What Came Before

by Lynwood

XX: Fear

Author's Note:

Aw snap its done
look it I wrote a thing
So, I actually got to the war part. hoorah! exciting material!

Enjoy,
Jiggy

PART TWO

Private Arthur Reese was born thirty-two years after the Spirit of Hope departed from the planet Earth. He was light-skinned, almost pale, and had brown hair and eyes. Aboard the gargantuan ship he learned everything the old world had to offer, though he often had trouble with his math homework, and got easily frustrated whenever trigonometry was involved. His father James wasn't born on Earth but was the son of Dr. Reese, a well-known marine biologist who was offered the chance to escape the planet once it became obvious that humankind was no longer welcome. Arthur's father would often tell him about all the wonderful things that Earth had to offer, just as his father did for him: oceans, deserts, forests. Bears, lions, giraffes, savannahs, mountains, rivers, whales, seals, polar bears, airplanes, skyscrapers, highways, everything. As a child, Arthur would listen to these stories with wonder and imagine what it would be like to climb a mountain. Sure he saw pictures of mountains at school and daydreamed about climbing them. He was told his generation would be the ones to return to Earth, and as a child, he had one goal: be the first person to climb the tallest mountain there. But, as he grew older his interest in Old Earth turned from wonder to rage. When he learned about how ponies and other synthetic life destroyed the Earth and wiped it clean, he nearly blew a gasket. Like everyone else he joined the marines. Like everyone else, he learned how to fight. Like everyone else he was one hundred percent ready to die if it meant that the next generations could have their home back. The next generation would enjoy the wide open skies and endless prairies of Earth, but his would be the one to get it.

He was absolutely sure of this until the attack. He remembered it hazily even though it happened a mere hour ago. He was far away from the explosion and happened to be near the main dropship bays when the explosion rocked the floor beneath him. The bright white lights of the hallway he had been sauntering down vanished and in their place appeared angrily flashing orange ones. He was lucky enough to be in his uniform and got a call to get to the hangar bay immediately. His heart pounded and his legs screamed out in agony as he ran as fast as he could to the hangar armory. He grabbed the intimidating angular black uniform and pulled it on. Reese snatched his vest from his locker, its anti-MaEMS plates pressed against his chest and back. After pulling his helmet onto his head, he quickly filled his pockets with ammunition, flares, a GPS, first aid kit, and canteen, then took his cauterizer and clipped it to his belt. It looked like a small dark red ball stuck onto a drab gray handle with a button on it. He pulled his small, dark backpack onto his back and strapped it in, before retrieving a pistol and placing it into his hip holster. Finally, he grabbed a standard assault rifle and ran to the hangar.

The hangar was a mess. Marines were everywhere, scrambling around and trying to find the right dropship. Every couple of seconds another dropship would rev up, its large side jets rotating and its control surfaces twisting. Reese ran over to a commanding officer who looked free at the moment and stated his name and regiment before being pointed over to a dropship. He sprinted to it, bumping into no less than six other marines. A squad was already boarding the dropship. He ran aboard, his black combat boots thudding against the thin steel of the dropship. Reese sat down and pulled the seatbelt over himself, strapping in with a few clicks. The marine settled down to wait. Finally, an officer stepped into the war machine and the door closed behind him. Inside of ten minutes the craft roared to life, gave a lurch and promptly left the Spirit of Hope. Then it hit him. Arthur had never been outside of the ship. He was afraid.

The officer shouted orders at the marines. They were to land in a small town near the capital, subdue the populace, secure non-unicorn prisoners, and evacuate with the prisoners before the Equestrian military arrived en masse. He was part of one of the five squads landing in the town, so they were expected to provide whatever support they could.

"THIRTY SECONDS!", roared the officer. Reese gripped his gun, his clammy hands clinging to the inside of his gloves. He checked, then double-checked, then triple-checked that it was loaded, charged, and ready to go. He was terrified at the notion of going into combat for the first time and possibly the last. His hands shook as he clumsily inspected his gun. The official designation popped into his head: C-138 Carbine- its name had been drilled into his head. It was angular and black and had a grip on the barrel. The stock was telescoping, and the magazine fit snugly into place in front of the trigger guard. He flicked a small switch from safe to fire.

"FIFTEEN SECONDS! VISORS DOWN!" The scared marine slapped the side of his helmet and a polarized glass visor slid into place, firmly locking into the chin of his helmet. He felt the air seals activate around his neck. Several small displays appeared in the corners of the visor, indicating his suits charge and air as well as radio connection and the statuses of his fellow marines. The roaring of the dropships twin turbine jet engines shook him to the core.

"FIVE SECONDS!" Reese unstrapped himself but didn't stand up. He held his gun tightly with his eyes glued on the drop-down door of the dropship. The light next to it turned green. The door dropped to the ground with a thud. "GO GO GO GO GO" The officer waved the marines out, their heels thumping on the metal ramp.

Chaos. Smoke choked the sky and fire glowed everywhere. Ash drifted down serenely. The shadow of the Spirit of Hope made the smoke like a night fog. Reese's hand shot to his helmet to turn on his flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness, illuminating the burning down. Then he saw it.

A green and white unicorn stumbled around a corner, into the street. Blood trickled from his snout and one of his hooves was twisted at an unnerving angle. His horn was lit up, and his head swung back and forth. He was looking for something.

Reese's eyes widened in fear. Unicorns were the most dangerous creatures on the planet. His training kicked into action without missing a beat. The marine brought his rifle to his shoulder and spent a moment aligning the sights before squeezing the trigger. The gun kicked in his arms and the bullet found its mark. The unicorn's horn exploded and he collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain. A spurt of blood came from his mangled stump. He writhed and twisted on the ground, batting at his sparking bloody forehead and all the while yelling at the top of his lungs.

Behind him, the dropship lifted up off the ground, returning to the Spirit of Hope for a new assignment. Reese's fellow marines' movement startled him out of his daze, and he followed the nearest one. His visor labeled him as CPL JAMESON. Reese's heart beat loudly in his head. The marine ran for the nearest house, his feet kicking up dust to spin in a twisted dance with the ash floating down from the sky. When Reese reached the small house he leaned back onto his left leg and kicked the door with his right. It swung open in a burst of splinters.

Reese gasped for air as he ducked into the house. The marine heard screams from outside. They sounded unnervingly human. He pressed his backpack against a wall, catching his breath before looking around the room. Then the marine locked eyes with the other person in the room. Two large oval eyes stared at him. They belonged to an earth pony mare with an off-white coat and a messy mane with stripes of red in it. There was the image of a rose stamped into her flank For a second Reese's fear was tackled by hatred.

"TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND RIGHT NOW!" Reese screamed at the pony with his rifle pointed at her overly large head. The mare shrieked and made a dash for the stairs. The human raised his weapon and fired three shots at her. The quartet of death screamed through the smoky air and tore into the mares back leg. She screamed in primal pain and collapsed at the foot of the stairs. Reese watched in a daze as the pony cried and screamed on the ground, holding her leg and feebly trying to escape from the terrifying monster that had kicked in her door. In her hopeless attempts, she began to bleed all over the smooth stone floor. Reese clumsily retrieved his cauterizer from his belt and held down the button on the handle. The red ball began to glow orange and twisted the air in its heat. The mare's eyes widened at the hellish tool and she began to back away from the human faster, her eyes spilling tears and her leg spilling blood.

"Get AWAY from me! Stay away from me you monster! Please, anybody, HELP ME" As the mare screamed in panic Reese quickly walked over to her and kneeled in the pool of pony blood Upon being grabbed by the cold hard alien hands the mare screamed out and struggled as hard as her feeble body could manage. Undeterred, Reese pressed the cauterizer into the mare's mangled leg. The smell of burning flesh filled the mares nostrils and she screamed as loud as she possibly could. Halfway through the violent procedure, the mare tore her vocal cords. She was yelling for help as loud as she could one moment and squeaking out a whisper the next. Reese welcomed it and finished burning the remaining bullet wounds shut. Once the mare had stopped bleeding and screaming the marine paused serenely to admire his handiwork in a daze. The mare's leg was ruined forever, covered in burned and torn flesh, but she had a chance at survival.

Reese picked his rifle up from the pool of blood where he had left it and snapped it onto his hip with a click, before squatting next to the exhausted but still very much alive mare. He scooped her up with a huff and roughly maneuvered her onto his shoulder. Reese quickly left the bloodstained living room. Back outside, he stared at the burning town in shock before carrying the mare over to the landing zone. There he saw a group of his fellow marines crouching behind makeshift barriers made of various carts and market stalls. With them were two other hostages. The first was the unicorn stallion from before, whose horn was blackened but no longer bleeding. He lay on the dirt, crying and muttering to himself while stroking his singed tail. Reese couldn't tell if the mud he lay in was made from tears or blood. The other was an earth pony mare whose only wounds were a couple of bruises but lay unconscious on the ground.

The shocked marine kneeled on one knee and shoved the pony off his shoulder. She hit the ground with a thud, jarring her lungs and making her loose her breath. As she lay on the dirt, with ash swirling around her, Reese took off his backpack. He reached into one of its many pockets and pulled out a set of hoof cuffs. They looked like two pairs of oversized handcuffs chained together. He snapped them around the mare's legs, immobilizing her. She didn't struggle, but instead looked at the human soldiers with contempt and tears in her eyes.

Reese saw a crate. It was wooden and primitive looking. It seemed to beckon him, from its place on its side a couple of yards away. The child in him wanted to be amazed at seeing so much processed wood in one place. But the soldier stumbled over to the crate, flipped it upside down, and promptly sat on it. Slowly, he began to take in the scene around him.

Ash and dust hung in the air, choking everything. Heat from the fires agitated the air. Glowing infernos raged elsewhere, over the rooftops. Gunshots and screams echoed through the empty streets. The shadow of the Spirit of Hope lay over it all. It reminded Reese of the story he had read about the ancient greek gods, with the pretty one. He struggled to recall her name. Persephone. That was it.

Time passed. Marines ran back and forth. A jet screamed over his head, followed by an explosion. Someone shook him. Reese's visor labeled her as S SGT RAHIM.

Clunk. Reese's eyes focused and he was brought back to the real world. Rushing with it came a new torrent of fear.

"You fucking idiot, Private! Get into cover for fucks sake! Royal Guard!" She pointed hurriedly at the makeshift barricade, which seemed to have grown larger. Reese jerked into action, scrambling across the ground towards the barricade. He arrived and slammed his side against what used to be a cupboard and fumbled for his rifle. He hurriedly checked his round count on his rifle. 26. Good enough. After bringing his rifle up and resting it in a nook on the barrier, he pressed his helmet against his gun, lining up the sights. He took a moment to look at his fellow marines. They had made a half-circle around the prisoners. All were crouched behind the barricade, just as they had been taught. The marine brought his focus to the road in front of them.

Under five minutes later they heard the footsteps. Marching. They came around the corner in a neat, orderly horde. The golden rows of earth ponies and unicorns stomped under a dozen pegasi. Forty-odd ponies versus twelve marines. Someone said to open fire.

The barricade lit up, casting twisted shadows against the ash as the first bullets tore into the ranks of the ponies. The projectiles bit through golden metal and flesh alike. A dozen ponies fell dead while some collapsed onto the ground, screaming and crying in excruciating pain. Pegasi fell out of the sky, breaking their bones on the stomped-down road. Reese's eyes widened at the sight even as he pulled the trigger on his rifle. Moments later colorful shields sprang up and the ponies dashed for cover. The wounded were left begging for help and mercy alike in the quickly reddening dirt.

The Pegasi grounded themselves with the earth ponies behind overturned stalls and rubble. The unicorns shot blasts of magic at the humans. The humans shot back. On both sides, someone would slip up and raise their head at the wrong time. Magical shields were only so strong. Human armor was only so thick. Reese heard a marine scream as his face boiled inside his armor. His head twisted around to see CPL JAMESON lying peacefully on the ground, with his visor gone and only a blackened skull for a face. He saw a pony paw at his ruined eye socket that was still managing to tear up. A Guardspony once dashed out to try and save a lightly wounded pony. The unicorn shield protecting them chose that moment to shudder and collapse, getting all three ponies involved killed. A barricade exploded and sent shards of metal and wood into the surrounding marines when an overcharged spell hit it. Somebody lobbed a grenade over one of the shields. A burst of fire, blood and smoke appeared and the shield vanished. Blood was everywhere. Screams came from both sides. Someone cried for their mother.

The battle was unsustainable. within three minutes the marines' numbers had been halved. Rivulets muddy blood ran through the streets. Somewhere in his shellshocked mind, Arthur noticed that his visor was cracked.

The marines were fleeing. Arthur needed to flee, too. He scooped his rifle up from the bloody mud and stumbled into the dust and smoke. Screams echoed out. He couldn't even tell if they were human or not.

There. An alleyway. Arthur ignored the screaming pain in his legs as he wobbled through the battlefield.

Safety. He collapsed into the darkness of the alleyway, gasping and panting feverishly. He spat, desperately trying to get the taste of blood out of his mouth, and only succeeded in splattering the inside of his impossibly-still-airtight helmet with bloody goop.

He listened to the battle outside the momentary sanctuary of his alleyway. The gunfire faded, and the surreal blasts of MaEMS energy came closer. He weakly pushed himself into a more safe position amongst the garbage that piled in the thin passage. Eventually, the battle stilled, with only the moans of the wounded to even verify the presence of any soldiers at all.

Arthur sighed, letting his arms fall limp in his lap over his grimy rifle. His head made a quiet thunkas it contacted the wooden house behind him. The soldier vaguely wondered what had happened to his prisoner. He let his eyes wander over the rest of the alleyway, taking in the almost serene view.

Garbage lined the sides of the dark wooden walls of the alleyway. Straw had been trampled into the ground, and here and there weeds sprouted amongst the filth.

Arthur's eyes widened slowly when they met those large, green, uncanny eyes of the pony buried in the garbage heap directly across from him.

Arthur was afraid.

Comments

[Inucroft1]

Summary:

you done goofed XD

[shadesslayer]

ITS LYRA!!!!