//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Nightshade // Story: Nightshade Squad // by Grape Crush //------------------------------// "Get down!" Lieutenant Tom Johnson (Night) yelled. Two grenades were thrown over his head and blew up behind him. All was a normal day, getting orders to take out some resurrection camp, killing them, then returning home. At least that's what the Lt. thought. He never thought that these resurrectionist's were not human at all. They were part of the Alien race that the humans had "thought" they had eradicated years before. Now his team was standing toe to toe with 15 of them. "Lt.!" yelled Sgt. Jake Johnson (Black Death), Lt. Johnson's little brother. "Why are they still here? On our planet!" "Calm down Sgt. we will find an answer soon enough, for now we have to worry about not getting killed!" Many thoughts raced through Tom's mind as he saw his squad panicking. They needed to find an answer, he knew that much but he didn't know if they could get out alive. Even with high tech armor suits the Elites had an advantage with their plasma weapons. "Lieutenant! I found a portal of some type." said Cpl. Melissa Johnson (The Sniper). She was staring at the blue shape in front of her. Not knowing what it was she slipped her hand through. It was warm on the other side and a little bit breezy. "Sir, it is warm on the other side." "Don't touch it!" "Sir, I'm going in for a closer look." "Ok... Scout it out we may need it to escape into." Melissa went inside the portal emptying her clip on the way in. She appeared at a farm. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. "It seemed so... peaceful." She turned around and realized that the portal she came from was not there anymore. She began to panic. "Attention Lieutenant can you hear me?" A voice came back scratchy. "Yes Cpl. I can hear you but I am getting a lot of feedback". "Sir, I can't get back through the portal it seems to be closed on my end". "Hold on Cpl. we are coming through after we set explosives at the entrance". "Ok i'll set up a defensive position on my end" Tom didn't know how she could still communicate with him through another dimension. He however didn't question that she was able to tell him that the portal was closed on her end. "Alright lets go through and wait 5 seconds and detonate the C4". They ran through the portal, leaving the Elites to examine the blue shape before they all got vaporized by the C4. "Now what do we do?" Jake asked. "We need to find any locals" Tom answered. Tom led the way with his SAW modified to shoot 30 caliber rounds. In such a peaceful place he didn't expect to have to use such deadly force but in the dark he had to expect anything. "Everything is a surprise," He thought. They had no idea where they were so he didn't want to let his guard down. Slowly moving out of the forest they got a close look at the farm, however, in the dark he could not see very well. "Cpl. go check out the farm". "Yes sir," she saluted. "Sgt. stay here" "Got it," he replied. Melissa wished that she was not the one who had to check out the farm. She was the sniper after all right? However when her brother gave her orders she did not question them. Using the apple trees as cover she slowly went up to the house. She read a sign that said "Sweet Apple Acres". "Great probably a bunch of crazy people," she thought. She went up to the door and knocked. "Anyone there?" She yelled. She heard shuffling on the other side and wait... a sound of hooves? "Who keeps a horse inside the house? These people are crazier than I thought". The door opened with a orange horse with a scared look on her face. "W-Who are yall?" She asked slowly. Melissa had no intentions on what she had to say but instead raised her gun to the unknown creature. "Are you an alien?" "Nah Ah prefer pony," she replied still scared. "Do you work for the covenant?" "What in tarnation are yall talking about?" Melissa slowly lowered her weapon and called her brothers. They slowly walked down examining all angles for threats. "Who are yall?" The orange pony asked. "We are humans," Melissa replied. "Really? Ah thought yall were just a myth and why are yer made of metal?" she said confused. "We are wearing armor to protect us from plasma bullets". When Tom reached the house he asked why Melissa was talking to a horse. "For yer information Ah can talk too". He stood shocked not sure what dimension he wandered into. Maybe he was just dreaming, until he felt the burn in his right arm again. "Nope," now he was sure that this was not a dream. "Well we came here through a portal and we are not sure how to get back because the portal closed up". "Well yall should talk to Twilight she sure knows about this," The orange pony said. "What is your name?" Melissa asked. "Oh Ah am sorry yall, my name is Applejack". Tom thought of how crazy their names were and why they were ponies. "Why does all the crazy stuff happen to Nightshade?" he thought. "What are yall's names?" Applejack asked. "I am The Sniper, the one in the all black armor is Night, and the one in the black and red armor is Black Death." "Hmm... some mighty nasty names" "Look Applejack we need to find a way to get out of here as quickly as possible" Melissa said. "Well nopony is up at this hour so yall will have to sleep here till the mornin". Tom wasn't so sure about this but he was on this ponies property and he was sure that she would be found if he killed her. So he followed the pony into her house. It was quite plain. She led them up the stairs. Then pointed her hoof at an empty room. "My lil' sister Applebloom is with her friends so feel welcome to have her room for the night". "Thank you Applejack if there is anyway we can repay you don't hesitate to ask," Melissa said. "That's quite ok, it really is no problem". Tom laid his duffel bag on the ground. He spread out the contents to see what gear he had left. Two M8 Magnums .357 caliber. 5 frag grenades. 5 pounds of C4 explosive. He also packed para-cord, a 17 inch titanium blade, and some food. Everyone else packed the same gear except for a few variations. "Alright everyone take turns keeping watch, i'll go first Melissa next and Jake your last". Melissa was happy that all military protocol stayed at the other side of the portal and they could now be together as a family not a squad. She was still worried how they were going to get back. She stuck those thoughts into the back of her head and tried to get a couple hours of sleep. "Better try to keep myself awake" Tom thought. He was now alone watching out a window for any Elite movement. Melissa and Jake fell asleep fairly quickly. Which was understandable because they had found talking ponies. He still didn't know if he could trust them but Melissa seemed to. "I mean they are talking ponies how bad could they be?" he asked himself. He waited another 15 minutes. Then he heard someone walking around in Applejack's room. He woke up Melissa and Jake and said he heard something in Applejack's room. They all crept through the hallway with stealthy silence. Slowly he put his helmet to the door and heard voices. "Applejack!" the voice said. "Wake up I have to tell you something". Tom didn't hear any threats being made so he did not open the door. "I-I saw someponies walking to your farm while I was cloud kicking," the voice said again. "Sugarcube there is nothing to be afraid of, Ah have it under control, come on, they are sleeping in the other room". Tom tensed and slowly crept back to his room followed by Melissa and Jake. They all sat down pretending to talk to each other in low voices. They heard the door open and Applejack and a rainbow colored pony walked in. "Howdy yall this here is my friend Rainbow Dash and she was worried yall were trying to hurt me". "Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash, I'm Night, my sister in the black and pink armor is The Sniper and my brother over there in the all black armor is Black Death. Tom took his helmet off and put his hand out for Rainbow to shake. She blushed and took his hand. Tom smiled and let go. "So, what are you guys?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Well we are Humans but we may not look like it because of our armor," Tom said. Tom then proceeded to explain to Rainbow the same thing Melissa explained to Applejack. "Hmm... I agree with Applejack, Twilight may be the only one to help you on this". "Well, maybe we can talk about this more in the morning, my team and I are tired. I really do thank you for your hospitality while we figure out how to get out of here." Applejack stared at Rainbow Dash as she saw her blush and turn away. "Rainbow," Applejack whispered, "why are you blushing?" "I-I have never seen a human before," she replied. Applejack rolled her eyes. She walked out of the room with Rainbow Dash. "Applejack can I stay with you?" "Yeah sure sugarcube". Tom wondered why Rainbow Dash stared at him so different. It wasn't a "New person shy stare" as he called it. She stared at him in a more... loving manor. For now he stuffed those thoughts away. "Thinking is just as deadly as a pistol," He remembered his mentors words. To much thinking and he could be thrown from a peaceful situation to a deadly one. "Hey guys we shouldn't have anything to worry about, go ahead to sleep," "Alright Tom, have a good night," Melissa replied. Slowly Tom felt time pass away as he tried to go to sleep. He began to nod off and soon found himself in a deep sleep. Rainbow Dash sat up panting from her dream. "Wow... I really need to get myself together," she though to herself. She went down to the kitchen and found "Black Death" sitting at the table. He was on his phone. "Hey Rainbow Dash," he said as he saw her enter the room. "H-Hey Black Death," she said nervously as she eyed his pistol he had with him. "What's bothering you?" "I-I have never seen what those do," Rainbow said pointing a hoof at the gun. "Yeah you probably won't want to anytime soon." "Y-Your probably right," she said as she slowly went back upstairs. Stopping at the top step she looked down the hallway where the humans room was. She slowly walked towards their door. Opening the door with extreme caution she caught a glimpse on what was happening. It wasn't much, all she saw was two humans sleeping. "Hmm... so this is it?" Rainbow thought to herself. She went up to the human in all black armor. He was sleeping. She curled herself in a ball and tried to go to sleep next to him. "I have never felt this safe in my life," as she drifted to sleep. Tom was jolted awake when he felt himself touch something... soft. He looked down and saw the pony sleeping right next to him. He did not want to startle her so he sat there in silence. Over his private communication in his helmet he asked where his squad was. "Well me and Jake thought that we would watch you and your girlfriend over there cuddle it up," Melissa replied giggling. "Yeah man when's the wedding I've been waiting to put my tux on." Jake said. "Both of you, just stop," he couldn't stop himself from smiling. He scratched Rainbow's ear and said as quietly as possible if she could wake up. "Huh?" she said and bolted up as she realized everyone was staring at her. "I-I was uh just checking on you guys and I-I fell asleep!" she blurted. "Alright well I need to go outside to the last spot where we came from the portal. Then we can go see your friend Twilight," Tom said. Tom needed to call for the "Mantis" a robot with a Rocket Launcher and a high fire rate mini-gun. Maybe I can get it to come through the portal. Tom sensed in the back of his head that in a short time the Covenant will find the portal. On his private channel with the Mantis he said for it to come through the portal. "Yes sir," came a very deep robot sounding voice. "Area has been secure and all enemies neutralized". Suddenly with a bright flash of light the Mantis appeared. Rotating down it looked at its surroundings. "Permission to engage hostile area sir?" "No! Stand down." Tom replied. "Just follow me and do NOT engage anything unless you are told". "Yes sir". The Mantis and Tom walked back to the farm. Applejack and Rainbow Dash came out with Jake and Melissa. "Uh Tom why did you bring the Mantis here?" Melissa asked obviously concerned. "What in tarnation is that?" Applejack asked very scared. "This my friends is my Mantis, a high powered self defense robot," Tom said with pride. "Self defense" however was an understatement, the robot was 30 feet tall while Tom was only 7 and a half feet tall. "Now lets go see Twilight". "Uh, Tom bringing yourselves and the Mantis will be too much for each pony to handle," Rainbow said concerned. "That's a chance I have to take, now lets go". The party consisting of two ponies 3 humans and their robot made it to town. Everyone watched in awe as the Giant robot rotated keeping an eye out for hostiles. While the humans kept their guns on their backs so that it did not cause too much fuss from the locals. Going to Twilight's library Applejack knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Twilight said seemingly annoyed at the disturbance. "Howdy Twi, yall might want to get out here for a minute or so". Twilight opened the door and stood in shock when she saw the rest of the things with Applejack. "Applejack you didn't tell me you had such... Alien guests with you," Twilight said with a fake smile. Quite scared of the metal monstrosity. "Well Ah figured yall would want to take a look at them, besides you love astronomy". "Ok everypony come inside. I have some catching up to do, however, your "friend" will have to stay outside". Tom stepped up. "Yeah he will stand guard out here". They all went inside and Twilight was embarrassed by the mess she had made. "Now why are you all here?" Twilight asked.