//------------------------------// // 2 - Scattered // Story: The Package // by Mechanischer Mann //------------------------------// Squad Members: Flawless Victory - Leader Forest Monsoon - Medic Ember Hazel - Engineer Amethyst Melody - Scout Flawless Victory was sitting near the bonfire with his squad deep inside a cave within Everfree Forest, with their weapons next to each other and a radio by their side to contact anypony nearby. It was night time outside, so he has to be careful not to track attention with the bonfire. The green, red-haired pony sitting next to Flawless was Forest Monsoon, the squad’s medic as seen by the medical symbols on his uniform and bag. Next was a creamy coloured and brown-haired glasses-wearing pony named Ember Hazel, an engineer skilled with repairing equipment and machinery. Last was the purple mare unicorn Amethyst Melody, a sniper and a scout. The all-unicorn group is not without some degree of injury, with Hazel losing her leg and having it replaced with a prosthetic one and Melody having lost her left eye and covered with an eye patch. The squad are all staying silent for a few minutes until Forest Monsoon spoke first. "So, what are we going to do now?" He spoke out. "I don't know, I'm still thinking." Flawless Victory answered. Flawless Victory is still processing the events that happened the past day, the princesses are all gone and Equestria has completely fallen. The Universal Order, an empire that came far beyond this world, has effectively taken full control over Equestria and the whole planet as well. The Order had first came to Equestria during the Crystal War, where King Sombra and his army of enslaved crystal ponies have invaded Equestria and were taking swathes of territory. They had offered the Equestrians aid with advanced technology capable of defeating King Sombra, to which they accepted and utilised it to regain their lost territory and eventually defeat King Sombra. After the war, The Order had issued a proposal to Equestria and the princesses to serve them for using their technology, to which the princesses rejected. In retaliation, the Order had begun fighting against the ponies into submission with bombings from orbit, capturing Equestrian territory and slaughtering the population; a repeat of the Crystal War for the ponies. The technology that the Equestrians received from the Order did not prove to be effective against their war machines along with their superior troops and weaponry. After just five days, Equestria eventually fell, with the ponies either on the run, collaborating, enslaved or dead. As for the princesses, no one knowns what happened to them, they're probably hiding somewhere, captured or dead. Flawless Victory's squad was just one of the lucky few that managed to run away and hide from them, and it's only a matter of time for the Order to find them. "Where do we go!? We can't go anywhere without getting destroyed by those darn machines out there!" Ember Hazel spoke out. "I know, we just need to find the right moment to get past through them." Flawless Victory replied. "If only if the princesses were still around..." Amethyst Melody spoke out. "The princesses? Who knows where they are now! They're all probably dead anyways." Forest Monsoon spat "They're the only ones who could guide us. If they really are all dead then all of us would have died too." Amethyst Melody said. "You're suggesting that they're still alive hiding somewhere?" "I don't know." "Great, no one knows! That's for sure." "If only we hadn't accepted their 'aid' and left us alone, we could have defeated King Sombra and his army ourselves without them!" Ember Hazel ranted. "We would all still die anyway without them." Amethyst Melody counteracted. "At least being enslaved by Sombra is better than being enslaved to the Order." Flawless Victory watched as his squad argued each other over theirs and Equestria's failures, to the point which they started fighting for how all of this could have been prevented. Flawless Victory could not let them continue fighting each other as to not give away their position to the enemy, so he decided to intervene. "Silence, everypony! Do you want to reveal yourselves to the enemy by arguing each other this loudly!?" Flawless Victory scolded. The ponies then eventually remained silent after Flawless' command. "We lost, that's for sure. But Celestia gave us her final order to continue fighting, now matter how it ends. Which means that there are still some soldiers out there surviving. It appears what we must do is regroup the scattered soldiers that are still surviving and keep on fighting." Flawless Victory spoke out. "But we can't just fight against a huge empire with a small size like that! Most if not all of our forces are gone!" Forest Monsoon argued. "...I know, but at least it will give them some trouble." Flawless Victory replied. Suddenly, the radio beside then started to activate and the squad began to hear a faint voice from it. They were all still haunted by the panicked voices from other soldiers and of the horrors on the radio during the war, their screams and cries for help were something that stayed with them. Flawless Victory approached the radio and tuned it to the right signal to get a clear voice for the pony speaking. "This is Commander Golden Bolt, I repeat, this is Commander Golden Bolt. We may have lost but our fight isn't over, we must fight until our very end! To any surviving ponies or soldiers out there listening to this, head to the Undiscovered West immediately. I repeat, head to the Undiscovered West immediately!" "Would you look at that, looks like some of them are still willing to fight after all of this." Forest Monsoon commented. "Ponies don't seem to give up so easily, do they?" Amethyst Melody further commented. "The power of friendship is what makes us strong, isn't it?" Ember Hazel followed. "So be it, everypony. Our next objective is to make our way to the Undiscovered West and regroup what remains of the Equestrian army. You got it?" Flawless Victory outlined. "But what if its a trap set up by the Order?" Ember Hazel questioned. "I doubt that it is a trap. Not a lot of ponies have ever visited the Undiscovered West. Besides, it's only a matter of time before the Order fully sweeps through the entire planet." Flawless Victory replied. "When will we be leaving?" Forest Monsoon asked. "We will leave by dawn, but Amethyst will make sure if it is safe for us to come out of the cave." Flawless Victory replied. The squad all gathered in a circle and bumped each others' hooves. "May Celestia protect us all." Flawless Victory prayed.