2 - Rules of Engagement [Rewrite]

Michael sat in front of a bank of monitors. Cameras had been erected around the camp, waving side to side to complete the scanning coverage area. The Covert Ops patrolled behind the bubble fields, their laser sights darting back and forth as they scanned the forest around the clearing.

“First contact. Computer, replay cam footage from the night prior.” Two days ago, they had arrived on the strange alternate Earth. First contact had been with a very intelligent equine race. However, hostilities had already arisen. The footage played back, displaying the field that the unicorn, a nickname Chevalier had given the one, projected. It was not unlike a SpecOps bubble field portable shield. He replayed it two more times, trying to identify technology that they might have. Unsatisfied, he picked up his radio, clicking it on until it hissed quietly. “Chevalier, send the captain of the Covert Ops into the surveillance tent. I would like to have a word with him.”

“You got it, Far-Strider.” A few minutes later, one of the Covert Ops troopers entered the tent, his rank denoted by a yellow line down the middle of his helmet.

“Captain Roger Delores, sir. You wanted to see me?' Michael turned to face the captain.

“Delores, we need to know more about our surrounding area. Now, the last scientist that had been coming through the portal two days ago before the incident, he had our drone equipment, which means we're stuck with our eyes, ears, and helmet-cams. Remember the rules of engagement when we are dealing with new species. Stay out of sight, keep your distance, and if one decides to attack, incapacitate and capture. Bring X-1 and X-2. Our group should stay small in order to avoid detection.” Delores nodded, quietly removing himself from the tent.

Michael stood out in front of the small squad he had picked. Delores stood with his laser rifle, an extra battery strapped to his vest. The other two had picked up, from the armory tent, two older projectile weapons hanging from their shoulders, two extra magazines strapped to their vests. Captain Delores stood at attention, X-1 and X-2 watching the area.

“All right. Well, I am going to assume that Captain Delores has briefed you, so I'll make this short. We are going to survey the surrounding area, making note of any settlements. Be warned, the inhabitants may be hostile.” Delores and the two troopers nodded, their weapons out and ready. “Also, if you're attacked, conserve ammunition. Delores, your laser rifle only has a limited charge. Don't overuse it.” The four soldiers saluted each other, moving out through the underbrush while the other Covert Ops troopers covered the areas that the three had left open.

The forest was quite... dark, for one, with very little in the way of underbrush, a stark contrast to the outer areas. Flashlights clicked on as the squad scanned the area.

“Delores, radio in.” Michael stared at a strange plant that looked like poison oak, an extinct plant on Earth, except with blue spots.

“Delores here. I've encountered more of the plant over here as well. Permission to switch to wide-beam and burn through?” Michael knelt down, staring closer. A couple of the plants had patches of lavender fur stuck to them.

“There is fur stuck to this one patch. Lavender, like our 'friend' from a few days ago. Delores, permission granted. X-1, X-2, meet up with Delores. The last thing we need is our people to be affected by the rash from such a plant.

“Roger sir. Moving to location.” Michael stood up, flicking his rifle back into its case. Attaching it to his belt, he jogged to meet up with Delores, who had already begun burning away the poison oak with his rifle. Fog rolled in under their feet, smoke from the burned plants rising like wisps from the ground. A swath showed through the fog as it thinned out to mist. Michael flipped out his rifle and sighted in the target, relinquishing his aim when it was only a newborn deer wandering through the forest.

“Cancel firing positions. It's just a baby deer.” Michael fumbled with the end of his rifle, removing the flashlight. Re-securing it to his back, he shined the flashlight around, the light glinting off of several surfaces. One appeared to be a sort of metallic substance. “Delores, am I to assume you have your metallurgic scanner on your person?” Delores nodded, removing a small device with two probes attached.

“Be careful, sir. For all we know, that could be sulfur, and the probes could set it off. Lost an entire squad to that once.” Delores whistled as his flashlight waved through the darkness. “Darker than the inside of an Atraksi hive.” A shadow zipped through the underbrush, the bushes barely visible to the squad. “Michael-”

“I saw it. Weapons live, people. Something's watching us.” X-1 was standing still, leaning against a tree when something grappled onto his leg.

“What the-” With a small gasp, he was gone, X-2 shining his light wildly around.

“1! Captain Delores-” Without so much as a warning, X-2 was gone. Delores backed up to Michael, his eyes wide.

“Far-Strider, something out-of-the-ordinary is happening. X-1 and X-2 are not near their posts, and their weapons are still on the ground. Lights are on still, too.” Michael nodded, holding the two probes close to the metal.

“I know. Something's moving in the bushes.” The scanner beeped, various information types displayed on the screen. “Metallic substance identified as 40% iron, with 35% copper, and 25% uranium.” He whistled. “Collect enough of this stuff, we could build ourselves a small power plant. What do you think, Cap- Delores?” Michael was all alone, standing in a dark forest. He flipped out his rifle, aiming around. He tapped the side of his mask, the eyes lighting up as he glanced around. “Gotta love night vision.” The area around was lit up like a Christmas tree, radiation at unusual levels. “That's... disconcerting. Captain Delores?” A small object impacted his shoulder as he attempted to locate Delores. Turning his head, he found a small dart imbedded in the soft tissue of his arm. As he removed it, he suddenly felt lethargic. “Sedative. Wonderful.” With that, he collapsed, his last view before slumber an image of dark shapes surrounding him.

Loud noises and a bright light woke Michael from his slumber. A large campfire was blazing, with various equines in golden armour sharpening weapons, eating, or otherwise behaving like a small military company. Delores stirred beside him.

“Sir, why are we upside down? Oh, we're tied like that.” Michael turned to Delores, his glare shutting him up. The camp stopped and stared at the two, watching their every move. Michael tried his best to whisper without moving his lips.

“Captain, whatever you do, don't you dare alert them to us being conscious.” An equine, white in colour with a blue mane, trotted over.

“Hvem er du?” Delores and Michael stared at each other.

“Is it... speaking in Danish?” Michael smiled, biting his lip.

“I would laugh, but they might think I mean them harm!” Unable to control himself any longer, he let out his mirth, his raucous laughter echoing throughout the camp.

“Hvad er så mormonst?” Delores stopped, Michael staring at him.

“Huh. I don't know what's funny, the fact that he's speaking in an Earth language, or the fact that we know what language it is, too!” Delores began to laugh as well, his laughter echoing as Michael rejoined the mirth.

“Hold on a second, Delores! Let me get the translator working!” Michael moved his hands to his belt, where a small box was located. “Let's try again.” He fiddled with it, until it began to transmit his speech into Danish.

“Du tror du- you are so funny, huh? You shot at my sister, you idiot!” Delores and Michael stopped laughing, the realization hitting them.

“Delores? Why do I have a feeling of sudden doom?” The equine stared at them.

“I can understand you! But, how?” Michael stared down at him, motioning at the ropes.

“Maybe if you cut us down, instead of making us pass out from blood pooling in our craniums, we could, maybe, enlighten you?” The equine nodded to two guards, spears levitating to the ropes. “Without cutting my foot off, perhaps? I do need it.” Michael was cut down with a swift slice, his head impacting the soft earth. Delores fell on his face, his nose sticking in mud. Michael pushed himself off the ground, staring around. He turned to help the captain to his feet, motioning to the equine.

“Oh, all right.” They followed him into a white tent, where several equines gathered, their coats of varying shades of colour.

“So, let me get this straight. You two are from a planet called Earth.” The equine they had met introduced himself as Shining Armour, the captain of the equines that stood outside.

“Yeah.”

“And you're here to find potential allies against this enemy...” He stared down at a folder that had been translated for him by Delores into Danish. “The... 'Atraksi?' What are they, exactly?” Michael leaned forward, his head close to Armour's.

“Let me tell you about them. They are some of the most despicable creatures in the entirety of the universe. They plague upon hapless civilizations to eat away, destroying what they are. We came here to either find allies, or a new home for the remnants of humanity.” Michael spat at the ground, disgust in his eyes.

“What do they look like?” Delores took the floor for that.

“Insectoid, about our height when we stand up, and very, very aggressive. If they think you are going to attack, even if you are sleeping, they will attack you, kill you, then consume your lifeless corpse.” Michael stared open-mouthed at Delores. “I watched them do it to one of my squads. Bastards.” They shook their heads, staring at Armour, whose mouth was also aghast.

“T-they eat the dead?!” His faced turned green for a few seconds. “I think I'm going to be sick.” Michael held up his hand.

“Not on our count, you won't. My name is Michael Far-Strider, a sniper in the employ of the United Earth Coalition. He is Captain Delores, of the Covert Ops arm of the military.” Michael leaned back. “As I will reiterate once more, we did not mean your sister harm. We assumed she was hostile when she... what did she do, as you say?”

“Teleported in to save her friend.”

“'Teleported' to save the other equine-”

“We just call ourselves ponies. Equine is too formal.” Michael nodded. Delores reached inside his jacket, withdrawing another folder.

“This is the info on resources we need for our survival. If we can get the ones near the middle of the list, right there.” He put his finger down below the title that said seeds. “We can begin to grow our own food. That means sustainability, and that means a long-term base of operations.” Delores closed his eyes, thinking of something he wished he had.

“So, along with your device that 'detects' metal, you need seeds, and labour assistance?” Michael shrugged.

“There are five hundred of us. Our base may seem small, but currently, we need to expand, most likely underground as per UHC military protocol. It's for protection. Now, another thing. If the Atraksi find their way here-” Armour stared right at Michael.

“We can deal with them. We're not defenseless.” Michael chuckled at that.

“You fight with weapons that wouldn't even make a dent in the carapace of an Atraksi warrior! How do you expect to be able to fight with them on an equal footing?” Armour backed off, realizing Michael's point. Michael raised his index finger, pointing at himself first, then Delores. “However, with the help of our scientists and engineers, we could prepare you for such an event. It might come very soon, however, seeing as the Atraksi can detect whenever we attempt to reverse-engineer their technology.” Armour stood up.

“You come here, and just insult my troops?! We are not some kind of simple weaklings!” With that, he blasted from his horn a powerful beam, incinerating a small patch of grass. Michael flexed his fingers, staring at the patch of grass.

“That.” He pointed to Armour's horn. “Brings me to another question. Just what on Earth are you doing, and how does it work?” Armour stopped.

“Wait, you don't know? Everypony in Equestria knows what magic is!” Michael snorted. Delores had been drinking water from a small cup, spraying it out from his nose as he choked.

“What?!”

“Are you kidding me?! Magic? That's just myths and fairytales! It's gotta be something else-” Michael was interrupted by a bright flash of light. A familiar lavender unicorn stood outside, with a very... large... white... pegasus unicorn cross. “Well, we are officially screwed, Far-Strider.” The hybrid and the unicorn walked in.

“Yes, Princess, they said that they had captured them and- brother!” She flashed on the table, her horn pointed at Michael and Delores. “Get away from them!”

“Hey! Wait! We're not here to harm you!”

“Twilight! These are not hostiles! They were following their own rules for war-” The hybrid stood at the edge of the room.

“Twilight Sparkle, you are over-reacting to a simple situation. Let them explain themselves.” Twilight backed down, but kept her apprehensive state about her.

“And that's pretty much how it works for us. We're not a very trusting race, as you can tell.” Delores was about to continue when two guard ponies dragged two familiar humans in.

“We found... your friends. They're dead as far as we can tell.” Michael stood up, inspecting the bodies. He reached to their necks, stopping when he saw what killed them. He ripped their dogtags off, holding them tightly in his hand.

“It's X-1 and X-2... and it's worse than I expected.” He stripped the suit off of X-1, revealing bleached bones. “Something liquefied their very flesh, like acid.” He punched the ground. “I never even knew who they really were.” Delores pulled their masks off, holding one to Michael.

“Far-Strider, keep it together. As long as the camp is still intact, we should be fine, right?” Michael nodded. “Princess Celestia, if you are able, would you spare some guards? We do not know these woods all that well, so it would be appreciated if we had some sort of guide.” Celestia nodded, several guards hoisting their weapons. “Michael, pray to God that whatever killed them has not killed our expeditionary force, or we are screwed.”

Author's Notes Not Working:

So, rewritten. Anyways, criticism is welcome.