Desert Springs XCOM Base, Madagascar
December 17th, 2015
*ALERT! COMBAT SIMULATION IN PROGRESS*
* TRAINING GROUNDS WILL BE LOCKED DOWN UNTIL SIMULATION HAS COMPLETED*
“RUN!”
“OH GOD! WHERE IS SHE?!”
“I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!”
Watching from the observation center, the members of Delta Squad, Colonel Maze, and the Equines watched as a group of four terrified soldiers fled across the arena in an attempt to escape their attacker.
“Hey guys,” Spar said, arriving late to the party. “I didn’t hear about any training going on, who’s in there?”
“A squad of newbies.” Joker said over his shoulder.
“And Miss Doctor Tex has joined them.” Ditzy chimed in.
“Wait, what?” Spar went to the window. “You put them up against TEX?"
“Correct. I believed that she could show our new friends here some new tricks.” Maze nodded at the ponies. “Plus, we’ve all seen that she has been getting a little irritable lately, probably from being cooped up in that lab for days on end. The way I see it, beating the ever-loving shit out of some new saps is the best way to blow off some steam.”
“But… she might kill them.”
“Hey, better them than us.” Ghost said, shrugging.
“I don’t understand…” Twilight said, furrowing her brow. “I thought Tex was the head of the research department, she’s not a soldier. Why are you all so sure she’ll win?”
“Oh you’ll see soon enough…”
~~~
“Come on men we need to move! Double time!” The new squad leader said. “Hell, I’ll settle for single time…”
“Maybe we should just fight,” Another said, leaning on a nearby cinderblock while trying to catch his breath. “Otherwise she’ll just start picking us off one by-”
A hand suddenly grabbed the man’s collar, yanking him over the cinderblock.
“-ONE!”
Tex shoved the soldier to the ground, slamming a fist into his stomach, driving the wind from the man’s lungs. The scientist hauled the man back to his feet, using him as a human shield as the others members of the squad fired, their simulation rounds slapping Tex’s poor victim.
“Ow I’m not Tex! I’m on your side! Stop shooting me assholes!”
The scientist kicked her human shield toward one of his friends, sending them both crashing to the ground.
“Watch it!”
“You watch it!”
“You idiots!” Their Squad leader shouted. “Let me show you how it’s do-”
The man was cut off, as Tex slammed her fist into his jaw, unleashing a ferocious barrage of blows into the man’s torso. He staggered back to where the other members of his squad were.
“Nice Demonstration Sarge… “
“Oh shut up…”
Tex chuckled, tossing their training weapons away, but keeping the Sergeant’s shotgun slung over her shoulder.
“Hey sweet-cheeks!”
Tex looked over to her right, then ducked as a training grenade went right over her head. The thrower was the last member of the opposing team, his body in a fighting stance.
“Forget about me? Step away from the idiots!”
She smirked, but decided to humor him, readying her own combat stance as the two circled one another.
He made the first move, lunging forward with his right fist in full swing toward her face. She smoothly ducked under the blow, giving two quick punches to his ribs. The soldier winced, trying to come back around to slam his fist on the crown of her head, but Tex was much faster, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back.
“God Dammit!”
The scientist twisted him back around, then kicked him right in the chest, sending him flying back and colliding with the others who were just picking themselves off the floor.
“Strike!” Tex whooped triumphantly.
The four soldiers were now back up on their feet, groaning.
“What do we do Sarge?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never hit a girl in my life!”
“Ya, I noticed! Try harder!”
Tex now smiled outright, clearly enjoying this.
She charged forward, catching the soldiers off guard as she turned the sprint into a sliding kick into the first man’s groin.
As that poor soul fell to the ground while writhing in agony, Tex made a sweeping kick that sent their Sergeant to the floor.
She sprang back up, focusing her attention on the two that were still standing. The biggest one tried to tackle her, but the scientist was able to redirect the force of the attack, rocking back on her spine and launching the man skittering across the floor and finally slamming into the wall behind her.
As the final soldier charged forward, Tex transformed the motion into a back-hand spring, kicking the man in his face as she made the acrobatic move.
She charged forward again, launching a volley of blows against the disoriented man. Making one final move, she struck the soldier in the center of his mass with a flat-palmed blow, sending him flying back like he had just been hit by a train.
Taking a glance back, Tex could see the first soldier slowly standing up, and she decided to have just a little bit more fun before she was done.
Moving like a cheetah that was about to finish of its prey, Tex kicked the man on the back of his kneecaps, sending him right back to the cold hard ground.
Pinning him right where he was with her left foot, she brought the “Borrowed” training shotgun to aim right at him.
“Oh no, Griff!”
Tex squeezed the trigger.
“Yipe!”
*CLICK*
*CLICK*
“Private Griff! You should be ashamed of yourself! We’ve run out of ammo again! That’s YOUR responsibility!”
“Huh, I guess this is the first time my laziness has ever saved my…”
He trails off, as he suddenly notices that Tex has shifted the way she is holding the shotgun, now holding it as if it was a golf club. His eyes widen in realization, and he sputtered.
“Wait WAIT WAIT!!!!”
She clubbed the man right in between the legs, the blow even making the males in the observation room cringe in pain. All was silent for a moment, until Griff opened his mouth to squeak.
“…WHY WON’T YOU JUST KILL ME?!”
Tex now laughs out loud, and looks to where the observation room is. She made a cutting motion with her hand, letting everyone know that those poor sods most likely had enough for one day.
*COMBAT SIMULATION COMPLETED*
~~~
The Equestrians all stood with there with jaws wide open, not quite believing what they had just seen.
The Colonel and members of Delta Squad on the other hand, appeared unfazed. Well, except that all of their hands were folded forward in protection of their midsections.
“Well that was certainly entertaining, if not slightly disturbing.” Joker commented.
“No kidding, you better watch your back Spar. Or better yet, watch your front.”
“Screw off Ghost.”
“Well, we have successfully scared the living hell out of the new guys using nothing but our top scientist,” Dusty said, turning to Maze. “What do ya wanna do with them Colonel?”
“Just send them to the other XCOM base, let them be Madam Hellsing’s headache. I doubt that they would feel welcome here anymore anyway.”
“Sounds good to me, I wouldn’t like them here personally."
“…Alright, time out.” Rainbow said, obviously speaking for the entire group of equines. “Why are none of you shocked?!”
“Miss Tex just took down all four of them! Not even breaking a sweat!” Ditzy joined in. “How did she just do that? I thought she was just a scientist!”
“She was, a long time ago.” Spar said with a smirk. “Then she met us.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a long story,” Maze said, shrugging. “Let’s just say that she spent an extended period of time with us, and she picked up a few skills. She's a good study...”
“Then why in the name of Celestia is she a scientist in here and not out in the field dealing with the aliens?” Applejack asked.
“For a couple reasons,” Maze answered. “One, she’s the best damn geneticist I’ve ever met. She understands more about DNA and biology than the better part of the entire US Science Department. Two, despite what you might think after that little demonstration, she’s not among our best fighters. She’s far more valuable in that lab than on the battlefield. But being able to hold your own against an enemy squad doesn’t hurt either.”
“Note to self: When Doc Tex tells you to stay still during examination. Stay the buck still.” Rainbow mumbled.
“Hope you girls were paying attention, cause I don’t think she’ll do it again.”
“Speaking of which,” Maze said, turning to Twilight. “Miss Sparkle, I believe that I have decided what your position at XCOM to be. If you would come with me.”
“Oh…ok…” Twilight said nervously, following Maze out. As the pair departed, Spar looked to the others.
“I suggest the rest of you get some sleep while you can. Things are quiet for now, but there’s never a guarantee that it’ll stay that way.”
~~~
“Now Miss Sparkle,” Maze said, leading the way into the command center. “Your friends tell me that you are very good at organizing and keeping track of things. Is that true?”
“Well, I’d like to think so.” Twilight stared at the Holographic image of Earth like she always did when she entered central control, amazed at the constant shifting of colors and arrows. After all, she’d never seen anything like this in Equestria.
“Then here is where I want you to be. You will be assisting me here in the command center, helping me organize and keep track of all of our soldiers and air units that are deployed around the world. Think you can handle that?”
“I…Believe so.”
“Good. Now let’s get you familiarized with that image of Earth that you seem to be so enamored with.” Maze said, chuckling.
“That seems like a logical place to start.” Twilight nodded enthusiastically, wanting to learn more about it. “I understand the basic geography of our planet by now, what I don’t fully understand are the colors and the arrows.”
“Alright, so the different colors represent the different areas of control on Earth. Red areas represent the zones that are currently occupied by the Invaders. Including North Korea, Ukraine, Western Russia, Western France, much of the UK, Northern Japan, and the US West Coast.” He rotated the image around for the Unicorn to see. “You with me so far?”
“Yes, I had assumed as much myself. But what about the other colors?”
“The other colors represent the major remaining Human powers in the world, and the arrows represent each of their forces. Red arrows represent known Alien units.” He set the image to slowly turn. “Green Represents the United States and her remaining forces.”
“There’s a lot of Green arrows strewn out across the world…”
“Most of the American Armed Forces were away from the continental United States when the invasion began, cut off from their own forces. Right now they’re helping out with whatever friendly forces they can find.” Maze explained.
“I guess that makes sense…”
“Moving on, Blue represents NATO and it's forces."
“NATO…” Twilight looked thoughtful. “Isn’t that the Alliance between a bunch of Western European Nations?”
“And Canada,” Maze said. “They were hit hard during the initial attacks, especially Germany and the UK, but their remnants still make up an invaluable fighting force. Next on the list is the Yellow color, representing SEATO. Have you studied up on what that is?’
“Isn’t that the… Asian version of NATO?”
“That’s probably the best way to put it, yes. You’re a pretty fast learner, I’m impressed.”
“Learning is what I’m best at!” Twilight said proudly.
“Then you won’t be disappointed here, cause we learn new things seemingly every day. The last real human power in the world that you’ll need to know is Russia, they’re represented in purple.”
“So… that big purple blob is Russia right?”
“Correct.”
“So why are there Red, Blue, Green, AND purple arrows all in one place in Russia?”
“Where? Oh I see what you’re talking about. That is Moscow. One of our combat teams was just dropped in there to help.”
The Colonel made his way to the control panel, putting his headset on. “Which means we’ve got work to do.”
~~~
Moscow, Russia
“I can’t raise anyone on the radio! I think we’re on our own!”
“Keep trying! If you can’t get anyone here to help spread around the love, we’re screwed!”
“No pressure man!”
The soldier swore out loud, clinging to the side of the armored vehicle for dear life as the air around him was heated up by the plasma bolts singing all around him.
“Mayday Mayday Mayday! This is Corporal Russell of the US Eighth Mechanized! We are pinned down and surrounded by enemy X-rays! Does anyone copy?!”
The soldier blind-fired over his cover, just to have a plasma bolt melt his M-4 right in his hands from a shot that was way too close for anyone’s comfort.
“Shit!” He cursed, trying to shake the pain out of his hand from the searing heat
“Muton!” His friend yelled, diving to the ground as the big alien began to lay down suppression fire on the three poor humans.
“To anyone who can hear this, we need help NOW dammit!”
The Corporal’s radio suddenly crackled to life, as a voice with a heavy Russian accent replied,
“Ask and you shall receive my friend!”
A nearby Sectiod’s head suddenly exploded, as Reaper started her harvest of headshots with her sniper rifle. Sabre came out of a nearby building, the Frenchman laying down covering fire with his FAMAS as Jess and Reznov exited next.
The Muton turned to face the newcomers, just to get blasted in the face as Reznov fired his AA12 on full auto. The shotgun was thundering in his hands as the buckshot sprayed down the green hulk. Jess fired a burst that took down the second Sectiod, moving to see if the other soldiers were hurt.
The final Sectiod tried to break from cover, but Reaper was already after him, the former Spetsnaz soldier throwing a tomahawk as she back flipped over her cover. The hatchet drove into the alien’s skull, yellow blood splattering on the street.
“Holy hell…” One of the Americans mumbled, eyes widened at Reaper. “Did she just…?”
“Kill a Sectiod with a back flipping hatchet attack?” Jess said, the German rolling her eyes. “Yes, yes she did.”
“She is, what you call, showoff.” Sabre mumbled, reloading his rifle.
Reaper simply gave them a confident smirk, retrieving her weapon from the corpse.
“Control, cancel mayday. An XCOM unit just showed up and saved our sorry asses.” Russell signed off on the radio, turning to face Reznov. “We owe you one pal. Had you not gotten here when you did, we probably would have been literally toast by now.”
“It is no problems friend,” The big Russian said. “What were you doing out here away from the main force? The streets of my homeland are no longer safe for such little men to wander alone.”
“We were assigned to make sure that no aliens were moving to flank us. Besides this small pocket here, we haven’t seen anything else. What are you doing here? If you don’t mind me asking sir.”
“I’m afraid that is official XCOM business that we are not at liberty to divulge,” Sabre said, shooting a look at his Captain. “I’m sure you understand.”
“Yes sir.” Russell glanced back at his friends, who seemed to in relatively good shape all things considered. “We should probably get back to the others now. You should probably do the same, no offense to you guys but this place is crawling with x-rays. Do you have your own transport?”
“Niet. We were dropped in from Airborne transportation craft."
“Then you can ride with us.” The soldier nodded to the damaged Humvee. “Pile in everyone.”
“That’s gonna be a little cramped…” Jess said, eyeing the vehicle that was designed to carry only four troops that was now being suggested to carry nearly twice that amount. In GSG9, they had always been given a plethora of transportation that they’d never really have to worry about losing space. Jess didn’t consider herself to be claustrophobic, but she didn’t find the idea of sharing a vehicle with half a dozen others, including the three Americans and her giant Russian Captain, to be very appealing.
“Well ma’am if you’re worried,” One of the Army soldiers smiled at the German. “We could always lap sit.”
“Idiot!” His friend slapped him on the back of his head. “She’s XCOM man! She could kill you just by twitching her eye!”
On second thought, this could be enjoyable.
~~~
Ponyville, Equestria
“You’re sure you interviewed all of the other Elements of Harmony that are still here?” Storm asked, resisting the urge to slam his head into the table from sheer frustration.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Daring answered, obviously none too happy that her fellow agent was questioning the work she had done before he had arrived. “Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. Rarity, the Element of Generosity. And, of course, Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. So unless someone found a giant pile of shiny necklaces laying in the back of a warehouse that reveal hundreds more different kinds Elements of Harmony, yes I have questioned all of the remaining bearers of the Elements.”
“Alright I was just asking, sheesh…”
It was quite a pathetic sight to anypony who knew what they were looking at. The pair was seated in a table on the outskirts of the town. The Agents in her Majesty’s Secret Service were almost pulling their fur out from sheer frustration. It didn’t happen often to the Archeologists, but the case that they had been assigned to solve had seemingly gone cold.
They were tracking the disappearance of not one, not two, not even three, but SEVEN ponies. Three of them being Elements of Harmony; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. After interviewing the other Element bearers, they had learned that none of the three had ever told their friends that they would be going anywhere, very unusual indeed. The Apple Family had given a similar story, that one day Applejack had just disappeared seemingly into thin air. No note, no messages, no warning. And Rainbow Dash, the loyal yet lazy Pegasus, hadn’t reported in for weather patrol. At first, her bosses hadn’t been too surprised, as the Wonderbolt hopeful had often been late due to love of sleep. But they had started getting worried after she hadn’t even been in contact with them after a second day.
Another three missing were Lyra Heartstrings, Ditzy Doo, and an Earth Pony known only as “Doctor Whooves”. After speaking to several residents of the town, they had learned that it was not uncommon for The Doctor and Miss Doo to disappear for several days at a time, nopony knew where they went really, and occasionally Lyra would seemingly accompany them. There had been several inquiries made of the CIA to learn exactly who this “Doctor” was, but the Princesses had determined that he was not a threat to national security and therefor did not warrant an investigation. Now, obviously Storm and Daring were wishing that someone had just knocked on his door and asked the damn stallion. They probably would have gotten more information if they had placed a chameleon with a pair of binoculars on a nearby tree to spy on the Earth Pony as he hung his bowties out to dry.
The final pony who had gone missing had been a showmare named Trixie Lulamoon. The odd thing was that her cart had been found outside of Trottingham, nowhere near Ponyville. The only thing that gave the agents reason to believe they were connected was the fact that the police investigators had found absolutely no trace of her. The door had still been locked, no signs of forced entry, all the lights still on. Trixie, like the others, had seemingly ceased to exist in the world.
No evidence to help the two tired CIA Agents had been left behind by any of them.
“I think I have a theory…” Daring said.
“You do?” Storm perked up. “Care to share?”
“Alright, so we know that Ditzy, Lyra, and the Doctor like to vanish every now and then.”
“Right.”
“What if they’re just in another one of their group trips right now? That it’s just a coincidence that they’re gone right now.”
“Maybe…” The Earth Pony rubbed his chin. “Where does that leave the Elements?”
“I think they were kidnapped. Probably by some Nightmare Moon Fanatic or something.”
“I’m with you so far…” Storm nodded. “Where I make the bad jump in logic is the showmare. How does she fit into this little theory of yours?”
“Maybe it’s coincidence that she went missing now too?” Daring didn’t sound convinced of that herself.
“I don’t think so.” The fellow Archeologist shook his head. “There’s too much history between Lulamoon and Sparkle to simply shrug this off as a coincidence. So why would you kidnap three Element bearers in Ponyville, have the other three in your sights, but decide to go out of your way to kidnap a pony who ISN’T an element bearer?”
“I… Don’t know.” Daring slumped in defeat. “I just can’t think of a full explanation for all of the facts.”
“There HAS to be an explanation.” Storm insisted. “We don’t just LOSE half of the Elements of Harmony into thin air!”
“...We’re gonna have to look in the Everfree, aren’t we?”
“Afraid so.”
“Great… and I just got these clothes washed…”
~~~
Moscow, Russia
The Humvee arrived at the command post in downtown Moscow, a colorful mix of soldiers, weapons, and armored vehicles as soldiers from three different continents had gathered here to face down the hostile invaders. As the XCOM Captain exited from his vehicle, he was greeted by an old friend.
“Colonel Markov?”
“Reznov! My friend!” the two men gave each other a big bear hug. “It’s been far too long!”
“That it has my friend, that it has.”
“Where have you been comrade? We have not seen you since the city was taken!"
“I was recruited into XCOM by some old American contacts. I did not want to leave the Motherland, but Dimitri and I have done some good work for the sober Colonel Maze."
“And you’re back now?”
“Did you think that I would miss the glorious day we retake out city? I will be the first one breaking out the vodka when our flag is once again flying over the Kremlin!”
“If that happens today…” Marcov grumbled, leading the way down the street that was filled with tanks and APC’s. “Reznov, we have been here for over a week with little to show for it. Your XCOM teams have been here for a while as well, and they have only changed things slightly.”
“That is because you have not had true Russian blood from them my friend! Today will be different!” Reznov made a sweeping motion with his arm, taking in all that was around them as they walked on. “The American and British tanks will make holes in the alien scum’s formations. That is when we will hit them with everything we’ve got.”
“That is a next idea Reznov,” Marcov shook his head. “But we would be walking in knowing nothing. We have no idea how many enemies are ahead of us. We’ve having trouble getting supporting aircraft to make sweeps, and we cannot risk sending any other soldiers ahead of the main force.”
“It matters little, I will take of it.” The XCOM soldier activated his radio. “Overlord, this is Trident One. Do you copy?”
“Loud and clear Captain, what do you need?”
“We have problem here of knowing enemy numbers. We need an Arial Reconnaissance made ahead of allied positions in the city.”
“Copy all Trident One, I’ll see if I can send an AWACS your way to make a recon sweep.”
“Thank you comrade, and any firepower you can send our way would be most appreciated.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Overlord out.”
Reznov signed off and turned back to his old friend.
“It is being handled.”
“How did you do that?”
“We have access to more resources than you my friend, or at least our commander does.”
“Must be nice to have blank check….”
“Trident One, this is AWACS ‘Magic’. I heard you lads needed some eyes in the sky.”
“Da comrade, transfer over to allied command and they will direct you on what must be done.”
“Copy that mate, transferring now.”
“Alright, our recon has arrived.” Reznov said. “Now you will learn all you need to learn about the alien scum in front of us.”
“You never cease to amaze me Reznov,” The Colonel chuckled. “It’s good to have you back.”
“It is good to be back in the homeland my friend.”
A voice came from Marcov’s earpiece, and he turned to answer it.
“And that is what is seen? All of it? I see… Da Da, we will commence immiediatly.” He glanced over at Reznov. “It appears the enemy has set us several guarded positions. But now that we know where they are, we can avoid them without too much difficulty.”
“Then the time for our action has come.” The big man smiled. “I must go back to my team.”
“Then I will see you once we have taken our glorious city back and the blood of our enemies runs under our boots.” The two men shook hands one last time before going their separate ways.
“You’ll buy the victory drinks, da?”
“Just focus on getting back alive my friend and I will treat to greatest Vodka in all of Russia!”