//------------------------------// // Displaced Arc, Chapter 1: Soldiers assemble! // Story: For the Emperor and the UNSC! (Rebooted version) // by Titan Commander Sebaste //------------------------------// Ponyville, 1 day later “Whew… Even for someone that's been turned into an augmented human, this is hard work!” Sebastian said as he dumped a bushel of apples into the wagon. He and the two Spartans had volunteered to help Applejack with harvesting this year's crop, and so far, had managed to get 100 trees done. “You’re telling me!” Viktor said. Both he and Alex had paused in their work and were taking turns drinking from a flask filled with Apple juice. Just then, the three suddenly felt a tug before a portal like the one HK-47 had appeared from opened up beneath them. “What in-?!” Sebastian yelped before the three fell through. The portal then vanished, leaving an open flask behind as the only indication the the three had been there. [Mother Base] [1000] Snake sighed as he exited the chopper, for some reason he never felt completely comfortable when he was away from Mother Base. Of course, that feeling soon ended as he noticed something. He quickly motioned to a maintenance worker, “Why is there a sword stuck in the deck?” “No clue,” he replied as they looked at the broadsword stuck halfway to its skull engraved cross-guard, “about 5 minutes ago, it just dropped out of the sky, along with these.” He gestured to the cart he was pushing, which had another sword and a strange device on it. “So, why is it still there?” “It’s stuck good, another of the boys has gone for a hoist, although if that doesn’t work we might have to use the cargo derrik.” “Let me have a go,” Snake said as he walked up to it. He took a few breaths before grabbing it with his mechanical hand and pulled. After a bit of resistance, it slid right out, “Doesn’t seem so stuck to me.” However, just then, the other items on the cart rose in the air as the device sprouted a pair of plasma blades, before they shot towards the one in his hand and hovered beside it. Then, three voices emanated from them. “This is Sebastian of the Dark Angels, and Spartans Viktor and Alexandra of the UNSC. For those out there, if you are outnumbered and need help, or if your world and its inhabitants are in danger or you just want to hang out, call upon the protectors of Humanity’s future, from both the 41st Millennium and the 23rd century.  Ave Imperator! For the Emperor and the UNSC! For Equestria!” Snake frowned as he released the one he was holding, “What the hell is this?” The blades then clattered to the floor before a portal opened up and spat out three heavily armored figures. All three landed on the pavement in a heap and groaned. The portal then closed with a pop. Then one of the figures spoke up, “Well that happened….” It said as it stood up, towering over Snake. The armor it wore looked both high tech and archaic at the same time, colored dark green, with two massive shoulder pauldrons that had what looked like squad identification on the left one but the right one had what looked to be a winged sword on it. The massive helmet then turned to Snake and the figure stepped back in shock. “Who the hell are you?!” It then looked around in confusion. “Matter of fact, where the hell are we?” “Mother Base,” Snake said as he whipped out his shotgun and pointed it at his face, “now, you have 5 seconds to tell me what you’re doing here. And before you think about simply shooting me, I recommend taking a look up.” The figure looked at the shotgun before sighing and crushing the barrel with one hand. “I'm as stumped as you are, one minute, I was helping Applejack with harvesting apples with Viktor and Alex, next minute, we’re here!” He said, just as the other two figures stood up. One of them looked up and froze. “Um… Sasha?” A female voice emanated from the pointed helmet. “You might want to look up…” “What is i-” The figure said as he looked up to see 2 dozen soldiers, along with turrets and missile launchers aiming at him and the other two. “Oh frag….” “You come into my home, heavily armed, and expect the welcome mat?” Snake smirked, “last chance, why are you here?” “I told you, I have no idea!” The figure said. “I'm not even from here! Wait…” it then took a closer look at Snake. “Okay, and I thought seeing a droid from Star Wars was surprising…” it muttered. “But this.. just takes the cake…” Snake stared at him for a minute before grabbing the swords, “It looks like you’re telling the truth, but you might want to be more careful with these, they could have hurt somebody, falling from the sky like that.” The figures looked at the weapons in shock. “Those… those are our tokens!” The first figure said. “How…” it then seemed to realize something. “Oh you have gotta… great, we’re in another Equestria…” it said, raising its hands in frustration. “Basically, you just called us from a different Equestria with these blades.” Snake looked at the blades before placing them on the cart the deckhand had abandoned, “I thought she looked familiar,” he said to himself before turning to them, “perhaps we should continue this inside?” “Aye, that would be a good idea.” The third figure spoke up for the first time and then chuckled. “And to be fair, we would’ve reacted the same way you did.” The first figure then spoke up. “The name’s Sebastian, or Sasha for short, and these two are Viktor and Alexandra.” He said, gesturing to the other two. “Call me Snake, Mythic Snake,” Snake said as he led them into the main building. “Sorry about surprising you with our entrance, we’re still a bit new to this whole “Displaced” scenario.” Alex said. Snake then noticed that her right arm didn't match the armor that was on the left arm, the armor on her right arm looked a lot more heavier and her hand ended in a clawed gauntlet. She noticed him looking at her arm and shifted it out of sight. “Displaced huh?” Snake said as they arrived at an office, “sounds like a story.” “It's what we get for buying those prop weapons from that Merchant…” Viktor muttered. “One minute, you’re at a Comic-con, next thing you know, you’re thrust head first into a civil war where some loony is trying to take over a country that we’ve never even heard of and the inhabitants are freaking horses!” “I’m dealing with an unknown party who’s got no qualms about selling magi-tech weapons to terrorists, so I think we’re about even there,” Snake said as he pulled out a folder, “by the way, correct me if I’m wrong, but is this girl familiar to you?” The three looked at him, their confused looks hidden beneath their helmets. “Um… what girl?” Viktor asked. He then took a look at the file and froze. A past memory surfaced and he blinked. “Yeah… I recognize her, Sunset Shimmer. But she was in a movie called Equestria Gi-” He then realized something. “Son of a…..” he swore. “I knew the name Equestria was familiar, but I didn't realize it until now! MLP… crap…” “Yeah, my niece was completely into that, couldn’t go for a visit without her shoving a new DVD in my face and asking me to watch it with her,” Snake chuckled. “I wasn't really into the show that much, mostly the fanfics.” Sebastian said. Both Alex and Viktor chorused their agreement. “So we're in the Equestria Girls universe?” “Somewhat far ahead, but yes,” Snake said as he put the file away, “Sunset’s working for me, for one thing.” “Huh, and I thought the universe we got dropped in was different from the Canon universe…” Sebastian muttered. “For one, a pony named Flame Tail is trying to take over Equestria, and the ponies have more advanced guns and even vehicles…” “Sounds bad.” Alex snorted. “He doesn't even care about civvies getting caught in the crossfire. We had to stop at least 4 waves of soldiers from taking over Ponyville!” An arc of energy fizzled on her gauntlet. Snake crossed his fingers, “Does Ponyville have defenses?” “We have a squad of HK-50 droids helping defend the town. But if they fail, we have reinforcements awaiting our call.” Viktor said. “Then there's us. We have the ability to summon any weapon from Halo or Warhammer 40,000, which means we can keep the enemy guessing on which weapon we will have next.” “A good start, but what about watchtowers, guard posts, gun emplacements, walls, anything like that?” “Unfortunately, no. But attacks there are rare. The main fighting is near the Stalliongrad border and the surrounding towns.” Viktor said. “Tell me, how many times has it been attacked?” “At least three times, that's the official count.” Alex said. “Sounds like enough times to warrant at least some defenses. I could probably sell you some surplus gear I pick up, gun turrets, mortars, everything you need to keep the place safe.” “If any major threat is detected, the Air force usually launches a flight of “Gryphon” VTOL jet fighters.” Sebastian replied, “But Twilight has asked the Princesses if turrets can be built on the outskirts of Ponyville.” “Sounds like a start, but turrets won’t do much good if they go where they aren’t,” Snake said, “better get some earthworks built up too.” “Not every pony is gonna be happy about that.” Viktor said. “But we’ll see what exactly we can get done.” And maybe find out more about this “Eliteslayer” while we're at it… he thought. “Still want some gear from me?” “We’ll pass for now.” “Fair enough,” Snake said, “so, about this Displaced thing?” “A Displaced is someone who's sent to Equestria as the character they cosplayed as, there are many ways a but the most common is someone buying something from a being called the Merchant.” Viktor explained. “We’re.. also newly Displaced. A few days actually.” “About 2 months for me, but I only met Sunset 2 weeks ago.” “Anyways, the way Displaced get around the Multiverse is through a Token. Basically their calling card and a way for them to help others. That's how we ended up here. You somehow activated our tokens and they pulled us here.” Alex explained. “Accidentally I assure you,” Snake said, “so, how do you go about it?” “Just pick something that relates to you or the character you have now become, say a message and send it into the Void.” Snake thought for a minute before reaching into a drawer and pulling out a cassette player and pressing record, “I’m Big Boss, if you know who that is my reputation should speak for itself. If you need a hand, play side B.” “Not bad.” Alex said, the other two nodding in agreement. Her gauntlet then glowed before a small portal opened in front of them. “This portal will transport it to the Void. After that, it’ll be turned into hundreds of copies.” “Here’s hoping I don’t get summoned by any wackjobs,” Snake said as he tossed it in. “Heh, same here.” Sebastian chuckled. “So how did you end up in this Equestria?” “Home on leave during a convention, I was a NAVY SEAL before all this. My brother invited me and gave me this costume, except my niece took the eyepatch for her’s, I believe she called it ‘Future Twilight’. Anyway, I figured that an eyepatch would be easy to find, just my luck that I had to buy it from that bastard.” Sebastian busted out laughing. “Oh man, I remember that, a lot of fans called it “Solid Sparkle.” He then turned serious. “We also had an encounter with the Merchant, he was dressed as a Rogue Trader. Hell, he’s the reason I'm now an Astartes!” “Mine was dressed as Vulgrim, but it sounds like the same guy.” “A word of warning, you might start meeting foes from the game universe that you dressed up as. I know first hand what that's like…” “Thanks for the heads up, although I have mixed thoughts about meeting Sahelanthropus.” “Sal what the wha?” Alex asked in confusion. “It’s a Metal Gear, multi-story robot that shoots nukes, very hard to bring down. In the game you keep it as a trophy when you beat it, but I’m thinking I’ll fix it up.” “None of us really played Metal Gear, we’ve seen gameplay of it, but that's it.” Viktor said. “We mostly stuck to games like Halo and Soul Caliber. Although Sasha does a tabletop miniatures game called Warhammer 40,000 also.” “I’d say check it out, but…” “Yeah, we know.” Viktor said before an armored human shimmered to life on his shoulder.   “Viktor? Where… where are we?” It asked in a female voice. “Another Equestria Kyra.” The Spartan answered. “An AI huh?” Snake said, “Spartans get all the best toys.” “Speaking of which, there's another Spartan in our Equestria, but… he’s a mystery. He shows up out of nowhere, has the same abilities as Viktor and Alex, but he also has armor abilities, he even created solid Holograms that can damage foes…” Sebastian said. “And I don't think that's all he’s able to do… and from he said to us, it seems he was Displaced before…” “Someone to watch, regardless of his alignment,” Snake said. “From what I've seen, he helped defend three fillies and Applejack from a Tyranid attack. That shows he’ll defend the ponies allied with Celestia and Luna. But you are right, we will keep a close eye on him.” Viktor said. “As fun as it’s been, sounds like you should head back.“  Snake said. “Agreed. Oh yes, one more thing, you’ve heard of Nyx right?” “Not really, as I said, my niece was the pony enthusiast.” “Long story short, she’s Nightmare Moon reborn as a filly, but she became Twi’s daughter after a series of events.” Sebastian then looked at Alex. “Alex, let’s get back home.” She nodded and stretched her right hand out. As she did so, Snake heard the faint whine of servos before a portal then opened. She then turned to him. “It was nice meeting you sir.” she said. “Likewise,” Snake said, giving them a two fingered salute. The three returned the salute in their own ways, Alex and Viktor giving a full military salute while Sebastian crashed his arm across his chest armor before the three entered the portal and vanished. The portal then closed with a silent pop and disappeared. The three soon re-appeared in their Equestria, only this time appearing in the castle and surprising Twilight. “Where were you three?! We were looking all over Equestria for you!” She yelled. The three humans looked at each other before Alex said, “It's… a long story…”