I try to remember the way things were, but it gets harder every day. So many stories of defeat, so many faces of death. Reports are coming in from every country; it’s a well coordinated attack. The militaries of the world are severely outgunned, like the best of our firepower is nothing but a joke to them. All our defenses have been shattered, all our forces on the run. Regrouping
Somewhere
This was why we were created. The Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, or XCOM for short. We’re our world’s last hope for surviving this war. Our Forces are made up of the greatest soldiers our nations have to offer, aided by our most advanced technology. We have made leaps and bounds in the war against these unknown aliens, and discovered something remarkable. Another Alien Species, one that was actually friendly, and willing to help us in our ongoing struggle for survival. Yet even with our newfound allies, things are looking grim. The casualty rates are enormous, larger than anything we’ve ever experienced. My soldiers fall daily, each of their faces and names blending into my mind, haunting what little sleep I can get.
Remembering the way things were use to give me hope, but the truth is…
I’m starting to lose faith
~~~
“This is Rouge One, we are arriving above the crash site now. Initiating flyby.”
“Rouge One, what’s your SITREP?”
“Uh, unclear.”
“Negative copy. Say again Rouge One, over.”
“Holding at one thousand feet, It’s madness down there sir.”
“Do you have a visual on the object?”
“Affirmative. I can’t make out what it is from here, but some kind of green glow seems to be emanating from it, moving through the streets.”
“Rouge One, repeat your last, the glow is spreading?”
“Ya, it seems to be some kind of gas… I think I see some bodies down there. It looks like it’s some kind of chemical agent Colonel.”
“A biological attack? Someone wake up GSG9, this is their jurisdiction.”
~~~
“Luna?”
The princess’s eyes slowly opened, as she exhaled slowly.
“Y-yes Celestia?”
They were sitting in the throne room, completely empty save for the two royal Alicorns. They had just concluded the day’s business in the royal court, and were just about to conclude the day. But something was wrong, very wrong.
“Is everything alright?” Her sister asked.
She wanted to say yes, to shrug off what she had as just a bad feeling. But she knew it was much more than that. As the Princess of the night, she spent much of her time looking at the night sky. The planets, the stars, each of which Luna studied intently, mapped, and generally tried to understand. As a result, she had a sort of connection with the realms beyond Equestria.
“No, everything is not alright.” She replied, closing her eyes once more. “Something is wrong. Very wrong.”
“Within Equestria?” Celestia voice sounded curious, but with a twinge of worry. Luna shook her head,
“No, not in Equestria, not even on this planet. It’s somewhere very, very far away.” She opened her eyes, focusing on something far more than the here and now. “I don’t know what exactly what’s happening, but I feel… Pain…. Suffering….Fear…” Her eyes widened in horror. “And…. Death I think. It’s as if some beings were experiencing war, but it’s beyond that. This level of suffering is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before, and I have a horrible feeling that it’s only the beginning…”
~~~
Western Germany
Lieutenant Katelyn “Kate” Holt
US Delta Force
October 9th, 2012
0400 hours
“Run this by me again,” Grinch said, checking his rifle for the third time. “Why are we investigating a terrorist attack on German soil?”
“The German GSG9 team went missing about an hour ago,” This came from Colonel Maze on the radio. “They’re scrambling other forces, but they’ve asked us to investigate since your squad is the closest to ground zero.”
“What’s our objective sir?” Sandman asked, checking his gear along with the rest of his squad.
“Priority one is to find out exactly what is happening on the ground,” Maze answered. “Priority two is to locate the GSG9 team if at all possible. Get on it Metal team.”
“Copy all sir,” Sandman turned to his team. “Masks on, we might be dealing with a chemical agent down there.”
The four soldiers sealed the gas masks over their faces, all making one final check before they were deployed.
“Approaching the landing zone,” The pilot said. “Opening doors.”
The Blackhawk’s two side doors opened wide, revealing the small town that was glowing with a neon green color.
“Hey, look down there.” Truck pointed toward a nearby ship, drawing their attention to a flaming wreck.
“Overlord, we’ve located the crashed German helicopter.”
“Roger Metal Zero One, any sign of survivors?”
“Negative, nothing’s moving down there.”
“Alright, set her down nearby.”
As the helicopter moved to land, Truck looked at the sole female member of the team.
“You’re pretty quiet over there Kate.” He said.
“I’ve just got a bad feeling about all this,” She replied. “Something’s not right here.”
The helicopter landed at the end of the street, as the four commandoes moved out in formation. It was a mess, cars were overturned an in flames, abandoned police vehicles with doors opened and sirens running, and chunks of buildings remained missing.
“Overlord, you getting all this?”
“Affirmative. Move down the street but be careful. Whatever did this could still be out there.”
“Copy all,” Sandman said. “Truck, take point.” The soldier nodded, taking cover behind a statue. The rest of the squad followed suit, spreading out across the street.
“Keep your eyes open, check every corner.” Grinch said, obviously feeling the tension in the air.
“What do you supposed did all this?” Truck thought out loud. “I mean, I’ve never seen any kind of terrorist attack like this before.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sandman responded. “We’ll put a stop to whoever did this.”
Kate remained silent, not feeling in a talking mood. She slowly made her way to an overturned police vehicle. She heard something that sounded like a half moan, half gurgle. Slowly, she looked around the side of the vehicle,
Her breath caught in shock
“Holy hell…” She whispered. What was in front of her was truly hideous, something she couldn’t even call a man anymore. He was mutilated, his face now unrecognizable. He reached out towards her, then collapsed to the ground, stone dead.
“What do you see Zero Two?” Maze demanded. Kate swallowed hard, then touched her earpiece.
“Looks like a member of the German team sir, what’s left of him anyway.” She said. “It looks like something…” She was cut off as her radio blasted in her ear.
“HIIIIILLLLLLFEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”
The voice sounded like that from monster movies, and chilled Kate down to the bone.
“Was that your man Metal Zero Two?”
“Negative sir, that was someone else.”
“Hiiiiiilllllllffeeeeeeeeee……”
It came again, much weaker this time.
“Colonel, what’s he saying?” Sandman asked.
“He’s saying…. Help me.” Maze’s voice sounded curious. “The transmission is coming from that building at the end of the street north of your position. Advance and infiltrate that position, but stay in cover.”
“Yes sir.”
Slowly, the team moved from one cover position to another, taking nearly ten minutes to move up a street that should have been a two minute walk.
“Hold up,” Sandman said. “I think I’ve got something over here.” Kate looked over towards her squad leader, watching him move up toward a bus stop.
“Overlord, I just found another member of the GSG9 team. But this doesn’t make any sense, it looks like he’s been dead for a week.”
“What do you mean?” Truck asked.
“The body color and deterioration does not line up with being dead for less than an hour. Even more weird is how he died. It looks like something actually came out of him from the inside!”
“Overlord, I have visual on the object that’s making that glow,” Grinch said. “Permission to approach.”
“It’s the only cover between you and that building,” Maze said. “Permission granted.”
Kate heard Grinch take a deep breath, then he sprinted toward the glowing rectangular object. He slid behind it, looking it over.
“Talk to me soldier, what is it?”
“I haven’t got a damn clue sir. But there’s no way this is a satellite.”
“Copy that Four. Alright team, time to get in that building. Stack up on the south side door.”
The four Americans all moved toward the building, showing elite precision as they took position by the door.
“Do it Grinch.” Sandman ordered. Grinch kicked the door open, as the Americans flooded into the building.
From what Kate could tell, it was a warehouse, with boxes stacked together around the wide room. The only source of light was a low hanging light in the center of the room. Behind it stood a man wearing a German GSG9 uniform, his face masked by shadows. In one hand he held a shotgun, and a grenade in the other.
“Helfe…..” He whimpered.
“Overlord, we’ve got eyes on the target, he’s armed.”
“Copy Metal Zero One. Alright team, get to cover, but do not approach.”
“Alright, fan out team, five meter spread.”
“Colonel, can you talk to this guy?” Truck asked. “Let him know we’re on the same team so he’ll drop his weapons?”
“My German’s a bit rusty, but I’ll give it a shot.” Maze answered. The Soldiers silently moved into cover as their commander spoke over the radio.
“Hallo, wir sind American Special Forces. Wir sind hier her gekommen, um Ihnen helfen kann. Wir sind nicht ihnen Schaden. Bitte werfen Sie Ihre Waffen.”
“Hilfe….”
“It looks like he might be in shock sir.” Kate commented.
“I agree, but we can’t just leave him in this state.”
“Ok. Truck, move in and disarm him. Carefully.” Sandman said.
Slowly, Truck rose from cover. Walking in a non-threatening fashion, he approached the shocked soldier. The man made no move as Truck grew closer, his arms and weapons staying at his sides. Truck paused as he arrived in front of him, his brow furrowed. He reached up and grabbed the low hanging light, bringing upward to shine light on the man’s face.
“My god…”
The man’s face was a pale, ghost white, with glowing purple eyes. A flowing trail of purple flowing from the back of the German’s head toward a dark corner near a small box.
That was when Kate saw it.
A small grey creature with large red eyes that was about half her size was standing next to the box, only slightly illuminated by the light. The purple glow emanating from its waving hand. Suddenly, it clenched its hands in a fist.
The GSG9 operative raised his shotgun. Before Truck could react, the man fired point blank into his face.
“WHAT THE-”
“TRUCK IS DOWN!”
“WHAT’S HAPPENING DOWN THERE?!”
“METAL ZERO THREE IS DOWN!”
The German pulled the pin on his grenade, holding it in the air as if it were tribute for a god.
“GRENADE!” Kate yelled, ducking behind her box. The grenade detonated, eviscerating the German. Kate looked over to Sandman, who had dove to the ground to protect himself. Suddenly, one of those grey creatures appeared behind him, bringing up a small weapon on its arm.
“Sandman!” She yelled. “At your six!”
Sandman whirled around, bringing his weapon up, but he wasn’t fast enough.
The creature fired two bolts of green energy right into his face. Sandman’s body collapsed to the ground, half of his head burned away. Kate gasped in shock, as she sprinted away, trying to find new cover. The creature fired at her, but thankfully the shots had gone wide of their intended target.
“Overlord, Metal Zero One is down!” She yelled as she rolled behind a box. “We’re taking fire from multiple unknown X-rays!”
“This guy’s got me pinned down over here!” Grinch cried. Kate looked over her cover to see her last surviving squad member hiding for dear life behind a metal crate as a third creature was firing more green energy bolts at him.
Her elite training kicked in, even as her mind was still reeling at what was happening in front of her. She raised her rifle, taking precise aim, then squeezing the trigger. Three bullets struck the alien, two in the torso, and one piercing the creature’s head.
“You’re clear Grinch!” She yelled. The commando broke cover, getting behind a nearby box. He pulled the trigger on his own weapon, killing the creature that had ended the life of their squad leader.
“That was for Sandman!” He growled. Before Kate could respond, Grinch cried out in pain, his back burned black as his body fell forward.
Acting on pure reaction, Kate squeezed the trigger, emptying her weapon’s magazine on the horrifying creature that dared to kill her last squadmate.
Everything fell silent. No more creatures appeared from the darkness, none came to take her life.
Kate slid to the floor, her heart hammering inside of her chest so hard that she feared it would explode. She sat their silently for several minutes, her eyes wandering from body to body. Finally, she was aware of someone screaming in her ears.
“-Zero Two? Metal Zero Two, respond! Dammit Kate, answer me!” It was Maze.
“Overlord….” She started slowly. “All hostiles are down. The rest of Metal team is KIA. It’s over.” Her voice was shaking now.
“Get me the hell out of here.”
~~~
“Hello Colonel. In response to the alien threat, this Council of Nations has chosen to activate the XCOM project. You will have full command of this new unit, comprised of the best soldiers the world has to offer.”
“With all due respect sir, I already know the best, just let me make a few phone calls.”
XCOM PERSONEL
CPT. C. Davis “SPAR”, FAC, USA
SGT. N. Powers “CLICK”, MI6, UK
LT. K. Holt “KATE”, Delta Force, USA
CPT. V. Reznov, Spensnaz, Russia
SGT. J. Salter “JOKER”, FAC, USA
SGT. K. Salter “KAT”, Search and Rescue, Canada
CPT. K. McTavish “SOAP”, SAS, UK
CPT. Z. Kayes “DINGO”, Mercenary, USA
CPL. J. Vollen “JESS”, GSG9, Germany
LT. N. Dimitri, Spensnaz, Russia
SGT. K. Davis “FROST”, SEALs, USA
PVT. J. Poulle “SABRE”, GIGN, France
PFC. L. Minder “ICE”, ADF, Australia
LT. M. Cuevas “DUSTY”, FAC, USA
LT. J. Jacks “THANE”, FBI, USA
MSGT. T. Mgee “FIXER”, Mercenary, Ireland
LT. M. Derek “ANGEL”, Mercenary, USA
SGT.D. Garrett “GHOST”, FAC, USA
“These are just a few sir. We’ll be as ready as we can be.”
“I’ll have to trust you with that. Do not be careless with the lives of your troops. Good luck Colonel.”
~~~
Twilight’s head hurt tremendously, as if it was a ripe melon read to split. Her eyes were still closed, but she could feel rubble underneath her hooves. She slowly stood up, opening her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a ruined building, the walls collapsing in on themselves and windows shattered. It was destruction on a level she never saw in her life. Outside, she could see other large building, most in even worse shape than the one she was in. The architecture was much similar to that which she had seen in large cities such as Canterlot and Manehattan, and yet they were… different in a way she couldn’t put her hoof on. This was definitely not Ponyville, or even anywhere in Equestria for that matter.
Where was she?
And on that note, how had she gotten here?
She struggled to remember what had happened, and was rewarded with only hazy recollections of her, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack stumbling across a blue phone booth, Rainbow Dash pressing a lot of buttons against Twilight’s warning, hearing some shouting, then turning to see Lyra, Ditzy, and Doctor Whooves running towards them while-
The Doctor
Twilight had heard several crazy stories about him, but had never really believed them. But was it possible?
Had he really somehow sent her to another world?
Behind her, she heard a menacing growl. She didn’t even turn to look, she just ran for her dear life, as bolts of green energy began to zing past her.
~~~
XCOM Headquarters, Madagascar
December 27, 2012
“Come on, please?” Spar begged, trying to give his best puppy-dog eyes.
“I already told you no,” The scientist said, not even looking at him. “The laser weapons aren’t ready for testing yet.”
“But you said they would be! Are you getting behind schedule Tex?”
“Behind your schedule maybe,” She shot back. “Our schedule is doing just fine. Maze told us to work on the autopsies first, then laser weapons.” Spar gave her an unhappy look.
“You know how bad I want my hands on those weapons.”
“Yes I do know, which is why I’m half tempted to delay them even further, if the future of the earth wasn’t in our hands.” The soldier gave the scientist a suave smile,
“Really? Are you sure my irresistible charm can’t speed you up a bit?” Tex nearly fell out of her seat laughing.
“Please,” She snorted. “That didn’t work back in Moscow, it won’t work now.”
“You and I remember Moscow very differently…” Spar grumbled. Tex opened her mouth with a reply, but an alert sound pinged from her computer. Raising a brow, she went over to it.
“That’s strange…” She mumbled.
“What is it?” Spar asked.
“A power flux. A massive one, bigger than I’ve ever seen before.”
“Where?”
“:London.”
“London? That was hit hard over a month ago, what the hell could have caused that?”
“I’ve got no idea, but I’ll take a bet that it’s the aliens cooking up trouble.” She pressed the intercom. “Colonel?”
“I see it Tex.” Came Maze’s almost robotic response. “Spar, get your team together, I want you to go investigate.” The soldier raised a brow.
“How did you know I was down here?”
“You’re ALWAYS down there Spar.” He retorted before cutting off the transmission. Spar felt some heat rising in his face, and made a mental note to kill his commanding officer when this was all over.
“I uh, guess I’d better get going.” He said. Tex nodded,
“Stay alive Spar, I need someone to act as a test subject for my brainless men experiments.”
“I always knew you loved me!” Spar called back, activating his radio. “Joker? Get the rest of the squad together and meet me at the Skyranger in five minutes.”
~~~
Twilight was still running, her hooves feeling like they were on fire. But she couldn’t stop, the monsters were still right behind her. She didn’t what they were, but the weapons they were firing were causing destruction, and while she couldn’t believe it, those things were trying to kill her.
Suddenly, a piece of debris caught her leg and she tripped. She tried to get back up, but she knew it would be too late. She turned around to face the monsters one final time, and saw a familiar Rainbow figure behind them.
“Hey bozos!” Dash yelled, grabbing their attention. “Try to catch me!” They started firing their weapons at the Pegasus, as Rainbow flew in the opposite direction with the monsters behind them.
“Psst! Twilight!” The unicorn looked over to see Doctor Whooves standing in the doorway of a nearby building, waving for her to follow him. “Hurry!”
“But Rainbow Dash-“
“She’s keeping them distracted, come on!” Twilight followed him inside, and realized that Ditzy, Applejack, and Lyra were also in the building.
“Twi!” Applejack cried. “Thank Celestia you’re alright! I was afraid those things had gotten to ya!” Twilight acknowledged her friend, but turned back towards The Doctor.
“Where are we?!” She demanded. The Stallion simply shook his head.
“I don’t know,” He admitted, “Whatever Rainbow Dash did to the TARDIS, it sent us here. But I don’t even know where here is.” Outside, he heard laughter. “Speaking of our Rainbow colored annoyance…” He walked outside to see Dash floating in the air. “I thought you were leading those things away?” She rolled her eyes.
“Psh, please.” She said. “I lost those losers in less than ten seconds. They’re no match for my speed!”
“Keep your voice down!” Whooves hissed. “We don’t want to attract more of them!”
“Lighten up! There’s nothing they could do to the Rain-bow Da-” She was cut off as a green bolt of energy clipped her right wing. She fell to the ground, screaming in agony.
The creatures had returned, and were firing their weapons wildly. Whooves grabbed Rainbow’s fur by his teeth, hauling her back inside while she continued screaming.
“Rainbow!” Twilight cried, rushing to her friend’s side.
“Those things are getting closer!” Lyra cried, looking out a window.
“What do we do?!”
For the first time in his life, The Doctor had no idea what to do. His throat clamped shut, not being able to speak.
Suddenly, sharp crack filled the air, as the creatures fell to the ground, oozing yellow blood. Voices soon joined them,
“Whoohoo! That’s my third kill today!”
“Bullshit! That was my kill!”
Ditzy looked at him, surprise in her wall-eyes.
“There’s someone out there,” She said. “Should we try to get them to help us?”
“That’s probably a bad idea,” Applejack said “Did you hear them? They were talkin’ about killin’! Like it was nothing but a game!”
“Hey, did you hear that?” All the ponies froze as they heard the voices outside.
“I did, they’re might be more sectiods in that building.”
“Alright Delta, stack up on the door. Breach and clear.”
“NO WAIT!” Whooves cried, his voice returning to him.
“Who’s there?!” The voice demanded.
“Please,” Twilight said, her voice pleading. “One of our friends is hurt! We need help!” The voice outside paused for a moment,
“Alright, we’re coming in,” It responded. “Stand clear of the door.” The ponies quickly moved away from the area, as it bursts open. Four bipedal creatures moved inside, weapons in hand and their bodies covered in camouflaged clothes. All of them froze in shock, their eyes as wide as the ponies. For about thirty seconds, they all stood in silence, just staring at each other. Finally, one of them spoke.
“…Uh, Joker…..”
“Ya…..”
“….I think I’ve finally lost it.”
“Me too Spar, me too…..”