//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 Blacksite horror // Story: Xcom: Alien Unknown // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 6: Blacksite Horror At the hanger, everyone reported to Bradford. “Squad assembled, sir.” Jane saluted him. “At ease. We got the location of the ADVENT Blacksite. We will arrive shorty, so gear up.” “Can I be of assistance?” Dinky asked, getting everyone’s attention. Broadford smiled. “I appreciate your helpfulness, Dinky, but let our experienced soldiers handle this. It would be too dangerous for you in the field.” “Who said I have to be in the field? Those GREMINs, I could remotely control one for support.” She suggested, surprising everyone. The Central officer thought about it. “Actually, it does sound like a good idea. Let’s talk with Shen about it.” The woman listened with interest to the idea. “This should be no problem and takes only a short time. What color would you like?” Shen asked. “Light grey and sandy-yellow, please.” “Okay.” While she worked on it, she told Dinky about the two previous missions the Knights had undertaken. “I’m sorry to hear about your father,” Dinky said with sympathy. “It’s okay. Actually, his work couldn’t come in handy at a better time. As Heavy must rest, the commander thought the SPARK could take his place until he’s recovered. I, with the commander’s permission, I used Julian as the Al to operate the SPARK.” She turned to the robot, standing next to her. “Join the squad.” “I’ll comply,” Julian said in an annoyed tone and walked out of the lab. Dinky looked with fear after him before Shen said in a calming tone, “Don’t worry, I removed his higher-level reasoning, so he’s forced to be loyal and compliant. “O-okay,” Dinky replied with unease as she took her GREMLIN that resembled her mother in color and the remote control, walking back to the hanger, noticing that Midnight walked past her, into the lab. “You wanted to see me?” The stallion asked Lily. “Yes. We found out that ADVENT uses a psionic network to coordinate troops. We need direct access by hacking a live officer.” “How’s that?” Midnight asked, raising an eyebrow. “With this.” Shen grabbed what appeared to be a claw attached to a metal bracelet. “It’s called Skulljack. In the simplest of terms, it's a physical interface designed to access the chip implanted in the ADVENT forces' skulls, applied using directed blunt force.” “Uh-huh. I will not disappoint you.” He equipped it and walked back to join the others. The squad consisted of the Knights, Dinky, the SPARK, Kyle, Jane and Bianca as they stepped into the Skyranger. Our contacts in the local resistance have shown us how to access the ADVENT Blacksite. The aliens worked hard to keep this place under the radar, and we don’t know what we’re gonna find here. Keep your heads up, expect heavy opposition.” Central informed as the squad rappelled down in a snowy forest area in New Antarctica, the Blacksite was just in front of them. Dinky stayed on the Skyranger, the signal was strong enough to cover the entire site with her GREMLIN. “We’ve confirmed the Blacksite is in your immediate vicinity. Infiltrate and investigate the area. Expect heavy resistance, neutralize all hostile contacts.” Bradford added. The Blacksite looked like a normal Factory from the outside, but it had an intimidating aura and all knew whatever was inside could not be good, as Dinky performed a scan. “Two enemies up ahead.” “Are we rushing in? Or are we going sneaky-beaky like?” Patch asked as he cocked his Bow Caster. “Visually concealed but still noisy,” Julian commented as he and the other carefully advanced, stopping behind a barrier as they saw a Stun Lancer and a Viper with a yellow skin patrolled the street to their right. “Without the introduction of human DNA, these creatures once operating under the guise of ‘Thin Men’ now show their true from, a pure reptilian species,” Tygan commented at the sight. “No reason for them to hide, the aliens don’t need an infiltration unit anymore,” Bradford replied. Midnight aimed at the Stun Lancer and pulled the trigger, the trooper fell backward with a scream to the ground, a puddle of blood forming on the ground. This alerted the Viper, who hissed, then moved to the other side of the road to flank them, but Wolf saw this and fired her Shard gun, eliminating the Viper as it let out a cry of pain and feel dead to the ground. Dinky scouted ahead and saw what looked like a yard with small, green glowing containers, shocked at what she saw was inside. “Oh my…” The others share her reaction as Lily said, “Hold on! Are those…?!” “Bodies.” Central muttered in disbelief, “The containers, the trains…this entire facility…the aliens are still abducting people. From the looks of it, they may have never stopped after the invasion.” “Those containers look like they have self-contained power cells, it could be some kind of stasis system. It’s possible at least some of those people might be still alive.” Shen suspected. “That’s disturbing,” Wolf said as they moved up, spotting another Viper with two Stun Lancers at the entrance and a fully functional turret on the roof. “Stay clear of those turrets, we’re still not sure if they’re fully automated or remotely triggered,” Lily warned and James aimed at the turret. Confidently he pulled the trigger and said,” There’s no way I…” His shot went under the turret, hitting the building instead of the turret. “Miss?” Next time I get-“ He never finished as the building creaked and the part where the turret was on collapsed, destroying it. “Okay…” The Viper then used its tongue to pull Jane towards her and bonded her, she struggled. “Let go!” The Lancers took position to the left and right of the alien, firing at Bianca and Fletcher, yet missed as they ducked behind their cover. “Our turn!” Fletcher yelled as he and the woman drew their pistols and returned fire, scoring headshots. “Hold on, Sunny!” Abstraction called out as he climbed up a ladder that led to a balcony, having a clear shot on the Viper. He fired and the alien cried in pain, letting go of Jane. She in return rammed her blade into the Viper’s chest, killing it. “You want some more?” “Watch out, ADVENT to your right!” The filly warned as an officer together with a trooper moved in from the same direction the first Viper and Stun Lancer had come from. Patch aimed at the trooper and fired, the soldier got thrown backward by the hit as he died, the Captain moved to jump on a parked train for cover. Midnight saw this as his chance and used his blood magic to teleport next to the officer. “This might sting a bit!” He uses his left foreleg to shove the officer’s rifle away then rammed the Skulljack into his jaw, lifting him up and killing him instantly as he hacked into the network. “We have complete access to the ADVENT psionic network; I have dedicated our systems to processing the new data, but we will need to work fast- it is only matter of time before they detect our intrusion,” Tygan said as the stallion dropped the body. “We’re good to go!” Suddenly, a purple glow appeared on the street the squad had come from, glowing brighter and brighter. As if faded, they all see what appeared to be a human female with completely golden skin, with a featureless face save for a pair of glowing, white eyes, and a black, smoke-like substance flowing out of its head resembling hair. The body was a state of continuous flux, constantly appearing and disappearing on the spot, and sometimes creating short-lived, translucent after-images of itself beside it. “Commander, that appears to be the ‘Codex’ responsible for guarding the alien data stores. We’ll have to neutralize it if we intend to recover the data.” Tygan informed. “Understood. Weapons, hot, we got our target.” Central replied. “Let's have it, lads!” Patch reloaded his weapon and Julian fired, but the shot hit the wall next to it instead. “Missed? MISSED?!?!?! I'LL RIP YOUR DAMN HEA-“ Midnight took the shot then and scored a direct hit but what happened next surprised even him. The Codex teleported on the roof of the facility, leaving what appeared to be a clone at its original location. “I’ve never seen anything like this – the Codex is projecting multiple copies of itself into our dimension!” The scientist was fascinated and the squad realized this could be a big problem. Fletcher fired with his rifle at the Clone, it stumbled from the hit before starting to hold its head and disintegrated. The original held it hands outwards towards him and Bianca, casting a psionic rift and both snipers felt their rifles were suddenly lighter. They moved out of the right quickly and reloaded, just seconds before the lift exploded. Midnight fired on the Codex again, then threw his boomerang towards the balcony Kyle was and his prediction was right. The codex was about to appear behind a wall next to Kyle to flank him, but the boomerang gave it the rest, leaving only the head with the brain on the ground after it. Wolf took off into the air to deal with the clone, dodging its fire. “Is that all you got?” She taunted as he threw one of her knives and killed it. The two Knights, together with Kyle, Patch, Jane, and Julian took position at the entrance as Dinky scanned the facility. “Two hostiles inside.” Patch opened the door and stared at a shocking sight. Humans in Containers were lowered into green liquid, causing Tygan to comment, “So many victims, processed with such brutal efficiency. Test subjects for some sort of weapons perhaps?” “That looks more like a refinery for me, doctor.” Lily pointed out. “Once we get our hands in that sample, we’ll know for sure,” Bradford added as a vile in a pedestal was on the other side of the facility. Wolf barely stepped in and spotted two MECs up ahead. Their body was similar to the SPARK but in glistening white and an arrow formed head, armed with a variant of the Magnetic Rifle that was monstrously large in size. “This is an extremely well equipped mechanized unit. We’ll need to look for vulnerabilities if we’re going to take that thing out.” Shen commented as what appeared to be an automatic grenade launcher opened on the back and fired, everyone braced for the explosions. The wall provided some protection but Midnight, Kyle, Patch, Jane felt still the splinters hitting them and their ears ringing. “Alright, that hurt!” The stallion said before Dinky flew her drone to each of them and healed them. “Thanks.” “You’re welcome.” The filly replied on the radio as Julian fired on the MEC, the robot stumbled and sparked from the hit but was still standing. “Armor down!” He announced and Jane finished it off with a well-aimed shot. Patch looked at the other and got an idea. “Take this!” He raised his hands above his head and sent a spiral of psionic energy towards the other MEC and it exploded. “Used its own grenades against him.” Midnight then moved towards the sample, looking at it in awe. “Guessing that’s not water. Shen, any readings?” Bradford asked as the sample had a yellow liquid in it. “No signs of radioactivity, no significant energy signature of any kind. Whatever it is, it’s safe to handle. ”Assured by her answer, the grey pony put it into his saddlebag. “We confirmed acquisition of the sample, move to rendezvous at the extraction point,” Central advised. The extraction tone was on the other side of the facility and everyone moved toward it but Dinky had bad news. “Enemy transport!” Just as she had said this, said transport dropped an officer, trooper and Stun Lancer at the EVAC point, the officer pointed at Wolf and both soldiers moved out with him. “Why always me?” The Pegasus complained as the trooper fired, but missed her and hit the ground next to her, the Stun Lancer charged forward, she barely managed to block his strike with her knives and pushed him back, slicing his throat. The trooper was about to take aim again, before he got hit into the head by Fletcher’s rifle, the officer got flanked by Midnight who teleported next to him and swung his blade through his chest. The Captain clutched his wound as he fell dead to the ground. They all them moved towards and evacuated. “Mission accomplished, Commander. We just hit ADVENT where it hurts the most. This was a place no living human being was ever intended to see. Happy as I am to see it gone, something tells me the aliens won’t take this lying down.” Central said happily on the radio as the Skyranger returned back to base. “You did great, Dinky.” Patch ruffled her mane, she giggled in response. Upon arrival, Midnight gave the sample to Tygan, then meet up in the bar to relax with the others. Dinky and Edward drank lemonade, Patch and Rosie tea, while all others enjoyed some alcohol-free beer to be an example for the children. “That went very well, don’t you think?” Jane asked Fletcher who nodded. “Yes, though I wonder what in that vile is, it can’t be good.” He said with unease in his voice. “I agree but for now, let’s celebrate. How about a round of ADVENT Burgers?” “ADVENT Burgers?” Wolf asked confused. “Yes, a fast food item made by ADVENT and very popular, even amongst XCOM personnel. We got some after the UFO supply raid, give it a try, they have also a vegetarian variant.” The Barkeeper give the ponies said burgers and they all took a bite. Dinky’s eyes slowly went big at the taste of the burger. “That is…delicious!” “Yeah, it tastes pretty great,” Midnight added as he took another bite. “Yep. Just be careful around Bradford when eating them.” The woman warned. “Why?” The filly asked and she got her answer as she saw Bradford walking past the bar with a wrapper in his hand. “I don’t know where people are getting those damn ADVENT burgers, but if I find another wrapper stuffed under one of the command consoles, there’s going hell to pay.” He mumbled with an annoyed voice. The others chuckled nervously as he walked past. “See what I mean?” Jane asked and the filly nodded. Kyle then with a few others started to perform a song. While it sounded strange at first, it was rather enjoyable for the ponies, dancing with the humans to it. That’s actually a good song.” Dinky commented with a smile. “Yes. A German song from the 80s, beautiful.” James replied grinning. “Yep. Reminds me, I discovered this on a supply raid some time ago.” Patch said and held up a disc, putting it into a disk player. Once it started, the ponies looked at in awe at it. It showed a bar with a stage, a charcoal-coated unicorn with streaks of red and gold in her white mane stood it and started to sing a jazz song about being in Cloudsdale, never able to fly like the Pegasus. Halfway through, a holographic Vinyl Scratch appeared and the song changed into an 80 version of it, becoming quite more action full. “It was well made and sounded quite beautiful.” Midnight said after it ended. “Yeah, back in the days the fandom, there were many talented creators and animators,” Kyle said with a hint of sadness in his voice. They then all left to do other tasks or to relax in their living quarters, while Wolf stayed back to help with the cleaning. During her work, she heard the same song from the video in the background and couldn’t help but smile, bopping her head before she held the broom like a microphone and started to sing. “Oh and watch where you're flyin', I hear when you splat it gets real nasty To hell with your flapping, all your wings will need wrapping While we all die happy Never bein' fly like you.” She leaned back and lost her balance falling over. “Never knew you could sing so well, Wolf.” Midnight’s voice sounded in her ears and the mare blushed in embarrassment as she saw him, Fletcher, Dinky, Patch, Kyle, James, Rosie and Edward at the entrance, all had impressed expressions. “How much have you seen?” The blue Pegasus asked, lowering her head. “Pretty much everything. You really have a wonderful singing voice.” Fletcher complimented her. “T-thanks...” She replied surprising, noticing that Dinky whispered something into Edward’s ear and he walked up to her. “I always wanted to try this.” He smiled. “And what?” Wolf asked in return. “Boop.” The boy bopped her nose with his hand, and she started to grin. “Come here, you little rascal!” With that, White Wolf chased the boy and filly across the room with a giggle before she caught them and tickled them without mercy, both laughed uncontrollably for a few minutes, the others just smiled. After being granted mercy and able to catch their breath, both children looked at each other, then at Wolf with mischievous grins. “Oh no…” The mare mumbled and both kids rammed into her and tickled her and she laughed, unable to contain it. As they let her catch her breath, Fletcher asked Midnight, “Are you ticklish?” “Not a chance, I was trained against tickling torture.” He said proudly before his fellow knights looked at him with mischievous grins and Wolf opened a wing, with Fletcher plugging a feather. “Oh really?” He said with a grin and closed on Midnight who backed up until trapped in a corner. Grinning as the feather touched him, then broke out in laughter himself. “Nothing better than a good laugh,” Rosie commented before her son started to yawn. Let’s hit the hay.” They both went towards the living quarters with all others save for Dinky, the Knights, Kyle, Patch and James. “You should get some sleep too, Dinky,” Wolf suggested but the filly shook her head. “But I’m not tired.” She protested. In response, the mare gently grabbed her by the scruff and carried her towards their living quarter. “No, there you go to bed now.” Fletcher and Midnight followed them. “It’s nice to see how they care for her,” Kyle commented with a smile. “Indeed. Say, Toby, what got you the idea for Domino’s personality?” The German asked. The Brit shrugged. “Can’t remember and I think it’s better if it stays that way.” “Yeah.” They then went to bed themselves, sharing their living quarter with the ponies, having to smile as Fletcher was sleeping on a bed, hugged by Dinky in her sleep, Wolf slept on the ground on a make-shift bed, Midnight upside down from an overhang. “Cute,” Jessie whispered and Patch replied quietly, “Righto,” Before they went into their own beds. The weeks passed until it was late April, not much was going on since the Blacksite. Dinky awoke with a yawn, seeing that Günther and Fletcher were playing darts. “Good morning!” She greeted both with a smile. “Morning, Dinky.” James greeted back before she walked towards the bar for breakfast, hearing Fletcher mumble, “Good that Nanny never had a sibling…” Upon arriving, she saw Midnight breakfasting, appearing to have toast, while Edward asked White Wolf, “Can I scratch your ear?” “No.” She replied stern. “Please.” The boy asked in a pleading voice. “I'm not a pet.” “Pleeeeeaaaaaaaa-“ The young human gave her puppy eyes. “Okay! Fine...just...Let's just get this over with.” The mare replied in defeat and craned down “Yay!” Edward cheered and scratched her behind the ear. Wolf made a strange noise between a purr and a growl and shook her head in affection. Edward stopped and both stared at each other perplexed, Midnight seemed oblivious to the scene as he didn’t even react, focused on his breakfast. “You did not just see that,” Wolf said to the boy who nodded, Dinky suppressed a giggle before Patch walked in. “I hope I don’t bother, but we got a new recruit, we shall take him on a supply raid.” He explained, Dinky, Wolf and Midnight nodded, following to the Armory to meet the recruit. As they arrived, Dinky couldn’t believe her eyes. It was a woman with brown hair styled into a soft, face-framing look with blue eyes, the face was broad and a wide chin, her armor was colored dark orange. What made her knew who that human was, was how her hair was how short her hair was. “D-Dinky?” The human asked in confusion and Dinky started to grin. “Lena!” She ran into the woman for a hug. “I missed you!” “Me too…I feared the worst after ADVENT took you. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t protect you.” Lena said with regret and guilt in her voice, her head lowered. “Don’t be, you did what you could. May I introduce you to the Eternal Knights?” She pointed to the three ponies. “I’m Midnight Blade, this is White Wolf and Fletcher Fray. We are all grateful for that you and your husband helped Dinky.” The grey stallion said, then the other introduced themselves and told how Dinky got saved. “I owe you one.” The woman said with gratefulness in her voice, but Dinky replied, “They did only what was right and their job. Why are you here?” She was curious and Lena took a deep breath. “Well, after ADVENT took Lukas and you, I became depressed how this could happen to me. Yet I didn’t want that they would take me too, so I ran.” “We all have a common cause. Just keep your head down and follow me and you will be fine.” Patch said as he, James, Dinky, Lena and the Knights went to the Skyranger and stepped in. “One of our contacts in the resistance tipped us to an ADVENT transport they managed to disable when it passed through as part of a larger convoy. ADVENT security forces are already moving to gather their assets, but we’ve got a shot at finding something valuable here. We’ll have to secure the area, recover the item, and eliminate any enemy resistance.” Central briefed the squad on the way. Upon arrival they rappelled down, finding themselves in a rainy forest area of the east coast of the USA. “Menace 1-5, the disabled ADVENT convoy is just ahead, engage and eliminate all hostile forces.” “Let's make this right as rain.” Patch cried out, “Literally.” He added at the weather as they moved out. Lena was nervous, slightly trembling as Dinky’s GREMLIN was flying next to her. “You can do this!” The filly encouraged her on the radio, causing her to smile weakly. The foal got insight of the transport on a road, seeing a truck standing on the road, a crashed squad car in front of it, guarded by an ADVENT Captain and two Stun lancers, a Sectoid and something they had not seen before. It resembled a human in body form, muscular but the skin was red with a hunched back, the head was big and oval formed, the mouth covered at what looked like a gasmask, only tiny, deep-set vicious-looking, yellow eyes were visible. “These Mutons seem a little more agile than the ones we fought in the past; it looks like they’re still serving as the aliens’ front line unit though,” Bradford commented at the sight. Fletcher aimed at the officer and fired, the shot went right through the head, throwing the Captain against a tree. In response, the Stun Lancers took position at the truck, the Muton cocked his green-glowing rifle and fired at Lena, who took cover behind a tree, suppressing her. “I’m pinned down!” she yelled as green glowing beams missed her by inches. She barely could prepare herself as the Sectoid used his psionic powers and a purple beam went towards her and she felt immense pain in her head. “Get out of my head!” She yelled. The others watched as she suddenly started to turn towards them with a blank expression, a purple glow around her, leading to the Sectoid. “She’s mind controlled!” Patch figured out. “Not for long!” Wolf charged toward the Muton, her blade ready and swung it at him, yet was not prepared for his response. He raised his left arm, effectively blocking it, then punched her into the chest, she got thrown back, stunned. “Watch out!” James yelled as the Muton raised his weapon, a bayonet was attached to it, preparing to execute the Pegasus. Wolf‘s vision was blurry, she barely saw the threat yet managed to get back to her senses just in time, using her knives to block the finishing move. “Ooh, you think you're clever, do ya?!” She then shoved the Alien back, slicing it across the neck, before magnetic shoots buzzed in her ears, seeing that Lena had missed her by inches. Midnight then stormed towards the Sectoid who fired his arm blaster at him, yet missed too before the bat pony rammed his Arc Blade into the alien’s chest, killing it instantly. “What…happened?” The woman held her head in pain as she was free again. Yet, she recovered quickly as she saw one of the Lancers coming for her, quickly taking aim and fired at him, the shot went right through his chest and he fell head-first to the ground. She breathed heavily at her first kill, her heart racing at what she had just done. “Nice shot!” James complimented her on the radio. “Another Muton!” Fray yelled as said alien came out of nowhere from the right, throwing what appeared to a grenade at the two snipers, blinking green. Both dived out of their way before it exploded, destroying a tree, blowing it to pieces. Realizing she was standing in the open, Wolf attempted to run for cover, before she felt great pain in her chest and fell to the ground with a scream. She tried to stand up, but the pain was too great, seeing out of the corner of her eye that the second Muton had been hit her. The others were behind cover, shooting at the last Stun Lancer and Muton without much success of hitting them. Suddenly, she felt how someone grabbed her by her forelegs and dragged her towards a stone wall. “I got you!” Patch yelled as he got her behind cover, crouched down and fired his revolver as Dinky’s GREMLIN hovered over Wolf and released the cold blue vapor. “There you go, Auntie!” “Thanks.” The mare got up and drew her sidearm, resuming fighting. Lena took aim at the second Muton and firing again, the shot connected with the head, killing it as green blood splattered from it. James looked at the other Stun Lancer who stayed in cover, but his head was slightly exposed. Enough for him, He took aim and fired, the bullet went right through the helmet and the Lancer stumbled before falling dead to the ground. “Target down!” The squad then moved closer as Dinky yelled, “Wait! Got a Viper and MEC up ahead!” In the moment she had said this, both stepped into view. Midnight decided to use his psionic powers, hitting the ground with his Psi-Amp, what happened next surprised him. Several groans greeted their ears, seeing the ADVENT soldiers rising, a purple glow emitted from them, leading back to Midnight. “I can do…that?!” He asked in shock. “Oh well, let’s make the most of it.” And pointed at the two hostiles. The zombies moved in a slow, stumbling manner towards the Viper and MEC, drawing their fire, serving as meat shields and giving the distraction they needed. “Mother nature calls!” Wolf slammed a hoof into the ground and summoned a vine that immobilized the Viper and Patch fired his Bow Caster, scoring a direct headshot between the eyes as blood splattered. “Bullseye!” The mare then used her storm magic to shock the robot, he twitched as his systems malfunctioned, Midnight then charged forwards, cutting right through the middle of the MEC with his own Blade, destroying it as it fell smoking to the ground. “Status confirmed, all hostiles are down and the area is secure,” Central announced. “Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!” Patch cheered before they proceeded to load the supplies into the Skyranger, Wolf and Midnight inspected the bodies of the Mutons. The stallion found what looked like a rubber grip, Wolf what appeared to be a foregrip for her Shard gun. “You found yourselves a hair trigger and repeater, nice!” Jessie smiled happily. “Both make your shots more precise.” “Good to know.” Midnight commented and noticed that the German man had accidentally his laser sight turned on, pointed at the ground. Once he moved, the Pegasus tried to catch it in a play delusional, causing both men to laugh. Wolf after realizing what she just did blush. Damn animal instincts! Nevertheless, they boarded the transport and got back to the Avenger. “You did well for your first mission, Rookie,” Central said with pride. “You are promoted to Squaddie, and given your set of skills, you are to be designated a Specialist, and will report to Engineer Chen to pick up your GREMLIN.” Lena saluted, feeling honored. “Thank you, sir!” The others also smiled with pride at her. It was quiet for the rest of the day and it slowly became evening, Lena tucked Dinky in. “Goodnight, Dinky.” “Goodnight, Lena.” The filly said and the woman turned to leave as she heard the young voice again. “Wait. Can you stay with me? You remind me of my mother.” She asked with a hoping expression. “Of course, my dear.” Wolf checked on Dinky as Fletcher and Midnight were busy helping in an Autopsy, her heart melted at the sight. Dinky hugged Lena in her sleep, both slept with smiles. “You really enjoy her company, don't you?” Jane asked quietly. “Yeah, her company is quite pleasant. Reminds when I took care of the young deer, enjoying it to the fullest to be their caretaker.” Wolf smiled at the memories. “With those two handsome stallions, you could make it come true.” “Yeah…” Wolf replied distracted. Then she realized what the Ranger meant. “HEY!” The woman stayed calm. “Just kidding, you can call yourself lucky to have such handsome stallions by our side.” Wolf rolled her eyes. “Meh...They're okay, I guess. What's your point?” Jane sighed. “That you can be happy to have such good friends. Why do you think did I that with the towel?” It clicked in Wolf’s head. “You had a lover?” “Yes. We are engaged, but sadly, he died as we tried to flee from ADVENT. I deal with the pain by having fun and I admit, we’re both were quietly playful.” Jane lowered her head. “I’m sorry to hear that.” The mare said with a weak smile. “It’s fine. Actually, I wanted to ask if you can give me advice. Between you and me, I think Kyle's pretty...you know...interesting.” The French blushed. Wolf got what she meant. “Well, my best advice is do your best to be the best when you're both in battle. I mean, you did pretty well today so keep at it and who knows? It's always helped me when I was looking for something's affections.” Jane’s expression became surprised. “Really? You mean with...” The mare waved a hoof. “No, no, no. Look, Midnight and Fletcher, we're just workmates, professional-like. But when you've been travelling as much as we have you...pick up a few here and there.” In response, Jane raises an eyebrow. “Oh really?” “Helped me a lot in Digna. And I'd say whatever worked with tiger-stripe sphinx queens would work with humans...Though maybe not so much biting...and clawing...and whipping...unless that's your thing, and I won't judge you if it is.” The woman became confused at what she heard. “Sorry, did you say sphinx or...” “Yeah, sphinx. As in lion legs, ox tail, eagle wings, heavy eyeshadow, likes riddles...What did you think I said?” she demanded to know with a stern expression. “Nothing.” The human replied calmly. “Now, don’t get me wrong, but if I was a pony, I think both Midnight and Fletcher are very handsome. And no, I’m not a zoophilic. I just thought…” Again, the mare held up a hoof. “It’s fine. We all actually got attention from others, but we dealt with it.” “Makes sense. Actually, you remind me of my mother. She was a fighter, similar to yours, I got the business idea from her. I apologize if it’s too personal, but I hope heat isn’t a problem.” “Trust me, we have our ways.” “Still, better not drink too much.” The woman pointed out. “We don’t get drunk fast.” “Still, I guess if you had offspring, it would look cute.” Jane chuckled. “Sorry, just slipped out.” Now, Wolf blushed. “I…guess it would…” She quickly caught herself. “Look, it just wouldn't feel right. I mean, getting it on with Fletcher would feel like doing it with my little brother...And getting it on with Midnight would feel like doing it with my grandpa!” “Seriously?” The woman raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Batponies. They don't age. He's taken care of me since I was a filly, when I first started living with ponies. He's my mentor, essentially like a second father-figure. Seeing him as more than that, it just wouldn't work.” “Best we drop this, d'accord?” The French woman suggested and Wolf nodded. The next day, Central had a message for Dinky, Edward and Rosie. “We are nearing a settlement near Atlanta, you will be safe there.” The filly understood, she wanted to help but she might be safer that way. “Okay. Be careful out there, uncles and Aunt.” She gave Fletcher a hug. “Of course I will, Dinky.” “Stay alive, Toby.” Rosie gave the Specialist a friendly hug, her son did too. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He replied before the three with Jane went into the Skyranger. The flight was very calm and pleasant, the settlement was also a Shady town, looking almost identical to their old home. “There you go, see you.” The Ranger said goodbye. Dinky, Edward and Rosie walked towards it and an elderly woman with grey hair and green eyes greeted them, appearing to be in her sixties. She was thin, about 1,80 meters high. “Hello, you are the new residents Central mentioned? I am Jan Schaeffer.” Jan? Wasn’t that the name of Kyle’s mother? Dinky thought but decided to wait with asking as they got led into a house. “Serve yourselves, I have tee and biscuits.” Jan offered and their guests accepted. “Would you like to tell me about you?” “I’m Rosie Brown, my son Edward and our friend Dinky Hooves.” “Nice names your son and friend has.” Jan smiled before Dinky said, “Mrs. Schaeffer, I think I may know your son.” The woman’s expression became confused. “You…do?” “Yes, in fact, he saved me.” With that, she told her how where she was from, how she landed here and how Kyle had helped here. Jan smiled with pride. “So he’s still alive, and with XCOM. I really feared the worst after the invasion and 20 years of not knowing anything about him.” “You witnessed the invasion?” Edward asked, although her age made it obvious. “Yes. After I fled, I did freelance work to make a living and following my dream of cooking…” She said with a shaking voice as she remembered. It was a beautiful day in spring 2015, Jan helping out at a diner, enjoying her work. “There you go, have a nice day!” She said to the last customer for the day and prepared to close the diner, looking at a picture of her son she had taken with her. “Kyle…I miss you…” She said with tears, hoping he was okay. She really wished she could have taken him with her back then. He was everything she had left after her husband had died. There was no night where she did not dream of him, even after all those years. Every day she prayed Kyle could forgive her and she would see him again one day. She came from a working- to middle-class family, and spent a lot of her free time reading fiction novels, but since she left her son behind, even that didn’t help to get over it. Also since she got beaten by her second husband, she had become fairly timid around other people, not always knowing what to say or do, afraid of other men, not wanting to experience the pain again. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a strong force threw her over. Her ears were ringing, her vision blurry as she faintly saw fire in the diner and an object in the middle of it, not able to see it fully, but could make out a green glowing color. “W-what is t-that?” Before she could react, green gas sprayed from it and she screamed as she got pulled towards it, everything became black. Jan couldn’t tell how long she was out before a faint beeping sound echoed in her ears. Her vision was still blurry as she opened her eyes, seeing nothing but white. Blinking, everything became slowly clear and she found herself in a hospital room. She groaned in pain as a doctor came in. “You are awake, good.” “W-what happened?” Jan asked with a dry voice. The man took a deep breath. “It is hard to tell but you were almost victim of an alien abduction, hadn’t been for the quick responding military forces.” Jan couldn’t believe what she just heard. “A-Aliens?” “You mean...you don't know?” “Oh my…you were very lucky back then.” Rosie said in shock. “Yes, I owe XCOM my life.” The elderly woman replied. “How did you get here?” Dinky wanted to know and Jan sighed again. “During the invasion, I prayed my son would survive it. After the surrender, I started to believe the lie of peace in my desperation for my son. As cooking was my passion, I wanted to continue my work. But with ADVENT, a new area of restrictions and bans was created. There were still some independent businesses out there trying to survive the occupation back then. In a few areas, things seemed almost normal, but ADVENT wasn't having it. Constantly changing restrictions on ‘unauthorized’ food sources made it almost impossible not to move to the new City Centers. So I had to give up my dream at first.” She started to smile weakly. “Yet, in the City Center, I opened a small restaurant and made some friends. But after they had to visit the gene clinics, and never returned, I got suspicious. Eventually, ADVENT arrested me for selling illegal food, although I keep everything under the law. As they took me away, the transport got ambushed by resistance fighters and I live in their settlement ever since.” “Sorry to hear that. Did you make the biscuits yourself?” Dinky asked and the woman nodded. “Glad you like them, sweetie.” “Alert!” A voice yelled and they all looked into the sky in fear, seeing ADVENT transport in the sly, closing in. “Take cover!” Another voice yelled and the group started to run. Dinky saw how the Resistance Soldiers that guarded the settlement tried to defend it, but as they only had conventional assault rifles, they had no chance all against the aliens and ADVENT, riddled with gunfire, falling in their dozens in mere moments. Then something exploded near her and she found herself thrown against a wall, screaming in pain. Dinky grunted, her vision blurry as she tried to get up. As her vision cleared, she saw a civilian in front of her, unbothered by the chaos. “Run! Get to cover!” She yelled but what happened next frightened her. The human started to twitch and liquid leaked out of it’s body and suddenly bursted and a unnaturally tall alien, made up of a pale gelatinous fluid with glowing red eyes hatched from the body. It stared at her, but she was frozen, unable to move. It’s claws looked very sharp. Then a loud shot ringed in her ears and the alien turned halfway backwards but corrected itself and turned around, facing it’s attacker. “Hey! Ugly!” Kyle’s voice sounded in her ears and she saw him looking at the creature with an angry expression. “Take this!” He yelled as it charged forward him and he fired at the head, blood splattered and it fell dead to the ground. The filly barely could recover as a hissing sound greeted her ears and she turned around in horror. The hissing came from a gas tank near her and ad ADVENT trooper that looked also at it in horror before it exploded and both got thrown to the ground. The filly groaned in pain as she got up and her eyes went wide in fear. “HELP!” She screamed as she was trapped in a wave of flames. The ADVENT trooper held it head as it ringed, slowly getting up. As it cleared, he noticed that he could no longer hear his allied troopers or commanding officer. Instead, he faintly heard a scream, seeing flashing imagines of a facility and a body being surgically changed. Then she saw a little unicorn next to him. Somehow, it was familiar to him. Then he noticed the flames and her look of terror, looking frantically for a way out. Kyle after seeing the flames and hearing the child’s cry for help, became horrified. “We must help her! Look for a way to put out the flames!” “Guys! Look!” One of his comrades called out and he couldn’t believe what he saw. Out of the flames walked an ADVENT trooper, carrying the filly on his arms. The unicorn’s expression was one of terror, not noticing her rescue as the trooper gently dropped her before Kyle. Dinky breathed heavily as he crouched down to her. “Are you hurt?” “I’m f-fine.” She replied still shaken, trying to calm down as she saw how James, Patch and the Knights were with him, having defeated the enemy force and prepared the survivors for evacuation. “K-Kyle? Is that really you?” She heard the voice of the elderly woman behind her, and Kyle’s expression became surprised. “Mum?” He replied and they both hugged each other with tears of joy. “I missed you!” The foal and the others looked at the two with smiles happy for them to be reunited, yet Dinky couldn’t see Edward or Rosie anywhere. She looked around, afraid of what might have happened to them. She looked around the bodies, none of them resembled Rosie, making her hope they had survived. Dinky then spotted Edward in the distance, making her smile weakly before he disappeared behind a wall and she was about to follow him before… “MAMA!”