Union of Hope: Shrouded Great War

by Kvnhuang1222

Chapter 6 - Awakening

“Nigel Shroud, you illegally studied forbidden dark magic, abducted and killed 50 ponies and creatures. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“All I did was to make Equestria more developed and stronger so that I can make my goal come true. What did I do wrong? Don’t you want it?”

“You just made many innocent souls become your testing subjects for experiments! Do you realize that these vile acts threaten our national security, leading our subjects into fear and giving the diplomatic relationship between us and other nations a bad influence?”

"So what? After I’d suffered years of humiliation and bullying from that world, I swore that I would destroy all humankind. Now the opportunity is at my hand, but you ruined it. WHY?! Why would you do that?!”

“ENOUGH!!! I kept and adopted you because I pitied what you’d been through in the past. But now, you began to do such atrocious things just for your vengeance. You have been corrupted by greed, hatred, and cruelty. I’m afraid I cannot let you stay here any longer. I, Princess Celestia, sentence you to banishment back to the human world and never come back! Guards, take him out of my sight in an instant!!”

“Yes, Your Highness!!”

"Heh… how pathetic, I’ve regarded you as my family for a long time, but now I was blind and betrayed by you. Now I realize that you ponies are on the same level as humans!! Mark my word, Celestia, I will return. Once that time comes, I will take both the human world and Equestria by myself, and you will regret what you’ve done and bow to ME!!!”

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August 3, 2028, 17:11:37
United Nations Headquarters
New York City, United States

It has been several hours since the invasion. As N. Shroud’s army successfully captured New York City, they established their stronghold at United Nations Headquarters. Later, they replaced the flags of the Nevermore Empire after burning down all national flags outside of the building. Meanwhile, inside the General Assembly Building, while the robots were renovating the interior, N. Shroud was standing behind a podium in deep thought.

“My Lord,” one of the servant robots called N. Shroud with a bow.

N. Shroud glared back at the robot. “You’d better have something important to report. Speak out now, I’m busy thinking of something.”

“Y-yes my Lord, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that we’ve successfully captured New York and other major cities. All resistances were either repelled or eliminated. And…”

“And the bad news?”

“Uhm… t-the bad news is because of our sudden assault, many countries are on high alert, and they seem planning to unite. What should we do?”

N. Shroud rubbed his chin and smirked. He said, “Just as I expected. Let them be. No matter how many countries, how much military personnel they have, they will be crushed eventually.”

“If you say so, My Lord. If you say so,” the robot nodded.

N. Shroud turned his back. “I’m going to contact someone. You tell all the robots to stop working and go outside. Without further notice, no one is allowed to enter. Understand?”

“As you command, My Lord.” The robot bowed and dismissed.

As all robots left the room, N. Shroud took a disk from his cloak and put it on the podium. As he activated it, the disk started to project a dark blue circle background, then a dark shadow appeared, followed by a ram-like creature with flashing crimson red eyes. The ram seemed unpleased with someone disturbing his peace.

“Who dares summon Emperor Grogar!!?” the shadow roared. The roar almost echoed the whole room.

“Ah, Grogar, my friend. It’s me.”

Grogar huffed. “What do you want?”

“Well, you still remember the creature called human, don’t you, Grogar?”

“Human? You mean the creature that relied on ponies after they betrayed Tambelon, and disappeared a thousand years ago?”

N. Shroud chuckled. “By your memories, you can say that.”

“Oh, I remember those traitors. When I was the Emperor of Tambelon, they used to work with us until I found that they secretly befriended puny ponies. After I had been exiled, they left Tambelon and moved to Equestria.”

Grogar ranted about how humans betrayed all beasts in Tambelon. Furthermore, he didn’t understand why humans could quickly get along with ponies, which made him jealous.

“I reckon you also remember the person who defeated you a while ago, eh?”

“Grrr… Megan Williams.”

As Grogar heard the name, he got furious. His eyes turned flaming glow. Several years ago, when he was a ghost, he was defeated by her and her pony friends. All his plans were ruined. What was worse, he was trapped in Tartarus afterward. He swore that he would make them suffer for all eternity.

“Of course! I remember that brat. Not to mention the pony named Violet Harmony and how she and her friends defeated me!! I thought I could take over Equestria by killing Violet and her friends and families, but failed miserably after she befriended Megan and used Rainbow of Light on me.”

N. Shroud didn’t say any words, he just listened to Grogar complaining and his hatred towards humans and ponies, especially those heroes. As Grogar finished venting his rage, he eyed N. Shroud and asked, “But I don’t understand, why you mentioned humans?”

“Because I am currently in a world that humans dominate. I plan to conquer and rule over here. Now that phase one has been completed, the next phase will be commenced, but requires your assistance.”

“Hmm? My assist? How can I help you?” Grogar asked in confusion.

“Well, first, I want you to find as many locations in Equestria as possible for my portals that will place on Earth. Second, rally some villains in Equestria like criminals, assassins, or whatever. The more the better. And lastly, watch over those pony heroes, contact me anytime when you have the intel. I’m sure you can complete all the tasks I’ve ordered, right?”

“You must be joking, of course, I can! When things are done, leave those heroes to me first, I want to make them suffer!”

“You have my words, Grogar. Now go, there’s no time to waste!!”

As the transmission ended, N. Shroud faced the emblem of the United Nations on the wall. He picked up the radio. “Prepare for phase two. We’ll execute it at the end of the next month!" Then, he drew a plasma pistol and destroyed the emblem into smithereens.

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Unknown date, unknown time
Unknown location
Brooklyn Mason

“Ugh…… my head…” I slowly sat up, the dizziness was still around, even though I was awake. Fuck, that fall was hard. I looked around after regaining consciousness, I found that I was in a place covered by darkness. There was nothing but some whistling sound and thick mist.

“Hello? Anyone here?” I shouted, no response. Well, I guess I’m the only one. But wait, something didn’t add up, I was suppressing the robots with the SWAT group in New York. I also remembered being blasted by a robot's laser cannon and falling unconscious. Why did I end up here when I woke up? Was I dreaming? Or, I’ve already died?

No, nonononono, definitely not the later one, I shook my head. I took a breath and kept myself calm, then I started to move to find somewhere to get the hell out of here.

I have already forgotten how far I’ve moved for a long while. The mist here was fucking thick, I could barely see any shit, only I could do was keep moving forward. My feet felt sore and weary, so I stopped, sat down, and took a breather. I gave my numb legs some massage. I was so tired that I started thinking I would stick here forever. Then suddenly, a wind blew some mist away, and a strange silhouette that looked like a wall appeared in front of me. As I looked closely, there was a castle behind it. Looked like a city there.

“Civilization?!” my eyes widened. My body was full of adrenaline, so I bounced up and dashed toward the wall. As I approached the wall, I found that it was surrounded by a moat, and its front gate was closed. Fortunately, the moat was dry, and a door was half-opened, which could be the alternate entrance to get in. I walked across the moat and got through the door. I saw a couple of medieval-styled houses on both sides of the cobblestone road. There were only some torches that provided the light, but it was too dim to look further, so I took one of the torches and moved on. I tried to seek some help, but the more I went, the stranger I felt. No one was here in this town because no lights were in any houses. No wonder the town was quiet as hell.

“Why does this town has no residents? Did something happen that made here a ghost town?” I asked myself.

After another few minutes of moving, I arrived somewhere believed to be a city center. There was an abandoned large fountain in the center. I took a closer look, it had a metal plaque with some words, “Spirit of Tambelon,” on it.

“Spirit of Tambelon, huh? So this town is called Tambelon. I gotta say, this town is vast. I’d like to stay longer to explore, but I’d better find a way to end this dream or whatever. But the thing is, where do I start?” I sat on the edge of the fountain in deliberation. Just then, I heard the tonging sound. I looked around, trying to find the source, and I noticed that there was a castle-like building, which had a bell tower at its top.

“Sounds like the sound was from that bell tower at the castle. Better take a look.” I stood up and headed to the castle.

Later, after some tour of the castle, I finally arrived at the tower. Man, this castle’s interior design looked peculiar. What the hell was the ruler thinking? His portrait looked like a ram. The stairs were too complex, it took me a while to reach the top. I was exhausted. After minutes of break, I walked close to the bell, I gave it some inspection and found that it was partially rusted and had several hollows.

“This bell looks like it has been here for ages.”

I touched the bell and gently knocked, the sound it made was pleasing. Then, a crazy idea came up in my mind, I grabbed a stick and hit the bell with full strength, it made a long and loud ringing sound that could spread all across the town. Satisfied, I was about to leave the tower, but then the room was becoming brighter. I looked back, the light was coming from the bell. The light was too bright to look ahead, I couldn’t tell what was happening. When the light turned weaker, I opened my eyes, I found that I was laying in a hospital bed.

“He’s awake!!”

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August 4th, 2028, 03:44:01
FOB Washington
Washington Monument, National Mall, Washington D.C., United States

“He’s awake!!”

Mason opened his eyes as he heard someone calling, he saw someone just left. As he gained his sight, he found that he was no longer in the bell tower, but instead, in a hospital bed in a field hospital tent. He weakly lifted himself to inspect his body. His chest, both arms, and left leg were bandaged. He was relieved that his injuries were not severe - well, except for some pains and dizziness.

Looking around, Mason saw some medics and medical crews tirelessly taking care of some refugees and soldiers. Additionally, two or three CH-47 Chinooks landed nearby with some more refugees. Outside the tent, several Humvees, M3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and M1A3 Abrams tanks were patrolling around.

“Was I dreaming……?” he thought, laying back. A few minutes later, a doctor came in with about four Delta Forces soldiers and stood near him. As Mason took a closer look, he realized that they were his partners or brother-in-arms from Delta Force Alpha Team.

“How’s Mason?” one of the soldiers asked.

The doctor replied while he was analyzing Mason’s diagnosis. “He’s lucky, the place he fell from was not very high. He just has some cuts, bruises, and a disjointed left leg. Other than these, there’s no big deal. He’ll be free to leave after three to five days.”

“I see, thank you.” the soldiers saluted the doctor, and so did the others.

“I’ll check him later. We’ll be around if you need us.”

As the doctor left for checking on other patients, a soldier named Clark came close to Mason. “Mason, buddy, you scared the shit out of us. We thought we’d lost you.”

Mason chuckled. “Don’t be such an ass, Clark. You’ve known that I’m not that fragile,” he gave Clark’s right shoulder a gentle fist bump. “But where am I? And how long I’ve been out?”

“You’re at FOB Washington in Washington D.C. It’s been 12 hours since we found you at JFK International Airport. You’re the only survivor, by the way.”

“What about New York?”

“Well, by the time we retreated, New York had been captured eight hours ago,” answered Clark, lowering his head. “Almost all forces there were either retreated or eliminated. And that’s not all. As far as we know, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Australia, etc. were also under attack.”

Mason’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe that so many countries were under those threats in such a short time.

“Has the president made any responses?”

“After an hour when the US was invaded, the president had contacted most of the leaders from other countries. They planned to have a conference at NATO Headquarters next week. Seems he has invited other non-NATO nations to participate.”

“Next week, eh? W-wait, did you say non-NATO nations will participate?”

“Yes. NATO believed that there would be no match for the enemy based on its current military strength. So, most of the NATO members agreed to request other nations to join.”

The first ever global joint operation? Mason thought. He was not sure whether he was surprised or worried. For a long time, NATO is incompatible with some countries, especially Russia and China. But today, they were in the same boat and united together. Perhaps, this was the first step toward world peace, which was supposed to be right after the Cold War. It was kinda funny, though. Mason was not sure whether he was grateful for those enemies’ help or not. Despite that, they must be repelled based on the damage they've caused.

“By the way, the president assigned us to escort him and his cabinets to NATO Headquarters. That is, once your wounds recover, you and we have to meet the president for the briefing. The escort mission could be dangerous, so listen carefully.”

“Yes, sir,” Mason replied.

“Now, get some rest for now. Our jobs are not simple as we thought. There will be more waiting for us somehow.” Then Clark and the rest of the alpha team members left the tent. The area became empty, Mason lay down, blankly looking at the ceiling. He was recalling what he had seen in the dream. A medieval-style city, a bizarre-looking castle, and a portrait painted like a ram. And, most of all, a bell that has a strange power. Those things were too extraordinary that he hasn’t seen them before.

Did they have some kind of significance? Mason thought as he began falling asleep.

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