London, England
October 20th, 2012
1130 hours
The MI6 agent pulled her gun away faster than Soap, as they quickly realized they were friends with the speed of seasoned soldiers.
Short, with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, the agent in front of him was certainly attractive, but Soap knew better than to even attempt flirting.
“Click?” He asked.
“Keneth.” She said, her eyes showing exhaustion. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” In the Corner, Soap could see the Prime minister hiding under a desk, but no one else in the safe room, save for the pile of corpses in the doorway.
“Are you the last one here?” Click nodded.
“The Minister’s Security detail was the first to go, then more and more agents died, I’m the last survivor.” She shivered. “Those bloody aliens just kept coming.”
“Hey, it’s alright,” Soap said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We’re getting out of here.” Click snorted.
“You plan to get us out of here by yourself? A nice idea, but it would be suicide.” Muffled sounds of fighting came to their ears. “What’s that?”
“Some lads doing a suicide mission so we don’t have to,” Soap said, his voice choked with sadness. “So let’s not let it go to waste.” Click hesitated a moment, then nodded.
“Alright, just give me a moment.” She said. The agent moved over towards the man cowering under the nearby desk. “Mr. Prime Minister, we’re getting out of here.” The man nodded silently, rising from his cover.
“Right then,” Soap said, peeking out the door. “We should get moving.”
“And where exactly are we moving to?” Click asked. “Please tell me your plan isn’t to shoot our way out the front doors.”
“The same way I came in, there’s a hidden door in the men’s toilet room on the floor below us,” Soap explained, quietly taking a step out of the safe room. “It leads straight to the metro tunnels. From there, we’ll head towards the nearest station, then signal for evacuation.”
“Simple enough I suppose.” Click responded, falling in to cover the group from behind. They moved in silence for a few moments, before Click asked. “What’s the situation like outside?” Soap was silent for a moment before answering.
“It’s bloody ugly,” He admitted. “London is lost, we’re really just fighting now out of stubbornness and refusal to accept it.”
“But… how?”
“We’re outgunned here Click, you know that. We just can’t compete with their firepower in a million years.”
“But there must be some way,” She insisted. “Isn’t there anyone who can lend us any support?”
“The rest of the world’s got their own problems. Reports are still comin’ in from everywhere. Washington, Moscow, Tokyo, Rio, New York… more every hour. It’s chaos right now, with so many dead and MIA, trying to establish a command structure has become hell.”
“So there’s no united front to stop this?”
“There is.”
Both soldiers looked in shock at the Prime Minister, who had remained completely silent until now.
“What do you mean?” Normally, Soap wouldn’t ask such a question of his country’s leader, but right now he wanted to know whether there was a slimmer of hope for the future.
“A few weeks ago, right after first contact was established, The Americans called an emergency summit to help create an organization meant for the sole purpose to counter the invasion.”
“And? Was it formed?”
“I don’t know,” The Minister said, shrugging. “I was summoned back to London before the final vote could be taken, and the bloody aliens attacked before I could get news of the final decision.”
“Well that’s just bloody perfect.” Soap mumbled. They had finally arrived at their destination, as the SAS commando opened the secret passage. “Well, this way out.”
~~
December 27, 2012
1330 hours
“Get down!” Spar shouted, taking his own advice as green energy bolts of death filled the air around the group. The experienced commandoes quickly took cover behind crates and fallen metal containers. The ponies dived for the ground, covering their heads in total panic.
Joker took a shot with his M-14 sniper rifle, the bullet ripping through a Thin Man’s head. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the ponies that were currently cowering on the floor.
“Spar!” He shouted. “We’re too exposed here! We gotta move!” The squad leader ducked under a plasma blast, then nodded.
“Dusty, on the count of three, drop a smoke grenade in front of us, then lead the ponies out of the warehouse on the west side! We’ll cover you!” He blindfired over his cover. “Three! Two! One!” Dusty pulled the pin on the grenade, hurling it over his two squad mates’ heads. The device exploded, sending a large plume of smog between the invaders and the squad.
“Come on, let’s go!” Joker shouted at the ponies, motioning for them to follow him. The equines, terrified out of their wits, followed the soldier’s instructions.
“Cover!”
“Covering!”
Spar and Ghost started slowly walking backwards, firing their M-8’s into the smoke as they did so. Plasma bolts zinged past their heads, but it was clear that the aliens were firing as wildly as the humans were. Once they had backed out of a door leading back into a street, Spar slammed it shut.
“Move it! Double time!” He yelled, running down the street. The rest of his team was already on his heels, the ponies actually running ahead of him with their four legs.
“Overlord, this is Delta Two requesting priority extraction! Does anyone copy?” Dusty was saying into his radio. “Dammit!”
“Any luck?”
“Nada, if only static could call us a bird.”
“Sure, while we’re making wishes, I wish for a pony.” Joker started to laugh at his own joke, then stopped. “Oh wait…”
Ahead Lyra collapsed, the unicorn not being used to so much physical excursion.
“I….. Can’t…” She panted. Then she suddenly found herself in midair, being picked up by a pair of strong arms.
“We can’t stop!” Spar said, carrying the pony as he ran. “Keep going!”
“But where are we going?” Twilight asked between breaths.
“Anywhere but here!” Ghost yelled back.
As if on cue, the street came to an end, the surrounding roads blocked by collapsed buildings.
“Shit, now what?”Joker asked. “We’re cornered. And I’ll bet those Thin Men weren’t alone.”
“Then we’ll make our stand here,” Spar said, putting Lyra down. “Joker, set up an overwatch position by that overturned car. Dusty, take the others into that corner of the fallen building over there, should be safe enough for them. Ghost, set up your remaining claymores around the perimeter, make sure we have some pleasant surprises for our guests.”
“On it Cap.”
The soldiers set to work, following their orders while keeping a wary eye for any aliens.
“Perfect.” Joker said to himself, looking out from his firing position through his scope.
“Excuse me.” The sniper looked to his left, seeing the purple unicorn that he had heard called Twilight.
“Shouldn’t you be over there with Dusty and your friends?” He asked.
“I know, but I just wanted to ask a question, if you don’t mind.” Joker looked over his shoulder at his kill-zone, then shrugged.
“Sure.” The mare looked over to where Spar was standing, the Captain keeping watch on the street ahead.
“I would like to know more about your friend over there,” Twilight said. “Spar, I believe his name is.” Joker laughed.
“Get in line, much smarter men than me have tried to figure him out, and they got no further than I have. You know it took three years of us fighting from one warzone to another before he even told me his real name.”
“So… What is his real name?”
“Ah, now that is information one has to earn,” Joker said, smiling. “Why don’t you fight in a war beside him for a few years? Then maybe he’ll tell you.” Twilight seemed horrified by that suggestion.
“Me? Fight? Oh no no no.” She said, shaking her head. “I’m not a fighter.”
“Really? You’ve never been in a fight in your life?”
“Well, yes I have.” She said quietly. “But only when my friends or innocent ponies were in danger!” Joker’s smile widened.
“Good. You’re even more like a soldier than you thought.”
“Anyway,” Twilight said, changing the subject before it ended in a place she didn’t want it to go. “Can’t you tell me anything about Spar?” Joker rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful.
“Now these are just rumors, but some speculate that he can’t be killed.” He said. “Why, I can recall once he was bit by a cobra.”
“By Celestia! What happened?”
“Well, after three days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.” Twilight stared at Joker for a few heartbeats, before the man started laughing. “Nah, I’m just puling your leg. But seriously, if you’re so curious, why not just talk to him once we get out of here. If we get out of here…” Twilight sighed and nodded, then looked amused as she heard Rainbow Dash.
“OW!! That is NOT helping!”
“Look, do you want me to help ease the pain or not?” Dusty said, frustrated with his new “Patient”. Before Rainbow could make a retort, Ghost bumped into them.
“Whoops, excuse me.” He said.
“Set it right over there Ghost,” Spar directed the explosives expert. “It’ll be out of the way so none of us will accidently set it off, but it will be in just the right spot if the aliens try anything stupid.”
“How many claymores have you set up?” Dusty asked.
“Uh, five so far, this is my last one.”
“Wait a minute,” Lyra said. “You already set up five of those explosive devices, isn’t that enough?”
“Manfrede and Johnson thought so,” Spar said, his voice betraying no emotion. “What was left of them came home in a manila envelope.”
“From Manila, ironically.” Ghost added. Lyra’s eyes widened, and she didn’t answer.
The preperations continued for another minute, the ponies gathered in a corner, whispering to one another under the watchful eye of Dusty, and the other members of Delta squad keeping an eye out for the invaders. Then Joker whispered into the radio,
“Heads up guys, two floaters at twelve o’clock.”
The humans immediately got out of sight, but in positions so they could see their oncoming enemy. As expected, the floaters were coming down the street slowly, looking through windows, hunting for the humans.
“Standby….Standby….” Spar whispered, letting the aliens draw closer. “Smoke ‘em Joker.”
A crack filled the once silent air. Then another. Then another.
The first bullet struck the lead floater right in the head, sending it crashing to the ground with a cry of pain. The second hit the other floater right in the armor, the lead slug pinging off, but the third round struck one of its fuel lines, engulfing the alien in a fiery explosion.
“Hoorah.” Joker smiled, changing his magazine.
“Let’s not celebrate just yet,” Ghost said. “More incoming.”
Taking the place of the floater scouts were the three Thin Men they had encountered earlier, joined now by four small, large eyed sectoids.
“Wow, looks like we really pissed them off.” Spar mused. “I’m flattered.” He lifted his rifle from cover, aiming down the sights and squeezing the trigger. A burst of fire erupted from the rifle, the bullets cutting down one of the sectoids. The remaining aliens wised up, taking cover behind anything they could find, two of them setting off claymores before finding said cover. The invaders returned fire, their plasma bolts slapping against the soldier’s concrete cover. Joker piped up, taking out a Thin Man with his sniper rifle before ducking back into cover. The ponies kept their heads down, watching in horrified fascination of the battle taking place in front of them.
Spar took another shot, the bullets pinging off the alien’s cover.
“Damn it,” He cursed. “Missed the target.” As he brought his weapon around to reload, the Thin Man seized the advantage, using its spring-like legs to bound to Spar in one leap. Twilight looked in horror, as time seemed to slow down. The human looking up at his attacker, trying to reach for his other gun, the human-like alien opening its mouth to spray Spar with its poison spit.
Before Twilight even knew what she was doing, she was up on her hooves, blasting a spell at the menacing alien. It fell to the ground on its back, but Spar had already recovered, putting two bullets from his revolver into the Thin Man’s head. It exploded into a dark cloud of poison, but the human remained out of the deadly smoke.
Panting, Spar returned to cover, placing the magazine in his rifle. He looked confused, but he quickly returned to the fray. As soon as he looked back over his cover, he felt like he would have rather been poisoned. A large green alien tore through the street, paying no heed for its own safety.
“Oh son of a bitch!” He swore. “Muton! Incoming!”
“My bullets aren’t doing jack-crap to that thing!” Joker yelled. The muton stopped, then started firing a steady stream of plasma bolts flew toward Spar.
“This thing’s got me pinned down!” He shouted out. “Burn him Ghost!”
Seeming to appear from nowhere, the demolition soldier leaped from a nearby collapsed building, landing on the muton’s back. The alien let out a roar of anger, reaching backward to slap away the nuisance. Ghost placed a C4 charge on its back, leaping off the alien. Landing hard on his shoulder, Ghost activated the charge.
“Lights out!” He shouted. The explosion tore the Muton into a thousand pieces. “Haha! Hooyah bitches! Hoo-fuckin’-Yah!”
“I hate to interrupt,” Joker said, ducking under another plasma blast. “But we need to get out of here, like NOW.” Spar was already ahead of the sniper, his finger to the radio piece in his ear.
“Overlord, this is Delta actual, do you copy? Repeat do you copy?” Once again, static answered him.
“It’s no use!” Dusty called. “Our signal is still too weak!”
Spar gritted his teeth in frustration, then suddenly stopped, an idea popping into his head. It was a long shot, but he was willing to try anything right now. He changed his radio to play on all frequencies.
“Karma? Karma, do you read me?” Silence. “Karma? Dammit Karma, answer me!” A few more heartbeats of silence followed, then a female voice answered.
“Holy Hell, Spar is that you?” The former communications officer sounded surprised. During the time Spar had known her, Karma had always spent her free time scanning almost radio frequency around the world for kicks. At the time, Spar had found it very annoying, but right now, it might just save their lives.
“Ya Karma, it’s me. I need a favor.”
“Was that an explosion? Where the hell are you?”
“No time to explain, can you redirect and boost my signal to frequency Cobra-Lima-Eleven?”
“Ya Ya, just give me a second.”
Spar blind-fired over his cover, before hearing a clicking sound over his radio.
“Mayday Mayday Mayday! This is Delta actual, we have priority intelligence assets and we’re under heavy fire by enemy forces! We require immediate extraction! Repeat immediate extraction!” Spar kept his voice under control, but added a tone of urgency.
“This is Central, we hear you loud and clear Spar.” Maze’s voice answered. “Omega squad is two minutes out for extraction, standby.”
“Oh standby,” Joker grumbled. “Great.” Another voice broke the radio’s static.
“Delta Squad, this is Rogue Nine, Standing by to provide close air support.”
“I take back what I said, I love you Colonel!”
“Mark your targets and we’ll take them out.”
“Rogue Nine, we have nothing left to mark the targets with,” Spar said. “We are sitting in a street corner, everything north of us is hostile! Coordinates Lima Lima Mike Foxtrot!”
“Roger that, inbound with ordinance. Keep your heads down boys. Nine out.”
“What’s gonna happen?” Ditzy asked, poking her head slightly above cover. Dusty quickly pushed her back down.
“A lot of explosions,” He said simply. “So you may want to stay down and cover your ears.”
The ponies took his advice seriously, getting as close to the ground as they could, trembling. The humans ducked behind their cover, shielding themselves from the blast, as the jets came roaring in.
Unlike the sleek and swift F-22 Raptor, the F-50 Raven was not designed for stealth, it was built for maximum damage with the heaviest armor humanity could make. And now, this top-of-the-line fighter was about to rain death down upon the invaders.
“Rogue Nine, bombs away.”
The cluster bomb struck the already ravaged street, destroying everything that had been left standing.
“Hell ya! Whoo! You just made my day Rogue Nine!” Ghost shouted, pumping his fist in the air. Then he stopped, spotting movement in the smoke. “Oh HELL no!”
“Christ, these things are persistent!” Joker cursed.
“This is Delta, X-Rays are still coming at us, where the hell’s that extraction?”
“Right above you Delta One.”
The Skyranger roared overhead, floating right above the squad. It fired its small machine gun into the street, taking down a few aliens before flipping around and opening its hatch. Four more humans came down the ramp, laying down a steady stream of covering fire.
“Come on, this ain’t no pleasure cruise!” The lead one shouted. “Let’s go! Chop chop!”
The humans each broke cover in turn, covering one another as they pulled back to the Skyranger. The ponies watched, unsure of what to do.
“Everybody in!” Spar shouted, waving them inside. “Go! Go!”
The Equestrians obliged, running to the safety of the Skyranger as fast as their legs would take them. Once they were all safely aboard, Spar joined them, and a female trooper at the end of the ship banged on the wall.
“We’re all aboard!” She yelled. “Let’s get moving!” The pilot obliged, closing the hatch and lifting the Skyranger off the ground. Only now did Spar release the breath that he hadn’t realized that he’d been holding.
“It’s damn good to see you Boss,” He said, slapping the man on the shoulder. Boss smiled,
“You know, with all the times I’ve saved your ass, I should start charging you.”
“Haha, there wouldn’t be enough money in the world for me to pay that bill!”
“Hey Scorch,” Ghost asked the man next to him. “Did you bring any extra charges with you?”
“Of course I did. Why?” Scorch asked, eying him. “Did you already use all of yours?”
“I had too!”
“Even the Thermite?”
“I didn’t pack any Thermite…”
“What? That’s rule number twenty-nine man!”
“No, rule twenty-nine is never say no to med-kits!”
“No, that’s rule number fourteen!”
While the two bickered, the only member of Omega squad who seemed to notice the new visitors raised an eyebrow, looking at Joker.
“I don’t think our anniversary is for another few months,” She said to her husband. She spoke with a slight, lilting accent, hinted even more by the patch of the Canadian flag on her uniform. Her blonde hair clashed with her emerald green eyes “But even so, how did you even know I liked ponies?” Joker shook his head,
“Thank bleeding-heart Spar, for that.”
“Sorry for bringing our guests unannounced Kat,” Spar said, smiling. “But our friends here needed a fast way out.”
“Stop talkin’ about us like we ain’t here!” Applejack said. She was suddenly aware that everyone in the Skyranger was now staring right at her.
“My God…” Boss mumbled. “These were your priority assets?”
“Yes. They’re also from another world, but at least they’re not out to conquer our world.”
“And you’re sure this just isn’t some plot by the aliens?”
“I’m sure, they were trying just as hard to kill them as us.”
“Fascinating,” Fixer, Omega squad’s technical expert, looked the ponies over. “And how did you reach our planet?”
“That is not a simple question to answer.” Doctor Whooves said, stepping forward. “For now, I can explain it simply as an experiment gone wrong.”
“Fixer, could you hand me the camera?”
“Huh? Oh sure.” He handed over the device.
“Merci,” Kat said, aiming the device at the ponies. “Tex is going to have a field day with this.”
~~
“Baseplate, this is Bravo Six,” Soap said, moving slowly up the stairs of the metro station. “Priority package is in possession. Awaiting extraction.”
“Bravo Six, enemy air forces are to heavy in your area to get birds in, head northwest and we’ll ready units.”
“Bloody hell…” The commando mumbled. “Come on, just a bit further.” A large explosion was heard the next street over, forcing the Prime Minister to jump.
“What was that?!” He demanded.
“That,” Soap replied, a smile forming on his face. “Is called incentive. Let’s move our arses.”
They continued to move down the street, until the UFO that had attacked earlier suddenly appeared overhead, and began a patrol pattern. The three humans quickly ducked inside of a local store.
“Baseplate, we have a problem. Enemy air contact is right above us, no way we’ll be able to get in birds.”
“Way ahead of you man,” This voice wasn’t from command, but it was certainly familiar. “Looks like I’ll be pulling your ass out of the fire again Soap.” The SAS Captain didn’t quite believe what he was hearing, until Click pointed into the sky.
“Look!” A formation of five F-22 Raptors were streaking toward the UFO at high speeds.
It was Cole Tharen, the American hotshot pilot.
Rogue Squadron had arrived.
“Looks like the Yanks were able to send some help after all!” Click yelled triumphantly.
“It’s bloody good to see you mate!”
“Hold on, we’re gonna clear the skies of these assholes.” Cole said over the radio. Now that the jets were closer, he could see differences between these fighters and the Rogue Squadron he had seen before. The major difference was the wing décor, where the flag of the United States had once been seen was a shield with a Latin saying that Soap couldn’t make out.
The five Raptors immediately split apart, going in different directions in hopes of forcing the UFO’s pilot to hesitate. It didn’t work, the ship chasing after the lead Raptor, firing plasma bolts that barely missed the fighter’s cockpit.
“Phew, that was close.”
One of the Raptors came streaking in, firing its pair of missiles that slammed into the UFO, sending it slightly off course, but showing no exterior damage.
“Stay on him!”
The ship tried to shuck to fighter off its tail, but the pilot was stubborn, staying right on its tail.
“Fox Three!”
Four missiles came from the belly of the Raptor, screaming toward the UFO. They all struck with a resounding boom, as the smoking and spiraling craft crashed into the river and did not rise back up. The jets circles around their kill in victory.
“Haha!”
“Yahoo!”
“Nice shooting Dare!”
“Baseplate, this is Rogue leader. Hostile air unit is down, we’ll continue to keep the skies clear.”
“Affirmative, birds are arriving now.” As if on cue, two more aircraft entered the area. The first was a standard Chinook, one that Soap had personally ridden in dozens of times. The other was unlike anything he had ever seen, it had the wings of a plane, but had to large jets inside the wings, which allowed it to hover above. Both craft set down at the end of the street, a squad of SAS soldiers streaming out of the Chinook, taking the Prime Minister in a protecting detail. When the ramp of the second craft opened, a single man stepped off. Wearing standard urban camouflage with a Green Beret on top of his head, was a man Soap honestly thought he would never see again.
“Maze?”
“Captain McTavish,” Maze said, walking towards him. “You are now under my command. Under the orders of her Majesty, you are now part of the XCOM project.”
“Now hang on a second,” Click protested. “You can’t just take him away!”
“Actually, I can.” Maze said flatly. “And as luck would have it, you are to be coming with us as well Ms. Powers.”
“Wha- Me?” Click stuttered. Soap looked over toward the other SAS soldiers.
“I don’t know…”
“Go Captain.” All eyes turned to the Prime Minister.
“Sir, are you sure?”
“Remember when you asked me about the united front against the invaders?” Soap paused, then nodded, turning back towards Maze.
“Lead the way.”
~~
The rest of the trip in the Skyranger went by silently, as the ponies didn’t feel like talking after watching the violent skirmish, and the humans had no idea what to say. Luckily, the Skyranger was an incredibly fast vessel, taking them from London to the Madagascar base, codenamed “Desert Spring”, within a half hour. Once the hangar doors opened, letting the craft land inside the underground base, the hatch opened, revealing a largely empty hangar bay, save for one figure. To Spar, Maze looked exactly the way he did when they had first met, save for the Colonel’s rank and the XCOM patch. Each of the soldiers each exited in turn, saluting their commanding officer as they did so. The ponies just gaped in awe, looking all around them at the base, as Maze looked them over.
Spar had known the man for nearly ten years, and if he had learned anything, it was that rarely anything ever surprised Maze. Even now, the man gave no hint to his feelings, his cold blue eyes looking over the Equestrians. Even though he and Spar shared the same eye color, the former leader of Delta squad always managed to unnerve any man with just a look. Finally, his gaze flickered over to Spar.
“Alright I give up.” He said. “What the hell are these things?”
“Their ponies.”
“No? Really? Figure that all out by yourself did you?” Maze asked sarcastically. “I mean what are they doing here on earth?” Spar shrugged.
“I ain’t got a clue in hell honestly.”
“I can answer that,” Whooves said. “But, it would be better if I could speak to someone who is well educated in the realm of science. Is there anyone like that around?” Maze stared at the Earth pony, his face betraying no emotion.
“So you can talk.” He said. “Interesting. To answer your question, yes we do. Our top scientist is coming as we speak, should be here any second now.”
“Good,” Applejack said. “Then we can use this time to finally get answers. Where the hay are we? And what’s goin’ on around here?”
“Spar hasn’t told you?”
“We were in the middle of a warzone,” The Captain explained. “Not a great place for answers.”
“Fair enough, I’ll give you the basic version then.” Maze took a breath. “You’re on the planet Earth, where us humans are the dominant species. Or rather, we were. We are currently facing a hostile alien invasion, of which we are trying to repel.”
“We saw some evidence of that.” Twilight said quietly. “Do you know why they’re doing this, what they’re after?”
“We have no idea,” Maze responded, shaking his head. “All attempts to contact them have failed. All they’ve done has cause destruction and death. If I had to guess, they want to either enslave or destroy our entire race.”
“That’s terrible!” Lyra gasped, clearly horrified at the prospect of the destruction of the race that had captured her imagination.
“But that’s why we’re here.” Boss interjected. “We were made to drive off this invasion.”
“Is it working?” Twilight asked.
“About as well as we can be,” Kat said, shrugging. “We beat them back whenever they show up, but they’re still as unpredictable as ever.”
“Sorry I’m late!” All eyes turned to look at a now open hatch, as a very attractive woman wearing a white lab coat walked in, staring at the tablet in her hand.
“Oh this’ll be good,” Spar smiled. “Hey Tex, look up!” The scientist did as instructed. She paused for a moment, then smiled.
“Ah, hello Doctor.”
“Doctor Stritzel,” Whooves said, a smile on his own face. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.” Everyone’s jaw dropped, and even Maze couldn’t help but blink in surprise.
“You KNOW each other?” Spar demanded.
“Of course,” Tex gave the soldier a sly smile. “You wondered where I was when I vanished?” Tex had disappeared for over a year, only just re-appearing before the invasion began. She turned back to Whooves. “So, what brings you here Doctor?”
“I have terrible news Tex, please come with me.” The two went into a corner, whispering to one another.
“What do you suppose they’re talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Probably something way over our heads.” Spar answered. Suddenly, Tex lifted her head.
“WHAT?!” She stormed over to the Cyan Pegasus. “YOU BROKE THE TARDIS?!”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Dash protested. “I accidently crashed into that panel!”
“So let me take a guess,” Maze said. “The device that sent them here is no longer operational, which means they can’t get back home. Am I right?”
“I’m afraid it’s much worse than that.” Whooves said.
“You see, a hole has been ripped between our world and theirs. Which means more portals might open between them.”
“Are you telling me that more of them could be sent to our world?”
“I’m afraid so.” Tex said. Maze shook his head.
“That’s just perfect. Still, we can’t just leave them to the aliens. I suppose if we come across them, we’ll have to rescue them and-“
“Now hang on just a minute.” Applejack said, stepping forward. “Ah don’t know much about this place, or war or any of that stuff, but your people are gettin’ hurt and dyin’. You say you’re trying to stop them. I want to help.”
“Me too!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Me three!” Lyra piped up. “I just found you guys! No way I’m losing you now!” Maze stared at them for a moment, then shook his head.
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not,” Twilight said. “You’re being more than generous with all your help, we want to pull our own weight and help your people.” Maze considered.
“Any objections?” He asked the humans.
“Nope.”
“Not here.”
“They could be useful.”
“Then that settles it.” He turned back to the ponies. “We’ll take any help we can get. First, we need to get you trained and combat ready.” Boss snorted audibly,
“I don’t envy the person who gets the job of training them.”
“You shouldn’t. It’s you.”
“Haha, poor basta- wait what?!”
“That’s right, you and Spar will train them. Delta and Omega squads will temporarily be combined under Dusty.” He started walking away. “Now need to get back to the control room, and we’ve all got jobs to do.” Then he stopped, turning around. “And we don’t tell anyone about this yet, ANYONE. Not the Council, not Hellsing base, no one. Got it?”
“Hey, I’m in no hurry to get my Section Eight.” Spar said, shrugging. Maze smiled and turned around.
“Welcome to XCOM.”
(Who will join the fight next? You decide! Vote in the comments for which pony you want to see join XCOM next! For now, enjoy a sneak peak at the next chapter!)
“I know you’re scared,” Spar said, gripping the soldier’s arm. “But we need to get to the White House, and we can’t make it without your help. Can you hang on for just a bit longer?” The young man swallowed hard, then nodded.
“Yes sir, just let me-“
“Incoming!” Another guardsman shouted. The UFO came roaring in, firing its plasma cannon at the vehicles. One struck the Humvee in front of him, sending its flaming hulk right towards Spar. He was suddenly aware of something poking his side.
“…Demand that you wake up!”
The soldier’s eyes snapped open. With a shout, he reacted, pulling out his pistol and knife with a single practiced move. He pinned his attacker against the wall, his pistol burying into her soft belly, and it was only then did he remember where he was. The poor pony was staring at him, eyes wide in horror and heart audibly thumping. Spar took a few deep breaths, then spoke.
“Don’t do that again.” The mare gulped, then nodded.
“Trixie will remember that for future reference.”