Alaxander Frolov muttered to himself, "That's a lot of ponies." As the bomber flew above the formation below, he called in to the General in charge of the entire operation to call in the locations of the hostiles. The General not only acknowledged this, but gave the senior officer the orders to take out the formation with the aircraft's nearly forty-eight thousand pound payload. The pilot gave enthusiasm to this and went to perform a go around to properly line up for the bombing run. As he prepared to empty his aircraft's bomb bay, he knew that this strike would save many lives, as it would show the pony aggressors the might of the Soviet Union as well as prevent the armies from having to clash. He gave the order to drop the bombs. As the plane flew past, very few of the ponies considered the plane a threat, as they had sent out a small detachment of pegasi to deal with some of the bombers already. One of the ponies looked up and saw a large number of white objects falling down upon them. The were beautiful, he thought and only had time to say, "Wow! So pretty!" Before the explosions began engulfing the entire army formation. However, not all of the Guard division that was approaching was dead- there was at least a battalion of pegasi airborne, and attempting to make work of the SU-24's and YAK-40s that were now dominating the airspace. However, the ponies soon realized they lacked much to take down these jets, and couldn't as much as match a quarter of their velocity. As the planes came back to strafe them, one of the pegasi made an attempt to throw his spear into the engine of one of the jets as it flew by, as an act of desperation. Out of either luck, or good aim, the projectile ended up in the prop of the SU-24's engine. The projectile was large enough to knock the engine out entirely, but that didn't mean it was over for the human inside- the aircraft's canopy flew off and a seat rocketed away from the fuselage, even as the plane pummeled towards the earth below. "We've got a fighter down, I repeat, Lavarov's going down!" Author's Note As it turns out, Geneva convention technically states that both the US and Russia can use gas on Equestria, as they technically never signed any gas treaties and neither did Equestria. Guess what is going to be deployed soon... I am also not fully aware of Soviet Army Organization in terms of companies, platoons and the like, So I may be wrong with some of this. Chapter 6: Common EnemySeptember 26th, 1986 1721 Zulu Two Kilometers from the Target Village Griffin Claimed Territory, Equestrian Badlands A gray helicopter emitted a low-chopping noise as it propelled itself two hundred meters above the mountainous terrain below. On board the SH-60, a Marine Captain checked his magazine. He, as the folks in high command had chosen, would be accompanying and assisting a diplomatic team that would be meeting this leader of the griffins. The extent of which he would be involved, he didn't know; but he could only hope that these griffins would be friendlier than the ponies. The Navy crew chief held up one finger to the helicopter's passengers and shouted over the roar of the chopper's blades. The Captain knew that this meant the helicopter would touch down in one minute, so he checked his rifle for the final time and got up from his seat. One of the other crewmen on the helicopter slid open the door on the right side of the Seahawk. The Marine stepped out of the helicopter first, flipping the safety off his weapon and aiming down the sights in one fluid motion. After a 180 degree sweep of the area, two diplomats in suits stepped out of the helicopter, one of the men using his briefcase to cover his head from the back wash of helicopter's rotors. The makeshift group made their way towards a village, that was visible in the mid-morning light. "So, who is this guy exactly?" The Marine asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "King of the Griffons, says he wants to work with us, as they are threatened by the recent Equestrian-" "Greetings," A large feline-like creature spoke, a stereotypical crown atop his head, "I am Gryphaldo III,, King of the Griffons." Sam watched the king shake one of the diplomats' hands. "Quite an impressive entrance that was," He began, and the Marine already began to zone out. 26 Hours Earlier, Unidentified Location, Soviet Air Force Captain Gregory Paulkin The pilot slid his last magazine into his Makarov. He had attempted to give his coordinates to rescue teams, but to no avail. More of the damn incompetent pony soldiers advanced on him as he unloaded his last eight rounds into the group. Click. The sound that he had been dreading the moment he would hear it had come. He dropped his pistol and got on his knees, putting his hands behind his head. He screamed in accented English. "Don't shoot- I'm surrendering!" The ponies that took him were black, and looked much more menacing then the others he had seen, but he figured they were simply their spetsnaz. The more the pilot thought about it, he became confused, You'd think they'd have threatened us with these guys, they are quite a bit more threatening then their front line troops. As one wrapped a blindfold around his eyes he noticed they looked less mammalian and more insect-like, and that worked to further unnerve the captain. The more Paulkin thought about it, the less and less they seemed to be ponies. September 26th, 1986 0112 Zulu Unidentified Caverns, Interrogation of human prisoner As Paulkin came to, he heard arguing. "-We need to swap them out there's no way we won't get-" "You have a point. We simply need to delay their advance for maybe a week, and then we can get out without them ever finding out." Gregory had no idea who and what was speaking, as both voices were raspy and his eyes were still covered by the blindfold. He heard, "Get the information you need from him." The second voice spoke, before he heard steps fading off into the distance. The other one apparently picked him up with a grunt. He must have thought he was still out. As he was set on the things' back, he seized the opportunity and choked the thing to the ground. He pulled his blindfold off, his right foot resting on the bug's chest. He cuffed the creature's neck and asked a question. "What are you?" The creature coughed out a reply he could barely hear, "Changeling." The pilot could guess why they didn't just convert him- they needed information. From what he'd heard, the converted were brainwashed so heavily they couldn't get any information out of them at all. Unfortunately, he had no idea where he was making an escape nigh impossible. The only weapon he had was his knife that he found on a crate, next to his unloaded pistol and radio. His pistol didn't count- simply because it was dry. After checking his radio, and getting no signal. (Which came to no surprise to him, as he was inside a cavern.) He had his pistol out so he would be more intimidating if he was spotted by a guard. Soon, however, what he thought was a woman's crying interrupted the still sound of his footsteps. He moved his right hand onto his knife and kept his left on the grip of his handgun. Then he saw the pony that made the noise and immediately became confused. What the fuck is she doing down here? The captain wondered to himself as he slid his pistol back to his holster and pulled his knife out. As he got closer, he could see she had some physical damage, like a prisoner would. The pilot didn't confront her for an obvious reason- she could probably take him if he gave her the chance. He then ran at her and shouted. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR FUCKING WITH RUSSIA!" She turned around to see the pilot coming at her, but it was too late- within a second he had her pinned to the ground, and was twisting her foreleg at an awkward angle. He brought his knife to her neck. "Any last words, imperialist pig?" "I'm not the one you want," She gulped. "That's what they all say," the captain replied nonchalantly. "Changeling queen- she tricked everypony. I can't believe nopony caught what she did. It's crazy she got away with it with Cadence- but with me immediately after the first time?" She sighed, "My guards were supposed to be the best of the best. But Chrysalis now controls this palace, and this country. It's been that way for a month and a half now-I don't know what she's doing. You've got to believe me." Gregory's eyes widened in realization. Something about the way she said it- it sounded like the truth; like it fit with where they were and 'Celestia's' reason not to negotiate. He looked at her, the real Celestia, and said, "Let's get the hell out of here." September 26th, 1986 1800 Zulu The War Room, The Pentagon, Washington D.C., United States "The griffins are working with us sir, they're sending us units to give our guys guidance," The Marine General reported with a pleased expression to Reagan, "As well as an entire division straight to their capital city." Reagan was glad to hear the news, it would certainly help show the media that even other aliens hate the ponies as well. The President's critics decided that a war with aliens was 'warmongering', especially due to the fact that these aliens looked like something out of a little girl's cartoon. Hell, it was a wonder Celestia didn't have to deal with Hasbro's lawyers yet, in addition to the joint efforts of both Warsaw Pact and NATO countries that were moving into her territory. Author's Note What can I say- I felt TCB Celestia is too OOC to explain even through alternate universes. Plus, I haven't seen the changelings be the bad guys enough lately. And yes, I apologize for the Griffin King's terribad name. Changeling Celestia aside; sorry about the wait on this one, I was busy with finals these past weeks. Chapter 7: StalemateSeptember 26th, 1986 2312 Zulu NATO Forward Position "Mr. Ed", Thirteen Miles From Baltimare, Equestrian Territory John Richardson, who had been reassigned to the Equestrian campaign after the loss of the majority his squad to pro-pony terrorists in Berlin not even a week before, flipped the page of his Tom Clancy novel. The specialist wished that he could simply stay in Berlin, where very little action was currently happening. The irony of the novel he was reading and his present situation was lost on him, as he continued to read. The solider wished that he didn't have to explain to his wife what he was doing here. It wasn't that the war made no sense to him- he actually understood all of the reasons behind the war. It wasn't very convoluted, on the contrary the reasons seemed almost too good to be true. The solider was taken from his reading by his friend, Corporal Jacob Robinson, who was not with his fire team on that night, "The Major's saying we need to talk to him. Rest of the guys aren't moving up though. Maybe we're going to turn the tide?" The corporal playfully shoved his friend. After the initial landing, the ponies guessed ways that they could stop the humans. One of these ideas was that human aircraft and troops could be adversely effected by bad weather. While it didn't inhibit troop movements, it did inhibit the operations of aircraft. Hypothetically, the Americans could advance, but NATO command was reluctant to move up without air superiority. However, after speaking to their new gryphon allies earlier in the day they learned that the gryphons could also change the weather to suit their own needs. Some of the now allied resistance unicorns were willing to provide magical support and intelligence to get the humans to the facility in which the weather originates and how to stop it. Unfortunately for Richardson, this was going to be his job. As the specialist followed Robinson to the line, he gulped. He had barely seen combat before, and that could barely be considered such; just a moron with a water pistol. After they walked in , the squad about-faced and saluted the Major who saluted back before speaking; "At ease, men," he said in a calm tone. "I assume you know we're currently in a bit of a pickle with air support," the major quickly summarized their predicament before moving on,"The ponies have a facility that creates weather here," he pointed to a red 'X' that was marked on the middle of a satellite photo of Equestria, "I assure you, as absurd as it sounds, I am serious. I am telling you this because you will be inserted, past the thunderstorm, and into their facility. It's quite risky to fly into a thunderstorm, as you might guess, so we're going to send you in via ground convoy. "The facility is in a cloud, so a team of gryphons will assist you in this mission. Some pony resistance members are also going to give you guys a charm that gives you the ability to walk on clouds or something along those lines. Any questions?" No one raised their hand, "Good." As the specialist joined his squad behind a Bradley and two Humvees, he wondered how it would go. Would he be able to kill all of the bastards? Or would it go down like that night in Berlin? Only time would tell for the twenty year old US Army member. September 27th, 1986 0423 Zulu Operation Weathercaster, Recon Assignment Bravo, Two Miles From Cloudsdale, During the five-hour trip, the specialist had gotten to know a gryphon by the name of Reforger, whom he had learned had a family in the Gryphon Kingdoms, which was now in another dimension. For the specialist who had been feeling homesick earlier, it didn't seem possible to bear such a distance. But, as Reforger had told him, this was the only way he ever had a chance of seeing his family again. When they exited the vehicles, one painstakingly obvious question had to be asked; how exactly did they intend to reach the top of these clouds? Fortunately, after Robinson asked, the gryphons answered by flying up to the city, and each one of the four brought down a cloud; each one about the size of a Humvee. The humans were told by the gryphons to step on to the clouds. Richardson, who was willing to trust his new friend, was the first to step onto the cloud. To his, and his comrades', surprise, he didn't fall through. Instead, he was floating a couple feet above the ground. It wasn't much- but it showed what they could do. The other soldiers got on the clouds, and the gryphons brought them up to the city of Cloudsdale. As the soldiers prepared to step off, each checked his parachute, just in case things didn't go as planned. The men ran through the city quickly, clearing buildings, and destroying the weather producing equipment used by the ponies. The Royal Guards in the town didn't put up a fight, and were taken prisoner without a shot being fired. After the report was given to high command back at FOB Mr. Ed, they got word back that a pair British Lynx helicopters were on the way to drop off SAS personnel to hold the compound and ferry the Americans back to base. To John, it didn't seem logical to use Special Forces for the holding of objectives- especially after reading about their portrayals in his novels- but that wasn't his concern. His concern was to accomplish the objective that was given to him by command. And, for him, it was all staying quite simple. Looking at his watch, he sighed. This was going to be a long night. 27th September, 1986 0942 Zulu, Outside Trottingham, Soviet FOB, Lieutenant Ivan Averin, Platoon Leader, VDV The helicopters that had been parked at the base for the last two days with no sign of movement started taking off, regardless of the fact that it was now late into the night. With the storm patterns that had inhibited their aircraft movement in the few days since gone, they were presented with an opportunity to move quickly, as their initial push was two days before. Like the embarking vehicles, Averin was also part of the advance. His men were starting to line up after getting their NBC suits on, and soon they would get into their trucks and leave. The Lieutenant ensured that his squad leaders would check their own squads, and they would keep each other in order. Averin briefed his men a final time, telling them their basic outline. Soon, he loaded them up into the three trucks and got into his seat, the closest to the exit of the vehicle in the lead truck, as he intended to be the first one out, to lead his men like a real Soviet Officer. It was a long drive, but they were going to be in formation for the majority of it, so it didn't seem like they were likely to be ambushed. During the Lieutenant's deployment in Afghanistan in 1984, he learned what factors were present most common in an ambush. But for this mission, the Soviets would be taking the ponies by surprise. 27th September, 1986 1156 Zulu, Forward Artillery Position, 46 Kilometers East of Soviet FOB Trottingham, Captain Naumov, As the men pulled the last D-30 gun from its position on a trailer towed behind the large Ural cargo truck, the Captain in charge stepped out of the passenger seat of his UAZ-469 with his left hand holding the wired in handset of long-range radio, which was mounted adjacent to the dashboard of the off-road. He called to his men. "We're getting word from headquarters to standby, our guys will need us soon." 27th September, 1986 1213 Zulu, LZ Yelena, 5 Kilometers from unidentified large Equestrian Base, Lieutenant Ivan Averin, Platoon Leader, VDV Averin's men all were ready in their columns. The squads individually were ready to move into the area as soon as they could. It was their job to scout the area, after they had arrived, they would have close air, armored and artillery support. To the men, this could be incredibly dangerous. They were going into an unknown area and dealing with forces that they had little to no intel on. Averin knew that the men might be cocky after their first encounter two days before, when they defeated the ponies with very little resistance. The situation could be incredibly problematic, if the men believed they could just beat all of the ponies based on their experience with being able to take them when they were unprepared. Unfortunately, they might not have that luxury this time around. The Lieutenant moved forward, his men moving in the columns that they had prepped into after unloading. Within minutes, the complex was surrounded and the men would begin to advance. Fortunately, this provided ample time for CAS to arrive on the scene. The lieutenant moved his men forward, as he was covered by twin Mi-24 gunships, but now he too was starting to get cocky. He believed that with the aircraft covering him and the T-72 tanks holding the supply lines into the Equestrian base, he and his men were invincible. Due to this error, the men advanced at a rate that exceeded what it should of, even neglecting to call in artillery. As the men began to fire at any of the ponies that exited the buildings that surrounded them, they didn't notice the ponies moving in from the south, where the armor had neglected to cover. This wasn't covered due to command not being aware of an adjacent underground fortification, which had been constructed just before the war began. The vials flew at the Russians, few making their mark. Those that did were incapable of causing any damage to the soldiers that were wearing the armor. It was then unseen unicorn archers started firing at the VDV troops, tearing up the clothing and even injuring two soldiers. More vials flew. Unfortunately, the contents of some of the vials made contact with the skin of some of the troops. The Red Army watched in horror as they saw their own men turning into the enemy before their eyes. One of the men turned, now a turquoise earth pony, attempted to pick up his bayonet with his mouth and rush his former comrades with it. All the while, the insidious creature was spouting propaganda about a perfect world in Russian. One of the non-commissioned officers leveled his Makarov handgun with the pony's head and pulled the trigger. This took the men out of their daze. As they turned towards the other newfoal, he was also spouting the same lies in Russian, in a voice that many of the men recognized as the soldiers'. A private hit the pony over the head with the barrel of his AKS. Ivan turned to his radio operator. "We need artillery. Something that will show them..." The lieutenant thought, "Give the bastards a taste of their own medicine! We need... Gas." The soldier manning the radio's expression was not visible through his mask, but he was glad they would be getting back at them using their own tactics. The operator began giving the necessary coordinates to the men manning the artillery pieces miles away. "Actual is requesting use of VR gas rounds..." The operator added. "Uh, standby." Came the reply. "Colonel gave us permission to do so, we are firing chemical rounds now." 27th September, 1986 1342 Zulu, Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville, Equestria Unofficial Meeting of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony "I don't get it Twilight. How could Celestia ever do anything wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked her friend, her characteristics representing her element showing. "Does it really seem like this is really in our best interests? Or the best interests of the humans who are the recipients of the plan? It doesn't make sense why she would do any of this." Applejack spoke up next, "Twilight's right. Something seems awful fishy about all this." As if on cue, a pair of flying black objects approached the town, a loud drum coming from them, catching the attention of the elements. Rarity spoke nervously. "Is that..?" She was never answered, or needed to be as the six ran for cover in the storage center under the building. Author's Note Yeah, so I added the Equestrian flag(made by anarchemitis of DeviantArt) right in middle of the cover art. Sadly, I had most of this done for a while. Just never got around to fixing and posting it.
Prologue: Collision1548 UTC, September 7th, 1986, United States Air Defense Operations Center, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States The Airman sat at his terminal, shaking his head in dismay at the display's information. He raised his hand up and spoke, "Sir.." he said, quite softly, as he was quite clearly unnerved. The officer in command walked over briskly with an expression on his face that made his no-bullshit attitude very apparent. He put his hand on the shoulder of the enlisted man and asked quite simply, "What have we got?" He turned back to the screen, pointing at a green outlined map of the world, specifically an area in the Pacific Ocean, with amounts of distortion that to the untrained eye didn't look like much- but to a professional, it was very significant. "Navy AWACS just picked this up. Not sure what in the hell it is, but it's significant." The Commanding Officer narrowed his eyes, "Does the President know?" The man shook his head. So, I'll have to tell him, the officer sighed. He hated having to be the one to tell anyone anything especially not news like this to the President. Reluctantly, he walked over to the phone on a wall nearby and picked it up. He dialed a number and waited. "What the hell is going on down there?" He took a deep breath, "Mr. President, there's a situation developing in the Pacific," Silence. Two seconds of silence. "What kind of situation?" "Something, I have no idea what as of this time, has appeared on radar in the Pacific. It has a signature that indicates massive amounts of radiation." Reagan swore. He knew what this meant. "I'll talk to the Russians then," He said quickly, the phone line going dead quickly after that. 1605 UTC, 7 September, 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev's Office, Moscow, Russia, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Communist leader picked up the red telephone the second it rang, wanting a distraction from signing the documents retaining those killed in the most recent battle in Afghanistan. He didn't expect what he heard next. "Mr. Gorbachev, were you aware of a surge of radiation in the Pacific Ocean today?" Mikhail took a double take. Reagan was pissed, and he believed that the CCCP was responsible. More importantly, how the hell did he not know about this? Were his own men incompetent enough not to have noticed this? Or did they simply not want to tell him? As if on cue, two men wearing Soviet Navy uniforms entered the room, the one on Gorbachev's right carrying a portfolio. He took all of his will power not to facepalm, and instead waved them off. But, he had more important matters. He moved the receiver of the device back to his head and replied to the capitalist superpower's leader. "No, I am not, please tell me what is going on?" He said as calmly as he could, which, to be frank, wasn't very calmly at all. "There was a large area, 'bout the size of Texas, in the Pacific ocean that is now pulsing with radiation. I wanted to know what you knew about it." The Russian spoke his agreement before hanging up and gesturing the Navy men closer,"What is it, gentlemen?" "We have lost radio signals with one of our Typhoon class submarines and fourteen cargo ships. We have dispached a Kiev class to investigate." "These ships," Mikhal asked, already knowing the answer, "Are they in the Pacific?" "Yes. How did you know?" "Mr. Regan just informed me that there was a massive surge of radiation in that area. We might want to be careful." The first officer spoke, "Yes, I will inform the Captains." The two men walked out of the room, closing the door as they left. Gorbochev took his glasses off and rested his hand on his forehead, leaning back in exasperation. 4:30 PM September 7th, 1002 Royal Guard Central Command, Canterlot, Capital Province, Equestria Several Royal Guard commanders and officers trotted around quickly, knowing that the humans would react quickly to their arrival, and that they would have to prove they didn't want war. They would need to meet with some universal leader, even though the reason they are on this ill planet is because of a long division between two groups, both based on different perception's of the humans' greed. They decided the best place would be from what the best they could tell was a neutral country. It was also the headquarters of the United Nations, the humans' main diplomatic summit. A commander stepped over to a table with a chart on it in the middle of the room. He pointed his hoof at one of the solutions. It would be to take a chariot to Geneva with the Princesses and show that they only wanted the best for the humans. They would leave at dawn. The next day, Captain Shining Armor decided. But will that be soon enough? 1608 UTC, September 7th, 1986, USS Enterprise, The Pacific Ocean, Two Hundred Miles From The Barrier The Captain stood in the bridge waiting to here for any new updates from his eyes in the sky, planes that were currently searching for the source of the radiation. Little did he know, Russian YAK-38's and SU-24s were also doing the same job, on the opposite side of the barrier, his own government also had a couple classified tricks up their sleeve as well. An SR-71 Blackbird was already surveying the area, but he didn't need to know that. "Sir," Said one of the pilots, "It looks like- like a landmass." Normally, he would have called him crazy, but the other planes were all reporting the same thing. He grabbed his forehead and sat down. He could feel a migraine coming on. He picked up his full coffee mug and downed it in a single gulp. This was going to be one a hell of a day.
Chapter 1: Contact18:42 UTC, September 7th, 1986 USS Iwo Jima Command Center LPH-2 Amphibious Assault Ship The Pacific Ocean 54 Miles From the Barrier The room was in chaos. They were close enough to send helicopters to survey the area that the barrier was believed to have engulfed, as well as search for any ships that had been unfortunate enough to be there at the time. It was certain that a cruise ship that had left port from Honolulu two days prior was in the are of effect, and had not had established any contact whatsoever since the barrier appeared. It was increasingly likely that the 2,000 persons on the ship had been a complete loss. The Marine Captain looked at the chart that showed the area that was affected. Samuel Johnson knew his men would have to go over to the barrier to investigate. They would probably send some of them in on CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters for search and rescue, and others would come in on other helicopters for offensive and defensive capabilities. Suddenly, he heard a shout from the bridge. Sam reflexively prepped his M16A2, and ran towards the deck. His jaw fell open when he saw what the shouting was about. A large purple translucent wall was now becoming visible through the dense fog. It was clear that there was a landmass on the other side, even if it was slightly faded. Sam wondered the only thing that a US Marine officer would in his situation- When are we going to launch the landing? The Captain wasn't an idiot- he knew they wouldn't just attack a plausible extra-terrestrial settlement without reason, Other than the thousands that are probably dead now, but it probably was an accident, and declaring war without reason would be stupid. Breaking out of his shock, he closed his mouth and proceeded back into the command center. But the Captain knew one thing- history was being made here. 1205 UTC, 8 September 1986 United Nations Main Office Geneva, Switzerland Europe Soviet fighters followed the vehicle as it had left the barrier, and had been doing so for hours now. Soon, the planes ran low on fuel and were replaced by other MiGs. As they entered Switzerland, they were replaced by Swiss F5's. Once it had landed on the street in front of the UN Headquarters, news crews swarmed the area with helicopters, vans and news teams. The ponies that were on the vehicle, that could be safely called a 'chariot' had entered a nearby building, including the exhausted pegasi carrying it. The news crews swarmed the entrance, but only a few could get inside, and for those that did, it was the greatest journalistic story in the history of the human species. The ponies wanted to speak with leaders from around the world, The United States and The Soviet Union, namely. Thus, the United Nations quickly notified Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbochev. Their mutual consensus on arrival would be eight days. 1222 UTC, September 8th, 1986 The Oval Office Washington, D.C. United States "Please say that again, I could have sworn you said a pony princess," Reagan said as more of a statement than a question to the man on the other end of the phone. "I did sir, and she says she's from a land called, uhm," it was audible he put his hand over his microphone and asked the pony in question, "Equestria, sir." The American president did a double take. Well, an alien's an alien, he decided realizing it didn't matter if they were little green men or pink ponies, they were other worldly visitors, and they should be treated the same, none the less. "I'll see how long it will take to get Air Force One ready, but you can expect me to be there ASAP." "Yes sir," The Swiss man on the phone replied. Reagan sighed, This was going to be a long month. 0954 UTC, 16 September 1986 Aéroport International de Genève Geneva, Switzerland Europe The wheels of the white and blue Boeing 707 touched down on the runway. Above,a pair of F-15s was orbiting the airport. The pilot of the outdated jet was handed over by tower to the ground frequency, as he taxied to a ramp. Air stairs pulled up to the plane and the actor-turned-president stepped out, smiling and waving for the cameras. He climbed into a heavily modified black Cadillac limousine that sported the Presidential Seal. The limo drove towards the UN building. The second he stepped out of his limo, he was surrounded by news crews, and if it weren't for the Secret Service agents and UN Guards, he would have been mobbed even more. However, he managed to dodge the reporters and enter the building. The Secretary General shook his hand, "Good to see you got here in once piece," "Well, you get used to it after a while," Reagan said in good humor. "So, are you ready for this?" the Secretary said moving himself in front of the American president, barring him from entering the convention room. "I've seen their pictures," Reagan replied, "I can handle this." The Secretary-General looked unsure, but stepped out of the way, allowing the two UN Guards to open the door. Immediately, Reagan walked over to the conference table and took a seat. Along with Celestia, sat Mikhail Gorbochev, Margaret Thatcher, Li Xiannian and François Mitterrand. Reagan was surprised about Celestia, still though, he had a goal, and gawking in surprise about someone's looks certainly wouldn't win him any friends. "Lady Celestia," He spoke, "Do you have any intentions for what you will do on Earth?" Celestia smiled, "I want to help you."
Chapter 2: Viewpoint1047 UTC, 16 September 1986 United Nations Main Office Geneva, Switzerland Europe "Can you please elaborate?" Thatcher broke the silence that filled the room. "I want to liberate you from your corrupted forms," Celestia replied. Reagan gave her a curious looks, "And what do you think you mean by that?" "I want to fix your greed, and your corruption, and fix the mistakes your people have made damaging your lands, for there is still hope! You can take a potion, be free of your greed corruption and blood lust, as well as your physically inferior forms and come to live in Equestria!" All of the leaders at the table threw various deadpanned looks at her. Finally, Gorbachev spoke up in an attempt to change the subject, as well as know the fate of his ships, "What happened in the Pacific?" Celestia looked at him quizzically, "Do you mean the ships that were in the area that's now Equestria?" In return, Gorbachev nodded. "Those that were on the ships were converted into ponies and now live in Equestria." Mikhail looked angry. Very angry. However, his expression wasn't the only one betraying such emotion- Reagan looked shocked, wondering why in the hell someone would have the nerve to touch ships belonging to his beloved nation. Surprisingly, of all the people in the room, the Chinese leader spoke up. "Do you have any idea how many resources were on the ships? Do you know you just kidnapped two thousand Chinese citizens?" Celestia gave him a death glare, "Like it matters to you, all you care about is power, not your people. They will be happier in Eques-" "Then why don't you let people decide for themselves? Why do you have to do this against their will?" "Well, uh-" The all-powerful 'goddess' of Equestria was put at a loss for words by the American ex-actor. In return, Reagan put on a sly smile. "We can live in peace," Gorbachev spoke, hoping to avoid looking incompetent, "We don't need this, and you shouldn't either, we can work something out." "War cannot happen, however, you cannot continue your self-destructive behavior, so join me, or I will force it with my magic. And you won't like it." She brandished a large bottle from a bag nearby, levitating it over. The humans' surprise was quickly replaced by anger, and that fueled action. Reagan punched Celestia square in the face, knocking her down. Quickly, he rushed out of the room, followed by others. Two United Nations guards rushed in to take the place of the leaders who had fled. The first man pointed his M-16 at Celestia and fired, but a bright flash engulfed the room, and she was gone without a trace. The second solider walked over to the bottle that still lay on the ground, its contents soaking into the teak floorboards. Meanwhile, the first man continued to scan the room, confused by the disappearance of the alicorn. The man investigating the substance pulled his radio off his vest and called for a hazmat cleanup team. As he turned to leave, he slipped and fell right into the puddle of the purple liquid, and he screamed, making his comrade rush over to pull him away, but it was too late. The first human to be ponified by potion could only lie there as he lost his humanity. The world's leaders navigated the hordes of reporters, escorted by guards who were almost as good at this as they were, on their way to their respective transport vehicles. In the case of Reagan, it was his trusty Presidential Cadillac. His destination was the hotel he would be spending the night in, The Marriott. Fifteen minutes later, his percussion pulled up to the hotel. He walked straight into an elevator, and got out at his penthouse suite. He walked over to his bed and sat down, rubbing his face. Two Marines entered the room behind him, carrying a brief case, which Reagan knew was the football. He picked up the phone on his nightstand, and requested a secure line. "Sir, we're going to need to go to REDCON 2 for all of the Marines in the Pacific, and DEFCON 3 for all of our Air Force guys in Hawaii." "Uh- yes sir, Mr. President," The Secretary of Defense said on the other side of the line, "Will that be all, sir?" Reagan thought for a moment, "Yeah, that should be good." The General acknowledged and the line went dead. "Choryt!" Gorbachev cursed in his hotel room, "We're going to need to send more ships out there, landing ships." One of the officers that stood in the room with him saluted and walked away to make it happen. Then, the balding mand turned towards another officer, "We want paras on standby. We can't let this can't go wrong." The man nodded and followed the other man to a second section of the apartment. Suddenly, a bright flash engulfed the room and Mikhail jumped backward.
Chapter 3: Escalation2013 UTC, 16th September, 1986 The Marriot Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland Gorbachev stood up in the damaged hotel room, completely groggy and disoriented from the blast. One of his guards stood up, carrying a AKS-74 Carbine. Alarms were blaring in the room and the sprinkler system was activated. The debris that was once a penthouse suite was now in ruins as the occupants that were now standing up tried to find their way out. In the doorway a black unicorn stood. His horn lit up, attempting to attack the surviving humans. As the magic from his horn started to suppress down the hall towards the men, a guard leaned out from his cover, pulled the trigger and fired two rounds at the unicorn who fell backwards into a pool of his own blood. The guards proceeded to help Gorbachev out of the building. 2034 UTC, 12:34 PST, September 18th, 1986 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California United States of America "Make love, not war!" The incredibly cliche protest tagline was shouted over the roar of the already loud protesters in the park. Sergeant Howard Johnson, of the San Francisco Police Department, sat in his Black and White Impala, in a parking lot not far from the heart of the protest. The protest, like many others around the world, was about the ponies. Was the world really that screwed up? Dropping everything because a bunch of colorful ponies appear in the ocean? Unfortunately for him, not everyone agreed with him. Especially not the notoriously liberal residents of San Francisco. The people protesting, were to 'give the ponies a chance', which in reality meant giving up. That's what they wanted; a different way of life. As was the way with most that lived in San Francisco. They wanted a simple solution. It was easier. And that was one of the greatest flaws with people, an easy solution, even with side effects, is often taken over one more complicated. As the officer moped about the problems with his species, a grenade of sorts hit the window of a fellow officer's car, he got a brief glimpse of it, enough to see the purple fluid inside of it, before it detonated and filled the entire cab with purple. Howard got out of his car and rushed to pull his colleague out of his car, opening the passenger-side door. Purple fluid spilled out, causing Howard to jump, finally realizing what it was. He rushed away, knowing that his friend was done for. He reached back into his car and began broadcasting a simple message: "We have an officer down, I repeat we have an officer down. With a 245 in progress. We need back up at Golden Gate Park ASAP." A dispatcher quickly replied, "I am going to notify S.W.A.T., they should be there soon, out." Howard acknowledged and put the radio handset back on the dashboard, turning around, with his service revolver drawn. His former friend, now a blue pegasus, was right in front of him, trying to tell him the benefits on ponification. The officer replied by telling him to fuck off. The pegasus began bawling as he swore. The officer backed away slowly and got back in his cruiser, turning the light bar on top of the cab on. He used the loudspeaker on the hood of the car to get the crowd's attention. "This is the Police. Cease caus-". His speech was cut short by the same end that was met by his colleague in the car next to his. And he didn't even know it at all. 2113 UTC, September 18th, 1986 USS Saipan, 45 Miles from the Barrier The Pacific Ocean The 19" TV in the mess hall painted an accurate view of the events transpiring in San Francisco, giving the Marines an idea of what was going on. A Force Recon Marine, Corporal Nathan Jacks, put a hand over his eyes. So this is what the world is coming to these days, he thought to himself as the program went on as the SFPD S.W.A.T. Team was fighting those putting up resistance, identifying themselves as PER. Nathan didn't like this- all this shit was going way too fast. He had already been told they couldn't get into Equestria- they had some type of force field. But they would have to figure something out. Too much was at stake not to. There would be a battle soon. It was a solider's intuition. The 'calm' before the storm, but this wasn't calm at all- it rarely was. Escalation of warfare isn't random, it never has been and never will be, but that didn't matter- what mattered was when the battle would begin. 2213 UTC, 18th September , 1986 The American Sector, West Berlin, The Federalist Republic of Germany Specialist John Richardson pulled a cigarette from the breast pocket of his camouflage fatigues. He put the cigarette in his mouth as he pulled a Zippo lighter from another pocket and lit it up. The solider was leaning against a tree in a park he didn't know the name of yet, and looked at his watch. He had 17 minutes left of his patrol. He was bored. Berlin was quite a boring place, so he had learned in the two weeks he had spent there already. He looked forward and saw he was lagging behind his team quite a bit, seeing the flashlights on the barrels of their rifles ahead of him. John jogged to catch up with them as he saw his friends hit the ground, their rifles dropping to the floor quickly. The men did not stand back up. Suddenly, he realized his cigarette had just saved his life. He pointed his M16 at the trees near his team mates. Pressed the transmit button on his radio, and began speaking quietly, "Command, priority transmission, this is Papa 3-4, Command, come in." "Go ahead, Papa 3-4." "Command, Papa 3-1, 3-2 and 3-3 are down. I repeat, I am all alone out here. I need immediate back up. I don't have eyes on any hostiles." "Roger, we're sending a Little Bird and two squads. Hang tight, 3-4." "Thank you, Command." Richardson didn't wait for a reply he moved his rifle towards a bush that he heard something in. Rather than risk his own death, he pulled the trigger. He heard a gasping scream as the rounds hit their mark. He moved closer. Something else moved in the darkness. He pointed his rifle at it. A man holding a water gun. Nothing but a simple, plastic yellow and green, probably five dollar water gun. "Who the hell are you," he said, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" He brought the sights of his rifle to his eyes. The unidentified man with the summer time backyard toy pointed it at the American, who quickly reacted by firing a burst of 5.56 right into his chest. Eliciting a yelp from an unidentified source. The Specialist pointed his weapon towards where he thought it came from and, sure enough, he had his M16 pointed straight at a crying pink pegasus. Wait, what the fuck? 455 UTC, September 19th, 1986 Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria The Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia's best and brightest, were gathered before her, as she told them her plan. "I don't know if that's really..." Fluttershy trailed off. "They can't do anything on their own, we need to help them." Fluttershy was far too nervous to argue, even though she knew it was wrong. But, she couldn't let her friends down. So she simply sighed and let them go on with it. The magical energy of the Elements of Harmony was used to expand the barrier.
Chapter 4: FlashpointSeptember 24th, 1986 1254 EST The War Room, Washington, D.C. United States "It's still expanding sir- if we don't stop it within two weeks, Hawaii will be lost," The Naval Intelligence Officer said to Reagan as he stood there considering his options. "I want the Battleships- The Iowa and Missouri- I want them in firing range of that barrier ASAP. If that doesn't crush the barrier, well, then we'll be in serious trouble then." The officer nodded and proceeded to go on with the president's plan. Reagan knew he should get a plan together in case the barrage would not crush the barrier. September 24th, 1986 1602 GMT USS Sapian 60 miles from the barrier, The Pacific Ocean The first units of Force Reconnaissance were preparing for the assault. Nathan Jacks' team would launch as soon as the barrier fell, which, according to his commander, would be 'soon'. Nathan took that to mean that it would be at least a day before they would be on Equestrian soil. That didn't matter much, as they were letting him pack his weapons and gear already, so he grabbed his rifle- a Colt CAR-15. He also grabbed his pistol- a newly issued Beretta M9, which he didn't like compared to the M1911, but it got the job done. Next, he grabbed his combat pack. Now, he had to wait. September 24th, 1986 1712 GMT USS Iowa 22 miles from the barrier, The Pacific Ocean The massive battleship moved towards the barrier with her 16" guns ready. The ship lined up adjacent to the barrier and prepared to fire. The Captain on the bridge looked at the purple barrier in the distance and picked up a radio handset. He spoke simple words into the mouthpiece, "Fire now." The massive ship began to rock in the water as the massive guns fired. The massive sixteen inch rounds flying from the ship to their mark, twenty-two miles away on the barrier's purple surface. It took nearly a minute, but they saw the explosions from the deck of their ship, and waited, expectantly and eagerly for the barrier to collapse. As the sound wave from the explosion hit them they realized one thing; the barrier didn't collapse. This was disappointing,so the Captain told the men to reload and fire again. Two minutes later they had the same result. No failure on the part of the barrier, despite the massive amount of lead they just threw at it. Immediately, they called in telling the Pentagon about what happened. They were told to move to a thirty mile distance from the barrier to be in the 'safe zone'. 24th September, 1986 1725 GMT The Kremlin Moscow, Russia "-I know it seems ridiculous, but the barrier is still intact. We need to use nuclear weapons." "Yes, Mr. President, I can see that being a, uh, logical solution." Gorbachev replied. "I thought you should know, well, I think you know why." "I understand Mr. President." And with that, the Red Telephone went silent. 24th September, 1986 1746 GMT Equestrian Royal Guard Barrier Post #27 28 miles from Stalliongrad, Equestria The troops had already ran away screaming an hour earlier when the battleship had began firing on the barrier, and had just reassembled when something very loud and large hit the barrier, and it collapsed entirely. The ponies weren't even fully shielded themselves, as the blast killed many of them as well. Those that survived considered themselves lucky. Unfortunately for them, their death wouldn't be as quick as that of their comrades. They would all die slowly and painfully in months and years to come. 24th September, 1986 1800 GMT Multiple Positions around the Barrier Human Controlled Territory The Pacific Ocean From the East, Equestria faced the threat of hundreds of Russian paratrooper aircraft and amphibious assault vehicles, all of which were launched the second they received word the barrier had fallen. YAK-38's, KA-25's and Mi-8's were all launched from their ships as they began their massive assault. In the skies above, a fleet of Il-76TD aircraft, belonging to the VDV, were ready to drop thousands of paratroopers deep into Equestria immediately. Their odds from the West were just as grim, if not more so. Six American amphibious assault ships, two American Nimitz-Class Carriers, one British Invincible class, two battleships, twelve destroyers and an American Air Base in Hawaii only three hundred miles away, with the 101st United States Airborne Ready to deploy. American LCACs were being launched to deploy M1 Abrams tanks onto the shore of Equestria the second they made landfall, Harriers were already bombing positions that were now incredibly exposed after the strike. All in all, Equestria was about to have a really bad day.
Chapter 5-Alpha: American AssaultSeptember 24th, 1986 ████ GMT Lieutenant ████ █. ████████, United States Navy, Callsign Mother Goose F/A-18 Hornet Fighter Aircraft Mission: Classified The F-18 moved quickly and loudly towards its target. The pilot moving his finger across the joystick lightly, knowing what his mission was. At the moment, knowledge of the operation was limited to twenty different people, but it would soon be known globally. As for the poor bastards the cargo was being delivered against, they should never know. The pilot's finger hovered over the red button on the joystick. He flipped the cover off, and pressed the button. He then broke off immediately and turned around. He knew what he had done, and he didn't regret it in the slightest. 24th September, 1986 1806 GMT United States Marine Corps 4th Expeditionary Unit, 4,500 Feet above the American Beachhead As the massive fleet of Marine helicopters flew above the shoreline, where an amphibious landing was taking place, the war now had an obvious beginning. For Nathaniel, this was a dream come true. Actual Combat! The man had spent the majority of his Marine years training, but had never had any actual combat experience. And here he was! In the back of a Huey, in a massive air assault on an island. Suddenly, four of the CH-53's in the back of the formation began to descend followed by two other AH-1's. Next, four CH-46's broke off, two going left, two going right. Four of the the other eight Hueys broke off into different directions as well, with another assault helicopter forming the spearhead. Nathaniel grinned as two Harriers flew by, bombing the guard post into oblivion below. The pilot told the crewchief they had ten minutes until landing, and relayed that to the Marines in the back. Nathaniel grabbed his M40 gas mask and put it on his head, and then his helmet, which was resting in his lap. He checked the action on his CAR-15, as well as the one on his M1911. He then loaded the M203 under the barrel of his rifle and gave a thumbs up to his squad leader. He was ready. The Huey touched down next to another helicopter fulfilling the same purpose as a Cobra circled above. The Force Recon Marines assembled behind a cottage on the outskirts of the town. The platoon leader spoke, "Gentlemen," He began, "The assault on the beach is about to begin, and the Equestrians will either try to fall back, or reinforce themselves. "Fortunately, we are in a perfect position to cut off the forces if they make an attempt at either. Remember, they will attempt to use potion first. They probably will use lethal force at some point, so if it's Royal Guard, shoot it. Oorah?" "OORAH!!" The platoon echoed back eagerly. The Lieutenant smiled. 24th September, 1986 1845 GMT Awaiting United States Marine Corps Assault Battalion, Central Stalliongrad, Two Clicks From Planned American Rally Point Alpha The battalion was certainly behind schedule, Nathaniel thought, recognizing they should have had the vehicles ashore by now. It didn't matter, the ponies were already parting like the Red Sea with the airstrikes at the beach head already underway. He was laying behind a pile of bricks, which provided more than adequate protection for him as he squeezed a couple of rounds off at the group that advanced on him. They weren't doing much, but he knew better than to let his guard down, because he knew the second he did that, they would surprise him and beat him at his own game. He stood up and moved to better cover, and to keep up with his squad, which he was covering. He caught up with them quickly as they made their way to known waypoints. "Psst!" He stopped. Five seconds... "Psst!" Again, but more urgent this time. He looked to his right and saw a purple unicorn in a room gesturing him forward. Shit, he thought, He hadn't been told how to react to this type of thing. Instead of abandoning the pony, he pulled his VHF radio off his vest and called his squad leader. The squad moved over to him and entered the house with him, after all, one of their primary objectives was to gather intelligence. So the stallion told the men about his involvement in the resistance, and where to contact other members, and who else would probably be willing to help out as well, which would certainly be useful for command on all sides of the war, and allow the commanders more freedom in carrying out acts that are questionable in terms of Geneva Convention, because while rebels are subject to Geneva Convention, these rebels were not under United Nation jurisdiction, causing a loophole which any JAG would have been quick to exploit under any means. The squad then moved out, to regroup with their platoon. Upon regrouping, the men immediately began digging a defensive position at the rally point. A Huey flew in quickly, dropped a couple of crates with ammunition and equipment for building a proper defensive line at the soon-to-be FOB. 24th September, 1986 1902 GMT United States Marine Corps Assault Battalion, Stalliongrad Beach Fortications, Five Clicks From Rally Point Alpha, The LAV-25's lead the landing, followed by AAV's and covered by helicopters. Within five minutes, the beach head was secure, with infantry immediately leaving their vehicles and hunting down fleeing Royal Guards. The soldiers immediately regrouped with their landing vehicles, as well as some of the soldiers who came in on the Super Stallion helicopters earlier. Off to the east and west, soldiers who arrived in Sea Knights secured nearby towns and villages, in order to maintain a supply line. The next order of business was to disembark the Abrams tanks from the LCAC's, which took very little time. As the units rallied with their vehicles, they began to approach the rally point, which was completely ready to become the first FOB in the war. Author's Note Soviet Assault Chapter Coming Soon!
Chapter 5- Борис: Soviet Assault25th September, 1986 0841 GMT Novorossijsk Kiev-Class Helicopter Carrier, Soviet Naval Infantry, As alarms blared, the Soviet Naval crewman on the deck prepped the VTOL aircraft and helicopters for their assault. One lone man, who was not prepping for the assault, just stood their with his arms crossed. He was Captain Sergei Mager, he was a somewhat intimidating man, despite the fact he was in his mid-fifties. The Americans had proven themselves good at something and had taken the barrier out quickly and utterly. And now it was their turn to kick some ass. Mager put his hand over his forehead. Ponies.... It felt stupid to part of him, having to team up with the Americans just to fight some dumb ponies. But the other part of him knew looks could be deceiving, and both the Americans and Russians knew that the quicker they wiped that cyka off the face of the Earth, the less problems they would have. Now that the barrier had fallen, there wasn't much doubt the ponies couldn't pull much off after that; if nothing else their morale was certainly lowered. His thoughts were interrupted by a Marine officer walking up to him and saluted, he knew the man well. "At ease, Comrade Major," The Captain spoke to his friend. "Captain, all the vehicles are ready to go and we will launch the assault on your mark." The Captain nodded, "Good. Let's get this show on the road." 25th September, 1986 0851 GMT The Skies above Trottingham, Soviet Il-76TD Formation, VDV Airbourne Units, As the flight of the seventy-five planes flew above the town, Lieutenant Ivan Averin checked his rifle one last time as the side door opened, as well as the aircraft's rear cargo door. As the light above the door turned green, Ivan was the first out the door. He was followed quickly by other paratroopers as well as BMDs and BTRs. Close air support jets were assigned the task of hitting the position before the men landed, as to soften up the defenses of the Guard regiment holding there. The Lieutenant couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor ponies that were about to get their asses handed to them by the SU-24s. When his platoon was on the ground, he immediately got to organizing the squads in their assault. The rest of the company was to secure the rest of the town, as his platoon would take the South-East sector. The other units in the approximately 3,000 man division that had just landed near the town would set up defenses around the town, back the assault company up and provide support if needed. As Ivan led his men through tight corners in the streets, he made sure he didn't leave his men exposed. His AKS-74's safety was off, and there was a 5.45×39mm round in the chamber. He was surprised to be lacking encounters with the guards that supposedly held the city so utterly, especially with the bulk of the force protecting against Royal Guard reinforcements on the majority of the roads. He heard hoofsteps from around the corner and chanced a peek out from around it. He spotted a squad of Royal Guard troops. Not reinforced all the way in, he observed with a smile. He had a grenadier and machine gunner prep their weapons, as he knew that was the most effective way to take them out. On his mark they both crawled around the corner, aimed their shots and fired. The GP-25 round's detonation made a loud enough noise to get some attention, which prompted Ivan to order two machine gunners onto different rooftops, as to cover their position. As both men soon reported that it appeared a platoon was approaching, on either side. The men were outnumbered, but that didn't matter to Ivan, who quickly called in his position to the mortar teams that had set up outside town. The 82 millimeter mortar rounds, were fired, and the machine gunners had already began firing, but it takes time for mortars to hit. As more men began opening fire, the rounds started to hit. As these rounds hit, the ponies didn't bother to continue to aim their crossbows at the men and just started running. The Lieutenant ordered his men to continue clearing the sector and shoot any Guards on sight. Soon, the town would be theirs. 25th September, 1986 0942 GMT, 0042 Local Outside Trottingham, Soviet FOB, Soviet Naval Infantry, Russian Ground Forces, GRU Spetsnaz, VDV Operating Base, The Soviets had landed main battle armor on the shoreline, their T-80's and T-72's already at the FOB past Trottingham. The next task was to set up an FARP for their helicopters. A massive amount of equipment had been brought ashore by heavy lift helicopters and amphibious vehicles. As an Mi-26 dropped another large supply crate, Lieutenant Averin took another sip from his coffee. Too damn late for this, He thought casually, trying to shake off the lack of sleep that consumed him. He knew he couldn't get to sleep, the battle for Trottingham had been won, but they still needed to push up. Their forces would have to move quickly to fully exploit the advantage that they currently held over their enemies. His orders were simple; the base would use rocket artillery to attack a nearby guard post spotted by a scout helicopter two minutes earlier, and mobilize Averin's platoon to capture it, the platoon would then group up with the rest of his division which was planned to move Eastward immediatly. They were to be assisted by five BTR's and one Mi-24 for air cover, should the situation necessitate it. Having received these orders not five minutes after arriving at the newly constructed base, he had some anger to show for it. But all in all, it was a simple operation. Even as he got into the BTR that was to ferry him to the fortification, he had no doubt that his men could accomplish the task. These men had never failed him in Afghanistan, they certainly wouldn't fail him now, not to colorfully prissy ponies. Twenty minutes later he exited the vehicle, with the enemy position in sight. The Hind that was to give them support was on standby, as that would draw too much attention. Not that it really matters anyway, Ivan thought to himself before remembering the task at hand. He pulled the bolt of his rifle and started running forward, followed by his men. The BTRs moved behind them as they got closer to the compound. He heard the pinging of bolts hitting the sides of the APCs, some magic and others just conventional crossbow rounds, this of course didn't do much to the vehicles, and really just told the troops the enemy was now considered a armed and dangerous combatant and thus could be fired on without UN repercussions. The APC returned fire. Its heavy 25 millimeter cannon started tearing apart the ponies that had attempted to fire on them. One of the ponies launched a potion over the fence, hitting one of the Russian troops. Fortunately, all of the Soviet troops had prepared to face chemical weapons and were wearing their NBC suits. Another bolt was fired, this one piercing a solider's uniform and leaving him writhing in agony on the ground. This infuriated the Lieutenant and his men, and proceeded to fight with an even more aggressive rage, as their medic attempted to help the badly wounded man. An RPG hit their main barrack, setting the troops that were still trying to arm themselves ablaze. The burning ponies ran from the building, screaming. They ignored the burning ponies' pleas as Averin called for a medevac helicopter. He still knew their fight wasn't over- not even for the night. 25th September, 1986 1054 GMT, 0154 Local Second Platoon, Антон Company, 106th Guards Airborne Division Under the Command of Lieutenant Ivan B. Averin, Advancing on Dodge Junction, As the platoon approached the nearly entirely burnt out 'western style' town from airstrikes on the Royal Guard formations that were using the town for cover from airstrikes. Their strategy cost them dearly, as it gave them no place to fall back to, and no cover during the battle that was sure to ensue. Averin's platoon wasn't the first to arrive- and they weren't leading the formation either- they were off to the side of the town, attempting to cut off the Guard's retreat as the armored battalion launched the frontal assault. Artillery pounded the town, even as the Russian units got closer. The ponies attempted to fight back, only inflicting minor amounts of damage on some infantry units, as these units were damaged, others would cover them. They were surrounded; one platoon against a division, but to them it didn't matter- Celestia had ordered them to hold, and they would do so with their lives, even if there was no hope for them. The Lieutenant aimed down the sights of his rifle and dropped what looked like some type of commander, and was apparently leading a counter charge. What kind of primitive tactics are these guys using? Ivan thought to himself as he took out their color-bearer. It didn't look like the ponies were even bothering to be organized in this assault, and looked as if they hadn't fought a battle before in their lives. It was obvious why, to the Soviets, that if they had, they wouldn't be here to fight them. A pegasi warrior charged forward with a spear, making an obvious attempt to be a hero. His doomed plan failed him, as he had only made it six meters from the front of his line before he, like the others that had tried, was mowed down. Even though the battle seemed like it was an easy victory for the Russians, Averin realized he was out of rounds as he reached to put another magazine in his rifle. For him, it was a simple solution, rather than cease fighting to get ammunition and leave his men without a commander, he pulled his handgun out from its spot on his chest and opened up with that as well. 25th September, 1986 1108 GMT, 0208 Local The Skies Above An Unidentified Equestrian Highway, Flight 291, Myasishchev M-4, Soviet Air Force, "Choryt," Major Alaxander Frolov muttered to himself, "That's a lot of ponies." As the bomber flew above the formation below, he called in to the General in charge of the entire operation to call in the locations of the hostiles. The General not only acknowledged this, but gave the senior officer the orders to take out the formation with the aircraft's nearly forty-eight thousand pound payload. The pilot gave enthusiasm to this and went to perform a go around to properly line up for the bombing run. As he prepared to empty his aircraft's bomb bay, he knew that this strike would save many lives, as it would show the pony aggressors the might of the Soviet Union as well as prevent the armies from having to clash. He gave the order to drop the bombs. As the plane flew past, very few of the ponies considered the plane a threat, as they had sent out a small detachment of pegasi to deal with some of the bombers already. One of the ponies looked up and saw a large number of white objects falling down upon them. The were beautiful, he thought and only had time to say, "Wow! So pretty!" Before the explosions began engulfing the entire army formation. However, not all of the Guard division that was approaching was dead- there was at least a battalion of pegasi airborne, and attempting to make work of the SU-24's and YAK-40s that were now dominating the airspace. However, the ponies soon realized they lacked much to take down these jets, and couldn't as much as match a quarter of their velocity. As the planes came back to strafe them, one of the pegasi made an attempt to throw his spear into the engine of one of the jets as it flew by, as an act of desperation. Out of either luck, or good aim, the projectile ended up in the prop of the SU-24's engine. The projectile was large enough to knock the engine out entirely, but that didn't mean it was over for the human inside- the aircraft's canopy flew off and a seat rocketed away from the fuselage, even as the plane pummeled towards the earth below. "We've got a fighter down, I repeat, Lavarov's going down!" Author's Note As it turns out, Geneva convention technically states that both the US and Russia can use gas on Equestria, as they technically never signed any gas treaties and neither did Equestria. Guess what is going to be deployed soon... I am also not fully aware of Soviet Army Organization in terms of companies, platoons and the like, So I may be wrong with some of this.
Chapter 6: Common EnemySeptember 26th, 1986 1721 Zulu Two Kilometers from the Target Village Griffin Claimed Territory, Equestrian Badlands A gray helicopter emitted a low-chopping noise as it propelled itself two hundred meters above the mountainous terrain below. On board the SH-60, a Marine Captain checked his magazine. He, as the folks in high command had chosen, would be accompanying and assisting a diplomatic team that would be meeting this leader of the griffins. The extent of which he would be involved, he didn't know; but he could only hope that these griffins would be friendlier than the ponies. The Navy crew chief held up one finger to the helicopter's passengers and shouted over the roar of the chopper's blades. The Captain knew that this meant the helicopter would touch down in one minute, so he checked his rifle for the final time and got up from his seat. One of the other crewmen on the helicopter slid open the door on the right side of the Seahawk. The Marine stepped out of the helicopter first, flipping the safety off his weapon and aiming down the sights in one fluid motion. After a 180 degree sweep of the area, two diplomats in suits stepped out of the helicopter, one of the men using his briefcase to cover his head from the back wash of helicopter's rotors. The makeshift group made their way towards a village, that was visible in the mid-morning light. "So, who is this guy exactly?" The Marine asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "King of the Griffons, says he wants to work with us, as they are threatened by the recent Equestrian-" "Greetings," A large feline-like creature spoke, a stereotypical crown atop his head, "I am Gryphaldo III,, King of the Griffons." Sam watched the king shake one of the diplomats' hands. "Quite an impressive entrance that was," He began, and the Marine already began to zone out. 26 Hours Earlier, Unidentified Location, Soviet Air Force Captain Gregory Paulkin The pilot slid his last magazine into his Makarov. He had attempted to give his coordinates to rescue teams, but to no avail. More of the damn incompetent pony soldiers advanced on him as he unloaded his last eight rounds into the group. Click. The sound that he had been dreading the moment he would hear it had come. He dropped his pistol and got on his knees, putting his hands behind his head. He screamed in accented English. "Don't shoot- I'm surrendering!" The ponies that took him were black, and looked much more menacing then the others he had seen, but he figured they were simply their spetsnaz. The more the pilot thought about it, he became confused, You'd think they'd have threatened us with these guys, they are quite a bit more threatening then their front line troops. As one wrapped a blindfold around his eyes he noticed they looked less mammalian and more insect-like, and that worked to further unnerve the captain. The more Paulkin thought about it, the less and less they seemed to be ponies. September 26th, 1986 0112 Zulu Unidentified Caverns, Interrogation of human prisoner As Paulkin came to, he heard arguing. "-We need to swap them out there's no way we won't get-" "You have a point. We simply need to delay their advance for maybe a week, and then we can get out without them ever finding out." Gregory had no idea who and what was speaking, as both voices were raspy and his eyes were still covered by the blindfold. He heard, "Get the information you need from him." The second voice spoke, before he heard steps fading off into the distance. The other one apparently picked him up with a grunt. He must have thought he was still out. As he was set on the things' back, he seized the opportunity and choked the thing to the ground. He pulled his blindfold off, his right foot resting on the bug's chest. He cuffed the creature's neck and asked a question. "What are you?" The creature coughed out a reply he could barely hear, "Changeling." The pilot could guess why they didn't just convert him- they needed information. From what he'd heard, the converted were brainwashed so heavily they couldn't get any information out of them at all. Unfortunately, he had no idea where he was making an escape nigh impossible. The only weapon he had was his knife that he found on a crate, next to his unloaded pistol and radio. His pistol didn't count- simply because it was dry. After checking his radio, and getting no signal. (Which came to no surprise to him, as he was inside a cavern.) He had his pistol out so he would be more intimidating if he was spotted by a guard. Soon, however, what he thought was a woman's crying interrupted the still sound of his footsteps. He moved his right hand onto his knife and kept his left on the grip of his handgun. Then he saw the pony that made the noise and immediately became confused. What the fuck is she doing down here? The captain wondered to himself as he slid his pistol back to his holster and pulled his knife out. As he got closer, he could see she had some physical damage, like a prisoner would. The pilot didn't confront her for an obvious reason- she could probably take him if he gave her the chance. He then ran at her and shouted. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR FUCKING WITH RUSSIA!" She turned around to see the pilot coming at her, but it was too late- within a second he had her pinned to the ground, and was twisting her foreleg at an awkward angle. He brought his knife to her neck. "Any last words, imperialist pig?" "I'm not the one you want," She gulped. "That's what they all say," the captain replied nonchalantly. "Changeling queen- she tricked everypony. I can't believe nopony caught what she did. It's crazy she got away with it with Cadence- but with me immediately after the first time?" She sighed, "My guards were supposed to be the best of the best. But Chrysalis now controls this palace, and this country. It's been that way for a month and a half now-I don't know what she's doing. You've got to believe me." Gregory's eyes widened in realization. Something about the way she said it- it sounded like the truth; like it fit with where they were and 'Celestia's' reason not to negotiate. He looked at her, the real Celestia, and said, "Let's get the hell out of here." September 26th, 1986 1800 Zulu The War Room, The Pentagon, Washington D.C., United States "The griffins are working with us sir, they're sending us units to give our guys guidance," The Marine General reported with a pleased expression to Reagan, "As well as an entire division straight to their capital city." Reagan was glad to hear the news, it would certainly help show the media that even other aliens hate the ponies as well. The President's critics decided that a war with aliens was 'warmongering', especially due to the fact that these aliens looked like something out of a little girl's cartoon. Hell, it was a wonder Celestia didn't have to deal with Hasbro's lawyers yet, in addition to the joint efforts of both Warsaw Pact and NATO countries that were moving into her territory. Author's Note What can I say- I felt TCB Celestia is too OOC to explain even through alternate universes. Plus, I haven't seen the changelings be the bad guys enough lately. And yes, I apologize for the Griffin King's terribad name. Changeling Celestia aside; sorry about the wait on this one, I was busy with finals these past weeks.
Chapter 7: StalemateSeptember 26th, 1986 2312 Zulu NATO Forward Position "Mr. Ed", Thirteen Miles From Baltimare, Equestrian Territory John Richardson, who had been reassigned to the Equestrian campaign after the loss of the majority his squad to pro-pony terrorists in Berlin not even a week before, flipped the page of his Tom Clancy novel. The specialist wished that he could simply stay in Berlin, where very little action was currently happening. The irony of the novel he was reading and his present situation was lost on him, as he continued to read. The solider wished that he didn't have to explain to his wife what he was doing here. It wasn't that the war made no sense to him- he actually understood all of the reasons behind the war. It wasn't very convoluted, on the contrary the reasons seemed almost too good to be true. The solider was taken from his reading by his friend, Corporal Jacob Robinson, who was not with his fire team on that night, "The Major's saying we need to talk to him. Rest of the guys aren't moving up though. Maybe we're going to turn the tide?" The corporal playfully shoved his friend. After the initial landing, the ponies guessed ways that they could stop the humans. One of these ideas was that human aircraft and troops could be adversely effected by bad weather. While it didn't inhibit troop movements, it did inhibit the operations of aircraft. Hypothetically, the Americans could advance, but NATO command was reluctant to move up without air superiority. However, after speaking to their new gryphon allies earlier in the day they learned that the gryphons could also change the weather to suit their own needs. Some of the now allied resistance unicorns were willing to provide magical support and intelligence to get the humans to the facility in which the weather originates and how to stop it. Unfortunately for Richardson, this was going to be his job. As the specialist followed Robinson to the line, he gulped. He had barely seen combat before, and that could barely be considered such; just a moron with a water pistol. After they walked in , the squad about-faced and saluted the Major who saluted back before speaking; "At ease, men," he said in a calm tone. "I assume you know we're currently in a bit of a pickle with air support," the major quickly summarized their predicament before moving on,"The ponies have a facility that creates weather here," he pointed to a red 'X' that was marked on the middle of a satellite photo of Equestria, "I assure you, as absurd as it sounds, I am serious. I am telling you this because you will be inserted, past the thunderstorm, and into their facility. It's quite risky to fly into a thunderstorm, as you might guess, so we're going to send you in via ground convoy. "The facility is in a cloud, so a team of gryphons will assist you in this mission. Some pony resistance members are also going to give you guys a charm that gives you the ability to walk on clouds or something along those lines. Any questions?" No one raised their hand, "Good." As the specialist joined his squad behind a Bradley and two Humvees, he wondered how it would go. Would he be able to kill all of the bastards? Or would it go down like that night in Berlin? Only time would tell for the twenty year old US Army member. September 27th, 1986 0423 Zulu Operation Weathercaster, Recon Assignment Bravo, Two Miles From Cloudsdale, During the five-hour trip, the specialist had gotten to know a gryphon by the name of Reforger, whom he had learned had a family in the Gryphon Kingdoms, which was now in another dimension. For the specialist who had been feeling homesick earlier, it didn't seem possible to bear such a distance. But, as Reforger had told him, this was the only way he ever had a chance of seeing his family again. When they exited the vehicles, one painstakingly obvious question had to be asked; how exactly did they intend to reach the top of these clouds? Fortunately, after Robinson asked, the gryphons answered by flying up to the city, and each one of the four brought down a cloud; each one about the size of a Humvee. The humans were told by the gryphons to step on to the clouds. Richardson, who was willing to trust his new friend, was the first to step onto the cloud. To his, and his comrades', surprise, he didn't fall through. Instead, he was floating a couple feet above the ground. It wasn't much- but it showed what they could do. The other soldiers got on the clouds, and the gryphons brought them up to the city of Cloudsdale. As the soldiers prepared to step off, each checked his parachute, just in case things didn't go as planned. The men ran through the city quickly, clearing buildings, and destroying the weather producing equipment used by the ponies. The Royal Guards in the town didn't put up a fight, and were taken prisoner without a shot being fired. After the report was given to high command back at FOB Mr. Ed, they got word back that a pair British Lynx helicopters were on the way to drop off SAS personnel to hold the compound and ferry the Americans back to base. To John, it didn't seem logical to use Special Forces for the holding of objectives- especially after reading about their portrayals in his novels- but that wasn't his concern. His concern was to accomplish the objective that was given to him by command. And, for him, it was all staying quite simple. Looking at his watch, he sighed. This was going to be a long night. 27th September, 1986 0942 Zulu, Outside Trottingham, Soviet FOB, Lieutenant Ivan Averin, Platoon Leader, VDV The helicopters that had been parked at the base for the last two days with no sign of movement started taking off, regardless of the fact that it was now late into the night. With the storm patterns that had inhibited their aircraft movement in the few days since gone, they were presented with an opportunity to move quickly, as their initial push was two days before. Like the embarking vehicles, Averin was also part of the advance. His men were starting to line up after getting their NBC suits on, and soon they would get into their trucks and leave. The Lieutenant ensured that his squad leaders would check their own squads, and they would keep each other in order. Averin briefed his men a final time, telling them their basic outline. Soon, he loaded them up into the three trucks and got into his seat, the closest to the exit of the vehicle in the lead truck, as he intended to be the first one out, to lead his men like a real Soviet Officer. It was a long drive, but they were going to be in formation for the majority of it, so it didn't seem like they were likely to be ambushed. During the Lieutenant's deployment in Afghanistan in 1984, he learned what factors were present most common in an ambush. But for this mission, the Soviets would be taking the ponies by surprise. 27th September, 1986 1156 Zulu, Forward Artillery Position, 46 Kilometers East of Soviet FOB Trottingham, Captain Naumov, As the men pulled the last D-30 gun from its position on a trailer towed behind the large Ural cargo truck, the Captain in charge stepped out of the passenger seat of his UAZ-469 with his left hand holding the wired in handset of long-range radio, which was mounted adjacent to the dashboard of the off-road. He called to his men. "We're getting word from headquarters to standby, our guys will need us soon." 27th September, 1986 1213 Zulu, LZ Yelena, 5 Kilometers from unidentified large Equestrian Base, Lieutenant Ivan Averin, Platoon Leader, VDV Averin's men all were ready in their columns. The squads individually were ready to move into the area as soon as they could. It was their job to scout the area, after they had arrived, they would have close air, armored and artillery support. To the men, this could be incredibly dangerous. They were going into an unknown area and dealing with forces that they had little to no intel on. Averin knew that the men might be cocky after their first encounter two days before, when they defeated the ponies with very little resistance. The situation could be incredibly problematic, if the men believed they could just beat all of the ponies based on their experience with being able to take them when they were unprepared. Unfortunately, they might not have that luxury this time around. The Lieutenant moved forward, his men moving in the columns that they had prepped into after unloading. Within minutes, the complex was surrounded and the men would begin to advance. Fortunately, this provided ample time for CAS to arrive on the scene. The lieutenant moved his men forward, as he was covered by twin Mi-24 gunships, but now he too was starting to get cocky. He believed that with the aircraft covering him and the T-72 tanks holding the supply lines into the Equestrian base, he and his men were invincible. Due to this error, the men advanced at a rate that exceeded what it should of, even neglecting to call in artillery. As the men began to fire at any of the ponies that exited the buildings that surrounded them, they didn't notice the ponies moving in from the south, where the armor had neglected to cover. This wasn't covered due to command not being aware of an adjacent underground fortification, which had been constructed just before the war began. The vials flew at the Russians, few making their mark. Those that did were incapable of causing any damage to the soldiers that were wearing the armor. It was then unseen unicorn archers started firing at the VDV troops, tearing up the clothing and even injuring two soldiers. More vials flew. Unfortunately, the contents of some of the vials made contact with the skin of some of the troops. The Red Army watched in horror as they saw their own men turning into the enemy before their eyes. One of the men turned, now a turquoise earth pony, attempted to pick up his bayonet with his mouth and rush his former comrades with it. All the while, the insidious creature was spouting propaganda about a perfect world in Russian. One of the non-commissioned officers leveled his Makarov handgun with the pony's head and pulled the trigger. This took the men out of their daze. As they turned towards the other newfoal, he was also spouting the same lies in Russian, in a voice that many of the men recognized as the soldiers'. A private hit the pony over the head with the barrel of his AKS. Ivan turned to his radio operator. "We need artillery. Something that will show them..." The lieutenant thought, "Give the bastards a taste of their own medicine! We need... Gas." The soldier manning the radio's expression was not visible through his mask, but he was glad they would be getting back at them using their own tactics. The operator began giving the necessary coordinates to the men manning the artillery pieces miles away. "Actual is requesting use of VR gas rounds..." The operator added. "Uh, standby." Came the reply. "Colonel gave us permission to do so, we are firing chemical rounds now." 27th September, 1986 1342 Zulu, Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville, Equestria Unofficial Meeting of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony "I don't get it Twilight. How could Celestia ever do anything wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked her friend, her characteristics representing her element showing. "Does it really seem like this is really in our best interests? Or the best interests of the humans who are the recipients of the plan? It doesn't make sense why she would do any of this." Applejack spoke up next, "Twilight's right. Something seems awful fishy about all this." As if on cue, a pair of flying black objects approached the town, a loud drum coming from them, catching the attention of the elements. Rarity spoke nervously. "Is that..?" She was never answered, or needed to be as the six ran for cover in the storage center under the building. Author's Note Yeah, so I added the Equestrian flag(made by anarchemitis of DeviantArt) right in middle of the cover art. Sadly, I had most of this done for a while. Just never got around to fixing and posting it.
