The First S.P.E.A.R. OF ORION Colony

by Silver Centurion

Escort

"W-What?" Luna stammered as she didn't want to believe what she was hearing.

"Yes. That biological agent we destroyed on New madrid, It wasn't just to kill the civilian populace. It was to turn them against us. We captured a small sample and ran some tests. Patients showed zombielike effects. In other words, they're dead, but still walking. And they want to eat you." Corde explained to Luna as a figure came out of the fog.

"Corde! We've got multiple contacts!" Hector shouted as Alex ran over to Hector's window and peered out at a horrifying sight.

"AAAAAAHAAHH! FUCK! LET ME IN! PLEASE PLEASE! LET ME IN!" The USIF soldier cried as dozens of figures began limping out of the fog towards him. Some walked on two legs, but most hobbled on 4.

The soldier began pounding on the door mercilessly as the figures came into view. Some were soldiers with chunks and bits of their armor missing, revealing decaying masses of flesh as black ooze poured from their wounds. But no blood ran. Even as the soldier turned around and started to fire at the dozens of walking figures with his machinegun.

One by one, wlaker after walker fell to the ground as black ooze pooled around them, and stained their armor a ghastly black. The soldier directed his attention to smaller walkers, who shambled around on four legs. Unlike the undead soldiers, the small ponies fell to the ground after only a few rounds were pumped into them

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?!?!??!?!" The soldier exclaimed. Corde wasn't sure if he was reffering to the ponies or the undead.

The soldier began to reload, when a walker flanked him and lunged at him. He missed, but this prompted the soldier to activates his jetpack, which created a noise even louder than his firearm, as he ascended several feet on the dropship.

"Get down! Hide in the corners. Go!" Corde whispered loudly as the 4 occupants of the dropship each took their respective corner. Luna began to shake in her corner as she was beggining to realize the severity of their situation.

"Come get some!" the soldier yelled as he began tossing napalm grenades and firing napalm mortars at the beasts, which seemed to be getting more numerous.

"Marcus! Stay there! I'm coming to getcha!" A disembodied voice shouted as a transport came barreling through the fog, smacking multiple zombies to the ground as it came to a stop just short of the dropship. It's cargo door opened and a dozen soldiers burst out of the back guns blazing, mowing down the dozens of zombies in mere seconds.

As the gunfire died down, Corde saw an oppurtune moment. He remembered that USIF transports could create an airtight seal to the back of dropships. That meant he and the others could evac Luna to USIF HQ. It was worth a shot.

"Whiskey! This is Alexander Corde! Do you think you could give us a hand? We have a.... civilian onboard wth no protection from the virus. Airlock onto the dropship and we can all go home!" Corde ordered as the driver radioed back.

"Aye commander." A thick scottish accent replied as all dozen men rushed back into the dropship with Marcus, and the bay door closed as the dropship began to back into the bay door of the dropship.

Corde hit the button that released the lock on the bay door as it lowered into the back of the waiting transport.

Immediatley half a dozen soldiers raised their weapons to the two SPEAR soldiers.The others just stared in shock at the small horselike creature which cowered by Corde's side.

"I'll explain on the way. Right now we have to go!" Corde said as he and the other soldiers and the 'civilian', stepped inside and took their seats as the transports back door closed. Rising out of the floor, eventually touching the top and making a clicking noise as the transport began to move.

"We're moving back to HQ lads! Sit tight!" the driver said excitedly.

"Ahem?" a soldier said as he gesured towards th SPEAR soldiers and then to Corde.

"Oh. Right. Well, you see, apparently they commited a warcrime by killing their own people, a whole squad actually. They used to have more, but they've been getting hit from all sides between us, the ARM and SPEAR. Eventually they found me, explained this to me, and here we are." Corde said as he began to breathe agsin.

"Ok... well what's that?" another soldier commented.

"That, is Princess Luna, co-ruler of this planet. For now we have to escort her to -" Corde was cu off by a loud explosion as the transports shields flared.

"Corde!Ah don't think getting back to base is goin to be easy." the scottish voice said as the occupants of the crafte peered out the window at a barrier of explosives. And zombies.

"Shit. Alright driver we need you to-" Corde began but was interupted by the driver followed by the moans of dozens of zombies.

"Corde. Secure the men and your VIP. Im gonna drive through it. There's no other way. Besides. I'm infected."the driver said coldy as he gestured to a large gash in his left arm.

"There's an extra gas mask back there. Get it on the VIP and move." the driver said as Corde, although stunned, obliged and fastened the facemask over Luna witohut much trouble. Corde knelt down to the pony.

"Alright, stay close. We'll defend you." Corde said softly, in a soothing tone.

"Alright listen up! Box formation! VIP in the center! don't let anything touch her."

"OORAH!"

"Good to go." Corde said to the driver as the back door quickly retracted into the floor of the transport.

"MOVE!" Corde said as the dozen men formed a small box around Luna.

The transport accelerated forwards towards the barrels as a few shocked soldiers looked on.

"What the hell are you doing??!?!?!" a soldier exclaimed over the com.

"PULLIUNG THE PLUG ON THEM MEN! I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL!" The driver exclaimed over his com before he crashed into the explosives, intsantly creating a huge orange fireball as his coms went to static.

"Damn...." A few soldiers muttered under their breath as they continually advanced towards the opening in the explosives. When they finally got to the opening they noticed something on the other side. A pony.

In the few seconds they had to observe her, the soldier could make out that she had a neat pristine white coat ,mane and tail. She had two large appendages attached to either side of her body. Wings? She also wore a bright green mane band that secured her neatly combed mane into a slighly curving upward fashion. Her maneband matched her bright green jade eyes that glistened with hope. And adorning both sides of her flank was a cobweb.

For a second, Corde actually thought she looked beautiful. He quckly shook the thought out of his head as he snapped back to reality.

"Luke! Go secure that civilian! Gerry! Go with him!" Corde ordered as the two soldiers in question dispersed from the box and began to run over to the small horse. The box became smaller to compensate for the loss of men as small red blips appeared on everybody's radar.

Most were headed for Luke.

"Luke! Get her! Get in and get out fast!" Corde said in a tone that startled the already fearful luna, who was still cowering in the center of the soldiers.

The group of men began to walk over to Luke, keeping their formation. It didn't last long.

HUNDREDS of zombies shambled out of the salmon color fog and rushed the small box of soldiers as they shouldered their weapons and unleashed hell on them. Zombie after zombie. Pony after Pony. Brother, after brother, fell to the ground as bullets ripped through them and the wounds began to spew black ooze. Luna covered her eyes with her hooves as she breathed through the strange contraption.

Corde looked over to Luke and Gerry, who were firing their weapons wildy. Each flanked the small white pony on both sides as she looked away in horror.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a soldier cried out as he was dragged away into the fog as he clawed at the ground to no avail. Then another. And another.

Within a few minutes the box had diminished to a triangle of only 4 men.They lowered their overheating weapons as the last zombie hit the floor, and he drowned in is own ooze.

"Luke! Come on over , bring the civilian!" Corde shouted as Luke ran over with the pony in full gallop behind him.

"Gerry didn't make it...." Luke said as Hector knelt down to examine the new pony.

"Hello." Hector said kindly as the pony recoiled.

"Bonjour. I'm Acidio. Who are you?" the small horse asked curiously, regaining her courage.

"She's french? My god what the fuck don't they have on this planet?" Jason said as he sat down on the ground and layed his sniper beside him.

Corde walked away from the two so they could talk in private as Blackburn radioed in.

"Corde! My god finally! We're sending in a dropship to evac you to the nearest indoor landing pad. Sit tight." Blackburn said as the com went silent.

"Hey Corde! She ain't wearing a gas mask!" Luke exclamed as he and th other men backed away from Acidio.

"Why are you afraid? Why do I- SACRE-BLEU! WHAT IS THAT THING YOUR WEARING YOUR HIGHNESS??!?!?" Acidio exlaimed worriedly.

"That, is what's keeping her alive. And Acidio, we're going to have to-..... wait! How long have you been outside?" Corde asked excitedly.

"Uhm, less than an hour?" Acidio replied hastily.

"Good! Come here! Quick!" Corde said as he gestured Acidio to come closer.

She hesitantly approached him as he pulled out a large shot.

"This will only hurt a bit, but if i can inject you with this anti-virus, you should be able to make it back to HQ." Corde said as he uncapped the shot and hastily plunged it into Acidio's front left leg without warning.

"OWWW!!!" Acidio cried out in pain as the serum was injected into her.

"Good. Let's go" Corde said as he threw the shot aside and gestured to the incoming dropship.

"This is Lima squad. Get aboard!" the pilot said as the bay door opened and a dozen USIF soldiers sat tightly packed into the left half. The dropship hovered a few feet into the air as the remains of whiskey and 1st-recon boarded their ticket to salvation.

The dropship quickly closed its door as it took off with haste, just as more zombies began massing below.

By this point all squads planetside had been informed of the rougues who were helping Corde, and the dozen soldiers greeted the battered soldiers warmly.

"So, how is HQ holding up?" Corde asked absentmindedly.

"It's holding up fine. We have a perimeter set up and everyone seem to be healthy.Ugh... what are those?" A soldier asked gesturing towards Acidio and Luna, who was fumbling with her gas mask.

"They're ponies soldier. No more explanation needed." Corde said as he was getting tired of explaining the mess of a situation that they'd gotten into

The soldier was about to continue when the soldier next to him patted him on the shoulder which signaled him to let it go. Reluctantly the curious grunt dropped the subject as he sat back and observed the foogy world below through his window.

After a few uneventful minutes the dropship finally began to descend as a large metallic door opened and a coninc stream of light flowed ou of it as the dropship finally touched down. The men all breathed a collective sigh of relief at the thought of finally being home.

"Corde! Stone wants you to bring the VIP to him immediatley." Blackburn radioed to Corde as the door overhead closed and the platform began to sink into the hangar slowly.

"Roger that, I've got lima Squad, and the remains of Whiskey with me, I'm sending them to you.Once this shitstorm ends we're rolling out together." Corde replied.

"Copy." Blackburn said as the coms fell silent.

Corde turned to his men and stated, " Alright listen up!I want all personnel to rendevouz with Major Blackburn in the armory. Once I'm done with the general want all of you back to this dropship. You have 2 hours to get ready. Move out."

As soon as the cargo door opened everyone rushed out and began to head to the armory in a neat single file line.

"As for you two, come with me. We have some things to do." Corde said as he lead Luna and Acidio out of the dropship and began to walk towards the bridge with the two ponies close behind. Within a few minutes of jogging he had arrived at the same metal doors he had stood before only days ago.

It was strange, but for some reason Corde began to think of them as the good ol' days. Before this whole mess had happened. But, as he knew, problems, need to be dealt with if anything is to get better as he braced himself and opened the doors, ushering the two small horses inside.

Stone was sitting in his seat, intensely observing a holomap of what appeared to be the general Canterlot area. As corde walked in, his metal boots thudding on the floor, Stone quickly closed his map and stood up. He then proceeded to walk over to Corde.

"So, what have you brought me?" Stone asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, that one's the co-ruler of the planet..." Corde said gesturing to Luna " And that one appears to be just a stray civilian we managed to save on our way back." Corde said looking over to the pristine whit pony.

"Are they infected?" Stone asked softly.

"No. We put a gas mask on Luna, and we injected Acidio with an anti-virus just in time. They're both healthy."

"I think you'll find there is more to me than what you percieve..." Acidio said, finally gaining enough courage to speak to the large robots, who towered over her.

"What do you mean... ma'am?" Stone asked, pausing before saying the last word.

"I'm..... I'm.... I'm an Element Of Discordance. Fear." The pony said rather ashamedly.

"I don't believe you." Jason , who was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed said.

"Me either."Hector said as he entered the room with his weapons holstered.

"I thought I told you to go meet up with Blackburn! Ugh, whatever. I suppose introductions are in order. Stone, that's jason, and that's Hector. Rogue SPEAR soldiers who have been helping me out for a while now. And also-" Corde was cut off by Acidio.

"Don't believe me? Fine! See for yourself!" Acidio said as her coat began to turn blacker than night. Her mane turned blood red as her eyes shifted. Her pupils became white as her iris' dissappeared and the rest of her eye turned an ungodly black.Just moments later, a demonic cloud of red and black smoke filled the room as all 4 soldiers flicked on their headlights.

"SIT THE FUCK DOWN BITCH!" Jason yelled as he ran up to Acidio, grabbed her by the throat and tossed her so hard into the wall beside him, she left a dent.

Acidio's vision began to blur as she began to revert back to normal. Then everything went black. The cloud of smoke dissipated and the soldiers flicked off their lights. The four soldiers saw Acidio fall out of her dent and hit the floor with a loud thud as she regained her normal color scheme.

Corde just hoped her personality had come back as well. For some reason he thought Acidio was different,, than the rest. He didn't know why, but he had begun to care about her. Whether it was for better or worse, Corde didn't know as he sat down in a chair next to Stone.

"That one's dangerous. I like it. Epsilon squad! Get up to the bridge to secure a package for reserch." Stone said into his com.

Corde shuddered at the word research. " Uh, general, what are they going to do to her?" Corde asked slightly nervous.

"Don't worry, they're just going to try to develop some kind of armor for their species. There are a lot of them who want to go back down and fight for their planet, but without power armor, they don't stand a chance. Plus, i'd like to see how she did that whole act." Stone replied as two white armor clad soldiers walked in and began to load acidio into an electric cage.

They then quickly exited and no more of them was seen as Corde began to leave the room.

"Oh and one more thing Corde!" Stone yelled to Corde as Luna began to get settled in the large room.

Corde stopped to listen as Stone finished his sentence.

"I have an old friend that you might like who I'm assigning to your squad. Now move out, the air's clear." Stone said as Corde continued on his way.

Corde walked back to the armory, wondering who was assigned to his squad. As Corde entered the armory, several soldiers shot him a salute as Corde began to refill his assault rifle clips. After that he grabbed a machinegun and loaded it up fully. And to top it all of he grabbed a repar tool, fastened to his armor, and secured his napalm mortar packs to his belt as he walked out of the armory.

He began to jog back to his dropship, knowing that his force would be waiting for him. As Corde rounded the corner to the hangar, he quickly opened the large bay doors and began searching for his dropship. He uickly found it and began to run to where the top of it poked out above the others.

As he came around another dropship, his dropship's cargo hold came into view. Corde immediatley stopped as Hector and Jason came out from behind the dropship and climbed in.

But that's wasn't what shocked him. What shocked him is that there, standing just outside of his cargo hold was a soldier clad in the most iconic silver USIF armor. No one knew his real name. Not even General Stone.

He was known only as Centurion.