Aponycalipse: Paradox

In the paradox world, Max was furious. In over three years this was first failed mission the rebels ever had.

“Can anyone tell me what happened down there?! We had them!”

“We were caught off guard sir.” A rebel replied.  “A human in a fighter jet, a pegasus, and an alicorn jumped us by surprise. What's worse was that a massive flying ship took out half of our zeppelins.”

“Unacceptable!” Max bellowed. “We are the mightiest army in the world. No one shall oppose us. I want this new enemy found and crushed.”

“I think I might know.” Justin said with his arms crossed. “They might be from the other world.”

“You mean the mirrored world that I’m still getting reports of?”

“Yes, it’s possible that the enemy is from the other world.”

“Do we know anything about this world?” Max asked. “Are there any armies where our cannons can fire at?”

“I’m not sure, but what we just encountered could mean that we might be facing a powerful army.”

Max stood up and looked over the horizon with anger. He then looks back at Justin.

“Rally the troops and get a scout team through that portal. I’ll have Cortez check on the portals in Europe and Adrian check the ones in Asia. Be sure to get John ready.”

Rebel scouts hastily move through the portals earlier during the beginning when they opened. They used smaller zeppelins that have less firepower so they could be used mainly for scout missions. The zeppelins designs made them be able to handle the shift in gravity when they fly through the portals compared to what the ark went through. Cortez and Adrian went to their positions, unseen while Justin and John went through the portal where the ark went through, close to ground zero, the area where the portals started.

Inside the zeppelin’s deck, John and Justin prepared to land somewhere away from New Hope City.

“Looks like we were not spotted.” Justin said as he looked through the window.

“Don’t worry, once we bring in the main army we’ll wipe this place off the map.”

“First we need to know what we are facing.” Justin said as he was exiting the bridge.

“Well get your friend ready. He freaks me out…” the rebel said as he grabs an assault rifle.

“Come on John, let’s go.”

John gets up without a word and only picks up a dagger.

“From what we’ve seen there’s a half built city up ahead. We should be able to get pass it unnoticed. The filth of colored equines seem to live alongside the humans. It sickens me.”

“We need to see for ourselves.” Justin said as he pushes the rebel aside and takes the lead.

There was a police frontier post controlling the entrance. Just a normal quiet day in the frontier since most of the ponies and humans were more focused in the holes that appeared in the skies and the news about certain a cultural leader found alive. Justin looked around to find another way around the posts. He didn't want to kill them as they might alert their allies. As they see, they notice how clean the air is and notice some technology they haven’t seen before.

“Something smells different here.” A rebel said.

“It’s rather clean.” Justin added.

“We should take it. Ya know, kill everyone and relocate here...”

Justin grabs the rebel and glares at him. “It's not that simple. We can't just invade an area without finding out what we are dealing with. You saw what the enemy had with that flying ship.”

“Yes sir…”

“Where’s the tesla coils? All I see is cables connected to those tall posts.” Another rebel added.

“I guess they use a different power source.” Justin said. “Look around and don't cause suspicion. This is a recon mission, not a raid.”

John simply comes out of the bush and casually walks down the street while Justin hid his rifle and follows him. They were heading down to the suburbs as they see children, colts,  and fillys playing at the park.

"This is unsettling. So unprotected and weak."

"No, this is something we haven't seen in our lifetime." John finally spoke. "This is something our fathers and grandfathers have yet to see."

"Yeah, a land without war." Justin said with his hands in his pockets.

"A land without conflict is boring. Where's the fun if you can't blow things up?"

"I swear you are one step closer to having a bullet in your brain."

"Is there something wrong?" A human in a police officers uniform walked up to them, overhearing their conversation.

"Nothing is wrong sir." John said. The cop looked at them for a moment before leaving. The rebels sighed in relief, thinking that they were caught.

"We have to report this to Max!" One of the rebels yelled to John.

"Maybe..."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Tell me this, just because this place is peaceful does it really mean it's defenseless?"

"That still doesn't explain that ship that took out our zeppelins." Justin added.

"There's a very old saying. "if you strive for peace, prepare for war." If this land is this peaceful, how prepared they are for war?"

"They did a surprise attack so we should the same. We sweep in, take stuff before they can even react."

Justin sighed and shook his head while John remained silent. The two knew that they didn't stand a chance if this new enemy caught them. They do have strength in numbers and carry a large amount of fire power. The new enemy on the other hand has technology backing them up. The Ark of the Sun was pretty much twenty raider class zeppelins in one.

The rebels didn't care about their odds against this new enemy. They just wanted to raid them, kill them, and steal their technology to their own advantage.

"First we scout and then we raid." Justin ordered as the rebels sighed.

They continued scouting through the town. They were surprised to see how advanced this new enemy is. Combining magic with science, a small squadron of a two F-16 U.S. Airforce fighter jets and two pegasi in grey flight suits flew over them. Unicorns were even using spells to help humans and other ponies for daily tasks. This disgusted the rebels, having to watch humans and ponies along side each other, but their technology still worried Justin.

"We might be in over our head." Justin said, rubbing his chin.

"Do we have any other option?" One of the rebels said to him. "If we don't do something, they will establish strong relations with the griffons, dogs, even the crystal pony scum. We cant let them help each other."

"Right and you know what we do to keep them from doing that? Make their lives miserable and turn against each other."

At the base, Isaac was working on a Su-24M Fencer. He had just got it back after one mission he used years ago during the Human Pony War. Since it wasn't maintained by crew, he had to do it himself which he didn't mind. His father and grandfather worked on their own aircraft for generations all the way back to the first dogfighters. Of course he had to check on his main fighter. After the last mission, the flanker took a beating from the zeppelin machine guns.

The wings were riddled with holes and the left flap on his left wing had jammed from one of the rounds hitting the controls. He was lucky to have come back in one piece though he knew you can only be lucky for so long. Remembering when he lost his Su-37 terminator by the tail gunner of a Tu-95 bomber and got wounded in the process. It only made him more aggressive and determined to be a more difficult target to kill. Though it will still cost money to repair the Flanker back into combat ready condition, knowing the new enemy might try to attack them at any moment so it had to be quick.

While thinking through his thoughts, he didn't know that Justin was watching him from the hanger door. He didn't want to bother Isaac while he was working. Isaac does have plenty more aircraft which are mainly Russian fighters like the Su-25, Tu-95, and a Mig-31 though his Su-35 is his main fighter. Snowy's zebra companion was walking around the refugee camp, helping anyone that needed it and giving advice. Though the workers and soldiers were on edge from the recent operation so some didn't want to be bothered by a zebra giving them annoying advice.

John and Lyra were treating the refugees. Even though she was retired from flying, she became a JSDF medic. What surprised them was the new species that also have similar intelligence like the humans and ponies. Among the refugees were buffalo, deer, and zebras.

"I never knew there was other species that can talk." Lyra said as she bandaged up a male deer.

"Your world likely never needed to balance itself." The deer said. "When something breaks balance nature tries to rebalanced itself, but Sometimes it's not enough. I mean look at our world. We failed to stabilize it..."

"You should be blaming the humans in your world. Our world is fine." Lyra explained. "Humans and ponies have been at peace in our world for years."

"Can that really be the truth?"

"Years ago, the humans and ponies used to be at war until a group formed what is called the Alliance to end the war from getting any worse. This alicorn here helped into ending the war."

John didn't noticed while he was mending another deer's wound with a bandage. Lyra finished up bandaging up the deer. A lot of medics were treating wounded refugees since a lot of them were badly injured. The humans from the other world were showing no mercy to the refugees.

"That's very noble though you know that a fraction of the human population was human right?"

"Yes, a lot of the ponies in the Alliance were once human." Lyra sighed. "A lot of them never knew who they once were and just didn't care about it. Some were lucky and kept their memories."

"Is there hate over that?"

"Well I'm not sure." Lyra looked around the camp. "Some nations still don't trust them because of the issues of the ponies destablizing their governments."

Though the United States was divided, several nations suffered issues from the ponies after the Human Pony War. Nations that had fallen to the herd lost control of their governments. A lot of the Asian nations were the most affected except China due to it's military guarding the capital and sea ports. The HLA also did damage to other nations like the European nations with propaganda and raids into towns that were suspected of humans siding with ponies. Some nations even follow the HLA's beliefs and refuse to side with the Alliance even today.

Today, only a couple of nations and military groups follow the Alliance and are doing what they can to help restore what they can of the fallen nations.  For the Alliance, New Hope City is their symbol of peace between the species.

Over at a local bar within the city, John watches the television with curiosity.

"Anything interesting?" A rebel asked.

"Football. It actually still exists here."

"Huh. I forgot that existed. I only saw old movies."

John sipped a bit from his cup as he looked around bar. It was a lot cleaner then it was back in their world. No dirt, mud, metal tables, blood, it was all clean. The drinks tasted a lot better then the cheap bland stuff that the rebels would make for their bars.

"We should take some bottles to sell home." A rebel suggested.

"Buy a couple with your gold then." John said, not looking interested.

"Nah, we'll just take it all once we take over."

"Take over? What are you talking about?" A earth pony asked, over hearing the rebel.

"Human superiority. Not like a bunch of horses will oppose us cause we are the evolved species around here and you are just waste of air."

"Hey!" A man in his early forties called out. "We don't tolerate that around here!"

"I'm standing up for humanity you idiot! Sharing this world with farm animals is so low. I bet they don't even use the bathroom and don't get my started with the smell of their coats. This isn't natural and they should be purged."

John sighed in annoyance as a group of angry people surround the rebels.

"I swear that guy wants to get beaten..." Justin said as he puts his hoodie over his head.

"Let him be a fool." John said as he kept sipping on his drink.

"I think you should leave sir." The bartender said to the rebel.

"Whatever..."

The rebel left the bar so he wouldn't blow their cover. The crowds of people and ponies glared at him as he left. Justin and John looked at each other for a moment as Justin secretly grabbed several bottles of whiskey.

"Plan B?" Justin muttered.

John sighed as he knew this was going to happen and nods. Justin stuffed a cloth into the opening of some bottles and tucked them away in his pocket. They left some gold on the counter as hey left. Outside, the rest of the rebels were waiting for them as Justin pulled out a bottle and lights the cloth and tosses it. It shatters as the liquid ignites inside the bar.

People and ponies inside the bar screamed as they rushed out. The rebels left the scene as they stumble upon a church. It was mainly filled with ponies while some were wearing cyan cloaks.

"That's a creepy church." A rebel said as they read the title on the church's door.

"The Church of Snowy? They worship that mare?" Justin asked, shocked to see this.

"Burn this monstrosity!"

Justin hands some bottles to some rebels as they lit them and threw them at the church. They shatter and ignite against the walls as the ponies inside rush out to try to put out the fire. The rebels look for a moment before they left the scene within the crowds of panicing people and ponies getting away from the fire.