“Hey……wa…..p,” came a distant voice that caused the young man’s form to stir slightly.
“G…yo……zy…..ss….up!” the voice came again, accompanied by the sleeping form being shaken.
“GET THE F UP YOU LAZY ASS!” the voice now yelled into the figure’s ear, causing him to jolt straight up and fall onto the floor. The young figure, a teenage boy, quickly shook his head in order to wake up, and used his hands to rub the sleep from his eyes. As he re-opened his eyes, he saw the interior of a cargo plane that he and his unit were on. As he looked around he saw his team leader, Tate “Strike” Terian glaring at him.
“Do I really need to yell at you in order to wake you up?” He asked the young male, as he closed his eyes and shook his head. “We are nearing the airport RC, you might want to go ahead and prepare for landing.”
“Yes sir!” replied the boy, whose name was Cy Core, also known as “RC”. Core was a sixteen year old human in the Experimental branch of the Cryterian military. His job was a Tactical Drone Controller, which was someone who controlled drones to help out a fireteam. He was often attached to a fireteam and helped out when needed. His hair was grayish silver with natural blue highlights that cut into a small military fade. His left eye was gray while his right eye was a deep crimson color, both of which usually hid behind his special blue contact lenses. His skin was a little paler than most others, but the problem was genetic.
Core slowly stood up and went back to his seat, strapping himself in and checking the cargo pockets of his uniform to make sure nothing fell out while he was resting. After everything was accounted for he turned toward his current team leader to ask the question he already knew the answer to.
“So, why do we have to move to this base in Equestira again?” asked Core as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time.
“They want extra security for our embassy there,” Terian began as he pulled out the orders sheet to review it once again. “Princess Celestia also thinks I might be able to help our straining relations,” he concluded.
Cryteria had recently entered a war with a militia force, one that had attacked in order to show Cryteria that they were not as invincible as they had thought. The militia force was mostly supplied by a group that seemed to have some relations to the royal sisters. What the connection was, no one quite knew. Cryteria blamed Equestria for the attack and almost invaded them, until they found out that it was a big trick to turn them against one another. Cryteria canceled the attack and focused on eliminating the large militia force. The strains of the near flashpoint still caused tension between the two nations, and the fact that Equestira had once actually held Cryteria in its borders (mostly using the strange natives as slave labor until they rebelled) did not help the matter.
“Listen RC,” began Strike as he looked over to the young boy, “I know you don’t exactly like Equestria, but at least try to act professional. You will be staying on base anyways. The only locals you will see will be some of the Royal Guard.”
“I know Strike, but why can’t we be going to where the real action is? We belong in combat to make sure that damn militia pays for what it did,” RC stated with a hint of anger apparent in his voice. “We were supposed to go there, but instead they change our orders all because of some dumbass princess wanting better relations. Why did it even have to be our unit? What could they possibly do with such a specialized unit?” he concluded, the anger now taking over his entire speech.
Core’s unit, the 98th Combined Operations Force (AKA “Brain Splitter”) was a highly specialized unit that employed the use of mostly mechanized forces. The overall size of the force was around 3 IFVs, 1 Command vehicle, 24 infantry of varying classes, 2 HUMVVES, and 1 Drone Control Center (DCC). RC was the only drone controller for the small unit currently en-route to a small base in a town near the capital of Equestria. The unit was mostly used for a more hit-and-run type of tactic, and relied heavily on the intel that came in from the Core’s drones.
“I’m sure there are reasons for this, just learn to accept it,” said Strike as he felt the large cargo plane start to descend and touch ground. The aircraft slowly came to a halt and taxied to the unloading area. The rear ramp opened up and the vehicles slowly backed out of the plane and went to a halt, waiting for men to load up to go to their new base. As RC walked down the ramp, he noticed it was a small civilian airport and it seemed they did not get too much traffic. As he looked at the landscape he saw a brilliant grassland environment with fresh air. As they exited the aircraft RC and the others put their cover on and went to their respective transport. As RC neared his transport, the DCC nicknamed “Android,” he thought he saw some people scowling at the unit from within the small air terminal.
“Load up men, we have some ground to cover to get to the base and we only have around thirty minutes to get there!” the unit commander, Colonel Yeria, yelled over the radio. “Let’s show these locals that we’re in town!”
RC watched the scenery go by from his seat inside of Android. The monitor in front of him showing small parts of the seemingly lazy town. He noticed that a lot of the locals glared at the war machines as they roared through their quiet little town.
“I don’t think they like us all that much boss,” said the driver, Lou “Little” Litia, as he observed some of the townsfolk.
“Course dey don’t like us,” stated the commander, Daine “Eye” Dreima, with a hint of caution on her voice. “We are going tru’ der town in foreign machines made to kill anytin’ dat moves. I would be a little pissed too if dat happened to me in my hometown.”
“I don’t think it’s quite pissed boss, more of questioning ‘why’,” Little stated as he turned a corner and halted behind an IFV. “Hey look at that school over there, it’s huge,” Little said as he started moving around to get a closer look at it. RC adjusted his FLIR (forward-looking infrared systems) to see what he was talking about.
“Wow! That is a big school!” RC exclaimed in amazement. The campus was around the size of a university and had many different figures walking around it. The campus was made up of numerous buildings of varying sizes, all of which seemed to serve its own purpose. The sign in front of the school read “Ponyville Academy, Home to the brightest minds of Equestria.”
“Ponyville Academy eh,” said Eye as she looked at some of the buildings before Little started moving the DCC again. “I tink dat’s where Celestia’s protégé is going to school now. Sometin’ ‘bout making new friends and furterin’ education. Ya’ know, borin’ crap like dat.”
“I think we can all agree with that boss,” Little said as they neared the base. The DCC rolled through the gates and made its way toward their assigned location.