When the main six get a message from the most unlikey of places it begins a journy greater than any of them expected.
Twilight invents something that she considers a breakthrough for pony-kind but after receiving a very strange message she along with Starlight have to go to a new world to find her friend's and maybe make some new ones along the way.
Sounds of gunfire filled the air, shadows moved from building to building each one shouting out orders.
"MOVE MOVE MOVE!"
"OPEN FIRE!"
"WE NEED MOR- Gah!"
More and more were falling to the enemy's gunfire one brave soul ran over to his squad's long range radio and said with panic in his voice.
"Hello, Hello, is anyone out there? Does anyone read me? Please respond!" No response came through the radio's speaker. "Shit." He muttered to himself "I will have to send this out anyways. My name is Lieutenant Ozwald of an organization known as the Coalition. If anyone can hear me send help, my and my squad are stuck in the middle of Moscow. We got ambushed by a group of bandits known as the Rangers." A grenade landed not more than a few feet away from the radio, with a loud bang and flash a few were dead, but not him. "Shit, that was way to close. Listen we are running out of ammo and weapons, we need help soon, if not sooner. If anyone reads me we need help, I repeat if anyone hears me plea- INCOMING!!" Another loud explosion, and with that the radio went silent.
Equestria, Outskirts of Ponyville, 5:25 PM Location: Twilight's castle
"Twilight, Twilight? Where are you?" Starlight Glimmer was walking through the halls of Twilight's castle trying to find out where Twilight was.
"Twilight where are you?" Just then she heard a rather loud crashing sound come from the other end of the hallway. She trotted towards where she heard the sound trying to find it's source.
"Twilight, was that you?" Starlight called out as she approached the door where she assumed the noise came from. She tried opening the door but the knob wouldn't budge. She kept trying to open it, she shook the knob harder and harder until eventually, the door opened and she was buried in an avalanche of books, science equipment, scrolls, and parchment.
"Ahhhh!" She exclaimed, in both surprise and fear. It took her a couple of moments to realize what was going on but when she managed to get her bearings she dug her way out of the huge pile of books and trotted over the mountain of books to the doorway where they all fell from. When she entered the room the entire floor was covered in even more of the same items that completely engulfed her a few seconds ago.
"Starlight what are you doing in here?" It was twilight, she was working on something, Starlight couldn't tell what but it looked rather important. It had a similar shape to the portal that they used to enter the human world plus a rather bulky looking thing connected to it alongside countless wires, buttons, and other rather tall thin looking objects connected to the big bulky object. It looked very dark, cold, and metallic.
"Umm, Twilight, what is that?" She asked pointing to the object she examined just a few moments ago.
"Oh that, that's my latest and possibly greatest creation, in fact, I was about to go find you so I could show it to you."
"Alright, I understand that but...what is it?"
"Come on let me show you, I think I may have just made the next greatest scientific breakthrough Equestria has ever seen."
"Alright let's see what you made then."
Somewhere in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Russia, Liberator aircraft carrier, 5:26 PM Location: ???
"Ma'am, We have received a transmission from Delta squad, It's a call for backup, what should we do?"
"Where was it sent from?"
"Moscow, ma'am"
"...Send Alfa squad to scout the area, if there are any survivors bring them back."
"Understood ma'am."
Equestria, Outskirts of Ponyville, 5:28 PM Location: Twilight's castle
"So you're saying that you have managed to find a way to communicate with other ponies through this thing?" Starlight asked while pointing to the contraption that Twilight had been working on for however long.
"Yes and not only that but we will be able to see where they are at the same time which is why I have the portal connected to it."
"Alright let's see if it works" Twilight trotted over to the console and started to type in some numbers. She referred to them as "coordinates" but to Starlight, it was just a bunch of random numbers.
"Alright now the way I plan on testing this is by sending a transmission to the rest of our friends. You see I built 2 of these communicators which is what I call them at the moment until I can come up with a better name, and I left one of them at Applejack's. I told everyone else to head over there so that they could all see it finally working."
"So, if this works correctly we should be seeing them in the portal soon."
"Yep now I just need to put the last numbers in, and..." Just then the contraption roared to life, there were lights being sent in every direction all coming from the portal. A few seconds later and they saw it. It was applejack's family barn along with the rest of Starlight and Twilight's friends.
"it worked!"
Twilight exclaimed, over the next few minutes Twilight was making adjustments to the machine that she and Starlight were using to talk to the rest of her friends. They kept on discussing the incredible invention twilight had made while waiting for her to put the finishing touches on the machine when suddenly everypony, on both sides of the portal, heard something, disturbing.
*static* "MOVE MOVE MOVE!" "OPEN FIRE!" "WE NEED MOR- Gah!" *static* "Hello, Hello, is anyone out there? Does anyone read me? Please respond! No response I will have to send this out anyways. My name is Lieutenant Ozwald of an organization known as the Coalition. If anyone can hear me send help, my and my squad are stuck in the middle of Moscow. We got ambushed by a group of bandits known as the Rangers." *explosion* "Shit, that was way to close. Listen we are running out of ammo and weapons, we need help soon, if not sooner. If anyone reads me we need help, I repeat if anyone hears me plea- INCOMING!!" *explosion* *static*
"What in tarnation was that?" Applejack asked both confused and slightly afraid.
"It sounded like a message from somepony that was in danger" Twilight said.
"Yah but who sent it? I thought Applejack was the only other pony in Equestria to have one of these things other than you." Starlight said.
"And what were all those noises in the background, they sounded like fireworks were going off." Rainbow dash noted
"I don't know But I think we should find out, I will try and find out where the message came from." Twilight stated while messing with her newly built machine.
"If you all do not mind I need some time trying to figure this out?" Twilight said to her friends.
"Don't worry darling, we will let you work." Rarity said, with that, the connection between the 2 communicators were cut
Equestia, Outskirts of ponyville 6:31 PM Location: Twilight's castle
"I think I have done it!" Twilight exclaimed to starlight as she burst into the hallway that Starlight was waiting in.
"WHA- huh, what happened?" Starlight exclaimed being being awoken from her slumber by Twilight's exclamation into the large empty hallway.
"I believe I figured out where the transmission came from, come look at this." Twilight said while re-entering the room with her communication device.
"So, where do you think that transmission came from?" Starlight asked while following Twilight through the door.
"I am not certain but based on what I did find out I think other ponies may have discovered this technology before we did." Twilight answered with a tinge of disappointment about how she would not be able to take credit for the invention.
"That would certainly be interesting, but how could somepony else have invented this technology before us and not let us know about it?" Starlight asked.
"That is a good question, how could an invention made to connect us be kept so secretive?" Twilight asked. "Well we will find out when we get in contact with whoever else has one of these." Twilight quickly stated getting ready to send another transmission to whoever else had this type of technology besides her other friends. Twilight began typing in the coordinates of her friends again and the new coordinates that she managed to track down from the strange transmission. The communicator roared to life again with magical energy surging through the wires and the portal starting to come back to life but this time felt different, it seemed to be taking more energy than the last test and the portal became even brighter than before it even began to shake slightly.
"Twilight is it supposed to do that?!" Starlight exclaimed with a mix of terror and wonder.
"I don't think so, this is only my second time using it!" Twilight shouted trying to make her voice audible over the sounds of rushing energy and the communicator shaking extremely violently. Shortly after stating that the machine just stopped moving, it sat there completely still, no energy flowing, no violent shaking, just the strange contraption sitting there.
"Is- is it over?" Staright asked rather shaken up by that strange show of lights and sounds.
"I- I think s-" But before twilight could even finish her statement the portal flashed with an extremely bright green light and as soon as the light appeared it was gone, replaced with a swirling void of green energy inside the portal frame.
"Wh- what is that?" Starlight again spoke pointing a hoof at the portal.
"It looks like a portal sort of like the one I used to enter the human world but, greener and less reflective." Twilight answered starting to approach the seemingly endless void of swirling green magic.
"Wait didn't you also set in the coordinates for Applejack's communicator as well?" Starlight asked realizing that the others may also have a portal on their end. Twilight gasped in both realization and a hint fright.
"You are are right, we have to go check on them and make sure that they do not go through the portal, we have no idea where it might go too!" Twilight galloped away as fast as her hooves could take her and starlight followed suit.
Equestia, Outskirts of ponyville 6:36 PM Location: Apple family farm.
Twilight burst through the barn door short of breath looking around the room trying to see where her friends were. She moved her head from side to side scanning the room for her friends but to no avail. She saw no pony there, but she did see her invention, except the portal frame was completely empty. "No no no no no, please don't tell me they went through the portal!" twilight said mainly to herself.
"Twilight, what, happened?" Starlight asked her friend while trotting into the barn also short of breath.
"Starlight, there you are, look the portal frame is empty!" Twilight pointed to the portal frame that was currently empty. "I don't know why but the portal is not here, do you think they went through?" Twilight said starting to speak in her 'panic-attack' voice. "Oh Celestia, what if they went through, we have no idea where the portal leads, I hope they are safe, ohhhh what am I going to do?" Twilight kept speaking in her panicked voice while trotting back and forth trying to figure out a reason as to why the portal might be empty or as to where her friends went.
"Twilight calm down, they probably just went back to their houses, you were working on the communicator for almost an hour after-all." Starlight said trying to calm her friend down. Reasoning that her friends probably just got bored of waiting and left.
"I would agree with you Starlight but then where is the portal?" Twilight stated pointing at the empty frame again.
"Maybe A piece of hay just happened to fly in, or any other insignificant object just passed through and the portal shut on itself." Starlight said again trying to calm her friend's nerves.
"Well I am not willing to take that risk we are going back to the castle and finding out ourselves." Twilight said running out the barn door and heading back for her home.
Equestia, Outskirts of ponyville 6:38 PM Location: Twilight's castle
Twilight burst through the doors of the room with the communicator inside and immediately noticed that the portal was still there so that ruled out the possibility that the portal disappeared on it's own over time. Twilight galloped up to the portal and inspected it even closer. She saw that nothing had changed, it had still swirled with the same deep shade of green magical energy. She could not decide whether to just toss herself in to check where to portal led to and if her friends went through. After-all what is the worst that could happen?
"Twilight!" The shouting of Starlight could probably be heard through out the entire castle. "Twilight, don't you dare go through that portal! We have no idea where it goes!" Starlight exclaimed while also galloping into the room Twilight was currently in.
"Starlight we have to at least check what is on the other side." Twilight said staring to get a bit hasty with the new possibility her friends might be on the other side of the mysterious portal. "We have to see what is on the other side as soon as possible."
"And we will, but we at least should prepare, come on we have to get some gear if we plan on going through, just on case." Starlight reasoned.
"I guess you are right, sorry if I am acting irrationally I just want to make sure everypony is safe."
"I do too but we have to prepare if we are going to go through the portal."
With that Starlight and Twilight went to their rooms to grab any items they believed they might have needed. Twilight gathered her basic science gear, and a plenty of food, plus a magical canteen guaranteed to stay full and clean. Starlight grabbed a few empty books to take some notes, more food, and another magical canteen for herself. With that the 2 ponies were prepared and returned to the communicator with the intent of going through the portal. "You ready for this Twi?" Starlight asked standing just inches away from the portal.
"Ready as I will ever be." Twilight stated prepared to go on a new adventure.
"Then let's go!" Starlight and Twilight both entered the portal at the same time after a flash and a swirling feeling everything went from the same dark green as the portal, to black, for both ponies.
Somewhere in Russia just west of ST. Peters berg, 7:14 PM Location: Wilderness
It was a calm day in Russia the sky was blue, not a cloud in sight, the birds were chirping, the infected were growling, yah it was a beautiful day in Russia or at least as beautiful as it could be in the world's current state. Off in the distance 2 bipedal figures came over a hill top from the east. One wearing a mix match of whatever clothes they could scavenge, while the other was wearing a light blue colored military uniform.
"Simon, are you sure the quarry is this way? We have been walking forever." The survivors asked with a tinge of impatience in his voice, he spoke with a heavy Russian accent, not all that strange seeing as they were in Russia.
"Yes I am sure Alek. Now will you just shut up and let me look at the map again?" Said the military Private, with a more American accent. Reaching into one of his pocket's he grabbed out a small piece of parchment.
"Alright if we are here the quarry should be just west of us." Simon stated pointing towards the west while putting his map back inside his pack. Both of them began to move towards the west once again not expecting to see 2 brightly colored equines laying on the ground in front of them.
"Cyka blyat! What the hell, What are these?" Alek yelped with confusion and fright in his voice.
"You handled that well." Simon said sarcastically. "They just look like horses, sure they are unnaturally colored but who knows who owned then before the outbreak." Simon said to his new survivor friend.
"Oh yah, then why do they have horns and one of them has wings, and they do not look fake." Alek said whilst kneeling down to inspect Starlight and Twilight closer. He plucked out one of Twilight's feather's to show to Simon. "Look these are real feathers. If this was a costume it would cost a hell of a lot, plus it is in great condition considering where they are and how long it has been since the outbreak." Alek stated.
"I guess you are right." Simon said trying as well to figure out why those two ponies were out in the middle of the Russian wilderness. "How about this we will take them back to Camp Kazan and let Dr. Swanson inspect them, that sound good?" Simon asked.
"Alright, but we best get back before it gets dark, tonight is a full moon." Alek noted, his eye twitching when he mentioned the full moon.
"Then let's get moving we can check the quarry tomorrow." With that the two humans picked up the ponies and their bags and began the long trek back to Camp Kazan.
Somewhere on the coast of Russia on a small island between 3 rivers, 8:48 PM Location: Camp Kazan
Twilight began to stir rolling left to right on her small cot. Little by little she began to open her eyes and saw a wooden roof above her and a heart rate monitor on her right and a divider curtain on her left very reminiscent of a hospital. She began to sit up not really realizing where she was at the moment or even what world she was in. Then all of a sudden it all came back to her in a split second. She shot up from under the covers and almost fell off the bed.
"Starlight, Starlight! Where are you!" Twilight begins to yell trying to figure out where she was. She quickly got up from her bed when all of a sudden a bipedal woman wearing a doctor uniform walks in. She has long lavender hair not too much unlike Starlight's coat color. She did not seem shocked at the fact that Twilight could talk.
"Hey, hey, calm down." She says in a soothing tone trying to calm Twilight down.
"You are safe here, no one is going to hurt you." She continues to try and calm Twilight assuring her that she is safe here.
"Who, wha- what are you? Where am I!" Twilight asked in a panicked tone.
"You are in our clinic, we are at camp Kazan, My name is Dr. Swanson, now please calm down." The Doctor started to explain to Twilight. "You are safe here, you don't have to worry about anything."
"Where is my friend? Her name is Starlight. Have you seen her?" Twilight asked still acting a bit panicked.
"You mean the pink mare with a purple mane?" The doctor asked. "She is outside with the troops." Dr. Swanson stated.
"Wait, troops?" Twilight asked while tilting her head to the left. When all of a sudden Starlight started to hear music coming from outside the building.
It was not like any music Twilight had ever heard before. She was immediately even more confused than before. Alongside the music she heard many voices singing the lyrics of the song at least biased on what she could hear.
"The fact that they are playing music must mean something good must have happened." Dr. Swanson said looking outside to see what was going on. Twilight was still very confused and worried about where Starlight was.
"Listen you seem like you have recovered biased on the fact that you are standing up so I will show you outside real quick so that you can see your friend." Dr. Swanson said "Just so that you can calm down, I will explain everything soon."
"I guess, I am sorry if I am acting panicked it's just that I am very confused about what has just happened." Twilight explained to Dr. Swanson that was still waiting at the door way. "I think it would be a good idea for me to go outside."
With that the Twilight and Dr. Swanson left the room. Twilight immediately started looking around to gather her surroundings. From what she could see they were in a rather large cabin. The room they just left was obviously the clinic biased on what Dr. Swanson said along with the many pieces of medical equipment in there. Now they were in probably the largest room of the cabin, it had a high ceiling with plenty of couches and a few tables spread around. Twilight saw 3 other doorways in each corner of the room but she could only begin to guess what the rooms were for.
"Just follow me this way I will show you outside." Dr. Swanson said leading Twilight to a rather large entry way that seemed to lead straight outside. When they went through the entry way Twilight was met with the sight of several more bipedal creatures all wearing light blue military clothing. Most of them were sitting around a camp fire on cog benches while others were sitting on picnic tables. Some of them had caps on others had vests and helmets while a few of them had berets on, and most of them had a cup in their hands but Twilight could not tell what was in the cups. In among the crowd Twilight saw, Starlight sitting with the other troops and even singing along to the song. She even had her own cup holding it with her cyan magic and taking a few swigs of the drink.
"Starlight there you are!" Twilight exclaimed rather shocked to see her sitting with the bipedal creatures.
"Oh Twilight your awake, umm, Cliff can you hold onto this?" Starlight said moving her cup towards one of the troops wearing a cap.
"Sure thing starlight." The soldier said reaching out to grab the cup. Once the soldier grabbed it starlight hoped from the log bench she was sitting on and stood in front of Twilight.
"So you feeling alright?" Starlight said to Twilight. "You seemed pretty shaken up from the teleportation."
"Yes I am fine, you seem to have made a few new friends." Twilight answered.
"Yes these people ,I have learned to call them, are super nice." Starlight stated. "Come sit with us, I have a lot of explaining to do." Starlight said starling to move back towards the bench she was sitting on a few moments ago.
Somewhere on the coast of Russia on a small island between 3 rivers, 8:52 PM Location: Camp Kazan
"So what you are saying is that in this world this world these bipedal creatures called, hu-mans created an extremely contagious disease that turned billions of them into monsters essentially?" Twilight said after a few minutes of Starlight's explanation.
"Yes, that about sums it up." Starlight said with a rather nonchalant voice considering what she just explained. "Now that we have that out of the way we have to talk about something else." Starlight began.
"What would that be?" Twilight asked.
"Based on what I have been hearing there have been huge surges of energy all at around the same time all around the area, I think it may be the rest of our friends." Starlight started to explain. "They say they have never seen anything like it before, even before the 'outbreak'."
"So, you are saying that our friends could be anywhere in this monster ridden land?" Twilight asked starting to sound a tiny bit panicked.
"Well yes but they said that they know someone who might be able to help us look for our friends." Starlight answered. "They say that he lives just south of a town they call Novobirsk." Starlight explained "They also gave us a map so that we could find him." Starlight said while she pulled out a piece of parchment.
"So, if we are here then we just have to go just west of here then we will be at the location." Starlight mentioned to Twilight.
"Then we should get going we need to find our friends as soon as possible." Twilight said already starting to move back to the cabin to grab her things.
"Not so fast." Starlight said grabbing Twilight by the back leg. "Look over there." Starlight said while pointing to the horizon. Twilight listened and looked up to see the full moon just over the horizon going ever so slowly upwards. "The soldiers mentioned that when the full moon rises no one should leave their shelter unless they want to get eaten. We can stay here for tonight then we will get moving tomorrow morning." Starlight said.
"Alright," Twilight Sighed "But the second the sun rises we get moving so that we can find our friends, got it?" Twilight said in a surprisingly aggressive tone.
"Alright, alright, jeez." Starlight said surprised by Twilight's aggressiveness. "Let's just get some sleep." With that both starlight and Twilight went inside to see where they were going to sleep. They both ended up being assigned to a small tent on the south-east corner or the camp. Once they knew where they were going to sleep they entered their tent and went to sleep.
We have received word on the situation of Sierra squad, they were ambushed in Moscow by a Ranger squad. Cap. Sydney has deployed Alfa squad to find them and bring them back. I will keep the logs updated as word comes in about their whereabouts.
Ens. Simon has returned from the quarry run with a new survivor named Alek. I will be updating the survivor log after I finish writing this out. He had also returned with 2 rather colorful looking equines. Simon says that where were bags next to the equines when they found them. We searched through the bags and found several rations of odd food. Sandwiches with daisies and hay, canteens with seemingly endless water along with several pieces of science equipment. We do not know why or how they ended up in the middle of nowhere but what we do know is that something big is going on. Aside from the discovery of the equines we also detected several energy surges on our radars. We believe it may be the rangers, perhaps they figured out how to harness charged infected. Until we can find out we have to stay on high alert.
One of the equines has awoken from their slumber, they can talk supposedly based on what Dr. Swanson has told me. Dr. Swanson will attempt to acquire as much information from the equine as possible. In other news Sierra squad has been located and Alfa squad and is escorting the remnants back to Vorkuta junction and resting there before making the trek back to the Liberator. This also means that there will more than likely be a party occurring here soon. I will update the logs as soon as Dr. Swanson has gotten some information from the Equine.
Dr. Swanson has returned with some information possibly pertaining to the recent energy surges along with information about the equine, her friend, where they come from and why they are here. I will now play the audio log Dr. Swanson recorded along with typing out the transcript while questioning the Equine named Starlight in 3 2...
START OF RECORDING
Starlight: Hello? Where am I, who are you, what are you?
Dr. Swanson: Hello, my name is Dr. Swanson, what's yours?
Starlight: M-my name is Starlight glimmer, where are we, is my friend alright?
Dr. Swanson: We are at a former small recreational camp called Camp Kazan.
Starlight: Is my friend alright, her name is Twilight, she has a lavender coat and a purple mane, where is she?
Dr. Swanson: She is fine she is asleep at the moment but I have to ask you a few things. Please have a seat.
*Dr. Swanson gestures to a chair sitting in the middle of the room.*
Starlight: Well, will you let me see Twilight?
Dr. Swanson: If you let me ask a few questions then yes.
Starlight: A-alright, what are your questions?
Dr. Swanson: First off where did you come from?
Starlight: Umm, I come from a place called Equestria, me and my friend Twilight live in a large castle made of crystal.
Dr. Swanson: Alright, and how did you get here?
Starlight: We used a device that Twilight made that teleported us here, but honestly I don't know where here is.
Dr. Swanson: Why do you have that horn?
Starlight: Oh, my horn well I can do magic with it, look.
*A magical hum can be heard from starlight's horn as she picks the chair she was sitting on in the air.*
Dr. Swanson: Woah, that's interesting, what else can you do with it?
Starlight: I can do a lot of things, like cast spells, go back it time, teleport, all sorts of things really.
*Dr. Swanson looks on with wide eyes.*
Dr. Swanson: Alright I think that will be all, thank you for answering my questions. This will be very helpful.
*Dr. Swanson stands from her chair and prepares to leave the room.*
Starlight: Wait you said you would let me see Twilight.
Dr. Swanson: Oh right, please follow me.
*Dr. Swanson and Starlight both leave the room.*
END OF RECORDING.
So, because of this, beings, ability to use magic this has led me to believe that they may have been the cause of the energy surge, but that does not explain why there were 6 of them all over our area of Russia. I may have to send my squad to investigate. Until then I will be signing off but keep the logs updated if any new information comes to light.
New news on the equines, they are both awake now and have come to me about sleeping arrangements, I assigned them both to a small tent on the edge of the camp. I will be updating the sleeping log ASAP but they also spoke of leaving the camp in search of LT. Raymond, I will send him a radio message to let him know they are coming, I am debating weather or not to let a squad escort the 2 equines, ehh it's not my problem. It is almost time for me to switch with MAJ. Reynolds so this will be my last log for the night. This is MAJ. Leonard, signing off.
Somewhere on the coast of Russia on a small island between 3 rivers, 4:00 AM. Location: Camp Kazan
"Hey Starlight, Starlight, Wake up!" Twilight kept shaking Starlight trying to get her to wake up.
"Ugh, w-what time is it?" Starlight asked still very sleepy.
"4 o'clock now come on we have to get moving." Twilight said already having both bags packed. "We have to get moving, the sun is up and so should you. We have to go find that survivor that Leonard mentioned so that we can find our friends ASAP." It was still very early in the morning, the sun had risen not more than a few minutes ago. Twilight was already half way out of the tent before Starlight could even leave her sleeping bag.
"Twi, hold up, we haven't even eaten." Starlight said only now beginning to get out of her sleeping bag.
"No time, we can eat when we get there, remember based on what Leonard said the survivor has been there for a good while so that must mean he has to have a good food supply." Twilight reasoned while waiting outside the tent.
"Alright, where is my bag?" Starlight asked standing in the tent scanning it for her signature bag.
"I have it right here." Twilight said holding up Starlight bag outside the tent.
"Oh, thanks, I assume you already packed it." Starlight said beginning to leave the tent to join Twilight outside.
"Yep all packed up so that we could leave right away." Twilight said sounding rather pleased at her own preparedness. "Now that you are are up and out of the tent, I already informed Major Reynolds about our plans to leave in search of this survivor, so we can leave right away." Starlight looked at Twilight puzzled about how long she must have been awake. Sure Starlight new that organization and preparedness were everything to Twilight but considering how long it may have taken to prepare all this, Twilight was probably awake before the sun even rose over the horizon.
"Twilight, how long have you been awake?" Starlight finally got around to asking.
"Several minutes maybe about half an hour or so. I just wanted to be ready so that once the sun rose we could be on our way." Twilight answered.
"Oh, well are you sure we have everything ready to get going?" Starlight added
"Yup one-hundred percent, we are all ready to get moving. Now come on we have no time to waste." With that Twilight began to mover towards the camp's gate to see two guards standing on top of the large blue wall.
"You two the one's leaving to go see the LT?" The guard on the left asked.
"Yes, that would be us." Twilight responded.
"Alright have you informed the Major about your leave?" The guard on the right asked.
"We have I was just waiting on my friend for us to leave." Twilight answered.
"Aight, we will be opening the gates then, if you 2 are off to see the LT. then head down the road to your right, keep following the road, before you reach the town go right until you see a small hatch, he will be waiting. One last thing, DO NOT approach any buildings, that's where infected gather, good luck you two." When the guard finished they both began turning cranks on their respective sides and the gate began to creep open. When both sides of the gate reached the max opening the two ponies began walking outside the camp on their journey to find their friends.
Somewhere on the coast of Russia , 4:24 AM. Location: Russian wilderness
The two ponies had arrived at the location that the guard had mentioned and they could not find the hatch that he mentioned.
"Any luck?" Starlight asked still searching through the shrubs and trees trying to find what they were looking for.
"Nothing." Twilight replied.
"Are you sure we are looking in the right place, we have no idea if the hatch is even here." Starlight stated, starting to question Twilight.
"You are looking in the right spot alright." A deep mechanical voice said seemingly from nowhere.
"Huh! Who's there? Show yourself!" Starlight yelled into the forest starting to igniting her horn both for light and as a form of trying to threaten whoever spoke.
"I am not here to hurt you, in fact I think you are the two ponies that have been looking for me." The voice called out again.
"Wait, are you the Lieutenant everyone was talking about? They said you could help us find our friends." Starlight asked still with an ignited horn trying to spot where the voice came from. Soon enough a man wearing the same military uniform as the other troops in the camp came our from behind a bush carrying... something. Starlight could not tell what it was, she had never seen anything like it, even at the camp.
He was wearing what seemed to be a metal face mask attached to his helmet as well as a vest with a logo on it that looked like a simple silver metal bar. The image was also visible on his helmet and on his shoulder.
"So you two are the ones that are looking for your friends?" He asked still with that mechanical voice. "Oh right forgot I have this thing on." with that he pressed a button on the side of his helmet and the face mask lifted up revealing a surprisingly young looking man, at least based on what starlight had already seen compared to the rest of the coalition officers.
"Name's Raymond, nice to meet you two." He said now in a lot more normal voice with an American accent.
"Here, why don't I show yo-" Before either of the ponies could react Raymond raised the item that he held in his hands and soon the air around them was filled with smoke, fire, and extremely loud noises, both ponies dropped to the ground from instinct and covered their heads. Neither Starlight nor Twilight could describe what they heard mainly because both of their ears were filled with a constant ringing. A few seconds later the ringing dispersed.
"-ome -n we h--e to get inside. Come on!" Raymond was shouting at the two while offering his hand to pick up the two cowering ponies. "Seems your magic show drew some attention." He pointed behind the two ponies at several bodies lying on the ground. They all looked similar to Raymond in their build except they had sickly green skin and were wearing a mixture of civilian clothing. "What are you two waiting for come on!" He leads the two ponies to a bush that was hiding a chrome metal hatch with a small handle. Raymond opened the hatch by the handle and let the two ponies in. When Starlight and Twilight both looked in they saw a ladder. The two ponies climbed down and were greeted with what looked to be a rather normal living space, at least compared to what they have seen before. There was a couch and coffee table in the north eastern corner along with a fridge with a table and 4 chairs with a stove and some counters in the north western corner. there was also a radio on the table that was playing a recording seemingly on a loop.
Besides that there were a few hallways leading to other rooms. The corridor to the north lead to a small basic bedroom of sorts. The eastern hall lead to a locked door that they could only guess was private storage. The corridor to west lead to a small bathroom. After the the two ponies got antiquated with their surroundings seemingly on cue Raymond slid down the ladder and landed on the polished metal floor. With surprising agility he hung his rifle and helmet / mask combo on the wall in the same motion. He walked to the sofa in the corner and set himself down. Raymond let out a long sigh while motioning for the two ponies to come over and sit down. Starlight and Twilight both went over and sat on the sofa as well.
"So, what was it that you needed my help with?" Raymond questioned when the two ponies sat.
"We need you to help us find our friends, we think they may be somewhere out there in the area." Starlight stated.
"Hummm, I got a message earlier about power surges, you think that might be your friends?" Raymond stated, reaching for his radio. "They are all over the area so it will more than likely be one hell of a trek." Raymond pull over a folded piece of parchment that was the map both Starlight and Twilight were well antiquated with at this point.
"The message came in that the surges spanned from where you were originally located all the way to the Shereyavo airport, they could be anywhere. You sure you are willing to go all the way out there for your friends?" Raymond questioned, turning to the two ponies.
"We are sure. Now, can you help us?" Twilight said without a second thought.
Raymond sighed. "Yes, I can help you but first we have to pin down where the surges came from, based on the data the logistics team already came up with we only know two other places where the surges came from. The first is just south of the Airport the other is just north of Vorkuta junction. I recommend we go to Vorkuta junction first because if we are going to be going anywhere north of Moscow we are going to need coalition back up."
"Why is that?" Starlight questioned.
"Let me explain, there are people out there who just want to see the world burn, including a group called the Rangers. They have taken over just about everything north west of Moscow, and everything north east of Moscow is either filled with infected or other dangerous groups so if we are to have any chance to get there we are going to need help."
"Then where are we going to go first?" Starlight asked.
"Like I said, Vorkuta junction is our best shot at making it over there and back in one piece, so we are going there, let me just gear up." Raymond stood up, taking the paper and radio with him. He walked down the corridor to the east reaching the locked door. He punched in a code into a small keypad next to the door. Soon after the door slid open with a hiss. He walked inside leaving the two ponies to themselves.
"You think we will be able to find them Twi?" Starlight asked, looking back at her friend.
"I know we will, we are not leaving this place until we do." Twilight responded without a single thread of uncertainty in her voice.
"How will we get back home anyways, we don't even know where the communicator in this world is, if there even is one... what if we are stuck here?" Starlight asked, panic starting to seep into her voice.
"We will get back home, no mater what, I will make sure about that." Twilight spoke, trying to reassure her friend. "For now we just have to find the rest of our friends and then find a way to leave this place." The two ponies sat there waiting for Raymond to return so that they could begin their search. Soon after Raymond came back out the same door holding two backpacks and wearing a fresh change of Coalition gear. He still had the same hunk of metal in his hands except the top piece was replaced with a small metal item. "Alright, let's get moving, I packed a few items in these packs." Raymond tossed the backpacks to the two ponies. "There is food, water, ammo, a couple guns, radios, all that good stuff." Raymond walked to the southern wall, grabbing his helmet and putting it on in a quick motion. "Well what are you two waiting for, let's go." Raymond motioned to the ladder waiting for the two ponies to get their packs on.
"Oh, right." Starlight said, somewhat awkwardly. They both grasped their backs using their magic, slipping them on quite easily.
"Now, let's get on our way, we are burning daylight." Raymond spoke, tapping the side of his helmet again letting the mask slide onto his face. He grabbed the ladder letting his rifle hang on it's sling along his chest. The two ponies followed him climbing up back to the infected wasteland.
