Ranger
Chapter 10: Nostalgia
By Wanderer D
Jane Kelly had heard that in the old XCOM, Skyranger and Avalanche pilots would not mix up with the ground troops. Air Force was Air Force and Army was Army. Now, however, they were all a big family. They all lived in the same ship, after all, and there was only one bar.
The Avenger had no Avalanche fighters, only its own pilots and a few others on reserve or in active duty with the ground troops, and it was their own pilot, Second Lieutenant Dash—aka Firebrand—that she was looking for, and found at the bar, staring in contemplation at a glassful of bourbon.
Lieutenant Dash was one of the few rare people in XCOM that could be total stiffs, and yet have unique quirks to their personalities, such as multicolored hair, which the pilot kept short, most likely for comfort under a combat helmet.
Jane tried to remember what she knew about her: she was just a few years younger than Bradford himself, just barely over forty, having joined XCOM as a promising young air force pilot, and excelled as one of the best Avalanche pilots they'd had before XCOM was betrayed. Legend had it she had not only never been shot down once, but all attacks the aliens had tried against her... had missed. She was just that good.
After the war, she had been one of the few to escape along with Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Shen, joining the latter in his quest to find the one large alien ship they had taken down with Dash's help: the Avenger.
The rest, as they said, was history.
Jane approached the pilot and sat down next to her. "Hey," she said.
Firebrand gave her a look and raised her glass in a small salute. "Jane Kelly. Don't tell me we have another mission? I just poured this one." Dash's voice was a bit raspy, although definitely not making her sound old.
Jane chuckled. "Nah… I just wanted to thank you. If you hadn't been so fast… Sunset wouldn't have made it. I heard that Bradford rode your ass from the Skyranger to the Avenger bridge just so you could take the helm and fly this thing all the way here."
Dash chuckled. "Hey, I am the fastest flyer on Earth, don't you forget that." She took a sip of her glass and then reached over for another glass, threw ice in it and a splash from the same bottle before handing it to Jane. "Here, I know you're Irish, but you should be able to enjoy the best of Kentucky regardless."
Jane shook her head, but accepted the drink with a smile. The pair sat in comfortable silence for a while.
"Sunset..." Dash started to say, pausing to look into the dark liquid. "...she reminds me of myself and my friends, back in the day."
Jane blinked. Lieutenant Dash usually didn't speak much about herself. "Oh?"
"Yeah," the Lieutenant continued. "And it's not just the name."
Jane raised an eyebrow and Dash grinned.
"It was a thing from the area I was born in. I'm not sure why, maybe our grandfathers were hippies or something, but, take my name. Rainbow Dash."
Jane coughed, putting the glass she'd been sipping from down and pounding her chest, before giving the other woman an incredulous look.
Dash's smile didn't fade. "I know, right? It wasn't just me, though, the whole generation above mine and the next… they had names like this too. It was weird to meet a 'Jane' or 'John' in our little city of Canterlot. You can imagine my shock when the rest of the world had much more mundane names."
"Huh. Sunset Shimmer," Jane pondered. "Yeah, that sounds like a name from there too."
Dash nodded. "Yeah, you had me, a gal actually named Pinkie Pie; some jerk named her kid Trixie. Imagine when we found out that was a popular pole-dancer name?" Dash laughed.
It was funny. Jane had never seen Dash laugh. It brought back a sense of wonder in the older woman that made her seem a lot younger. She could really imagine her now as a cocky, young pilot, giving hell to her superiors.
"You can imagine the looks I got when I signed in and my name was on the resume," Dash continued, a bit more subdued. "I had been trained by one of the best, and when she found out what happened to Canterlot… well. She practically forced Bradford to hire me and skip a whole lot of other candidates."
Jane tried to remember anything she might've heard about Canterlot, but the history of the place was sadly straightforward when it came to XCOM: it was one of the first cities openly attacked by alien dreadnaughts.
"I still remember it," Dash said as the silence stretched. "It was just… a normal day, a week before graduation. I had played my last soccer game of the season, and I had gotten a letter of acceptance into the Air Force. Scared a lot of my friends with that, you know? Rarity… Pinkie… they weren't the fighting type. They never really understood why someone would… go kill."
Dash gave Jane an expectant look, and when the other woman said nothing, she smiled. "Yeah, you get it. They're the ones we step up to the line to protect." She sighed. "Only AJ really got me on that… once things had started, Big Mac was going to… ahem, that was her brother, he signed up to the army, but had an accident at the farm before his training even started. AJ stepped in instead."
Dash licked her lips, eyes straying up to the wall, but looking past it as memories flooded her mind. "We met at school… I think we had practice for a singing competition. That's when the sirens just… blasted the alarm around us. Metal things crashed outside the building. I-I looked out the window when one crashed right next to where Flash had just parked. It hit so hard it flipped his car over. Mist came out and… it was like it dragged them back. Whoever went into the mist, never came back.
"Everyone was screaming. Pinkie dove under a desk. Rarity… she was trying to calm the others.. that's when I saw it. This ship that blotted out the sun. I remember the vice-principal's voice ordering all of us to get into the tornado shelter area and then… a column of fire just… cut through the building."
Rainbow Dash shuddered, taking a long drink. "It wasn't a hard decision to join the Air force after that, and then come to XCOM. My mentor had been hired by Bradford already to head the Avalanche squad and she wanted the best."
Jane nodded. Talking with the older soldiers was always like this. She herself had vague memories of when she was a child about what the world was like… with no ADVENT to pull curtains over their eyes. It was distant and almost felt unreal. It had never been perfect… but it had been theirs.
"Anyway," Dash said, drinking down the last of her drink, "Sunset. She reminds me of them. I feel a little like I knew her from back then, you know? Maybe her parents were from Canterlot or something."
"When I saw her… that… that thing, the Assassin… she gutted Sunset like a fish, Jane."
Jane nodded.
"And she held on. Something like that would have killed anyone! But I've seen what force of will can do… the commander is like that. Fluttershy—all my friends were like that too." Dash looked down at the bottle before grabbing a shot glass and filling it up. "I guess, what I'm trying to say is… I'm never letting my friends die again. Not on my watch. Not if I can help it… and you guys are my team. Menace. Maybe even my friends."
She stood up and walked over to the memorial, where Jane had just noticed a small framed picture of a bunch of young girls. It was very old, and faded, but she could make out Dash's multicolored hair among them.
She watched as Dash placed the shoot in front of the group, then walked quickly out of the bar, leaving Jane alone.
"Friends, huh?" Jane muttered. She glanced at the picture—mirroring Dash's earlier salute with her glass—and downed the last of her bourbon.
Even though Sunset was not acknowledged as a psychic herself, she'd never felt comfortable around Templars. It wasn't that they shunned her… it was that they expected her to be like them… and treated her as such.
The Templars she had met before had decided to call her 'little sister', because they could feel her presence in the psychic network, and she could clearly feel them. They assumed, therefore, that she was also a psychic, perhaps one of XCOM's infamous psi-ops. The problem with this was that she really wasn't a psychic and mixing her magic with their powers was… volatile.
And now, she was with a Templar that was examining her with said psychic powers to make sure her healing was complete. And she had to keep her magic contained in her core, or there would be one Templar less in the world due to violent psychic feedback.
This proved one thing for sure, however: Geist was insane.
"Okay, it seems your healing is complete. There's no muscle degradation, all the layers have healed fully and while you might feel a bit sore, it's going to be mostly in your mind," Laetitia said. "Your healing ability is… amazing."
"Yeah, well, it carries a heavy price," Sunset said stretching. It did feel sore. "It's not a thing I can just use. My blood abilities are taking a hit for a while now."
"So it's not something you can use on demand?" Laetitia asked as Sunset started getting dressed.
"No," Sunset said, shaking her head. "I have a very limited supply of… energy for that kind of thing. Some of the very basic abilities I can do for a long time without much problem, but healing like that uses a lot out of me. If I was stabbed again like that right now…" She shuddered, her hand gingerly touching the place where the blade had struck. "I'd bleed out like anyone else, no matter how much I tried to work around that."
"Sometimes I really wonder where you're from," Laetitia said, getting to work on putting away all of her equipment as well. "You take too casually to powers like these."
Sunset's hands closed tighter around the piece of armor she was holding. She took a breath and donned the rest of her equipment. "A place I'll never be able to see again. It's beautiful. And full of very kind… people. I was loved there, and cherished and—heh." She shook her head, a self-deprecating smile in her face. "It took me three years of hell here to understand just how much I lost."
Laetitia nodded, having waited next to that door for Sunset to come over and follow her. "It seems that you have a lot of regrets," she said as they walked down the empty hallways of the Templar HQ. "Isn't there anyone you could reach out to? Tell them you miss them?"
Sunset's mind went back to her diary.
"I see there is," Laetitia smiled, looking at Sunset's face. "We've only known each other for as long as we worked together on your injury, Sunset, but I believe you are a good person. I'm sure they know it too. Give it a try."
"Yeah," Sunset sighed. "I'll think about it. It's been some time."
"Better late than never," Laetitia countered with a shrug. She led Sunset to a large double door. "And here we are…" she faced Sunset and shook her hand. "Best of luck, Sunset Shimmer. I hope that the next time you visit we won't be talking with you in bed all the time." She grinned. "Unless you invite me to join you."
"I—"
Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by Bradford emerging from behind the double doors. "Sunset, good to see you on your feet. The commander has a mission for Menace, if you can take it."
"I-I just... gah!" Sunset shook her head, ignoring their bemused looks. "I'm fine. Fine. Let's go." She glanced over at Laetitia. "And you… that was mean."
The woman laughed, winking at Sunset and waving as she turned around to leave. "I will see you around, Sunset Shimmer."
"Yeah." Sunset couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I'll see you around."
o.0.o End Chapter 10 o.0.o
So they're old. Forty years... The commander can't be Twilight though, she'd still be a teenager when XCOM activated. I just hope the girls survived and the memorial photo is more of a symbolic thing/Dash not knowing about it.
The relationship between Sunset and the Templars is rather interesting. They are the closest thing she has to unicorns in this world, but she has to be careful not to make them explode with her mind. Fitting.
And I just hope that ship does sail forth. But as this is xcom, it's rather doomed to end in death.
Sunset really needs to find out how to get more Mana Regen. A spellslinger without mojo is no slinger.
Finished reading one chapter only to find that the next just published. Neat!
I wonder exactly which friends Rainbow Dash was talking about...
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Eh, to be fair, you’re not the only person looking at the page~
Gonna
Gonna
Gonna
Gonna
Gonna
Gonna
Buy Me A RAINBOW!
Dunno who called it, but wow. Gang confirmed! Ooh, is Twilight gonna be the first Psi Operative, and Sunset trains her? I'm calling that now just in case.
Also, I really like Laetitia now. She got some nice character development here, aside from essentially being Geist's attache. It's important for real friendships between characters to have actual one-on-one moments we can see. This leads me to believe we'll see more of the growing XCOM & Resistance crew, which is awesome! Incidentally, I always wondered what their culture and people were like behind the scenes. Heck, for all I know, Templars could take up pottery making as a way to meditate and focus through art. Or folding origami cranes, crocheting, or trimming bonsai trees. Simple, repetitive tasks like that could remind them to stay rooted in the basics, like Mr. Miyagi teaching kids muscle memory for fighting by having them paint his fence. Both sides. ;) So what would that mean for Reapers and Skirmishers? Do Reapers play some crazy kind of laser tag in the dark with radioactive flashlights? Do Skirmishers play baseball? With throwing axes?
oh, please tell me shes going to apologize for what she did.
She practically forced Bradford to hire me and skip a whole of people
She watched as Dash placed the shoot in front of the group
1. And ship a whole bunch of people.
2. Shot. Least I think it is cause she was drinking.
So now this presents a clearer timeline of where we're at. About forty huh? That means a good two decades at least from what we knew at EQG but with XCOM taking place soon after since she did mention graduation at the time. We all have to wonder where each went with no Sunset to break apart their friendships and etc. Events that happened before didn't happen here. Quite interesting really.
They say that somewhere out there to this very day is a Lost that abducts waifus...
Take plenty of iron in your diet, Sunset, and that 'reserve' will be back in no time.
I really hope the others survived. Still if they didn’t, they’re with Rainbow in her heart. If one got attacked by a Chryssalid and turned into a zombie, that must have been horrifiing for her, proably traumatizing her.
Well, it is good to know that the characters we know and love exist in some capacity in this world... or at least they did until the aliens had something to say about it.
Really helps remind us of the plight faced by the XCOM of the second game, those who saw their whole world torn away from them. I don't know when the last time I witnessed this being touched on in a story based on this setting was, but it has me really excited to keep reading, well played!
So Applejack could still be out there in the Resistance somewhere, Pinkie and Rarity are most likely to be dead but not confirmed, Fluttershy is unknown and Sci-Twi is status unconfirmed.
I hope they're all out there somewhere, although Rainbow's tone implies that at least some of them didn't make it.
It's nice to see Rainbow here and alive, the others' status are not clear, though some seem are implied to be dead , but do hope will know more about them later.
So Rainbow is in her forties, then again I should have expected that the time line of Equestria and the human world wont be same as the show. But you did put a good introspect on their culture and their name during their era.
Leatitia is a character I really gonna like following. Giving closure to Sunset on her past motivation and her memories of home and maybe get back in contact with Celestia. Also she's a real tease... or is she not?
Will Sooner or later Princess Twi step into the show? I wonder...
No shit, Rainbow Dash piloting the Skyranger? Nice.
So if Dash flys, where are the others?
Excellent chapter
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I can't see why Princess Twilight would have any reason to pass through the mirror without Sunset stealing her crown.
I just realised something, Chryssalid sounds allot like chrysalis, and the devices that create them glow green.... you dont think?
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I mean personally, I hope the Commander isn't one of the Equestria Girls characters, don't get me wrong it's cool seeing them in this world, and I'm curious about all their fates, and definitely hoping more of them show up in this story, but making everyone important in this story from Canterlot kinda makes the world seem very small and centered, XCOM is a global organisation after all. Not to mention the fact that none of the EG characters seemed to have many skills and/or personalities that would translate particularly well to the military commander of a global military defense force.
I wonder what the results of the eventual journal contact will be. It feels like it'll be important.
And it's good to see Sunset changed a bit in her time away. If she were given a one-time portal back home, I wonder if she'd take it.
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On the other hand it somewhat belies the purpose of a crossover if you don't use the characters. Also, do remember they were teenagers during the invasion, as Rainbow is in her forties. The possibility of them learning what they needed during this time is quite real. As is their deaths, or simply having gone with the flow and became either citizens in Advent cities or struggling out of them.
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I don't think that Pinkie would allow anything to kill her. You know, 4th wall breaker? Nah, she will pop-up when we don't expcet her. :)
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Unless she went pinkimima
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Still, she would be even more terrifying. ;)
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True, personaly i hope they all survived and some are just being mind controlled.
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the commander was captured during the initial invasion, and lead X-Com from the start of the war. Twilight would have to have taken command at like 16 years, minimum
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If Sunset writes to Celestia in the journal, it'd be almost a skip straight to Rainbow Rocks with Twilight coming over to help. Doubly so because of the Sirens and Sunset not being Queen Bitch anymore.
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Sunset knows how dangerous the aliens are, though. Involving equestria would end badly for the ponies.
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Using characters is one thing, having those characters be nearly the only important people in the world is another. I always hate crossover work where the elements of one of the sources completely eclipses the elements of the other source, except when that's the point.
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I agree that completely eclipsing the core would be bad, but XCOM has really few named characters. Roles like Rainbow's are a nice compromise, nothing major but still there. Twilight would most likely be an assistant to Taigan or Shen, maybe having learnt something with Moira. The others, contacts or soldiers at most. Or likely dead.
The only viable character for the Commander would be Celestia or Luna, if it's a character at all. Maybe the gender was only mentioned for the sake of saying it.
If every important character was a pony I'd agree with you. As it stands, they need a few more appearances else this becomes 'War of the Chosen staring Sunset Shimmer".
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I agree with pretty much everything you said there except the commander thing. The commander is not a named character but being the player character they are the singular most important character in all of XCOM. And giving that role to a character from a different setting thereby makes that character the singular most important character in XCOM, and also makes it seem like half of XCOM's recruitment comes from Canterlot. Not to mention again, I have a hard time believing that the job of a principal translates all that well to a military commander of a global defense force.
Surprise Rainbow Dash! And she’s old! Younger than Central but no longer the teen wonder she was huh? Late thirties early fourties? Will we see any of the rest of the cast, or, you know... was that picture up for a reason?
And surprise Dash appears! Wonder if they'll connect...
SHE LIVES! ... and the others do not, except maybe AJ on a long shot. Looks like everyone else bought it at Canterlot High. I hope Dash finds what she's looking for.
Only other Equestrian canonically in this universe would be one of the sirens, apparently under ADVENT control. Joy.
Well then... I guess this chapter explains the name thing I mentioned earlier.
Consider that particular nitpick retracted.
So... they're dead?
I can only hope that wherever they are now, they're at peace. I can't really say anything else, so I'll pay my respects.
Edit (serious spoilers):
Fluttershy's alive! Rejoice! Wait, does that mean the others are alive too? We have hope people, we have HOPE!
Also, so the Assassins are the Sirens, then? Icarus_Con_Queso's comment below made me realize that. The Assassin that attacked Sunset was definitely Aria Blaze, so we can assume that the other two are Adagio and Sonata – three sirens, three assassins.
No way RD
*clicks tongue* Rainbow “Danger” Dash... why am I not surprised...
Now that's an intriguing line. Who's EqG Rainbow Dash's mentor? Spitfire or someone? Probably not Celestia.
It does make such perfect sense that the ludicrously-fast Skyranger is piloted by the fastest flyer we know
20 years between XCOM1 and XCOM2 is canon, but it does make the timeline a little weird between the "human" EqG characters (who at least got to go to CHS for a while before the aliens happened) and Sunset (who arrived, hm, 17 years later).
Still, I'm getting my wish for more EqG characters, which is awesome. And more moments of characterisation for the OCs too: Laetitia is intriguing.
Ah, here we go.
I'm guessing the mirror took Sunset into the future where EqG-verse became XCom-verse. Almost everyone we know from the show is dead? Eeyup. Sounds like XComification, alright.
I kinda think you shoulda left out the talk about the weirdness of certain names... but whatevs. Moving right along.
Hmm ... this is getting highly intriguing ...
generally you'd use 'takes' here ...
I put this story off for awhile, mainly because I had so much to read and I'd never played XCOM.
So far, I'm enjoying it. However, I must admit another reason I waited for a bit was having only a Sunset tag for awhile. I'm not sure how many of the other characters are planning to be added, but now with Dash in this chapter and a Twilight tag added, I may have picked it up sooner if I'd seen that. Just saying.
Looking forward to the rest of the story though!
I got worried for a while that not knowing anything about X-COM would be bad, but so far it's holding up pretty well. Of course, since I don't know anything, I would have loved less skips and learn things as Sunset does, but it's still okay as is.
I was wondering what happened to the residents of this world's version of Equestria, appears Dash and AJ joined the military/XCOM, though I wonder how they'll interact with Sunset
I ship it!!!
I wonder how many of the human 6 are still alive
Damn hippies!
So who died and who is left? Or are they all gone?
I wonder if Celestia & Luna are around. But they be cougars for sure...
War is never productive for growth, the only real purpose is depopulation or destroying shit to spite others in my oppinion.