Chapters Prologue: The Beginning of the End
The Beginning of the End
December 18th, 2025
Near the abandoned city of Yinchuan, China
"Hey Alric, wake up!" says Dmitri a scarred and battle worn man who had served in the Spetsnaz for seven years.
"Alright, alright why do we have to get up so early" says Alric a quiet and calculating KSK operative who had served for about just as long.
"Because there is a squad coming right towards us"
"Shit!"
"Alright we aren't going to be able to move the GAZ, so we might as well take up position and try to take them out quietly"
"How many of them are there?"
"Enough to make it a challenge" Dmitri says as he looks at Alric who is grinning.
As Dmitri pulled out his VSS Vintorez Alric pulled out his KM-4000. The pair waited for the squad of Chinese soldiers to get closer before they executed their attack. Dmitri quickly shot 2 of them in the head as Alric stabbed one in the neck and pulled out his throwing knife before throwing it at another soldier's face, which from years of practice, managed to hit his eye. The last soldier began to point his Type 95 at the two but Dmitri shot him in the leg which caused him to yelp in pain as Alric ran up to him put his hand over the soldiers mouth before any further sound could be released and cut his throat. "Phew that was a close one" Alric says in relief as a Chinese Type 99 tank came crashing down through the foliage.
"Whelp, looks like we're fucked" Says Dmitri.
3 days earlier
Krygil Base, [LOCATION CLASSIFIED]
"Hey Dmitri go find Alric and get down to the briefing room, the boss wants to see ya." says Vladmir
"Yeah sure, hold on my Vintorez is a little rusty from that week in Mongolia." says Dmitri as he finishes wiping of the breach of his VSS. "So what were you going on about Vladmir?"
"Dammit just get down to the briefing room with your boyfriend you senile war junkie." says an aggravated Vladmir as he walks down the hall.
"Yeah fuck you too Vlad" Dmitri shouts after him. "Oh yeah and it was me that drank your vodka!" Vladmir flips him off over his shoulder. "Slovoch" Dmitri mutters to himself as he puts his Vintorez down on the table before he runs off to find Alric.
Krygil's Cafeteria
As Alric got his food in the cafeteria he searched for a place to sit and eat. Alric's eyes gazed over to a suitable table in the corner of the room. He walked over and sat down with no intention of talking to anyone.
Alric was a quiet person, but by no means shy, much like Dmitri. Both, however had different reasons for it. Dmitri just didn't like the company of a majority of other people, with exceptions of few. Alric liked to think to himself and he needed peace and quiet places to do it... ...Well, it doesn't need to be a peaceful place as he always welcomes violence.
Many have said that the two are like clones of each other, with the exception of physical traits of course. If they looked deeper, past the sick, cruel, and twisted personalities of Alric and Dmitri, they could find several differences.
By the time Alric had finished his lunch he had noticed some members of the Gefängnis Soldaten walk up to him. The Gefängnis Soldaten, which literally means "prison soldiers", were formed six months after China's attack on Russia and subsequently waging war with its allies. The division of soldiers, taken directly from prisons, were trained very rigorously, harder than regular soldiers. Going into the Gefängnis Soldaten was optional, however, they wouldn't allow anyone sentenced to over 15 years so they don't get an "easy way out of prison". Members of this division would have to serve Germany and wouldn't be told the locations of secret bases in case they're captured. Many people opposed the creation of the Gefängnis Soldaten but not enough as they are an alternative to losing people with families.
Alric turned to tell them to leave but found a fist flying toward him. He dropped the fork to free his hand and quickly caught the punch. "Who are you and what do you want?" Growls Alric.
"We are the Siebten Kompanie and we are here to teach you a lesson." The tallest one says proudly as he retracts his fist. Siebten Kompanie, or Seventh Company was the best of the Gefängnis Soldaten.
"Ah, I know about you." 'Apparently these guys were taken straight from jail, trained, and put into the war. I've heard that they are a real pain in the ass for the officers here too.'
"Alright, that's enough you three." Someone familiar says as he lays his hand on the tallest one's shoulder.
"Who the fuck do you-" The tallest is interrupted by the man again.
"I'm giving you five seconds to scamper off to the sewer you crawled out of before some poor fuck has to clean the floors of your broken bodies." The man says while tightening his grip on the tallest's shoulder.
'I think I've heard that voice before.' Alric thinks to himself grinning. "Hallo Dmitri. I haven't seen you in a while."
"Good to see you too but listen, we have to get to the briefing room. The Commander wants to see us and we're already late without these sukis in the way." Says Dmitri with a hint of venom in his voice.
Alric could tell that Dmitri has had a bad history with the Commander although he hasn't talked about it, not even to Alric, who has been his best friend for a long time.
"Seriously though, we have to get going now. If you scum want to fuck with the best here then you'll go back to your sewers in body bags. Unlike you we actually have important shit to do." Dmitri says annoyed.
Alric gets up and starts to leave with Dmitri when one of the soldiers speaks up.
"Looks like these two pussies are runnin' away from a fight. What, are you too chicken?"
Alric pauses his exit and doesn't even bother to turn around.
"Don't worry Alric, they'll die very fast in battle." Dmitri says as they resume their exit, chuckling.
"Why do you hate the Commander so much? I mean, I know you two have a bad history but what happened to make you loathe each other so much?" Questions Alric mid-way to the briefing room.
"Answers are revealed when they are called for the most." Dmitri answers cryptically while they walk at a brisk pace.
Chapter One
Krygil Base
December 15th, 2025
The two Special Operations soldiers approached the briefing room casually as they had been there countless times. As Alric closed the door, the Commander curtly spoke.
"Take a seat Gentlemen." The two soldiers sat down opposite to him. "Now, what I am about to tell you can never leave this room. Is that clear?" The commander says in a grave voice.
"As always, sir." Dmitri responded with a small chuckle.
"As you both know, this war is coming to an end and with the recent discovery of the threat of nukes the GRJMO is going to send you two with a code cracker to disrupt the launches. You'll be sent to the main control center within the enemy lines. I recommended you two and the GRJMO accepted due to your vast experience in high pressure missions. Remember, I recommended you, so don't make me regret it."
"Thank you sir, you won't have anything to regret from us." Promised Alric.
"Now then, let's go over the plan shall we? You two will take a fast and silent land vehicle of your choice and an armament of your choice. Suppressors are mandatory, for this is a stealth mission. You'll need to get acquainted with 'Nitro', who will be your code cracker tomorrow. He has already been briefed. Here is the location of the missile facility. We have confirmation that there is increased activity, because our UAV drones have picked up high activity. One of our agents from within their ranks also reported suspicious activity here. You two are to set up on the hills due west of the facility. We need visual confirmation that the nukes are being prepped at this facility and only then can you go in, get the codes and disrupt the launches." The Commander pauses to take a breath.
"If you do get into the facility and send them to us via comlink, wipe them from where they came. We suspect there is a central control hub and data base where you can find the codes near the center of the facility, but we don't have solid proof. You cannot let them detect you. And remember, you were not there, so don't leave any traces that you were. Are we clear? Any questions?"
"Just one sir. When do we move out?" Asks Dmitri.
"Tomorrow morning in the vehicle bay at 0500 hours. However, you need to prep up immediately after you leave this room. When you have chosen the vehicle you'll want to talk to the chief engineer and he will add any modifications if he deems it necessary. If that is all, you may leave." The Commander gets up and walks around the table to open the door just as he finishes briefing.
Alric and Dmitri get up and quickly move out the door and into the hallway. The Commander shoots a glare toward Dmitri as he's leaving and Dmitri returns it.
The armory wasn't a long walk through Krygil, but it was a relatively silent one. When the two arrive at the armory Alric decides to say what he usually says before an interesting mission.
"This is gonna be a fun mission isn't it?"
"They all are." Dmitri responds with a sly smirk.
The both soldiers start grabbing their usual gear. Dmitri grabbed his VSS Vintorez and Makarov PM and their respective ammo. Alric took his usual G36C and USP Compact and ammo for them as well. Since it would be a long mission they took a week and some amount of food and water for three people. Alric was going to bring a water purification kit so they can get as much water as needed while they're out there. Also accompanying them were their instruments, Alric's bass and Dmitri's guitar. They enjoyed playing them on longer missions because it helped them calm down. Metallica, who was their favorite band, was the most played.
They brought everything down to the vehicle bay which was almost next to the armory. While Dmitri kept a look out for the chief engineer Alric remembered something from the armory.
"Oh shit, do you think we should take the snow camo? It might prove useful."
"Don't you think we're carrying enough gear? We shouldn't need it, after all, we are in China. And it isn't exactly cold here." Dmitri assures Alric. "Plus, with this extra plating over my kevlar I don't think I will be running around much.
"Yeah, but we should get it in the morning. I want to at least be prepared." Alric says.
"Hey, anyone know where we can find the chief engineer?" Dmitri shouts to the rest of the people in the vehicle bay.
"Need engineer?" Questions a gruff voice in a heavy Russian accent. He slides out from under a Russian T90.
"You're the chief?" Asks Dmitri.
"Da. Have you chosen your vehicle yet?"
"Yes. We're going to take a GAZ-2975." Alric decides.
"A fine choice my friend. This one should do." The engineer says as he bangs on an armored truck farther down the row of vehicles
"I'll go ahead and mount a DSHKM on top so in case you need the fire power, you'll have it. It will also need extra plating because of all the gasoline and ammo you're taking. We wouldn't want you two to be cooked alive do we?" Jokes the engineer as they all share a good laugh. "Sounds good, da?"
"Yes sir. If that's all we will be off to get some rest." Dmitri finalizes as they head off to get their much needed rest. "See ya tomorrow Alric."
"Night." Alric says as they head to their separate rooms.
The next day Dmitri and Alric meet back up in the vehicle bay with their gear. They both spot their assigned code cracker walking up to them, with his gear of course.
"Hey, nice to finally meet you guys." Greets Nitro as they walk over to the GAZ with their gear. "We're taking this?"
"Ja." Alric answers.
"Nitro, I have a question." Dmitri says while everyone loads their gear into the GAZ.
"Shoot."
"You can handle yourself on a combat situation, right? You've been through weapons and combat training and all?"
"Yeah, I won't be a liability to you." Nitro answers. Everyone has finished loading their gear by now.
"I thought not, but I had to make sure. So, is everyone ready?"
"Yup." Alric answers for the rest of them. "We just have to let the engineers finish gassing it up and we'll be off." The chief engineer jumps off of the GAZ and makes his way to them. "Shit the winter gear!" says Alric.
"No time we gotta move out" Says Dmitri.
"Alright then ladies. She's all gassed up and ready to go. Have fun."
"We always have fun on these missions" Alric says while everyone hops into the armored jeep, Dmitri driving and Alric ready on the gun. The engine roars awake and they start their long six hour journey to the operating area. Driving there was pretty much uneventful.
When the GAZ arrived at the hills near the nuclear facility, on the very outskirts of Beijing the engine was cut. They set up a sniper's position, from which they were able to get a clear look at the facility. Nitro stayed in the GAZ setting up the comms with whoever his commanding officers were.
Alric got some binoculars and Dmitri was looking for a more powerful scope than his usually used PSO-1. They began surveillance. Every five hours they would contact HQ and relay their findings, which had been nothing promising so far. Other than a few soldiers, who just lazily walked around, there was nothing that promised such a high security facility being in this area. It was not until the next day, just about twenty-one hours later, when they saw nuclear warheads being loaded from what looked to be large storage containers.
Alric motioned Dmitri over to him. "Take a look, some warheads." He whispered as he handed showed him on his binoculars.
"Nitro, we've got confirmation." Dmitri said relieved that their recon teams were correct.
Nitro activated the comms. "HQ. Warheads have been spotted. Sending visual link..."
"You are confirmed to continue with your mission. Go to town. Over." The receiving end answered back.
*Present Time*
As the Type 99 tank rolled over the hill, knocking trees over in its path, Alric and Dmitri were making a frantic rush back towards the GAZ. Suddenly, Dmitri realized that Nitro was still in their vehicle and there was a chance that the tank would fire at their exit, maiming Nitro at the least.
"Alric, I'm going to distract the tank while you go get the explosives from the GAZ." Dmitri struggled out as he ran in pace with Alric.
"Alright. Don't get yourself blown to bits." Alric said and started to make a last effort to the GAZ. Dmitri quickly reaches into his left pouch and throws from within it a RGD-5, which was his preferred type of grenade, and starts blind firing with his Vintorez. The grenade was aimed at the treads and found its mark, exploding, but it didn't do much. The coaxial machine gun begins to spit out its lead at Dmitri, he dives to his left into a roll almost smashing into a tree. Dmitri sprints harder due to hearing rounds fly past him. The trees open up into a field with large boulders in it, some almost as big as the tank. Dmitri's radio emits out static and a voice.
"Dmitri! Where are you? I've got the explosives." Alric broadcasts to the private channel.
"Just drive towards the sounds of the machine gun! I don't think I can evade the tank much longer!" Dmitri practically yells into his radio. He breaks back into forest having cleared the field. The trees and rocks luckily threw the gunner's aim off. Suddenly, a second engine was heard. The GAZ drove up behind the tank using it's already cleared path.
The GAZ drove up to the side of the tank. Alric opened the passenger door and jumped onto the tank, momentarily burned by the exhaust. He had a good-sized brick of C4 in his hand, one strong enough to destroy a tank, which he shoved in the section between the turret and the chassis. Alric gives a signal to Nitro who drives the GAZ back off. He jumps off of the tank, rolling a few times to rid himself of his momentum. Nitro is already a safe distance away with the GAZ so he wouldn't be caught in the blast or hit by shrapnel.
"Hit the deck!" Alric yells, warning Dmitri to dive to the side behind a small alcove. Alric squeezes the clacker and detonates the C4. The turret of the tank is blown off in a fiery explosion and lands not too far from the tank. The tank remained a twisted hunk of metal, with no survivors from the blast.
"Sweet merciful vodka, that was close." Dmitri pants as he climbs into the GAZ. Alric is leaning on the tank, catching his breath. "You're so slow, Alric. I almost died" Dmitri taunts Alric.
"We definitely got heard, you know." Alric says while he walks up to the GAZ.
"We better infiltrate the base while we can. They're going to send a shitload of troops here soon." Nitro says.
"I second this. Alric, we brought another charge right?" Dmitri questions.
"Yeah, why?" Alric answers.
"I don't think that shooting that terminal to Swiss cheese will result with us leaving with our lives." Dmitri says as they all chuckle. Alric finally climbs into the back seat ready to go up to the DSHKM should he need to.
"Yeah, we should really get moving." Says Nitro, starting up the engine and starting the drive back to the facility. When the group arrived a far enough distance away from the gate, Nitro turned off the GAZ. There were only three guards around it.
Alric and Dmitri moved in as silent a shadow. Dmitri snipes the enemy in the guard tower, careful to shoot him in a way that he doesn't fall off. The guard standing in front of the gate itself was shot by Alric. The soldier in the gate control box saw his comrade fall down and he raised up his QSZ-92 to shoot Alric. Dmitri quickly shoots through the glass and kills the guard. Unfortunately, when glass is shot it makes noise.
"Shit." Dmitri whispers. A patrol that just happened to be walking near the checkpoint heard the noise and began to approach on the teams position.
"Shit Nitro get out of here wait for us near our camp, we're going in." whispers Alric into his radio.
"Roger that see you soon." says Nitro over the radio. The duo then proceed to run into the nearest building which they had identified to be the entrance to the underground facility.
"That's a shit ton of stairs." mumbles Dmitri as they find a very long stairwell leading down.
A very long ways down...
"Why couldn't these bastards have installed an elevator." Pants Alric once the two had reached the bottom of the dark stairwell, which had vault door.
"Damn the door won't budge, see if Nitro can help us out." Says Dmitri as he tries to pull the door open.
"Hey Nitro we have a little problem, we have a door that looks like it is password unlocked." says Alric.
"Can't you just shoot it open?" Asks Nitro, although with a bit of static due to their underground position.
"No, it seems pretty sturdy of a door, metal and all. Plus, why the fuck would we shoot a door if we want to keep stealthy?" Replies Alric.
"Oh yeah. Well, what does it look like?" Questions Nitro.
"Alright, there is a huge metal door with wires leading to a metal panel with the digits 1 through 9 on it." Alric describes.
"Alright are there three wires connecting to the right of the panel?" Questions Nitro.
"Yeah. How'd you know? Do you have video feed or something?" Says Alric cautiously.
"Those are ancient Chinese tech all you need to do is pull the top wire out. You're welcome" Says Nitro knowingly. Dmitri proceeds to pull out the top wire as the panel lights dimmed and flickered a green light, the door then depressurized.
"Thanks Uncle Nitro." Alric says sarcastically as he pulled the door open and they moved through the opened door. They moved through a very long scaffold within a very large room containing many malicious looking missiles and personnel. There were countless guards patrolling around, leaving them with little areas to move in. They continued through a long system of hallways while evading various soldiers until they reached a doorway with two Chinese soldiers guarding it. Dmitri motions for Alric to stay behind the cover of the hall corner. He spots a couple of boxes close to them. Dmitri purposely moves the boxes alerting the guards. One of the soldiers points over to his position a says something unknown to the soldiers behind their cover.
Dmitri steps out from behind his cover of boxes and raises his hands in mock-surrender. The two soldiers quickly raise their rifles and approach him cautiously. Meanwhile, Alric has moved around the hallways to another one that crossed their target room, into a flanking position around the corner. Alric waits for them to approach Dmitri, where they won't see him as he pulled out his handy KM4000 and holds it with the razor sharp blade pointing down. He walks up to the soldier on the right and cut's his throat right as they were about to apprehend Dmitri. Blood pours out of the soldiers throat as he makes a gurgling sound alerting the other. He then looks at Alric and his eyes widen he lifts his rifle to point at Alric's head.
Before he could pull the trigger Dmitri tackled him and managed to wrestle the rifle out of his hands and onto the floor a couple meters away. He grabbed the soldiers neck and began to strangle him, the soldier tried reaching for his sidearm but it was to late darkness had enveloped his vision.
"Shit that was close we are going to have to speed things up" says Alric as Dmitri gets off the unconscious soldier.
"Let's stack up to breach, you have the charge right?" says Dmitri. "Yeah let's do this" states Alric. The two Special Forces then form up on either side of the door. Dmitri then kicks open the door and the two rush in sidearms in their hands. The room strangely was clear, which was strange to Alric but it didn't stop him from running up to the main terminal of the facility, this is where all commands were issued from. Alric shoved the charge into an opening through the many monitors and the two quickly exited the room.
They retraced their steps to the surface all the while noticing the almost disturbing lack of soldiers. When they burst through the door of the building previously entered they saw Nitro driving up to them.
"GET IN THERE'S A NUKE!" Shouts Nitro at the two. Dmitri gets into the front seat and Alric on the mounted gun. Alric keeps an eye on the facility which is completely empty. The GAZ quickly drives off towards the nearby forested area. Alric hears engines not too far from themselves and advises the rest of the team to be on alert.
When the GAZ makes it up over the hill they are greeted with the sight of a man stumbling away from an overturned car. Dmitri gets out of the GAZ wanting to find out who the man is. He has his hand on his Yelan machete just in case the man was hostile.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Inquires Dmitri.
"Ah, I expected you dogs to show up, and now we all die. Let's see if your GRMJO considers loosing their finest operators a victory." Says the man as he turns around holding a detonator in his hand. Dmitri identified the man as Jiang He a Chinese scientists who was last seen working on nuclear warheads.
"Shit!" says Dmitri as he runs back to the GAZ having left his guns in it. "Get out of here he's got a detonator" Was all Dmitri could spit out before the deafening sound of a missile taking off was heard. The group looked at the Nuke flying high over the city of Beijing before crashing back down.
"Step on it!" shouts Alric as the GAZ speeds away from the explosion in an attempt to get away with Dmitri literally hanging on the side. Alas, the attempt proved futile as the explosion engulfed them. Just before Dmitri blacked out he could have sworn he saw a glint of purple shining against the windshield.
*5 minutes earlier*
I wonder what Rarity will have me do tomorrow? thinks Spike as he lays in his comfy bed, about to sleep his hard day away. Just as he's about to fall asleep, a loud noise then proceeded to almost rupture Spike's eardrums as he jumps out of bed and is jolted awake.
"AAAHHH" shouts Spike as he attempts to slow his rapidly beating heart. "Sweet Celestia what was that?" Spike says rubbing his aching head. "Must be Twilight with another one of her projects." Says Spike as he finally succeeds in calming himself. He walks downstairs with the intention of investigating what exactly Twilight was up to.
Spike opens the door to the basement and shouts down the stairs. "Twilight are you down there?".
"Yes Spike just working on an assignment the Princess gave to me." Twilight replies. Spike reaches the bottom of the stairs and peers into the room. He sees Twilight standing on one side of the room with her horn emitting a light purple hue, with a clear crystal in the middle of then room.
"Twilight when are you going to be done with the experiment because I really need my sleep!" Spike yells over the sound of Twilight's horn and the crystal humming with magical energy.
"Not much longer Spike I just have to add a little more magic... And done!" Shouts Twilight as she aims a beam of magic at the crystal that she had obtained from Princess Celestia for her research on other dimensions. Suddenly the beam made contact with the crystal, it refracted the magic all over the room and a bright light filled the basement...
Chapter Two
When Dmitri woke up he felt a stabbing pain in his stomach. He looked down to be greeted by a very large piece of metal embedded in his stomach. He attempted to move but found it caused way to much pain more than even he, a Spetsnaz operative who had been dragged by a truck while hanging on to a rope tied to it, could handle. Instead he looks through the cracked windshield at his surroundings.
Dmitri saw that he had smashed through the windshield of the GAZ. He appeared to be in a heavily forested area, however he could not be sure due to the raging blizzard outside. Dmitri hears someone shuffling within the GAZ as he sees Nitro's face through his orange tinted goggles.
"Shit, what happened?" Moans Nitro. "Everyone alright?" He asks as he looks to the passenger seat. Dmitri is startled when Nitro shouts "SHIT!" and practically pounces onto him. "Crap. Dmitri, are you alright?" Asks Nitro in a worried tone as he puts his fingers up to Dmitri's jugular checking for a pulse.
"I've had worse." Dmitri says as he immediately regrets it as a sharp pain pulses through his stomach.
"Agh, what's wrong?" Says Alric as he looks in through the space between the two seats. "Scheiße! Dmitri are you okay?". Dmitri raises a shaking arm and lifts up his thumb before dropping his arm down in a grunt of pain.
"Nitro, get the med kit in the back." Commands Alric as he jumps out and runs up to Dmitri side of the GAZ. He tests him for any other injuries. When Nitro got back to Alric with the kit Alric already knew what he had to do. "Alright Nitro get ready with the gauze, when I pull the shard out you put the gauze in the wound okay?" Says Alric.
"Got it." Replies Nitro.
"Hold on Alric I might need some vodka for this." Says Dmitri slowly so he doesn't hurt himself further. Alric nods and goes into the back of the GAZ and pulls out a bottle of Stolichnaya brand Vodka. He hands it to Dmitri who chugs down a quarter of it. "Alright let's get this over with." Says Dmitri with a grimace, feeling a slight buzz. "One, two, three!" Says Alric as he pulls out the shard of metal. Blood spurts on the window before Nitro puts the gauze in the deep cut. Dmitri practically shouts in pain as Alric stitches the wound together.
*The Edge of the Everfree Forest*
"Hey Scootaloo, are you sure it's a good idea going into the EverFree during a blizzard?" Asks Sweetie Bell while the blizzard violently flings snow around.
"Sweetie Bell, do you want to go to Zecora's or no?" Asks Scootaloo in an irritated voice.
"AppleJack ain't gonna like me sneaking out. When she hears ah'll be in so much trouble." Says Applebloom in a nervous voice.
"Well guys let's go fast before the storm gets any worse I heard the pegasi were going to make it bigger than it was planned." Scootaloo says trying to convince them.
"Doesn't that mean that we shouldn't go out?" Sweetiebell says nervously.
"Yeah, ah don't want to get in trouble either."
"But in the end we could have our cutiemarks. Or, are you guys... Chickens?" says Scootaloo with a grin.
"No way." Applebloom and Sweetiebell say almost in sync.
"Well let's get going then!" says Scootaloo.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ADVENTURERS!" they all shout before they rush off into the forest, adorned with winter jackets, scarves, and such attire.
*Library*
"Twilight are you okay?" Says Spike in a frantic voice as he rustles Twilight awake. "What, what happened?" says Twilight in a wavering voice. "After that crystal thingy lit up you passed out." says Spike. "Oh no!" Twilight said as she jumped up and ran to where the crystal had sat in before. "Where did it go Spike?!" asks Twilight afraid of what Princess Celestia would say.
"I don't know, after the light blinded me the crystal just disappeared." says Spike.
"As long as we're okay." Twilight says, relieved that no one was hurt, although devastated with the destroyed equipment. "But, what are we going to do with this mess?"
"Don't worry Twilight. You need some rest. I'll handle this." Spike says in a caring tone.
"Thank you, Spike." Twilight nodded and climbs up the stairs. When Twilight made it up the stairs, she looked at the clock on her wall. Wow, almost two o'clock already? Spike is right, I should really get some rest. Twilight lays in her comfortably warm bed and pulls the sheets up to cover herself. She closes her eyes as the day's events catch up with her, she feels her aching legs relax. Soon she falls into a deep sleep....
Where am I? Twilight wonders when she 'wakes'. She looked around and saw that she appeared to be in the Everfree forest. I must be dreaming, why would I be in the forest if I was awake? She thinks. Twilight wandered around until she heard deep voices near her. Somepony else in the forest? What are they doing here? Twilight ponders as she walks towards the general direction of the voices.
Suddenly, a pained scream rings out from a direction in front of her. She runs towards it thinking whoever she heard must have gotten hurt. When she manages to get through a batch of bushes blocking her way she sees a huge metal contraption with what appeared to be strange wheels under it. Through the slightly tinted windows she could see several ape looking things moving inside of it. One of them was stitching the one who was laying down who's teeth were bared.
Twilight was given a shock when she saw that it had sharp looking canines. There was one more but it appeared to just be watching. Her instinct kicked in when one of them looked around her approximate location through the glass. She ran as quick as she could away from the metal object, with not a care to where she was heading as long as it was away from the creatures.
Twilight was nearing the edge of the forest when she heard several familiar voices scream out "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ADVENTURERS!". Twilight then woke up shivering and sweating profusely in her bed.
"Oh no I've got to tell the girls, the crusaders are in trouble." Twilight says to herself as she runs downstairs. "SPIIIIKE! I'm going to get the girls!" she yells as she runs out the door to the library.
"What?!" Spike yells as he drops his broom and runs up the stairs from the basement. He was greeted with a door just closing.
*The Carousel Boutique*
"RARITY!!!!" Somepony yells, banging on the door.
"Mmmm. What could possibly be the trouble at such an hour?" Rarity says, just waking up. She trots down the stairs in her suede robe opening the door with her magic. "Oh! Twilight, what are-"
"Rarity! The girls! The Everfree!" Twilight pants as she is pulled into the Boutique by Rarity, who has heard none of Twilight's warnings.
"Come inside, darling, it is absolutely dreadful outside! Would you like some tea?" Rarity asks, completely oblivious to what Twilight was saying.
"What? Uhh... Okay." Twilight responds, and then catches her breath.
Rarity goes into the kitchen and puts a kettle on the stove. She returns a few minutes later levetating a tray with some teacups atop. "Here you go, darling." Rarity gives Twilight her cup of tea and they both sit on the couch.
"Now, what seems to be the problem. If it caused you to come at an hour like such, it must be ab-"
"The girls are in the Everfree." Twilight says calmly sipping her tea.
"-lutely horrible.... WHAT!?!?!" Rarity screams dropping her tea and the tray onto the carpet. "Oh no! This is horrible! Why would they go out in dreadful weather like this? And into the Everfree out of all the places! What are we to do? Out of all the worst possible things, this is The. Worst. Possible. Thing! When I find Sweetie! She is in such trouble!"
"RARITY!" Twilight yells at Rarity, knocking her out of her fit. "We need to stay calm and-"
"Stay CALM?! Twilight! The girls are somewhere in the Everfree Forest, cold and helpless, with Celestia knows what around them!" Rarity over exaggerates.
"I know that Rarity. But how will we save them if we can't think of a plan?" Twilight reasons.
"You're right, Twilight. We need to get the others." Rarity says defeated. She puts on her coat and her scarf along with the rest of her winter gear. Rarity gets some winter gear for Twilight, who almost refused were it not for the below freezing temperatures.
"Who should we get first?" Rarity asks as they walk out of the door.
"Well, Pinkie is the closest so we'll stop by Sugarcube Corner and get her."
"Hiya girls!" Pinkie greets loudly, jumping out of a pile of snow.
"AHH!" Twilight screams with Pinkie Pie giggling behind her. "Pinkie! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Twilight says, recovering from her scare.
"So! What are we doing now? Are we going to have a nighttime snowball fight? Or... Sledding!" Pinkie rambles on.
"The girls are in the Everfree Forest Pinkie. We need to save them." Twilight says trying to explain to Pinkie.
"Oh no! We need to save them!" Pinkie says.
"Well now that we have Pinkie. *Shiver* I guess we should get Rainbow Dash or Applejack." Twilight says, checking Pinkie off of her list.
"That's if we could wake Rainbow up. She would be out like a light in this storm." Rarity says.
"True, but she is much closer than Applejack or Fluttershy. We'll get Fluttershy last because she is the closest to the Everfree." Twilight ponders. "I say we get Rainbow Dash."
The trio of ponies trudge through the snow to the field where Rainbow Dash's house lies above. Twilight uses her magic to light a large portion of Rainbow's house.
"Rainbow Dash! Are you awake?" Twilight yells up to the cloud house, which isn't leaking its usual liquid rainbow due to the planned blizzard.
"I am now!" Rainbow Dash yells back to Twilight, annoyed because she wanted to sleep.
"Come down here! The girls are in the Everfree Forest and we need to save them!" Twilight yells to Rainbow who peaks her head out of her door.
"Why are those numbskulls going into the Everfree? There is a blizzard out!" Rainbow Dash comes out with only her Wonderbolt themed scarf.
"Aren't you cold, darling?" Rarity worries for Rainbow Dash.
"Nah, I can keep myself warm by flying circles around you slowpokes." Rainbow brags as she flies into the air.
"We need to go get Applejack now. At least we aren't too far." Twilight says. The four ponies walk to the the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. They head off to the house nearby.
Twilight knocks on the door and almost immediately hears Winona barking from inside. Not too long after, Big Macintosh opens the door revealing Applejack behind him.
"Who is it?" Applejack asks.
"Howdy" Big Mac says, opening the door fully. "Come on in."
"Girls! It's about time you've got here!" Applejack exclaims as the door closes, relieved that she could get help finding her sister. "Applebloom is missing! She wasn't in bed when I checked."
"Her, Sweetiebell, and Scootaloo are in the Everfree Forest." Twilight says.
"WHAT!? Why is she there?" Applejack yells.
"Quit yer racket!" Granny Smith yells from upstairs.
"Sorry, Granny!" Applejack apologizes. "We need to go. Big Mac, you need to stay here 'n make sure that the house don't cave in. Wait, how do you know that the girls are in the Everfree, Twi?"
"Oh yes, you never did explain how you knew." Rarity realizes.
"I'll explain when we get Fluttershy. But we need to hurry! They might be in danger." Twilight rushed the girls out into the cold. Twilight magics up her checklist and checks Applejack's name off of it.
"Hey Rainbow, lookie here!" Pinkie warns as she throws a snowball at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash ducks due to her quick reflexes and the snowball flies into Twilight.
"Agh. Pinkie, this is serious! We can't be playing around while the girls are in trouble." Twilight says agitated.
"Sorry Twilight, but you need to loosen up a bit. I doubt that the authors would let anything happen to the girls." Pinkie assures as she resumes hopping down the path to Fluttershy's house.
"What? Author? What are you talking about Pinkie?" Twilight says confused with her antics.
"Pinkie, you're so random." Rainbow Dash giggles as she flies by.
When the ponies arrived at Fluttershy's humble domain they hear the trees of the Everfree groan and creak from the winds.
"I just wish that we didn't have to go into that horrendous forest." Rarity complains as she gets shivers down her spine.
Twilight knocks on the door to the cottage. "Fluttershy? It's an emergency, are you awake?" A minute later she knocks again. The door creaks open to reveal a meek pegasus.
"Oh goodness Twilight. What are you doing outside in this blizzard? Please come in... If you want to that is." Fluttershy opens the door and lets them into her house.
"Thank you Fluttershy. Sweetiebell, Scootaloo, and Applebloom have ventured into the Everfree Forest, no doubt trying to get their cutiemarks. After I was experimenting with that crystal Princess Celestia had given me Something went wrong. It dissappeared in a flash of light, from what Spike has told me, and I was knocked unconscious. Spike woke me up and told me to go back to bed and that he'll clean it up. When I fell asleep I had a dream that I was in the Everfree and I heard someponies deeper in. I wanted to go and see if I could help them because it sounded like they needed help, but when I got there I saw a huge metal contraption with wheels."
"Like a carriage?" Applejack asks.
"Yes, now that I think about it. But there were these weird hairless monkeys in it trying to do something. One of them looked up at me and I ran away. I heard someponies yell in the distance which sounded like the Cutiemark Crusaders. After I heard that I woke up and ran out of the door. The rest is history." Twilight finished explaining their predicament.
"So it was a form of a dream scry?" Rarity asks.
"I can only think so, yes. It must have been related to the crystal." Twilight answers.
"And now we're going to go into the Everfree after them?" Rainbow Dash asks.
"Yes. Is everypony ready?" Twilight gets nods in return. They set off outside and into the unknown dangers that would be the Everfree Forest.
Chapter Three
When Dmitri regained his consciousness, he laid there for a while and tried to remember the past hours' events. He remembered Alric sowing his wound together then blacking out from the pain. As Dmitri forced himself to sit up he opened his eyes. He saw a pool of semi-dried blood was under him, staining the seat. It was also night, as it appeared. Dmitri also saw Nitro taking a nap. Alric must have gone to scout the area as he was absent. He grunted as he tried to sit up but felt pain. He compromised for leaning against the GAZ door.
Dmitri saw that someone had put some sort of canvas over the broken windshield so the blizzard could not get in. He shivered as he regained some feeling and felt that it was extremely cold. While Dmitri was used to extreme cold, he wasn't immune to it. He stared out the window, wondering how the war was going back home.
That's when it hit him. Where the fuck are we? Dmitri thought. He must have forgotten due to the recent events. Alric must have already noticed, it's probably why he's missing he spoke within his mind. Dmitri resumed his observation through the passenger window for a good amount of time until a shuffling in the foliage caught his attention. He stared at it for a while until a monstrosity emerged from within it. It had to be at least several feet taller than him. It had mostly lion like features except for the fact that it had, what appeared to be, bat wings and a scorpion-like tail.
Dmitri's eyes spread wide, fully awake now, as he immediately began crawling over to Nitro grimacing through the almost overpowering pain. He pulls himself into a sitting position and shakes Nitro's shoulders.
"Wha? What?" he mumbles when he waked. Dmitri covered his mouth with his hand and put a finger up to his lips signaling Nitro to silence himself. "What is it?" whispers Nitro after Dmitri uncovers his mouth.
"Look out the window, carefully." says Dmitri in an apprehensive whisper. Nitro walks crouched over and glances out the window. "Holy shit. What the fuck is that?" whispers Nitro sharply.
"I don't know but if we just sit here that thing is going to fucking get us eventually." says Dmitri.
"I got this Dmitri." says Nitro, "You're injured." he says quickly when he sees Dmitri's aggravated facial expression.
"Fine, but don't get yourself killed." says Dmitri. Nitro then grabs his AKS-74U from the side of the front seat.
"Take your makarov just in case." says Nitro handing Dmitri his pistol. He glances back outside and takes his chance to exit the vehicle when the lion creature appeared to be distracted by the shaking of a bush. He gets behind the GAZ and leans around. He sees the thing sniffing the air. Shit it can probably smell me. thought Nitro nervously.
The creature then began to approach his position. He tried to circle around the GAZ but it had caught sight of his boot and pounced on him. "SHIT!" he shouts as the thing swipes at him with its claws. It caught him several times in the chest and he had his AK knocked away from him. He was about to give up his attempt to struggle when he hears a loud clanging sound and felt the weight on top of him disappear. Nitro looks up to see that Dmitri had kicked open the door so that it hit the abomination right in the jaw. However, it was quickly recovering.
Dmitri was supporting himself on the GAZ when he pulled out his makarov and shot twice, aimed at the thing's head. He missed on the first and the other grazed its shoulder. It quickly became very irritated and tried charging at Dmitri.
Dmitri fired one last shot at its leg and it fell to the ground. However it quickly got back up and took off whimpering. He thought he heard something else but he needed to tend to his comrade. Dmitri then limped over to Nitro who was laying still, eyes closed. He fell to his knees at Nitro's side. He inspected his wounds and saw that his chest was torn apart, merely a mangled mix of flesh, armor, and blood. "Nitro, talk to me comrade" says Dmitri worriedly.
"Dmitri. We... we both know I'm not bouncing back from this one. I know I haven't known you long but take this." he said weakly shoving a picture of a family he pulled out from his hip pouch. "If you and Alric do ever make it out of this shit hole alive, tell my family I'll miss them." he finished in barely a whisper. His grip on Dmitri's forearm diminished and his body relaxed completely. Dmitri checked Nitro's pulse... Nothing.
Dmitri had experienced this too many times to be overly troubled. He ripped Nitro's dog tags off and put the picture into his pocket. He limped back to the GAZ with an expressionless face and grabbed his Spetsnaz shovel out from his pack. He then began digging a grave and didn't stop for a good hour ignoring his already harmed body's complaints. It was when he had almost finished when he heard more shuffling of bushes and he turned around to meet Alric, who had twigs and snow all over himself.
"Bet you wish you had taken that winter gear now huh?" says Alric to Dmitri, only getting Dmitri's poker face as a response.
"What, was it that bad of a jo-" says Alric before he notices Nitro's body laying on the ground. "Fuck!" he says running over to check Nitro's pulse. Feeling nothing he turns to Dmitri who had resumed digging the grave. "What happened?" he said.
"Wierd ass fucking lion thing attacked us." says Dmitri in a blatantly infuriated voice.
"What the fuck!? We've barely been here a day and we've already lost a man!" says Alric in a raised voice.
"Screaming at the universe will not solve our problems. Have you found out where we are? You left to scout out the area yes?" says Dmitri.
"Well, there's a town down south of us that looks like it's from the 1500's." says Alric.
"Well, we better get moving as soon as possible if we want to get back home." says Dmitri.
"Alright then. You go back in get some rest I'll finish the grave" says Alric.
Dmitri throws the shovel to Alric who initiates his shoveling, as Dmitri goes back into the GAZ. He pulls out an MRE and opens it. Fucking vegetable soup again. he thinks, defeated from the day's events. He finishes his 'dinner' and lays down in the back area. He pulls out a sleeping back and crawls in to escape the cold.
Dmitri had a shit day, one of those really bad ones that was slow as hell and mushy. He closes his eyes and clears his mind, and almost immediately falls asleep.
*Meanwhile*
"Are you s-sure we sh-shouldn't just go home now? I'm so c-cold." Sweetiebell chatters.
"Oh come on, we c-can't turn back now!" Scootaloo protests. "We could get our cutiemarks as s-survivalists!"
"Ah d-don't want to be a survivalist..." Applebloom murmurs.
Scootaloo sighed, Maybe we should turn back. Scootaloo looks at the dead treetops above her. "Let's go back home. This adventure of ours is a failure, like the rest."
The Cutiemark Crusaders turned and began their long journey in the dark back to Ponyville. They saw a manticore stalking something that wasn't them further into the forest. Being the little adventurers that they want to be, they followed the manticore from a distance. They saw it go through a layer of foliage to investigate a weird metal box.
The girls hid in one of the larger bushes in order to get a better look at both the manticore and the box it was investigating. One of the girls shifted their position and the manticore heard it. It looked directly at them. The girls looked at each other, communicating with their looks of pure fright. It wasn't until something behind the box caught the beast's attention.
The manticore chased after whatever was behind the box. When nopony expected it, a monkey with an object that looked metal and wooden, who had clothes and a helmet on ran around the corner. Unfortunately, the monkey was followed by the manticore. The beast pounced onto the monkey, right next to the box. It mauled the screaming monkey right in front of their innocent eyes.
The girls were paralyzed in fear. A door on the box slammed open, knocking the manticore off of the monkey. Another monkey seen inside, dressed the same as the other, pointed a small black thing at the manticore. Their thoughts were interrupted by two explosions, two flashes, and smoke coming from the black object.
This was all that the young fillies could take. They ran as fast as they could away from the killing. Another explosion only fueled their escape. The girls managed to tire themselves out a good ways away.
They thought they heard their sisters yelling to them. The girls passed it off as their minds playing tricks. They collapsed into the snow, exhausted from the unexpected run.
"Applebloom! Sweetiebell! Scootaloo!" The Cutiemark Crusaders looked up to see their sisters and their friends running to them.
"Where in the hay have you girls been?" Applejack scolded the girls.
"Sweetiebell! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out here?" Rarity questioned Sweetiebell.
"Applejack, Rarity! We can't afford to scream at each other now." Twilight said in a harsh whisper. "It's too dangerous in this forest to make too much noise. We'll have to camp here for tonight and in the morning we'll go home."
Everypony agreed and they set up a small campfire along with a few tents.
"Oh my, girls. Are you okay? You look so tired. Why don't you warm up by the fire?" Fluttershy said.
"We're okay..." Scootaloo said, just wanting to forget the horrible things that they saw.
*Next Day*
"Mmmhh." grumbled Twilight as she opened her still tired eyes to see that it was still night. She and her friends had been searching the large forest fruitlessly for the lost Crusaders and the group had wandered at least a good 2 miles before they came across them.
Something must have woken me up. thought Twilight attempting to see anything through the almost pitch black darkness of the Everfree she lit her horn up. She looked around for another 5 minutes before she layed back down thinking it was nothing. However Twilight was denied her rest as she heard the sound of foliage being torn apart.
Twilight jumped up and shook the her group of friends awake. "Girls we have to get out of here, there is something out there in there in the forest that I saw! It was a huge metal box with wheels on it and weird monkey things inside!" said Twilight. The CMC's eyes grew huge as they all realized that was exactly what they had seen.
"Twilight ah think that we saw a manticore attacking one of them monkey things." says Applebloom. "Oh no, now there is a manticore too! We have to make a run for it we don't have that much farther to go to get to Ponyville! Let's go before those things find us." says Twilight as the group packs up their things and leaves in a hurry.
*Dmitri's view*
If only I had gone out myself, I should have known not to rely on someone sent by an outside agency! thought Dmitri as he and Alric are eating very early breakfast.
"Dmitri, I know what you're thinking. It's not your fault, if anyone's it's mine. I left him alone with you injured." says Alric trying to cheer his friend up. The two had dealt with many deaths but one can never rid himself of survivors guilt.
"I know Alric. But he had a family, one that will never see him again. They won't be able to even recover his body because we're in bumfuck nowhere. I could have handled that situation much better." says Dmitri admitting his thoughts.
"Well, how about we give him a proper burial?" Alric proposes.
"Alright then, let's play a song." says Dmitri. The two were instrumentalists but never got to play much due to constant assignments.
"Fade to black?" suggests Alric.
"Nice." replies Dmitri. The two finish up their 'food' grab their own respective instruments and head outside.
"Should we say a few words?" asks Alric.
"Nah, that stuff's to sappy" says Dmitri. They then began to play , without anyone singing of course.
They finished up and went back into the GAZ where Dmitri grabbed Nitro's ushanka and set it on a stick he had planted on Nitro's grave. Dmitri finished shutting the passengers door when Alric handed him a small bottle.
"Found some painkillers, thought you might need them." says Alric.
"Thanks." says Dmitri opening the bottle and taking one of the many pills. The two donned their skull balaclavas as Alric stepped on the gas and steered them south.
"Hope the town's inhabitants are friendly." states Dmitri.
"Yeah, we shouldn't take any shots at them if we can help it." smartly stated Alric.
"No shit." mumbled Dmitri to himself. They drove for a while longer, slowly however due to it being pitch black. They eventually stopped to take a break, going to the 'bathroom' and such. Dmitri just finished fastening his belt back on when he the same creature that had killed Nitro earlier that night limp out from some foliage.
Motherfucker, you aren't getting away this time. I don't like playing with my food. Thinks Dmitri angrily before he pulls out his yelan machete and crouches down and stealthily approaches the beast.
Just before Dmitri was upon the beast Alric calls out. "Dmitri where are you?!"
"Shit!" he growls running at the alarmed beast. Unfortunately, it began to run away having remembered the injuries it received from the last experience it had with Dmitri. It ran away relying on instinct, however Dmitri was not he could still think clearly through the rage he felt. He took a shortcut and ran up on a plateau of sorts and gained height on the beast. He put in one last spurt of speed and lunged for the back of the animal.
Dmitri quickly grabbed onto it's lion like mane. He quickly swung his machete down on it's shoulder muscles causing it to fall face down into the ground sliding do to it's speed. Dmitri then quickly rolled of it when he heard the swishing of the thing's large scorpion tail. It came plunging down on it's back, penetrating deep into its own flesh. The thing whimpered from it's self inflicted injury.
Dmitri took this as a chance to finish the beast, he walked up to it pulled it's head up by the hair and looked into it's eyes as he slit its throat. He managed to calm himself down by the time he saw the GAZ approaching. Alric jumped out and walked hurriedly towards Dmitri.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" shouted Alric.
"This thing killed Nitro, it deserved what it got." spat out Dmitri.
"I know it did. But, you don't go running off like that! Especially without me!" says a very agitated Alric.
"Yeah, that part I am sorry about." says Dmitri wiping his knife clean on the pelt of the beast.
"Well, come on we've still got some ground to cover." Alric said to deaf ears. "Dmitri, let's go." He says pausing his walk to the GAZ and looking at Dmitri, who was staring off into a cleared area. What the two saw would stay imprinted in their memories until they died. The pair gazed onto a group of horse looking things that were colored very generously. They stared at the group who stared back in obvious fear.
*Twilight's view*
After witnessing the brutal slaughtering of a manticore, Twilight couldn't bring herself to do anything. Neither could her friends as she could see. All she could do was stare at the creature who committed the act.
As Twilight saw the metal contraption she saw earlier approach, she felt fascinated by it however her fear was stronger. She saw another creature hop out and appear to argue with the other one. Wasn't there another one? Twilight thought. She then began to try and tell the others to get away as fast as possible, after seeing that the dangerous and obviously sentient new creatures could do.
Twilight froze up when she noticed that both of the creatures were staring in her direction, she couldn't tell however due to goggles and a frightening mask of what appeared a skull over the thing's faces. Her ears perked up when she heard one of the things utter "What the fuck?"
Chapter Four
"Umm... Hi there quadruped like organisms?" Says Alric awkwardly waving to the group of horse like creatures. The horses were just as tall as their crotches. One of the small horses which was lavender colored walked to the front of the group. Whether its legs were shaking from fear or the cold Alric did not know.
Slowly it opened it's muzzle and started to speak of all things.
"What are you?" The purple one said.
"OH GOD WHAT!?" Shouted Alric stumbling backwards and Dmitri's jaw going so far into the ground it hit the unknown planet's core. The group of small horses were very startled at the monstrous creature's sudden outburst. "Sorry about that... Uh, I just didn't think you could talk." says Alric due to the small horse that was talking.
"It's okay. My friends and I are just a little jumpy because we've been out here for about two days. By the way, my name's Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends." The lavender one said while pointing her hoof at the group behind her, still nervous from them witnessing the soldiers' brutality.
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders." Twilight gestured towards the 3 smallest ones who shied away.
"Rarity."
"A pleasure." said the white one.
"Applejack." The orange one wearing a Stetson tipped it's hat.
"Rainbow Dash," The flying cyan colored one with rainbow hair did a loop in the air.
"Pinkie Pie." The pink one hopped around the rest of the group.
"And lastly, Fluttershy." Twilight finished, motioning towards the yellow one in the back who was hiding behind it's hair.
"Nice to meet all of you..." Alric tried to find a word that he could use to call these things.
"Ponies." Rarity said. She was much too intimidated by the creatures to make a comment on their chosen attire.
"Ponies. I'm Alric and this is Dmitri and we are both Humans, or Homo-sapiens if you prefer." Introduced Alric.
"What are Humans?" asked Twilight.
"Well, obviously we are as you can see, unless any of you are blind?" said Dmitri.
"Yeah, I see that but what is your race like? How about your race's history?" asked Twilight. She realized what she had just asked and blushed from embarrassment due to the stupidity of her question.
"Where would you like me to start? All the way from fucking evolution? We evolved. War happened and then we built an entire fucking civilization that has gone into space, the end." said Dmitri clearly extremely rustled.
"Well, the history of the Human race is pretty long, and I don't think that talking about it out in a fucking blizzard is something I would like to do. Also, it's fucking night." Alric said, annoyed with the question.
"You can come stay at the library if you don't have a place to stay." said Twilight before she was pulled aside by Applejack.
"Twi, do ya really think it's a smart idea letting these things stay in your house? We can't trust them. See what they did to a manticore ?" said Applejack, really putting emphasis on the fact that a manticore, one of the most dangerous creatures near Ponyville and the Everfree, was easily killed by Dmitri.
"Well that, however horrible it may be it was in self defense. Also, Applejack they aren't things. They are he's, I think. Anyways I'll send a message to the Princess informing her." Twilight responded, placing her trust in the humans.
"It's on you Twi, ah'll go along with whatever you say but still." said Applejack in a last attempt to change Twilight's mind.
"I'm sure they'll behave themselves, also this is a whole new much more developed race, think of all the things we could learn. Also I'm sure if they get out of hand the elements of harmony could handle them." says Twilight not knowing how wrong she was.
"Well then Dmitri and Alric let's go also we need a way to get you into town without anyone noticing, any suggestions?" states Twilight.
"We'll park the GAZ out near the outskirts and don't worry about us getting in undetected, just tell us where to go and we'll meet up there." says Alric.
"Well alright then it's the tree in the middle of the town there." Twilight said confused at how the large and obvious humans where going to get there.
This could be a chance for me to study this new sentient species. Twilight thought to herself, eager to learn about humans. "Let's get going girls I don't think staying in the Everfree at night is a smart idea." said Twilight. The rest of the group quickly agreed and began to head out towards the town as the two humans got is the GAZ and drove after them.
The group got to the edge of the Everfree when Alric turned off the GAZ. Dmitri jumped out of the vehicle and began making a mental map of the town. "You ponies go ahead." Alric said to the bunch of ponies who began walking towards the town. Alric noted that the orange one, 'Applejack', kept shooting nervous glares over her shoulder.
"Let's go Alric, I found the quickest path and everyone seems to be asleep on that street." said Dmitri who nodded. The two then began going around the ponies by a margin and finally entering the town through an alleyway.
They walked crouched down sticking to the right side of the gravel 'road'. They saw the library coming up but on the way there they passed several peculiar buildings, one of which looked like a gingerbread house. They approached the building seeing that Twilight and the rest hadn't arrived yet. "Shit, there are some civilians coming down the road, we gotta get inside!" whispered Dmitri.
"Doors locked." said Alric twisting the door knob. "But there's a balcony, boost me up." Alric said after he spotted their escape route. Dmitri put his Vintorez down and interlocked his fingers.
Alric threw his rifle over his shoulder so that it would be on his back and put his foot on Dmitri's hands. He quickly put his other foot and Dmitri's shoulder and jumped up to the balcony. Alric gripped the railing and pulled himself up. Then he reached his arm down gripped Dmitri's hand and pulled his arm up to the railing so he could pull himself up while Alric checked the perimeter. Once Dmitri got in they opened the balcony doors and went inside. They sat in the couches that were in what they thought the living room. That's a lot of books. thought Dmitri looking around. The two sat back and waited for the ponies to arrive.
Suddenly, the door possessed a purple aura and was swung open with Twilight freezing on the spot at the sight of the two humans sitting comfortably in her house. "What? How?" Twilight stammered, wondering how the humans had reached her house so fast and managed to get in.
"Don't ask also there were two ponies walking down the street and we climbed in so they wouldn't see us. Wouldn't want to start a panic now would we?" said Alric.
"No, not at all. Well now that were here I guess you two should get situated." said Twilight who began walking up the stairs.
"I have weather patrol duties in the morning so I'll see you all tomorrow." said Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, I gotta help Big Mac finish up in the morning, take care of yerself Twi." said Applejack looking at Twilight. She looked to Fluttershy. "Why don't ya let me walk ya home, Fluttershy?"
"Okay Applejack. Only if you want to of course."
"I guess I should head home it's getting late." said Rarity whom Pinkie Pie agreed with. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had already been sent home earlier. Dmitri and Alric went up the stairs after Twilight who went down a hallway.
"Sorry, I only have one room so one of you will need to sleep on the couch. If you need more blankets or something just knock on my room's door. Also try not to curse in here, Spike is still a child." said Twilight yawning and heading towards her room sleepily.
"Guess I'll sleep on the couch I'm used to it." said Dmitri heading downstairs.
"You sure?" called Alric after him.
"Yeah, I'm used to it." replied Dmitri.
"Suit yourself." said Alric as he went to the guest room and got into the comfortable bed after he hid his gear under it. He noticed that the bed was not close to being long enough for the human, his legs would have to hang off of the side for now. After unpacking his gear Dmitri put it all under the couch so no one would meddle with his things, he laid down and slept.
Chapter Five
Alric awoke in the middle of the night for an unknown reason. He saw that he was still in the weird pony world. However, Alric knows that when he wakes, it's for a good reason. He opens his eyes just enough to get a look at the room. Empty. Slowly, and silently, he gets up out of the bed. Knowing that there is nothing much of a threat in this odd land, Alric only takes his USP and his KM-4000 from under the bed. He holsters his pistol, making sure that it is silenced first, and keeps his knife in hand. Now that he has all that he needs, Alric makes his way to the closed door.
Standing next to the door, Alric places his ear up to the crack between the door and the frame and listens for anything. Once again, he detects nothing that would disturb his sleep. The soldier looks around the room and spots a small circular window. He looks out the window at the snowy night. It was still snowing heavily, but not nearly as bad as it was before. What the fuck is wrong with me. There isn't anything around here. Alric momentarily thinks he's finally lost it but hears something out of place.
Finally. Now, I can kick whatever woke me up's ass. Alric doesn't sleep easily and hasn't done so in a while so naturally it leads to him being pretty pissed. He gets ready to open the door to investigate the noises. Alric opens the door and clears both directions, although he noticed that Twilight's door was slightly ajar. He shrugs it off as the ponies aren't too devious. Alric is just worried of anything that might have followed him and Dmitri.
Alric quietly walks towards the beginning of the staircase. He spots a small light coming from the living room. Knowing that Dmitri was sleeping there and that all of the lights were off when he went upstairs, Alric prepared himself for whatever is down there. When he went upstairs to go to sleep earlier in the night, he made a personal note to himself on which steps were the noisiest. Following his instincts, Alric went a quarter ways down the stairs, skipping the noisy steps, to find the Twilight pony near Dmitri.
What the hell could you be doing? Alric had thought that the ponies were nice little single-minded creatures. He had really just expected a squirrel to be fucking with something. Instead, he found one of the ponies doing some sort of investigation on his friend.
Alric was pissed, yet confused.
"What the fuck are you doing little pony.?" Alric whispered to himself curiously. Fortunately, the lavender quadruped was far too involved in its documentation to focus on its environment. He sheathed his knife and climbed down the bookshelf that was built into the staircase as the rest of the steps were very squeaky.
Alric hugged the wall to avoid squeaky floor boards. Once he came to the edge of the pony's line of sight, he started to move closer to her right. Alric stayed a good three feet behind her to find out what she was investigating. While the tired and wounded soldier slept and snored on the couch, the pony took the liberty of documenting his hand. She was playing around with his hand and writing all of her findings down with her magic on a scroll.
The scroll included a rather detailed drawing as well as captions on how it moves. Alric wondered how he could sleep while their hand was being fondled. He passed it off as the amount of Dmitri's weariness.
Twilight hummed to herself quietly as she took note of the creature's fascinating attributes. She just finished taking notes on one of the pieces of parchment that calls Dmitri's hand a paw. Twilight had with her a candle, which apparently had a nullify spell that would make the light that it creates darker than usual, but just light enough so that she could see. Twilight really wouldn't want to wake, and possibly anger her new guests.
Alric walked almost next to Twilight without her realizing. Damn. These ponies really get engrossed with their work. I wish I could do that... Nah not really. Alric just noticed that the quill was floating in the air in a purple aura. Holy shit. Am I fucking high? He shook his head to clear his amazement.
Alric crouched on the floor and was about to tap on the lavender pony's shoulder when he saw that Twilight had been experimenting with Dmitri's gear. Thinking she was trying to reverse engineer so her pony princess could use it he became infuriated. He however subconsciously let out a deep growl from his throat while trying to keep his anger under control. Twilight gasped and turned around too fast, knocking the candle over. At the sudden change of light she charged her horn with her magic.
Alric, already jumpy, had pulled his knife just barely out of its sheath. He eyed her with as much caution that you can give to a crotch-high quadruped with a glowing horn. "That shit on your horn better not be fucking radioactive." Alric pointed with his left hand, to her horn.
"What? Why would it be radioactive?" Twilight looked to her horn, worried with the thought of being radioactive.
"Because it is fucking glowing, maybe? It's not even glowing green, but purple?" At this point, Alric knew that the pony couldn't be a threat so he re-sheathed his blade.
"Have you not seen magic before?"
"Silly pony. Magic doesn't exist. But radiation does so you should really have that horn checked."
"How could you think magic doesn't exist? How else could you possibly have these obviously very advanced tools?" said Twilight.
"Yes that reminds me. What the fuck are you doing touching our gear?" said Alric angrily almost waking Dmitri from his deep sleep.
"I'm sorry, I was just so intrigued I couldn't help myself." said Twilight apologetically wearing a sad expression on her face.
"Awww, little pony, you don't have to be so sad. It's certainly not even close to the worst way I've woken up." Alric smiled and patted Twilight on the head.
"Ok. I'll get back to sleep then." said Twilight blushing from Alric's reaction.
"Tell you what, you don't mess with our things and I'll answer some questions tomorrow. Who knows? I might even let you see some of our gear with us explaining it." said Alric.
"Really? That would be great, thank you!" said Twilight excitedly.
"No problem little pony. Now get back to sleep." said a still tired Alric.
"Okay. Sorry for waking you by the way." said Twilight already climbing the stairs.
Alric followed Twilight up the stairs and went back into the room he was previously sleeping in. Goddamn ponies and their cuteness. He looked out the window and realized that he and Dmitri might not be going home which left a frown on his face.
Morning
Holy banana that was a nice rest thought Dmitri getting up from the couch he had slept on. He stretched his back which emitted several loud pops due to a night on the couch. Just like old times relished Dmitri.
Hey guys, eh I come bearing good news, and bad news. Bad news is, I've got too much shit on my plate, so I'm putting the story on hiatus. Good news is when I can write I will be shitting a bunch of chapters out. So I'm sure you'll all miss my horrendous writing but you'll make do.
Not your's truly-Ponytime
VERY IMPORTANT! And Chapter Six
***AN: Hey guys, it's me and Omegapony. We have some pretty unfortunate news. Along with all of the pressure school is giving us and with testing in a couple weeks. We have decided that we can't work on the story any longer. Before you hit that unfavorite button and dislike the story, we have a bit more that we were working on.***
Chapter Six
When Dmitri woke up he felt something slimy on his hand. He looked down to see it covered in horrible juices that were unholy smelling. He shouted out loud and alerted Alric that he had been raped. They both got their gear together and ran out of the tree house. When they got out they saw several armed guards outside having a horrendous orgy with Celestia. How they knew it was her, don't ask me I don't know shit. So when they saw that there where two other humans included in the orgy they brought their guns up and shot the group up. They looked up to see a car driving by with a man wearing a bandana covering his face sticking out of the window. "WEST SIDE NIGGA." he shouted before proceeding to drive away around the corner.
Alric made for an escape to get away from the niggers and ran back into the tree house. Dmitri turned around and said "Hey Boris how come you get two PKMs!" He then gets dragged into the sewers where "AH MOTHERLAND!" is heard. Alric crawled into his bed when a juicy explosion of blood, sweat, and tears excreted from the walls. He then proceeded to begin falling asleep when he heard a loud crash resonate through the building. Alric heard a very manly "Yeah!" and heard some footsteps. He looked from under his 5 by 5 inch blanket to see James Hetfield and the rest of Metallica, including Cliff Burton and all past incarnations, staring at him. "DO YOU FEEL WHAT I FEEL!" shouted James into his pupil, Rob began gorilla crawling in the background (or whatever the fuck) as they started playing this song: PUT YOUR VOLUME ALL THE WAY UP MOTHERFUCKERS!
***And that's the end. We really hope that you liked it. :) We worked many days on this chapter, just for you. Yes, you, Mr. Reader McMunchmachine. Onwards into life! Forever, you will be in my heart. Forever.<3<3<3xoxoxo***
Chapter Six: The Real One
When morning came Dmitri felt like his back had been mauled by a tiger, however he didn't complain as it wasn't his nature. He began stretching so his back wouldn't get stiff and got several loud pops as a reward. Just then, Alric came down the stairs. He nearly tripped going down them and used a nearby shelf to steady himself.
"Mornin'." Dmitri mutters to Alric.
"Aaaahhh." yawns Alric in reply.
"Uh..." Twilight trots into the living room in the midst of the humans' greetings. "Good Morning?"
"Morning."
"Mornin'."
"Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes." Twilight informs the two.
"Good, I'm very hungreh." Dmitri says.
"Also, I talked to the girls and we're going to give you a tour of the town today. Just try not to scare everypony."
"I can't promise anything." Alric says as he cracks his back, neck, and fingers. Eventually, Spike called out from the kitchen.
"Breakfast is ready!"
Everyone goes into the kitchen and sits at the table. Alric and Dmitri sit on the floor to avoid sitting in the small, weak chairs. Spike brings over a plate of stacked pancakes.
"No bacon?" asks Dmitri. Twilight paused in the middle of taking a bite from her pancake.
"Hu-humans eat m-meat?" Whispers Twilight in fright.
"Yeah, meat is delicious as hell!" Says Alric ignoring the look on Twilight's face and begins eating.
Twilight looks at the two humans with her mouth agape.
"What?" Alric asks. "It's not like we're going to kill nor eat you. If we really wanted to, we would have already. Anyways, humans wouldn't eat sentient beings."
"Are you sure?" Twilight said as meek as Fluttershy.
"Would it be smart to attack a sentient being that hasn't done anything to you?" Dmitri responds. "We don't even know where we are." The group continued their breakfast. When they were just about finished there came a knock at the door. Twilight got up to answer it to avoid the awkward situation.
"Hey girls." Alric and Dmitri heard Twilight talking with the other ponies they met from the hallway while they were going to gear up.
"Hey Twilight, are the aliens ready?" said Rainbow Dash excitedly.
"They're just finishing up with breakfast." says Twilight.
"Should we bring our rifles?" asked Alric.
"Nah, I'm bringing my pistol just in case though." responded Dmitri. Once prepared, the two went to the living room. "We're ready to go now." said Dmitri said coming up from behind Twilight.
"Alright then, let's get a move on. There's a good amount of things to see." said Twilight. When the group left the library they immediately started getting strange looks. They even heard some windows and doors slamming shut. One inhabitant ran around, screaming "The Horror! The Horror!!" and eventually ran into a wall, knocking themselves unconscious. The only reason most ponies were more calm than some is because they realize that whenever these types of things happen, the Elements of Harmony seem to have everything under control.
"Here is Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie's house." said Twilight as they came up on the large ginger bread house looking building.
"It's not actual candy is it?" Pondered Alric as he walked up to the structure and knocked on it.
"No silly, but if it was that would be super duper awesome!" Pinkie Pie responded. The group continued on their tour coming across places such as the Town Hall and Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually the group started heading back to the library as they had already walked the whole town and it was starting to get darkish.
"What's that buzzing sound?" said Twilight randomly interrupting the conversation between Dmitri and Rainbow Dash about Jets. Dmitri and Alric stopped to listen.
"That sounds like-" began Dmitri.
"-a helicopter." finished Alric.
"Shit!" said Dmitri as the two began searching the skies.
"Whats a halicoopter?" asked Applejack.
"Shut up! This could mean there are more of us here." responded Alric sharply. After a while Dmitri finally pointed towards the area above the forest and announced he saw something. Alric pulled out his binoculars and looked in that direction. "Goddamn that's a Z-11W!" said Alric. Suddenly the sound of machine gun fire pierced the air as the 12.7 machine guns from the helicopter unloaded. Luckily the burst only hit a house but the helicopter didn't stop.
"Twilight you've got to tell every one to get to safety!" shouted Dmitri at Twilight.
"But why!? What's happening!?" said Twilight.
"No time to explain go! Get somewhere safe!" shouted Alric. The two then ran towards the helicopter which was getting close to the ground.
"You distract him and I'll try to get a shot!" said Dmitri to Alric who nodded. Dmitri ran off to the side as the helicopter neared.
"Over here you fucker!" said Alric pulling out his USP and shooting some rounds towards the helicopter. This seemed to get their attention.
Hey guys Ponytime here and I'd like to announce that I have lost interest in this story. I'm not cancelling the story I just probably won't be posting a new chapter for a very long time. However there is always the chance that I will eat my words but for now this is goodbye. Thanks to everyone who liked the story and good day to all.
Prologue: Overview of War
Prologue: Overview of War
On August 13th, 2022, China attacked and attempted to invade Russia for its resources. China has been yearning for more basic resources to fuel its large army. Russia had already built up their armies due to the U.S.'s relations with Russia. Ever since mid 2016 when Russia signed a trade agreement with Germany to reignite old alliances, Germany has supplied Russia with weapons in return for more basic resources. Germany declared war on China with Russia and formed the German-Russian Joint Military Operations, GRJMO for short, all on August 22nd, 2022. Russia and Germany's alliance only grew further.
Chinese positions were quickly annihilated and moved upon by the sheer numbers of the Russian Ground Forces and the quick and precise attacks of Germany's Heer. Almost immediately, the Chinese forces rallied and retreated back to China in hopes that they could protect the mainland.
China set defenses around itself in attempt to stop the incredible power of the Germans and Russians. When China requested peace from the attacking countries, it was refused. While there was some trouble getting through the front lines at first, they were crushed.
The EU advised Germany to let Russia handle the war alone but they didn't think it will stop something like this from happening again. Some Russian towns were decimated by the Chinese in the first couple of attacks. Russian forces weren't able to reach them in time. Germany decided that they would stay with the Russians as too many lives were already lost and for it to have been for nothing would be devastating to people who have lost family in the war.
The war progressed slowly and it seemed like it could last for a while. And for three years, the Chinese gave a hard fight to the GRJMO but were no match to the joint forces. The front lines expanded into China until the Russians decided that they've done enough terrorizing. However, a German reconnaissance team discovers Chinese plans to launch nuclear missiles to GRJMO bases, basically as a "Fuck You". This intelligence reignites the will to exterminate the Chinese.
Russia and Germany devise of a plan to stop the awaiting nuclear destruction. GRJMO decide to send their most experienced special forces squad along with a code cracker in an attempt to obtain the launch codes, stop the nukes, and stop the war before it becomes too messy.
