> X-COM Ponies
>  by Sneaky Breeze
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> First contact, First conflict.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chap1: First contact, first conflict. 


Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Cotton panted as he took a sip of water from his camel bag on his back and wiped his forehead with a soot stained glove, it seemed like everyday he was stuck fighting in San Francisco the temperature rose.

The entire past week had been unlike anything the young soldier had ever thought possible, he and his men had been fighting an invading army like nothing they had ever seen before. In no less than a week and a half this enemy had descended from the dark ocean of space and systematically assaulted many of the other nations around the world, slaughtering countless innocents and kidnapping many more for some unknown purpose. Entire towns or cities were left either completely dead or as a ghost town. No human resident was to be found.

Cotton and his troopers were members of the 82nd Airborne and had been on exercises at Fort Benning when the first reports came in. Alien ships of immense size swarming into the Earth's atmosphere with little warning. By the time most militaries had mobilized the invasion was underway and the aliens had set up shop in cities all over the world and were pillaging and plundering, kidnapping civilians en masse and killing any who proved to be an annoyance. 

Cotton barely had any time to call his mother and tell her to find shelter in her home's basement, when the call came, even though she was in Kansas and a fair distance from the fighting Cotton still wanted her safe. She was the only family he had left.

Cotton's squad, and anyone else that could make it to the invasion site of San Francisco, were there in only a matter of hours and yet from the damage it looked like the aliens had occupied the city for weeks. Since their initial arrival into the city they had remained under constant attack as at random intervals one of the alien's larger ships would fly down and drop more invaders to keep up the fight for San Francisco. Some theorized that they possibly were also picking up captured Humans and taking them to some unknown hell that the aliens had concocted for the prisoners.

The Air-Force had tried to drop heavy explosives on a large alien ship that had remained stationary since it landed and acted as a sort of FOB but when they did their planes would either be shot down by plasma weapons or if they managed to drop their bombs, they would smash harmlessly against an energy shield around the ship. The Navy could not do much either since the alien's fighter craft were much faster than anything the humans had and would consider any ships in the area to be easy prey, especially with their powerful energy weapons.

Cotton and his men had seen some heavy fighting while working alongside local police forces, firemen and militias to evacuate as many civilians as they could while making strikes against the attackers.

One such mission had been two days ago when he and the commanders of two other groups assaulted a heavily manned position fortified by the grays. It had turned out to be a supply depot that was also being guarded the enemy version of tanks, of the fifty men that went in only twenty-five made it out, four of which died from their injuries and a fifth had been med-evaced. 

The lieutenant felt sick to his stomach as his gaze passed around the room of the hospital he sat in, soldiers from many different battalions and branches where in stretchers all around. Many of which were still in desert camouflage as they were called over immediately from other areas. The smell was the worst part, so much burnt flesh from the alien's energy weapons.

"God dammit" He muttered quietly under his breath as he witnessed a nurse close the eyes of one infantryman who had taken a direct plasma blast to his stomach, the doctors had managed to stabilize him but it was not enough and he simply stopped living, without a word or anything dramatic. As if someone flicked the poor man's off switch.

Cotton couldn’t stand to see so many wounded anymore so he decided to check how the evacuation was going. Making his way down the staircase of the hospital he was treated to the agonizing sight of a few injured children sobbing and screaming as doctors tried to treat their injuries. Two military medics were working on a little girl who had 3rd degree burns on her face, in her hand she clutched and squeezed a small teddy bear as if believing that if she squeezed hard enough everything would be back to normal.

Cotton rushed outside into the hospital parking lot where his troopers were helping civilians get food and treatment so he wouldn’t have to see more of the pain inside the hospital. A trio of tanks thundered past, looking like they had been through hell itself, one had a gaping hole in its side where cotton could actually see the tank crew.

"Sir! I could use some help, sir,” a nearby soldier shouted to cotton as he tried to push a stretcher with an injured man on it.

Cotton looked around and saw a Hispanic looking soldier who did not appear busy. "Ramirez! Make yourself useful and get over here!" Cotton barked to the Mexican immigrant who was trying to earn his American citizenship through military service. 

"Si lt. I do now senor." Ramirez said in his broken English that tended to pop up whenever he was stressed and sometimes led to humorous insults being thrown around. Ramirez slid his gloved hands into the bars of the stretcher and with a grunt of effort helped lift the injured man onto the vehicle.

Cotton was about to go searching around the perimeter to inspect the hospital's defenses when there was a strange sensation of danger running through Cotton. That sixth sense many wished they had. Then the danger made itself known when an alien fighter craft sped over the hospital, causing everyone to freeze where they were in terror.

Everyone outside looked up to see the an alien fighter that had flew past them suddenly alter course. It was now heading towards them at high speed. But ,as if by miracle, before panic could break out the sound of jets overhead overshadowed the cries of fear and cotton couldn't help but shout out,

“Fuck yeah!” as a trio of friendly F15’s raced to meet the alien ship. The three of them raced after the enemy fighter and gave it everything they had, firing rockets and cannons at it and managed to take down its shield, to the cheers of the people around him as they chased it out of sight but didn’t shoot it down to the ground.

"If I meet those flyboys I might just kiss them." Cotton said and noticed a soldier looking at him as if about to make a joke.

"If you have time to stare then you sure as fuck have time to work! Get moving!" Cotton shouted and the trooper saluted before running off to do his part. 

Cotton then counted his blessing that he was doing well so far. A lot of the men under his command were from different units and even branches. The enemy seemed smart enough at times to know to attack the humans that seemed to be giving orders, while at other times would make mistakes like attacking a squad of seven marines with only three of themselves out in the open. 

The rest of the day continued on without incident and Cotton managed to evac all the civilians at his center along with some of the wounded who could be moved ahead of schedule. Everything seemed to be going better than expected, until another alien ship landed and unloaded more troops to the fray. Now the battles seemed to get closer and the number of civilians making it to the hospital had stopped.

A few men at the edges reported sightings of the aliens or at least feeling as if they were being watched and yet despite all of this Cotton still couldn’t get reinforcements sent to his position.	

"What do you mean you can’t get me more men? We took out a fucking enemy supply depot two days ago that should have helped soften enemy resistance in my area!” Cotton shouted into a radio with command back on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

“I’m sorry commander. We are stretched thin as it is with reports of alien contacts outside of the combat zone. If more forces arrive soon you will be one of the first to receive aid but until then you are on your own."

“Get someone to send an Apache over to Evac-point Echo!” another voice echoed over the radio as the officer cotton was speaking to continued on. “Look I will see if I can get you some fast movers if you need them but until more forces arrive you are on your own, I'm sorry lieutenant." 

“Understood, over." Cotton sighed after the officer hung up and handed the headset back to his radio operator.

The lieutenant made sure to go into an empty room before letting himself loose his cool, grabbing an empty trash can and throwing it at a wall. He shouted in anger and kicked over a few plastic chairs before he forced himself to calm down. 

His superiors expected Cotton to hold onto the hospital and his block with only twenty healthy men, two of which were busy helping the doctors with the wounded that could not be moved, and a single Humvee with a TOW launcher that only had two rockets left. One was already loaded into the weapon while the other was in the back of the Humvee in case they needed to fire another shot.

At that moment his radio activated as the marksman up on the roof with an M14 overlooking the hospital courtyard called to him 

“Lieutenant,  Ramirez here, I’ve got a runner heading towards us; he hurt bad, looks like someone from Fox company." 

Cotton responded quickly. “Understood. Troopers! Prepare for possible enemy contacts!” he shouted out and began running down the staircase.

The Lt. quickly reached the bottom floor and rushed out to the courtyard as doctors inside the hospital rushed out along with one of the medics who helped push a crash cart for the injured trooper whose left side was burned badly and he missed an arm and an ear on the same side. But before the soldier got any closer to the hospital the marksman shouted out the words that turned every soldiers blood to ice with fear when they heard it over the radio. 

"Cyber disc incoming!”

And sure enough Cotton caught the glint in his eye of a small UFO shaped device the size of an average car, it closed in on the helpless soldier and sliced him in half by the waist, painting its silvery chrome body red with blood. Its spine like tail retreating into its chrome body before it continued flying to the hospital. 

Cotton ordered his men to open fire at it and shouted for the doctors to get back into the hospital with the medic. The machine closed in and an M60 gunner near a line of sandbags at the parking lot of the hospital opened fire with his loader readying more boxes of ammo as at the same time the Humvee rushed forward out into a position behind a palm tree for partial cover as its handler readied its TOW missile to fire and another trooper waited in the driver's seat in case they needed to move.

Cotton quickly dove behind a sandbag emplacement near the Humvee and opened up with his M4 as the soldiers around the hospital also reported being under fire by enemy troopers trying to sneak in from the flank. The Grays, small gray aliens with large heads and frail bodies but deadly claws and plasma weapons.

The lieutenant fired in very short bursts knowing that when the cyber disk was in its UFO form not much damage could be done to it.

The cyber disc floated to them with an almost ghostly calmness and ease despite being riddled with bullets, as it seemed to be bidding it’s time for just as the Machine gun emplacement ceased firing to reload the disc opened up, turning itself upright, its bottom half shifting to reveal a metallic spine like tail that uncoiled and slithered up and down like a snake in water as several metal spikes jutted out from underneath it for some unknown purpose and a small pair of twin barrels , plasma cannons, revealed themselves. The top portion then opened to reveal a yellow light that acted as an eye and small metal flaps acted as wings.

“Light it up now, its vulnerable!” Cotton shouted over his radio and switched his rifle to full automatic and began spraying the enemy tank.

At this time the Humvee seized the opportunity and fired its TOW right at the metal monstrosity aiming directly for the center of its body hoping to reduce it to nothing. The cyber disc calmly turned to the missile and opened up with its twin plasma cannons, blowing it up in midair just a few feet from it as it then floated towards the Humvee before the MG emplacement opened up with a barrage. The spray of 7.62 rounds managing to make a few strikes into its more vulnerable components. The moment the disc registered the damage and decided to take action against them as it saw machine gun as the more immediate threat.

The tail of the cyber disc suddenly coiled to its head and produced a strange device before the whole cyber disc began spinning horizontally like a demented hellish yoyo, launching the object at the MG emplacement, which landed and detonated between the poor souls before they could move, blowing the two soldiers there to bloody shreds without so much as a scream. The arm of the machine gunner was all that was left of him, still holding onto his weapon. While the charred torso of his loader flew up in the air and slammed down onto the sandbags, spilling gore everywhere, a testament to the cyber disc’s destructive capabilities.

Cotton’s marksman fired at the cyber disc’s mechanical eye and managed to damage it before shouting out in his heavily accented English.

“Take that you piece of bitch!” 

This moment allowed Cotton to seize the initiative of quick thinking and run from his position to get onto the machine gun. Quickly pulling off the deceased trooper's hand from the handle and pulling back the slide, the weapon was ready. Wasting no time cotton slid his finger into the trigger and let out a war cry while squeezing the trigger with all his strength. Cotton started spraying the enemy device with bullets, causing it to retreat for a moment as more of his men, now finished with the assault from the flanks, opened fire from the hospital windows, their bullets hitting the disc all over its body and making it wobble as it began to have trouble floating. 

This served to buy the TOW time as a new missile was finally loaded and fired at the distracted machine, striking it on its side, detonating and blowing the enemy up and spraying the side walk with pieces of metal.

The entire facility cheered in victory at the sight of the disc being left as a smoking piece of trash and even the commander himself had to feel the joy of seeing it dead, but in this war moments of happiness wouldn’t last as the cries of victory were overshadowed by a loud thud and metallic grinding sound.

Cotton wasted no time and over his com told his radioman to get command to send an airstrike his way 

“Tell them it’s something new so send us some ground pounders! Ramirez, I want you take half the men and pull out the doctors and whoever else is left out the back entrance now! Head to Evac-point Delta!”

Ramirez gritted his teeth and acknowledged as he rappelled down the side of the hospital into an open balcony and began getting everyone in the hospital together to escape.

Cotton didn’t find himself praying to god often, and in fact wasn’t a hundred percent on whether there was a god but right now he hoped there was because he felt like the devil was coming for them.\\

It might as well have been the devil, because soon, what looked something like one of the two legged walkers from star wars appeared at the far end of the street flanked by a squad of about 4 gray’s with lasers strapped to their wrists and two more cyber discs. 

“Oh, god help us,” was all Cotton could say and he could have sworn he heard a voice say 'You rang?' as he checked the M60 and found it only had half a belt of about 59 rounds left.

Even from that distance the oncoming enemy walker looked fierce, the thing was charcoal colored and had 4 mechanical eyes in a U shape, it had two large mechanical legs which gave it very good speed as it charged towards the soldier’s position and the cyber discs opened up and glided at its sides, with the Gray’s bringing up the rear. It easily crushed several cars that were in its way, with each crushed car feeling like the swing of a pendulum.

Cotton was not a coward but he wasn’t stupid either. He knew his men would likely win against the grays but they wouldn’t survive contact with that walker or even one of those cyber discs, especially without any heavy ordinance so he ordered the last of his men to pull back. The distraught commander lifted up the M60 and began carrying it towards the Humvee while firing in bursts at the enemy as he strafed to the side, hopelessly trying to wound some of the enemy, but a large beam of energy struck the truck before he could get close, destroying it and the two soldiers inside in a big fiery blast that sent the Humvee practically into oblivion with the two soldiers inside disintegrated to ashes.

The shockwave sent Cotton flying back, the machine gun wrenched from his hands, and making him land on his front with his ears ringing and his head disorientated from the concussion of the explosion as at the same time he felt like his organs had been reduced to jelly with all his senses overloaded. At that moment he thought it was the end and he would soon die, he could only open his eyes in pain as tears swelled up in them at how he had failed his mission, his men, and any other civilians they might have saved.

"I cant die here." he said, his thoughts traveling to his mother, who had raised him all by herself after his father ran off. "Get the fuck up." Cotton whispered to himself as he tried to force his body to get back up.

Cotton found himself silently praying that if he didn’t survive at least his men and the rest of the people inside the hospital might have a chance at survival. The feeling slowly returning to him gave him one last burst of courage and he decided it was time to at least make a final stand.

The machine closed in on the hospital, its powerful steps a reminder of the end that was coming as Cotton agonizingly attempted to crawl to reach the M60 as back at the hospital some of his men had stayed behind and were firing at the walker as it drew closer but it wouldn’t matter, it was the end.

But then it was like his prayers had been answered for when cotton heard a familiar and welcome sound he stopped moving and looked toward the sky, seeing an a pair of A-10s overhead.

The two A-10s continuously strafed from side to side to make it harder for the walker to fire at them. The pilots opened up with their 30millimeter cannons, the depleted uranium rounds slamming into the armor of the new enemy machine causing visible damage but not enough as it aimed itself skywards and fired at the Tank killers with a bright red beam that would surely destroy them with a single hit as the cyber discs joined in with plasma fire.

The A-10s separated slightly and raced towards the robots, spraying that area with their cannons on a strafing run before rapidly turning around. Now out of its field of view the fighters came back around then let loose with a barrage of rockets. One rocket with the words  “E.T. go home!” painted on its chassis smashed into the walker’s back, which left a large smoking hole in it, while the grays it had been with were reduced to charred chunks of flesh. 

But the walker was not defeated yet as is began to try moving again.

But it and the cyber discs were dealt with when the second A-10 opened fire with a set of  XAGM missiles which took out all the remaining enemies in a nice fire filled detonation. The force of it shattering windows and making vibrations strong enough to rattle Cotton's teeth. The A-10’s flew over the hospital to head to other areas but made sure to tip their wings side to side in salute.

Cotton let out several ragged and relieved laughs at his luck as soon four APCs pulled up and soldiers unloaded. 

”Get more defenses up god dammit. Set up a perimeter and check the wounded! I want this place up to speed now!” shouted an older African American man in a black beret and grey military fatigues who walked over to Cotton and kneeled down to place an hand on his chest as he shouted to some medics who quickly came over with a stretcher and carried him back to the hospital as in the distance Cotton saw the alien ship that had landed was taking off, being chased by a wing of F-35 Lightnings and any other plane in the area. 

As Cotton was carried into the hospital he hoped that he wasn’t hurt too bad because after the small victory he just witnessed he felt more determined than ever that they could defeat the enemy and drive the aliens from Earth.

Unbeknownst to the lieutenant though, at that very moment a secret meeting of the UN Security Council was just then finalizing plans for an international joint force against the aliens that would be known as “The Extraterrestrial Combat unit” or in short, Xcom.



Meanwhile in another universe, in the Canterlot gardens stood the statue of an ancient god of chaos. In his existence he had been called many things, abomination, anomaly, bringer of chaos and chocolate rain, John De Lancie, Q , and Discord.

He chuckled deeply in his stone throat, almost drawing the attention of an elderly groundskeeper who was picking up loose leaves.

Despite being turned to stone discord could still see anything he wanted with what little powers he had left from his battle with the elements. Sometimes he would watch dear old princess Celestia in the shower, or when she snuck pieces of cake in between her royal duties, but at the moment he was very interested in this little war going on in a far off land, he wished he had some chocolate glass to go with the show.

The humans of Earth doing battle with the creatures of the empire, or the Ethereal collective, depending on which Ethereal you asked.

Despite how much discord himself would have wanted to turn the human world upside down and inside out, he found himself wanting to destroy the empire more. They were so orderly, everything was calculated and tallied, births, deaths, what to eat, when to eat. Who gets born on what date and for what purpose. What race gets cloned and in how many quantities.

It made discord sicker to his granite stomach than anything Celestia and the ponies could do, sure they had order and were boring but they were just one civilization, not almost whole galaxy of different species acting like drones.

Humans on the other hand were on the border between chaos and order, they always had been, and it reminded Discord of his younger years when he didn’t know better. He then got an idea in his twisted head that the big bad ever so organized empire could use some well deserved chaos. The Ethereals had never really encountered a species that could actually hold its ground, that would be sure to cause panic among them, especially the rulers who like so many spoiled children were so used to having their way. Discord then schemed up a plan in his mind to help bring fear and disorder to the empire, and all he needed were a few ponies and a great and powerful fool.

"And maybe I can use this for more than just staving off boredom." He said cackling and making the old colt picking up leaves think he was going senile as he fruitlessly looked around to find the source of laughter.
> The best Earth (and Equestria?) have to offer.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: The best Earth (and Equestria?) has to offer.
Three months after First contact.
Fort Benning, USA.

Lieutenant Cotton panted as he crawled prone across the mud covered ground at fort Benning; the large installation had been on high alert since the start of the alien invasion just like every other base around the world.

The invasion had seemed to come to an unknown halt after several countries had managed to push off invasion forces from major cities. The media reported most that the aliens had been beaten, but that was only because the world governments had collectively worked together to hide the truth that the aliens continued to send ships to Earth. They did this in order to stop the mass panic and rioting that would occur around the world which would just make them an easier target to the aliens.

Cotton quickly rose from the muddy ground and was almost knocked over by an explosion a few feet from him that kicked up dirt and mud. In his arms he held X-com’s new standard soldier rifle the XM9, a completed and upgraded version of the XM8 prototype assault rifle that the US army had never gotten into mass production.

He switched it to a three round burst mode of fire as small figures of sectoids popped up and cotton dispatched them without hesitation as he looked through the electronic sight of his rifle and did what he was trained to do, the aliens falling like cards. Cotton then finished taking out the sectoids and rushed as fast as he could to a flare and upon reaching it shouted out “time!” as he completed the training course.

Applause was heard by Cotton as floodlights activated to reveal several instructors in grey camouflage fatigues who walked over to Cotton and soon congratulated him.

“One of the top 10 in all of the North American  X-com team. Impressive captain, now go to the meeting hall and await further orders.” Cotton saluted and returned to the armory table and set his rifle and armor down for the next person in training to use as he made his trip to the meeting hall.

While walking to the meeting hall Cotton couldn’t help but smile at the influx of new recruits. The number of people wanting to enlist in the service after the alien incursion had almost tripled and people all over the country were all trying to do their part. This much patriotism hadn’t been seen since the second world war.

Cotton arrived at the meeting hall and out of his pocket pulled out a small patch that showed the earth with a blue X on it and the Latin words “vigilo confide". It was the X-com patch and since this was an X-com meeting Cotton was allowed to wear it on his arm but nowhere else as, officially, they didn’t exist. 

Only the Leaders of the 16 funding council nations and a few necessary civilians or other staff were allowed to know anything about their existence, less they jeopardize security by letting it slip out to the aliens a united human force was stepping up to oppose them, it was as they said “Loose lips = lost lives.”

As Cotton sat down in a chair next to other squad and platoon leaders he noticed there was a man from the Mexican Special Forces and a woman from the Canadian Special Forces. Before he could ponder on it any further the same man who had walked over to him when his APC pulled up back in San Francisco had just stepped up onto a podium in front of the gathered group. Everyone quickly stood at attention before the superior officer.

“At ease everyone, we have a lot to talk about and not a lot of time to do it. First of all I am General Martin Luis Franklin and as of yesterday I am officially the acting officer in charge of the North American branch of X-com.” The room remained quiet as General Franklin activated a projector and soon began explaining what information they had on the aliens while pointing it out on diagrams and photos taken from combat zones or dissection tables.

Franklin began explaining how the aliens used some sort of crystal that did not exist on the periodic table of elements to power their weapons and ships, and that after several dissections and tests it had been determined that the grays, now dubbed the Sectoids, had once been aquatic and that they had evidence of possible psychic abilities among the aliens. On the topic of Sectoids Frankling brought up that they had managed to capture three live aliens. 

However, not much information could be gathered since there was no way to understand them. But that dilemma was being handled by some of the worlds best language professors and a new universal translator that was being programmed by multiple supercomputers.

The next topic Franklin went over was of standard X-com operating procedure. Every X-com operative would obey the laws of whatever country they were in, if a foreigner was operating in another country he was under the command of a local officer. All X-com facilities were to not share information with each other unless important, otherwise everything was on a need to know basis to lower the risk of vital information being leaked out to the aliens in the event a base was captured or infiltrated. This continued on for almost an hour until some personnel then began handing out files with deployment orders for every one there. 

Cotton checked his orders and saw he would be in command of the combat teams at a base titled “The crow’s nest.” Operating near Area 51 with a new team, his base would officially be handling oddities, things that other X-com bases didn’t have time to handle or that needed to be kept contained, as well as regular combat ops and the security of Area 51 due to its obvious strategic value. Cotton also read in an addendum near the bottom of his documents that he would be given a promotion and be the commander in charge of the base and several other details and duties granted to him 'for exemplary success in the field against the alien menace.'. Cotton just hoped that he was up to the task.



Meanwhile in the European particle collider

The European Branch of X-com was currently attempting to discover the secrets of the mysterious crystal like structures that seemed to power the alien’s ships and weapons. The scientists at the particle collider were currently working to discover the elemental composition of the alien crystal by running it through a small series of tests to determine atomic values and other such data.

“This better yield results Doctor,” the gruff tone of general Franz Heinrich Schmidt, acting leader of the European X-com branch,  said to the chief scientist at the facility. 

“This is a big risk we are taking doing these experiments in a civilian facility.” Though in truth the General had no say in the matter since it would take almost another month for the proper facilities to be finished at his own primary base and they were short on time.

The Japanese had already made some headway in researching the alien alloys and the Australians were working on a way to capture some of them alive. The Americans were also in the process of building a new fighter plane to go toe to toe with the alien ships. Everyone seemed to be working on a way to beat the aliens and Schmidt didn’t want Europe to be left out of the fun.

“Sir with all due respect,” The lead scientist said while running calculations on a calculator before pushing buttons on the collider’s control panel, “It’s not as if I can wave a magic wand and get results, this takes time and we may not even get any results out of it.” 

Schmidt grunted and turned when someone whispered “Oh you’ll get your results, don’t worry.” He then turned back and continued to speak to the Head scientist as the tests began and they began bombarding the crystal shard with highly sped-up and energized electrons. The readings it gave where like almost nothing the scientists had seen before, the closest thing they could compare it to would be uranium.

Soon the crystal began glowing brightly and producing immense amounts of heat and warnings were appearing on every screen. 

“Shut it down!” shouted Schmidt to the scientists. 

“I’m trying but it’s not responding, none of the fail safes are working.” 

Schmidt then ordered everyone out and had to carry out a shivering scientist in the fetal position who kept screaming about how they were all going to die. 

Just as the final soldiers and civilians made it out of the facility there was a bright flash and a fire around the entire trail of the Collider as Discord began chuckling and whispered to himself, “See? You got results.”




-And at that same time in Canterlot, Equestria.

The Great and Powerful Trixie sat on her carriage as a blonde cross eyed Pegasus pony pulled her up the path to Canterlot  while she dangled a muffin on a string at the end of her face, just close enough to keep the mail mare chasing the muffin. 

Trixie could not explain what had drawn her to Canterlot, since many of the foolish ponies here believed her to be some type of fraud, a lie of course because her magic was real. Well... real enough. And no matter what,Trixie was sure that this would be quite an adventure. She could surely use it and hopefully a pay day because ever since that purple book mare back in Ponyville revealed her difficulty with magic Trixie had found it far harder to make 'bits' to provide for herself and her show, which is why she resorted to using a muffin to get to canterlot cheaply and quickly. 

“Come now don’t you want the muffin, Ditzy? Get the muffin; yes get the great and powerful muffin!” Trixie said, taunting Derpy hooves to fly faster after the muffin in front of her.

Derpy meanwhile was having a fun time chasing the muffin and wondered why the unicorn dressed like a wizard kept talking about how great she was when Derpy obviously wasn’t listening. But she liked to be nice so Derpy just focused on the muffin and was glad she'd let Dinky go on a field trip with the doctor to another planet. 

Not to think that Derpy was a bad or neglectful mother, on the contrary, Derpy demanded to chaperone her daughter every time her class went on a field trip. But she loved and trusted the doctor enough to know that he would keep her safe and sound, especially since he said he was taking her to the planet of the greatest bounce castles in the whole universe. 

But as she pulled the carriage for a split second one of Derpy’s tilted eyes caught a glimpse of a figure up in the clouds but when she turned to look she saw nothing, and Trixie coaxed her to chase after the muffin again.

Private Sneaky Breeze of the Pegasus Corps. Stealth fliers flew from cloud to cloud above the suspicious carriage without so much as a whisper. The stealth fliers had been a new idea created by Princess Luna to act as spies only without actually infiltrating enemy ranks. More accurately, a stealth flier Pegasus was a living spy balloon but they had other uses besides counting enemy supply lines and numbers. They worked well as security, which is what Sneaky Breeze was up to. 

The pure white dyed fur of the Royal Canterlot Guard allowed Breeze to easily hide on or among the clouds, especially as his armor was the color of steel and not gold like regular Guards. Breeze slowly trailed behind the carriage as he watched it to make sure there was no chance of it being changelings or diamond dogs trying to sneak into the castle.

“Come on, I am not an idiot. You must be up to something,” Breeze whispered to himself as he flew over a traveling cloud and used it to travel unseen directly above the carriage and tried to figure out what this strange unicorn was up to. 

He had been ordered to tail the carriage since no magicians had been scheduled to come into Canterlot recently and a unicorn using a muffin to make a Pegasus pull a carriage when there were perfectly good earth ponies to do it screamed of wrong doing. And all guards ponies hated criminal scum who tried to break the law in their town.

Trixie soon pulled up into Canterlot proper and began traveling towards the castle. Feeling uneasy, Sneaky Breeze pulled out a small yellow flag from underneath his helmet and began to wave it in well practiced patterns to signal to a squad of unicorn watchers with telescopes inside the castle towers to send a message to the Gate guards to not allow entry to his target. 

Sneaky Breeze slipped the flag back into his helmet and stretched his wings before flying to the Castle’s front gates and joining up with the guards there. They were joined by a muscular dark grey colored earth pony, his mentor, Sergeant Rock Fist. The pony was a veteran of several raids into illegal diamond dog slavery rings, and former basic training officer. Rock fist still bore many scars from his battles, one being a large set of claw marks over his left flank cutie mark, which consisted of a hoof holding a rock. Sneaky breeze’s mark was just of wind, nothing sneakier than the very air itself.

As Trixie pulled up she cleared her throat and declared out loud, “Clear the way, knaves, for the great and powerful Trixie! I have come to entertain the masses and bring life to the poor boring lives of the rich and successful.” 

The sergeant spoke first in a loud voice that could only come from years of breaking pony spirits and remaking them into fine tuned tools for combat. 

“Ma’am, I’m afraid you need to leave and come back with an invitation!” This astounded Trixie to the point she hopped off her carriage of tricks and got right in the Sergeants face. 

“You dare deny the great and po-” The sarge suddenly shouted over her in a voice that made all the other guards except for Breeze move away. 

“Listen here you, spoiled brat. I don’t care how much you whine and boast but my word is law and I say you ain't getting in!”

Trixie, not one to be defeated easily, got in Rock Fist’s face and a shouting match soon began as Derpy walked over chewing her muffin and wondering why they were fighting. After several minutes of arguing Sneaky Breeze soon butted his head into the argument to separate the two but did so just as Trixie was coming in to go bursting into a rant the two ended up smashing their heads together, causing Breeze to be disorientated while Trixie had a bump on her head next to her horn. 

“Oh dear sweet Celestia. Ma’am, I'm so so sorry. I swear I didn’t mean to-“ Before he could finish Sneaky Breeze was pounced on by an enraged Trixie who began punching his face with her hooves savagely, leaving nasty welts and bruises, causing him to remember why he chose to be a stealth flier rather than a fighter. 

“YOU DARE HIT ME!?” she shouted while the other guards quickly jumped into the fray to save their fallen brother as a brawl soon broke out. With all the fighters accidentally pulling Derpy into the brawl and rolling all the way back to Trixie’s carriage of magic potions and knick knacks, knocking it over.

Discord watched with joy at how he barely had to do anything to cause all off this and used his powers to open all off Trixie’s potion stock, which rained down onto the dirt ground on Trixie, Rock fist, Derpy and Sneaky Breeze. At that moment a unicorn guard attempted to capture Trixie in a magic bubble while Trixie used her magic to stop it, and discord used his magic to mix their energies and the potions on the ground to create a portal.

A large swirling black vortex soon opened up and sucked Trixie and Derpy in together at oncewhile the guards soon scattered for safety. Save for Rock Fist who was digging his hooves into the ground as he tried to hold onto Breeze with his upper hooves, who was flapping his wings as hard as he could with half his body already inside the vortex. 

“Sarge, please I don’t want to die!” He yelled with tears in his eyes as the sergeant began pulling him out of the vortex slowly but surely. 

“Just hold on, boy. I promised your mom and pops that I'd care for you and I don’t break my promises!” But Breeze slipped from his grasp and fell into the dark vortex, shouting at the top of his lungs for his favorite sergeant. 

Rock Fist adjusted his helmet and frowned before jumping in head first after his best friends’ son “I'm coming for ya, boy!”

As soon as the four selected ponies were in the portal it closed, leaving all who had seen the event confused out of their minds and two very angry monarchs to wonder what caused it all... and one happy Draconeques wishing he had a youtube to post the clip on . 

Meanwhile the four ponies shouted and felt themselves spun and thrown around wildly as they shifted from one universe to another. Finally they ended up tossed out somewhere outside of Washington, DC, on the roof of an office building, which was currently under attack. 

But the disorientated ponies were so out of it they didn’t notice as several armored figures soon began to rush up to the roof to get a better vantage point on their enemies, and found four cartoonish,technicolor horses lying in a pile.



> The other side and the new arrivals.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: The Other Side and the New Arrivals.

The Sol system, dark side of Earth’s moon

The alien mother ship floated behind the Earth’s natural satellite, well out of range for any sensors on Earth, and in a position where it could send more ships to Earth or shoot down any of the primitive missiles the earthlings might send. 

The ship was manned by a mixed crew comprised of several species that had been conquered and enslaved, many of them were clones and in fact had little to no free will. Only a few beings on the ship could even claim a measure of freedom, one such being was Sectoid clone 742, the defective clone. 

742 was considered to be defective due to his lack of attention when being spoken to by a non-Sectoid superior officer. Along with his borderline disrespect for other non Sectoid races he was considered a defect. But due to the shortage of working genes he was still allowed to live. Many Ethereals believed 742's attitude was because the clone batch he grew in had malfunctioned, causing half the stock to die before hatching completely.

742 slept in a hibernation tube, surrounded by cold liquid that served to rejuvenate and keep 742’s body healthy with nutrients. 742 floated in the middle of his tube curled up in a fetal position, deep in thought over recent events. Earlier that week 742 and his superior had been called to the docking bay as a new ship arrived under a fighter escort. Once docked the VIP stepped out covered in a large red cloak and hood that hid its features.

The hooded figure was only referred to as Master by the unworthy Sectoids, though 742 found it odd as the being has masters of its own to answer to. None the less the leaders of the empire had sent the powerful being to deal with the insolence of the Sectoids in this solar system. 

The Sectoids were the only species among the empires many slave races that still had some semblance of free will and 742’s superior had been slowly sending forces to Earth to abduct and experiment with the natives. The process had been long and laborious but it did bring rewards. The experiments yielded astonishing, near imposible results. The humans of earth where compatible enough that the Sectoids could actually mix their DNA together. 

Their masters wanted to ensure the Sectoids remained docile, intelligent and numerous as cannon fodder, but ended up making too many bad cloning decisions. The Sectoids now faced extinction by inbreeding, due to making copies from other copies. Many Ethereals even believed the Sectoids would be extinct within 112 years.

To save themselves the Sectoids had planned to slowly mix their purest DNA with the unwitting humans and let hybrids grow on earth unbothered.Then they would have slowly mixed with the population to grow purer genes but that plan was ruined when another imperial ship caught an old signal from Earth and blew the whistle on them.

When the empire discovered that not only was earth habitable, but there were several planets and moons that could be terraformed into colonies, the masters salivated at the proverbial gold mine this system was. Later scans showed that the asteroid belt in the solar system also contained countless amounts of rare minerals and metals. The planet Neptune alone contained enough water to quench the thirst of every member of the empire twice.

This revelation infuriated as well as excited the empire. For while they were overjoyed at the bounty they had discovered the rulers of the empire were deeply disturbed by the act of rebellion from the Sectoids in hiding this system for themselves.

The  Master was sent to take command of the ship and lead the invasion of Earth after the Sectoids failure to make proper beachheads on the planet.

The Master's orders were to subjugate the native species as a new slave race or wipe them out if they proved too much trouble and of little value to the Ethereal Collective. It was then planned that their planet would be used as a colony to mine the rest of their solar system.

742 shivered in his hibernation tube. He vividly remembered how the Master had torn his former superior’s arm off, as a casual example of what happens to those with rebellious ideas, before crushing his body with powerful psychic abilities. The Master proceeded to ensure from then on all Sectoid units would be mixed with other, more loyal, species when he commanded the ship.

742 did his best to hide his anger, for the Master might hear his thoughts. 742 always believed of himself as defective since Sectoid clones were not designed to feel emotions at all. But he did, along with a love of his own species and a sadness at what would befall the humans who in a way now where like distant genetic cousins. 

As 742 continued to contemplate he heard a voice whisper silently into his thoughts. 

“You’re not defective, my dear enslaved Sectoid. Your just... special. So special in fact that you’re going to deal a heavy blow to your oppressors, by helping the Humans stop the invasion of their homeworld. Then you will incite a Sectoid rebellion throughout the empire,” Discord whispered into the slumbering Sectoid's mind. He was nearly complete placing all the pieces onto the chessboard...



Washington DC

The Cult of Sirius had been planning their attack on DC for almost two months now. And, with the aid of their alien guardians, they would succeed. Their faith was pure and Sirius would return them from the grave on planet Nibiru for their loyal service should they fall in battle. Of course that was what they were told by their new masters.

Soon the worthy would bring about destruction to one of the capitols of the heathens who still worshipped the old tribal gods. Or so the cult members had thought as they charged out of unmarked vans and opened fire on nearby innocents in front of the white house.

But soon after their attack began, four of the fifteen attackers had been gunned down by snipers hidden on rooftops who had trained to halt such attacks. A fifth was soon killed by a police officer in civilian clothes. The cult members found themselves on the run as more Capitol police and federal agents began showing up.

One group of cult members abandoned their van in front of a random three level building that was still under construction. They then made their way up to its roof to get a vantage point on whatever police might show up.

Upon reaching the roof the cultists were expecting police or soldiers to meet them but instead found what looked like four cartoon horses struggling to their feet as they talked in what sounded like whinnies and neighs. One of them, a cross eyed horse with wings, looked at the three humans and waved happily. The cultists raised their weapons and prepared to fire at the four unearthly creatures.

“Sir, I’ve got some insurgents in my sights and I’m taking the shot,” whispered a sniper hiding in a tree with a silenced rifle as he aimed down range. He could see the cult members aiming their weapons at someone who was out of his line of sight. The sniper could only assume it was a hostage. 

He fired right for the head of one of the cultists. As the bullet traveled through the air the wind began to shift.The round moved to the side, clipping the cult member’s ear, causing him to scream and fire his weapon wildly. This startled the other two out of firing at the ponies as they dove to avoid ricochets.

One of the bullets slammed into Rock Fist’s chest armor. Luckily it had been a 9mm round from an MP5 and the small caliber round bounced off, though it left a dent behind, and Rock quickly pounced on the three humans, knocking them all down before he stomped on their faces with his armored hooves. 

Rock quickly ended their lives with a loud crunch as he smashed their faces and necks, getting some of their blood on his hooves in the process.

The other three ponies and a very confused sniper were left stunned as Rock Fist trotted away from the corpses and over to Trixie. 

“Where...did...you...send...us?” Rock said very slowly, his words obviously filled with anger at the little blue charlatan. 

“I did not send us to this hellish place!” she said as more gunfire could be heard causing everyone to duck as stray rounds passed over their heads. 

Derpy hid behind Sneaky Breeze, knowing the safest place would be behind a royal guard and that she would probably need their protection if she ever wanted to see the doctor and her daughter again.

Rock thought for a moment about their situation then sighed as he combat crawled on the ground over to the other ponies. Rock then admitted, “You’re right. You don’t have nearly enough skill to teleport us here.” 

Trixie protested before Breeze hushed her angrily.  

“Sarge, what’s our next move?” Breeze always trusted his Sergeant’s opinions since he and Breeze’s father, a short but strong earth pony, had been war buddies for many years. When Breeze enlisted his father told him to always stick close to Rock Fist because he would take care of him and help him all through his service. And while some might call it nepotism for a sergeant to watch over and protect the son of his best friend. Rock preferred to call it watching out for your buddy’s son.

Rock closed his eyes for a moment. Sighing, he then turned his gaze to the three dead bipeds before turning to face Breeze.

“Boy, I’m afraid you won’t be flying for a while.”

“But..but.. Sarge I could fly one of us out of here and the other peg-” Breeze tried to protest but Rock put his hoof on the boy’s mouth to silence him and spoke in a lower tone since he didn't want their position getting blown. 

“I know, boy, but from what I’ve seen so far, these bipeds seem to have some kind of miniaturized blunderbuss.  And I would rather see you get hit on the ground where I can pull you to safety than watch you fall and die.Then I'd have to bring you home to your mother in a bucket.” 

Rock nearly shuddered at the thought of Breeze falling from the sky. He had always considered the boy almost a son since he never found the time to get a girl for himself, or at the least to keep the one he once had.

“Stick your wings into their slots,” Rock said, referring to a new addition to the Pegasus pony armor. Recently added was a small slot on their sides where they could fit their wings into if they needed to engage in ground or cave combat. It was guatunteed to protect their wings from being gored.

“Well….we could just wait here until everything calms down,” Derpy interjected, actually hoping that when the doctor came back he would notice she was gone and come to get her in his TARDIS, wherever it is she was. 

“ Trixie will not stay here with you fools,” Trixie said quickly as she wanted to get away from the other ponies before they remembered to arrest her for assaulting a royal guard. 


“Miss, it’s probably a good idea if we stick together,.” Breeze added, still feeling sorry for bumping noggins 	earlier.

“Trixie can take care of herself!” she said and lifted her head up in the air before using a short range teleportation spell to disappear into a nearby bush. She then began trotting away from the sounds of violence, concocting plans to make herself rich and famous on this new world. 

“Well that’s one less mouth to feed then,” Rock Fist said under his breath before turning to Derpy. “Ma’am, may I ask what it is you do for a living?” 

Derpy blushed and responded, “Uuhh..well you see I'm sort of unemployed at the moment, but I used to be a mail carrier!” she said, not adding that she had been fired for dropping one too many packages and delivering mail to the wrong boxes. Rock thought for a moment.  “I see. Well that’s still good, we can use your natural sense of direction.”


“Uhh…HQ…I don’t know what it is I'm looking at here, but I think this is above my pay grade...” said the sniper as he watched an armored horse poke his head up before getting his head pulled down by another armored horse.


“Celestia dammit, Sneaky-Breeze! Are you trying to get yourself shot? A blunderbuss is just as dangerous as a crossbow in the hands of a Griffin.”

“I’m sorry, Sarge. It won’t happen again.” Breeze said as he crawled away from Rock Fist before Derpy suddenly whistled to them from down behind the building near a construction trailer. 

“Hey guys, there are muffins in here!” She said with a massive grin as she flew back inside.

“”How did she get down there so fast?” Breeze asked. He would have sworn the pony was behind him only a few seconds ago.

“Who cares? Never waste a chance for food, boy. It may be the only meal we will have for a while,” Rock whispered to Breeze as he crawled to the edge of the roof and jumped inside the trailer through a sunroof, soon followed by Sneaky Breeze.

Upon entering the small trailer the three ponies mouths watered as they saw a bounty of doughnuts, coffee and muffins on a small table. After a quick check of the nearby area Rock secured the door into the break room by wedging a chair under the handle and made sure all the blinds were closed. The ponies then ate their fill and found a small gift shop bag to put extra food into. 

“Hey Sarge,” Breeze spoke up as he finished a doughnut and downed it with some soda from a bottle they found. “If they can make food this yummy then they can’t be all bad, right?” 

Rock huffed loudly. “That remains to be seen. Good people don’t try to kill unarmed creatures they haven’t met.” 

As they finished their meal the three ponies came to the decision to hide in the building until night fall when they could travel more freely.


Meanwhile Trixie had been walking for almost two hours straight and ended up in downtown DC , just after the sun had gone down. She'd had to use her magic to teleport from hiding spot to hiding spot to avoid being seen. 

But it was not going well. She now couldn't find her way out of the area. Finally giving up she shouted out, “Someone save me, I'm lost!” 

She looked around and held her magician’s hat close to her chest in fear, whishing she had stayed with the two capable warriors to protect her. Now she was lost in an unfamiliar land with strange creatures and carriages that ran without being pulled. 

“Just calm yourself, Trixie. Your're a great and powerful and you have magic,” she kept repeating to herself as she stumbled around until she bumped face first into what looked like a very tall biped in a suit and sunglasses.

Trixie froze in fear of the abnormally tall biped as it suddenly reached down and pet her head.

“Good doggy,” It mumbled and then continued on seemingly without a care. 

Trixie was left for just a moment to wonder what it had said before a large dart struck her neck and she fell to the ground, twitching and slowly blacking out as men in black armor and masks wrapped her limbs up with Zip ties. 

"This looks like no horse I've seen, man. And it came into direct contact with the target," said one figure to the other before they shoved a bag on Trixie's head, letting her sink into total darkness.

The alien infiltrator adjusted its sunglasses and continued on down the street after its encounter with the odd Earth animal. There was no time to stop now, the alien was nearly at the Cult of Sirius meeting place. 

It was so intent on arriving at the meeting it never noticed that the alleyways and rooftops above it were crawling with FBI agents ready to pounce at any moment. But neither did the FBI agents have any idea that they were about to assault an alien and his worshippers along with capturing a narcissistic magical unicorn with a massive superiority complex

> Intermission.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intermission

The night after the attack on Washington DC was a cold one as the Mark A-12 Skyranger flew over the Nevada desert.

Commander Cotton sat in a seat in the back of the Russian designed Vertical Take-off and landing craft as he looked at the screen of a small laptop he had been handed before departing Fort Benign.Cotton had been told that as the head combat officer at the “Crow’s Nest” he was the fourth person there allowed access to the X-COM database dubbed the "UFOpedia”. The name had struck Cotton as odd as it didn’t sound that professional, but he didn’t care that much anyway. All that mattered was that he had the information he deemed necessary to know about the enemy he would be leading his soldiers against as well as the gear they would be using.

But before he could make a selection, a screen popped up on his laptop, announcing that he had a prerecorded message from the Council of the funding nations awaiting him. Cotton clicked on it before slipping some headphones on so he didn’t wake up some of the other people on the flight with him.

The figure in the video was shrouded in shadows as it began to speak in a voice that was obviously altered to hide the person’s identity, since it sounded far too much like Optimus Prime. 

“Greetings, Commander. In response to the alien threat to our planet, this council of nations has voted unanimously to activate the X-COM project. You have full command of your soldiers and partial command of the base operations. We must learn more about our enemy to expand our capabilities and eliminate the threat to our planet. You and every other base around the world have been outfitted with the best soldiers our nations have to offer and the best technology mankind has produced. But do not forget that good people will still die. If we are to survive this war every loss and sacrifice must be worth it. Good luck. And remember, we will always be watching, Commander.”

The Commander scoffed after the video had ended and clicked out of it. 

“Politicians…” he said under his breath. Cotton feeling that war should be left only to soldiers, not old men who couldn’t even wipe their own ass without an underpaid assistant to advise them, had to struggle to hide his anger.

Cotton then proceeded to access the available files on the Sectoid aliens and got a nasty surprise when the first thing he saw was a close up of one of the creatures, its dark eyes staring at him and making his blood boil as he looked to the ones that had attacked his world.


From the research notes of Dr. Vahlen:

We’ve found no discernible genetic variance between any of the small humanoid aliens that have been examined thus far. They are perfect genetic copies, each and every one of them.

The subject’s brain is quite sizable in respect to its body, and appears to have been augmented even further with cybernetic implants of some kind. Considering the... fragile nature of this creature’s physical form, it is safe to assume that these implants were intended to somehow improve the combat effectiveness of the species. Dr. Shen and the engineering team here at the Crow's Nest have already developed several theories as to how we might be able to adapt these implants for our own use but do not have any viable prototypes yet.

-Dr. Vahlen's Personal side Note: Cloning, genetic manipulation, biomedical implants... the implications of these technologies and the alien's motives are not reassuring in any way.



Combat Notes:

Sectoids are generally weak and can be easily killed with a well aimed shot and some have even been killed with extreme ease in hand to hand combat.

A single Sectoid is a very minor threat to an experienced X-COM trooper, but the more Sectoids that group together the more dangerous they become. Some suggest it’s the possibility of a hive mind like ability, which is also their weakness. The more you kill, the weaker the remaining Sectoids become.

The only other important combat note for any X-COM trooper to know is that they are rarely encountered alone or without some type of mechanical backup. One should make sure the Sectoid is actually alone before engaging.”



Cotton couldn’t help but shiver at the image and tried his best not to think about what poor soul had been close enough to get such a good picture. He exited to the main data page and started looking up what info they had on the cyber disc and that big walker that had attacked him. A moment later he was met with a big red screen saying that he didn’t have the security clearance to view that info.

“Just like always, the real important stuff is on a need to know basis, and apparently I don’t need to know.”

A trooper next to Cotton cleared his throat. Cotton turned and saw the soldier next to him had a Japanese flag on his shoulder. 

“So sorry to bother you, sir, but I don’t think that this is the best place to view information like that.” Cotton quickly realized that the soldier was right and closed the laptop. 

“Thanks, trooper. I don’t believe I ever caught your name.”

The Japanese soldier quickly took Cotton’s hand and bowed his head for a second. “I am Satsuke Sato. I was recently transferred out of the Japanese Airborne Infantry.”

“A fellow jumper, I see. We’re going to get along just fine, Sato,” Cotton said. He was cut off a moment later as the pilot spoke over the Skyranger’s intercom,.

“Okay everyone, wake up. We have arrived at the Crow’s Nest. We hope you have enjoyed Skyranger Flights. And remember, keep your eyes open out there, roughnecks.” 

The Skyranger’s back door slowly dropped open to reveal a large metallic hanger, which made the new arrivals feel more as if they were on a giant spaceship rather than an underground base. Cotton stepped out of the plane as a flight crew came over to refuel it. A man in a green sweater with an earpiece quickly walked over to greet him.

“Hello, Commander Cotton. I am the Central Operations Officer of the Crow’s Nest facility. Now I’m sure you have a lot of questions and need a quick briefing on the situation at hand, but as of the moment you set foot on this base you automatically gained some power in key decision making. Unfortunately, Commander, we have an issue on our hands that we need help with.”

“Uh, sure. Fine, lead the way.” Cotton said and followed Central to the main corridor of the facility and down an elevator shaft three floors to the operations level where the labs and workshops were.

Cotton and Central quickly walked out and past one of the science laboratories until they reached the alien containment wing. There Dr. Shen and Dr. Vahlen were attempting to communicate with an enraged little blue horse.

The creature was wearing a magician’s costume and knocking back the “interrogator” devices coming at her with some type of telekinesis.

“Is this some kind of fucking joke on the new guy?” Cotton said out loud, confused at everything that was going on.

No one responded, all eyes were on the pony in the cell as it shouted out, “Stop this at once or Trixie will bring down the wrath of the Princesses on you!”

> Counter insurgency and revelations.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Counter Insurgency and Revelations. 


*Seventeen hours before touchdown of Commander Cotton at the Crow’s Nest.*


The FBI members slowly followed the tall well-dressed man as he made his way deeper into the city and to an old boarding house. The FBI agents were heavily armed and were backed up by SWAT teams; This was not a raid like most of the agents were accustomed to.

This was a true counter insurgency operation, no prisoners unless convenient. The agents were to go in and eliminate the insurgents to prevent further attacks like what had happened in D.C. and gather whatever information they could.

The FBI and Homeland Security had known about the cult of Sirius for some time now but they'd ignored them to focus on violent hate groups and major terror organizations. Now that that decision had come back to bite them in the ass the agents were going to pluck the insurgents’ fangs.

“All teams move in slowly, I want masks on in case they have anything up their sleeves. And remember the  Rules Of Engagement say don't shoot any unarmed targets unless they resist,” ordered the lead agent of the operation as he watched the team’s progress through a bank of monitors inside an unmarked van.

“Sir, Jones and Javier here, we’ve got the animal the tango came into contact with,” the confused agents on the other line said as they tossed Trixie’s unconscious body into the back of one of their trucks before putting a cloth over her body.

“Its really weird looking. I’m not exactly sure why you wanted us to bring it in.”

“That is classified Jones. Just bring the animal to the waiting teams and forget you ever ran into it, acknowledged?”

The lead agent had not told his men they would be chasing down an alien and preferred to let them think they were still after terrorists, which was half true. The two agents then began driving Trixie to an awaiting X-COM hazmat team which was under the command of General Franklin himself.

The assault teams moved up to the old boarding house and surrounded it, planning to move in from the front entrance, back entrance, and roof simultaneously. The agents all had on gasmasks and night vision goggles for once the power was cut. There were three teams moving in to assault the building, the others would wait outside to cover the entrances and pull out any prisoners the assault agents captured.

Team Alpha was going in through the roof, Beta through the back entrance, and Charlie through the main entrance. Charlie team was armed with two shotguns and three M4 rifles since they were expected to take the brunt of combat. Team Alpha and Beta were armed with MP5s sinceas they were expected to try and take prisoners.

“Prepare to cut power and breach the building in five minutes,” said the lead agent as he prayed this mission would be a success, and that they would get some. They all wanted bloody payback for the twelve civilians killed in the attack on D.C.

*	Three minutes until assault:* 

The thin alien removed its sunglasses, revealing small gold reptilian eyes. The cultists watched in awe as it lifted its sleeves to reveal its arms were covered in scales. The alien had been sent to help the cultists plan another attack since the last one was such a success. The true goal of the attack had not been to actually cause major damage to the American capitol, but to test both the defenses of the capitol and the loyalty of their worshippers.

The aliens were pleased by the results of both.

The alien reached into its coat with its thin, bony fingers and produced a small document. The creature handed it to the leader of this cell and rolled its sleeves back down as the leader held up the paper to read, “Our gods have given us another chance to prove our worth-”

The power suddenly cut out before the cult leader could finish his pre-prepared speech. The sound of cans being thrown was heard, followed by a loud bang and confused shouting.

The assault teams rushed in, wearing night vision goggles. They moved silently throughout the building, clearing it room by room as they moved with purpose. 

Despite their initial plans, it was the Alpha team that was facing the most resistance as they had charged straight into the insurgent’s bomb factory. Heavy fighting soon followed.

“Watch the vials!” shouted one agent as they fired in short, three-round bursts at the insurgents to lower the risk of striking the glasses filled with unknown, possibly volatile chemicals.

The insurgents fell by the dozens under the practiced and precise shots of the federal agents, but it was pointless. One of the insurgents burst out from another door and ran straight to the chemicals before he could be put down.

“Die, you fucking pigs!” screamed the suicidal cult member as he grabbed two large beakers and slammed them into a third. The whole room ignitinged as the top floor was engulfed in flames the mixture of volatile chemicals. The explosion shook the whole neighborhood as pieces of debris and charred body parts rained down on the agents outside the building.

“Jesus Christ! What the fuck was that?” screamed a member of Beta team as the whole building shook. The team had been down in the basement securing data from the cultist’s papers and other info that looked important when the explosion rocked them. Causing the agents to make a mad dash to grab what they could before rushing through the back entrance to an awaiting armored van.

“This is Charlie team we-”

The man was cut off as his head was vaporized by a sudden bolt of plasma from the thin alien before it snapped the neck of another agent. The infiltrator had rushed to go down to the basement to destroy all the precious information down there. They had blessed the cult with much, including a basic translation book on alien texts. But as the thin creature tried to get to the basement it ran into Charlie team.

“This guy’s unreal, no one moves like that!” shouted another member of Charlie team as he let loose a full automatic rifle blast, catching the alien in the knee. The alien screamed out in an inhuman roar before vomiting a thick viscous fluid that struck the agent and ate through his clothes at a slow pace but it did not stop the agent and the three surviving members of Charlie team from tearing the alien apart with a continuous stream of lead.

After the agents killed the alien its body released a gust of thick green smoke that obscured their vision and forced the agents to seek cover to make sure their masks were secure.

“This is Charlie team. We have confirmed the presence of some type of WMD! We just got slimed by some kind of gas and a liquid variant, sir,.” The agent said using the code word for the team being in direct contact with an activated weapon of mass destruction.

“Understood, hold your positions, keep your masks on and make sure none of the insurgents get out.” The lead agent then began shouting to his men to start setting up a perimeter and to get the CDC and FEMA the chemicals from the roof explosion mixed with this new weapon.

“Understood,” the agent said and readied his rifle as his team members did the same. All of them took cover in a living room where they could see a stair case leading up to the other levels of the boarding house. Much of the building was already on fire due to the explosion which was slowly spreading.

Through the smoke they could see a hallway leading out to the rest of the rooms on their floor.

The agents waited and counted their heartbeats as they prepared for an onslaught of deranged fanatics to charge at them, but only three insurgents approached. And they quickly died from the noxious gas produced by the thin man they had killed.

A closer inspection could not be made as the agents were soon forced to retreat outside due to the spread of the fire and the subsequent collapse of the building. The damage prevented them from finding out that the rest of the insurgents escaped through an underground tunnel until late into the next day.

*Meanwhile at the X-COM Hazmat team.*

The FBI agents had just finished handing over the unconscious pony and her belongings to the hazmat team waiting in a small clearing near the border to West Virginia. One of the hazmat team members told the agents if they ever spoke about what they saw they would be arrested for treason. The agents knew the value of secrecy, but that didn’t stop them from talking about it while they drove back to regroup with the others of their grouptheir team.

“So, a blue alien pony...” said Javier as he drove the unmarked truck back to the FBI headquarters.

“Yeah." His friend said after a long pause as they remained silent the rest of the journey.

Meanwhile, Trixie was being moved to a large armored van normally used by USAMRID  whenever a trace of things like the Ebola virus or anthrax appeared.

After a long ride the pony was transported to a hidden facility designed for emergency usages by Hazmat specialists. She was carried into a room with an operating table and strapped down onto the tablesecured, a strap on each limb as the scientists there looked confused beyond belief.

“This has to be a joke; I mean, a blue miniature horse with a tattoo on its ass and a cap? Someone is  wasting council money,” one of the scientists’, called only Anderson by his peers said as he held Trixie’s magician hat and turned it around in his hands. Another scientist slowly inserted a needle into Trixie’s body and drew blood. 

“Well I’ve never seen a horse like this, it’s too small, its joints aren’t like those of regular horses. And the eyes... God, its eyes are far too big .”

Anderson scoffed inside of his hazmat suit as he looked at the reflective faceplate on the mask of his coworker. “Don’t tell me you’re actually taking this seriously, Elli.?”

The other man simply grunted in disinterest as he placed the sample into a nearby computer to begin analyzing. Elli then pressed start on another computer for cameras to begin recording as General Franklin walked over to a small shatterproof glass window so he could watch the testing.

“I was promised an alien spy, not a fucking toy horse,” Franklin said to an assistant next to him.

“I offer my deepest apologies, sir, but the infiltrator was killed in the fighting and we lost the body when the building burned down,” the assistant said while hoping Franklin kept his cool.

Franklin huffed as he crossed his arms.  “And you expect me to explain to the council that I am wasting their money on experiments on a cartoon animal? Granted it is an interesting looking animal, but it’s not what the council asked for.”

The two scientists inside the examination chambered huddled close together and spoke quietly with their backs turned to the General and his assistant. For once Elli talked with emotion in his voice. 

“Oh shit, that’s General Franklin! What the fuck are we going to say?” 

Anderson quickly hushed him. “Just be cool and we can do this, got it?”

Anderson and Elli both turned to see Trixie opening her eyes and begin thrashing around in terror as she got a better look at her surroundings.

“No, I don’t want to burn in Tartarus! Oh Celestia, I swear I'll be good!”

Trixie cringed as two large beings in yellow approached her. She could see herself tied down in their blank, reflective faces.

“No!” she shouted out and with a burst of magic threw the two scientists back against the wall of the.

As soon as this occurred Franklin stepped into action. He flipped open a console near the viewing window and smashed his fist against the console. Which pressed down on a button that released a thick, and fast acting knockout gas into the room. 

Soon Trixie felt the world spin around at incredible speeds and all she could say before falling into unconsciousness was, “But, daddy... I wanna be a magician just like you!”

Franklin cleared his throat as he looked at what had occurred and at the two scientists struggling to get up. He pressed down on the intercom button and spoke up.

“I want the psychic animal sedated, and tied up for transfer to area Fifty-One. And it i'll be off the books because as serious as this is I'm still not telling the council.”

Anderson held up a thumb in acknowledgement as Franklin walked off with a hard to discern expression. 

“Elli, as far as anyone knows we didn’t get out asses kicked by a midget horse with mind powers, got it?” Anderson said to his friend as if he were a school child trying not to admit a girl beat him up.

Elli grunted as he held his back and forced himself back to his feet, wishing he had done what his father had told him and become a lawyer instead of a xenobiologist.




*About the next morning back in Equestria in a small home towards the outskirts of Stalliongrad.*

Sneaky Breeze’s mother, a middle aged Pegasus with green hair and aqua blue fur, was in her kitchen. She gently floated in place above a stove as she cooked some eggs for her husband who was reading the local newspaper before heading to work that day.

“Brick Layer, sweetie, how do you want your eggs today?” Light Feather asked her red earth pony husband as she grabbed a spatula.

“Whichever, honey. You know I don’t usually care.”

“Sunny side up it is,” Light Feather said with a slight song in her voice and let the eggs simmer for a little bit before a knock was heard at the door. Light Feather couldn’t contain her excitement, thinking it might be a mail pony.

“Finally another letter from my little Nimbus cloud!” She said and flew off like a flash of lightning to the door. as Brick Layer simply grunted and flipped the paper onto the next page.

“About time that boy sent us a letter,” Brick layer said and continued reading for several moments  until his wife screamed at the top of her lungs. A heartbeat later he heard her shouting out with terror in her voice. 

"No..no…Celestia, please no!”

Brick layer’s old combat instincts kicked in and he flung himself from his chair and rushed to the doorway at quick speeds, despite the old war injuries to his back hooves. There he saw a chaplain pony trying to console Light Feather as a grey dyed Officer pony stood next to him. A crumpled up letter lay abandoned on the floor between them. Brick layer slowly approached the group and with a quick look at the letter saw the words no parent ever wanted to see.

“Dear parents of Private Sneaky N. Breeze. It is with a heavy heart that I Princess Luna, founder of the stealth guards, write to you to inform you that as of this day your courageous son has regretfully been declared missing in service to the royal crown……"

> Heartache and preparations.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5:  Heartache and Preparations.

It had been almost a week since Sneaky Breeze’s parents had gotten the letter detailing his disappearance, and now were attending his 'funeral' for lack of a better word.

A guard pony declared missing in action would not be given the regular service as one who had fallen in battle, their ceremony would be more bittersweet. It would honor their memory and service as an empty casket was lowered into the grave with the blessings of the two rulers of Equestria. Then the guard's surviving family would be given a small statue commemorating their proudest moment while ponies still went out in search of him until the standard amount of years for the pony life span had past.

As the empty coffin was lowered down, Brick layer did his best to keep his grieving wife from jumping onto it.

“No, don’t put that down there! You say he’s alive so why are you putting that there!? He’s alive, I feel it! My boy’s still alive!” she shouted as Brick layer held her close and let her sob into his shoulder, her cries hurting his heart worse than his ears.

Brick layer turned his gaze over to the memorial stone next to his son’s. It was that of his best friend, the one who had sworn to him that he would keep Breeze safe, Sgt. Rock Fist.

Brick layer looked at the statue above Rock’s grave site where it showed him proudly kicking a diamond dog in the jaw.

The two ponies had long ago both been in the business of construction. Brick layer had, obviously, been a brick layer while Rock Fist was a rock farmer. He broke down larger rocks into smaller portions to be carried away to be made into granite and marble. 

They both had heard the call to arms and enlisted to the guard. The similarities between their jobs had allowed them to be on friendly terms, while their duty to each other had made them as close as brothers.

As Pegasus ponies slowly dropped flower petals into the grave a guard pony with purple armor walked up to a small single pony stage and cleared his throat to make a speech. Everyone looked at Shining Armor as he began.

“Not many ponies can do what we do. Some say we enlist because we love the violence or because we think it will be easy money. While that may be true for some, the rest of us join because of duty, honor, and the love of our homeland. Sneaky Breeze was one of those ponies. He dutifully guarded us against all enemies, both outside and from within.”

Brick layer looked away and tried to block out the speech in his mind. He had told his son that no good would come of joining the guard, but the boy was so certain of his choice that he hadn't listened.

“ ...and so we commemorate this grave of flowers to the earth, with each flower petal symbolizing the thanks and blessings of every pony in Equestria. May he be found and greeted with open arms by those who love him, but if not then may his memory be honored for all time,.” Shining Armor said and removed his helmet to bow his head as an officer pony shouted orders to the unicorns.

“Present , horns!” With a swift and precise movement the unicorns lifted their horns to the sky. “

“About, flank!” With three precise hoof steps the guardsmen turned to face the grave with their horns raised upwards.

“Blast!”

The air was pierced by the sound of magical energy being blasted into the sky as they repeated the final step seven times and brought the ceremony to a close.

Several hours later Brick layer and his wife had left the royal guard cemetery and Brick was inside a shed behind his home while his wife held a scrapbook of photos to her chest in her son’s old room.

Light Feather had kept Breeze’s room just like it was when he left to get his weather pony degree in rain making and a secondary in storm management. She had left all his old toys and comic books as they were when he left and only moved them to dust them off and make sure his room looked nice in case he came to visit.

Light Feather slowly rolled over in her son’s bed before sitting up and opening the scrapbook of photos. Looking at the collection of memories, the very first photo she was met with was one of Sneaky as a new born foal trying to fly up to a cupboard as Brick held him by his tail. That memory brought bittersweet laughter to her heart and she continued to look at the photo, seeing her son again as he was before he had to dye his fur. She continued looking through the scrapbook to find good memories to ease her pain.

The next photo she flipped to was of Sneaky blowing out candles on his sixth birthday cake, his blue mane with streaks of red was short cropped just the way his father had kept his and his fur was a darker shade of her blue. Everyone always did say he looked so much like both of them.

Light Feather then settled on a bookmarked photo of Sneaky all dressed up in his graduation gown after he graduated from Cloudsdale University, his dark blue fur matching his gown.

His father was hugging him tightly and smiling with actual joy in his face, a joy she rarely saw in him. Now satisfied with her trip down memory lane she flew up to her own room and into her bed, sleeping with the book of memories tightly held to her chest.

“My precious little Nimbus cloud. I know your okay somewhere and I know I'll see you again.”

Outside, however, there was no healing as Brick stood in the shed behind the house looking at an old rocking crib he used to put Sneaky into when he wouldn’t take a nap. He pushed a hoof against the crib and watched it sway gently. The memory of his son sleeping in the crib with an old stuffed toy and a pacifier in his mouth brought a smile to his face. 

But then the moment of peace was quickly eclipsed by rage as he remembered how his son came to him and told him he was signing up for the royal stealth fliers. The argument that had broken out between them was heard by their neighbors and ended up being the subject of gossip. Despite Brick's usual cool head he felt his vision wash over with red.

Brick took the small crib in his arms, shaking with anger. He had told his son countless times of how he had almost lost his ability to walk with his back hooves after a diamond dog had slashed at his ankles with a diamond knife.

He had told his son so many times about how hard life was in the service, waking up incredibly early in the morning, constant marches, and the danger of being killed.

With a shout Brick threw the crib right at a nearby wall of tools and watched it smash before he shouted out at the top of his lungs, “Dammit all, boy! I told you not to go!”

He then fell to the floor and, for the first time in years, broke down into tear filled sobs.


*Back on earth. The Crow’s Nest*.

Cotton sighed as he washed his face in the restroom of his personal office. Sneaking a quick glance at his face, his auburn hair had been shaved down to military regulation and his brown eyes carried with them the look of someone who had aged beyond his years.

“And all this could be yours, ladies and gentlemen, if you pick eligible bachelor number two,” Cotton joked with himself as he walked out of the restroom into his office.

“Sure he’s only about thirty-two years old, but he still can bench-press with the best of them. And he graduated with a degree in law before fucking it all up by enlisting to save the world.”

Cotton sat down in his chair and crossed his legs as he activated a computer on his desk and looked at a report he had on subject 'Trixie'. 

So far Trixie had remained inside the alien containment unit and communication had been established through use of the new universal translation program. The technology worked through the process of handlers showing pictures and objects repeatedly and in various orders to the subject while a trio of supercomputers recorded everything that was said by the subject. They then slowly analyzed patterns the repetition of words until, eventually, a basic translation was worked out.

Cotton stopped reading the details of how the translation had worked and then began reading what they had discerned. Supposedly Trixie, as she calls herself, had been teleported to earth by accident along with three other of her kind. She called them an Earth pony, and two Pegasus ponies.

After some interrogation and testing they had determined Trixie had no affiliation with the aliens and no idea what the situation on Earth was. When asked about her psychic abilities Trixie proceeded to say that many ponies where she came from could do it but that she was one of the best. That statement had actually shown up false on the lie detector. 

Cotton then grabbed a communicator from his pocket and placed it on his ear before he activated it.

“Get me Central.” 

The small computer activated and called upon the earpiece of Michael Bradford, the central operations officer lovingly nicknamed 'Central'.

“Commander, you requested to speak with me?” Central responded into the headset. It sounded to Cotton as if the man were right in the room with him.

“Yes. I'd like a status update on how much longer it will take until this base can be combat ready. We’ve been out of the fight since it began and I don’t like my trigger finger being idle.”

“Commander, the crew has been working as hard as possible and the base should be ready tonight.,” Central said as he walked into the command center. “In fact, the Geoscape is coming online now.”

Central looked up as a large holographic image of the earth flickered to life, coating the room in a blue glow as it revealed the current status of various nations around the globe. At the moment Central could see that a series of green lines hung over a blue USA, signifying the country was both protected and had satellite coverage against the aliens. Brazil on the other hand was orange due to too many victories by the aliens and the cult of Sirius. This was due to there being too much ground and hiding places for the enemy.

“Sir, the hologlobe is ready, the Skyranger is fully equipped, and the interceptors have pilots and the new avalanche missiles. I’d say were fully loaded and ready for war, but I’d suggest talking to the other two base leaders before we go charging into the breach.” Central reported with a feeling of pride in his work.

“Understood, Central. Keep me up to date on any occurrences and if there’s any trace of Trixie’s pony friends.” Cotton hung up on Central and then called Dr. Shen down in the engineering module.

“Dr. Shen here, Commander. What can I do for you?” Shen said as he sipped his own homemade tea while watching his engineers building the new Arc Thrower stun gun which would give field operatives a better chance at taking the aliens alive.

“Shen, I'm told our base is almost ready for combat but, what about our equipment?” Cotton said as he stood up and walked to a fake holographic window behind him which showed a sunset, even though it was 1:05 in the afternoon. The image always helped him relax in theese stressful times.

“The weapons we have are the best that can be expected, communications as well. The only area of concern I have is with our armor.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Cotton asked as he began to feel worried. 

“Well... nothing really.This armor can withstand up to fifty caliber rounds. You could even jump on top of a fragmentation grenade and have a good chance at survival. But the Hercules armor was designed along the lines of stopping bullets and shrapnel, not high heated plasma particles.” Shen set down his tea and walked out of engineering and towards the main elevator that led to the third floor.

“Give it to me straight, Doctor. Are my boys walking into a slaughter?”

“All war is slaughter, Commander, this armor will grant them a measure of protection. But not alot.

“It will have to do for now but I want you and doctor Vahlen working together to try and find a way to better keep our troopers safe. If you have to, start asking other bases if they have any breakthroughs.”

“Understood, Commander. Oh, before I forget, I am on my way to the excavation site underneath the alien containment facility. The workers there have discovered a large amount of steam from a vent, and with your recommendation I would like to begin building a thermal energy facility to help power the base and surrounding area.”

Cotton exhaled at the mention of another base module. This whole operation was costing the world a lot of money and Turkey had actually pulled out of the council after seeing the bill on what it would take to make and maintain even a single X-COM facility. 

“I'd love to, Shen, but were pushing the limits of our blank checks as it is.”

Shen let out an aged chuckle at the Commander’s words. “Commander, that’s why I said 'to the surrounding area as well'. With both our regular power generator and the thermal plant combined we would have an excess of power and be able to sell some to Area Fifty-One and add it to the state power grid of Nevada.”

Cotton could not suppress his grin as he heard a cash register going off in his head.

“Shen, I like the way you think. Make it so, but lets be easy on the costs, okay?” Cotton then hung up and dialed up Dr. Vahlen.

“Hello? Hello, can you hear me? Is this vorking?” Vahlen said in her German accent as Cotton tried to be Mr. Smooth while he spoke to her.

“Ah, Doctor, it's so good to hear your voice.”

“Likevise, Commander,. I guess you are probably calling to see about Trixie?”

“Yeah, yeah, how is she? Have we learned anything new?” Cotton asked as he continued pacing around in his room in the dark with only the holographic window providing a measure of light.

“Ve have come to the conclusion zat Trixie comes from a world almost exactly like ours. I have not been able to come up with any theories und her genes are similar to regular horses on our world as well as one or two genetic markers the Sectoids have.”

“Are you saying the Sectoids might have created Trixie’s people?”

“No, no, Commander. We share far more similar genes to the Sectoids than the ponies do but I can't be sure with just one subject.”

“I understand, is there anything else you can tell me?”

“Vvell, she is an absolute pleasure to talk to but that could just be my affinity with horses. I mean vhat girl never wanted to have a pony to pet and be friends with?” She said as two scientists snickered at their consoles. She slapped both their heads with her clipboard while mouthing silently for them to get back to work.

“I see,... well Doctor, our base will soon be combat ready but I think our armor could do with some of your techno wizardry.”

“I see. I will begin vorking to see if there’s anything from the aliens that we can use to help our people. Its just a shame that such amazing technology must be used for so much destruction.”

“Don’t feel sorry for the aliens, Doctor. They struck first so we are going to finish it. I'll talk to you later."

Cotton hung up before he could hear her response and slipped the earpiece back into his breast pocket before he walked out of his room and into the main barracks corridor.

Cotton passed a pair of soldiers in short sleeved green shirts and tan cargo pants. One was Israeli and seemed to be trying very hard to understand what his  New Yorker friend with a very thick Boston accent was saying to him.

Cotton took a turn down a corridor and headed towards an elevator. A trooper inside held the doors open for him.

“Thank you, Boris,” Cotton said to the Russian heavy weapons man who simply grunted and nodded.

Cotton made a mental note to put the orders for the new universal translation headsets on priority since the language barrier seemed very visible among his soldiers. In an emergency he didn't want anyone not understanding an order.

As the doors opened onto the rec room of the barracks Boris let Cotton step out first as he was the commanding officer.

Cotton walked over to the main room where he noticed one of his interceptor pilots, Chelsea Mitchel’s, a top rate pilot playing an arcade version of Galaga. Of which she currently had the highest score of the entire base.

While Cotton would have liked to flirt with the destructive red head he knew work came first. Besides she was not really his type of girl. Especially since she seemed the type of girl when pissed off enough to drop a ten thousand ton bomb right on his head.

But Luckily for Cotton the beautifull Dr. Vahlen was more agreeable and mostly a pacifist.

Cotton then went over to the pool table where Boris had just picked up a pool cue to join a lone marine who was playing alone.

Ramos, a Puerto Rican marine who had grown up in New York and called himself a "New Yorican", had just missed a shot on the corner pocket.

“You are not so good as you think.,” Boris said with a grin and swallowed a piece of sandwich. Ramos ignored him and listened to his headphones.

“Not listening, brotha,” Ramos said and then straightened up as he saw Cotton. “Sir!”

Cotton saluted and smiled.

“At ease, Ramos. While I'm in here without my hat I'm your friend,” Cotton said with a smile and shook Ramos’s hand.

While it was generally frowned upon for a commanding officer to become too friendly with those under their command, Cotton would rather know the names and personalities of his soldiers. That way if they fell in battle he could properly express his sorrow and regret to their families.

"I was just watching. I'll let you get back to your game," he said and walked over to the small bar the base had. 

It had mostly non-alcoholic beers since everyone was supposed to be on call twenty-four seven and they couldn't risk a staff member being drunk. Though the imitation beers tasted close enough. As close as Diet soda tastes to regular soda.

"Tony, give me one of those microwave hotdogs." Cotton said and pointed to the plastic wrapped snack. 

As Cotton waited for his lunch to be ready from the microwave he swiveled around in his chair and looked to his troopers, smiling and laughing as they messed around and socialized.

"I hope they keep this spirit through the war," Cotton said silently to himself and tried not to think of who might die in the coming days.


> Welcome to the war.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Welcome to the war.

The song '“ Fortunate Son”' by the bad Creedence Clearwater Revival played over the speakers at the firing range as Boris put suppressing fire on several cardboard cut outs of Sectoids. Moments later Ramos rushed in behind them, snapping off two rapid fire shots. Ramos’s shots struck dead on with two of the cutouts being painted red by paintballs and a third being grazed.

As Ramos took cover from the sectoid’s “ reaction fire”, which really consisted of an invisible laser that would hit a small metal sensor somewhere on Ramos and beep loudly to indicate he was hit. A series of three paintballs slammed into the cardboard Sectoid. The rounds had come from Sato’s XM9 as he jumped out from behind a prop mailbox and the exercise came to a close with all targets eliminated.

“Okay everyone, good job. That’s enough for today,” Central said over the intercom as the three surviving members of the training exercise helped their five '“dead”' brothers get up and over to the armory to put away their training weapons.

Commander Cotton smiled as he looked upon the three new members of his Laser Squad from up in the observation room of the firing range.

“Those three along with Chavivi and I will make the perfect  Laser Squad,” Cotton said. Chavivi was their Israeli long rifleman, or sniper depending on what you were talking about.

“The Laser Squad, sir?” Central asked as he turned to Cotton.

“You didn’t get my memo?” Cotton asked with a raised eyebrow. He hoped that he had remembered to actually send it.

“Oh sorry, Commander. I was busy and didn’t get a chance to look at it. You’re not actually going into the field are you?”

“How else can I be expected to command the respect of both foreign and local soldiers against an enemy that wants to wipe us out?” Cotton said as he turned around and began walking over to the exit.

“Commander, I must protest. You're one of the commanding officers of this base, if you were captured it would pose a massive security risk to our entire operation,” Central retorted while following him.

“That’s why I made sure that every Lightning squad member knows that if I am captured by the enemy, they are at full liberty to kill me.”

“Commander, how could you make such an order?”

Cotton held up a hand to Central. “Central, I am in command of combat operations.  I know what I’m doing.”

Central clenched his teeth and decided to just let it go. Just as the two had entered into the elevator, along with several engineers, an alarm that resembled a seal shouting began to rise as yellow lights all along the base flashed.

“Central to Geoscape, what’s the situation?” Central said as he put a hand to his headset to listen to the officer on duty.

“Sir. We have a confirmed UFO contact  nine miles out of Roswell and at high altitude.”

“Understood. Scramble Ravens two and three. Intercept the UFO and bring it down, preferably not near the town.”

Cotton nodded to Central and waited as the elevator quickly rose to the command center. Upon reaching their intended destination Cotton and Central both ran out to the holographic globe of the earth. It disappeared into billions of pixels to reshape into a basic satellite image of the UFO slowly making its way to Roswell, leaving a trail of red dots behind it.



*In the Crow's Nest hanger.*

Chelsea Mitchell finished moving up a small ladder next to her interceptor, which had a green furred; grim reaper with rabbit ears painted on the side, and buckled herself into her seat.

Chelsea slid on her helmet, lowered the HUD visor, and began activating it.

“Raven three reporting. I am fully fueled and armed,” Chelsea spoke into a small mike in her oxygen mask before securing it to her helmet.

“This is control. You are in queue for launch, stand by.” The flight control officers then prepared the ports to get her up in the air.

The platform where the interceptor '“L'” fighter was then began moving towards an opening in the side of a cliff face. A moment later mechanical doors opened to reveal the open air. Metal clamps then released the interceptor’s tires as the engine began warming up.

“Chocks away!” flight command said and Chelsea clipped on her oxygen mask as she activated her engine. She slowly began picking up speed as she made her way across the smoothed out tunnel until she reached the end. There was a split-second of free fall before she sped  off into the night sky.

Several seconds later a second interceptor joined with her and the two fighter craft raced towards the location of the UFO.

Back inside the command center, Cotton and the entire staff watched their screens with mixed emotions as two green interceptors raced towards a red tinted UFO.

Chelsea flew above the clouds with her wingmen to her right. She made sure the plane was stable before turning her head to admire the insignia on her wingmen’s plane. On the side of the 'H' model interceptor was painted an elderly vulture with a top hat and monocle above the words, “We only eat the finest meat.”. 

The two different models of interceptor raced towards the UFO at near sonic speeds. The mark 'L' interceptor was a smaller and lighter variant, armed with three Vulcan mini-gun pods, one on each wing and one in the middle of the plane under its nose. The Vulcan fired high powered explosive rounds.

The mark 'H' was the heavier model and carried a large Avalanche missile pod on each wing, a square box that contained up to twelve missiles. This also required the 'H' interceptor to have two crewmembers, one gunner and one navigator.

Together the two planes covered both ranged and close quarters aerial combat. The UFO would have two distinct threats and strategies to deal with when it came into contact with the interceptors.

“Raven-two to Raven-three, we are nearing visual contact range with the X-ray ship, over.”

“Copy that. Let me go in and get their attention, over.” Chelsea reported back as she went to Mach five speeds. She soon caught sight of the UFO calmly floating as if they were no threat, or it didn’t notice the two human fighters speeding towards it.

“Matching speed and soon in gun range, opening up!” Raven-three slowed her speed and lined up the targeting circle to hit the glowing energy shielded glass portions of the disc shaped UFO. So far they had been the only weak points discovered.

Raven-three fired its cannons at the UFO, striking the energy shield, causing it to flare up. The UFO took evasive action and suddenly started moving the exact opposite direction to avoid the fire. The enemy ship then fired bright green plasma rounds at Raven-three out of the shielded areas, a circular hole opening in the shield when it did so.

Chelsea had her fighter pull a barrel roll to avoid three plasma blasts before she let loose with her cannons on the belly of the ship. The alien vessel shook as it took damage from underneath and more plasma fired towards her, boxing Raven-three in.

“Fox two!” The gunner for the second interceptor shouted as several missiles streaked in from above and detonated atop the UFO, sending it spinning to the ground.

“Thanks, Lyons. I thought I was done for, over,” Chelsea said to the other interceptor’s gunner.

“Don’t worry ma’am, the  Queen’s finest have got your back,” The British pilot said as they chased the UFO alongside their wingman. Chelsea kept up a constant stream of fire on the ship until its shields failed and another avalanche missile struck its bottom side.

The UFO attempted to pull up before it struck the desert ground but only ended up smashing and spinning out of control until it came to a halt amongst a rocky cliff.

“The first one bites the dust, over,” Chelsea said over her radio to her wingman.  Lyons gave a fist bump to his  
navigator who then reported back to the Crow’s Nest.

“Raven-two to Crow’s Nest, the bogey is down. I repeat, confirmed kill on bogey zero-zero-one.”



At the Crow’s Nest the control room was filled with the sound of joy and celebration. The staff began high fiving each other and cheering until Central shouted out new orders.

“This is no time for celebration! Get me recon satellite twenty-three to get an image of the craft.”

“Coming online now, sir,” said a crew member as the satellite zoomed in to produce a crystal clear image of the craft. It was fully intact and seemed to have surprisingly little damage.

“It’s still in one piece,” Central said, amazed at how the ship had survived so much.

“Sir, we’ve got readings coming from the ship. Some of the aliens are still moving.”

“Get Lightning-one to move out.” Cotton said to Central as he raced out of the room to get to the armory to suit up.


About ten minutes later the members of Laser Squad had all piled into the Sky Ranger and buckled in. The transport slowly began to rise vertically until it exited through an opening above it and sped off in the direction of the crash at high speed.

“Okay every one, helmets and HUD’s on,” Cotton said as the soldiers slipped on their combat helmets. They came with  big glass like visors that allowed them to see the status of their teammates, contact locations, and other information.

When Cotton put his helmet on and closed the locks to keep it sealed in case of gas he was met with the pleasant glow of the Heads Up Display. It put a greenish outline on his soldiers with their names above their heads.

“Okay everyone, we are going in quick and fast, no fuck ups. Keep clear of everyone’s fields of fire. Show no mercy to the aliens because they sure won’t. The UFO is fully intact; Chavivi will stay outside of the ship with Boris to keep our backs clear. Sato, Ramos, and I will breach the ship and eliminate the contacts. Sato, you’ve got the med-kit and are the acting medic. Okay anyone, questions?”.

No one said a word. They were all trained soldiers and knew the mission. The Sky Ranger arrived at the destination but hovered in place about a mile and a half away from the UFO to avoid fire as the back door to the transport opened. The soldiers threw some rope out to rappel down and slid silently down the rope like phantoms. The Sky Ranger then pulled away and flew off to a safer distance of about another mile as the soldiers spread out and converged on the UFO’s location.

It wasn’t hard for the soldiers to locate the crashed ship. It had left a nice fiery trail of burning trees and carbonized soil where it crashed. Cotton held up a closed fist, silently ordering for his squad to halt. He then tapped two fingers to his throat, signaling to go silent.

Chavivi was then told through hand signals to take a position near some non burning trees and remain on overwatch. Cotton and his three other troopers then moved towards the crashed UFO, separating into two groups. Sato and Ramos went together on the left while Cotton and Boris moved up on the right.

The UFO was dug in fairly deep to the ground and seemed to have restored power as shielded areas were visible. Cotton and Boris took cover behind a fallen tree that gave them a good view of what looked like a door way and the  right side viewing port where the plasma fire usually came from. Cotton made hand signals for Boris to set up his  auto-cannon machine gun on the tree and cover him. Boris responded by putting a closed fist to his chest, the order was understood.

While Cotton could use the radio in his helmet, he chose to use hand signals instead because he wasn’t sure how easily the alien ship’s computers could pick up their communications. When Boris had set up Cotton made a hand sign to Ramos and Sato to head to the front entrance. The Three soldiers moved up in a quick pace, swinging their weapons around as they searched for enemy contacts.

When they reached the door Cotton was on the right side of the entrance while Ramos was in front of Sato on the left, ready to blow the sectoids to bits with his shotgun. Cotton silently counted down with his fingers from three for his team to breach the ship. They were about to make the sign for two when a gunshot rang out, followed quickly by the scream of a dying Sectoid.

“Commander! Sectoids and Thin men coming from the left!” shouted Chavivi through their helmet comms as he worked the bolt of his rifle, expelling a spent round and loading a new one in, before he fired at a Thin man who side stepped his bullet.

Cotton slammed his fist into a button shaped hologram in the center of the door and it opened up, just as a Thin man jumped over a rock and began firing a plasma weapon at the troopers. Cotton and his men rushed into the UFO for safety as Boris poured suppressing fire across the area the enemy was coming from. Chavivi took out another Sectoid with an aimed shot, splattering a rock behind it with its green brains as his bullet struck it above its eyes.

Cotton, Ramos, and Sato moved as a group into the small UFO and were surprised when they saw it was only one room. There was a large green power source in the center, surrounded by large holographic controls. One of which had a dead Thin man that seemed to have died from head trauma.

“Quick, to the side!” Cotton shouted out and the three troopers moved over to the broken glass window of the ship. They then came up behind three surviving sectoids and one Thin man holding an injured arm as they waited for Boris’s weapon to run out of ammo.

Upon seeing the humans come out of their ship, the aliens strangely seemed not to care -- as if they didn’t see them as a threat, or were expecting something. Cotton and the other two troopers sprayed the aliens until they all had to reload. By the time they were done they had failed to notice a new being silently forming behind them.

This creat	ure was like no other, it was cold and calculating. It prioritized the threats inside of the ship just as it had been programed. It raised its weapon and aimed at the center of one of the human intruders, one who carried a small medical kit on his side.

“Com…ing….you!!” A garbled transmission came over the radio as Chavivi and Boris tried to warn the rest of their team about the creature that had formed behind them.

“Say again?” Cotton said before Sato screamed when a plasma bolt struck him in the center of his back and he fell to the floor. The sound of sizzling armor and flesh rose from Sato as he lay silent on the ground. Ramos was still loading shells into his shotgun as he turned around to face the attacker.

Cotton turned as well and aimed his rifle at the new alien. He fired a full automatic blast at it, but the creature was like a shadow, dodging his shots before blasting another bolt at him. The plasma bolt struck Cotton's gun and melted it, leaving him on the ground, writhing in pain. He clutched his hands to his chest, but it did no good. The plasma had burnt them so bad it felt as though they were on fire. The pain was so extreme that if Cotton wasn’t looking at his own hands he would have sworn they had been blown off.

Ramos racked a round into his shotgun and fired, finally pulling himself out of shock. He struck the creature on it’s shoulder. Instead of the wet mushy sound he had expected, when the pellets struck the new enemy they produced a metallic sound. Only then did he realize that they weren’t fighting an organic, but a machine.




*And now a special message from everyone’s favorite deity of chaos, Discord!* 

“Well hello there, dear reader,. I hope your enjoying this little heroic tale of courage against insurmountable odds and all that jazz.,” Discord says as he looks through your screen, past the words and directly at you. With eyes full of malice and a smile that would make even the Cheshire cat nervous, Discord begins talking to you.

“Now you’re probably wondering why the writer has chosen to break the fourth wall and have me speak to you. Well you’re wrong. Discord is his own Draconeques of disaster and no one makes me do anything!” he says with blue smoke coming from his nostrils before he slicks his hair back and crosses his arms behind his curved S shaped back.

“I’m really contacting you all to let you know I’m not helping Earth to be nice. The reason I'm doing it is because it’s fun. And I have plans for the empire once their leadership is dealt with. But I am not a cliché  villain so I won’t go spoiling my plans by telling you what I’m up to .”

Discord then grabs my hands through my laptop screen and pokes his face through until his forehead is touching mine. “No, stop!” I shouted as he looked directly into my eyes!

“And you, Mr. Writer, you better learn proper grammar and formatting or I will turn you into a piece of pie and leave you on an ant hill!” 

He makes sure to leave a chicken on my head before returning back to his own universe. “My spy will be watching you, Writer.” he says with a dastardly grin before snapping his fingers and changing the scene.



*Several thousand light years from Earth, at a space port built above a gas giant.*

Discord cleared his throat and coughed up some cobwebs as he attempted his best Morgan Freeman impression.
“ Now you see, my dear readers, in an earlier chapter I recruited a Sectoid captain to begin a rebellion inside the empire, and to my horror I learned that it is nearly impossible to do so. The ruling council of the Sirius Empire has many fail-safes and plans to prevent such a thing from happening.”

A lone low ranking Sectoid sneaked swiftly to the loading dock just as three large Transport  ships were docking to receive final supplies and troops heading to Earth and end the conflict there.

“So since I can’t have my rebellion, I will just have some explosions instead. Don’t ever think I’m just a jolly snake of a prankster. There are reasons I was sealed away besides just making it rain chocolate milk.”

The Sectoid saboteur hid behind some boxes as three large green alien guards patrolled around the corner from it. The Sectoid quickly ran behind another box and continued moving until it found what it was looking for.

The sectoid slipped a small plasma grenade out of a bag it carried and calmly walked over to a glowing green liquid Elyrium tank that was almost three times the alien's size. The power cells to the carrier ship’s main engines were all lined up in neat, precise rows next to each other. The sectoid primed the grenade for five seconds and held it gently against the cold glass of the power cell.

“You’d think that these big bad alien conquerors wouldn’t make such a dumb mistake as putting all their volatile fluids together with so little security. But they haven’t had a real war in millennia, and have grown far too careless.”

The grenade detonated, igniting the power cells and several other volatile elements in the loading bay. Causing a catastrophic chain reaction with a force so strong it blew out the carrier that was being loaded.

The crew of the carrier did their best to keep the ship under control, but it was to no avail as they smashed into a second carrier. Both ships were without their shields and ended up shredding each other apart before detonating in a marvelous blue and purple explosion that caused yet further chaos in the space port.

Hundreds of  aliens screamed and struggled to hold onto anything as they were sucked out into space. They would soon die cold and frozen, or just explode from the decompression.

“How beautiful, isn’t it?” Discord  says to you as two of the three carriers are destroyed, along with a significant portion of the space port. The closest port the Empire has to earth is now damaged extensively. If the attack force on earth requires more resources it will take anywhere from a month to a year to arrive. Leaving only one transport carrier left to head to earth and drop off supplies to the invasion force.

“Well now, that was fun. I loved the part where they got sucked out into space, and for those nay-sayers who say I’m out of character, well how would you like BEING JELLO!!?? ” he says as he turns anyone complaining about his character into a block of yellow Jell-O. Discord then smiles as he begins re-bricking the fourth wall and puts a finger to his lips.

“Shush, this is our little secret” He says and lets out his trademark laugh. 


(Author's note: I would like to take this time to thank my new editor. He has been a great help in making my story better. He is also a writer himself so if you please could, go and check out his stories. He puts alot of effort into them and they are pretty good.

Please click this link to go to his page: WWolf's Page.
> Recoveries and Discoveries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Recoveries and Discoveries


Ramos pumped another round into his shotgun and unloaded with all his might into the alien robot.

Time seemed to both slow down and speed up at the same time. During the barrage of shotgun pellets Ramos noticed the robot had a large glowing crystal where its stomach should have been. He could only guess it was a battery of some kind.

After firing all but his last round at the new attacker, which seemed to do nothing but slow it down, he fired his last shot right at the glowing crystal and shattered it to bits. 

The machine fell back with a bright flash and disintegrated into nothing, not even ash. Ramos quickly ran over to his injured commander who was groaning in pain just as Boris rushed in with a roar and searched for the robot, his autocannon held high and ready to fire.

“Enemy run like coward!” Boris shouted as he came into the room.

“Boris, check on Sato!”  ordered Ramos as he checked Cotton for other injuries.

“Are they all dead?” Cotton managed to grunt out.

“Yeah don’t worry, commander,” Ramos responded. He saw Chavivi slip in holding his sidearm up and began checking the rest of the ship as he then got on his radio, calling in the Skyranger.

“Medic is alive!” screamed out Boris as Sato gasped and groaned in pain, waking up from the massive injury on his back. The heat from the plasma blast had actually cauterized the wound and prevented him from losing blood but still looked like it had done horrific damage.

The Skyranger flew over the crash site at immense speed, kicking up sand and embers around as, with some difficulty, it landed. 

One of the pilots ran out carrying a stretcher in  one hand and a P90 hanging around his shoulder by a strap. Cotton forced himself to to his feet with Chavivi’s help and walked back to the Skyranger despite the pain. Sato was carried into the aircraft by Boris, Ramos and one of the co-pilots on a stretcher.

Once inside the plane the crew strapped Sato down with his injury upwards. They then set up an IV drip and gave him a shot of morphine from his own med-kit before using the device’s second feature. Thick foam that resembled shaving cream sprayed out from the nozzle, all over the injury and began to harden until it felt like a cast. It then gently warmed up to Sato’s body.

“Crow’s Nest, this is Big Bird. We have the troopers and are taking off now, request you get the medical bay online.” said the main pilot as he slipped down his helmet’s visor and began lifting the plane off the ground.

“We have two injured and one is in critical condition.” As the plane took off a few helicopters could be seen arriving from area 51 to begin cleanup and recovery of the downed UFO.

---


Central was arguing with most of his staff at the command center about how sloppy this mission was. Two men injured, one in critical condition, and they had been unable to find out why the satellite they had trained over the combat site did not transmit their warnings to the Laser-squad.

“Sir, we just lost contact when they got close to the bogey. And when that robot thing showed up it messed with our sensors even more,” the head of the satellite staff said as he attempted to keep Central’s rage to a minimum.

“I don’t want excuses. Find out what went wrong now!” Central shouted and rubbed his eyes, he had warned the commander about the risks of what he was doing, they were more of an outpost than an actual combat base and they couldn’t risk big engagements.

Suddenly Central’s earpiece activated with the voice of the head doctor in medical.

“M’butu to Central, the medical bay is ready for the patients and I already have a clean surgery room set up for Lieutenant Sato”

Dr. M’butu was South African born doctor who received his medical degrees in his home country, the US and the UK. 

“Understood, M’butu. They should be here in ten minutes, do your best to save them.”

“With all respect, Mr. Bradford, I am the best,” Mbutu said as he slipped on a medical mask over his face. An orderly removed his ear piece as he slipped sterile gloves onto his dark charcoal hands.

The skyranger finally touched down and two medical beds were rushed over. Cotton was forced into one while Sato was transferred over to his bed. The doctors rushed then both down the base hallways and past many concerned onlookers, one of which being Dr. Vahlen who was trying not to think on the what ifs. For just minutes after the skyranger’s take off she and Dr.Shen had gotten a workable prototype of their own design for a nano-fiber vest that they believed could take up to two direct energy blasts.

“If only I had come up with it sooner,” Vahlen whispered and forced herself to act, rather than think on what might have been. It was then she felt inspiration strike her as she remembered something she had seen from a science report on devices collected from other downed UFOs.

She unclipped the heels from her professional high  heels and began running to the science labs. She had a long night ahead of her.

Down in the alien containment wing, Trixie looked up from her paint by  numbers set which she was conquering with ease, to see some of the other scientists looking worried. 

“Is something wrong?” Trixie asked the scientists through a small microphone in her cell, these hoomans had provided her with many comforts, including the delicious delight they called an “Oreo cookie”.

One of the scientists looked at Trixie then back to his colleague.

“Perhaps I can help, I do know magic,” she said and made her horn glow. “The great and powerful Trixie is adept in many fields.” A small panel in front of her cell glowed yellow, signifying she was half lying.

“Just go back to painting, Miss Trixie. It's nothing for you to worry about,” the scientist said and waved his friend to walk with him to a small office in the room that could have its windows tinted darker. Once inside the scientists flipped a switch to have their conversation in private.

Trixie stomped her left hoof and turned her nose up. “Well, I have never been so insulted and ignored!” The lie detector screen turned red. 


----


Cotton and Sato were both put into surgery and the doctors were able to stabilize both men but due to the extreme damage of Cotton’s injuries, he would no longer be combat ready and would most likely be replaced since he had lost feeling and usage of most of his fingers. 

Or so they believed, but Dr. Vahlen was burning the midnight oil to contact area 51 and deal with the beaurocracy. Her goal was to get them to hand over one of the strange jars of fluid they had recovered from other UFOs delivered to the Crow’s Nest. If her theory was correct, the rejuvenation tube could be used to heal her friend’s injuries.

During all this commotion everyone was busy and the situation room was left unattended as Central re-tasked the three staff members there into working to find out what had happened with their satellite. There was no one to respond when a lead popped up on “equine like aliens.”

As Cotton lay resting in the medical wing Dr.Vahlen called up Central who was in his office, preparing to let X-com North American command know the situation on their base commander. 

“Central officer, is this you?” Vahlen said through her headset as she began punching out multiple chemical bonds into her data pad.

“Yes this is Central. How may I help you, doctor?” 

“Do not tell the high command what has happened to Cotton,” Vahlen said in a frustrated tone after having finally gotten the requisition order for two of the protein vats. 

“Doctor, I don’t make policy. Our base commander got injured and I have to report it.”

“No you do not, I can heal him,” Vahlen said as her pad began to give her the results she wanted to see.

“Explain, I’m listening, Doctor,” Central said, putting his hands in his lap to listen to the proposal.

“After the main attack by the aliens around the world we recovered many artifacts, including several sets of large tanks filled with fluids. My theory is that perhaps I and Doctor Shen can alter them to speed up cell division and heal the injuries sustained by our comrades.”

Central bit his lip in deep through, considering the proposal. “You have two weeks to get it working right, if there isn’t progress by then, I will be reporting the injuries.”

“Thank you Central, but if I am right this could help curve our personnel loss substantially,” Vahlen said as she called up information from the autopsies of Thin men.

The Thin men autopsies had revealed the infiltrator type aliens had many similarities to earth lizards, including their uncanny ability to heal from loss of limbs. 

The next week was a busy one as the good Doctor Vahlen began working alongside Dr. Shen to turn two of the alien protein and stasis vats into medical tubes. If their theories were correct then soldiers could recover from plasma burns in days when before they would take months or years just be discharged. 

What helped them the most was aid from an unexpected source, an old abandoned project by the US navy to make water that could be breathed into a human’s lungs and allowed men to breathe underwater . With these old plans, Dr. Vahlen’s genius, and an improved medkit design by Dr. Shen, the tubes were completed.

“Now we just need to test them,” said Doctor Shen as he wiped his aging forehead and looked at the completed product down in the engineering bay. The tubes looked like two large vats of fluid with an oxygen mask hanging out of the top . On the outside of the tube near the circular metal was a computer screen with a keyboard for alterations to be made to aid the patient’s recovery.

“I call them the vita tank,” said Vahlen with extremely tired eyes. Central then walked over and nodded. 

“If this works we may have just gained a massive tactical advantage in the war.” So far in combat all around the world many soldiers were severely injured, even with the many types of secondary armor being invented by X-com scientists to be worn under the standard issue Hercules armor.

“Now if we can just get this to the medical bay and heal Cotton and Sato, then I can claim my Nobel prize in my dreams,” said Vahlen.

“The great Trixie can aid her friends in that matter,” shouted Trixie in a loud voice that woke many tired workers as she trotted into the room.

“How did you get out!” shouted Central as his hand instinctively hovered over his sidearm hidden under his uniform.

“Why, I teleported out of course,” she said proudly as in a bright flash Trixie teleported away to suddenly be standing on top of one of the Vita-tanks.

“I think they look odd,” said Trixie as she looked down at the tanks and suddenly disappeared with them. 

All the personnel in the room shouted and began talking in shock as Mbutu called Central through his earpiece. 

“Officer Bradford, your horse alien just appeared in my med-bay with two large tanks of fluid. Should I be worried?” Mbutu said, sounding confused.

“She actually…never mind. No, don’t be worried but tell her to stay where she is,” central said and waved the two other base leaders to him as he walked to the elevator.

“It seems our little pony friend has some interesting abilities,” Central said as he entered a small elevator to head up to the 2nd floor.

“Yes, it seems so. If we could contact her people I’m sure they would be an invaluable help,” Shen said and contemplated in his mind.

“Or a threat,” Central said. “You saw what she did. If what she did is normal, I'd hate to see what qualifies as extraordinary among her people.”

“I think it’s magical,” said the very tired Dr.Vahlen who was just going along to see if her tanks worked before she went to bed.

When the elevator arrived at the right floor the base leaders walked together to the med-bay where Sato had already been placed into one of the tanks.  He floated in the center of it, curved slightly in the fetal position as the oxygen mask over his face also provided him with sleeping medication to rest.

The once terrible burn on his back was already looking better as Dr.Mbutu walked over. 

“I cannot believe it, the tanks are healing him. Just moments ago I was getting ready to change his bandages, but now if this continues I believe he may only have a scar. He is healing in minutes what takes hours.” 

Dr. Vahlen nodded and then shambled back to the elevator to head to her room.


---------
Med bay.

Cotton was being helped by Trixie up a small ladder to the opening in the top of the tank. Cotton found it an odd sensation as Trixie wrapped him in a shimmering outline of energy that lifted him over the ladder and to the opening where the oxygen mask was also levitated to him and tied around his face. 

The world seemed to go quiet and slow down as he was lowered into the tank and was met with a gentle hum of energy as he floated with his scared and burnt hands began to itch. Soon cotton was asleep and the small screen for his tank stated “Recovery rate, 3 days.” For what would have been a permanent injury possibly requiring amputation.

Dr. Shen leaned over to Central. “I think you should go tell the high command we have an invention worthy of sharing with the other bases.” 

Central nodded. “Soon, but for now I need to talk to Trix-“ his sentence went unfinished as the UFO alarm rang.  

Vahlen let loose a string of German curses as she was awoken from her sleep and proceeded to open a box near her bed and take out a few sleeping pills, at her level of exhaustion the sun could be exploding and she would not care.

“This is Central. What’s going on?” Central said into his microphone and rushed out of the med-bay. Since Cotton wasn’t available he was acting commander of the base.

“Sir, we have a UFO contact in Texas. A ship just flew by so fast we couldn’t even scramble the interceptors before it fired on the city of Austin. Reports say..oh..Sir a message from the council.”

“Let me hear it,” Central said as a familiar deep voice spoke to him.

“Hello Officer Bradford. We have a situation in Texas that demands immediate action. An X-com representative to the UN has come under attack just as he was getting ready to cross into Mexico for a meeting tomorrow with the Mexican president. We need you to send a rapid recovery squad to rescue him immediately.”

“Understood sir. I will have them there within the hour,” Central said as he made it to the control room and activated his own computer console, calling up the second combat team. 

“And Bradford, do not make the same mistake as Cotton,” the voice said before hanging up.

Central found himself wondering how much they knew, but shook it off since there were more important things to worry about at the moment. Ramos was in charge and he and the second team were already piling into the skyranger. The second team had been prepared after first had lost two of its members. 

This time due to them being deployed to a residential area Chavivi was staying back at the base. The second team was called “Talon squad” and consisted for the moment of Ramos and Boris along with two support riflemen.

One was named Lewis and he was their medic, he hailed from California and had been a pacifist before the aliens attacked. The other rifleman was a veteran of the Afghanistan conflict, a man named Jack. He was a hell of a rifleman, having killed twenty Sectoids during the invasion and had earned the nick name Reaper with his precise shots.

“Alright gentlemen, we have a VIP rescue mission. More than likely we will be under fire the entire time so stay low, keep your trigger fingers itchy, and check your corners,” Central said over the soldier’s comms as the skyranger neared the combat zone.

“What about civilians, sir?” Ramos asked.

“They have all either been evacuated out of the area, are in hiding or dead. But still watch your fire out there,” Central said as he watched the satellite image of the VTOL approaching the AO before it zoomed in more for him to help make tactical suggestions.


-Texas combat zone.

Smoke rose over the area in front of the Alamo as green plasma blasts lit up the cars in front of the ambassador’s limousine as the last surviving member of the ambassador’s security team did his best to fight back the aliens, the bodies of his comrades littered the area around their vehicle as they fell holding off the alien’s attacks when they tried to go in around their flanks.

The convoy had been ambushed in the middle of a traffic jam when the alien gas shells slammed down around them. One hit directly in front of the ambassador’s limousine, killing all inside the decoy limousine. Luckily though the car seemed to contain the gas charge as it went off and ensnared the corpses of the bodyguards inside the limousine. 

“This is hopeless!” shouted the ambassador to his last body guard. “Let’s just surrender already!” 

The body guard had been using a UZI and an MP5K but now he didn’t have any more magazines for the UZI dropped it to the ground before slapping in the last MP5K magazine he had into the weapon. 

“Sir. I believe you may be right.” As much as the guard hated to admit it, he knew when it was time to call it quits. But without the ambassador knowing, the guard had been instructed to terminate the VIP if there was a chance he could fall into enemy hands and reveal vital information.

Just then as the Guard was preparing to turn his weapon on the Ambassador, the aliens began screeching and speaking in their language which resembled animal like grunts and rhythmic clicks. Their attention turned elsewhere, the fire being put against the two surviving humans halted.

“Sir, we have to move now!” the body guard said as he grabbed the ambassador by his collar and pulled him away from the charred and melted wrecks of their convoy and other civilian vehicles. 


-----


On the other side of the Alamo three lost ponies had come under fire and were running as fast as they could, using cars for cover and running serpentine.

“Serpentine, serpentine!” repeated Sneaky Breeze to himself while he flew around wildly to avoid being shot.

“Dammit Hooves!” shouted Rock Fist as he bucked one right jab into the face of a Sectoid and watched it collapse dead to the ground from a broken neck.

“This is the second time you led us to these creatures!” Rock huffed as he jumped behind a car for cover.

Sneaky breeze dodged and moved swiftly around in the air, making the aliens waste precious shots on him as he almost danced in the air and tricked a Thin man into spitting acid at one of his comrades.

“I’m so sorry, I was just so sure this was the right way, and all my instincts told me this was the right way,” Derpy said as she casually threw a muffin at a Sectoid and rushed to safety as the alien tried to rub the food out of its eyes.

“Doesn’t matter, let’s just keep moving!” shouted Sneaky as they followed Derpy’s instincts, which led them in the same direction that the X-com team was heading.

“Good, good, everything is going according to plan,” said Discord as he watched from his spot in the Canterlot gardens.

-----


The body guard panted and huffed as he held his submachine gun close to his body, swinging it around and searching for targets as a ship suddenly flew overhead. X-com had finally arrived.

“Go, go, and go!” shouted Ramos as the backdoor of the Skyranger opened and Talon squad threw out rappelling ropes since there wasn’t enough room for the Skyranger to land and pick up the Ambassador.

Talon squad then rappelled out of the Skyranger, with Boris touching down first and bringing up his machine gun with a sneer that made him resembled an enraged bear.

Jack and Lewis touching down next, with Lewis rushing over to check the ambassador who was hiding behind an abandoned SUV while Ramos touched down last.

“Ramos to Central, we have the VIP and are meeting up with Big Bird three blocks down from current position. We are moving now!” shouted Ramos when he saw Lewis hold up a thumbs up after checking the ambassador.

“Negative, Ramos. Send one man to the skyranger with the ambassador and his body guard then set up a defensive position; three more VIPs require your attention.”

“Three more, sir?”

“Yes, better get some sugar cubes ready.” Central said, using the code term meaning that the other equine aliens were the VIPs. 

“Understood, sir.” Ramos then signaled for Jack to go with the Ambassador.

“Okay. Boris, Lewis set up among the cars. Boris, you hide behind the SUV and watch out for the VIPs”

“Dah!” Boris shouted in acknowledgement as he set up his weapon on the hood of the SUV and aimed downrange, already seeing plasma fire being blasted at the three ponies as they tried to escape to safety.

Ramos got on his headset. “Central, can the headsets translate to Equinus yet?” Ramos asked. Otherwise the ponies might think they were with the invaders.

“Yes, we have a nearly completed dialogue program ready for usage. Your helmets will translate what you say.”

As the ponies came closer Boris put suppressive fire on the aliens while Lewis and lobbed a smoke grenade behind the ponies, the thick blue smoke providing cover.

“Hey, ponies!” Ramos shouted and walked out where the three ponies could see him, with his weapon held up.

“I’m a friend of Trixie’s. We can get you to safety.”

Rock Fist frowned and was obviously distrustful while Derpy suddenly appeared next to Ramos.

“Oh my Celestia, you know Trixie!?”

“Uh, yeah. She’s our guest.”

“You see, Mr. Rock? I told you my instincts were right,” Derpy said while Ramos looked on confused as the smoke began to clear.

“Lieutenant! Move the VIPs to safety. The enemy is closing in,” Central shouted as another alien squad was moving up. The rest of the attack force had disappeared somehow. 

“Okay look, even if you don’t trust me it’s still better than dealing with the other guys,” Ramos said as he removed the tint from his helmet’s visor and looked into the Sergeant pony’s eyes, hoping he would feel a connection.

Reluctantly, Rock fist nodded. “Fine, let’s move out.”

Ramos nodded and retinted his helmet before signaling to the ponies. “Just keep going straight down, you can get inside our ship, well take you to Trixie.”

The ponies moved as a group towards the skyranger as Ramos, Boris, and Lewis opened fire on the aliens. Soon enough the last of the Thin men and Sectoid squad had been killed as the X-com troopers pulled back to the skyranger.

“Central, we are in the transport and taking off.”

The skyranger closed its door and lifted up off the ground, shaking light poles and signs from the force of it’s engines as it made it began its flight back to the Crow’s Nest.

The ambassador was lying unconscious in a corner, having passed out as all the adrenaline drained from his body.

“We have all four VIPs and are making our way back home. Better let Trixie know we got her friends,” Ramos said as he secured his weapon into a small strap next to his seat.

“Understood, Lieutenant. Clean-up crews are on the way to the scene,” Central said as he messaged the alien containment wing to send Trixie to the hanger bay.

As Ramos sat down in his chair, one of the ponies tapped his leg. It was the older looking Gray pony with scars on his flank.

“Are you the commanding officer?”

“For the moment. I’m Lieutenant Ramos.”

Rock fist saluted in respect. “Sir, I am Sergeant Rock Fist of the Equestrian Royal Guard, and I respectfully request to know the situation on this world.”

Ramos exhaled, unsure of that to say. “Wow, where do I begin?” 

-----



-Equestria, Canterlot, Vortex research site.

The royal canterlot science and magic committee was having their top unicorn teleportation specialists scanning the area where the dark portal had opened up and swallowed several ponies. The area around the site had been quarantined since the incident and all the best and brightest were there to figure out what happened and why. Twilight sparkle, as Celestia’s student, was given authorization to look over the results of the testing.

“No, this isn’t possible. Magic doesn’t work this way,” the purple unicorn said as she looked at several reports by the researchers. They all had different results, despite some of them doing the same tests and with the same equipment. 

“What could have caused this?” Twilight said to herself as she paced around the small tent she was in, tables filled with devices and beakers were moved in a circle to accommodate this habit of hers.

She paused in front of a set of dossiers with pictures on the front that had details about the four ponies that had gone missing.

Twilight couldn’t shake the thought of what it must have been like for those four ponies to get sucked into the vortex. While she didn’t like Trixie she still had a friendly relation with Ditzy doo , or Derpy as most in Ponyville grew accustomed to calling her. 

Twilight had a good professional scientific curiosity about her special some-pony Doctor Whooves  and feared the thought of Dinky returning to discover her mother gone forever. 

Twilight shivered and pushed the thought away as well as the dossier. She then looked at the files on the two royal guards who had been taken as well. She greatly respected to guard and knew it wasn’t easy when they lost their own. 

Twilight decided to start from scratch again and see if there was any connection between the four ponies. Besides the obvious that Trixie and Derpy both knew each other, but neither of them had known Rock Fist or Sneaky Breeze.

Twilight opened the file titled “Sgt. 1'st class Rock fist Rock breaker” and began reading what she could.

Rockfist had come from a rock farming family near Trottingham where the rock farm business was most abundant. He had enlisted to the royal guard infantry during the first Diamond dog insurrection when the diamond dogs had banded under one leader to steal the royal jewels of surface dwellers and take what other loot they could, including slaves.

He served in the same unit as Sneaky Breeze’s father, Bricklayer, lieutenant 1'st class. 

The sound of someone clearing their throat drew her attention. One of the other researchers had arrived so speak with her.

“Ma’am. If I may, I wish to speak with you,” said a unicorn researcher with a long lab coat that nearly touched the floor.

“Of course, sir. Is there a problem?” she said to the pony as he came in.

“Ma’am, I come to you in good faith as I have worked out what this is.”

Twilight tilted her head at this mysterious pony whose Cutie Mark was of a question mark over a brain. 

“I have seen a spell like this before. It is a dimensional spell that was attempted once to test the original version of the time travel spell,” the mystery pony said.

“How do you know all of this, sir?” Twilight asked as she stepped closer.

“That is the question isn’t it?” he said with a smile.

“I am Deep Thought,” the pony scientist said. “And I believe I can recreate the vortex.”

> Trial Membership
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8: Trial membership

-Equestria, Canterlot 

“I don’t understand,” Twilight said to Deep Thought  who smiled arrogantly while coming to the conclusion 42 on a famous unsolved equation. 

“Of course you don’t. Not everyone can be a genius like me, my dear, I will explain it slowly,” Deep thought said as he turned to face Twilight, his bright green eyes almost hypnotizing her with how they contrasted his pale white fur. He seemed to have aged prematurely despite him having the body of someone in their 30’s. 

“No, I was confused by how you called it a dimensional spell and a time travel spell. Which is it?” 

Deep Thought cleared his throat. 

“It was both. It was made originally as a way to travel back in time where Princess Celestia hoped to try and prevent her sister from being corrupted. But time travel is tricky and we ended up opening a vortex. We lost some good friends on that other world but we made it back eventually, more loyal than when we left,” he said as he rubbed his chin, staring into a mirror. 

“Oh Star Swirl, how I do miss thee and your endless words of wisdom.” 

“You talk as if you knew him but only the Princesses are that old,” Twilight interjected suddenly. 

Deep thought smiled as he knowingly looked at Twilight. “I’m not old my dear, the vortex changed me, I’m constantly growing older and younger at the same time. Sometimes I’m a young foal, other times I’m as I appear now or like a stallion on his death bed,” he said and smiled at the look on the young unicorn’s face. 

“Come now young one, we have lots to do and our pony friends may be in great danger if the world they went to was the same as it was when I visited.” 

Deep Thought began trotting off to get supplies as he thought , I do hope they overthrew that Caesar fellow. 

“Wait! I don’t understand, you’re being too vague!” Twilight shouted as she followed him, feeling as confused as when she tried to understand Pinkie pie. 



-Earth, The Crow’s Nest. 

The base had been somewhat energetic after the rescue of the VIP and the other ponies. The council had been pleased with the recovery of their ambassador and handed the Crow’s Nest a generous check that allowed Dr. Shen to finish his geothermal room below the alien containment wing and to begin working on another lab below Dr. Vahlens science wing. 

The large check also allowed Dr. Vahlen to begin working on the alien weapon fragments that they had collected. 

Commander Cotton and Sato were due to awaken in a few more days; everything at the base seemed to be going for the better. So much so a few of the soldiers were celebrating down in the lounge. 

“Bullshit!” shouted Ramos as Chavivi sniped him on “Lunar Combat 3” after he hopped out from behind a lunar lander, some of the other soldiers and staff watching the two playing their video game cheered on as if watching a gladiator fight. 

“You should know better than stepping out of your element where your boom stick  can’t help you,” Chavivi said, making fun of the assault gunner. 

“Oh yeah, you just say that because you’re afraid of fighting me up close,” Ramos said slapping his knee. 

“Please Ramos, if you were from where I was from, you’d be dead!” Chavivi said before Jack stepped in. 

“Okay you two, break up the bitch fest and let others have a turn.” With that the two moved and allowed others to play the game, though silently vowing to teabag  the other to death. 

The ponies had been welcomed with open arms and shown every courtesy possible as they were set up with Trixie in the alien containment wing, not without some protest from Sergeant Rock though. 



The next day after their arrival the ponies were split up, as Rock Fist was the ranking “officer” of his group he was brought into a meeting with Central while Derpy and Sneaky were sent with Vahlen for testing. 

“I have your word they won’t be harmed?” Rock asked, his black mane hung near his grey furred neck as he and Sneaky had been asked to hand over their armor, leaving Rock constantly uneasy since he felt defenseless. 

“You don’t have to worry, Sergeant, you’re not prisoners,” Central said as he walked around the small meeting room he was in, a little surprised at how Rock was small enough to fit his body inside one of the office chairs and yet strong enough to dent a metal wall. 

“Well then if we aren’t prisoners why won’t you let us go?” 

“I never said you couldn’t leave.” Central said, his back to the pony before he turned and looked into his eyes. 

“You never said it but I know we can’t leave,” Rock retorted as he returned the stare, meeting Central’s gaze and not blinking, a silent battle of wills occurring. 

“Where would you go if you could leave?” Central said, stepping closer to Rock. 

“We would search for any magic in this empty world of yours and with the energy we would go home,” Rock said, knowing since this world felt so lifeless to him, and after a slight talk with Trixie, he determined this world was barren of all magic, only the ponies gave off energy. 

“I see, well you and I both know that isn’t likely. Your conversation with Miss Trixie was recorded.” 

Rock Fist kept a stone cold face, not showing any emotion, just as he and every other guard pony had been trained to do. 

Central then sat down next to the pony. “Look, I don’t have such a big stick up my ass to have you and your friends harmed or dissected simply because you’re not human. I’m interested in your magic.” 

Rock fist kept a straight face but his eyes betrayed his curiosity. “I don’t think you can use magic.” 

“Maybe some can, we have legends of those who could, and if it helps us win this war we will do whatever is necessary to have it.” 

Rock fist cleared his throat. “Where we come from it isn’t taught, you are born with it, but from what I’ve seen of your world you don’t need it.” 

Central wanted to slam his fist down onto the table but that would give away how desperate he was, and how little he truly believed in the X-Com project. 

“Well, then you don’t need our technology to get home,” Central said and Rock broke his emotionless stare. 

“You can do that?” he asked after several moments. 

“With this war we are using all our best and brightest to invent new and better technology, Trixie already told you about our Vita-tanks, think about it. If you helped us learn about your magic then we could build a machine to get you home.” 

Rock Fist lowered his gaze ran it over in his mind countless times. 

“I…I need some time to think about it.” Rock said as he realized this may really be their only chance home. 

“Of course you can have time, there’s no rush, and your friends will be down in the containment unit in an hour after testing.” 

Central stood up and opened a door before telling the guard outside to escort Rock Fist back to his quarters. 

Derpy Hooves and Sneaky Breeze were being examined in the science labs while Rock Fist was being returned to Trixie in the alien containment wing. They both sat down on different tables as Doctor Vahlen and her scientists examined them. 

“Hmm, partial pigmentation change, in his fur,” one scientist said as he held Sneaky’s arm up and examined how his fur appeared to be turning from white to blue and another examined his wings. 

“Actually, mister, that’s just because my dye is washing out.” The scientists then talked about the implications of this. 

One scientist was busy trying to figure out how Derpy could see with her wall eyes. 

“It’s a banana.” She said with all seriousness as the man examining her pointed to a C  on an eye chart. The scientist had no idea what to make of any of the results he had been given and was left with more questions and no answers. 

“Excuse me, missus human. Why are you examining us? I thought you had ponies on this world.” Sneaky Breeze asked Vahlen as he rubbed the small translator device in his ear he had been given upon arrival. 

“Please, my name is Dr. Vahlen, and while we do have ponies they are in no way like your kind.” 

Breeze hovered in the air slightly and flexed his upper hooves in the same way a human would flex his arms. 

“Well I am pretty amazing but it’s mostly the royal guard training that makes me strong.” He then floated gently to the ground and looked up at Doctor Vahlen, his head at the same level as her ribs. 



Derpy and Sneaky were returned to the alien containment wing soon after and planted themselves on some couch cushions as they talked with their friends. 

“I like this place; I really want to see what other flying machines they use. I can’t wait to tell Mom and Dad about this place.” Sneaky said as in the hanger he had only caught sight of the wing of one of the interceptors and was left with curiosity. 

“I would like to stay but I have to get home, my filly will be missing me,” Derpy said as she lowered her gaze, thinking about her daughter, though not knowing she was still having the time of her life fighting the space pear  pirates with the Doctor in another universe. 

“Trixie will stay here, I have a much better opportunity to strike it rich here than back in Equestria,” Trixie said as she ran over her plan to escape and start a show in this fabulous place she overheard the researchers saying they would visit, Las Vegas.  

Rock Fist remained silent as the others talked about their time in the base. But then he cleared his throat. The other three ponies went silent. 

“One of the officers in charge of this base told me that there was a chance we could find a way home. But they’re in the middle of a war to protect their planet.” 

The other ponies remained quiet as they looked to Rock as his stoic face softened. 

“If we want to get home, our only hope will be to help the humans beat back their enemies.” 

Trixie gasped out loud. “But Trixie is no war pony! 

“And I can’t risk dying and not seeing my daughter,” Derpy said as she jumped up slightly. 

Sneaky remained calm but nodded at his Sergeant. 

“Sarge, you are my commanding officer, and if you say fight alongside the humans then I will do so gladly.” 

Rock nodded and smiled gratefully at the stallion he wished was his son. “Thank you, boy. I can always count on you.” 

He then turned to the two mares. “Look, I know this isn’t a good option but we don’t have much choice. While we were out there we saw the destruction these 'X-rays' as they call them, can do. If the humans lose then we will be next, and one day they might find Equestria. We have to help the humans.” 

Derpy rubbed her head. “Well…I could heal them; I learned a few things from my Doctor on his adventures.” 

Trixie cleared her throat. “Since they can’t use magic I could try and see what I can teach them or perhaps try and find one among them who can use magic.” 

“Then it’s decided. We will help the humans in whatever way we can.” 



-Two days later, medical bay. 

“I’m not letting tiny ponies join my combat teams,” Cotton said to Central as Dr. Mbutu examined his now healed hands. 

“Commander, I know how this sounds but we only have enough men for one combat team and two replacements without the ponies. Our reserves were called away to help in other areas.” 

Cotton sighed. “I don’t care. They're ponies and I won’t endanger a mission because one of them wants to stop and eat grass.” 

Rock Fist cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but cows eat grass.” 

Cotton turned his gaze to see Rock Fist in his armor approaching him. 

“I assume you’re the pony Sergeant?” Cotton asked. 

“Sir!” Rock saluted. “Sergeant Rock Fist reporting for duty.” 

He lowered his salute when cotton nodded to him. 

“Look Rocky, you’re a soldier and want to help out, I get it, but I just can’t let you come along. 

Rock Fist puffed his chest up slightly. “Sir, I respectfully request that at least my private and I be given a chance to prove ourselves in your eyes, Sir.” 

Central leaned over and whispered, “Just a small mission, nothing major commander.” 

Cotton sighed as rubbed his hands once Mbutu had completed his examination. 

“Fine, but if I am not impressed then you and the other ponies are staying on base.” 

Rock saluted. “Thank you, Sir, me and my private will be awaiting your call in the lounge.” 

He then trotted off to let Sneaky know he would have to wear his armor again. 

“You gave them full access to the base?” Cotton asked Central. 

“Well they are a friendly alien species Sir, it's best to make a good impression in the hope of friendship.” 

Cotton chuckled. “I think Dr. Shen’s mannerisms are rubbing off on you.” 

“You should try his tea, its spectacular.”  



-Down in the lounge 

Rock Fist had just walked into the lounge to see Sneaky hiding behind a couch while peaking out every now and then as if afraid. 

Oh great, he must have offended a human somehow, Rock Fist thought as he looked around the room. 

On inspection he only saw the bartender/cook cleaning some plates, one of the engineers eating food, two soldiers, Boris and Ramos, playing pool and a red haired human playing some type of game on a large box. 

“Oh, uh, hey Sarge,” Sneaky said as he suddenly sat down on his rear with his bottom hooves hanging out, imitating the way humans sat. 

“What are you doing, boy?” Rock asked as he trotted over and sat on the couch in a pony manner. 

“Oh, me? I’m just watching human television; it’s like a future version of our radio shows,” he said as he pointed his right hoof to the screen which showed a human doctor with a cane insulting his assistants. 

“Don’t lie to me, I hate liars. Now tell me why you were hiding behind the couch.” 

Sneaky blushed and pulled off his translator to keep it from being translated to anyone in ear shot and Rock did the same. 

“Did you see that human over there on that flashing box?” Sneaky asked in a hushed tone. 

Rock Fist turned his head to see the human still there. 

“Did you offend him or something? Are you in trouble?” 

“No, nothing like that Sarge, and that’s a female.” 

“So? Dr. Vahlen is a female.” 

“Well, yeah but her hair is so red and she’s so pretty and-“ 

“Dear Celestia, boy. Please tell me you’re not attracted to her,” Rock said in a hushed tone, unsure of how to feel on the subject. 

“Well I don’t know. She’s just so pretty and she can fly one of their airships.” 

“Boy, trust me, I’ve had feelings for non-ponies before and while there is nothing wrong with that, this is just not the time or place.” 

“So is that why you broke up with that Griffin girl?” Sneaky asked as Rock suddenly pressed his face into his, their foreheads pressed together as if they were goats having a duel. 

“Don’t ever mention her again, boy,” He said with his teeth clutched together, attempting to hold back his anger at Sneaky using a touchy subject. Sneaky gulped as sweat began to form on his head, stuttering apologies until they both looked away at the flashing lights around the room that suddenly began flashing. 

“Interceptor pilots to your stations. We have a scout class UFO inbound!” Central said as he saw the image over the Holo-Globe, the UFO was making a straight line for Las Vegas. 

“This is Lyons . My co-pilot and I are already in the hanger, we can handle the contact.” 

The base went on alert as Raven-2 took off on its own. Raven-2 raced out into the sky, the sun glinting slightly on its cockpit glass as the two man fighter caught up to the UFO. The battle didn’t last long as the interceptor fired several avalanche missiles at it and brought it down about four miles from a highway to Las Vegas. 



Command center

“Damn,” Central said as he slammed his fist down upon a console after seeing how close the crash was to the civilian population. Acting quickly he got onto his headset. “ Commander, you should deploy with the laser squad immediately, we may have civilians going close to check out the crash site and I’m getting readings of about five to six X-rays.” 

“Understood, Central. I’m on the way,” Cotton said after slipping on his nano-fiber vest before putting on his Hercules armor and helmet. 

“Sir, this is Rock Fist, me and Private Sneaky are already in the airship and ready to deploy.” 

“Oh goddamit, fine,” Cotton said as he moved up and ran alongside the other men of his squad, Boris, Chavivi, Sato and Ramos. 

They arrived at the skyranger and the door closed, the troopers sat down into their seats as the skyranger began to lift up through the door above them, going to high-speed so as to arrive at the combat zone before any civilians did. 

“Okay gentlemen we will be deployed near Las Vegas, keep an eye out for possible civilian interlopers,” Cotton said as he checked his rifle to make sure it was ready for combat. 

“ We have a satellite image of about five to six possible enemy contacts so we have them outnumbered,” Cotton said as he adjusted his gloves and still remembered the pain of having his hands burned.

Sneaky couldn’t help but have a large grin at his luck, actually inside of an airship with beings from another world, this was better than his comics back home. 

“Quit smiling, boy, this is combat and you need to act professional,” Rock said as he struggled to stay in his chair even with the seatbelt on. The constant struggle coupled with his newfound airsickness putting the sergeant in a bad mood. 

“ But I was making jokes when I beat up the X-rays before we met the humans.”

“Just  bucking shut up and be serious.” 

As they were only a half a mile away the skyranger pilot noticed what looked like gunfire near the UFO. 

“Sir, I think either police forces have engaged the aliens or we got an armed civilian under fire.” 



UFO crash site

“Semper sapiens!” a militia man shouted as he fired a revolver at a Sectoid, blowing out the greenish brains all over the hull of it’s UFO as he quickly took cover behind his car. 

Semper Sapiens was a new organization slowly growing in members that preached the governments of Earth had been infiltrated by lizard like aliens and the only way to defeat the invaders was to do it themselves, but that message was also mixed up in anarchistic policies wanting to bring down world governments as well. 

The car with the overzealous militia member had been leaving a private rally and driving home when he saw the UFO go down. The driver had failed to see the interceptor and assumed the alien ship went down due to mechanical failure. 

The  Sapiens man had attempted to call up on his fellow members when he came under attack from plasma fire which seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. 

“Long live the human race!” shouted the militia man as he jumped out from behind his car, shotgun held high after he pulled it out from the back seat. He swung and aimed his weapon around; searching for the slender man who had fired at him when from behind him he thought he heard the mechanical roar of another car or an aircraft. 

But when he turned the only thing he saw was a pair of claws swinging at his face. 



-Skyranger. 

“Sneaky! You can fly, jump out and see if you can get a closer look at the crash site,” Cotton said as he then ordered the skyranger to slow down and open the hatch. 

“I won’t fail you, Sir,” Sneaky shouted as he hopped out of his seat and flew out the back of the plane, heading towards the crash site. 

“Sneaky, what do you see?” Cotton asked as the skyranger landed behind a hill for cover and the men deployed. 

“Uh... I see a really skinny human going inside the ship, and a downed human near one of your metal carriages, his face is losing a lot of blood so I’m guessing he’s dead. I hear a noise too,” He said and looked around as the noise grew louder until his ear bud clicked with Central contacting him. 

“Sneaky, this is central. We are picking up readings of what looks like a ship heading towards you, do you see it?” 

Sneaky looked around and saw what it was. It appeared similar to a human in the sense that it had a head, a flat face, pinkish flesh and two arms, but the rest was most definitely not human. The creature was the upper torso of something covered in green and black metal, on its back were two rotor like engines that threw out fire and left a trail of smoke as the thing flew towards Sneaky at high speed, roaring in rage. 

“It’s not a ship, it’s a monster!” Sneaky shouted and dived to the ground, attempting to lose the floating enemy but failed as it caught up. 

“Commander, Sneaky is under fire and in need of support!” 

“No I’m not, I can handle it!” He said and kicked the monster with his lower hooves, knocking it back and escaping into a cloud that became much denser upon contact with the magical energies of his body. The alien turned to and fro as it was joined by another of its brethren. The two communicated through hand movements, grunts and a few seemingly random alien words. 

One of the aliens then began flying to the landing site of the Skyranger. 

“Commander, one of the fliers is heading towards you at high speed. I have this one.” 

Sneaky then flew out from his cloud and with hooves forward he shouted., “Ramming speed!” Before slamming into the flying alien’s back and two began to fight and scuffle in the air, aggressively punching and scratching. 

“Sneaky!?” Rock fist shouted to his com as he and the team stepped out through the back of the skyranger. Chavivi ran over to a nearby tree and began climbing it as Boris, Sato, and Cotton provided cover. Ramos and Rock had been ordered to move up. 

“I’m busy! Just deal with your enemy!” Sneaky shouted before his helmet was knocked off and he bit the alien right above one of its eyes. 

“Incoming!” shouted Cotton as plasma fire rained down on the defense group. Cotton was separated from Boris and Sato as he took cover behind the civilian’s burnt out car. 

Boris let out his trademark shout and the heavy fired his  auto-cannon in the air at the source of the plasma shots, as luck would have it Boris struck the flier and was rewarded with the scream of a dying alien and a slight explosion. With a smile Boris pulled up the machine gun and blew into the single barrel dramatically like he was an action star.

“Good shot, Boris!” Chavivi shouted as he aimed down the scope of his rifle and saw a thin man poke his head out, only to lose it in a cloud of gore. 

“Another one down. Sir, it seems clear to move up now,” Chavivi said as he worked the bolt of his rifle. 

“Understood. Rock and Ramos, you guys go up and I will join you. Sato, go and try to find sneaky!” 

Cotton took off running as fast as he could towards the downed scout UFO as Sato headed in another direction to find Sneaky. 

Sneaky was holding on for dear life against the crushing force of wind as the alien he held onto tried to fly away, his rotors spinning at high speed. Sneaky grunted and punched the alien in the back of its head. It roared  pulling out a plasma pistol and attempted to fire at Sneaky in his face. But as the alien reached for it’s weapon Sneaky swung a hoof around and yanked at one of the strange tubes attached to a type of face mask on the alien. With all his might Sneaky pulled on the tube and tore it out and with a hiss the alien seemed disoriented as Sneaky then began pulling it to the ground as it struggled like a cat on in water. 

“Sir! I see Sneaky! I think he’s taken the alien down,” Sato shouted as he rushed to the falling duo. 

“That leaves only two aliens. Finish them and the mission is over,” Central said as he typed a message to the  NORAD base about the loss of one civilian and for them to send a cover story to the local PD. 

Rock rushed in after Cotton slammed his fist into the shield door button. As soon as Rock was inside he ran nose first into the ship’s Outsider robot, managing to knock it to the ground before he threw a rapid series of punches and hoof stomps all over the outsider, denting its body.  

“Rock! Stand clear!” shouted Ramos as he charged in with Cotton. 

Rock jumped out of the way of the robot, exposing the large energy crystal in its stomach region. Once the pony was out of the way Ramos fired a shotgun round directly into the crystal and watched as the machine faded away in a bright flash as if it had never existed.  

“Check the rest of the ship!” shouted Cotton as he looked around the ship in search of the Thin-man that Sneaky had reported earlier. 

“Ship is clear, sir!” Rock said after he and Ramos inspected the small circular ship and found no trace of the Thin-man and began to believe it had escaped, until they heard the crack of Chavivi’s rifle. 

“Target eliminated,” Chavivi reported as he ejected the spent clip and enjoyed the view of his kill from the dead tree he sat in. 

“Roger that. Sato what is the status of Sneaky?” Cotton said into his radio as he stared into the glowing  power source in the center of the UFO that gave off a lime greenish color.  

“Sir, ugh, we’ve got a prisoner!” Sato said through many grunts and monstrous roars as both he and Sneaky fought to hold down the enemy floater while keeping their limbs away from his engines. 

The floater fought and struggled against its captors as it called out curses in its own language, spewing forth hate speech against earth and the humans that dwelled upon it, before Sato slammed the butt of his rifle into the alien’s face, sending it into unconsciousness. 



-Crow’s Nest hanger

The hangar bay was full of excitement as many turned out to see their first prisoner of war. The base security team was making sure everyone stood back and allowed the scientists through as they brought a containment unit to house the alien. 

“I can’t believe it, an actual prisoner. Do you think it knows the location of a base or their teleportation devices?” said a scientist in an almost stereotypical  nerdy voice as he felt his blonde balding scalp tingle with excitement. 

“We will have to wait and see. I hope the other staff members can clean out the containment unit before it arrives,” Dr. Vahlen said as she held her data pad close. Dr. Shen walked up as well to see what new alien they had encountered. 

“We will have to find a new place for our pony friends to sleep,” Shen mused as the hangar bay doors opened with the skyranger slowly descending vertically, its thrusters at a low setting to not blow dust or heat at the gathered crowd below. 

The skyranger touched its wheels down and the door began to open, when suddenly the floater flew out, its arms tied behind it’s back by several zip ties , as it attempted to escape. The crowd of engineers, pilots, doctors and scientists moved back, some falling others, running as they attempted to get away from the angry alien. 

“Come here, you!”  Sneaky shouted as he flew out after it and slammed his body against the floater, knocking it to the ground where the security officers blasted it with the arc-throwers, rendering it unconscious again. 

“Keep that thing locked up and get it to the containment unit now!” Cotton said as he unbuckled himself from his seat, going out in a rush to see if Vahlen was okay. 

He saw her picking herself up off the ground and dusting her lab coat off which was now covered in dirt before helping up doctor Shen. 

"Oh yes, that is exactly what my damn aging back needs, another fall!” Shen muttered in  angry Japanese.

Despite having a Chinese name, Shen had been raised in Kyoto by his mother after an unfortunate incident between his father and a senior member of the Chinese mafia.

Even though Shen had ranted in his native tongue his words were translated by the earpieces of everyone within range. Folks were thankful for the humorous moment as Shen spoke to himself after the frightfull escape attempt by the alien. 

The floater was placed into a large plexiglass box before being escorted by a security team to the Alien containment unit, where its arms where cut free of the zip-ties and the unit sealed. 

By this time the team was in the decontamination room, getting sprayed down with fluids that would kill any foreign germs brought by the aliens, the fluid helping Sneaky’s white fur dye run out and turning his fur blue. 

“I think the ponies did a fantastic job, Commander. Without them we might not have captured the new enemy type,” Central said through a speaking unit next to a glass window. 

“As embarrassed as I am to admit it, they did help out, and with that said,” Cotton turned around from the intercom and looked at the two ponies who were rubbing the decon fluid out of their fur.  “I formally welcome you to the Crow’s Nest X-Com team.” 



Alien command ship. Dark side of the moon

The Master sat down in his chair on the ship’s bridge, where from just around the curve of the moon, he could see the earth, a bounty worthy enough for the empire’s hierarchy. 

“Soon it will be ours,” the red robed alien said to himself mentally as a ghostly figure floated to him, a lower class Ethereal with a slightly darker shade of red for his robe. 

“Forgive the intrusion, great one, but I have news of the scout ship sent over the north American continent, to their city of sin,” the lower Ethereal said as he bowed his head, voice barely a whisper to anyone else who might have been listening. 

“What news? Have the scouts discovered humans with the gene?” the leader asked as he rotated  to face his inferior, floating slightly above him to continuously imply his position. 

“No, my liege. I am afraid it was shot down before the scan could be completed and...” The lower Ethereal paused, afraid to give the news. 

“Speak, inferior,” The master ordered, his voice with no noticeable change in tone but the sense of anger was there. 

“Master, they captured one of the flying slaves, and took it back to their base and it’s tracking signal was disabled somehow.”  

“How many ships have the humans shot down so far?” the master asked as he returned to looking at Earth. 

“Close to 134 , sire.” The Ethereal said as the Master pulled his arms from his robes and rubbed his hands together in disappointment rather than in anger. 

“And how much longer until relief forces arrive?” 

“Several more planetary rotations.” 

“Then allow the humans a break. Let us waste our human slaves on the planet and continue our assault on the planet once more forces arrive.” 

“Yes, sire,” the ethereal returned to his station to relay the orders. 

“Enjoy your winter solstice, humans, because after it your people will no longer have the very idea of peace on Earth,” the master Ethereal said.  His blood boiling with the thought that the humans were holding their ground all over their planet from multiple hidden bases in their attempt to stall the empire from reaching its goal, the only true goal for the Ethereal race, godhood and immortality.

> Interrogations.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9: Interrogations and idle moments.



-Equestria, secret meeting room in the Canterlot castle.

Many hushed whispers filled the circular chamber of representatives as the emergency meeting of the Canterlot council commenced. All wore robes except for a very aged Deep Thought as he struggled to hold onto a cane, and the two princesses who sat on an elevated seat where they could see all the other members of the council.

“This meeting of the council shall commence!” Princess Luna, the ever mysterious guardian of the night shouted  in her royal Canterlot voice. The very stone masonry of the room shuddered with the strength of her voice as she brought many conversations to an end before bowing her head in respectful thanks. “We thank thee for coming to this emergency meeting of the Equestrian council. No doubt as many of thou know there hath been an incident before our very gate that is of a nature similar to a previous event in our history,” Luna concluded before she indicated to the aged pony in the center of the circular room.

Mirrors were turned that shined moonlight upon Deep Thought, indicating he was the speaker. None said a word and listened intently to the lecture ahead of them.

“As you know, in the time of our fair princess’s banishment, her highness Celestia had come to me and my fellows in the old royal court of mages to find a way to go back in time.” Deep Thought paused as a slight murmur was echoed through the room before he stomped a hoof, in the manner a judge would a gavel. Once order was reestablished he continued.

“Our initial results were promising, we were able to go back a week at maximum but no more as the effects of the spell would regress our bodies  that same amount of time. So eventually we attempted to go back in time one year, the result was a vortex that sent us to another world. This world we ended up on was a savage violent one under the rule of a dictator but we met up with a local by the name of Marcus Brutus. He protected us. Needless to say we eventually found our way back but the rest of the details are kept secret for reasons that cannot be stated yet.”

Celestia raised her head to speak, the glow of her magic nearly lighting up the dark room.

“We are completely positive that a vortex of the same type opened up at the gates to my castle. Tests conducted at the site revealed that it indeed goes to the same world as before. How and why it was opened though is still up to debate,” Celestia said as a pony from the royal guard stood up.

“Is it possible that the sentients on that world are plotting an invasion?” the guard asked, causing Deep Thought to suddenly speak up.

“No! Marcus told me that he would make sure he destroyed any record of our arrival. He gave me his word.”

“Ha! And why should we believe the word of a non-pony? ” A hidden voice shouted before the room began to break out in arguments.

“Excellent.” Discord chuckled as he watched the council argue, he would have no interruptions to his plan.



-Earth, Crow’s Nest, alien containment unit.

The new alien type, designated a ‘floater’ originally as an insult which stuck, roared in anger as is flew around in it’s shatter proof glass cage. The trail of smoke it left from the thrusters on its back obscured the being as it examined the humans studying it.

“I can’t even tell where the organics end and where the machine begins,” Dr. Vahlen said as she looked at readings the containment unit was sending to her data pad.

“Can we even call that life?” Shen asked as he stood by her, shaking his head.

“This isn’t like a prosthetic limb meant to repair what was lost and give a person their life back. These…implants are a perversion of machinery,” Shen continued, feeling disgusted at the sight before him.

The two were so focused on the captured alien that they failed to recognize Cotton stepping through the door. He wore a short sleeve X-com duty shirt and a beret that symbolized his position, though he would rather wear a hat since he hated how berets felt on his scalp .

“Any news on the interrogation, Doctor?” Cotton asked as he walked over to the front of the containment unit, his eyes never leaving the alien as it finally stopped spinning to stare back at him. An ancient masculinity challenge occurring between the two.

“We have been trying for the last two days to get a word out of it, doing some of the things we did with Trixie to attempt to understand its language but so far it has proven uncooperative,” Vahlen said while, as if to emphasize her point, the floater scratched his claws along the glass of the containment unit.

“Yeah, keep trying, buddy,” Cotton said as his muscles twitched with anxiety. He then turned back to Shen and Vahlen.

“What about that written translation that was extracted from the cult of Sirius?” Cotton asked and Shen merely chuckled.

“I don’t think he is a very big reader, Commander.”

Vahlen cleared her throat, uncomfortable with the position she was being forced into.

“We are running out of options besides using the cerebral probe to be able to extract any information from it.” Vahlen couldn’t help but feel sorry for the alien at the thought. The cerebral probes were experimental technology that more than likely broke every law in the Geneva Convention and then some. But it was not as if the aliens cared for human rules of war.

“Commander, I am sure that if we had some more time we could open a dialogue,” Vahlen said hopefully.

“No. I’m authorizing the probes. Whatever we can get out of that alien is important and we need every stroke of luck to win this war,” Cotton said. He felt a pang of regret when Vahlen looked away, the hint of disgust in her eyes as she wanted to accuse Cotton of barbarism. Shen quickly stepped in, sensing it was the right time to do so.

“Oh, Commander, I forgot to tell you. We got some new gear in from the Australian branch, some scopes that are quite impressive. ” He said, stepping between the two and taking the Commanders arm in a way that was unprofessional.

“I need you to come down with me so I can calibrate the scope to work with your eye and helmet HUD.”

Vahlen sighed as she watched the two walk away. She had hoped the Commander would give her more time since he was a fairly reasonable and fair  man. She sighed for a moment, thinking about him but was taken out of her thoughts when she felt someone watching her.

“What?” She asked herself and looked around in confusion. One of her assistants turned.

“I didn’t say anything ma’am.” The technician said.

“No, it was nothing. I was talking to myself. Begin the…probe and make sure you lock the blast doors.” Vahlen said as she left the room before the process could begin.

Confusion filled the floater’s mind as two large glowing disks rose out of the prison cell’s floor. It hurled obscenities at the machines before clawing at them. It felt flashes of searing pain in its head as the machines tried to read its deepest thoughts. But at the moment they were only about escape. The floater slammed his head against the cell glass as blast doors closed, muffling the alien’s cries of agony.



-Barracks

Trixie lay curled up in her bed, shivering as her horn glowed. For the past week her horn had been acting up without her say so and she had been feeling sick. She felt as sick as the time when Discord had escaped his prison and turned all of Equestria into a mad house. Then her horn dimmed and she could finally relax.

“It’s just the lack of magic confusing my horn,” she told herself again and again before lapsing off to sleep, her body exhausted.



- Lounge.

Chavivi had just finished calibrating his new  S.C.O.P.E. to work with his rifle and after test firing it in the range he decided to have lunch. Upon entering the lounge on his way to get something to eat from Tony’s, Chavivi noticed Ramos juggling some eggs while Boris had the biggest smile on his face. Curiosity getting the better of him, Chavivi walked over to the ever curious pair.

“What are you doing?” He asked Ramos as he juggled four eggs in the air with amazing skill.

“Don’t, bother me man, Boris bet me thirty marks if I can keep this up for half an hour.” Ramos said as Boris had a face as red as blood while he fought the urge to laugh.

Chavivi sighed and decided to explained things to Ramos.

“Soldier, marks is the name of a German currency, Boris is Russian. I doubt he has any marks on him. ” To this Ramos stopped juggling and three eggs fell to the floor as Boris slammed his hand down onto nearby table, laughing so loud it sounded like he was shouting.

“I win the bet!” Boris said and laughed louder. Chavivi quickly left before he could see what happened to the two. He entered the smaller pub like portion of the lounge to see the cross-eyed pony asleep on a beanbag chair with  muffin crumbs all around her.

“Is that not unsanitary?” Chavivi asked as Tony wiped a beer mug that seemed to never be clean.

“Meh, she’s fine, besides she reminds me of my kid,” Tony said as he bent over to put the glass down and pick up a menu, his hand gently brushing the shotgun kept under the bar counter in case of trouble.

“I never knew you had a child,” Chavivi said as he took the menu with more kosher options for someone like him. He felt in the mood for something sweet but he wasn’t sure exactly what.

“Well you know, I took off my ring and let my wife keep it. In case I was blown up. So I figured I might as well keep the rest of my family secret,” Tony said as he lit himself a  cigarette.

“Those will probably kill you before the aliens do,” Chavivi said off handedly, even though he had one or two when he needed to lose stress.

“Probably, what with me stuck in the base and all,” Tony said, pulling a deep, satisfied drag..

“I think I will just have salad. I don’t feel particular, I just need to eat something,” Chavivi said as he handed the menu back to Tony, wishing he had something to shoot besides wooden pop-ups. Suddenly realization struck Chavivi.

“Do you smoke while you prepare food?” he asked and Tony’s silence confirmed the sniper’s suspicions and he lost the urge to eat anything that wasn’t packaged.



-Engineering

Shen dusted off his pants after sitting down in his office. He had a good view of his engineering wing from his position and liked to go down and provide advice to those under him if he noticed they were having trouble. Mostly since he had nothing to do at the moment. He was bored and there was nothing he hated more than being bored.

“I need something to do,” he said as he got up from his chair and looked around his office at diagrams of the Hercules armor, diagrams of the pony armor, and random notes and scribbles littering the many desks.

“What I should do is invent an endless desk drawer, or start typing my notes ,” Shen said, even though he hated typing and was a slow at it, he had to admit he was running out of room. Cleaning his messy office took all of forty minutes . Leaving the old man bored again, until he noticed an old book of his mother’s hanging slightly out of a roll top desk he used when he needed to draw schematics.

“Maybe I’ve still got it,” Shen said as he pulled his chair over to it and opened the book. His mother was very good at drawing and had taught him her skills when she was still alive. Shen flipped through the book until he reached a blank page. He pulled a pen out and focused, calling up old skills that had been long locked away. His hand guided itself seamlessly across the paper and soon he was greeted with the image of his mother and father smiling at him.

“I think I’ve found something to keep me busy.” He said as he ran his hand gently across the paper. 



-China, HongKong, triad interrogation room.

The sound of pained grunts and wet messy impacts filled the dark and filthy room as senior Triad member Shaojie Zhang, watched his superior torture a Cult of Sirius member. Zhang had already attempted to interrogate the man but his will proved too strong.

“You will be punished by the gods for this!” the Sirius member shouted, spewing blood from a split lip and spitting out broken teeth.

“Oh, really?” said Zhang’s superior as he walked over to a table and searched through the many well worn tools scattered on it.

“You are the ones who are going to be punished. We offered you a deal for weapons and you in turn plot to destroy our country,” the Triad leader said as he pulled out a blow torch.

“With respect, what else could we expect from these cultists?” Zhang said as he watched his superior activate the torch.

“Zhang, don’t rub it in. You were right about not dealing with terrorists. But this can become an advantage to us. Keep him quiet,” the leader said as Zhang soon tied a rag over the cult member’s mouth.

“I know that these cultists have something planned, if we can figure it out in time we can bribe the powers that be into giving us whatever we want.”

“Isn’t that risky? The Cult of Sirius serves the aliens. Shouldn’t we just hand over the information as soon as possible?” Zhang asked as he put his hand over the cult member’s mouth to muffles his screams further as his feet were kissed by the blow torch, the smell of burning flesh not even bothering the two torturers anymore.

“The aliens are a threat to the whole planet; we might as well milk as much out of the world while we ‘do our part’.” The triad leader said as he laughed, quoting the many posters and commercials the world governments had been putting out to get people to keep working and enlisting in the military and paying their taxes to cover the weapons of the military.

“But sir, this could be important,” Zhang said as he contemplated the risk of not giving vital data to the right authorities that might prevent him from being blasted by a laser in another invasion. The triad leader shut off the blow torch and stood, facing Zhang.

“Why are you so keen to go running to the authorities? You aren’t thinking of leaving our family, are you Zhang?” The leader asked while looking into Zhang’s eyes.

“I have always been part of the Triad, I have never betrayed her,” Zhang replied, his eye reflecting his words.

 But there is a first time for everything. Zhang thought in his mind as he mentally called up the numbers of certain ‘contacts’ he had.

> Celebrations.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chap10: Celebrations.

It was two weeks until Christmas and Julie was shopping for the right gift to give her son, still dressed in her business attire after getting off of work for her company.

She felt very tired as she walked past many loud people to get to her destination. She would rather be at home or with her son in the hospital. But she loved her son Ryan greatly and wanted to see his smile again after he had been through so much. Getting a cancerous tumor at only twelve and going through all the ordeals that followed.

During the alien attack her son had been in the hospital for his regular Chemo, but several of the ships descended from the sky and began firing all around their area and taken out the power. What was once an uncomfortable routine was now vital as Ryan had relapsed from, his tumor becoming more aggressive without treatment between the evacuation and finding another chemo center.
Julie’s cell phone rang as she walked past a jewelry store and headed to a videogame store.

“Hi, Mom.” Ryan got out before getting overwhelmed by a coughing fit. 

“Oh hi sweetie, are you taking the medicine the doctor gave you? Where's your father?” she asked as she searched through a stack of game boxes.

“Dad went to get me a drink, where are you?” Ryan asked as he held the hospital phone to his ear and watched the drip of an IV, counting every drop.

“Oh don’t worry about where I am, you’re not getting any information on your present.” she said as she looked through the racks, trying to ignore some of the bloodier and scarier games as she picked up one of the two games she planned to get for him.

'Shadow team' she read silently and flipped the box over to see some pictures of soldiers in all black uniforms fighting off zombies and vampires and a caption saying something about the team finally defeating the evil terrorists who unleashed them.

“C’mon Mom, please?” Ryan said before coughing so hard he nearly dropped the phone.

“Ryan. Here, drink.” his father said before he took the phone. “Julie?”

“Yes George. Don’t worry, I haven’t told him anything. I'll be home soon to wrap the presents then I'll go to the hospital, okay?”

“Okay Julie, just don’t overdo it. Last time I needed scissors to open the damn thing.”

“No swearing over the phone,” Julie said in a singsong voice as she hung up and got in line.

Once at the front desk she made a note to try and find the name of that other game Ryan wanted. She paid in a debit card and continued outside of the store, feeling a bit uneasy as she swore some of the slobs there were checking her out.

Julie walked past many other people going by their mundane existences. She was happy with the mundane, she loved the repetition, it allowed her to master every day as it came at her. 

But there are always those who aim to ruin lives and cause agony. Julie froze in place when she heard screaming and gunfire, from behind her. As she turned she was struck over the head and fell to the floor. Her mind spinning, she saw people running around before someone tripped over her.

Julie woke up several hours later in a clothing store with many other women, as one woman in plain clothes held an odd looking gun at her. She knew nothing about guns other than they kill and this one was pointed in her direction.

“Stupid spoiled whores, going about your lives fat and rich while others suffer and starve every day.” The armed woman said as she spat on the floor, her hair had been shaved off and she had bandages on her hands, due to cult of Sirius members sanding off their fingerprints. 

“You all know nothing about suffering, I grew up in a shitty ghetto and. Every time I left my home all I could see where you upper-class bitches in expensive-“ She was cut off by a new voice.

“That’s enough!” A man walked in with a handgun and whispered to the woman who smiled and pointed her gun at Julie.

“You, business woman, go with the leader.” She said as the man who was apparently in charge over and pulled her up by her arm. Julie was far too afraid to resist as she was pulled her out of the store and into the main plaza of the mall. The skylight showed a glowing red hue as the sun had begun setting, all around her she could see the men planting strange glowing boxes everywhere with a large glowing tower in the center of the plaza, surrounded by bodies.

“Our sacrifice to the masters!” the leader shouted out as he held up his pistol and the others cheered when he shoved Julie to the ground before the metallic pole with strange devices on it.

“For Sirius! The true god!” a cult member shouted and the others cheered in response as the terrorist leader made sure Julie could not move. A hologram appeared above the main power conduit for the plasma bombs. 

“Master, we are nearly ready and can begin the countdown as soon as possible,” The leader said as he bowed to the Master Ethereal.

“Well done, my children. Set the timer and escape from this place before the heathens can react, leave no survivors.” The master said as his holographic projector deactivated soon after.

“You heard our god! It is time. But first, one last sacrifice,” the leader said as he put a boot on Julies back and pointed his pistol at her back, aiming for her lungs.

“No please! I have a son!” was all Julie could say as her eyes filled with tears and the leader pulled the hammer back on the pistol.

“He’s just another heathen, who doesn’t deserve to live. None of you do, you’re all the same!” the leader shouted as his index finger squeezed down on the trigger and Julie thought of her son, sick and alone. She begged silently as she hoped for a miracle to see her child one more time.

The sound of a gunshot and a scream pierced the air as the leader’s hand was blown off.

Chavivi cursed himself for not having reached his firing position fast enough and racked another round into his rifle; the darkness of the mall hid him well among the fake trees he crouched behind.

“Move in!” Chavivi said into his helmet Com. He fired his second round through the insurgent leader’s throat, frightening and disorganizing the rest of the insurgents, just as he had done many times in his home nation.

“The heathens attack!” a cult member shouted before the skylight above shattered and the fragments were engulfed in a slightly purple, slightly blue aura and sent to the insurgents on the second floor, looking down at the plaza. 

The Cult of Sirius members all screamed as tiny, jagged shard of glass flew at them, cutting their eyes, hands and opens mouths. They all soon collapsed dead or dying.

Trixie shivered as she stood atop the roof, looking through the skylight at what she had done, her blue face turning pale as she saw her handiwork.

“Don’t worry, they were murderers,” Ramos said as he finished clipping his Rappelling belt on and with Sato and Cotton they descended down the ropes in a triangular pattern. Landing down in the center of the plaza, they were under a small amount of fire the entire time but their Hercules armor and Nano fiber vests kept them more than safe as they fired their weapons with righteous fury and precise aim at the Sirius members.

Julie lay on the floor, shivering in fear as she rolled up in a fetal position while hiding her head in her arms, terrified of the firefight going on before her. Until just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

“Area clear, Dr. Shen, I’m in front of the main power source for the bombs, can you see through my helmet camera?” Cotton asked as he activated it and Shen watched from the Control room back at the base.

“Yes, I see it clearly. Open it up and I'll tell you what to do.” Shen said as he adjusted his glasses to focus on the holographic screen while holding a data-pad with schematics from an X-com team in China that had defused one successfully.

“Derpy, handle any injured civilians you see, Sneaky and Rock are going through the service tunnels with Jack and Lewis.”

“Okie dokie,” Derpy cheerfully said as she flew down to help with her med-bags strapped to her flanks that held four medical kits, and one muffin for herself.

“Sato, Ramos, move down and clear out any other tangos. Chavivi, you cover me, Boris, cover the entrance.” Cotton said and received acknowledgements from his entire team as he began to work on the power source.

Derpy walked noticed through the corner of her eye that a human was shivering in fear. She quickly flew over and gave the frightened human a smile.

“Hi there!” Derpy said as she took out her Med-kit.

“This won’t hurt, nighty night!” she said before jamming the needle, perhaps a bit too hard, into the woman’s arm and sent her to sleep in a few seconds. Julie would for a long time think that a SWAT team had rescued her and that in her state of shock and terror she had imagined the talking pony that looked like an internet meme. She would also forever face questions from her son who thought she was rescued by the real Shadow Team.

At the front of the building Boris was holding his ground and feeling bored, he had been left out of the last bug hunt to flush out the insurgent scum and he was again being left out now.

“They must think I am not smart enough to be part of big operations other than cutting down enemies,” Boris said to himself in his native tongue. All his life people treated him like he was a dumb muscle head because of his size. What few knew in fact was that he was a college graduate with degrees in European literature and mythology.

“I will show them, I will write a long and very elaborate letter." he commented to himself as he rubbed his chin with his thumb as his gaze went over to a cinnamon roll shop and he wondered if he could snag one. 

“It wouldn’t hurt, just one bite.” he said. His heavy boots made far less noise than one would expect from such a large man, but when you grew up with a sister who loved to put you in choke holds, you learned to be stealthy.

Boris was nearly to the counter and the delicious treats were just an arm’s length away, but his quest for food was interrupted when he took notice of two figures lying on the floor. Boris had forgotten to check the entire area and report the corpses.

On the floor next to him lay a mother and her young daughter, both riddled with holes to the point he could nearly see organs.

Boris ran out of the small store faster and quieter than someone his size should be able to. His back was pressed against a wall as he reached up with his left hand to grab an Eastern Orthodox cross hidden inside his armor. Boris shut his eyes as tightly as they could go as he tried his best to get the images out of his mind. 

Boris was panting hard as he tried not to think, tried not to feel anything. So much so was he spooked by the two innocents that his vitals worried the crew back in the control room. Central called him on his helmet comm to make sure he was alright. 

“Boris, this is Central, what’s wrong? Your vitals are going crazy. Are you injured?” Central asked as he looked at a screen with a picture of Boris next to a heart monitor that sounded like a pinball machine.

“Nyet! I am fine, just fine.” Boris said before turning off his communicator. Finally calming down he grabbed his weapon with renewed strength and traveled down the mall’s hallways, in search of blood.

Two of the insurgents had been chased away by Sato and Ramos and were the last of the enemy in the mall.

As they ran from the X-com troopers they rounded a corner and froze before a large and enraged sentinel of vengeance.

“Das vidanya.” Boris cheerfully said, despite his teeth being clenched together, as he squeezed the trigger and fired at the insurgent’s legs first, blowing them off before he walked forward and unloaded his rage upon them. In seconds the torso of a bald female was all that was left of them.

“You are dead; it was your own fault,” he said. Boris had once been called by an enemy in a far off land, a big shaved bear with a gun. He lived up to that title sometimes.

“Commander, the entrance is secure.” Boris said proudly as he wiped his boots off on the dead body of one of the terrorists.

Cotton then smiled as he saw all the devices deactivate.

“Chalk up another victory, everyone, Sato, Ramos, did you find the hostages?”

“Yeah and apparently about five couples are deciding to name their first kids after us." Ramos managed to get out over the background noise of many survivors thanking them and showering them with blessings.

“Alright. Second team, how are the service sections?” Cotton said as he signaled Derpy to take Trixie back to the Skyranger as she had passed out on the edge of the skylight.

“This is Rock Fist, we just cleared out the last of the enemy here and found more explosives. They all seem deactivated….Sneaky! Stop poking it!” 

“Central, we have all clear;. Get some medics in here for the survivors.” Cotton said as he looked around the plaza. In all the spaces were plastic plants once lay, there were bodies of innocents whose only sin was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered silently to himself before moving out with the rest of his team as the authorities entered.



-Crow’s nest, Central's office.

“Alright everyone, clear out. Vehicles are waiting to take you back to base.,” Central said into his headset. He sipped his coffee as he looked out through a small window in his office down at the Control room staff to see them all working, his eye was especially on one new addition who he swore he saw playing computer games just a minute ago. 

All had been relatively quiet for the past month and a half as the alien incursions seemed to drop to zero. But the Cult of Sirius and a few other old and new malcontents saw it as their chance to do harm.

This most recent operation had been the third action this month against the Cult of Sirius and the council had stopped giving them money to fight against humans and the only payment they received was regular paychecks and upkeep. This came at a very bad time as many X-com facilities were using this decrease in alien attacks to train new recruits and get research and development done on many projects.

The lack of funds in North America stalled the facilities so much so that the leader of the North American X-com had had a meeting in Switzerland to negotiate the ‘gray market’. It was all fully within the X-com charter, so long as they sold to governments and not organizations, and was soon adopted by many others around the world.

“Officer Bradford,” a woman in a green staff uniform said as she stood at attention behind Central. 

“Yes, what is it?”

“Sir, we've just received payment for the transfer of those Arc-throwers to Mexico and some police forces in United States. Along with the payment for the damaged UFO parts,” the female staff member said as she handed a data pad to Central, who took it and nodded, pleased.

“This is good. Thank you,” he said and handed the data pad back before waiting until the woman had left to contact Dr. Shen.

“Hello Brad, have the payments come in yet?” Dr. Shen asked as he worked on a sketch for a new weapon to give to the ponies. It was the eighth attempt he had made that day to get it right since he had to account for many different variables.

“Its Central, or Bradford, and yes they are in. You can keep working on that satellite uplink underneath the first one, build your foundry, and add the finishing touches to Vahlen’s new lab.”

“Good, she has been telling me about a project that the higher ups are sending to all X-com facilities and-“ he stopped talking when he accidentally felt his elbow bump against a cup of tea and spilled his drink on an important part of the schematic he was drawing.

The ensuing flood of angry Japanese and Chinese was so loud central pulled his ear piece out.

“Okay I'll get back to you.” Central said and hung up, feeling that he could have sworn he heard a desk flip, even though he was several levels above the engineering wing.

Central then called up Dr.Vahlen.

“Gutten tag, Bradford.” Vahlen said as she looked through a microscope at a sample of Trixie’s blood.

“Yes, Doctor, the payments have come through and you can continue your research. May I ask what exactly it is again?”

“I’m working to adapt the alien energy weapons to our own archaic versions while ensuring-“ Vahlen went off on a long scientific lecture that gave Central a headache.

“Okay, good, carry on.” He said before he hung up and rubbed his head. 



-Skyranger.

“So, it’s perfectly alright that I hurt those men?” Trixie asked, still in shock over her first time using magic in combat.

“Yes, just remember, if you hadn’t hurt them they would have gone on to hurt and probably kill many more people,” Cotton said, gently petting her head, amazed at how soft her hair was.

Dammit, I hope we don’t have to hire a psychiatrist over this; I don’t want to risk any outside agents finding out about our ponies. Cotton thought to himself as the Skyranger set down in the hangar bay.

The door of the plane opened and the squad stepped out to head over to the decontamination showers.

Sneaky dropped in behind Rock and tried to hide himself from his new crush as she walked past them, on the way to her interceptor for a routine patrol.

“Boy, you need to stop this; it’s getting on my nerves,.” Rock Fist said to Sneaky when they got into the showers and removed their armor. All the males stripped down to nothing and removed their ear pieces to not short circuit them while they cleaned themselves.

Sneaky looked at himself as he washed with the cleaning fluid and felt ashamed as he slightly glanced over at the others; compared to them he felt he was ugly. Trixie and Derpy were in a female decontamination room so as to avoid any misunderstandings.

“Eyes to the wall.” Rock said, in Equine as he finished letting water run into his mane and wash out the De-con soap. 

“Yes, sir.” Sneaky said and moved with all the others to finish redressing.



-Locker room.

Inside the locker room Sneaky looked at his fur, it was now almost as blue as his mother’s and there wasn’t a hint of the dye he had on before. His mane had changed color though, getting slightly bleached to the point an average person would not tell the difference between it and white.

“Alright everyone, good job today. I’m proud of you all. Rest up but be on alert as always,” Cotton said to the group, dressed in a light green shirt with the X-com logo on the front and some black and grey camouflaged cargo pants. The group responded in various ways before heading out, with the ponies staying behind. 

“These shirts are comfy,” Sneaky said as he slipped on a large shirt similar to the one Cotton and the other on duty combat personnel wore. Only the pony versions had been stretched and modified so that they hung loose and low, covering up the pony’s modesty, though Derpy tended to trip over them. 

“They’re not so bad; I like them because they keep me warm out there,” Rock said as he slipped his helmet into his locker and closed it with his back hoof before walking over to the exit, with sneaky joining him.

“Sarge, want to go up to the exercise room and run with me?” Sneaky asked as he trotted along next to him.

“No, I’m tired. I think I'll sleep for a bit and see you later. Besides, I’m pretty sure you use your wings to run faster,.” Rock said with a smile before taking a hallway to the Barracks.

“How did he know?” Sneaky asked himself before taking a path over to the lounge and up a flight of stairs to the exercise room. At the moment the room was not very busy, with just one of the science lab members doing pull ups and Boris lifting weights while he looked at a letter. 

“Hi, Boris,” Sneaky said as he glided over to the heavy weapons man and hovered next to him.

“Hello, Little Pegasus,” Boris said to Sneaky but seemed pre-occupied.

“Are you busy? I was hoping someone could run with me,” Sneaky asked as he lowered himself onto the bench next to Boris and tried to imitate the way he sat.

“Dah, reading letter from sister, busy right now,” Boris said as he read the letter from his sister Lyudmila Andianov. She had made herself a credit to the X-com team in Russia with her sniper skills that were so good she had gotten a nickname, 'the snow queen.' 

“Okay, I think I might try the running machine then.” Sneaky said as he flew away and landed on a treadmill.

Sneaky spent the next fifteen minutes trying to figure out the treadmill until by some luck he activated it and began running at a gentle pace. Sneaky ran for nearly an hour and failed to notice as he was the only person there until a female form entered the room and took a place on the treadmill next to his.

“Excuse me,” She said as she passed by and placed a bottle of water in a cup holder on the treadmill and placed a small book on it before starting her run.

Chelsea never really liked running and would prefer to be near her interceptor. But she was really curious about these ponies and wanted to see one up close.

 oh my Celestia! Its her, the pilot.’ Sneaky shouted in his mind as he ran along the treadmill, feeling sweat run down his brow. He had no idea what to do and felt like he was going to throw up.

Chelsea continued her run, sneaking a glance at the pony’s wings every so often. She was so fascinated by what it would be like to fly with them rather than a machine.

‘I wonder if he is thinking the opposite?’ Chelsea thought as she recounted how many times she had seen the reflection of Sneaky in her arcade monitor. So far he had been the only male on base to even glance at her for more than was necessary. Chelsea thought it was because he was working up the courage to ask to see the inside of her interceptor.

Just then sneaky let out a yelp as he tripped over his own hooves and slammed face fist into the treadmill belt before being rolled off.

The world was all darkness and echoes for a few moments as Sneaky opened his eyes and saw a red haired angel above him.

“Hey, Sneaky, can you hear me?” Chelsea asked, to which Sneaky nodded with the dumbest grin on his face before getting on his hooves.

“You really hit hard there.” Chelsea said.

“Oh don’t worry, I can handle worse.” Sneaky said as he worked up as much courage as he could.

“Say miss pilot... I was wondering if...” He began but chickened out at the last moment.

“If I could see your airship?” he said and forced an innocent smile, while wanting to punch himself in the stomach repeatedly.

Chelsea smiled and pet Sneaky’s mane the same way you would a dog.

“Of course, Sneaky, and the name’s Chelsea.” 

Sneaky smiled and nodded.

“Of course, Chelsea.” 

“Also, you can stop staring at me while I play Galaga now. If you need a friend to hang out with then just ask.,” She said and the two walked out of the room, with Sneaky feeling his heart ready to explode.

“Yuck! I hate campy romances and forbidden loves.” Discord snapped as he held his nose to the scene.



-Control room. 

“So there have been no contacts whatsoever?” Cotton asked as he looked over to Central in the nearly empty control room, save for the skeleton crew keeping an eye out for alien contacts.

“None at all, sir.,” Central said, sounding suspicious as he looked at the holo-globe, with only four days till Christmas, everything seemed to have died down, no cult of Sirius attacks and no alien incursions.

“Maybe it’s because they know that we expect them to attack.,” Cotton added before he leaned  against the metal railing in front of him, looking up at the globe.

“Sir, if I may, me and several others on base think that maybe we should use this chance for a morale boost around the place?” Central said as he looked to Cotton in the nearly quiet room.

“What do you mean? A party?” Cotton asked as in another universe a pink pony shouted.

__________
“Of course! Everyone needs a party to keep their smiles up!” Pinkie pie said with a wide toothy smile as her friends looked at her with confusion.
________

Central cleared his throat. “A non-denominational holiday party, all are welcome and we have room for it in that break room under the exercise room.”

“In just three days to plan it?” Cotton asked.

“My mother used to run a party store when I was younger so I know how to set one up, and it wouldn’t cost much since me and the others are paying for it out of our own money.”

Cotton sighed and nodded before putting a hand on his friends shoulder. 

“Why not? We need to remember the little things and enjoy them.” 



-One day later in the break room.

“What is Christmas?” Trixie asked as she looked up to a small note on a board in the break room next to a notice about someone finding a raccoon in the Skyranger.

“You should watch more TV with us,” Sneaky said as he sat down with Derpy and Rock Fist. 

“It’s the human version of Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Rock said as he tried to ignore Sneaky humming a song and repeating the phrase. “What’s this?”

“Really? Well in that case Trixie will provide entertainment!” She stated triumphantly before asking the cook to sign her name on the pamphlet for her.

“I will give these humans a show they will never forget!” She said before teleporting away to her room.

“I should probably bring my med-kits, shouldn’t I?” Derpy asked, to the nods of the other two ponies. 




-Science lab.

Cotton brushed his hair repeatedly in an almost nervous habit as the power door for the lab opened up and he walked in, noticing several scientists wearing hats with elf ears on them while Vahlen wore a Santa hat.

“Victor, stop running around with mistletoe before I kick you in your--. Oh, Commander.” Vahlen stood straight and quickly pulled off her hat as she smiled to Cotton.

“I hope you’re not busy, Doc.,” Cotton said as he felt like everyone in the room was looking at him, which they were since the rumors around base were that Vahlen and Cotton were an item.

“No, of course not. I was just making sure everything is done before my staff go to the party.” She said and looked to Cotton. 

“Are you here about the delivery from command?” She said but that went in one ear and out the other for Cotton.

“No, um, I was wondering if you would perhaps like to go to the party…. with me?” Cotton then felt as if he had stepped in a minefield.

Vahlen smiled and bit her pen. “Well. I might be busy with the delivery.”

“Oh come on!” someone shouted in the back before there was a sudden clatter of everyone in the room trying to look busy.

Vahlen couldn’t help but laugh. Here they were fighting to save the world and they still had time for childish antics.

“Commander, I'll be at the party just in time to dance, okay?” She asked.

“Sure thing, Doc! I'll get my dancing shoes ready,” Cotton said before turning and jogging out of the room, wondering where he left his dress uniform.





-Engineering

“Dr. Shen?” Sneaky Breeze called out in the busy engineering wing as he searched for the ever helpful doctor.

“Can I help you?” an engineer with a pair of goggles said while he turned to look at the pony, turning away for a moment from something hidden under a tarp with a gun barrel sticking out.

“I was looking for Dr. Shen; do you know where he is?” Sneaky asked, feeling nervous as the big man looked down at him.

“Well, I think y’all can find him up in his study up yonder.” The man said as he pointed a gloved finger up to a small office in the back of the room. 

“Thank you!” Sneaky called before letting his wings out and flying over the busy workers, feeling a sense of Déjà vu. 

Sneaky landed down on the last stair up to Shen’s office before knocking with his hoof. 

“Dr. Shen! Dr. Shen?” he said loudly before the door opened and he looked up to the aging man. 

“Hello, Sneaky. Did you need something made? You know you can just make a requisition order.” Shen said as he stepped back to let the pony inside.

“No, nothing like that, Dr. Shen.” Sneaky said as he sat down on a chair, noticing on a drawing desk to a corner of the room was a watercolor drawing of Trixie wearing purple armor.

“I need your advice on something and you’re one of the smartest and most trustworthy ponie…er people on this base.” 

“I thought you already asked me for help?” Shen said as he sat down in his drawing desk and adjusted it to hide what he was making.

“Did I?” Sneaky asked as he rubbed his head, a part of him said he did while another said he didn’t. He shrugged it off and asked his question.

“I was hoping you would keep this confidential... but, I want to give a present to a certain female human, but I don’t know what to give.”

Shen coughed in surprise and chastised himself for several thoughts he had in his mind.

“Oh, a gift? For a human, um...” Shen rubbed the back of his neck as sneaky noticed his face turned redder than he had ever seen it.

“Well, I guess if you like I could craft something, I am quite accustomed to making things on my own,.” Shen said, before Sneaky jumped up.

“Oh thank you, thank you, Dr. Shen! I'll go find out what she likes. But here, it’s all I’ve got, I promise I will pay you back!” He said and flew off after dropping a small cloth bag on Shen’s desk but stopping in midair.

“Wait…she likes something called a dolphin,” Sneaky said, feeling confused as to how he knew that.

“I'll see you later, Doctor,” Sneaky said before flying slowly out of the room wondering what was going on.

Shen’s curiosity peaked as he looked at the object left on his desk. With gentle care picked up and he opened the bag, pouring the contents out into his palm. The half dozen golden coins fell into his hand and Shen almost thought he was about to go into cardiac arrest. 

“I'll make the best damn present anyone has ever seen!” Shen said triumphantly as he flipped to a new canvas and began drawing the pilot’s wrist and calculating the size in his mind. Not noticing a slight glow behind him that quickly faded.




-Night of the party.

Nearly the entire base had shown up for the party and everyone seemed to be having a good time, but there was an air of unease as well. Cotton noticed it all as he stood near the snack table in his dress uniform. His well pressed pants, shirt and beret made him stand out from everyone else who was in either their X-com uniforms or in casual clothes. 

Cotton made a gesture to Central who was having one of Derpy’s muffins.

“Is something wrong, sir?” Central asked as he quickly wiped his face clean to be more presentable.

“Everyone’s uneasy,” Cotton said and Central had a look as if he already knew.

“Yeah, I feel it too, like someone is watching us...” Central kept his eyes on Cotton as he moved his arms like he was having a conversation.

“You think they know that we know?” Cotton asked as he scanned the room, keeping his lips form moving as little as possible to avoid lip reading in the loud room.

“I’ve checked the systems countless times, sir,. I think it might be combat fatigue. We are literally on call twenty-four seven; some haven’t left this base since they first got in. Maybe we need a head doctor,” Central said as he moved to stand in front of Cotton.

Cotton’s face said he didn’t approve. “So you want everyone on this base to think I’m worried they’re going to start chasing invisible rabbits?”

Central sighed and Cotton held back his anger. Central had always been an intelligence and logistics boy, he didn’t know how hard it was to talk about one’s self.

“Sir, it’ll show your men that you care enough. And besides, I already know someone who can help us screen for new personnel that won’t sell out our ponies to the glue factory.” Central replied, referring to the council which might have them dissected just to get a glimpse of their magic.

“Alright, I'll consider it later,” Cotton said and felt a tingle on his spine like someone was behind him. Cotton turned his head and saw nothing but a blank wall. 

“Actually, I think I will look into it tonight after the party,” Cotton said and began wondering if paranoia was contagious.

The party continued on into the night with everyone dancing and talking, Derpy was constantly flying in and out of the kitchen with snacks and foods as Trixie performed magic on a mini stage.

“And now, juggling!” she said in her stage voice as she spun a pair of bowling pins, along with a bowling ball, in the air above her to the applause of her gathered crowd.

Sneaky was busy with Chelsea as the two of them sat at the edge of the party.

“Um, I got you this present,” Sneaky said as he handed over a box to Chelsea. She was still in her flight suit but looked beautiful to Sneaky none the less. 

“And for my favorite pony, I got you this.” Chelsea said with a smile as she handed over a pair of aviator sunglasses. Sneaky wasted no time and put them on.

“I feel like I can be your wing pony anytime.” Sneaky said and tilted his head when Chelsea started laughing.

“Hey, I probably don’t look that funny, you open yours,” Sneaky said as he tilted the sunglasses down.

“Okay, okay, hold yourself horse,” she said as she opened the box and found a small wrist bracelet with the images of dolphins carved into it and a clock with a dolphin on top.

I guess those bits I gave Dr. Shen were more valuable than I thought. Sneaky said to himself as he saw the look in Chelsea’s eyes.

“How did you know?” She asked as she pushed down on the watch face, a moment later it let out a soft dolphin call.

“Oh you know, animal senses and such,.” Sneaky said in a tougher tone, basking in the moment as above him someone lowered mistletoe on a string.

“Hey, Sneaky,” Chelsea said before leaving a quick peck of a kiss on his cheek. “You can be my wing pony anytime,” she said and wondered if she broke the pony when he remained frozen with his mouth hanging open. 

‘I will never wash this face!’ Sneaky thought as he fell over and saw hearts everywhere.



Rock Fist sat with Boris on the level above Sneaky and Chelsea as they left the mistletoe to hang there.

“You sure this is good idea, tiny pony?” Boris asked as he hoped the boy wasn’t leading himself into a bad situation.

“He'll be fine. Besides, he needs a girl. In all the years I’ve known him she is the only female he has chosen to pursue romantically.” Rock said as he recalled his own romance with an archer from the Griffin Empire.

“So, Rock, you don’t want to party?” Boris said as he took a sip from his eggnog, having wanted to not feed the stereotype of vodka drinking Russians.

“No, I don’t party anymore; I’m too old for that,.” Rock said as he smiled down at Sneaky and his crush talking and having fun.

“Besides, I just gave Sneaky his present,” the older pony said as he lay down and listened to the party music next to a man who would make an Ursa Major tremble.



-Down in the party

Cotton paced around nervously, alternating between being near the ice boxes and under an A/C vent. He kept worrying he would be sweaty when Vahlen arrived and that just made him sweat more. 

“It’s almost time to dance, maybe she changed her mind. Maybe I was too strong,” Cotton said to himself in fear when Ramos suddenly popped up and tapped his shoulder. 

“Sir, your date has arrived,” the assault trooper said with a smile as he disappeared as quickly as he appeared. The music began to slow down and the many voices that were once talking hushed as the door to the room opened, Vahlen stepping in with her auburn hair let down. She wore a black dress that was rather reserved and humble, along with black high heels.

She seemed very embarrassed when she noticed she was being stared at.

‘I knew I should have dressed more casually. Shen you bastard! You said everyone was dressing up!’ She shouted in her mind despite the smile she wore. Shen meanwhile felt the urge to hide for some reason.

“Doctor, you made it,” Cotton said and quickly took her arm, leading her to the dance floor and giving anyone who was staring a quick look that told them '“back off'”.

Vahlen was caught off guard by how well Cotton had cleaned up. His face was shaven, his clothes were pressed and he looked more like a movie star than a soldier.

“I’m sorry I was late, I just needed to work on one of Shen’s schematics,.” Vahlen said as the music began to change and the lights dimmed. 

“It’s alright doctor, I’m sure it was valuable,.” Cotton said, trying not to stare into Vahlen’s eyes.

Shit, shit, shit! I am freaking out, I don’t know what to do!' Cotton thought as he held Vahlen’s left hand and put another on her shoulder. Fighting terrorists, pirates and aliens was easy. But dancing was a whole different world.

“Do you even dance?” Vahlen asked since they were the only two not moving. Even Sneaky and Chelsea where dancing, though it was mostly a broken two step type of dance with Sneaky hovering in front of Chelsea.

“Um, Sorry, Doctor, I don’t.,” Cotton said feeling horribly embarrassed.

“Just do as I do,” she said and took lead. Their footsteps kept in motion with the music as they swayed gently together. Others made sure to move out of their way as they danced. The man running the lights wanted to put a spot light on the couple but Shen told the man to give them privacy or else he would show him real kung-fu



-Light control booth.

“Alright, alright!” the light manager said as he stepped away from the controls and Shen stood in his spot, watching two of his closest friends dance.

“You two deserve this moment of happiness,.” Shen said as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, reminded of a painful memory.

“No, can’t ruin the moment,” Shen said and made sure everything was perfect for his friends, wishing he could find a nice girl to hook Central up with.

“One day, I'm going to get my ass kicked for playing cupid,” Shen said with a smile. “But its worth it to see these young people enjoying their lives, and forgetting the horrors we fight.” Shen said before his watch began beeping loudly and out of control, so much so Shen pulled out the battery with a multi tool he always kept with him, only for the watch to still be going crazy.



-Dance floor

Vhalen blushed as she danced with Cotton and for the first time looked at him as an equal and not an soldier. She noticed how his new hands were very soft and began to wonder if the vita tanks had made them that way or if he always had them.

“So, um, Doctor.,” Cotton began.

“How many times do I have to ask everyone to call me Vahlen?” she said, saying it in a tone slightly harsher than she meant and prepared to apologize when she felt faint and collapsed right into Cottons arms.

“Vahlen!?” Cotton shouted as he kneeled down and checked her pulse, it was frighteningly erratic. 

“Get me a medic!” Cotton shouted when he felt something heavy fall on him. He reacted quickly and threw the object off of him, to find it was one of the engineering staff. Everyone else in the room except Trixie and Cotton had collapsed and seemed either heavily disoriented or unconscious. The entire facility groaned and shook as if an earthquake was occurring and Trixie screamed as she was suddenly pulled to a wall where her horn scratched a large glowing crack into the wall which seemed to expand continuously.

“What’s happening?” Trixie said as her horn suddenly began to glow before it glowed so bright that combined with the crack in the wall, Cotton was blinded, like staring into the sun, all Cotton could see was light and all he could hear was Trixie screaming until he heard the echoes of a voice with a British accent and the world faded to black.

When he could see again he was in the med-bay and a crowd of concerned fellows was gathered around him.

“Commander, can you hear me!?” Shouted doctor Mbutu as he shined a light into his eyes.

“What happened?” Cotton asked. He felt exhausted and noticed then that he had the worst migraine imaginable.

“You just passed out on the dance floor, Trixie too. We were worried something was wrong,” Central said as he rubbed his chin with a curious look.

“How’s Trixie?” Cotton asked and Central’s expression turned dark.

“I’m afraid she may be in a coma. Whatever happened to both of you affected the cerebral connections that feed into her horn,” Mbutu said.

“You mean her own magic put her into a coma?” Cotton asked as he tried to sit up in his bed.

“Honestly, we don’t know,” Mbutu said while Cotton turned to see Trixie in the next bed, hooked up to a variety of machines keeping her alive.

> The first wave.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11: The first wave.

-Crow’s Nest. Medical wing.

Cotton stared over at Trixie’s weak form as she struggled to get comfortable. She had awoken two days after the Christmas party incident and was nearly in perfect health. The only thing she continued to suffer from was migraines that kept her in the med wing.

“So you never heard the voice but you remember everything else?” Cotton asked as he shuffled out of his bed, slipping on his duty shirt.

“I remember my horn scratching something into the wall, but after that I only remember waking up here,” Trixie mumbled as she struggled to get out of her bed. Once out she collected a small vanity mirror that had been one of her Christmass gifts, in her magic. She soon felt another migrane but kept herself from showing the discomfort as she examined her hair in the small mirror.

“I’m sure the science crew can find something out. Come on, let’s go see what surprise she was waiting to give the team,” Cotton said as Trixie joined him when they left the medical wing.



-Training room/firing range.

Vahlen had waited until the Doctor said Cotton was combat ready before she unveiled her Christmas gift to the team. Her and the rest of the ‘laser squad’ waited in the training room with several pop-ups of Sectoids standing still ten feet away. Once Cotton entered he was greeted by all of his men.

“Okay everyone, I’m fine. Let’s just get back to business,” Cotton said as he looked to Vahlen and Shen, each standing before a crate. Vahlen turned to her metallic crate and typed in a code on a keypad.

The crate opened with a hiss and Vahlen reached in, pulling out a large rifle with glowing red pieces and a beautiful chrome finish.

“I present to you, the mark six laser rifle,” Vahlen said as the members of the laser squad stared in silent awe until Sneaky Breeze held up his hoof.

“What about something for the ponies?” he asked and Vahlen nodded to Shen.

“I have something just for you,” he said as her waved Sneaky over before opening his crate. Sneaky sat down in front of Shen who pulled out a strange rig with a modified laser pistol on it. The rig was tied to Breeze’s right arm.

“Sneaky, go to the range and aim the pistol at a target.”

Sneaky obeyed and hovered above the ground over to the firing range. He lifted up his right hoof and aimed down range, what came next seemed almost natural as a short, bright red beam came out of the weapon and burned a hole in the stomach of a wooden Sectoid target.

“I did it!” Sneaky shouted and pumped an arm in the air, accidentally firing another shot that blew out a light. Sneaky blushed and lowered his head in embarrassment as the light flickered and Shen called for one of his engineers to find a replacement. 

“Sneaky, only prime the laser pistol when the enemy is near,” Vahlen said with her teeth clenched as she handed a laser rifle over to Cotton.

“Alright, Cotton. It is your turn,” Vahlen said to Jack as she handed out another rifle to Sato.

He took up a position on one knee as another Sectoid figure popped up. He pulled the trigger and a long continuous beam came from the rifle, setting the popup on fire and creating a hole where the beam made contact. The rest of the combat team, ponies included, gaped at the power of the laser.

“That is setting one, focus mode,” Vahlen began as she looked to the laser squad, who could now truly live up to their name.

“The second setting is called rifle mode. It fires shorter, faster blasts from the lens that tend to be weaker but you can get more shots out. The switch works similar for your projectile rifles, right next to the safety.” She said as Cotton flicked it to R mode. The rifle’s whine of energy changed slightly and another target rose.

“Fire when ready,” Vahlen said as the commander pulled the trigger three times and three laser blasts came out. They moved at a much faster speed out of the rifle and reminded Ramos of the Fallout 3 laser rifle as he watched. The blasts set the target on fire again but instead of burning holes through the wooden target, they left scorch marks that didn't quite fully penetrate.

“As you can see, each fire mode has advantages and disadvantages, but that is only for the rifle version,” she said as she waved Boris over.

“I am sure you will know which one is yours,” she said as Boris approached the crate while Shen made sure to tie another laser pistol rig onto Rock Fist’s arm. 

“Alright miss hooves, it's your turn,” Shen said to Derpy who shook her head.

“No, I’m fine with my stun pistol and med-kits,” she said and Shen nodded, deciding to keep the spare pistol as a replacement since they already had one prepared for Trixie if she got better. Shen then waited for the ponies to head over to the firing range before he followed them, to help them test out the rigs.

“This, I like,” Boris said as he held up a heavy laser canon.

“It only has one fire mode, which is automatic. If you will notice its design is similar in some ways to a mini-gun. This is because the energy and heat created by the laser to fire such powerful shots at such a rate of fire requires multiple lenses to keep the barrel form melting. Try it out,” she said and Boris obliged eagerly, He aimed down range at the popup of a thin man and pressed the safety off with his thumb before pulling the trigger. The blasts from the heavy laser barely bothered Boris as he watched the wooden Thin-man be turned to ashes. The recoil was far less than he had expected. 

“Doctor Vahlen, you are a genius!” Boris said as he carried his new toy to the firing range for more practice. Ramos stepped up next with his never ending well of energy.

“Do I get a present too, missus Claus?” Ramos asked as he tried to imitate a young child while putting on his best puppy eyes.

“As a matter of fact you do. Yours was the hardest to get manufacture since the concept of a ‘laser shotgun’ was very difficult to get right,” Vahlen said as she handed Ramos his new scattergun, which to his eyes looked almost like a flamethrower. 

“I’ll be back,” he said in a mock Arnold voice before heading to the firing range with the others.

“Chavivi, it is your turn,” Vahlen said to chavivi who shook his head.

“No thank you doctor, the most important thing about a sniper is not being seen, a bright laser beam that gives away my position is not something I will use unless concealment is not an option in a mission,” Chavivi said as he picked up his weapon anyway.

Soon the entire squad was firing their weapons, losing track of time as they reduced dozens of wooden and cardboard targets to ashes. By that afternoon the squad had stopped to take a break and let their weapons cool down when the alarm rang. Centrl called out over the intercom soon after. 

“Attention laser squad, report to combat stations immediately. Gear up and head to the Skyranger, we have an X-com base under siege,” Central said as he looked up to a screen in the situation room. On the front was a member of the South American X-com in Brazil. He was covered in blood, dirt and plasma burns.

“They found us! We need help, there are too many! They are a new enemy type, our weapons barely have any effect!” the message said before the signal cut out. 

“Bring up global view of that base,” Central said to two technicians before him, watching as they traced the signal to its location. The Brazil base was the largest base in South America and acted as their headquarters, just as the NORAD base was for the North American X-com. 

When the satellite image came up Central was horrified. The base was engulfed in smoke and flames with destroyed Skyrangers, interceptors and local vehicles adding to the plumes of black smoke climbing into the sky. Charred bodies, both human and alien, littered the landing zone as burning trees obscured the old Spanish fort that the base had been built underneath of.

“What about the other SA bases?” Central asked one of his officers who was in contact with them.

“They say they're busy with aliens. Their teams were already engaged when the attack happened, Sir,” the officer said.

“Dammit. Alright I will brief the Commander, you try and relay the message to NORAD,” Central said as he got on the comm with Cotton and briefed him.

“Jesus, looks like we got this new gear just in time,” Cotton said as he slapped the new armor that Shen and Vahlen had been waiting to give them.

"Laser Squad! Armour up!" Cotton said before everyone took their own armor, which had their name on it, from the armour rack and began dressing up, slipping some of their armor over their own clothes.

The carapace armor was a shiny silver and blue that made the laser squad look like old medieval knights. The armor was made out of the alien metals and the lining in between the metal plates that protected the vital organs was a stitching of Nanofiber, adding extra protection so the team didn’t need to wear their own Nano vests. Once they were done the teams raced to the erquipment room and armed up.

“Alright everybody, pack as many grenades as you can. We don’t need clips anymore so this allows us to be more flexible with our equipment,” Cotton said after he slipped on his helmet that had remained largely unchanged with all the new upgrades.

“Derpy, bring your Arc Thrower,” Sneaky said to the female medic pony as she stretched her wings out of the slots on her carapace armor, the pony version resembled the royal guard armor from what seemed so long ago. Derpy then slipped on a helmet with her nickname ‘ditzy doo’ inscribed on the side, mostly the helmet was given to her because she continuously tended to bump into things.

“Why?” she asked she packed her saddle bags with the advanced med-kits and a small bag of muffins.

“Because we should capture one of these new aliens,” Sneaky said, thinking more and more like an X-com agent.

“He’s right. Trixie, you pack one too,” Rock Fist said as he slipped on his armor and the laser pistol rig on his arm. 

“I don’t need one, I have my magic,” Trixie said but Rock shook his head.

“No, no magic for a while. We don’t want you passing out in the middle of a fight,” Rock said as Trixie let out an angered grunt.

“Fine then, but Trixie gets to sit as far from the door as possible,” she said with her nose turned up.

The team loaded up on everything they could. Sato and Lewis also packed their med-kits with them since no one knew how many injured would be at the combat zone. The squad moved out to the hangar bay as both Raven 2 and 3 were being spun up to provide an escort in case more UFOs decided to pop up. The squad boarded their transport armed to the teeth with their base’s most advanced weapons and armor, save for Jack and Lewis who did not have their new equipment finished in time.

“Alright, this is Big Bird taking off,” the main pilot of the Skyranger said as the ship began a vertical takeoff through an above hatchway into the morning sun. The skyranger’s wings adjusted as its extra engines activated for the first time. The transport took off at such speed it would arrive at the base in little over an hour.

The two interceptors flew at the transport’s sides, escorting it along the way. The trio of aircraft observed radio silence, taking every precaution to keep the enemy from knowing that help was on the way.



-In the Skyranger.

“Commander, what kind of enemy types can we expect?” Rock fist asked as he struggled to remain in his seat as the transport moved at high speed.

“We don’t know, Rock. All we do know is that the base was attacked and a new enemy type is present that appears to resist our projectile weapons,” Cotton replied as he checked his laser rifle. 

“Mister Cotton, I thought we were supposed to be a secret?” Derpy asked from her seat.

“She’s right, sir,” Jack said as he checked the double magazine for his XM9. The magazine seemed better suited for a machine gun but given the situation, Jack and Lewis would need the extra rounds.

“I hadn’t thought of that….well just tell them that they are robot ponies or something, pack mules,” Cotton said before holding a hand up.

“No offense guys.” 

Sneaky then lifted his head and held his arms out to his sides.

“Beep boop. I am a robot, I cannot be offended, beep boop,” he said, bringing a few chuckles from the other team members. The rest of the flight was rather uneventful until the interceptor’s received a message. 

“Sir, more alien ships entering the atmosphere near us, permission to engage.” Lyons  asked as he pulled down his HUD visor.

“Permission granted, good hunting,” Cotton said as Raven-2 and 3  broke off to go engage the UFOs

“Good luck Chelsea,” Sneaky mumbled under his breath.

“Good hunting ravens.” The interceptor pilot said as he boosted the speed of his craft while activating a small set of rockets hidden under the nose of the ship, not enough to chase off a UFO but enough to keep them away for an emergency landing if the worse should occur.





-South America.

The Skyranger raced across the sky and made a sharp turn above the secret landing zone for the base that was titled ‘El forte de los angeles’, the angel’s fort. The aircraft landed down in the dense south American foliage, its thrusters blowing dust and leaves in the air as the transport completed a safe landing at the hidden runway.

“Alright, everyone out and keep your eyes open!” Commander Cotton shouted as he moved out with his men. The commander scanned the trees with his laser rifle as the ten other X-com operatives formed a semi-circle around the Skyranger's landing zone. The area was littered with the destroyed pieces of UFOs and Earth vehicles. 

“Big Bird, take off and fly to the base in Mexico . We’ll call you for anything.” Cotton ordered his sky ranger and made a hand signal for his men to move forward. When the sky ranger had taken off, the cloud of dust it left was just enough cover for Cotton’s next orders.

“Sneaky, Derpy, fly up and drop motion trackers ahead of us.” He knew they had understood his orders when he saw the two Pegasus ponies fly up into the air and dropped motion trackers in a destroyed hangar nearby and at the tree line leading to the base.

“All clear, sir,” Sneaky reported before stopping as he looked at the base almost a mile away, he could see the plasma and gunfire exchange and hear it clearly.

“Looks like the base is surrounded, sir. But the enemy has not gotten past a certain point,” Sneaky said before returning with Derpy to the main group.

“Good job. Alright, everyone spread out, stay out of everyone’s fields of fire but make sure you can see your team mates. I don’t want 'Predator' to kill any of us when we aren’t looking,” Cotton said and felt like frowning when only the americans on his team seemed to understand the movie reference.

The eleven X-com agents moved in a staggered line across the airfield as they headed to the base. The team encountered many dead humans and pools of green blood, but no alien bodies until they reached a dead Heavy who had sliced the head off of one of the new alien types with a machete. His blade seemed to have been made of sharpened alien alloy.

“Look at that!” Ramos said, pointing his scatter gun at the dead body of a scaled alien who closely resembled a snake.

“Hold your positions everyone,” Cotton said and moved towards the dead alien while the rest of his team crouched down and scanned the area. Cotton moved over to Ramos and kneeled down nearby, examining the dead alien. It's torso resembled a human in the fact that it had two arms and a head but nothing else was similar. Its body was covered with brown scales, some of which were cracked and punctured by bullets, exposing the soft green insides.

“Freaky. Just one of these did all this?” Ramos asked as Cotton looked around. 

“No, not possible,” Cotton said before turning back to the scene, he reached over to the dead heavy weapons expert who lay on his stomach. Cotton turned him over and instantly wished he hadn’t, the soldier’s entire face had been melted. The fallen trooper’s face was nothing more than a skull with one intact eye with his mouth hanging open in an eternal scream.

“Let’s move on, we got people to save,” Cotton said as he set the dead body down and made a signal to his men to move on. The X-com team moved up through the jungle and were met with more scenes of carnage, it appeared that the flight crews and other personnel at the airfield had tried to run back to base but were chased down. Luckily there were also many dead alien bodies, some of which seemed to have succumbed to gunfire, while others had been beheaded by the alloy blades.

“I don’t see the other team!” A voice came up over the laser squad’s radios as they arrived at a fence that had a sign warning of electrocution, a few dead Snake men seemed to have not heeded the warning.

“Just keep on fighting, I'm sure help will arrive,” another voice said before Cotton activated his radio.

“Attention, this is Commander Cotton of the North American X-com. What's your situation?” 

“Oh thank god help is here. We are under attack by snake aliens, they keep making pushes towards us from all sides in swarms. We are running low on ammunition and fighters, some of our scientists and engineers are even shooting now,” the other voice said.

“Alright, don’t worry. we brought med-kits, explosives and some new weapons. We are at the perimeter fence to your facility on the northwest side and are entering now,” Cotton said as the sound of fighting continued and his team moved through holes created by plasma fire.

“Do you have an entrance we can use?” Cotton asked as he and the others stepped out onto an empty field devoid of trees or plants, a mine field, but a large number of the mines had already been cleared out by the aliens, allowing Cotton and his team to reach the wall of the large fort that seemed like something out of the history books.

“One of my snipers saw you, you have donkeys with you?” the man asked as the ponies fought to keep their protests silent.

“No, they are robots to carry our gear,” Cotton said and hoped his bluff worked.

“Fine, fine, whatever. I'm sorry, but the only way into the base is through the front gate, which is currently swarming with the enemy. The only other way is through a hole they blasted in the side of the base which is even worse off.”

Cotton turned to his men. “You all feeling ballsy today?” he asked and received strong acknowledgments from his team.

“We will clear out that hole in your wall. Just make sure you're ready to seal it up once we get in,” Cotton said and moved with his team down the base’s wall, every now and then dodging falling brass from the rifles being fired above them.

“Are you insane, American?” The other voice said.

“Maybe, and the name is Cotton.”

“And mine is Gabriel, like the angel. Fine. If you think you can do it then go ahead,” Gabriel said as he slammed his fist into a wall, his staff running about in a panic, unsure of what to do as more injured were brought back into the base.

“Gabriel, tell your men not to shoot my ponies because were almost at the hole,” Cotton said as they moved around a wall and met with the sight of dozens of Snake men moving towards the hole blasted in the wall with dozens more emerging from the tree line. The Snake men moved very slowly and just from that seemed a less dangerous enemy. But considering they had rapid firing heavy plasma rifles and seemed to take an ungodly amount of damage made them formidable.

“Alright. Chavivi, Boris, put some fire on the aliens coming out from the trees and give us some space. Everybody else focus on the snakes already closing in on the base,” Cotton ordered and switched his rifle to focus mode.

The X-com crews inside of the old Spanish fort looked on in wonder as bright beams of energy struck the snakes, bringing them down far faster than their own weapons. Combined with the fire from the fort, the snakes never stood a chance.

The Crow’s Nest team moved forward one step at a time while letting loose a near endless stream of laser blasts. Their beams struck the Snake men as they attempted to turn and fire their heavy plasma rifles at the new attackers. Cotton lined up a shot through the sights of his rifle and held down the trigger, a concentrated beam hitting a Snake man in his chest and causing him to scream in pain at the intense heat.

Sneaky flew slightly above the others and fired his laser pistol at any Snake man that seemed to be trying to get up, ensuring a clean assault pass up to the entry point. Trixie was blasting her pistol and her magic, making a few of the Snake men fire on their own, despite Rock Fist’s earlier warnings he was glad that she was using her magic.

Jack and Lewis were positioned as close to the wall of the base as possible since they had weaker weapons, but that didn’t stop them from opening up on Snake men whose flanks were exposed. 

“Alright team, move up inside the base. Jack and Lewis, you go first!” Cotton ordered and the team arrived at the hole the Snake men had blasted in the wall, nearly being shot by an overeager soldier when he spotted them.

“Make room, trooper!” Jack shouted and quickly moved inside the room the hole exposed. It was an old storage room so luckily there was plenty of boxes and lockers to use for cover.

“Cotton, are you there? My men say you pushed the enemy back. I am fairly impressed,” Gabriel said as he watched from one of the few security cameras left on that side, amazed as Cotton’s team push the aliens back for just a moment.

“No worries. Now where do you need our medics and where do you need our gunners?” Cotton asked before standing between the surviving trooper in the storage room and his ponies.

“Our injured are great in number and we have started a triage in our mess hall. We could use some defenders in the breach you just secured.”

“Got it. I’m sending three medics to you, and be sure to tell your men one of them is a robot that looks like a pony,” Cotton said in all seriousness before turning to Boris.

“Boris, set up your heavy laser and lay down some suppressive fire on the snakes from here while we try and set up a better barricade.”

“No need, Commander!” Trixie said proudly before her horn began to glow and a barrier appeared around the front of the breach.

“It is much stronger than a full sphere spell because I just have to focus on one portion,” Trixie said.

“Good job, now can you make a hole in it for Jack and this trooper to shoot through?” Cotton asked as he pointed to the startled and confused defender in the room.

“I'll try,” she said and holes appeared that gave both soldiers a good 90 degree view. They rushed to their gun ports and already took up firing just as the Snake men resumed their charge.

“Keep it up, Trixie. Okay Sato, Ditzy  and Lewis, find the base entrance and start helping out the injured,” The Commander ordered and then looked to the remainder of his group.

“The rest of us will spread out and help in whatever way we can,” Cotton ordered and moved out the door with his soldiers, being met with a sight that reminded him of the ‘Whiskey outpost’ scene in Starship Troopers.

Chavivi ran up to the wall defenses above the breach to help keep Trixie’s barrier up. Other soldiers stared in awe at his laser weapon as he kneeled down and took aim at one Snake man’s belly. He pulled the trigger to his rifle and shot out a beam of focused energy that burned through the snake, spilling out what looked like green spherical organs. 

Sneaky stayed close to Cotton and Rock Fist as they charged to the front gate, a large steel door that had holes burned into it from which some soldiers fired out from. It looked like the door would not hold much longer.

“ Buck me, what can we do?” Sneaky asked, as he kept his wings tucked close to his body.

“Just stick close to…wait...” Rock fist said and looked up to a hole near the top of the wall, he then tapped Cotton’s leg.

“Sir, I have an idea. Sneaky can go up to that hole in the door and put some laser fire on the enemy.” He said while indicating the puncture to the commander.

“Good thinking. Sneaky, make it so,” Cotton replied and watched as Sneaky flew up and hovered as he aimed out, shooting down at the aliens.

“Okay, Rock, stay here and see if there is any heavy lifting you can do,” Cotton said as his radio clicked.

“Commander, your men are a big help here. You brought some needed morale to us and were killing aliens almost twice as fast as before,” Gabriele said as he stood in his base’s situation room, watching the battle turn for his side and the Snake men begin retreating, very slowly.

“Do you know where they came from? I could almost count a couple hundred of these bastards out there,” Cotton said and paced around his position, watching some of the soldiers cheer and holler as the battle came to an end, he also noticed how many dead bodies were littered about. Some charred beyond belief and others missing body parts or dead from holes burned completely through them.

“I don’t know. These things came out of nowhere before the UFOs attacked us. Neither us nor the other bases picked anything up on our systems.”

“This is bad. If we can’t detect them we will be really screwed,” Cotton said.

“I sent a team out in the early stage of the attack to see where they came, maybe find a landed ship. They reported finding something before we lost contact with them. I have their coordinates if you think you and your men can go, but I need your sniper and medics,” Gabrielle said as he typed up a message to the other bases, finding their teams were still busy fighting off the same snake like aliens and had requested local military support.

“Understood. Send someone down to start cleaning up the breach, I’m taking my shield generator with me,” Cotton said before changing channels.

“Alright, Ramos, Sneaky, Trixie and Rock. You are all coming with me, we are going to find a second team and the source of this attack. Meet me at the front entrance. The rest of you keep doing what you're doing,” Cotton said as he hung up his radio and began pacing again. Something wasn’t right about all this. 

“This battle was too easy, too quick,” Cotton said, something tingling at the back of his neck as he hoped he was wrong.



-Skies above South America.

“Target in gun range!” Chelsea shouted as her fighter let loose three bursts of explosive rounds at an alien fighter class UFO. It was in a similar design to other UFOs but with the circular disc seeming cut in two sections, where the exhaust was and where the plasma guns fired out from. The portion where the Sectoid pilot was located resembled a bubble turret from old bombers.

Chelsea watched as her rounds struck the UFO on its wings and then its cockpit before the entire ship ignited in green flame.

“Scratch one flying hubcap, how many more?” She asked and turned her fighter around, the powerful G forces making her feel like she was in a rollercoaster as she flew through smoke from a burning building. The aliens had been attacking a small fishing village in massive numbers. It would be very hard to cover up this attack since the combat could be heard miles away.

“I count about fifteen fighters and another troop transport.” Lyons said as he checked the weapons of his interceptor. They were down to only five Avalanche missiles.

“I don’t think we can handle them, the other fighters are either too injured to continue or out of fuel and ammo.” Chelsea said as she flew next to her fellow interceptor.

The two fighter craft flew directly towards the incoming alien ships expecting to face immense amounts of enemy fire. Only to see the aliens turn around and leave.

“They gave up!?” Shouted Jones, Lyon’s navigator.

“This is weird. Central the aliens have given up.” Chelsea said as she Lyons chased the aliens for abit longer before returning back to the mainland.

“I guess they realized they failed their mission, head to the Mexico base for refueling and rearming then return to the Crow’s Nest.” Central said as he watched the alien contacts disappear off the Holo-globe.

“If they wanted the base gone why didn’t they just bomb it with their ships?” central said, eyes focused on where the laser squad was.

“Why waste the ships and troops on this operation and then just give up?”
“What game are they playing now?” he asked himself once more.

> The nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12: The nest.

“Keep moving, before we are completely surrounded!” the squad leader shouted as he held two Alloy machetes and used them to slice through the newly hatched snake men chasing after him and the last two soldiers of his team down a passage way, trying to find his way by memory since his helmet’s HUD had been melted by snake acid.

“We’re completely fucked is what we are!” a man with a thick Texas drawl said before he popped the pin of a grenade and lobbed it behind him into the darkness, silencing some hissing as he followed his commander.

“Come on gringo, it could be worse,” the leader said as he stopped for a moment to look around for the first time in what had seemed like hours. All around the two soldiers was thick resin, like something out of a horror movie. They had been trapped in the ancient temple for far too long.

“What is your ammo count,  Jackson?” Miguel asked as he wiped the slime from his blades and looked at his subordinate.

“Jack and shit, but Jack ain’t here,” Jackson said as he looked at his commander with open palms to show he had nothing.

“Then it is time to kill these bastards the hard way!” Miguel proudly said and shoved the handle of a machete into Jackson’s hands.

“If I had a gun I would give it to you,” Miguel said before pointing his remaining blade down the way they came.

Santo, the third member of the team looked behind him.

“They are coming.” He said and cracked his large knuckles.

“Then there is no time to wait.  We have to run!” said Miguel and the whole group began running to find a way out of the hell temple.


-Above ground.

“Keep a look out, we don’t know where the enemy might be,” Commander Cotton ordered as he moved slowly through a thick canopy of bushes and followed the directions on his HUD to where the other team had been sent. Even though this was a serious mission and every one needed to be on alert, Trixie could not help but complain about the mud on her hooves.

“You’re wearing the most advanced armor ever made on this planet ; you shouldn’t even feel the mud on you,” Sneaky said as he hovered above the group, laser pistol at the ready. “I’m just disgusted by the very idea of it on my pristine new armor,” Trixie grumbled as she followed Ramos who kept pointing his weapon like he saw something.

“Is anything there, human?” Trixie asked Ramos.

“Not sure,” Ramos replied, finger tight on the trigger to his scattergun.

“Probably your imagination, if there were danger my magic would have sensed it,” Trixie said and continued on, placing far too much faith in her own powers.

Rock Fist was at the back of the group to make sure they weren’t ambushed from behind, his kicks and punches could probably break even a Snake man’s neck. The group of X-com troopers moved slowly through the thick jungle brush, Cotton couldn’t help but feel that he now knew how Vietnam veterans felt. He could feel that danger was hidden anywhere and everywhere. The squad of two humans and three ponies made it through to a clearing where out of all things possible, there sat an ancient temple.

“Wow, humans built that?” Rock asked as he looked at the temple that looked like it had thousands of steps on its staircase leading to the top of the ancient stone structure which just barely made it over the top of the jungle canopy.

“Sure looks cool,” Ramos said and wished he had a camera. The group was so mesmerized by the example of man’s ingenuity that they failed to hear the soft shuffle of grass behind them followed by a hiss.

“El SANTO, wait!!” A voice shouted out as from behind the group a large man in Hercules armor charged a Snake man. The armored giant struck the alien so hard it fell back, screeching in pain as the man jumped up and slammed his body down onto the alien in the manner befit to a professional wrestler before he snapped the alien’s neck.

Laser squad held up their weapons to the scene in shock as the man who had saved them stood up and wore a bright blue mask of a Mexican wrestler. 

“Do not be afraid fellow X-com, I am ‘El Santo,” the masked man said and Ramos jumped up.

“Holy shit!  Do you guys know who that is?” Ramos said while lowering his weapon.

“No. Enlighten me, trooper.” Cotton said as he kept a watchful eye on Santo.

“That’s 'The saint'! He was a wrestler who turned cop and pissed off almost every major drug cartel in South America,” Ramos said before removing his helmet and holding it to his hero. Then as if he had done it a thousand times, Santo pulled a marker and signed his signature onto the overeager soldier’s helmet.

I’m gonna make sure to discipline him later, Cotton thought as he tried to ignore the unprofessional behavior. It was then that Santo seemed to notice the ponies at the same time that two other X-com agents appeared out of the brush.

“I had heard other bases were willing to do whatever it took to win this war but... animal testing? Really?” Miguel said, the translation device catching his disbelief perfectly.

“No, they're androids made to look like ponies. It’s for hostage rescue, in case there are children or when we need a wounded trooper not to panic,” Cotton said without hesitation though by the look in Miguel’s eyes, he hadn’t fallen for it.

“If you say so, señor. But right now we need to leave this area,” Santo said while walking past the group to a secret entrance he had used to escape the building.

“Why? What happened?” Cotton asked, priming his rifle again to make sure he was ready for anything.

“We were out scouting the area for the source of the snake aliens when we found it there, in the ruins,” Santo said as he waved his hand to the ancient ruins of some bygone civilization.

“Wait, are you saying these things are breeding here on Earth?” Cotton asked as he stepped away from Trixie and got closer to Santo.

“While inside of the temple we discovered a vast nest of the snake like monsters.  There were eggs everywhere and strange devices in the walls. We did what we could to level the place but were overwhelmed by aliens and cut down one by one,” Santo said while rubbing his mask as Jackson and Miguel walked to join the rest of the group, sweating and covered in dirt, they were down to slightly burned Nano-fiber vests.

“Alright give me a moment,” Cotton said and stepped away from the group to contact Gabriele.

“Cotton to SA command, can you hear me?” Cotton said, taking a kneeling position near the top of the hill that allowed him to look down at the ruins.

“Cotton, this is Gabriele speaking. What is the situation?” Gabriele asked.

“We found your men, but we have a problem. The aliens set up some kind of nest near a set of ruins at the location you sent your troopers to.”

“A nest?” Gabriele whispered in shock at the thought of these aliens living right under his nose.

“We need an airstrike. Preferably heavy. Bunker busters, cluster bombs, napalm, the works. We cannot risk this nest surviving.”

“I understand. But it will take some time to have such heavy ordinance moved in position to strike.”

“Copy that. Permission to take command of your men to hold here and make sure no more snakes make it out of there before we toast them.”

“Permission granted. Just take care not to be within the blast zone when I tell you the strike is coming,” Gabriele said and broke communication to contact local military forces to acquire the air power they lacked at the moment.

Cotton felt over himself and pulled out his laser pistol.

“Ramos, hand these gentlemen your sidearm. We need to try and keep the aliens near the ruins for as long as possible,” he said as he handed the laser pistol to Miguel, who in turn handed it to Jackson.

“I already have a weapon,” the Mexican X-com agent said as he held up his Alloy Machete.

“And I am a weapon,” Santo said, pumping his fists in front of him, punching some invisible target.

“Alright then. Ramos just give your pistol to this gentleman,” Cotton said as he indicated to Jackson and walked over to his ponies.

“Okay, you all just play it cool and try not to blow our cover,” he said and the ponies nodded.

“Alright, Sneaky, fly up and be our scout. You have to let us know whenever an enemy contact is near.”

“Understood, sir,” Sneaky replied and spread his wings, soon disappearing into the air.

Cotton then ordered Ramos to cover their perimeter with Santo and Miguel while Jackson and the ponies used their laser pistols to handle any targets that were within range as he and the group moved closer to the edge of the hill.

“Wait, sir. I see snakes coming out from a small hole in the ground several meters to our left,” Sneaky said as he hovered above the group and pointed the way. Miguel turned pale.

“That’s the exit we used. I thought they couldn’t fit through,” he said.

“How big is it?” Cotton asked as he stepped over and felt an idea pop into his head.

“We could barely fit through it ourselves. We had to ditch our regular armor to fit.”

Cotton then waved Ramos over to him and began picking grenades off of him before taking his own, a total of four grenades.

“Sneaky, get down here and pick these up. I have an idea.”

Sneaky landed down near his commander with a thud and a stone serious look on his face, though inside he was screaming because he hurt his bottom on the landing.

“Sneaky, I want you to go to that position and seal up the hole with these,” Cotton said as he held the grenades in front of the pegasus.

“Do you know how to use them? Just pull the pin, count to three, then toss it at the enemy. ” Cotton said, not waiting to see whether his pony soldier was familiar with the devices or not.

“Understood, sir. But why me, sir?”

“You can fly and get there faster. Just use one on the snakes if you have to but make sure most of them go into the hole they are coming from.”

The pony saluted and collected the explosives in his arms before flying off towards the secret exit.

The trip was short as Sneaky moved with the air and was soon over the small opening in the trees that allowed him to see where two snakes had already slithered out of the hole wielding small plasma pistols, their wet, slime covered bodies aiding them through the tight confines.

“Hey, Hydra wanna-bes!” Sneaky shouted as he pulled out one of the grenades and pulled the pin with his mouth before lobbing the frag at them. The Snakemen looked up to see a small round object fall between them, one of the two snakes picked it up in curiosity, noticing its coloration and size to be similar to their eggs, when it exploded in his face. The snake’s head was completely obliterated, along with his hand, as his compatriot was blown back from the force of the grenade.

“Score one for the Pegasus!” Sneaky said and landed near the hole, already hearing the hiss of more snakes. He pulled the pin of one grenade, then the second and third as he dropped them down into the hole like a candy wrapper into the trash.

Within seconds there were three detonations that shook the ground slightly and sealed off the entrance.

“Sir, this is Sneaky.  Mission accomplished,” he said with a smile and fluttered his wings. If he wasn’t in a combat situation he might have broken out in a victory dance.

“Understood. Get back here we have incoming, lots of incoming,” Cotton said as back in their position Rock Fist had knocked down several trees to use for cover as what seemed like an endless wave of snakes was slowly making their way out of the ruins.

“Got it,” Sneaky said and was about to take off when suddenly something grabbed his left wing and pulled him back to the ground, slamming him into the mud.

A loud hiss filled Sneaky’s ears, when he opened his eyes he saw the other snakeman that had in fact not been killed by the grenade, but was just bleeding from several places.

Green slime oozed out onto Sneaky’s fur as he struggled and kicked wildly at the armored monster.

“Get off me!” he shouted as the Snake man grabbed his throat and forced him to look up. It then began gagging and making a hacking sound as if about to vomit.

“No!” Sneaky shouted and felt the laser pistol strapped to his arm fire off a shot, just grazing the side of the Snake’s face. But it had the desired effect. The snake reared back as it let loose a spray of acid venom. The small droplets went out in a mist and a few landed to sizzle on Sneaky’s armored shoulder.

Sneaky wasted no time and struggled harder, punching the snake with his laser hoof and shoving the laser barrel between the snake alien’s metal fangs and repeatedly firing off round after super hot round. Baking the snake's brain, the laser blasts came out through the other side of the aliens head, burning scorch marks into a nearby tree.

He shoved the dead snake off of his body and thought it was over until he cried out in pain.

“Ahh, it burns!” he shouted and looked to his shoulder to see that the armored part where the acid spray had landed on had small craters in it. One had burned through but hadn’t broken the skin.

“Sir! They spit acid and it even melts out new armor!” he reported to Cotton as he quickly recovered and flew off into the air, heading towards his friends, despite a sharp pain in his wing where he had been cut by the snake’s claws. 

“Sneaky, where are you?” Cotton shouted as he ducked a plasma blast. The Snakemen had increased their pace to escape the ruins, the large staircase working to their disadvantage for if they fell off they were either killed or seriously injured when they hit the ground, but the bright beams from their lasers had given away the squad’s position.

“I’m up above you,” Sneaky said, doing his best not to pant and blow his cover as a robot.

“I need you to make strafing runs against the aliens shooting back at us!” Cotton said

“Cotton, this is Gabriele. Bomb run ETA 15 minutes.”

“Get them here faster. We can't keep them all here, there are too many.”

“I'll try.”

Cotton shook his head in disbelief. This was going to hell really fast.

“Sir! Permission to move down with Ramos, Santo, Miguel, and Trixie to try and slow them down,” Rock shouted as he popped up from his position behind a tree and fired a few laser rounds that didn’t hit anything.

“Permission denied,” Cotton said and switched his rifle to focus mode and looked down his sight, watching Sneaky hit one of the few snakes that still had a plasma rifle. He held the trigger down and watched one focused beam of energy strike the snakeman and force his body to burn and bleed. It dropped its rifle and fell off the edge, only for a hole to be blown in the side of the Ruin and more snakes to begin forcing their way out.

“Goddamit! Either we'll be overrun or dead by the time the bomb comes!” Ramos shouted, feeling helpless since his weapon didn’t have the range to hit the snakes.

“Cotton!” shouted Trixie as she ran over.

“How long until this ‘bomb’ thing gets here?” Trixie asked and watched Cotton take another laser shot at an alien before ducking back down to answer her.

“About ten minutes.”

“I have an idea. I can keep teleporting the ones that get away back to the ruins and maybe put a shield around it.”

“Trixie, that’s too much strain on you,” Cotton said.

“Being dead is a bigger strain!” she shouted and Cotton relented.

“Nine minutes, just keep them there,” he said and watched Trixie peek out from around the broken tree. Her horn began to glow and there were bright flashes as the snakes were forcibly teleported back to the ruins, a few being thrown violently against the ruins as if by a child throwing a toy they didn't like.

Cotton was left unable to fire as the barrel of his rifle glowed bright red, the barrel slightly melted from the heat of so much continuous fire.  Rock held onto Trixie to keep her steady as she continued to teleport snake after snake back to the ruins, it looked like a large ant hive had clustered together.

“I'm hit!” Sneaky shouted and flew towards the group after taking a direct plasma blast to his chest, it had burned the armor but not gone through, though it left the armor slagged and next to useless.

Sneaky landed near Ramos and panted as the time finally came.

“Move! Fall back!” shouted cotton when he saw the slight glint of a plane over head, followed by two others.

“Go, go, run!” someone in the group of fleeing humans ponies said as they ran back into the trees, running like never before. Even Sneaky was running, so frightened that he had forgotten he could fly.

The X-com squad reached a small ditch and as if sharing the same thought they all jumped into it and covered themselves and one another in hopes of shielding each other from the blast.

The swarm of snakemen looked up to the sky as they heard a loud roar from the human’s primitive airships. Seconds after three planes flew by they were riddled with three lines from explosions. Then followed by one long trail of Napalm that set the bodies of the reptilian creatures ablaze only seconds before a ten thousand pound bomb slammed into the ruins, reducing it to rubble and crushing the nest underneath.

The X-com team felt the entire earth shake from the rapid and destructive attack.  When all was again still the scent of burnt trees and bodies could be smelled for miles.

There was coughing from several members of the group as they got up and dusted themselves off, exhausted beyond belief.

“You Americans always love flashy shows, yes?” asked Santo as he wiped mud from his mask.

“Well, if it gets the job done,” Cotton replied and pushed on his back, feeling a few pops before he felt right as rain.

“Come in, Cotton, this is Gabriele. How are you and my troopers?” Gabriele asked as he contacted the Crow’s Nest to send their sky ranger to pick up their team.

“We are good, in fact better than good. We won, and saved your guys,” Cotton said as he looked to the three agents who each gave him a thumbs up.

“Very well. Return to base and… oh my god. Return to base immediately,” Gabriele said as he looked onto the holo-globe in horror, a fleet of alien ships had snuck by through the opening in the defenses with the Crow’s Nest having sent their only two Interceptors down to South America . It had been their plan all along.


-Alien mothership.

“Good, everything is going according to plan,” The master Ethereal said as he stared at the large transport ship that had arrived. It was twice the size of his ship and carried with it an army and enough ships to end this resistance from the humans.

“And my plan has worked as well, oh great one,” a second being said, this one was a Sectoid commander who, unlike 742, was a loyal member of the empire and always seeking to please the masters.

“You should take heed from 514, Sectoid 742. He shows true loyalty to the empire,” the master said as he watched many small ships flying out from the transport, along with one assault ship, towards the planet.

Sectoid commander 742 remained bowed before the master but was overwhelmed with fear. If the humans fell to this attack then the Sectoid rebellion would be doomed as well. He had to do something, then he was struck with an idea.

“Master, if this one could be so bold as to ask for another chance to prove himself,” Sectoid 742 said as he bowed lower before the lead Ethereal.

The Ethereal turned to the bowing Sectoid.

“You will be granted the chance. There is a human base near the city of Las Vegas. Area 51. I want you to invade and destroy it.”

“As you wish, master. I will take a platoon of our mechanized warriors and turn the base to cinders.” The Sectoid said as he left with his head bowed, in fact planning to give the humans another technological boost. He just hoped it would help after the heavy assault now heading for their world.



-Canterlot, Royal drawing room.

Princess Celestia scanned through the many books and manuscripts in her private library, searching for the record on the teleportation spell that had been used. The equestrian council had gotten nowhere, with every meeting divulging into a heated argument. Celestia had decided she would work without the council, she was ruler after all. Just as she had finished with a stack of books she froze for a moment, letting out a pained gasp as she felt something terrible in her heart. The princess’s guards instantly were at her side and helping her onto a chair.

“Your majesty, are you ill?” one asked as he opened a window nearby to get fresh air in for the princess.

“Shall I summon the doctors?” the second guard asked while Celestia shook her head.

“No... I am fine, please, find my sister,” Celestia managed to get out as the guards rushed out as fast as they could.

‘No, so much pain, so much fear,’ Celestia thought to herself as somehow she could sense the coming storm on Earth. Her once proud and regal face turned sickly green with the thought that somewhere, there was fear and pain so great that she could feel it in her very bones.

> The Coming Storm.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chap13: The Coming Storm

-China, Location classified.

The four X-com soldiers in a mix of Hercules and Alloy armour moved through the innumerable  tombstones in the cemetery that were packed almost like a staircase in square quadrants to allow each person their own final resting place. The Chinese X-com team had been under staffed after losing several of their team mates against Floaters on one of the new Sky scrapers being built in the city.

“Are you sure about this, sir?” asked Lieutenant Chekov as he crouched down near a large headstone and looked over to see their contact, Zhang, awaiting them patiently with two of his own guards. In his left hand he had a small suitcase handcuffed to his wrist.

“I already know you’re here. That new armour of yours is somewhat too shiny,” Zhang said as he signalled the two men he knew were loyal, to follow him.

The X-com commander nodded to his men and they rose out of their hiding places and slowly treaded to the three Triad members. The X-com agents stopped several meters short of the Triad and the commander removed the tint from his visor so Zhang could see he was speaking to a fellow Chinese citizen.

“Do you have the package?” asked the commander.

“Right here,” Zhang said, eyes focused on the commander as he lifted a small briefcase, the device inside going crazy and beeping as something approached.

“Now, about my payment, I would like amnesty for all my past crimes and, to be one of you.”

The Chinese X-com commander was taken aback by the request.

“Why would you want to be in X-com?” 

“Consider it a form of redemption, seeing big ships over your home blasting your neighbours into piles of smoldering ashes really puts everything into perspective,” he said while not adding how it made him feel powerless, and there was nothing he hated more than that.

“Alright, give me the package and we will consider your-“

“Look out!” Shouted Zhang as he slipped a small handgun out of a shoulder holster hidden in his jacket and pulled the trigger, the bullet racing out of the barrel at sonic speeds as it struck a Sectoid that had been sneaking up behind the group.

“Ambush!” shouted Chekov as he raised his XM9 and fired wildly at a dark figure that was coming at them through the shadows.  All he could see were the small glowing orbs on the creature’s body. 

“We need pick up!” shouted the commander into his communicator as he held up his Scattergun and fired a laser like shotgun blast into the dark figure.  The shot illuminating it enough to see the spiderlike monster mere seconds before it jumped on top of Chevok, knocking him to the ground before one of its large pincer like legs raised high and drove through Chekov’s gun and into his heart, punching through his Hercules armor as if it were paper.

Chekov let out a gurgle of a cry as his chest was punctured and he soon collapsed from the massive destruction of his heart, blood oozing out of his chest wound. But before the thing could get to work on his corpse, the X-com and triad members opened up.

“Man down!” shouted the X-com team’s sniper as she fired a blast of laser fire into the new monster’s head, bringing it down for a second before it twitched wildly and began moving towards the group.

“Fire, you idiots!” Zhang shouted as he continued to fire his pistol and his two guards opened up on it. One guard was firing an AK-47 while the other had a small Skorpion vz.61 sub machine gun. The bullets struck the alien as it dashed towards them as if nothing else in the world mattered, the bullets making quick pops and spurts of goop as they struck the alien’s carapace, punching through the exoskeleton. Finally just when it was mere feet from the humans they finally brought the spider down in a spray of green bodily fluids that seeped from its injuries and pooled around it, soaking into the ground beneath it and tainting the resting place of many.

“Look, there is no time for negotiations. We need to move,” Zhang shouted as he slapped a new magazine into his pistol, not noticing the stealthy movements of two Thin-men with plasma pistols.

“To the right!” shouted the X-com sniper as she fired one laser round, melting through the head of a Thin-man while one of Zhang’s guard’s finished off the other one with a full burst of automatic rifle fire.

“Zhang, keep close,” said the X-com commander as finally they could hear the sound of jet engines overhead and a rope  ladder was thrown down between the humans. Over them hovered their sky ranger and Zhang went up first as the ships extra crewman fired his spare weapon at more incoming Thin-men to keep them at bay long enough for the rest of the humans to pile onto the chopper.

“Where’s Chekov?” shouted the gunner as he paused for a moment to let the barrel of his gun cool down.

“He’s dead,” replied the commander before he grabbed Zhang by his collar and slammed him rather roughly against a wall of the aircraft.

“Whatever it is you have, better be worth it,” he said to Zhang. 

“Don’t worry, all I know is that the aliens have something big coming. And for once we have the drop on them,” Zhang said as the Skyranger closed its rear door and began flying to a regular military base that the Chinese X-com used for cover when one of the pilots began shouting something in English.

“What is wrong?” asked Zhang as he looked to the commander who somehow seemed to understand the language with great ease.

“Looks like we’re too late. The aliens are invading America again, South America is on fire and….” The commander paused as he held a hand to his helmet, listening to what his intel officer was saying.

“Something massive is heading to Hong Kong.” 


-Crow’s nest.

The entire base was buzzing with activity as personnel ran about in a panic, trying to find out what was going on, how they could help, or to check on their families. Central was in the Situation Room helping the local military against the aliens.

“No, the really skinny guys spit acid too, but it’s more like a gas. Yes I know it sounds insane but you have to trust me. Give all of your men gas masks and have decontamination showers ready,” Central said as he tried to get the American National Guard to listen to him while he also typed on computer in contact with the other two USA X-com units and one Canadian  unit that was offering to send their Interceptors to help keep the air under human control.

“Sir!” said an aide who had come bursting into the room, his body covered in sweat and exhaustion clear on his face.

“I’m busy, what is it!?” Central shouted back as he took off his headset. 

“The Laser Squad is back.” 

“Fine, let the others handle it. I have to handle bigger stuff,” Central said and began talking to the National Guard again. He didnt mean to sound like an asshole to the crewman who only wanted to aid the base by being a message runner while the interbase communications systems were reserved for emergency messages. But due to the recent second invasion attempt Bradford was on edge, his stomach was a nest of boa constrictors that continuously tightened on his body. He felt as if his worst fear had come true, X-com had failed and the aliens were back in lethal force. 

But despite this fear he planned to do everything in his power to at least slow down the invasion, to at least feel he did something worthwhile to the cause.


-Hangar bay.

“I need this bird refuelled now! Someone bring us some new Med-kits here now!” shouted Cotton into the busy mass of personnel as someone brought him and his team water. Trixie collected hers in her magic and began gulping all of it down. She was extremely tired after having spent so much energy in one day.

“Ow, ow, ow,” said Sneaky as he removed his chest plate and rubbed a few cuts and bruises on him.

“Don’t worry, I still have some healing stuff,” said Derpy as she pulled out her last Med-kit and sealed Sneaky’s cuts and took a look at one of his wings where he complained the most of pain.

“Commander!” shouted Doctor Shen as he rushed over, huffing and puffing.

“Commander, have you heard?” he asked.

“Yes, the aliens are making another push, and they hit Las Vegas hard this time.”

“Yes, and a battleship has appeared over China.” That Cotton did not know. 

“When?” 

“Just a few minutes ago, things are hectic all over, sir.”

“I know,” Cotton said and rubbed his face after removing his helmet. He collected water from a doctor from the med wing and poured some on his face. The noise of everyone around him faded for just a second and the world seemed to freeze. The only thing Cotton could hear was his own heartbeat and his breathing.

' I have to be strong for everyone, or else they will only panic more,Cotton thought and stood back up, suddenly full of energy again.

“Alright, I want the Skyranger refuelled in ten minutes. Ponies, you are staying here with Lewis and Jack to defend the base and provide backup if we fall,” Cotton said as he faced the group, regretting the slight implication he let out about him believing his main team might die in combat, but it was always a possibility.

“Yes, sir!” they said and moved out to get their weapons serviced and have a decon shower. Cotton then put a hand on the communication device attached to his ear and contacted Central.

“Central, I want everyone including the civilian personnel to have at least a pistol by their side, we can’t take the risk of being unprepared. Get the AA weapons online for the base and tell Area 51 to do the same,” he said and hung up before he turned to look at Boris, Chavivi, Sato and Ramos.

“You guys think you are strong enough to keep fighting?” Cotton asked.

“I won’t blame you if you want to back out; the aliens are coming in full force,” he said with a gentle tone in his voice. For the first time in a while there was some silence as the team considered it, but Ramos was the first to stand.

“If we back out now then what will the history books say? I ain’t gonna pussy out because E.T. brought his homies,” Ramos said and slapped a hand against his armor, right where his name was.

Soon the rest of the team stood up and nodded.

“Better to die in battle than live cowering in fear.” Said Sato as he took three med-kits into his bag.

“When my sights are on them, it'll be over before they knew what hit them,” Chavivi said and stroked the S.C.O.P.E on his rifle.

“I am Boris the Bear, and this is my cub,”  Boris said with a deep huff as he lifted up his laser MG and slapped its barrel.

“Then lets move, team. Eight minute rest and chow then meet back here,” Cotton said as he walked over to a part of the hangar where he could see M.R.E.s and some more drinks.

Up above, the Interceptors were being refuelled and having their weapons checked. The pilots were itching to go.

“Bloody hell, they dinged the paintjob!” roared Lyons  as he looked in anger at the fancy crow he had painted on the side of his fighter, seeing it had been partly burnt off by a plasma blast.

“Not my fault, I told you to watch out for that fighter,” chimed Jones as he took a bite of a donught and hoped he wouldn’t be puking it up soon.

Chelsea was pacing around her fighter as engineers checked the fuselage where she had been grazed by a plasma blast without even noticing.

“Is it bad?” asked the pilot as she felt like pulling her hair.

“Not really, we can fix it pretty quickly,” the lead engineer said as him and his men pulled out power tools to do some swift maintenance on the plane.

“Thank god, if there was ever a time when I needed my bird, its right now,” she said and looked to the area around her when she felt a slight tap on her shoulder. She turned and noticed a slight flapping noise, like that of a bird testing its wings, slow and gentle, before she looked up and noticed the pegasus hovering above her.

“Um... Hi, Chelsea,” said a blushing Sneaky as he hovered above her, his bleached fur looking almost like he had never had his dye washed out and clashing with the green of his duty shirt that had been nicknamed the ‘pony toga’ by the crew. 

“Hi Sneaky, not much time to talk,” she said and looked at her watch. Only five minutes before the Skyranger was to take off.

“Yeah, I know. I just want to wish you, good luck and to be safe,” said Sneaky.

“Pilots don’t say good luck,” Chelsea replied with a friendly slap to his shoulder.

“We say good hunting.” 

Sneaky smiled and straightened up.

“Good hunting, Chelsea,” he said and flew off to go and rest up in the lounge, as well as to see how bad the damage was.



-Lounge.

Derpy covered her eyes as images of death and destruction filled nearly every TV channel. She couldn’t bear to look at the horror since it made her fear for her own home as thoughts began to fill her head about the safety of Equestria against these monsters.

She looked around to see Trixie enter and quickly flew out to go to her room. She made sure to glide past other X-com crews as they went about their business when she reached her door which she had lovingly decorated by drawing a muffin on it and writing in Equestrian 'Derpy’s room'. And a helpful lab member working on making a written translation had written the same in English underneath her words. 

Derpy pushed a button on the door and watched it slide open to reveal her room. She stepped inside and the holographic window showed the image of clouds floating gently in a big blue sky, while it wasn’t perfect it still reminded Derpy of her home. The cross eyed pony moved to her beanbag chair , which had duck tape on one part because she thought it had actual beans inside, that was located next to a very small desk for the pony. She plopped down on it with a muffled thud and opened a drawer on the desk to begin writing a letter to Dinky and the Doctor. 

She didn’t want to think about the possibility, but knew she had to be ready. She picked up a pen in her hoof and began scribbling on the paper, trying her best to make it presentable as she apologized to her daughter a thousand times and told her she loved her twice that. She let a few tears drop onto the paper as she made sure to tell the Doctor to take care of Dinky. She then folded it perfectly and placed it in the center of the desk so that it could be found, hopefully, by anyone who came to investigate her room if she died.

Derpy then put her hooves together to do something she hadn’t done since she was a little filly.

“Dear Celestia, goddess of the sun and ruler of Equestria. Please hear my prayer as I ask you to please guard me and my friends. Guard this place like you guard Equestria. And if I don’t make it…” she began, with tears flowing from her eyes.

“Keep my daughter and boyfriend safe for me.” 



-Lounge diner.

“Trixie demands hay and cider!” shouted Trixie as she slammed her front hooves down onto the bar table.

“How many times do I have ta tell ya!” Tony yelled back, who was tired of having to explain the menu to the ponies, since their mainly vegetarian diet required their meals to be special order by one person from area 51 having to go out to local farms and buy hay which was hard to hide from the X-com finance division.

“We don’t have hay yet and we don’t have fucking cider. If there was I'd give it to you so you would shut up,” he said.

“Do not lie to me! I smell it on you,” she said and sniffed him, when in fact she was sniffing his cologne.

“Okay, look. Would you accept it if I made you a sandwich with cheese and lots of lettuce and tomatoes and all the root beer you can take for you to drink?” Tony said. 

“Yes that would be acceptable to me,” she said and sat down on the bar stool, nose turned up.

“Fine then. Just be quiet and you will get it,” he said while mumbling he had a knuckle sandwich for desert.

Sneaky flew in soon and looked around.

“where’s Sarge?” he asked as he went over to the couch to see how bad things were.



-Down in the labs.

“I am sorry Rock but we don’t have time to talk about this,” Vahlen said as she checked on samples sent in from South America about the Snakemen, apparently they were a species that was hermaphroditic and required no sexual intercourse to reproduce, and yet the manner in which they kept their genes fresh and prevented them from being mutated remained a mystery.

“I know Doctor, and I am sorry, but I need to know that at least some work is being done about getting me and my friends home,” Rock said as he followed closely behind Vahlen.

“Look, I understand your situation and we are working on it but at the moment we are on hard times.”

Rock sighed at Vahlen and looked at her with a saddened expression.

“I’m sorry, but with all that is happening I am afraid for them,” He said with the worry clear on his face.

Vahlen knelt down and gently pet between the old soldier’s ears.

“I understand your fear, but don’t worry. I swear that when this attack is over I will begin looking into a way to get you home,” she said and Rock nodded, the worry replaced by a smile.

“Thank you, ma’am. I will re-join my fellow ponies and be on alert in case we need to be deployed.” Rock then turned and left the science wing feeling a better sense of trust in his human allies.

Vahlen remained in the labs to work alongside her fellow researchers. She kept herself from worrying by working, she knew that fear would not help her in this situation, the best thing that she could do was to keep working alongside her friends and find a way to better combat the alien invaders. She would rather wish Cotton good luck, but time was precious and she did not want to distract him from his short rest. 

“Doctor Vahlen, could you come here for a moment?” asked one of the scientists from the interrogation room. 

“I will be right there,” Vahlen said and quickly made her way to and down a small staircase that led to the main science labs right under her own.

“What is it?” she asked the group of researchers now standing around a terminal with readings from the mind probe. One former professor whose name no one could pronounce  turned to her.

“I think you should look at the terminal. We were going over some of the images extracted from the Floater we interrogated and we found something,” he said and the group moved back to allow Vahlen to see images flashing on the screen which consisted of another floater, Sato and Sneaky struggling to hold him down and two very clear images of an Outsider and a slightly deformed Sectoid. The final two images seemed to repeat most often.

“We think there may be a connection of some type,” said a female researcher.

“I believe you are correct,” Vahlen said, the gears in her mind already turning.



-Hangar bay. 

The ten minutes had passed in the blink of an eye for the human members of the Laser Squad as they re-joined Cotton at the refuelled Skyranger. They had replaced parts of their “Carapace” armor that had been struck by plasma blasts and some of the engineers had taken the liberty of quickly spray painting the flag of each soldier’s home nation onto a panel on their back as well as X-com symbols on their shoulders and breast bone plates. The team had just refueled their bodies with some quick meals and drinks when Cotton stepped up to the group with laser rifle in hand, he looked to them all with their helmets off, making sure to look each man in the eye.

“Gentlemen, you all know the stakes, so no fancy speeches. Our mission is to head into the Las Vegas combat zone and rescue as many civilians as possible, while kicking alien ass at the same time. Remember our motto Vigilo Confidio,” Cotton said and put on his helmet, sealing it as the others did the same and boarded the transport. Several hangar crew members saluted the ship as it took off into the sky. 

The Skyranger pilots activated all of the plane’s engines to ensure it would get to Las Vegas in a snap as on each side where the Interceptors to provide cover and deal with any alien ships. The battle for Las Vegas would be tough, but the empire’s forces would be no match for the courage and grit of X-com.

Discord sneered and held his nose to the last sentence. 

“You know if I weren’t still in my season 2 form and stuck in stone I would be making planets tango,” Discord said as his other self remained in the fourth dimension, sitting atop the fourth wall and drawing graffiti on it. 

“I am so sick of this waiting around,” he said and blew his nose with a cloud.

“Tell you what, my dear readers, how about some mischief?” he said with a smile, his eyes glowing as the scene went dark and Discord was now invisible, aboard the alien command ship.



-Dark Side of the Moon.

Before Discord was the Master Ethereal watching a hologram of the Earth and his forces slowly moving towards areas where there was a high or medium concentration of humans with the gene they sought to steal.

Discord held up an index finger in the shape of a lion’s paw  to his lips and winked as he floated towards The Master like a snake through water. He then snapped his fingers and was dressed in the robes of a Sith lord, hood and light saber included. He leaned his lips close to where The Master's ear would have been and began whispering.

“This may not be the best course of action...”Discord said in the Master’s own voice.

“Perhaps I should send my forces to other areas where there is less of the gene so I may diminish the human forces with less risk of killing the ones I seek to capture...” he continued to whisper as the master looked to the hologram of Earth.

“That way we can farm them and build a steady slave race of those with the gift,” the Ethereal said as Discord snickered and made a motion with his left hand, accusing the psychic being of being a jack-off. He then began whispering more while waving his hand like a Jedi mind trick.

“I should send my forces to destabilize the governments of Earth instead of strikes to kill large numbers of humans, perhaps set up a secret base on the planet and put one of my top Sectoids in charge of it... While still doing abductions, even though the humans are shooting my ships down...” Discord said in one breath to the Master Ethereal, almost blowing his cover but with some force he planted the thoughts into the alien leader’s head.

“My masters will be pleased when I bring them not only a Garden class system, but also a large number of the gifted, enslaved and their will to fight broken.” he said and turned effortlessly in the air before floating to his inferiors as Discord pulled out some puppet strings and began talking out of one side of his mouth, sweat dripping from his brow as he applied more force into this magic deprived universe.

“Change the orders, have the rest of the invasion fleet spread pull back from the planet and send two forces to set up bases on the planet. Send the Sectoid who is second in command to a base near the Northern pole, and another to some randomized location,” he said and began working his puppet more, not knowing that the strain against such a strong psychic in his weakened form was draining more energy than Discord could risk, and someone else was sensing it.



-Equestria, Princess Luna’s room.

Princess Celestia had finished speaking to her sister while Discord was distracted, both of them sensing his powers fluctuating. They spoke in whispers as both drew a magic circle around the entire room.

“I trust you know what to do, sister,” Celestia said to Luna.

“Yes, dear sister. It will be done, so long as I am in the circle no one undesirable will know of my actions while I search for our lost ponies. Do you believe you can keep up the façade of my presence still raising the moon and the night?” Luna asked as her sister left the circle and it began to glow. Celestia nodded and locked the door with her magic as two Night guards were joined by two celestial guards to ensure nothing entered the room.

“Now to begin the process. It will not be simple, but I am sure I can double the power to reach the minds of the lost ponies,” Luna said as she stood before a large pool of water and began chanting, hoping that it was night by the time the spell was complete and she could enter the four ponies’ dreams.

> The second wave.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 14: The second wave.

-N.O.R.A.D. missile command.


The facility was abuzz with activity. The X-com and regular U.S. staff were running from room to room to keep up to date on the situation as General Franklin was in the situation room farther underneath the base, in the portion allocated to X-com. 

The African American in his early forties stood tall and unafraid as the members of the council looked down upon him on various screens. Their silhouettes no more frightening than someone making shadow puppets to the veteran who had seen things that would make most men cry. To his sides where the holograms of various other X-com generals, or more accurately the ones that could be communicated with.

“Gentlemen, we regret to inform you that as of now, the alien threat can no longer be contained. The public knows that not only are we still at war, but that we are vulnerable in the face of their technology. As such, we are at risk of mass panic, riots, religious suicides, a mass exodus of people running for safety, and anti government attacks. As such we will be cutting X-com funding again, by half worldwide in order to consolidate resources to deal with the coming fear.” The generals began to shout until the council silenced them.

“We have no choice. If we are going to maintain control we must instigate martial law and manage our resources for as long as we can,” the council speaker said.

“You men hide like cowards in a bunker,” Franklin said only to receive some angry looks from the council.

“If I may be allowed to speak?” said a general from Russia, making sure he was heard.

“You may speak, General Dmitry,” said the speaker as he nodded his head towards the hologram.

“Perhaps we must fight the panic by giving the people some hope,” he said and his hologram took a step forward.

“Make X-com public. Let the people know that something is being done to battle the aliens and that we are the best there is,” he said and the council seemed to pause and think for a moment.

“Yes, let them know of our victories. Let the people know how we have been defeating the aliens for some time. And if not then let this attack be our rallying cry, as much a surprise for the aliens as for the civilians,” said Franklin.

The council remained silent as they muted their communications, but their body language revealed that they were speaking to one another. Tense minutes passed as the council deliberated with one another, the X-com generals sweating the entire time until the Council speaker finally addressed X-com.

“It is decided. X-com will go public its funding will not be reduced.  But you will no longer gain combat members from special forces units, just regular army or transfers from other X-com teams. Combat soldiers will only receive half pay, and that pay will go to families as the bases already provide all necessities to them and anything else they need can be special ordered at the cost of the base credits,” the council said, covering their own pockets first and saving money for the individual nations. The base credits were the amount of money allowed to each X-com base should they need to acquire resources not already available to them.

‘Why don’t you just ask for our balls too? Maybe you want me to fetch your paper like a good dog?’  Franklin thought as he felt his teeth grinding in his mouth but did his best to maintain a straight face.

“Civilian personnel will also have their pay cut by a third. Finally X-com will go public but we need heroes, gentlemen. Do not fail us, hit the aliens hard now and give us something to show the people,” The council said and cut off communications. The holograms shut off as none of the generals wanted to let their anger be seen.

“Fuckers want heroes, then I will give them some goddamn heroes,” Franklin said and stomped out of the room to prepare his second and third teams to head to Las Vegas and to order the west coast branch to send a team as well.



-Las Vegas Evacuation Camp.

“Prepare for landing, we have arrived at the combat zone,” said the Skyranger pilot as the bulky ship landed in one of the military evac zones, in full view of the other soldiers and of the civilians. Cotton did not care if the press caught them on camera, they were paid not to, but also he didn’t have time for stealth. All around them where soldiers , equipment and vehicles. Anti aircraft vehicles moved their turrets around, constantly scanning for more UFOs, or Floaters who felt ballsy, making the X-com team feel oddly at home.

“Move it, troopers. You want to live forever?” Cotton said and charged out of the Skyranger as many looked in awe at them. The Laser Squad moved with their safeties on past the scurrying civilians, all showing up as green on their HUDs. Up above them their two interceptors joined formation with several fighter jets to chase off a large UFO and several smaller ones.

“Central, I need info,” Cotton said as he moved with his squad moving along, no soldier or officer even considering trying to ask them what their business was.

Central tore himself away from the situation room and looked at a live satellite feed in the Command room of the squad moving along. Several personnel working their consoles to provide up to date info rather than scanning for more UFOs.

“Commander, the reports talk so far of three spots where civilians have gathered, they are surrounded by the enemy and the military is having trouble getting to them. I also have reports of what looks like two new alien types but the details are sketchy and questionable.”

Central brought up an aerial map of Las Vegas and had the one evacuation area was highlighted.

“Only one?” Cotton said as he ordered the team to stop, the map showing up on all their HUDs.

“That is the only one that has been allocated to us, the rest are being handled by regular army and the other X-com teams.” 

“Understood, we could use a vehicle.  Team, stay here,” Cotton said and began moving to a few soldiers before he stopped to answer a ping from Central.

“Commander, is it alright if I re-task the Skyranger to evacuate wounded military and civilians to a safer distance from the combat zone?” Cotton ran the thought over in his mind several times and decided that since the Skyranger was fast enough to take them around the world if need be then it could do the task easily.

“Make it so, Central.  The civilians and wounded have the priority for this mission,” Cotton finished and continued on to find the CO of this evac zone, but with a feeling of having already done good so far.

“Where is your commanding officer?” he said and the nervous soldiers pointed to a tent.

“Thank you,” he replied and made sure to keep his rifle on safety while he removed his helmet to be less intimidating. The command tent was built with a metal floor and generators in and around it to keep the flow of intel and personnel steady, in the center of the tent was a blond haired general with a beard that looked like he had been called to duty with only half his face shaved.

“Sir!” Cotton said and stood at attention, saluting the general who turned to him with disbelief and anger.

“Who the fuck are you supposed to be? Buzz fucking Lightyear?” The general said and looked to the symbols on him.

“What unit are you with?” he demanded.

“Sir, that’s classified information. But I request a vehicle for me and my men to use to aid in the evacuation of civilians.”

The general took three steps closer to Cotton and kept examining him.

“Sir, with all respect, time is of essence,” Cotton said, growing impatient and wishing he could pull rank but X-com was supposed to be classified.

“Well look here, space cadet.  I have orders and I don’t have time for the usual bullshit about jurisid-“ the general was interrupted when someone came up to him and began whispering in his ear. The older man’s face turned as white as if he had seen a ghost and he saluted Cotton.

“Sir, I apologize. I had no idea who you were. Your request will be granted but resources are thin and I am unsure of what you can fit in with that armor, sir.” The general said, wanting to not screw up before someone who could order him to tap dance if he wished it.

Discord then turned away from the two humans and walked back to his post near one of the communication consoles, winking to you as he put on the headset.

“Yes, this is Q-sector. What is your location Delta team?” he said, as he returned control of the human’s body he was possessing and no one was the wiser.

The general allowed Cotton to leave with a military transport that was rolled out of the motor pool and to the landing zone before the X-com team. Its loud roar causing many civilians to cover their ears and the ground to shake underneath it.

“I call driver!” yelled Ramos when he heard the mighty engine of the M35 Deuce as it came towards them. The smell of its carbon emissions leaking through his mask and into his nose.

“Now that is a man’s truck,” Ramos said, almost soiling his armor from excitement.

“No time for chitchat, troopers. Pile up!” Cotton ordered and took a seat at the front to the side of the driver’s side. With a smile he silently whispered, “ I got shotgun,” as the rest of the team climbed aboard the tan colored vehicle and lay against the railings to the sides of it.

The truck rolled out with a roar as Chavivi sat with his laser pistol out since he wouldn’t get a good shot off with his rifle. Cotton sat with his back Ramos, sticking his laser rifle out the window. In the back of the bed was Boris wielding his repeating laser as he placed it on the roof of the truck to give cover to Ramos and Cotton at the front. Sato lay prone in the very back with his laser rifle, his eye peering down the  iron sights of the energy weapon Sato prefered the metallic sights on his rifle since he knew computers were prone to glitches and trusted his eyes more. The truck rolled past the opening cleared out for them by the general to be able to move into the area around Las Vegas where they were moving to find civilian holdouts, the truck was going to be used to carry any civilians they found along the way to the survivor shelters, as well as to get them there quickly.

“This reminds me of time in war zone when my squad had to use local man’s pickup truck to get to safety. I did the same trick then,” Boris said with a smile as he moved his weapon around, his armor and general height helping him aim it as he tried not to let the heavy laser scrape the roof too much since he hated the sound of metal scraping on metal.

“What war are you talking about?” asked Sato as he spoke to Boris over the general band of their radios.

“Secret war,” Boris said, ending the matter there and realizing he had said too much to his new friends.

Cotton did not mind the chatter since it helped relieve tension, which was making him feel like he had gone to school while forgetting his backpack.

“So Ramos, did you ever think you would come to Vegas?” Cotton asked.

“Already been here, it was one week before I shipped out with the marines,” he said, smiling fondly as he maneuvered the truck around a burnt out car and past the charred skeletons of civilians who could not escape the initial attack.

“How did that go?” Chavivi asked.

“I caught something that hurt and I had to take medicine to get rid of it,” Ramos said, thanking the reflective visor for hiding his big lying grin. Cotton then shuffled away from Ramos.

“Uh. Yeah. Good to kno-“ A plasma blast suddenly struck the front windshield, melting it while the kinetic energy from it shattered the glass in front of Cotton.

“To arms! Its coward killing time!” Boris shouted out on both the radio and through his helmet’s speakers as he held down the trigger to his weapon and watched the barrel spin like a minigun as laser fire flashed from it. 

“Where?” Shouted cotton as Ramos turned a corner and slowed the vehicle down.

“Floater! I lost sight of it!” Boris shouted while turning his head around to see where I went.

There were three blasts from Chavivi’s laser pistol, followed by the sight of the floater spinning around wildly as he could no longer control one of his damaged jets on its back when Chavivi’s fourth and fifth laser blasts finally hit his target.

“Got him,” Chavivi said and followed the trail of smoke the floater left as he flew through a nearby McDonalds arch and slammed down violently into the ashphalt, practically burrying its dead body into the ground.

“Good job,” Cotton said. 

“Commander!” Central broke in from the comms.

“We are alright Central don’t worry.”

“Not that. Area 51 is under attack.” 

“Fuck, when?” Cotton said, looking around anxiously.

“Just now, but I’ve got our ponies along with  Jack, Lewis and a security officer heading out to deal with it.”

“Can they handle it?” Cotton began seriously contemplating whether they should go back.

“Sir, you have civilians to rescue. We can handle this, Area 51 is on alert and they are scrambling their own defenses, we just may not be able to provide you with support for a while. I sent Talon squad out, so things should be covered. To be on the safe side I ordered all our security personnel to wear the spare Hercules armor you guys left when you upgraded.”

“Understood, good luck,” Cotton said.


-Area 51 road. 

Jack and Lewis piled into a black combat van as Trixie and Derpy got into the back seat.

“Are you sure its okay those people saw us?” Derpy asked, referring to the Base personnel at Area 51.

“Yeah, they all took oaths of secrecy to keep their mouths shut about what they see here,” Jack said and started the van, the front gate opened for them as explosions erupted around them. A set of four Surface to Air Missile launchers began firing from hidden positions in and around the base. The missiles detonated and a medium size UFO tumbled slowly from the sky.

“That’s our cue,” Jack said and held down the gas pedal. Their truck raced out down the road to the base and headed towards the UFO.

Trixie smiled as she rubbed her back against the soft leather seats of the van.

“This alien material is very nice,” she said, the ponies had been given Nano-fiber vests since their carapace armor was being serviced and they needed speed more than protection this time. 

“Those boys have no idea what they are missing, being picked to go up against... What was it called?” she asked the two humans in front.

Lewis turned his head back to look at the ponies, seeing Derpy with her face pressed against her window as she had her first car ride.

“ Cyberdiscs, they are very dangerous,” Lewis said and looked away, shaking his head as he remembered the reports they had gotten from a satellite that had noticed the attack forces sneaking through the perimeter.

“They are guards ponies. They can handle it.” Trixie said while striking a pose as she felt like a fancy rich pony in the vehicle.


-Sneaky and Rock.


Sneaky was having the time of his life in the Bell UH-1Y Venom, commonly known as the Super Huey, as he looked around at the fine machinery that allowed humans to fly. Rock Fist was meanwhile staring furiously at a human magazine that seemed to have something to do with cooking as it had a human on the front in a chef’s hat. Sneaky could barely read human letter but recognized the chef as one who always said ‘Bam’. 

“Uh. Ssarge, are you thinking of starting a kitchen here?” Sneaky asked, their translation earpieces communicating their words over the loud sound of the helicopter blades.

“No, can’t look down. Don’t like heights,” the Earth pony said as he wished he was on a skyranger since that one did not have big open doors that allowed one to see how high up they were.

“Don’t worry, these humans are professionals!” Sneaky said with the same trust as a foal saying he believed in Santa Hooves. He then looked to the three humans aiding the ponies. In the rush to respond to the attack Central had ordered the ponies to go out through the nearby base of Area 51 rather than through the Crow’s nest since it might reveal their location. While at the base Central pulled some strings to get the second X-com team some equipment, opting to send Rock, Sneaky and one human soldier named Jaever to deal with the cyberdisks .

Inside the base though, Rock Fist had felt uneasy but not let it be revealed to the human who had been watching them. Since they had arrived at the base Rock continuously noticed out of the corner of his eye, while sneaky and Jaever mounted the helicopter, a very old human in a black suit watching the ponies. He held a cane in his old crow like hands, simply standing and watching the ponies, unmoving and with the posture of an old soldier. 

‘Who was he?’ Rock thought when suddenly the Huey picked up speed.

“Closing in on targets, preparing weapons,” said one of the human pilots as the Huey approached a pair of cyberdisks and some Sectoids that oddly seemed to be patrolling at random.

“Get ready!” said Jaever as he looped his arm through the strap for an AT4-law anti tank launcher. He then grabbed his XM9. 

The Huey seemed to have the jump on the aliens as it strafed towards them, rockets ready.

“Lock, firing!” the pilots said and two loud shrieks pierced the air, heading straight for one of the floating discs. They impacted and obliterated the mini UFO. The explosion knocked back several Sectoids but did not bother the other cyberdisk, which unfolded and turned its weapons skywards. 

“Evasive!” shouted the pilot to his co-pilot. The chopper began to move at random to avoid the incoming fire.

“I’m going out!” Sneaky yelled before flying out through the open portion of the helicopter, his hoof mounted laser pistol releasing a comforting high pitched whine as he primed it for firing by pulling back a “slide” on the top of the pistol with his free hoof. He did a barrel roll for a moment to avoid fire and then aimed his laser rifle at the cyberdisk, just as its plasma fire struck the Huey, not once but twice. Once in the cockpit and the other in the tail, blowing off its tail rudder. 

“Mayday! Were going down!” shouted someone inside the chopper as it spun wildly, leaving a smoke trail before finally crashing to the ground.

“Sneaky! Get out of there its too dangerous on your own,” Central said through his comm. 

“No!” Sneaky shouted, panic in his heart, before it was overridden by anger.

“I’m over here you mother buckers!”  he yelled and dashed down to a Sectoid at high speed.

“Sneaky! No, do not engage! That’s an order!” Central shouted as he watched on his screen, Sneaky using himself as a living spear.

“Ramming speed!” The angry Pegasus yelled as loud as he could and slammed into a bewildered Sectoid so hard, its green blood splattered all around when it struck the dirt ground, its bulbous alien head bursting open from the force of the impact.

Quick to not waste an opening sneaky moved to one hoof kneeling position and held up his laser pistol, firing a quick burst of shots at the cyberdisk in its open form. Most of the shots ended up missing but three of them caused sparks to fly from the enemy as it took internal damage and quickly closed up. Sneaky unfurled his wings and was about to take to the sky when three sectoids suddenly rose up from behind him. They fired simultaneously, blasting him three times in his exposed back, forcing him to the ground.

With a cry of pain he fell to the ground and turned to see his lower back, near his tail had been hit, the rounds burning all the way through the armor on his back and leaving a blackened patch of fur on him. 

Sneaky began gasping like a fish out of water as the pain washed over his body. The Sectoids and Cyberdisk were now aiming at him and slowly closing in. 

From many miles away Sectoid 742 watched as his forces closed in on the strange equine. 742 could sense a faint trace of psionic power in it, 742 needed to know more. 742 needed to understand how the humans had bestowed such power to a local animal and given it knowledge. 

As the aliens closed in on Sneaky he could sense that they wished to capture him since they could have killed him if they wanted to. As the Sectoids closed in on him the fear of capture by these monstrous beings gave the Pegasus another burst of energy. With great effort he pushed himself off of the ground, his wings carrying him up and to the crash site of the Huey at such speeds he looked like a blur to the aliens.

“Sne...Sneaky!” Rock Fist coughed as he pulled the humans from the crash, his fur blackened from its usual Gray tone by the smoke. His back ached something fierce as he pulled the last human from the crash. He laid them all together to make sure he had the full crew, the human pilot, was dead, the co pilot was alive but unresponsive. Jaever was bruised and felt pain in his lower back but otherwise alive.

“We need to get moving, call for backup,” Jaever wheezed and grabbed his LAW.

“No. We need to push the attack or else they will knock out more airships,” Rock replied and looked up as Sneaky landed next to them and visibly limped to him.

“Boy!” Rock yelled and ran to the pony, quickly picking him up and moving him to the rest of the group.

“Speak to me!” he shouted in his old training voice by accident.

“Ow! Don’t yell at me, I don’t feel good,” Sneaky said, holding his ears while the sensation of burnt skin made him want to vomit.

“Okay, your fine,” he said, almost stroking the younger pony.


“Sarge, stop fawning over me,” Sneaky said and with a pained hiss he pushed Rock Fist back.

“Sorry,” he said and turned to the human, noticing the launcher.

“What can that do?” he asked while Sneaky examined the Huey, praying to Celestia and Luna that it had a med-kit.

“It can blow up that flying hubcap but I don’t know if I can do it with those Sectoids shooting at me,” he said, the former base security member feeling nervous.

Rock fist paused for a moment to think, adrenaline was rushing through his body and making thoughts difficult but he was able to formulate a plan.

“Sneaky!” the officer pony said and Sneaky, despite the pain, stood at attention instinctively.

“You and me will provide cover while the human fires the mini cannon at the cyberdisk.”

“Understood,” Sneaky said and primed his laser at the same time that Rock Fist did, both ponies moving to some rocks to slow down the cyberdisk. Jaever moved with them, limping slightly as he rubbed his hair, feeling pebbles fall out of it when they spotted the cyberdisk floating towards them in its combat form.

“Now! Draw its fire!” Jaever yelled and took cover near Rock Fist. 

Sneaky and Rock played a game of 'whack- a -pony' as they popped out of cover to take shots at the cyber disk and its Sectoid allies. The Sectoids, who were without cover, where soon taken down by the laser beams of the ponies, giving Jaever his opening.

“Now!” Rock said when he downed the last Sectoid. He watched as Jaever let out a battle cry and stood up holding his small shoulder cannon, when the cyberdisk struck him with its plasma cannons in a full automatic burst.

The Frenchman never had a chance to let out a pained cry as his back exploded from so many plasma shots striking him and burning all the way through his nano-fiber vest and spare Hercules armor. He fell back dead within seconds, his torso a steaming mess of charred organs. The LAW landed by Rock’s feet as Sneaky emptied the contents of his stomach in one long hurl before going back to firing his laser pistol at the Cyberdisc

“Sarge! Do something!” Sneaky shouted in fear while his mentor scrambled to grab the rocket launcher and contact Central, but he only received garbled static. 


-On the highway.


Trixie lay on her back as she enjoyed the smooth ride in the self moving carriage.

‘Once this war is over I may decide to stay here,’ Trixie thought with her eyes closed, she barely considered returning to Equestria when there were so many wonders in this human world. Then at that moment a plasma blast struck one of the van’s front tires, sending the vehicle spinning.

The ponies screamed in fear as Jack tried to keep them from flipping over. They slammed the front side into a rock on the side of the road and their inertia turned them in a way that their van blocked the road. 

“Out! Everyone out!” Lewis yelled, pulling his knife out to cut the airbags that had deployed on him and Jack.

Derpy was the first to get out and looked around the area, unable to see what attacked them, but then one of her eyes moved in a way that only she was capable of doing and she saw an Outsider robot slowly crawling toward them through some long dead bushes, its armor camouflaging it to the area. Its body similar to that of a cockroach in some ways and with a humanoid body. The large crystal in its stomach gave the soldiers a good target to hit.

When Trixie hopped out Derpy pointed to the outsider.

“There it is!” she yelled and Trixie used her magic to send a bolt of electricity at the outsider, shocking it but not killing it. 

“Very well then!” she yelled and held up her laser, firing a blast at it that missed entirely and set a passing tumble weed on fire. Trixie yelped in surprise and fired more rounds, missing the outsider until Jack managed to pull his sidearm out. With a speedy trigger finger he fired the entire pistol clip at the outsider and caused it to fade into energy, defeated. Trixie had been lucky that her bolt of magic electricity had been enough to stun the enemy long enough to keep him disoriented and from firing back at them.

“Central. We’re going to need some backup!” Lewis said. Finally free, he could see more Outsiders coming for them.

Lewis stood near the side of the van and started putting some suppressing fire onto the attacking swarm while Trixie hid with Derpy behind the rock their van had struck, popping herself out of cover to blast both a burst of her magic and a round from her laser pistol. Jack lay prone to the side of the rock, taking his time with the shots to make sure his bullets hit the energy sources of the Outsiders and sent the enemy drones into non-existence.

-Las Vegas.

The truck continued to move through the area, shoving cars out of their way with the strength of its engine. Cotton kept an eye on their current distance from the first target, a local where civilians and police had taken refuge in the attack.

“About one hundred meters, prepare to take the next left,” Cotton said to Ramos while continuously rubbing at the base of his neck. He felt an odd sensation, a strange buzz as if electricity where running through him but he could not figure out why. 

In the back of the truck the other three laser squad members were swinging their weapons around, searching for contacts when Sato caught a quick plasma flash.

“Commander, stop!” Sato yelled and Ramos slammed his foot on the breaks, jostling the group.

“What!?” yelled cotton, holding his rifle in expectance of an attack.

“I think I saw aliens shooting at civilians.” he said.

“Alright, lets pull back and go aid the civies,” Cotton said while Ramos put the truck in reverse. They backed up past several buildings and spotted three civilians trapped inside of a gas station.

“Dammit! Boris, Ramos, stay here and keep the transport safe,” Cotton said, rushing out of the truck and soon joined by the rest of his squad. The X-com agents moved forward in a loose V shape to the aliens, not wanting to blow their cover until they had clear shots.

“Chavivi, set up and take shots,” Cotton whispered and moved forward while Chavivi quickly lay prone on the ground, pulling the bipod for his sniper rifle out to set it up on the ground. He had a fairly clear view of the hostile aliens, three floaters firing down at the civilians trapped inside.

He held his breath as the S.C.O.P.E. activated, following his crosshair to the Floater who was up highest, a green diamond shape closed around the alien and its silhouette glowed for a moment as he heard a reassuring beep from the scope and saw a 76% chance of making a hit. He exhaled and squeezed the trigger.

The shot raced through the air and missed the Floaters body by two inches and instead blew the plasma rifle out of its hand. It turned and roared, causing the other two floaters to scatter. 

“Damn, shot wide!” Chavivi said and watched the counter through his scope decrease to tell him when the cooldown for his weapon was done.

“Crap. Keep moving,” Cotton ordered and he and Sato ran faster to the gas station.

The civilians inside cried out.

“Help! Please, were trapped in here!” 

“Sato, go get them,” Cotton ordered and knelt down in the open to make himself a target.
Cotton aimed his rifle skywards, scanning for the Floaters but they were moving too fast. Sato huffed as he ran to the gas station and past some cars, his boots splashing as he stepped in puddles of fuel. He slammed through the door of the station and rolled on the ground, aiming his rifle out the windows.

“Civilians! X-..uh U.S. army, where are you!?” Sato yelled out, as he remembered X-com was supposed to be secret.

He turned his head around and saw the civilians moving out of cover. A family of three.

“Is there anyone else?” Sato asked and the father shook his head.

“No, it’s just us.” 

Sato looked to where Cotton was.

“Sir, I have the civilians.”

“Bring them out to us, I don’t know if the floaters are gone but we can’t stay near this gas station,” Cotton said as he and Chavivi remained on over watch of the area. Sato turned to the civilians, making sure they were all okay enough to move before speaking.

“Okay, I need you to come with me.”

“Are you kidding? Those things are still out there!” said the mother as her scared child clung to her arms.

“I know, but if we stay in this place it could blow,” Sato said and that seemed enough to convince the family.

“Okay, now I'm going to be right next to you. But you have to run as fast as you can,” Sato said, sweat dripping down his brow as the mother grabbed her child in her arms and the father stepped closer to the door, looking outside for a second as it was eerily quiet. 

“Ready?” Sato asked as he primed his laser rifle and held a thumbs up to Cotton.

The father looked to his wife who nodded and held her child closer to her chest.

“Alright, move!” he yelled and the three began moving at a speed that would make an Olympic sprinter smile. At that moment though the floaters chose to attack, like savage animals going after the defenseless members of a herd. But they had chosen the wrong herd, for this one had wolves in it.

“Contact!” yelled Chavivi and Cotton at the same time as they spotted one floater suddenly speeding to the civilians, its plasma rifle held high. They both moved their sights over it and fired, two beams of red energy hitting the floater. Cotton’s laser rifle was set to R mode, sending a shorter but faster  beam out that struck the floater in his chest, slowing him down for a focused blast from Chavivi that made the floater explode in midair.

“Keep moving!” Sato yelled as he stood to the right of the family, just as they were about pass Cotton a plasma rifle fired and Sato instinctively shoved the mother and father down, taking three hits to himself. Two in his chest and one in his leg. He fell to the ground from the force of the impact as the child the mother was holding cried out in fear.

“Trooper down!” Cotton yelled and took three rapid fire shots at the floater, making it tumble to the ground with its engines on fire. The floater screamed in horrible agony as whatever fuel it used to stay in the air coated its body and burnt it alive.

“Medic! Medic!” Cotton yelled out by instinct, even though Sato was in fact their medic, as he moved to the fallen trooper while the family got up and continued runnning. 

“Sato!” he yelled and grabbed the soldier by his armor, pulling him by the collar to where Chavivi was. At the same time his HUD was getting a reading on the trooper. He still had a pulse.

He lay Sato down by Chavivi who was covering the family and looked down to Sato who began to move, groaning.

“Sato, say something soldier, that’s an order!” Cotton shouted while grabbing Sato’s own med-kit.

“A…ouch ,” he said through a laugh, a crater had been burnt into his leg armor but he was not injured, his chest armor was scorched black where the plasma had hit him but he was otherwise intact.

“You lucky bastard,” Cotton said and returned the med-kit to Sato’s pack before helping the man up.

“The force from the impact will probably hurt for a while,” he grunted and took back his rifle, seeing the family looking at him with gratitude in their eyes.

“No time for chitchat. There is still one more and we need to move,” Chavivi said and the group was on the move again. The three X-com agents forming a triangle around the family as they ran back to the truck.


-At the truck.

Boris was aiming his heavy laser in the direction Cotton and the civilians were coming from to give them cover if they had pursuers. This caused him not to notice as the last remaining floater glided slowly towards him from behind, it had decided to go for a stealthier approach since it had no plasma weapons. The alien’s talons were at the ready to slit the human’s throat from behind. It floated over a car and was nearly to the truck when it heard human speech.

“Bang! You’re dead!” Ramos shouted after he jumped out of his hiding spot behind a bus stop before he pulled the trigger and a shotgun like laser blast obliterated the floater’s head, its body simply collapsed limp and its engines deactivated.

“Score!” Ramos said, doing a quick moonwalk before getting back into the driver’s seat of the truck.

“What was that shot!?” Chavivi yelled as they and the civilians arrived, Boris already opening the back of the truck to let them in and lending them a hand to climb on up.

“Oh just cleaning up the air,” Ramos replied as the civilians were accommodated into the truck, looking around in amazement at the X-com troopers, their shining silver and blue colors and weapons making them look like robots.

“Who are you?” one of them asked and Boris turned back.

“Your rescuers,” he said and returned to manning his MG while the truck started.

“Alright now, Ramos take us to the shelter so we can evacuate the civies,” Cotton said and with a roar the truck began moving again, heading to its intended destination.

‘This might not be so bad. So far it seems we are kicking ass, but we should be more careful…and…..’ Cotton’s thoughts drifted as if he had just woken up. His mind felt hazy and his readout began to drop and then rise again.

“Commander? Hey Commander!” Ramos yelled, shaking cotton’s arm.

“Uh..yeah?” he said, shaking himself out of his trance but still feeling something, a sense of foreboding.

“You alright? Your vitals where wigging out.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Cotton said but could not shake the fear he had now, if he had been a dog his tail and ears would have been tucked. 

As the powerful truck roared past a deserted looking garage, the vibrations and sound disturbed a being that was in the midst of feeding. The sound of clicking arose from the garage after the X-com truck had passed by, angering the monster as it fed. The inside of the building was like something out of a nightmare. The bodies of the workers that had been there were not just sliced to pieces, but torn and ripped and devoured. A tall and skeletal form hunched over as it picked up the body of its latest victim, pulling at both its arms and legs until in a splash of gore and blood, it tore the corpse in half by its waist. The monster looked like a demented man’s image of what a crab human would look like, bipedal with arms that ended in terrifyingly sharp pincers. The Alpha Chryssalid scooped up the dead human’s intestines and began lifting it to its face, a face that bore a horrifying eternal grin. The alpha continued eating and using its claws to scoop up blood and drink its fill until it heard the high pitch squeal and resulting pop of three of its offspring being born. 

The Alpha Chryssalid turned to the newborns of lower breeding. Its four legged children crawled out to it, of the same height but colored more brightly, pinkish, like the prey they were born from. The alpha maintained its large grin as it reached out its pincers and grabbed onto both arms  of one of its own newborns, tearing off the thin arms of its own young as it sought to feed its endless hunger and pounced upon its child while the other two moved away to allow their alpha to feed, there would always be time to breed, but right now the alpha was hungry as it stuffed its face with more food, its small black beady black eyes never blinking, and never stopping.


-Meanwhile in Equestria, specifically Stalliongrad, at the home of Sneaky's parents.

Brick layer grumbled as he threw another bottle of cider into the trashcan inside of his shed before he grabbed a hammer in his hoof, never once wondering how it was possible for ponies to pick things up as he hammered a nail into the remains of his son's old crib, trying to fix the grave mistake he had made.

How could I do something so stupid? He wondered to himself as he got up from his project and walked outside, feeling like he needed a break. The red Earth pony looked like a mess, he had massive bags under his eyes from sleepless nights and arguments with his wife who claimed she could feel that Sneaky was alive somewhere, while Brick thought he knew better and that whatever vortex that had been opened up had devoured his son and sent him to the black abyss of death, which then led to an argument over Sneaky's soul which Light Feather said would be safe in the afterlife and cared for by celesita and luna while Brick said that was all a lie the monarchs said so the populace would not be angered by the princes's immortality while they were all destined to die.

Brick paced aorund the lawn of his empty home, Light Breeze had told him that she needed a break for a while and went to live with her parents for a few days.

"Im sorry baby." Brick said and denied himself tears or pain as he walked to the front of his home and to the memorial for his son that had been left by the concerned and grateful citizens of Stalliongrad. A photo of Sneaky lay against the front step of their home with countless flowers and candles around it, all the candles were long melted, the flowers were wilted and the photo showed signs of being left in the rain. Brick wanted to grab the photo now as the clouds hung overhead and it seemed to be ready to turn into a rainy afternoon.

Brick layer let out a sigh and walked over to the picture and was begining to clean things up when he blinked and noticed something terrible and frightening. The picture of sneaky had changed and the image of Brick's son was gone, instead the image was of the evil one, of Discord.

"w...w..what!?" Brick cried out and took several steps back as the image on the paper moved and his terrible laugh echoed all around Brick. Discord then climbed out of the photo and soon floated upright infront of Brick, towering over him.

"awww whats the matter? Miss your little boy?" DIscord said as he snapped his fingers and conjured up a photo of sneaky and holding it mockingly over Brick as he tried to jump up and take it from Discord in an act of defiance.

"Give that to me you manure eater!" 

"Oh im so hurt!" Discord said mockingly and held an arm over his eyes as if he were hiding tears and then smiled as he held the photo up.

"But I bet this hurts more." Discord said as the picture burst into flames and Brick watched in horror as the image of his son was engulfed in flames. While he had other photos, that one picture was one of the few most recent ones of his son, before he dissapeared.

"No! Why are you doing this!?" Brick shouted, feeling a horrible pain in his heart.

Discord shrugged and dropped the flaming picture to the ground as if it were a used napkin.

"I just feel like being a bastard this morning." He said with a shrug and a smile then snapped his fingers and the world seemed to suddenly blow away from Discord and Brick as they were transported to another plane.

"Down to buisness." Discord rubbed his hands together and looked to Brick who was trying to find out where he was and looking around rapidly.

"Do you want to see your son again?" Discord simply said and Brick froze where he was.

"wh....what?"

"Do...you...want....to...see.. your...son...again?" Discord said again, emphasizing every word.

"Y.....yes...more than anything...." Brick said and felt the tears roll down from his face as Discord conjured up a chair and the two were surrounded by darkness as the chair Discord sat upon became a throne.

"More than anything?" discord mumbled so low that Brick could not hear.

"I can give you your son back, he will be returned to you without problem or delay to boot. No strings, he will be returned." Discord said and crossed the part of his chest where his hear would have been and proceeded to conjure himself a champagne glass and a cuban cigar.

"P..please." Brick said as Discord licked his lips of the champagne and lit the cigar with a snap of his fingers before he chewed it like it was a candy bar.

"in exchange I want only three things. First no more worhsipping of Celesita or Luna." Discord said and held up one finger. Brick nodded since he did not pray to them anyway.

"Second, I need you to cause trouble from time to time, nothing special just some broken windows, a dumpster on fire or two." Brick gulped at that one but nodded, thinking he could handle that, he would just make sure to call the fire department after he did so.

"and third, your soul." Discord said and laughed with such glee as he flapped his wings in his throne and a contract appeared before Brick, with the last lines written. 'To be signed in blood.'.

"What?" brick gasped out as now he felt unsure about the deal.

Discord then leaned forward from his throne and pointed his index finger that was from a lion's paw and made a movement for him to come closer, but Brick had no choice as Discord's power pulled him closer.

"Your, soul." Discord said with a horrible smile as all Brick could see was fire around him and ashes raining from the sky, Discord's horrible red eyes glowing like lava as he leaned in closer and closer to the soldier pony who felt seconds away from soiling himself.

"I...I........I..." Brick Layer repeated as Discord hovered a knife and the contract before him.

"One brief moment of pain, and you can have your boy back." He said and the contract hung closer to him as Brick felt sweat run across his body as the fire's intensity increased and Discord suddenly lashed out and grabbed his right hoof, holding it over the contract which now floated under his extended arm while discord held the knife.

"One brief moment of pain, and you and your son can be together forever and ever." Discord repeated and let Brick go but continued to hold the contract and knife.

"Just reach out and give me your hoof, freely and of your own choice." The monarch of chaos and disorder said as he used a thumb to cover up very small, fine print on the contract.

"........Forever?...I'l have my boy back?" Brick asked.

"Im sure your wife will be so happy, she will probably move back in with you." Discord smiled impossibly wide as Brick slowly began to reach out his hoof.

"Give your soul to me, for eternity. Take your place inside the fires of Tartarus with me!" Discord said, almost singing the words as he winked an eye to you, his viewing audience. 

"I........" Brick began and pulled back his hoof, changing his mind on the deal.

"Fine." Discord said with a displeased voice and expression as he held the knife in an upright position and with a sideways movement swung the blade at Brick Layers throat, his smile frighteningly happy.

Brick layer gagged and was thrown back by the force of Discord's swing as he held his throat, feeling the same sharp, fiery pain he did when his back hooves had been sliced when he was a soldier and the exact same fear.

Soon all he could see was discord standing over him with the contract. 

"Sign it." Discord said in a booming demonic voice as he held the contract closer.

"Buck....you...you bastard......go...burn in tarta....rus..." Brick struggled to get the words out as he lost sensation in his body.

"Youre no fun." was all discord said before he twirled the knife in a downwards position to do a downwards stab.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!!" Brick layer woke up screaming at the top of his lungs inside of his shed, many bottles of 'Cider' around him and a Sneaky's crib completely fixed on a table, so well done in fact that it seemed to be as good as the first day Brick placed Sneaky into it, even some of the cracks that Brick was sure he would not be able to fix were nice and repaired.

Brick layer quickly picked himself off of the floor and rushed to find a nearby reflective piece of metal and looked to his throat, perfectly intact.

"it was just a nightmare...hahahaha just a dream." Brick said and looked to all the bottles around him, and felt utter shame. 

He then growled and scooped the bottles up to throw them all in the trash, even the ones he had not finished or even opened yet.

"I'm cleaning my act up." he said and turned for a moment to look at the the completed crib and smiled.

"I love you son." he said and left to go dump the bottles then to shave his 5-o'clock shadow.


Discord sipped some tea with a monocle over one eye as he looked to you.

"What? I said I felt like being a bastard this morning, not that I wanted to hurt anyone. Besides, I did him a free favor by fixing that crib he broke. Anyway see you next time folks."

He laughed and all but his eyes faded into the darkness before they winked at you and faded as well with the end of this chapter.
> Skeletons in the closet.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 15: Skeletons in the closet.


-Region outside of Area 51. 

“Incoming!” Rock shouted as he ducked his head from a plasma blast.

“Sarge! We need help, that flying dinner plate is too strong for us!” Sneaky shouted, not so much from not being heard but because he had agitated the burn on his back by ducking for cover and was still riding a neon wave of pain.

“I know! But I can’t reach Central!” Rock shouted while repeatedly pressing his hoof to his earpiece to get a signal.

The cyberdisc approached them slowly with a hum from its body as it jammed their signals. Sectoid 742 had no interest in allowing these interesting specimens to escape.

“I can’t fire this bucking cannon on my own!” Rock shouted to no one in particular as he moved the large green tube around to find the mechanism to fire it. 

'Why couldn't this be a fuse like a regular cannon?' Rock grumbled mentally. 

“Look out, grenade!” Sneaky shouted when the cyberdisc used its long tail that resembled a metallic spinal cord  to lob an explosive at his position, landing in front of the rock he was using to keep safe. Sneaky jumped for cover, being showered with pebbles and sand just seconds later.  The compression shock left his ears ringing.

“ Buck it all!” Rock said and looked at the rocket launcher, its green cylindrical form difficult for the pony to hold. Until he shouldered it and kneeled down on one leg, figuring it out little by little.

“I hope the arrow means this is where the cannon ball comes out!” Rock said as he came out from hiding and aimed at the cyberdisc, his free hoof feeling all around for the firing mechanism.

The cyberdisc was busy approaching Sneaky who was crawling away on all fours, his wings flapping hopelessly as he couldn’t focus on flying.

“Sarge! Shoot it!” he yelled as it came closer and closer.

Rock managed to finally find what he hoped was the firing mechanism and was rewarded when he was blown back by the force of the LAW launching its explosive ordinance right at the cyberdisc.

The alien machine had its compartments open making it more vulnerable as the anti-tank round slammed into the side of what would have been considered its ‘head’, blowing a sizeable portion of it to bits. The disc slammed into the sand below it with sparks flying free from it like fireworks as Sneaky cheered.

“Great job, Sarge!” Sneaky shouted as he ran over to his mentor and hugged him, panting heavily as well as squeezing Rock harder from the pain in his back and using him for support.

“Its over, boy.” Rock said as he then heard his earpiece click.

“Rock, Sneaky, can you hear me now?” Central shouted.

“Central, the area is secure, but the airship was shot down and we need doctors here now. Get doctor Mbutu to prepare the healing tubes.” Rock said and helped Sneaky crawl onto his back.

“Understood, the rest of the group on the road is too far away for you to be any help, another helicopter is on the way. Just stay there and keep the area secure.”

“You sure, sir?” Sneaky asked while Rock Fist carried him on his back over to the direction the crashed Huey was located.

“How are the others doing?” Sneaky continued.

“Don’t you worry about them, help is on the way.”



-Groom Lake Road, 16 miles from Area 51.

“Tangos, right!” Lewis shouted as two more Outsiders charged their flank, trying to get past Jack and the ponies.

“I got them!” Jack said and stood up, firing three round bursts while Trixie prepared to bring up a shield to protect him like she did in Brazil. But before she could a plasma bolt struck Jack in his unprotected inner thigh where there was no armour. He was knocked off of his feet and landed on the ground on his back, dropping his rifle and holding his injured leg instinctively.

Jack let out an agonized scream, the plasma round would have nearly burned completely through his leg, had it not been for the small nano-fibers sewn between the plates of his armour.

“I have you,” Trixie said reassuringly and transported him with a spell right to Derpy’s side with a bright flash.

“The great and powerful Trixie would never abandon an ally!” she said pride fully, accidentally poking her head out of cover for just a mere second as she held her nose up in triumph, but that was all the enemy drones needed to get a shot out.

Before Trixie could duck back into cover, her hat was blown off of her head when a green flash of light burned right through the hat and the feeling of something zooming over her caused her to fall down.

She cried out in pain as Lewis provided covering fire and lobbed a grenade at the outsider before ducking down next to her, quickly dropping a nearly spent magazine and slapping a fresh one into the receiver.

“Trixie?” He said and watched the pony get up and gasp as she saw her father’s hat smouldering on the ground with a gaping hole in it.

“No! Daddy’s hat!” she cried out and slammed her hooves down onto the hat to snuff out any embers on it. She then rubbed her forehead in disbelief, only to pause while her blue face to turn deathly pale.

“No, my hair!” Trixie shouted as she fell back and aggressively slapped at her head after she finally noticed the sizzling sound and eye watering stench of burnt hair. Not wasting time she pulled out her vanity mirror and screamed as she saw the tuft of hair that usually hung before her eyes was completely gone.


-Crow’s nest.

Central watched the screens as the second half of Talon squad came under fire and it seemed that both Jack and Trixie had been injured. At the same time he was speaking to someone in Area 51.

“Don’t bullshit me! You must have all kinds of weapons there and my people are in danger, we need support,” he shouted into his phone as he tried to get the base to send something to the Talon Squad.

“We already gave you a van, a helicopter and two pilots. I am starting to believe aiding you is a bad idea. How many more resources are you going to waste?” an older voice said over the phone as he sat in his private office. The speaker of the council watched images of the ponies and humans on the highway being slowly approached by several groups of Outsiders. His hand tapping the table where the image was, his mind wandering to years gone by before he forced himself to return.

“Besides, we are more than capable of dealing with the threat now that you have decreased it,” the old man said.

Central slammed his fist down onto his desk.

“I don’t give a shit if you can handle the threat when it gets to you. If we don’t do something my troopers are going to die,” he said, gasping for air as he felt tired of arguing.

The man on the other line remained silent, the veins in his old, balding scalp pulsing with thoughts and memories as his mind flashed back to another era, long ago before the internet, before the moon landing.

 “We need air support! Send us an airstrike or a helicopter, anything!” the man had shouted into a small mouthpiece that was attached to the radio equipment on the back of a man who had been under his command before his legs had been burnt off by a death ray from one of the enemie’s black obelisks. The obsidian colored machine hovering over head as it fired beams of energy all around the small town the aliens had decided to invade.

He and his men had were huddled behind an overturned car, his second in command firing a Thompson sub machine gun while his sniper applied a tourniquet to his own leg. The M14 in the man’s hands feeling heavier with each passing second.

“We cannot provide aid for risk of collateral damage. You and your men will have to eliminate the target on your own,” the overpaid bean counter in D.C. said before hanging up.

The old man rubbed his eyes as the memory faded away and his gaze remained on the holographic image of the strange horse with wings trying to seal off the bleeding wound from the man who had been struck in the leg. In a flash the man raised the cell-phone to his lips and with a different tone, he gave his response.

“I have changed my mind. I will have my men send up a drone to eliminate the Outsiders, tell them to stay in cover, the strike will be dangerously close,” the old man said and hung up before redialling the head of security.

Central quickly contacted Talon Squad.

“Talon Squad, get ready to take cover, were sending a drone to take out those rust buckets.” Central moved over to another screen to check on Rock and Sneaky, ironically a Super Stallion helicopter had gone to aid them, both pilots had been recovered, and they were currently all on route to Area 51 where the ponies would use the secret tunnel to travel back to the Crow’s nest.


-Area 51. 

The old man watched from his office as the  Predator drone took off from the base and flew en route to the combat zone, yet more memories stirring in the former soldier’s mind. Of a time when people thought they could sleep with their doors unlocked and let their children run free without supervision. When the boogey men feared the men in black, feared The Bureau. 

The predator drone flew over the battle field like a large metal bird. Its mechanical eye spying targets for its controllers back at the base it had been launched from. Once the targets had been spotted and marked the predator operator aimed for the areas of highest enemy concentration before dropping three hellfire missiles on the Outsiders, who were far too close to each other for their own good.  

The speaker of the council rubbed his chin absentmindedly as he wondered if it would have been better to make such things standard for all X-COM bases and not just the larger command bases, such as NORAD.

The explosions kicked up mushroom clouds of dust, the shockwave tossing the Outsiders like toys as the X-com team was obscured by smoke, the vehicle they had been given shaking on its wheels from the shockwaves. The sight of his old enemies being slaughtered, brought a smile to the man’s face. The man may have been old but his eyes were still sharp, he caught the form of an outsider running through the smoke at high speed and jumping over their van, turning its gun on the humans and ponies crowded together, but hesitating.

“Impossible,” the man said as he watched the machine pause for a full five seconds before someone hit it with a burst of electricity, knocking it down and making it revert to a crystalline form.

“Curious,” he said and watched the ponies and one uninjured human scramble to make sure the area was secure. The man crossed his legs while raising his cane to press a button on the screen, listening in on their transmission.

“Central, we uh, well we just stunned an outsider,” Lewis transmitted through his helmet radio.

“It looks like some of the gems we have back home,” Derpy said as on the screen the Pegasus walked around the glowing crystal and picked up a nearby stick to poke at it.

“Understood, pick up is on the way. Do not touch it, it may be radioactive or give off something that we don’t know about yet.” Central replied and gave an order to the super stallion to wait for his containment team to meet it and recover the artefact.

The old man smiled and let out a weak huff, a laugh of amusement. He then shut off the screen and rose to leave his room, making sure to collect an old fedora hat on his desk and to straighten the name tag on his desk. ‘William Carter’. 

The base had changed greatly since his old days in the Bureau. Where there was once concrete and lead there was now metal and steel. Where once there had been carbon tubes were now microchips. Where before the latest weapon was a gun, missile or better radar system, there were now viruses, lasers and stealth craft. 

Things changed all around the old man all the time. But there were always constants that were rooted firmly into the ground, and secrets rooted under it. 

Carter walked past several personnel who said not a single word to him. They knew of his reputation and of the rumours around him, which seemed to be truer now with current events.

The running joke among the staff, which they thought the old man did not know about, was that the Men In Black series had been inspired by true events. Oh how right they had been, Carter was part of a squad that later became called ‘The Majestic 12’, because it went through 12 highly trained operatives through the course of the hidden war. Twelve of the best men Carter had ever had the honour of serving with.

The man moved past the many off-the-record projects being built, he could not care less at the moment, ignoring even the usual salutes and greetings from his staff as he travelled to the most restricted section of the base. He entered a long hallway that looked like a time capsule to the late 60s, early 70s. everything preserved and untouched since its original use, save for the two heavily armed guards standing near the end of the hallway on either side of an elevator door with weapons trained on him, even though he had done this before.

'Good, they always follow protocol.' Carter thought and continued to walk down the hallway, his shoes echoing on the linoleum floors as his own reflection followed him down the path to his past. He spoke his secure command phrase to the soldiers before they allowed him passage. He pressed another code into a keypad behind one soldier and waited until the door opened. He entered an elevator that travelled down with a loud groan, like a bear in pain as it went down one more floor to a large basement full of furnaces, and an old acquaintance.

He walked past many old furnaces that had rusted away and left little evidence of their purpose so deep into the ground, pausing for a moment at one that held a long destroyed bicycle inside of it. He ignored whatever thoughts where in his mind and continued on to the very end of this other hallway, to a large metal door, similar to the kind one would find in a bank. He produced a single key and after inserting it, began turning it in specific ways, awakening the old mechanisms inside until there was a final click and the large door gently opened. 

Inside the vault was a large glass cage perpendicular to the door, built into the wall several feet from the entrance. Its entire front side had a curtain that covered all but the middle portion, for the prisoner inside to see who it spoke to.

On the other side of the room was a guard who stood at immediate attention, knocking over a chess table next to him. 

“Sir,” the guard said as the old man entered.

“You know there is supposed to be no contact with the prisoner,” he said, but smiled.  “But if I were stuck here I would probably do the same. Leave us, soldier.” Carter said and waited until the guard was outside the door to pull it closed and walk to the table the guard had been. With a loud screech he pulled the old metal chair over to the glass cage that would have held Hannibal Lector in a Hollywood movie.

The man sat down in the chair and stared at the glass as whatever was inside had broken the light source in the cell long ago.

“It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” 

The unknown being did not respond, nor did it make any noise. But Carter knew it was there, he sensed it.

“We need to talk, Robby.” He said, using the nickname the being inside hated. 

“Do not call me that, you filth.” A voice echoed from the cage, sounding as if they were speaking into a metal soup can while underwater.

“Oh I’m sorry, Robby. Forgive me old fleshy brain. It gets so hard to remember that a freak like you has feelings, Robby,” he said and did not flinch when the being inside slammed against its cage.

“I will outlive you and every other organic bacteria farm on this planet,” its voice echoed and it returned to moving around the cage.

“Yes, I know. But listen, unit 24601.I have evidence to believe that you are the last of your kind.”

“You told me the same when you first defeated us, you stupid short lived bag of puss.”

“You know they say that profanity is the product of an unsophisticated mind ,” the old man said and smiled, holding his smile when 24601 did not reply.

“But this time it is for real. You see, we are under attack again, but not by just your kind. In fact they seem to be serving others.” He said and remained silent to let the words sink in and be processed.

“You body temperature, tone and other signs say you are not lying.”

“I know. Your kind appears to be used as cannon fodder, wholesale slaughter. It’s almost like we use your kind for target practice now,” he said and felt his ears ring when unit 24601 slammed violently against his cage, creating an uncomfortable screeching sound as its claws scrapped hopelessly against the glass.

“Who!? Tell me you, damn human! Tell me so that I may rend them to pieces and salt their world a thousand times over so that it may never support life!” it yelled.

“We are not exactly sure, but they seem to have enslaved other races and done the same. Turned them into mindless drones to do their bidding.” 

The alien inside the cage remained silent for a time until it tapped an old talon three times against its glass.

“You humans have a saying, about the enemy of your enemy. I find it quite appropriate for the moment. If you would just release me, or give me access to a laboratory, I would be glad to aid you.”

“No can do. You are staying here, a consultant only. End of discussion,” Carter said and rose from his chair as the last alien he ever captured shouted and lobbed endless curses and promises of death at him. He did not care and simply left the room to return to his office, knowing the desperate creature would cooperate, one way or another.

> Intermission2: a special message
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intermission 2: A special message.

Discord sighs and rubs the bridge of his large equine like nose.

“Good evening everyone. I am afraid to say that we will be experiencing some technical difficulties. Namely the writer is going to be very sick in the coming week and will only be able to write when he gets out of the hospital. Or if the doctors say he is well enough to have a laptop or some other manner of internet capable device. But the writer feels bad and has decided to give you not only the longest chapter yet, but also a double update. So dont go complaining that there are mistakes in either chapter because he finished them and posted them at 2 am and he has to be at the hospital by 11 am. Be grateful."

Discord then pulls out a newspaper to help him wait for the next time he appears.

“In the meantime enjoy the tale of a once cruel and sinful man becoming a hero.  Followed soon after by the end of the terror mission.”

-China, off the coast of Hong Kong.

The newest agent of China’s Xcom branch, Shaojie Zhang, let his fist slam repeatedly into the face of a Thin man as he had dropped his XM9 when he ran out of magazines for it. 

The thin man gurgled its green blood from its mouth as it weakly tried to reach a hand out to either defend itself or plead for mercy; it did not matter because Zhang rolled away from the injured alien infiltrator and pulled out his sidearm, the same H&K VP.70. that he had used when killing his first Sectoid, and when he first joined the Triad and had to kill a man as proof of his loyalty. Zhang still could see the fear in the man's eyes as he was shot by a teenage Zhang.
.
Zhang fired the pistol three times, hitting the Thin man the same number of times in its head. When it died it dispelled a foul poison gas but Zhang was already a safe distance away.

“Bastard.” Zhang said, spitting in the general direction of the alien as he got up. The Xcom team had allowed him and his two trusted guards to join them, though it was not as if they had much choice. With an alien battleship flying overhead they needed all the help they could get.

All around Zhang were the bodies of the “People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces”. China’s Special Forces. They had joined the Xcom team in assaulting the alien battleship which was somewhat similar in design to an aircraft carrier.

The teams had landed on the ship through rapid transport with 2 Skyrangers. It was almost their own version of D-day. The 14 Chinese Special Forces soldiers moved out with four X-com soldiers. 

The battle had been intense, men screaming, bleeding and dying as they were set upon from all sides by thin gray aliens with no mouths and tall skinny human like aliens. It was like a scene from hell with body parts flying around but the job was nearly complete, only 2 alien power generators remained, with the rest having been destroyed or deactivated. 

Zhang forced himself to stand up as he lifted his injured body off the metal floor of the alien battleship. His gaze shifted around to see one of his guards by the name of Tao. 

“Tao, can you move?” Zhang called out as he slapped a new magazine into his pistol, his XM9 long discarded since it was empty and they were running low on time.

“Yes, my neck hurts but I’m fine.” Tao said as he stood up and examined himself, some large green brute of an alien had lobbed a grenade him, Tao’s life had been saved because three of the Chinese soldiers in front of him had absorbed most of the blast.

“What was that thing?” Tao asked as he made sure his helmet was secure, while wondering why Zhang opted not to wear one, then he remembered the answer, Zhang embraced death.

“No idea, but we are out of time Tao, if we don’t take out those last two power generators this thing will make a full course correction and head right back to Hong Kong.” Zhang said as he forced himself to look over a small wall of the ship and saw in the distance Hong Kong already burning from the first pass that the ship had made, dropping aliens down into the city, as well as blasting its guns at any form of defense. Everything from police stations to hospitals to fire departments, the aliens wanted nothing getting in the way of their destructive assault.

“I know.” Tao said and felt an amazing wave of relief as he saw his machine gun was still intact. He hefted it up and looked over his shoulder to see his rocket launcher, an M3 Recoilless rifle, as it was called. Or just the Carl Gustav Launcher.

Tao inspected it and found only a high explosive round that was already loaded into the weapon, but no matter where he looked he could not find the shrapnel round, or “the shredder” as someone had painted on the side of it.

“We need to get moving.” Zhang said with all seriousness as he collected the grenades from the nearby bodies of fallen humans, taking the time to make sure he grabbed a flare gun that was the signal to pick them up before the ship fell out of the sky with its last power nodes offline. As Zhang holstered the flare gun he also made sure to step on the necks of any aliens close to them to make sure they were dead. Tao did the same.

“I guess we should find ourselves blessed, at least the other team succeeded in planting the devices to draw the ship off course.” Zhang said and tried the earpiece on his left ear.

“Commander can you hear me?” Zhang asked, when he received no response he tapped his earpiece and tried again before turning to Tao.

“I'll try.” He said, understanding what Zhang wanted before he even asked. Despite his effort there was no signal, something the aliens had seemed to be jamming human communications.

“It must be hell on the ground.” Tao said while he picked up his MG, a regular ballistic one since the laser weapons had all gone to the teams already on the ground.

Zhang held his VP close to his chest as he moved over to one of the large energy doors, taking a position on one side, before waving Tao over. Tao took his time coming over since all the weight on his body slowed him down and he did not want to injure his ankles or back before the final battle. As Tao walked over he began wondering absentmindedly what he had done to cause fate to make him a heavy weapons soldier again.

Tao had served a tour in the Chinese army previously and afterwards promised never to do so again. Tao took his position on the opposite side of the door, nodding to Zhang who slammed his fist into the strange holographic button that was always at the center of every energy door.

It deactivated with a loud electric noise as Zhang rushed through, being able to move the swiftest of the two. He rolled across the smooth alien metal floor until he felt his back press against one of the alien computer consoles. He was lucky to take cover when he did, for one of the Empire’s combat clones had sighted him and opened fire with its heavy plasma rifle. Large bolts of green plasma slammed into the computer next to Zhang, causing it to let out a blaring alarm before finally melting from the heat of the weapon.

“Tao! I need cover fire.” Zhang cried out and watched his friend pop out of his cover on the other side of the door way and step through, holding the trigger to the machine gun down as he slowly made his way over to Zhang.

The large alien was covered from head to toe in metallic green armor, its large hands and arms big enough to beat a bear to death with and crush the life out of any man. The large hulking beast was knocked down by the flurry of high velocity rounds from Tao’s weapon, but it soon got back up and rolled to cover behind one of the cylindrical power nodes. Firing wildly from its cover as green blood that almost glowed with an otherworldly hue leaked from the large alien’s chest, in a river, only to pool near its feet.

“Zhang! Go get the other power node!” Tao yelled and kept up the continuous stream of suppressive fire to keep the enemy combatant from moving. 

Zhang wasted no time and sprinted straight for the power node that was opposite the one the alien soldier was hiding behind. With a leap Zhang narrowly avoided a plasma round that seemed to have come out from nowhere, just barely missing Zhang’s head, and making him thankful for his short white hair that wasn’t on fire. Once in cover he pulled one of the grenades from his belt and with a quick movement of his fingers he removed the pin from the grenade and watched the spoon fly off, the grenade fully prepared to detonate. 

“Fire in the hole!” Zhang cried out and lobbed the fragmentation grenade to where he thought the shots had come from. He was rewarded by the death cry of a Sectoid.

“Zhang! Hurry I’m almost out!” Tao yelled as loud as he could as he fired his MG from the hip, trying his best to keep the large alien soldier and two Thin men down. The two thin men were different than many of their brethren. These had very green skin, no wigs to cover their bald heads and no sunglasses to cover their bright reptilian eyes. For clothing they wore brightly colored red skin tight jumpsuits that made it fairly obvious that the thin men in fact had no gender. 
“Just hold on!” Zhang said as he forced open a small panel in the glowing power node, praying he did not get a deadly electric shock.

“Running low!” he yelled and kept firing, the barrel of his gun producing some steam as it glowed red from being fired continuously. 

“Almost…got it!” Zhang said as he felt the vibration of energy coming from the machine simply cease and the ship lurch slightly before righting itself. But the sudden movement cause Tao to lose his aim, the barrel of his heavy weapon firing into the air, giving the enemy soldier time to take a lethal shot.

The alien that would later be dubbed a ‘Muton’, rose out of cover and with the precision of a combat veteran, fired a three round burts of shots that soared through the air and struck Tao directly in his face, vaporizing his head and ending his life in a split second.

Tao’s headless body fell to its knees, dropping its weapon before finally laying lifeless on the ground as the charred stump of his its neck sizzled from the plasma damage.

“No!” Zhang cried out in fury as he saw one of the few from his old triad life who had sided with him die before his very eyes.

“Bastards!” Zhang yelled and stood up form cover, pulling out another grenade as he ran over to the Muton, leaping on top of the power node and onto the Muton with a single bound, thanking years of exercise and running from police when he was nothing but an orphan boy on the streets.

The alien soldier roared and flailed his body around as the human climbed upon its body. Zhang wasted no time and prepared to use his final grenade.

“Say, ah!” Zhang yelled and pulled the pin with his thumb before slamming the grenade into the neck armor of the alien, making sure it was nice and stuck in.

Zhang kicked himself away from the Muton and watched as it roared and grabbed at its own neck, seconds before it exploded in a gush of gore that rained down upon Zhang, the Muton's headless body fell to the ground with a thud as it leaked fluids like a headless chicken. Zhang rose to his feet in a flash and held up his pistol.

He expected to see plasma fire coming to end his life, but instead he saw the Thin men, the last two of the alien crew retreating deeper into the ship, retreating in fear of the savage human.

“You two are lucky.” Zhang spat in the alien's direction as he walked over to Tao and nodded his head in respect, wishing his friend a peaceful rest in the afterlife if there was one.

With a tug he removed the flare gun from his hip and then fired it into the air. A green trail of smoke went up into the air, the signal for pick up after a mission complete. Zhang grabbed the Carl Gustav launcher from Tao’s corpse so that he could blow the last power node before the Sky ranger arrived. He ran to the highest point available, some type of tower that Zhang could not discern its purpose but wouldn’t complain. He aimed though the scope of the launcher and held off on pressing the trigger for a moment.

“Sleep well with the fish.” He said and  pulled the trigger, the recoil of the launcher was next to none as the rocket raced out of the launcher and slammed into the power node, creating an explosion that rocked the whole ship as it lost power, and soon began falling out of the sky and straight down.

Within minutes of the ship falling from the sky a Skyranger flew overhead, with a loud mechanical roar the plane hovered above Zhang and the co-pilot reached a hand down to held Zhang up, when on the plane he made a hand sign to the co-pilot, telling him to take the plane away. It sped away at high speed from the falling enemy ship that soon began sinking like the titanic, deep into the ocean.

Zhang only watched in silence, thinking of all those lost not only in his own home or on the alien ship, but everywhere, it made him feel weak, but that would soon be rectified, as in the distance he saw helicopters and ships racing to the crash zone to find whatever scrap and salvage they could from the downed alien battleship. Before the doors to the Skyranger closed completely Zhang took a moment to look up into the stars and smiled.

“We’ll be coming for you soon enough.” He said, promising to even the casualty numbers with the aliens.


> Terror's end.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chap 16: Terror’s end.


-Crow’s nest. Engineering wing.

Doctor Shen darted quickly among his engineers, doing his best to ensure that his presence was calming and helped his workers with their projects. He turned away from two pony sized Vita-tanks and walked over to one of his engineers named Hammond, a born and raised Texan who was eager to work all day. Shen would find Hammond working in the engineering workshop, along with a few others, late at night, fine tuning the combat team’s weapons to be just right. If it was broken or out of tune, one would usually find Hammond working on it eventually.

“Hammond, are the S.H.I.V.s ready?” Shen asked as he travelled over to Hammond who stood with two other engineers, one of which was underneath the robotic combat drone with a blowtorch.

The SHIV was a new version of old and defunct prototypes for robot combat drones on the ground. It carried a short minigun that could fire the standard NATO 5.56 round. The minigun allowing it to fire at a near constant rate. Its gun was connected to a crane like neck that then was connected to a metal plate bottom with four tank treads that allowed it good and rapid mobility. On the side of the gun was a command and control device to allow the SHIV to take orders and supposedly react to threats automatically. 

Hammond did not hear Shen at first but then turned around when he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Yeah?” 

“What is the progress?” Shen asked while Hammond rubbed his chin before giving a reply. “Slow, and frankly I think we should'a scrapped this project from the beginning,” Hammond said and placed his hands on his hips while shaking his head.

“But you gave me your assurance the SHIV would be operational.”

“In theory they should work. All the pieces fit but it just doesn’t work. I don’t understand why,” Hammond said and turned around, slowly pacing around his machine while the engineer with the blowtorch took a break to keep from getting too hot.

“We have other options on the table at the moment, but keep working on the SHIV. What about the HWP variant?”

Hammond looked to Shen with an eyebrow raised. “You mean the one with grenade launchers? That one is slightly more effective but it moves too damn slow and I don’t trust the targeting system yet.”

Shen decided to agree with his engineer and backed out.

“Alright, good luck and keep trying, I have a feeling we may need these in the coming days. I have an old colleague from my schooling that I could give a call. He is odd, but he did have some good theories,” Shen then began walking away to try and find the number for his old colleague, Professor Able Standard. 

“I just hope he isn’t still stuck on that insane deforester or employer, whatever the hell that robot soldier project was called,” Shen said and made his way up a series of stairs to his office.


-Supply transfer tunnel

The Crow’s nest had  originally been a secret part of Area 51. Its intent was to be another nuclear shelter/command centre should the day have come when mankind decided to end its brief existence and the gods, whatever and whoever they be, turned their backs on humanity. But when the alien invasion came it was quickly switched to be an X-com facility and the tunnel meant to connect the two facilities was now used to ferry supplies to the Crow’s nest. At the moment it was carrying in a small built in monorail system an injured group of soldiers and an object of immense tactical and scientific value.

Sneaky Breeze let out a pained groan as one of Doctor M’butu’s assistants gave him a shot of painkiller. In the train car behind them another doctor worked on Jack’s injury while Trixie sobbed and whined about her hat and hair. Derpy tried her best to cheer her up while Lewis just sat back and stared at the crystal shard of the outsider they had captured, his rifle trained on it at all times in case it suddenly decided to reactivate itself.

“Oh, that feels good,” the injured Pegasus huffed, almost laughing when the burning pain decreased a noticeable fraction.

“Don’t worry, boy, we’re almost there. Just hold on for a little more,” Rock Fist said to Sneaky as he held his hoof, his mind travelling back to the day Sneaky had arrived at the Canterlot base for training, a day after Rock had gotten a three page letter from Sneaky’s father Brick Layer, pleading with Rock to keep an eye on his son and to keep him safe.

The memory made Rock shake his head for a moment as he held Sneak’s hoof harder, as if willing him to heal faster in order to keep his word to the boy’s father.

They were in a small train that was carrying them quickly to the Crow’s nest at its top speed. They would arrive within five more minutes.

The assisting doctor began looking at Sneak’s injury once more, before eyeing his white fur.

“Who has been giving you dye? This looks very permanent.” The doctor remarked as he rubbed some of the non-burnt fur on sneaky and found it odd how natural it looked.

“What do you mean? I thought….” Sneaky took a moment to huff and puff air into and out of his lungs before turning his head to look at the human doctor.

“I thought it was in that soap we use when we come back from a mission,” Sneaky said, misunderstanding human hair and skin tones. The doctor shook his head after Sneak’s response and looked to Rock.

“I don’t know, I just assumed he requisitioned more from you guys.”

The doctor then got on his communicator.

“I need to report this.” He said and relayed what he found to Dr. M’butu, who was currently switching clothes, as he had been eating some food when the emergency call came and he ended up spilling some on himself. 

“He lost coloration in his fur naturally? Is it due to sickness or the injury?” M’butu asked.

“No, Doctor. He says it has been turning white for a while now.”

“We can worry about that later; we need to focus on the plasma burns before they can become infected. I hope you gave him something for the pain, I will check on him after he is in the tank and his injury has been cared for.” Mbutu hung up and made his way to the medical wing to help install as much information as possible into the vita tanks about animal surgery and other important veterinarian info that could help heal the injured pony.

“Sorry about this, kid. Sergeant, please hold him down for me,” The doctor said as he pulled out his bag and slipped his hand inside to grab something that he didn’t want Sneaky to see.

“What? No! What is it!?” Sneaky yelled and tried to struggle as Rock held him down, the older and stronger Earth pony holding down the Pegasus with ease.

“Sorry, kid. Doctor’s orders. Trust me, it’ll hurt but you need this,” the older colt said and remembered the disinfectant that had been applied to his flank when a diamond dog clawed a significant portion of the flesh off, leaving three permanent scars.

“No, let me go! No please I'll be fine! No,no!”

In the back of the train Sneaky’s cry of pain could be heard over the sound of the engine as the doctor helping him applied something to keep the wound from being infected by whatever alien, or Earth based, bacteria he might have come into contact with during combat, as well as causing him a horrible amount of pain that kept the private shouting with tears in his eyes as a fresh eruption of pain lanced across his back.


-Science labs.

Vahlen tapped a foot impatiently as she read reports from the science teams under her while sitting in her office. She sat with her chair turned to the electronic window was of forest in winter, with snowflakes gently falling from the sky and gently blanketing the forest. She'd removed her shoes after walking around the base constantly and currently had one leg crossed over the other, allowing her to rub her sore feet together as she worked.

Vahlen scrolled through her recent updates from her science team, she wanted results immediately, anything to help the fight. Despite an interesting discovery a few hours ago, she wanted more. Vahlen needed to contribute and putting forth her part to help the war effort, especially today of all days. Her team researching alien cadavers had gone over data from the South American engagement, with the S.A. X-com team running brute force experiments with the Snakeman cadavers they had made some interesting discoveries. Her team had reviewed their findings and come up with an idea that could only have one response from Vahlen.

“Ludicrous,” she said, nearly slamming her data-pad down, that is if it wasn’t her favourite and she was sure Shen would be quite cross with her if she damaged something while they were in the midst of a crisis.

“Making Snakemen clones from their own eggs using my Vita-tanks,”  she said and felt her blood pressure rise, the Vita tanks were her inventions, making life threatening injuries heal within days, and they wanted to pervert it with alien cloning. Something she felt would make them similar to the alien’s using a slave race of clones to do their bidding.

“No,” she simply said and raised a finger to delete their theories and wipe the algorithms and possibilities of the plan, when she felt something tell her she might need it later, a woman’s intuition. She saved the file and sent back a message to tell team to go back to instead prepare for the outsider crystal that was about to arrive.

“We have more important things at the moment,” she said and rubbed her aching ankles, hoping Cotton was alright and that her Alloy armour designs kept the teams safe.


-Skies over Nevada.

Chelsea couldn’t help but feel as if someone had gotten hurt back at base while she flew with the other plane from the Crow’s Nest, Raven-2, and a group of American fighter jets to catch up with large UFO that had deployed the invasion force. She shook off the odd feeling and continued flying while looking around at the gathered group of pilots 

“Attention all pilots, this is AWACs two-oh-five-oh. We will be providing you with tactical input and electronic support for this mission. Call sign is ‘eagle eye’,“ A voice reported as a safe distance away a radar plane with its own escort was getting things ready for the attack force.

“Understood, Eagle eye. All pilots prepare for engagement the alien ship is coming into view. Remember to make every round count since these bastards have some kind of protective shield over them,” The flight leader at the head of the force said and was greeted with acknowledgements from the rest of the force. 

The Eight F-16’s had been joined by the two interceptors from the Crow’s nest and two other heavy models from the west coast along with three ‘tomcats’ the U.S. air force had lent them for the attack.  

The pilots watched as they cleared through some clouds to finally have full visual contact with the alien ship. The large transport seemed to be carried by only four engines and had with it a group of twenty or so alien fighters.

“Everyone knuckle up, it’s time to engage!” the flight leader said. Chelsea let out a huff of air into her oxygen mask as she felt her training kick in and her mind switch over to her more serious personality. 

While Lyons  was gearing up to even the human/alien casualty count. Jones, Lyon’s co-pilot, wished he could go home but forced himself to calm down.

“Eagle Eye to combat wing, you are in range and electronic support is active. You should be able to lock onto the alien crafts.”

“I got a lock!”

“Me too.”

“I got tone...”

Many voices proclaimed to have some UFO or other was targeted.

“Prioritize the big one and focus on the fighters when they engage you.”

Chelsea felt saliva collect in her throat as her interceptor moved at immense speeds and she could feel the g-forces pulling on her body. It was exciting, to feel every inch of her body defying gravity and zooming high above the ground, but also terrifying.

“Engage!” she heard someone shout and countless missiles streaked across the sky, leaving trails of smoke as they raced towards the larger ship and impacted against a green hued energy shield. The shield flared up in the areas that had been hit, while the other areas of the ship were visible. The missiles exploded a safe distance away from the ship and made no penetration through the shield.

“Fighters incoming, evasive maneuvers!” The swarm of crafts all dodged and weaved out of the path of each other as the fight began. Chelsea pulled a hard U-turn and got onto the tail of one alien fighter, now codenamed “Fireflies”. 

“Fox three!” she said, hearing the comforting echo of her own voice in the oxygen mask as she pulled the trigger on her control stick, targeting a fighter.  A moment later she watched three trails of tracer rounds come out from her fighter and impact the alien. Its shields flared up for a moment before being overwhelmed and the mini UFO soon exploded in a purple flame and debris rained out of the sky.

“Scratch one,” she said and swung her fighter around to see two F-16s try to re-engage the invasion ship. They fired every last one of their missiles at the invasion ship, all but the last of their shots hit the energy shield, a breach being made as a missile made its way through, causing a detonation that seemed to make the alien ship shudder at the proof that it was not invincible.

The pilots who had made the attack cheered loudly over the airwaves before one of the two exploded from a plasma blast that came from the ship itself. Small plasma cannons hidden around the ship began firing at the two humans that had been foolish enough to attack it and injure it.

“Look out, its got defe...aaah!!” The other pilot who had engaged the ship screamed his death as a Firefly destroyed him with two plasma blasts that caused an explosion in the centre of the craft and engulfed it in flames. The alien Dart flew through the fiery debris of the humans plane like it was fog with no damage to itself.

“Friendly plane down.”

“I’m on fire! Ejecting!”

“I need help there’s one on me!”

“How can they move like that?”

Chelsea blocked out all the noise from the others as she prioritized targets and turned her plane around to find one of her own being chased by two Fireflies. The ground underneath her speeding by as with all the other planes flying around it made her think of driving a race car through a swarm of birds.

“Don’t worry. I got you,” she said over her radio and her much faster plane was easily able to catch up to the two UFOs that had slowed down to target the human. She avoided colliding with other ships and looked like she was performing aerial tricks for a show before finally getting within accurate range of the two fighters. She made sure to switch off her nose gun and only kept on the cannons attached to her wings.

“Engaging.” She pulled the trigger just as she got within range and felt the vibrations running through her fighter as the Vulcan cannons fired. Her rounds slammed into both of the UFOs as she carefully tried her best to avoid hitting her friendly unit when they suddenly moved upwards in a smooth arc and were behind her in a flash.

“Shit, now I need help,” she reported and began making ‘S’ turns and random maneuvers to shake the aliens off her tail. She looked at a small mirror to the side of her canopy that was angled to show her engines; sure enough the aliens were there.

“Damn, I really pissed them off,” she said and quickly pointed the nose of her craft downwards when some plasma bolts barely missed her cockpit. She kept up her descent, as if in a race with the aliens to who could hit the ground first, when she was within the danger zone of impact she grabbed the throttle and adjusted course.

With a loud grunt she pulled the plane up and performed a maneuver that flipped upwards seconds before she hit the ground. The Fireflies kept going down with one slamming into the ground and leaving only a small puff of smoke in its wake, but the other one stopped in the middle of the air before smoothly adjusting course and continuing the chase of Raven-3 

“Raven-3, I am on the way,” a voice said with an accent she could not recognize as another H model interceptor soon caught up with the duelling trio.

“Fox two.” Four missiles raced out from the two pods on the interceptor’s wings and the alien fighters were soon reduced to nothing but debris and fancy colored flames.

“Thanks for the help, Nomad-6 ,” Chelsea said as she saw the craft’s name on her HUD when the Xcom craft from the west coast flew past her and tipped his wings to both sides in salute before moving on to engage the larger UFO.

“Attention combat wing, only two alien fighters left, anyone not otherwise occupied engage the invasion ship.”

“This is Raven-2, engaging the Fireflies.”

“Raven-3 joining you.” Chelsea said, never leaving her friends without backup.

Lyons watched as his ship moved to catch up with the two fighters that seemed to be trying to escape the battle while the rest of the group engaged the invasion ship, missiles impacting it all across its body and tearing holes in it. If a fighter ran out of rockets then they began making strafing runs with their guns firing hot lead all across the ship’s body.

Lyons kept his eyes on the Fireflies as Jones lined them up for the attack, with Chelsea on his flank in case they split up. 

With a reassuring tone in his ear Lyons watched two green boxes appearing over the fighters that quickly turned red with a missile lock. 

“Fox two,” Lyons growled  and three Avalanche Missiles raced out of his fighter and to the Fireflies.

But one of them quickly moved down while the other fighter sacrificed itself by purposely slamming into the missiles, all three of them.

“What!?” yelled Lyons when Chelsea suddenly pulled away, just missing being slammed into by the suicidal alien fighter that moved by so fast it took a moment to register what had happened.

“Look out!” she shouted as the alien fighter made an impossible switch of direction and re-engaged Raven-2

Jones decreased speed so rapidly their craft almost stalled on them, luckily it caused the alien to overshoot them and fly by, but it stopped suddenly and turned around, continuing its chase before the human fighter could move and it fired four plasma blasts.

“Moving to engage,” Chelsea said while at the edge of her vision she saw the engines of the invasion ship explode and the ship begin to fall out of the sky as it bled smoke from  the dozens of ragged holes ripped through it.

The crosshair of her HUD was not on the UFO in time to stop it from firing at Raven-2. The heavy interceptor took a hit right on both of its wings. A heartbeat later there was a sicking lurch as the wings tore free with the scream of tortured metal.

“Mayday! Mayday!” Jones yelled as smoke trailed from their fighter and they plummeted to the Earth.

Chelsea watched as the Interceptor fell, her heart pumping with fear over her wing-mates, when the canopy shot open and two seats flew into the air. The pilots were released from their chairs and began floating calmly when their chutes deployed.

Chelsea did not take this time to relax and kept her eyes open for the last fighter.

“Raven-3 to Eagle Eye, do you see the last contact?”

“Positive confirmation at high altitude above you, it’s in the atmosphere now.”

“Dammit.” She said to herself and promised to do better next time. 

‘This was fucking sloppy, do better next time, your friends were almost killed!’ she internally yelled to herself and joined up with the rest of the wing for new orders as Search and Rescue vehicles were already being sent out to find survivors and recover downed pilots.  While a group of about seven Humvees filled with very pissed off US marines who were armed to the teeth were racing towards the downed UFO to make sure nothing survived the crash. And if there were any aliens unlucky enough to live from the aerial battle, then the marines were going to show them why other humans nicknamed them ‘Devil Dogs’.


-Las Vegas, over Caesar’s palace.

“Commander Fahreed, are you at the first assault zone?” General Franklin asked the leader of his primary combat team, all veterans outfitted with the most expensive and best gear that could be provided. Fahreed looked for a moment to his squad mates; they were all outfitted in a much slimmer version of the carapace armor designed for aerial drops. The 'squirrel' armor offered less protection but was extremely light and came with webbing built between the arms and legs to allow them to glide for a short time.

“Yes sir, we are at the AO and are about to jump,” Fahreed said as he checked his assault rifle. While a laser rifle was more powerful and did not need ammo, a projectile rifle could have a silencer attached and did not blow your cover like a big red beam would.

“Understood. Get as many civilians out of there as you can and eliminate all the aliens you can. Main army and marine forces will be pushing up as soon as you get those civilians out of there,” The General said and watched the battle lines slowly changing on a large monitor back at the NORAD base.

“Copy that,” Fahreed said and the door opened at the back of the Sky Ranger.

“Move it!” he yelled and the five members of NORAD alpha team jumped out into the sky their ‘wings’ opening automatically and their body movements allowing them to control where they flew. The world underneath the five humans seemed so tiny for a moment but was rapidly increasing as they glided down and within a matter of minutes were at the roof of the famous casino, the parachutes on their backs opened up and they were pulled upright.

Fahreed rolled across the rooftop when he landed and pulled out his XM9, checking the roof as the others did the same.

“Chutes off!” he ordered and his soldiers quickly removed the straps of their parachutes and tied them down so as not to be noticed blowing in the wind.

When they were done they made sure that the X-com symbols on their armor were perfectly visible as their primary mission was to rescue a news reporter who was broadcasting from inside of the building, giving the people the heroes they needed.

“Sir, wouldn’t we be better off rescuing civilians in deeper combat zones?” asked a soldier from India as he checked the Arc-thrower on his side in case they had contact with anything worthy of capturing and bringing back to the NORAD base.

“Don’t worry, they sent in other teams to do that,” Fahreed said and then made a hand sign for them to all go silent, just after one trooper had made a comment that the council shouldn’t have sent the ‘B-teams’ to handle that.

As Fahreed prepared to move into the building with his men, he could not help but agree.


-Laser Squad. ETA: 8 minutes from the civilian holdout. 

Sato looked down at the family he had saved earlier, they were afraid and filthy, covered in a mix of ashes and other debris shards. The looks on the parents faces betrayed the true fear they felt and the uncertainty they felt at these strange men in what must have looked like spacesuits to them, taking them to some promised ‘safe zone’. But the child they held in their arms did not seem fully afraid. While he did have fear, his eyes were also full of wonder as he looked to these heroes that had saved him from the ‘monsters’.

Sato wanted to go and sit over by them, to try and calm the civilians down, to give them a sense of safety, but he couldn’t and he was unsure of how they would react. And the best safety he could offer them was his laser rifle blasting anything that threatened them.

At the front of the truck Ramos made a sudden sharp turn, that sent everyone in the back of the vehicle nearly tumbling over as Cotton himself nearly hit the side window.

“The fuck, trooper?” Cotton yelled as Ramos altered their course.

“Sorry, I think I passed it.” He said, blushing underneath his helmet as the civilian location was finally within view. Cotton wasted no time and got on his helmet comm.

“Chavivi, get up front and look through your scope at the building,” Cotton ordered and nudged Ramos before telling him to slow down.

“Why are we stopping?” The father of the family in the back of the truck asked while looking around at the soldiers.

“No worries, just making sure it’s safe,” Sato replied and changed places with Chavivi as he pulled out his long barrelled laser rifle and Boris moved to allow him a clear view.

The view through the scope was reassuring to Chavivi as he kneeled down and with one hand held the rifle, moving it slowly as he scanned the building and with a free hand altered the magnification of the electronic scope.

The civilian controlled building was boarded up in multiple places, burnt out cars and the corpses of aliens and an ungodly amount of civilians. In some spots the corpses were piled three people high and seemed to have been torn apart and shot with, oddly enough, bullets instead of energy weapons. The American flag that hung on a pole next to the clinic was hung upside down, a silent call for rescue. 

“Looks empty but they might be hid... negative. I got movement.” Chavivi altered his statement quickly as he noticed the glint of another scope and zoomed in on where he saw it. He caught sight of the barrel of what he guessed to be some type of Remington rifle just barely poking out through a window on the third floor of the building. The shooter was covered by a large blanket that obscured him more in the already dark room inside the building. Instinct and experience, Chavivi could tell that it was not aimed at him, but at the rear of the truck, likely the family since they had no armor on to protect themselves with.

‘Does he know I see him?’ Chavivi wondered as he contemplated whether or not to prime his weapon since it might give the sniper reason to shoot.

‘Fuck, the bullet would get here before any of us could even move.’ With that he reached a hand away from the controls of the scope and over to the mechanism to prime the laser. With a whine it activated as parts of it glowed.

“Chavivi, report?” Cotton asked and glanced back to the man.

With a slight movement of his jaw, Chavivi turned on his microphone.

“Sir, there’s a sniper in the building aiming right at us.” 

The sniper in the building made no movements to load his rifle, leading Chavivi to believe he may have already placed a round in the chamber.

“What is happening?” the mother of the family asked as she could sense the soldiers around her getting tense. She could see it in their body language.

“Gladys, be quiet,” the father said and held his wife, more afraid than he was letting on.

At the front Cotton wasn’t sure if he should move or not, but he did so anyway, switching his radio over to the general band.

“Attention. To the civilians inside of the Coulson free clinic, this Commander Cotton, US army special operations division six,” he said, hoping they didn’t know that there was no such thing.

“We are in a vehicle to your front and we may look strange but I swear to you we are here to rescue you,” Cotton let go of his radio to let them reply.

It was a set tense moment before Cotton nearly jumped up and cursed when Chavivi broke the silence.

“Sir, he just loaded a round into the rifle.”

“Please respond, we mean you know harm. We are here to help. Cease hostilities or we will attack you as the aggressors,” Cotton said, turning his head slightly over to Ramos, who seemed to understand his intention without words being spoken and with a movement as slow as a grandfather snail , he reached over to prepare to put the vehicle in reverse.

“Don’t move,” a voice finally replied back over the radio.

“Who is this?” Cotton asked but there was no response.  “You got a man in there aiming a rifle at civilians, care to explain?” Cotton said, feeling the hair on his arms, legs, neck and unmentionables suddenly tense up. He felt that fear again, only this time it was coming from somewhere very close by. He could only compare it to that feeling a person had when they were alone in their home but felt that an intruder might be inside with them.

“You guys make too much noise,” the voice on the other end said and there was the sound of a nearly unearthly scream, a blood filled death rattle followed by the thud of a body and the crack of a rifle as the bullet travelled faster than the sound wave.

The sniper in the clinic was lucky that Chavivi turned to look at the civilians behind him and had not taken the shot. Because they were uninjured.

“Move! Get out of there, more will be coming,” the voice from the clinic said as suddenly more people began to appear from the clinic.

“Sir?” Ramos asked not moving until his commander told him so.

Cotton looked behind him, making sure his laser was primed, whatever feeling he had of impending doom, it wasn’t coming from the clinic.

A distance from them a zombified human lay dead, its chrysalis egg dead from lack of a living host to fully incubate it. The small greenish thing was the size of a soda bottle and would have grown much bigger until it ripped its way through the host, had it not been for the incubation being interrupted by a high calibre bullet. With small vein like structures that connected the chrysalis egg to the vital organs of the host it needed a fairly intact host to give it life and from which to feed off of until it hatched.

“Go! Drive to the clinic,” Cotton yelled as he pulled his rifle out of the vehicle and took two rapid shots behind him, at something. It had only been there for a split second but he knew he had seen... something.

He turned to Ramos who had not moved the truck and shouted out.

“Drive, motherfucker, drive!”

Ramos slammed his foot down on the pedal after making a quick switch to drive it forward. The vehicle lurched towards the building with the survivors as its engine roared, the noise echoing form the nearby buildings.

“Sir, what are you doing?” Sato yelled from the back as the truck moved around piles of bodies and other wreckage.

“Trust me, its safer here,” Cotton replied, feeling the sense of danger fade more and more, but it was still present.

“Sir I think this is a bad idea,” Ramos said and yet still pulled the truck up to the clinic where a garage door was slid open by two men in police uniforms and he adjusted course, the deuce barely fitting inside as the door was clicking slid back down and the officers aimed their weapons at the X-com team.

“Those weapons won’t hurt us,” Boris said, translator going through his helmet and making his voice come out as if he were speaking English, the translator working its magic instantaneously, with some help from Boris throwing in the odd word in English. 

The two officers did not respond and kept their weapons pointed at the Laser Squad, Boris made sure to step forward so his much larger and more armoured frame would give the civilians cover.

Cotton opened his door and hopped out of the truck, hands up where the police officers could see them.

“Hey, calm down guys. We are on the same side,” he said and took a leap of faith, removing his helmet to let them see his face. 

“See?” After a moment the officers finally lowered their weapons and one of them got on his radio.

“Yeah they’re humans. Not like the skinny guys,” the officer said and the team knew he was referring to the Thin-men. Cotton placed his helmet back on and sealed it before getting on his own radio.

“Central, we are at the evac site. We are going to secure the area first then you can send in a Sky Ranger,” he said and received no response until Central came on sounding like he had run a mile.

“Sir, Lyons and Jone’s fighter was shot down but besides lyons having a gash on his arm they will be fine. We just captured an outsider, Sneaky is injured but on the way to the med bay, and we lost a security officer.” Central let out all in one breath as he tried to find space in his own mind to process everything.

“Say again, we have a KIA?” Cotton asked, pulse rising.

“Yes sir, Jaever Savage. He was killed by a cyberdisk, we are currently putting the body down in the cryo morgue,” Central said, referring to a portion of the base were bodies would be stored to keep them fresh and able to be examined by the base science staff while also keeping the deceased in a place where they could be laid to rest without jeopardizing need to know info.

“Fuck. I'll handle the memorial ceremonies once this is all over. I'll repot back to you in thirty minutes.”

“Understood, good luck,” Central cut the signal and Cotton waved his team out of the truck.

“Who’s in charge here?” he asked and approached the officers, who in turned shrugged.

“No one really. We’re all just doing what we can,” one with a large moustache said and took a seat on a wheelchair while his partner walked over to a hole blown into the metal door from a shotgun blast and looked through, keeping watch.

“You’ve all done very good for yourselves,” Sato said as he turned back to the civilians and helped them down to the ground.

“Not as well as we could have, we lost like twenty people already.”

“What are the defender’s status?” Chavivi said, wanting to see the other sniper.

“Just one SWAT sniper, a couple local gang boys who could be convinced not to run away or raise hell, a few dads who want to keep their kids safe and one trigger happy mother with .357.” The officer shuddered visibly at the last one.

“She is scary accurate with it,” the officer at the door said and moved away to talk to the civilians the Laser Squad had rescued.

“Good. Tell your sniper he is getting help. Chavivi, head up to the roof and secure it. Boris, Ramos, head out front and keep the front of the building secure. I'll join you soon. Sato, head up and start helping any injured in here,” Cotton said in one long breath  as he and his men all moved to their ordered locations, knowing the drill, save for Sato who was going to ask where the injured were kept.

Before Sato could move he felt something pressing against his leg that had been shot and turned to see it was the child of the family they had rescued along the way.

“How can I help?” the little boy asked and held up a limp hand to his head, trying to imitate how the army saluted. His parents then looked and noticed where he was.

“Jeremy, leave the uhh…nice man alone,” Gladys said as the father blushed realizing he was the last person to have been holding his son’s hand and should have been more watchful.

“No, it’s alright,” Sato said and knelt down to the kid to put a hand on his shoulder.

“You can help by staying close to your parents and keeping them safe, little trooper,” Sato said and was about to move when the kid suddenly gave him a hug.

“My mom and dad never said thank you for saving us Mister.” Sato felt an uncomfortable warmth in his chest as he returned the hug and lifted the boy up, carrying him to his parents.

“Be sure to watch this little trooper, he seems like a natural born ninja,” Sato said and moved away from the civilians, giving one last wave before moving into the clinic with a purpose, forgetting that he did not remember to ask where the injured were kept.

-----
Discord yawned as he watched the proceedings from his extra dimensional realm, despite still being trapped in stone, his mind, powers, and influence were free to roam as he wished. 

“You humans and your kindness and ‘sentimentality’ are so boring,” he said and slammed a fist down onto his throne. In truth feeling hurt because he couldn’t remember the last time someone had given him a hug. Though Discord would never admit it, one of the reasons for his in general rudeness was his lack of affection and how most of the chaos he caused was in fact a cry for help as he craved attention and affection from anyone who would give him the time of day, especially a certain princess of the sun.

“What!? Why would you write that!?” Discord said with a blush as he reached an arm through the screen and slapped the writer upside the head.

“I don’t need a hug, I’m Discord! All I need is chaos and panic and people so confused it leaves them insane. Aahahahahahahaa….ha…” he said and fell back deflated.

“I need a hug,” he said with his head low and snapped his fingers, quickly producing another version of himself which gave him a big bear hug with bear arms before letting him go and disappearing.

“Well that wasn’t so bad, but now I need something to do, and yes I know I’m interrupting the flow of the story but, honestly would you expect anything less of me?”

He snapped his fingers and the scene changed to Celestia in her private chambers who looked exhausted as she signed countless papers and documents while Deep Thought prattled on in front of her. He was no more than 9 years old in body but close to 1019 years in actual mental age.

“Princes Celestia, we need to send a mission to the other world. We cannot allow those ponies to remain trapped over there. Please, your highness, I beg of thee to let me see my old research notes and files,” the younger version of Deep Thought said as he brushed back his green mane and presumed to speak to the monarch of the sun as if she were his equal, though she didn’t mind it much.

“I am sorry, Deep Thought, but I cannot allow it, it is much too dangerous,” she said as she remained seated behind a large well-furnished desk, with her chair surrounded by a weaker version of the spell that was allowing Luna to conduct her spells without Discord sensing her.

Discord rubbed his eyes as he looked to the last sentence above and could only see blurry smudges where the words would have been. 

“I must be getting old, after four thousand years I might need a pair of glasses,” Discord said and rubbed his chin as the scene continued.

“But your highness, just a week ago you were all for sending rescue to those pon-“

“Enough!” she shouted and stomped a hoof onto her desk with such force it might have shattered if it wasnt protected by magical spells to prevent such a thing. 

“My word is law, and until I decree when to open a portal to the Roman world, we will not make any attempt at opening passage to their world! Do you understand me?” Celestia said in a raised voice that she never liked to use.  She never liked it when her subjects, her little ponies looked at her as if she were one of the monsters that plagued the land and not the motherly figure she always tried to be.

Deep Thought fell to the floor, bowing and speaking in the old dialect.

“Oh mighty Celestia, forgive thy humble plebeian for his foolishness. This unworthy peasant did not mean to misspeak or question thou eternal wisdom,” he said, his head bowed to the point his forehead was touching the floor with his unicorn horn scraping the floor, his eyes closed as if he had sinned and was unworthy of looking upon the glowing form of Celestia. She sighed and released the quill she was holding in her magic grip and looked upon her court mage.

“Deep Thought, please rise. I did not mean to yell at you,” She said in a much calmer tone as Thought rose and bowed his head once again before lifting it and looking at Celestia.

“A thousand pardons still, your highness,” he said and then resumed his speech.

“While I do not know why you have changed your mind, I will respect it. But what of Twilight Sparkle, your apprentice? She knows of the portal and is familiar with two of the missing ponies.”

“I will deal with Twilight. I will send her for a time on a good-will mission to Zebrica to meet with the council of the Zebra tribes. As well as the husband to my niece, her brother, captain Shinning-Armor will be going along with her to make sure her mind is only on the coming magic potion and crystal trade agreements. That will keep her busy for close to a month, in that time I wish for you to keep studying the portal remains and finding out why it is different from your own.”

“Understood,” he said and bowed again.

“Take your leave and good luck,” Celestia said, bringing the matter to a close as she tried her best to keep everyone from doing anything that might have tipped off Discord that she and Luna knew he was up to something.

“There it is again!” Discord shouted and scrubbed furiously at the blurry sentences before wearing the clothes of Billy Mays and methodically trying every cleaning product he ever sold. 

“What does it say?!” he screamed as he tried to find out what was being kept from him and scrubbed so hard there was a terrible screeching coming from the cloth he was using.
-----------


-Crow’s Nest, medical wing.

“Mmnn ma…mama…” Sneaky murmured into the mask tied over his snout as he breathed in sleeping gas while the doctors operated on his injury, which allowed them to do more tests on the pony.

The doctors took their time to make sure that no foreign objects such as shrapnel from his damaged armor was inside of his wound, as they didn’t want the new skin to heal over a piece of metal and lead to a more lethal injury. While they examined the wound they made sure to run as many scans and tests as they could, taking whatever information possible, short of dissecting the pony before Sneaky was finally carried via medical gurney to a vita tank which had been updated with terabytes of information on ponies and anything else that could help in healing.

The last thing Sneaky saw before dreaming were the doctors standing over him, holding a mask to his snout and telling him to count down from ten. The world blurred and time sped by as Sneaky sensed a cool liquid running over his body as he was entered into the tank, floating in the center of it with his head held up by a mask to give him oxygen and horse tranquilizers in very specified amounts to keep him asleep while his body healed. An IV was hooked into him as well to keep his body sustained with nutrients.

The doctors typed in his healing schedule and he was set to take two days to heal from his injuries. In the meantime the team would take advantage of this opportunity to study and scan the Pegasus and gain as much scientific research as they could with the nearly unmoving Sneaky Breeze.



-Free clinic.

“Move it, troopers! I want this place defendable before the Skyranger  gets here,” Cotton said while dragging bodies out of the line of fire, stealing a glance at a watch on his wrist, the digital readout telling him he had ten minutes until his next report to Central.

Boris and Ramos had managed to move several burnt out vehicles to form a semi-circle around the front entrance and entrance to the garage with their Deuce being in the middle. They then made sure to drain the oil from the cars to decrease the chance of them exploding, as well as to make improvised firebombs, just in case. None of the civilians inside had wanted to leave their fortified clinic but were more than eager to let the X-com troopers do it.

“Status update,” Cotton said and stood next to Ramos while Boris set up his heavy laser in the center of the car semicircle, laying in the back of the truck they had come in on and aiming downrange with his heavy laser ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

“This is Chavivi, up on the rooftop and ready. The rest of the area around us seems empty but that could change at any moment.
“Sato, I'm helping the civilians here and burning through my med-kit charges pretty quick.” 

“Understood. Team stay where you are and keep an eye out. Sato, if you can spare yourself then come out front to help us defend the building.” Cotton finished and stood with Ramos who was looking at his own weapon.

“How come we can have laser rifles and shit that never run out of ammo, but now we can't have free energy and make bigger guns?” Ramos asked.

“It was somewhere in the report Vahlen sent me later, but I honestly don’t have a clue what any of it means,” he said and shuffled around, kicking an empty can away.

Boris sneezed into his own helmet and let loose a string of curses, bringing a few chuckles from the team before Ramos tapped Cotton’s shoulder. 

“So we report in about three minutes then if everything seems safe for a little bit longer we order the Skyranger to pick us up?” Ramos asked, shuffling from one foot to another as the armor prevented him from scratching an itch on his stomach.

“That’s the plan, Ramos,” Cotton said and primed his laser rifle, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” Ramos asked, leaning his side against some shot up hybrid car and rubbing his laser pistol to make sure he still had it.

“You know me, Ramos. You and the others can always speak freely,” Cotton said and rubbed the neck of his armor, feeling the nano-fibers through his gloves and wishing it wasn’t so hot for a moment.

“Sir, this is a stupid plan,” Ramos said, deadpan and cotton felt an odd twitch.

“Explain.”

“We are out in the open, behind a car moat, waiting for pickup in a hostile zone,” Ramos said and waited to be blasted at by his commander, but nothing happened.

“You know, you could have worded it more appropriately, trooper. And I think the plan is fine, we have cover here, if we need to pull back the cars will still give us some cover and slow down any ground forces while they climb over it, giving the defenders inside a chance to shoot while we fall back into the building if we have to,” Cotton said, defending his plan but seeing the holes in it. Such as if they were attacked by a group of Floaters or cyber discs  tried to assault their position. 

‘I need to have my guys start carrying some kind of launcher,’ Cotton mused and noticed Ramos was speaking.

“…and those were my thoughts, sir,” Ramos finished, feeling good after being allowed to vent on his commander.

“I'll take note of it Ramos, but I’m in charge and we are sticking to my plan,” he said and Ramos sighed, accepting it. 

Cotton made sure to inspect his watch and knew it was time to call Central.

“Laser Squad to Crow’s nest, can you hear me, Central?” Cotton asked while Bradford was in his quarters, removing a sweaty shirt and spraying himself with body spray after a hectic day that still wasn’t over. When Brad heard the sound of his earpiece ringing he knew it must be Cotton, he stole a glance at the nearby clock in his room and his suspicion was confirmed. 2:30 P.M.

“This is Central,” he said after snatching his earpiece and putting it on, while waiting before slipping his shirt on.

“Its time, send the Skyranger now while it looks all clear. What’s the worldwide status?” 

Central took a moment to grab his data pad for updates. Quickly scrolling through the data.

“The invasion in China is stalling, their X-com team has succesfully pulled off an attack against the battleship and the regular Chinese army is hitting the aliens, but it looks like the damage will be extensive.”

“I can imagine, what with a battle ship floating over their city.”

“Sneaky is in the med-bay and inside of a Vita tank. Lyons and Jones were recovered and I’ve put in an order for another H-interceptor.” Central continued to scroll through the data pad, his index finger sliding across the screen to get the info he wanted.

“Wait a moment, sir,” he said as something new popped up, confirmation in China of the rumored, two new aliens. 

“Sir, there is confirmation on those two new alien types we heard of.”Cotton cursed.

Central cleared his throat as he looked at two blurry snapshots with fairly distinguishable silhouettes. “Commander, there is no exact information yet but one looks like a Spider of some kind and the other..uh…I can't describe it. Like a crab?” Central said, unsure of how to describe what he was looking at as he turned the datapad around in his hands, trying to get a better look.

Cotton shook his head in disbelief but put whatever thoughts that were in his head to some other place for later.

“That’s fine, get to work on other things. We have about 36 civilians in total, so let’s try and get them out in shifts of 18. Some of them can’t be removed from stretchers or are other special cases so the team is going last. Try and see if you can get Trixie to come back to us on one of the transports, we could use her shield ability,” Cotton said, planning ahead in case the civilians came under fire.

“Understood, sir,” Central said as the connection was broken and he got to work getting things underway. Though it took some coaxing for Trixie to be convinced to go on the mission, they succeeded by telling her that if she went she would become famous for her heroism. Rock Fist and Derpy on the other hand were incredibly relieved that they had not been called for, both of them already pushed to their limits and in need of a rest.

Cotton and the others waited at the clinic, a mix of boredom and nervousness as they could still hear the sounds of combat, but ever more distant. When the Skyranger arrived it slowed down and hovered close to the roof and dropped its ramp, letting Trixie out who wore a security helmet. 

The security helmet for the base security force was basically a leftover Kevlar helmet that had no HUD and just served to protect a person’s, or in this case ponie’s, skull.

“Fear not, civilians! The Great and Heroic Trixie is here to save the day!” she yelled and hopped out of the Skyranger, only to find Chavivi standing there.

“What happened to your hair?” Chavivi asked, noticing the obvious lock of her hair that was gone.

“Nothing, I just felt like getting a haircut.” she said and walked quickly past him to the door way.

“Commander, this is the great Trixie. I have arrived and am ready for orders,” she said after activating her earpiece by moving her jaw in a way that touched the device and let it know she wanted to speak.

“Understood. Sato, get Trixie to the emergency cases and have her either teleport them or levitate them to the ship.” 

Trixie smiled and went down the stairs to meet with Sato, thinking to herself that by the time she was done, the human race would declare her the first pony hero and award her with riches beyond her dreams.

As if by miracle, the evacuation went smoothly with the emergency cases and children being evacuated first. Sato made sure to wave goodbye to the little boy who had hugged him.

When the Skyranger had left there were only 18 civilians remaining, and the 6 X-com members.

All seemed quiet at first until the sound of engines filled the air again. 

“Lock and load! We got incoming!” Commanded Cotton ordered as he took cover behind the car moat and turned his rifle upwards, watching the sky for the familiar form of a Floater.

Trixie ran to the nearest window she could find, accidentally hitting her helmeted head against a table but did not feel anything. 

The sound of the Floater’s engines increased and it was difficult to identify how many there were.

“Keep steady,” Cotton said while Boris and Ramos also turned their weapons around, searching. Sato remained inside to keep the civilians calm and to make sure nothing sneaked in from anywhere else. 

Then with frightening speed three Floaters suddenly fell from the sky behind Cotton, Boris and Ramos, catching them off guard.

“Where the fuck did the-“ Ramos began as he turned but did not finish as a plasma blast from one of the floaters struck him on his side where his kidney was while another hit his helmet, making him feel as if he had just put his forehead on a hot grill. The powerful plasma round burned a hole in his helmet, right were ‘El santo’ had signed it but not passing through the Kevlar/metal/nano-fiber combination. But he was knocked hard against a car and to the ground by the force of the impacts.

“Monster!” Trixie yelled as time seemed to slow down and with her horn aglow she focused on one of the Floaters, using her magic instead of her laser pistol as it came to her much more naturally.

The Floater that had shot Ramos was shrouded by her magic and forced to turn and aim at one of its fellows. It pulled the trigger and its plasma rifle fired with each pull of the trigger. A ball of plasma sailing through the air with a circular puff of energy coming from the front of the barrel as it slammed into the other floater like a baseball and melted into its body, igniting the fuel inside of it and making the floater explode, showering the area with bits of metal, blood, and other things inside of the floater.

Cotton and Boris took no moment to rest as all this occurred. They turned their weapons to the two remaining Floaters and fired. Boris missed his shot completely but the shots made the floater duck and cower on the ground for a few seconds as someone fired from the building, a shotgun blast. The bullets flying into the back of the Floaters head and opening it up like it was an egg and someone had stabbed group of toothpicks through it.

The last remaining floater roared and struggled against Trixie’s magical hold as Cotten took a focused shot at it that blasted through the aliens chest and ended its life. The floaters plasma rifle opening up and sparking furiously as it self-destructed, destroying many but not all of its vital components.

“Dammit, maldito!” Ramos began cursing in a mix of English and Spanish curses as he tore his still sizzling helmet off and threw It away, rubbing his tan face and checking in a nearby mirror that he wasn’t hurt too bad.

“Ramos, report in,” Cotton said, moving over to the floaters to make sure they were dead.

“I’m good, sir!” Ramos yelled out since his helmet-com was fried and kicked the car he was near, more than a little mad he lost the signature of one of his personal heroes.

“Sir, more incoming!” Chavivi yelled as he looked through his scope and saw four more Floaters coming towards them.
“Fire!” Cotton yelled and rushed back over to the car moat, taking cover and switching his laser rifle to R mode.

Chavivi looked through his S.C.O.P.E and targeted the alien at the head of the pack. He fired without waiting for the computer in the scope to give him a chance at the percentage, going by faith and trust in his own skills. 

The laser beam raced through the air and struck the Floater as he flew towards the clinic, a large red line being burned across its back before it exploded.

“One down, three more!” Chavivi yelled and heard the other sniper in the clinic take a shot and miss, other civilians also did the same and one of the floaters was also downed, its body slamming into the ground and spinning like a loose tire before it remained dead on the blacktop, its face similar to ground beef.

The last two floaters switched up tactics, one of them actually tossing its Plasma rifle to the other before pulling out two grenade shaped objects and holding down a button on each one.

“Fuck! Kamikaze!” someone shouted and Boris let out a shout as he stood up and fired wildly at the Floater as it came closer and closer, hitting it twice but only managing to graze it while the floater with akimbo plasma rifles fired at him. 

“Boris, no!” Ramos shouted and watched Boris take four shots to his chest, letting out a pained shout as he felt his skin burned and fell, he had some burns but nothing too serious for the moment.

“Bastards,” Ramos shouted while Cotton fired wildly at the floater with two rifles. Striking it multiple times until it fell from the sky and slammed into the road with a thud.

Ramos hopped out from behind the car he was using for cover and ran full speed at the suicide floater. The floater did not seem to care about the trooper and instead tried to fly at the clinic, until Ramos fired two bursts from his scatter laser, hitting the floater all over its body and causing one of its fingers to slip, detonating the grenade it held and leaving the floater as nothing but falling pieces. The people in the clinic cheered and hollered, even Cotton wanted to congratulate the trooper, despite him taking a near suicidal move, but then he felt odd. Dejavu, he felt the fear in his spine again, something was coming.

“Ramos! Move it, get back here!” he yelled and got on his comm.

“ETA on pickup!” he ordered.

“Sorry sir, we ran into a problem, ETA 16 minutes,” the pilots said and yelled at the refueling crew to hurry up and finish filling the skyranger's tank up.

“Dammit!” Cotton yelled and slammed a boot into the side of a car, nearly leaving a dent.

Ramos was on his way back when Cotton finally saw what it was that his apparent sixth sense had warned him about. A group of what looked like the living dead. Humans with bodies so torn up and bloody it was easy to tell they were zombies. But what was more frightening were the four legged spiders which moved among the zombies easily and seemed to constantly chitter and rub themselves with frighteningly humanlike hands. And at the back of the group was a being that did not belong in the world. 

Cotton did not know how his helmet camera came on but somehow it was on and recording what he had was seeing.

“Fall back! Fall back!” Cotton shouted, the terror racing towards them at ungodly speeds had awakened his primal fight or flight instincts, and his flight instinct had won out. Cotton had never felt so much fear in his life, he wanted to slow down and put fire on the new alien, to order everyone in the building to run, open fire, but he was too afraid, as if someone else had taken over his body.

Heartbeat racing and the deafening sound of blood pumping in his ears, Cotton turned, sprinting breathlessly towards the relative safety of the clinic.  Behind him he could hear the spider-like tick-tick-tick of the chrysalid's many feet.

For the first time in his life Cotton felt the soul chilling certainty that he was prey.  Something in the cold, hungry eyes of the aliens told him surer than anything he'd ever known that they saw him as nothing more they prey. The only thing he could do was run into the building to seek shelter, despite everything else telling him to fight on.

“Come on! You want some! Come take some oh this!” Ramos shouted while he slammed the butt of his laser pistol into the forehead of a zombie and shoved the barrel into its mouth, pulling the trigger three times.

“Ramos! Pull back! I cover you!” Boris yelled as he held his laser pistol in his right hand, his heavy laser overheated and needing a moment to self-replenish its own power cells. 

“No, I’m not leaving you, bro.” Ramos said, both hands holding his laser pistol and firing at the big Crab like alien until it pulled back and seemed to disappear.

The sound of laser firing behind him was loud in Cotton's ears as he skidded around the door of the clinic, almost losing his footing in the heavy armour.

A high-pitched, inhuman cry seemed to tear the world apart.

Turning, Cotton watched as something that had once been human fell to the ground.  The stump where its head had once been was nothing but a charred wreck.

‘They can still die,’ he whispered to himself.

No sooner was his heartbeat coming under control than the body of the dead, zombie like creature began to twitch.  Cotton had to hold back from vomiting as another one of the spider-like creatures erupted from its gut, spraying viscera and putrid guts into the air, squealing in a loud note that made his teeth hurt and shaking itself free of the remains of its former host.

Narrowing his eyes, Cotton lifted his rifle to rest against his shoulder.

“Stay dead,” he whispered.

A brilliant scarlet beam lit the air, striking the newly born spider before it could struggle from it's former host.  It was dead.

This time it stayed dead.

A deep breath and Cotton found his voice.

“Pull back,” he ordered.  Boris and Ramos were laying down suppressive fire, trying to keep the aliens from advancing.

“Now!” he shouted.

The two men broke and ran into the building, Cotton doing his best to cover them.

Far in the back he could see the third creature.  The spiders and zombie like creatures were attacking, but a hulking, black, bipedal crab like... thing stood in the back. 

Watching, waiting, craving.

Cotton stared straight into its eyes and had to hold back a tide of terror. He felt his hands move on their own as he lobbed a grenade at the incoming zombies and continued moving with his soldiers up the stairs, thanking the people inside for already having moved up to the Skyranger.

The three of them dashed up the stairs to where the Skyranger was waiting on the roof, slamming into walls and doors on occasion. Sweat puddled in Cotton's suit as he pushed his body as hard as he could, making his motions heavy and his breath ragged.

“Trixie?” he called into his comm, gasping for breath.

“Yes?” the pony responded.  There was a quiver in her voice.  She'd been watching the horror outside.

“A shield!” he yelled, “A wall, whatever it is you do!  Do it!  Keep them from getting in!”

From the corner on his eye Cotton could just see the glimmer of a barrier forming over the front doors to the clinic.

The hiss of the creatures as they struck it could clearly be heard as the troopers climbed to the building's third level. In fact with each level they went up the noise increased as the monsters feared losing their prey.

Pausing for breath, Cotton found Trixie standing by a window, her helmet down by her side as she stared outside, her blue fur stained with tears as her face remained expressionless.

“We're leaving. Get to the Skyranger,” he ordered.

The pony simply stood there and looked over the desolation of the city and the creatures that threw themselves mindlessly against the barrier, one of them staring right at her.

Cotton could see the crab-like creature in the back.  It watched, not acting mindlessly like the others.

Still the pony didn't move.

“That was an order!,” Cotton yelled

Trixie turned towards him.  Her eyes were wide.

“I don't want to be a hero anymore,” she whispered, too low for him to hear.  “I... I want to go home.”

Taking a deep breath, Cotton reached out to her. She was stiff as a statue.

“Home... I want to go home!” her voice rose to a wail. An instant later Cotton could feel the barrier below them fall.
Wrapping his arm around the pony, he lifted her into his arms and made a run for the stairs as she held onto him tightly the same way she used to hold onto her father after she had a very bad nightmare.

“Skyranger! This is Cotton. Get ready to leave. Now!” He ordered as he made his way finally to the roof and kept up the pace to the Skyranger so Trixie could finally let him go.

“Chavivi! Let’s move it!” Cotton yelled as loud as he could while Chavivi took one last shot, ending the existence of one last undead monster, figuring out that it was through them that the spider creatures were born. He failed to notice that underneath his ledge lurked the alpha Chryssalid, its crab like pincers stabbing into the wall of the building like a climber’s hook as it pulled itself up to a treasure trove of food and bodies to breed.

Chavivi closed the bipod on his rifle and turned to start moving after Boris and Ramos lobbed all of their grenades down the staircase they came from, blowing it apart and whatever else had followed them, all of this preventing the others from warning Chavivi of what loomed behind him. All he heard was the last part of his name being called.

“...vivi!” He saw where people were looking and turned his head for just a moment, to see a pincer coming down at him. He brought up his laser sniper to deflect the coming blow but had forgotten the weapon’s strap that was around his body.
The Alpha pinched down upon the middle of the weapon and shook Chavivi violently in the air as he shouted in surprise and pain as the dull part of the pincer repeatedly slammed against his armored chest.

“Shoot it!” Chavivi yelled as loud as he could as he was shook around like a rag doll but no one could fire since it would potentially hit him as well. The Alpha then moved and slammed Chavivi against the roof, opening up another pincer and in one smooth motion, slicing through his rifle and pulling upwards, slicing through his arm with such impossible ease, as if he were made of paper. His arm flew off and away from his body, disappearing from sight as it went over the edge of the roof. Chavivi went into a state of shock as he saw the red and bloody stump of what had once been his arm, cut so cleanly he wondered if it was an illusion. The Alpha reared back a claw, preparing to remove Chavivi’s head when suddenly Ramos and Boris slammed into the thing from behind, knocking it over the edge with a loud nightmarish groan.

“Boris, hurry!” Ramos said and Boris let his heavy laser hand by the strap that kept it tied to his armor before picking up Chavivi in a fireman’s carry and rushing him back to the Skyranger, with Ramos about to join him when he heard the monster suddenly land behind him, having grabbed onto the ledge and jumped up.

Turning, Ramos felt his eyes go wide at the inhuman demon that had landed behind him, he rapidly pulled his laser pistol out of its holster, hoping it still had a shot left in it..

The alien's expression was inscrutable, but it almost seemed to smile back.

“Hasta la vista, mother...” he raised his pistol to all but touch the creature’s stupid, yet terrifying, grin. Ramos hoped to blow it off as he pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened but a tiny beep that kept repeating, the weapon had been overheated and needed to be serviced.
Ramos' eyes grew wider but he did not let fear overcome him, he pulled out a combat knife and thought only of buying his friends more time.

Almost off handedly the creature swung a claw tipped hand.  It sunk into Ramos' alloy armor like tissue paper.
A lance of fire raced up his gut. His cry of pain shredded the air just as his stomach was shredded. Boris turned to see his closest friend in danger.

“Ramos! No!” He shouted and held up his heavy Laser and fired at the Alpha’s legs as everyone else stared in shock, Trixie crying and screaming as she held onto Cotton and Sato trying his best to keep Chavivi from bleeding to death while the civilians tried to run deeper into the cramped space of the Skyranger.

“Boris! Boris! Boriiiaahahhhhh!!!!” Ramos cried out as he was held over the Alpha and then forcefully split in half, his blood and organs spilling everywhere like a horrific gruesome piñata as they spilled out and coated the Alpha Chrysallid, the terrible snapping of his spine ringing in Boris’s ears as he froze, watching his friend’s torso be tossed away by the Alpha chrysallid before it threw Ramos’s legs at him and knocked him back. 

Boris stared in terror as he was coated in his friends blood and the Alpha came closer and closer, raising its large pincers to stab and tear him apart until somehow a big blast of energy similar to Trixie’s magic Knocked the monster back, slamming it against an Air Conditioning unit so hard its exoskeleton cracked. 

Cotton looked down at his hand, all he had done was reach out to shout out ‘no’ when he suddenly felt energy transferred from Trixie over to him, and somehow he had shoved the giant crab away. 

Boris wasted no time and stood up, aiming the heavy laser at the creature and holding the trigger down. Time seemed to pass so quickly until the barrel of his weapon was bright red and slightly melted, but so was the crab. The Alpha had been turned into a puddle of goo and twitching feet by the time Boris had finished it, and yet he was still not satisfied, he wanted to stomp the remains of this thing out of existence.

"Boris! We have to go!” Cotton ordered and snapped Boris from his spell. The large Russian man moved back to the transport quickly, seeing that Chavivi’s injury had been sealed by some foam from Sato’s medkit and the civilians were all aboard. As soon as he got on the Skyranger took off and Boris took a seat with his back to a wall. His mind was empty and his body felt heavy as every time he blinked he saw the image of Ramos being torn apart. He did not even notice as Cotton shouted and yelled at Central to have the clinic bombed and failed to notice when said bomb slammed down into the clinic and turned it into a crater, turning whatever other monsters were there into ashes.
All Boris could feel and register, was that they had lost Ramos, that he had lost his closest friend.

Commander Cotton held onto Trixie as the Skyranger raced back to the evacuation zone, his eyes staring at his hand that had somehow knocked the crab away, wondering how he was able to have done such a thing.
> Fallen Heroes.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chap17: Fallen Heroes.


A full day had passed after the terror attacks in South America, Las Vegas and Hong Kong. Thousands were dead, but thanks to the efforts of X-com and local forces around the world, those numbers were still far below the millions that initial predictions had dictated would occur. The world was now abuzz with news of a new international agency dealing with the alien threat. President Huerta , the first Hispanic president of the United States, and first member of the independent party in many years, praised X-com on their ‘first’ mission and assured the public that the organization would have the full support of the United States and her allies.

“Many people owe their lives to not only our own soldiers, but to X-com,” President Huerta said as his image was broadcast nation-wide. In his mind remembering all those months ago when he had signed the documents allowing for the operation and funding of X-com within the continental United States. How much he had argued in secret with both the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress, sleepless nights as he hoped he was doing the right thing as he made under the table deals with both. He could only pray that X-com would continue to succeed, or at least develop technology to help in the defence of earth.

“And so, later today I will be formally requesting Congress to  provide more funding to defend against alien incursion. I myself will be lowering my own salary to nothing. I will not receive even a single cent so long as I am in office and my planet is in danger. The money I am requesting from Congress will go to our own armed forces to defends us at home and for X-com to help them in their battle worldwide.” The American President finished up and was bombarded by questions from groups opposed, in favour, and everything in between his supporting of an outside military force working in the United States and wielding such advanced technology.

“Please, allow me to continue,” he said and cleared his throat once the reporters before him silenced themselves.

“I will also be deploying military teams to possible locations of alien incursion, to help maintain order in case of riots and to help defend against attack. There will be installed a curfew to several cities as well,” The President said, wishing he did not have to take these actions but knowing he had little to no choice. Already he could hear countless people calling him a fascist and a dictator for enacting such harsh measures to defend his homeland but he knew he needed to remain strong and firm in the face of this threat to do what needed to be done, even if his people grew to hate him for it. And while he had to answer questions there, another was being forced to answer for his choices elsewhere.


-Alien command ship. Dark side of the moon.

“Incompetent fool,” the master stated as he held Sectoid 742 in the air above him. The Sectoid commander’s large red cranium throbbed violently as he was strangled by the master. His throat showing visible signs of strangulation, as if a rope had been tied around his small neck, despite the master never laying a hand upon him.

“You requested a simple task and assured me you could do it.” The master all but spat as he stared at a holographic image of the Earth. Still controlled by the filth known as ‘Humans’. Oh how this species had plagued him so much. They were a true thorn in his side. Though not yet enough to elicit true action by the empire. They were currently expanding the empire elsewhere to other more valuable star systems and dealing with dissidents of conquered or surviving combatants from races they believed to have exterminated.

‘ If only my own masters did not need fresh genes and slaves with psionic potential. I would drop countless plagues and diseases upon this unworthy species and be done with the problem. Simply wipe them all from existence, every last human male, female and child. All dead by a push of a button. The universe would not care if another sentient race was exterminated, and it would further the Ethereal goals.’ The master thought in his mind, nearly shivering in pleasure at the thoughts. But he knew his ship and the others delivered by the supply ship did not carry any such weapons, and even then it would take time for the plagues to wipe the Earth clean of the verminous humans. And he would please the rulers of the empire much more if he conquered the world and presented them with the one thing they could not make themselves. Fresh psionic genes and slaves undamaged by years of cloning.

“M..master…not my….fault,” 742 gasped out through his mental link, struggling to tell the angered Ethereal that he was near death. 742 could feel a cold darkness over his mind, as his eyes began to lose the ability to see and the sensation of dying became somewhat welcoming, an escape from the pain he was currently undergoing, and as generous as a promise of closing one’s eyes for a moment after a long night of work.

742 had known that the terror attack in North America had failed but it wasn’t until he was on the ship that he realized all the assaults had failed and all of the Alpha insects sent to the planet killed. They now only had 20 of them in cold storage.
The master finally set 742 down, letting the Sectoid gasp and finally breathe through it’s nostrils.

“As much as it would delight me to snap your little neck, I am forced to require you.”

“Mas…ter?” 742 inquired between breaths and stopping to rub its neck, still feeling the sting of the Master’s grip.

“The nearest resupply port suffered an accident, we are on our own for several galactic cycles,” the master said, referring to the human equivalent of two years for each cycle.

“Get on a ship and head to the resupply ship. It will be aiding us with cloning for some time but requires fresh genes to make more clones. You are one of the purest Sectoid gene carriers available. Now go before my patience wears truly thin you sniveling worm.”

742 bowed his head and left the command room, leaving the master to plan the locations of his bases on the human planet, and a communications and cloning outpost on the fourth planet of this system. A bright, lifeless, red sphere of sand.

As 742 made his way down to the hangar, he could not help but keep staring at his claws. Deep within his mind, so deep that even the master could not hear, he fantasized about tearing the master Ethereal to bloody ragged shreds with the claws he had been born with.

It was just when he had taken a ship to the resupply vessel that the Sectoid Commander felt a presence in its mind, forcing it into a trance, and yet piloting its body as if it were nothing more than a puppet.

Discord smiled as he floated invisibly above 742 and with great effort piloted his next movements for several hours.

“Looks like I might have my Sectoid rebellion after all.” He said, his face betraying all of his evil intentions until he grabbed a napkin and wiped his face clean to keep his plans hidden.


-Crow’s nest. Cryo morgue.

All was quiet in the cryo morgue as all those who could be spared from their duties stood at attention and in silence before the two cryo tubes. The remains, that could be salvaged enough to be made somewhat presentable for the ceremony of Jeaver Savage. The tube of Ramos Miguel Gutiérrez  remained empty due to there not being a body to recover. 10 of the remaining 15 base security officers were present for the funeral to honor one of their own. The security officers were the equivalent to Military Police and would only be used as combat personnel in an emergency or in the defence of a base in case of attack. Many engineers and support staff who’d had fun moments with either of the deceased and wanted to wish them goodbye.

Cotton stood with both cryo tubes behind him as he prepared to give a speech that he did not want. In his dress uniform and gray tinted beret, he was the perfect image of professionalism.

“Greetings to all. I know you are all expecting some pre written speech. But I don’t have one, and I now many of you hate those,” Cotton said as his eyes scanned the room, finding doctor Shen and Vahlen there, Central was up in the control room, still managing things.

Vahlen’s white science lab coat was nearly glowing in the blue lights of the cryo morgue, making her almost angelic to his eyes, but this wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

“Nothing I say will ever calm the aching pain of loss. Nothing any of us do will ever truly ease the pain of losing someone we know and love, especially so violently.”

He said and spotted Lewis, their second combat medic standing behind Derpy who was wiping her eyes as Rock Fist, the gray earth pony Sargent, hugged her, trying to hush her crying as gently as he could. He had been through this several times and knew what it was like to lose someone.

“But…but I was gonna let him try my new gummy bear muffins when he got back. He would have loved them,” Derpy sobbed into Rock’s shoulder, not being used to death since in Ponyville there hadn’t been one since her husband, Dinky’s father, passed away from an accident at his workplace.

“Shhhh, shhh, its okay, I am sure Ramos is with his god or goddess right now eating swarms and swarms of gummy bears,” Rock whispered to Derpy, but it was still rather audible.

‘I never knew Ramos liked those.’  Cotton thought, making himself feel somewhat worse.

“I know this is a short ceremony but maybe its best that way. We'll bring this ceremony to a close,” Cotton said, his mind heavy and his body aching. He had known so little about Ramos, not his wants, desires, family, pains, memories. And yet it still hurt to lose a trooper under his command.

‘I should have spent more time with my crew, not just wandering around and just watching.’

The ceremony came to a full close after someone brought in a bible, per standard procedure for Ramos as his religion had been noted as Roman Catholic. Jaever had been listed as Atheist and wanted nothing special for his funeral, just that his family not know if he suffered.

The rest of the day was a blur for many people, especially Boris who had not attended the funeral but instead had broken not one but two punching bags in the exercise room and had broken the skin on one of his fists from how hard he punched them. One support staff member name Drake had actually shared a rumor that when he was there Boris broke open the second punching bag with a single blow after fifteen minutes of continuous strikes, that Boris had shouted out “Stop Grinning!” before punching the bag so hard that it split open and the sand inside of it spilled all along the floor, with Boris dripping blood from his fist.

The base was in an odd state of depression, no one wanted to talk about the loss of two good friends. Most were either working or trying to distract themselves. With no one being allowed off base really it forced everyone to rely upon one another, becoming as tightly knit as people can be.

-Med bay.
Boris sat on one of the medical beds in the med-bay. It had been already an hour since the funeral, and Boris wanted to avoid everyone, he did not want to hear the constant apologies from everyone and well wishes. He just wanted to be alone.

The blond  haired muscular Russian man was currently having one of his hands bandaged up after he broke the skin pretty well on a punching bag and yet he felt no better. He still felt a coiling serpent of rage in his stomach and a rope of guilt around his heart. When Boris was alone and not occupied, all he could think about was Ramos calling our his name as he was torn into pieces. And how he did nothing to save his friend.

“Now Boris, you will be fine but rest that hand for a little while. If there are any problems feel free to come back and let us know,” an assistant said to Boris as he hopped off of the bed. Seeing Chavivi, their former sniper, floating in a vita tank after the surgery he had undergone after field medics at the Las Vegas evac zone stabilized him. In the tank next to Chavivi was Jack who was recovering well from his leg injury while in another tank on the other side of the room was Sneaky, under the watchfull eye of Dr. M'butu to make sure he did not have any adverse effect to the vita tank.

Boris himself had been in the vita tank for only about half a day, his injuries were not as bad as they had appeared, his Nano fibers absorbing most, if not nearly all, of the heat from the plasma blasts that had managed to go through his alloy armor.

Boris noticed absentmindedly that the doctor was gone and stepped past empty beds and to the door, nearly bumping into Rock Fist who was coming to check on Sneaky.

“Sorry,” both of them said and passed by one another without another word, showing yet more of the sombre mood of the base.

-Lounge 

A few personnel were in the lounge watching tv on the larger screen or having lunch or early dinner. Chelsea Mitchel was seated at a small table with her two wingmen. 

“I still don’t understand how your arm got cut.” She asked as she reached a hand back to scratch her head, also making sure her red hair was still in a bun.

Lyons, the British pilot reached over to his left arm and began rubbing the gauze bandage around it. “Neither do I.” he said with curiosity as he ran the events in his mind.

“I only noticed it when I hit the ground, must have been a rock.” 

Jones remained silent as he ate a doughnut and looked between the two as they spoke.
Chelsea crossed one of her legs as she began leaning back on her chair, balancing herself to keep from falling.

“So you think you can fly soon?” She asked while leaning around.
“Any day now just waiting for the skin to finish healing.”

“It looked a lot worse than it was.” Jones said as he finished eating and the three sat around talking till Jones went to check on the hangar bay while Lyons left to go to his room. 

Chelsea remained in the longue as others began to leave, some mumbling about something or other as she watched the local news. Most of what was on television was propaganda footage of the marines taking out surviving aliens from the terror ship shot down and how they had captured a Thin-man but it was transported to the NORAD base for a more thorough interrogation.

“They get all the best stuff.” She sighed as the hours dragged on and she almost wished for another encounter. The lounge door opened with a hiss as the sound of hooves echoed off the walls with Trixie walking inside, her hair was a mess and she looked like she hadn’t slept in a while.

“Hey uhh….Trixie you okay?” Chelsea looked as she looked over her shoulder to the tired pony.
Trixie made some kind of noise before turning her head around in search for whoever had spoken to her. Chelsea had to stand up and make herself more visible to be noticed.

“ahh..oh you…uh that flying human.” Trixie said with a smile that made the bags under her eyes more noticeable, after the Skyranger returned from the mission Trixie went through her de-con shower silently and then just went to her room, not talking to anyone or coming out until now. When anyone knocked on her door she would shout out that she just wanted to be left alone. 

“Yeah, the flying human.” Chelsea said, half worried the exhausted looking pony would hurt herself since she had seen some bad stuff on the last mission.

“Do you need help?” Chelsea asked, taking slow steps to Trixie.

“Help? Help!? The powerful help the great Trixie does not need from you!” She said, not making a lick of sense as she wobbled and pointed a hoof an inch to the right of Chelsea. 

“Yeah, I beg to differ.” She said and kneeled down to be on the same level as the pony, like talking to a child.

“Look you are about to pass out on the floor, tell me what you want and I'll get it for you.”

“Trixie wants water, or milk.” She said before yawning and looking at the human, thinking to herself that she now understood why Sneaky seemed to have a crush on her, and that she really needed to sleep, but she was terrified of seeing the monsters in her dreams.

“Okay I'll grab you a bottle of milk but you need to sleep Trixie, this is not good for your brain.”
The tired pony seemed confused for a moment before registering what was said.

“But I love my brian, it is my favourite one!” Chelsea smiled to Trixie and pet her head before she stood up and went to one of the fridges for the general staff to use that contained food that did not need to be cooked or specially made. She grabbed one of the milk cartons and poured it into a plastic canteen that one simply pulled and drank from to keep Trixie from spilling it.

“it’s the great milk ready for Trixie?” the unicorn asked before nearly falling down when Chelsea reappeared. 

“Yes it is but you need to be in bed for milk alright?” Chelsea asked while gently ushering the pony away, holding the milk in her free hand as they left the lounge, to almost bump into a member of the day crew who apologised first and walked into the lounge.

As Trixie and Chelsea walked over to the barracks Chelsea noticed a small box near a wall next to the entrance to the barracks, almost hidden behind a support beam. 

“stay here Trixie.” Chelsea said and handed the pony her milk. Chelsea stepped away from the pony to find a small memorial to the two recently deceased. A photo of Ramos flexing his muscles was taped to the wall next to a photo of the face of Jaever, on a small box infront of the pictures were shot glasses and on the floor were candles. 

“Rest in peace.” Chelsea said before returning to Trixie and finding her struggling to drink her milk without spilling it all over herself. With effort and the help of another staff member who happened to be passing by Trixie was eventually returned to her room, all of this reminding Chelsea of her own experience in dealing with a bratty sibling and making her want to send an Email when she returned to her room.


-Cotton’s personal quarters.

Commander Cotton paced around his room for the umpteenth time, unable to recall himself how many times he had walked around his room, from his bed to his bathroom to the front door to his work desk. Trying to think of what to say to the families of two brave heroes who fell in the defense of their world.

“Fuck,” was all cotton could say as he sat down in his bed, his head in his hands as he felt angry at himself. The nails of his hands scraping against his scalp hard enough to agitate his scalp but not hard enough to break it as he looked like a man who had awoken out of a bad dream.

“You are the one who wanted to be friends with them and this is what you get,” Cotton mumbled to the empty room.

“I never wanted to be commander, I can barely remember how I got here. Its all been luck up until now that more of my troopers haven’t been killed.” He then turned to the sunset behind him on the holographic window that cast his room in a light orange glow, his mood improving slightly as the eternal sunset was calming to him and pleasing to the eyes.
Before he could do anything there was a sensation that was almost not there, making Cotton wonder if he was feeling it at all as he rubbed the back of his head where he felt the sensation before there was a knock at his door.

“What?..I mean... Come in!” the commander corrected himself quickly as he reached a hand over and to a nearby wall and switching on the lights, causing his eyes a moment of pain as he was forced out of the darkness.
The door to his room slid open with a hiss as in stepped Dr. Shen, a neutral expression on his face as outside, hidden, Dr. Vahlen listened in since she did not have the courage, or the experience to talk the commander out of his funk.

Dr. Shen stood with one hand on the door frame so the sensors would not cause the door to close and Vahlen could listen in.

“Commander, I just came to tell you that engineering has finished maintenance on your armor and weapons. You should be all set for your next mission,” Shen said with the same voice as a grandfather telling his grandson he had fixed a broken toy.

Cotton looked to Shen and took a few steps towards him.

“Good, but we both know you could have sent me a message if that was all,” Cotton took one step forward and paused to wait for a response.

“Well, commander. I know this is a difficult time for you right now, a heavy loss after a string of good victories.”
The commander remained silent as Shen continued.

“It isn’t your fau-“

“Don’t,” Cotton interrupted as if he had heard it a thousand times despite it being the first time.

“First rule of leadership: everything is your fault. We both know this.” Cotton said, the emotions in his body language tensing up and showing anger and yet his face showing nothing.

“You know that isn’t true, Commander. You did what you could. Not even a single civilian casualty from your mission zone, rescuing a few off the path, and even and killing a lot of aliens, everything you did was excellent.” Shen said and stepped forward, stopping midway to keep the door from closing. Vahlen stood in the hallway, head low as she wished she could work up the courage to tell the Commander it wasn’t his fault and much of what Shen was saying. She stifled herself and simply waited for the conversation to continue.

“Dr. Shen. Please...” Cotton’s face calmed and much more relaxed.  “I appreciate you coming to visit me, along with whoever is standing outside.”

Vahlen was left with her eyes wide as she wondered how he knew she was there.

“I understand, Commander, just take it easy for a while,” Shen said and stepped back out of the room.
Cotton listened as the door closed and there was hushed conversation outside. He returned to his desk and sat in front of a blank screen, taking a moment to grab his beret from atop and put it on a small rack for it above his bed.

The blank screen seemed to be taunting Cotton as he sat there silent and staring at it for an unknown amount of time until he sat up and put forth the same effort as he did when charging into enemy gunfire. He placed his hands upon the keyboard and simply began typing, and typing until time seemed to have passed him by. When he was done it was late into the evening. Most of the base would be asleep by then while the night crews would be running the important systems and keeping an eye out for alien incursions.With his attention broken a sense of exhaustion set over Cotton and his eyes suddenly fell closed and sleep almost overtook him like a tidal wave, but he forced his eyes open and stood up.

“No, I have to finish this,” Cotton said and rubbed his eyes, noticing the time, 2:38AM.

“Jesus, i’m going to need coffee,” Cotton said and quickly saved what he had on the computer and walked out of the room in search of caffeine, missing the memorial made to the fallen troopers since he was walking away from it as he exited the barracks.


-Lounge.

The lounge was fairly empty at this hour. The staff worked in alternating shifts to keep anyone from passing out from exhaustion, but a few liked to stay up past their shift. One such person was Jason Benet.

The young man sat on the couch in front of the big TV, sipping a soda as he watched some late night comedy shows. 
Benet was a member of the satellite crew that worked near mission control, when his hands reached a keyboard they were simply a blur of motion punching code in at impressive speed.

Benet had originally wanted to be a soldier but he just wasn’t cut out for it. But he continually promised himself that he would prove his worth somehow, even if it was just punching code into the base computers and cleaning out viruses. Some guys got bored and downloaded stuff that would get them in trouble if Central Officer Bradford found out about it.
Benet laughed at his last thought since he was sure Central had almost caught him playing a game on his console when he was waiting for a reply from a satellite.

“He probably didn’t see me,” the boy said and stood up, his soda finished and went to throw it away and see if he could grab anything else. Tony tended to leave parts of the kitchen open for people who were still on duty at night, and anyone who needed something that wasn’t cooked.

Benet found it amazing how a single man could perform miracles and cook for a whole base breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but he guessed it was possibly because most of the food was pre-prepared and just frozen.

Benet paused after throwing his soda can away. Door opening behind him, he turned to see the Commander enter.
“Sir!” Benet said and stood at attention, accidentally slapping himself as he saluted.

‘Just my luck, I meet the Commander and make myself look like a dumbass,’he thought as he tried to look professional.

“At ease, kid. Shouldn’t you be asleep by now? I thought you were one of the day crews,” Cotton said, really just wanting the kid to leave so he could drink his coffee in peace. Even some instant coffee would be good at the moment.

“Yes sir, right away Commander,” Benet said and marched out of the lounge to head to his room.

“So cool,” Benet said and hopped up, pumping his hands in the air and hitting a light above him.

“Dammit how do I keep hurting myself?” he said and rubbed his hands as he made his way to the sleeping quarters. He shared a room with one of the medical staff, a German male nurse named Hans who always mumbled in his sleep and sometimes terrified his roommate. 

When Benet was just about to make his way into his room the spotted a very unhappy Russian passing by. Benet stepped rapidly into his room and locked the door, not wanting to be anywhere near the angry soldier if the rumors about Boris were true.

“I'd rather be with Dr. Insano  than that pissed off bear,” Benet said just as his roommate mumbled in his sleep.

“Nein..nein you have to remove the intestines first.”

“And I take those words back,” Benet said as he got into bed and put in some earplugs.
Meanwhile Boris was tired as hell and yet he had awoken from a nightmare with an odd desire to get something to eat. He had taken the long way around the base to get to the kitchen so that he would not bump into any more people, he just hoped that when he arrived at the lounge that no one else would be there.

> Dreamscape.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter18: Dreamscape. 

-Med bay. 

It was the second day of Sneaky’s long rest in the Vita-tank. Bubbles danced around Sneaky’s sleeping, floating form as his back injury had nearly fully healed over. A patch of fur ready to grow over the hairless portion of his back where the plasma bolts had struck him earlier. 

At that point the door slid open with a hiss that was followed by the rhythmic clop steps of one of the ponies. Rock Fist stepped inside with his Xcom shirt on, the humorously dubbed ‘Pony toga’ since it hid most of his body. His hooves echoed on the sterile metal and linoleum floor of the medical bay as he travelled past the medical beds and over to the room with the Vita tanks, a total of 4 altogether now. But only three were occupied and in use, the empty one was completely dry since no one wanted to waste the healing fluids that went into the tanks when they were in use. 

“How is he doing?” Rock asked a nearby nurse as she was also checking on Chavivi in his own Vita-tank. Chavivi’s stump of an arm looking healed in days what would have taken months and looking ready for whatever the next step in his planned healing was. 

“Oh.” The nurse looked around and noticed the gray furred pony standing by. 

“Your friend will be awake by tomorrow; he’s healing faster than expected,” she said and tapped on a small console pad in front of the tube, knowing what Rock wanted to know since he checked in on Sneaky periodically. 
“He is set to wake up tomorrow at around 3 PM.” 

Rock nodded and smiled to the nurse. “Thank you very much ma’am” 

The nurse smiled down to him, drawn like most of the other personnel on the base to the ponies’ inherent cute look.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” she said while moving onto Jack, whose injury was nearly gone save for a faint scar on his thigh where the plasma round had struck him before.

“Yeah, I promised his family I would keep him safe. And I've known him and his family for many years,” Rock said looking at sneaky floating in the tube of light green liquid. 

“So, what’s it like on your world?” the nurse asked as she moved away and took a seat at a nearby desk, not wanting to pass up a chance to talk to a friendly alien. Rock smiled at the welcome distraction, and walked over to the nurse to begin talking. 

As the two talked they became very enthralled in their conversation, failing to notice as Sneaky began moving inside of his tank as his body shrank a small amount, loosening his oxygen mask and letting water slowly slip in.



-Sneaky’s subconscious. 

Sneaky couldn’t help but smile widely as he lay resting on a beach chair with a large blue umbrella behind him. Before him was a clean beach with crystal clear blue water, above him the sun shining in a clear sky as a nice breeze kept him from sweating too much, it was the perfect day in his mind. 

“I love being me,” he said as he slipped on the aviator sunglasses that had been given to him by Chelsea and was about to take a sip of a smoothie on a nearby table with a radio on it when he had a thought. 

“Wait a minute,” he said and sat up, looking around him as his blue hair hung around his face as he turned sharply to see where he was. There was no one else within visual range of him and the only thing to keep him company was a radio and a strawberry smoothie, the small toaster sized radio played music but it wasn’t like anything Sneaky had ever heard, it was distorted and the lyrics sounded like gibberish to him. He switched it off with a movement of his hoof and then looked around more, getting out of the chair and stepping into the sand which did not feel warm, despite the sun overhead. 

“No, I should be in the med bay….I got hurt,” the Pegasus said when his memory returned to him and then turned to try and look at his back, not seeing any trace of the injury. 

“This is impossible.” He said and felt a pang of panic hit him.

“What if I’m in some type of coma!?” Sneaky yelled and began trembling with the fear of his theory. Being trapped within his own mind until his friends decided to pull the plug on him. 

“No…let’s just calm down….I'm sure this is just a dream from anaesthetic and we will wake up when it’s over.” The Pegasus felt his eyes grow wide as he came to a sudden epiphany. 

“And if that’s true, then I can do anything I want now that I know it’s a dream,” he said and rubbed his front hooves together mischievously with a grin as he took his seat again and focused his mind. A sudden tornado of sand appeared and before Sneaky’s eyes was Chelsea in a very revealing swimsuit that left very little to the imagination stood before him, her red hair glowing in the sunlight as she moved some sunglasses on her face down to wink at him. 

“I’m so glad I have a good imagination,” Sneaky said as he felt his mouth water as the mental version of Chelsea strolled over to him, swaying her hips as she smiled, thumbs hooking into the bottom portions of her swimsuit as she prepared to remove them as she travelled closer and closer to the eager Pegasus. 

“This is not in any way how a Royal Guard should act but…..Bucking deal with it!” he said and threw his sunglasses up in the air and landed perfectly onto his face. Sneaky then tried to make a smile similar to that of Celestia’s spoiled brat nephew Prince Blueblood, or prince Blue Balls as many guards called him behind his back. Guessing that it was his smile and regal lineage that attracted so many mares and not his utter lack of respect for anyone. As the scene was about to get very hot there was another sand twister and Chelsea was gone, as if she had never even been there. 

“Oh you gotta be bucking, kidding me! Not even in my dreams?” he shouted to the sky and threw his sunglasses down before he picked up the beach umbrella behind him and threw it like a spear into the ocean, creating a large explosion of water from the impact that let some of the water fall down onto him like rain, making his mane hang down and cling to his face. Sneaky panted angrily as he listened to the silence around him, that was soon broken by the last person he expected. 

“Is this how all Royal Guard Ponies act when no one watches their actions?” a young but regal voice said as Sneaky heard hoof falls, very specific hoof falls that only came from the royal shoes the princesses wore. 

With sweat dripping down his brow, Sneaky turned to see the princess of the moon and of dreams, Luna, striding slowly and gracefully towards him, the sand turning into a pristine marble pathway as she trotted towards him. 

“Your majesty!” he said and bowed before the princess and kissed her hooves as she stood only a few steps from him. 

“Forgive me, your highness, forgive this humble trooper for his impudence and disres…..wait you're probably just another dream,” Sneaky said and looked at her aggressively, wishing to turn her into Chelsea dressed as a cheerleader from one of the shows on the TV in the lounge. 

“I am not a figment of your imagination as that biped was,” The princess said in a most unimpressed tone as she looked to Sneaky with a growing frown. 

“Oh…you saw that?.....Uh I can explain!You see-“ 

“Enough!”Luna shouted in her royal tone, the wind from her voice blowing Sneaky’s mane upwards. 

“Yes your majesty,” he said and bowed more respectfully toward her, remembering his place.

Luna’s horn began to glow a brilliant shade of blue as the entire scene changed and they were now inside of a square marble room with two chairs and a large wooden table made of fine oak. 

“Take a seat, Private Breeze,” Luna said as she moved around the table and took her seat, Sneaky taking the one opposite to her. 

“I require evidence to prove you are truly yourself. State full name and rank.” 

“Sneaky, Nimbus, Breeze, Layer. Private first class of your stealth fliers, your majesty.” 

“Is Layer your father or mothers name?” Luna asked, having already reviewed the information before she fully connected their minds together. 

“Father’s, his name is Brick Sedimentary  Layer.”

“Quite unusual for an earth pony couple to have a Pegasus child,” Luna said, continuing her test. 

“That is incorrect ma’am. My mother is a Pegasus and my father the earth pony. Besides, our people are no longer separated by tribes and marriages between the three groups is common,” Sneaky said, hoping the princess was not capable of seeing his deeper thoughts so she did not know he was panicking at the thought of her bringing up his immature fantasy with the fake Chelsea earlier. 

“Correct. Now the final question,” Luna said though did not seem happy about asking it. 

“In the Daring Doo comic books, which was your favorite character?” Luna said with a sigh while gritting her teeth and wishing she had been able to find a personal question that was not so childish but his locker back at the Canterlot guard barracks was full of the comic books. 

Sneaky beamed happily as he answered. “Well my favorite was Captain Equestria of course, it was a dumb crossover with another comic and while everyone hates that issue, I love it.” He said with a slight flap of his wings as his mouth formed a wide smile. 

“Correct. You are Private Breeze,” Luna said and relaxed visibly. 

“We have much to cover and not much time to do it.” Luna said. “Time runs much more swiftly within the dream realm.” 

“Where is your current location?” she asked, while preparing to memorize everything he said. 

“Well, I don’t know exactly. Somewhere in a nation called The United States of America. In the North American continent to be exact your majesty,” Sneaky said, keeping his face expressionless as he answered questions from the second highest authority in his homeland. 

“Not Rome?” She asked. 

“Rome, your majesty?” Breeze asked and looked at her. 

“Nevermind, on to the next question.” She said, mentally thinking to herself it was no surprise that between an thousand and two thousand years things would be vastly different than the days of ‘Caesar’, especially if Deep Thought’s Human friend Brutus went through with his assassination plan.

“Has anyone among your group noticed their fur turning prematurely white?” 

“Uh that might be me but I’m not sure,” Sneaky said and felt nervous when the princess leaned over and examined him. 

“Yes, it is you.” She simply said and hushed Sneaky when he tried to ask her what she meant. Luna made a mental note that the strange effects of going through the portal had affected only one pony again, though as to why that was still remained a mystery, along with why it happened at all.  

“Have you come into contact with the natives of the world you are on, and can you describe them?” She asked before altering her statement.  “Better yet, you are free to create a mental image of the natives. An appropriate mental image,” She said and sneaky sunk in his chair. 

“Yes ma’am.” He then focused and conjured up mental images of the Crow’s nest team, from Chelsea, in her flight uniform, to Vahlen to Commander Cotton. 

Luna remained silent as she looked at the creatures standing behind the Pegasus guard, they were all as Deep Thought had described in his ancient report. Tall, nearly completely hairless, bipeds with small eyes and short faces. 
Sneaky bit his lower lip as the questioning continued for what felt like hours, Sneaky filling in the princess on everything he could, save for things he felt the commander would not want him to say or things he felt were to be kept between him and the humans. 

After a while of stalling for time by explaining the antics of Ramos and Boris the princess looked to him. 

“Why are you hiding something from your own ruler?” She said, her tone not angry or disappointed, but curious. 

“What? I’m not hiding anything your majesty.” He said and brushed his hair back. 

“I am over a thousand years old, Pegasus, I know how to sense a lie,” She said and the table decreased in size so that the two were closer to each other when they spoke. 

“Do you fear my sister and I are out to harm your new friends?” she asked straightforward and Sneaky knew the jig was up. 

“Yes….your majesty., he said and looked down, waiting to be accused of treason. But soon felt princess Luna place a hoof on his shoulder. 

“When was the last time Equestria had a war? The worst we ever had to deal with was against roving bands of organized criminals or renegade dragons.” She said to him.  

This took Sneaky a while to think up an answer for but he came up with one. 
“You’re right, we haven’t had a real war since the time of Discord, one hundred years before you became Nightmare Moon.” The princess nodded to her guard’s response and returned to her original position in her seat. 

‘And most call the diamond dog insurrection a security action against one dog clan.’ He thought.

“From what you have told us so far, these humans seem very nice. But are in a horrid situation. I will go over everything you have told me with my sister, well the important parts anyway,” she said and the dream world around Sneaky began to fade slowly. 

“You are soon to awaken,” Luna said and looked around, trying to maintain her link to Sneaky. Sneaky grunted as he suddenly felt pain in his chest, and something going on in his lungs as his breathing became labored. 

“What…is happening?” He grunted and held himself as he felt his body feel like it was getting smaller and he had more energy, like when he was younger. 

“Private Breeze! Listen, there is not much time,” Luna said but before she could get the next sentence out Sneaky began coughing and opened his eyes just as Rock fist finished giving him mouth to mouth. 

“Breathe!Celestia dammit boy! Breathe!” Rock yelled, his Xcom shirt soaked with vita fluid as all around them was a pool of spilled vita tank fluid.

“Stop! He’s breathing!” cried out the nurse Rock had been speaking with before while holding Sneaky’s head and checking his pulse. 

“Boy!” Rock shouted and smiled, taking a space back to help let Sneaky get some air. 
Sneaky rubbed his face before a nurse forced him to open an eye and began to shine light into it. 

“What the buck happened to me?” Sneaky asked before coughing more vita fluid onto himself from his stomach. 

“It looks like you knocked your oxygen mask off somehow while inside the vita tank and started drowning,” a male nurse said and grabbed some towels to dry the pony off but stopped and decided to grab something to pick up all the glass shards in the room from when Rock smashed the tank open to get sneaky out.

“Rock…come closer, please,” Sneaky said in a hushed tone, and when rock was close he grabbed upon the ear that did not have the translation piece in it. 

“I saw the real princess Luna….in my dreams,” Sneaky said, and Rock’s eyes went wide. 
They had made contact with their home. 



-Equestria. 

“CONFOUND IT ALL!” Luna shouted at the top of her lungs. Her voice carrying the force of a storm and knocking around several books and loose papers in her room. After doing a task more difficult than moving the moon she was angry that she had reached her goal but had not been able to get all of the information she needed and wanted. 

“I was so close! I could have told the private about his condition. About how he will change age just as Deep Thought does, ” Luna sighed and sat down in the center of the enchanted circle around her room that kept her actions secret from unfriendly eyes. She looked outside a window to see the glimmering of the morning sun rising over the hills of Canterlot, only then did she feel the exhaustion from trying to reach the lost ponies on another world and sleep began to come over her eyes as she laid her body on the floor. 

“Perhaps a small rest wouldn’t hurt. I don’t want to panic my sister just yet,” Luna justified to herself as the drained princess fell into her own dreams for a quick power nap in the safety of the arcane circle.

Discord sat bored atop the fourth wall, sipping jelly beans from a martini glass. 

“I’m just going to ignore the big sections that are completely blocked out from my viewing for now. I’ll deal with that when it becomes a problem,” Discord said while pointing to the entire part of the chapter above him. 

“How about just for the hell of it we look inside of people’s dreams since the chapter is called Dreamscape and I wouldn’t want you all to think the writer is a liar….hmm that rhymes.” Discord snapped his fingers and the scene began to change. 



-Doctor Vahlen’s room. 

Vahlen laid asleep in her night clothes, which consisted of a pair of jogging pants and a T shirt in case she had to wake up for an emergency so she would not be stuck running around the base in anything more embarrassing. Her hair lay untied and she hugged a pillow close to her body like a teddy bear while she dreamt. 



-Her dream. 

Vahlen stood up on a podium before a large crowd of teddy bears, some in various states of dissection. She read from a script on the podium to the gathered crowd thanking the scientific community for her nobel peace prize in teddy bear science. All to Discord’s great amusement. 

“Hahahahahahahaha! Oh you all should see the looks on your faces! You all look as stupid as her dream does.” He laughed loudly and held his stomach.

“Uh oh, I think I’m going to throw up,” he said before forcing himself to calm down as he kept watching as Vahlen’s eyes drifted to the half dissected teddy bears when her grandmother came out of nowhere, slapping her hands and suddenly Vahlen was a little girl again, crying into her grandmothers dress as she apologised time and time again for taking her teddy bear apart.

“Well this is boring character development and you all don’t want to see that!” Discord said and floated away to Derpy’s room to find her still awake at 3 AM. The gray furred Pegasus lay in bed with her blonde mane in front of her eyes as she rolled around, appearing to be uncomfortable with her bed. 

“Oh this is no fun,” Discord said and flew out of the room, not seeing that Derpy was just sleeping with her eyes open and not knowing she tended to toss and turn a lot in her sleep. 

Discord continued to fly around the base, wasting precious energy that would require him to rest for a while. 

Discord searched around the base, to his displeasure he found Cotton and Boris awake. Sitting on top of the television set in the room Discord watched as Boris had just entered the room to find Cotton sitting at a table with only a few empty cups of coffee to keep him company 

“Boris… I… would you mind sitting and talking with me for a moment?” Cotton indicated with a hand to the nearby empty spot at his table.

Boris nodded silently and pulled a chair up from another table. The large man took a seat with Cotton, his body at attention since he was fairly unsure of what to expect. 

“You don’t have to be at attention, Boris. I just have to ask you a question. Do you or anyone else blame me for Ramo’s death?” Cotton asked as he sighed and looked to Boris, letting his emotions seep through as his face was the picture of pain and regret. 

“No. I do not and I am sure no one else does either,” Boris said while leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs. With a sigh Boris rubbed his face and looked to Cotton. 

“I had an officer that was like you. His name was Alexi. He took every death serious and remembered the names of every member there ever was on my team,” Boris began and waited for a moment to see if Cotton wanted to listen or was not in the mood. 

Cotton remained silent, unsure of exactly what to say next. 

“We had just finished a mission and were on our way to the transport when our radioman stepped onto a landmine hidden in a patch of grass. It was old and rusty, it had been there for god knows how long. He did not set it off but in the position he was in, it could be set off if he tried to move away from it. He was trapped on it.” Boris said. “When we tried to defuse it our bomb expert said it was hopeless, anything that was done would set it off. Then our officer did a very risky trick, he moved down and as if by god’s grace held onto the landmine’s trigger, holding it exactly where the radioman’s foot had.” Boris sighed and seemed unsure of something for a moment before he continued. 

“We tried to stop him but he ordered us to shut up and get to safety. Once the mine went off it would create a lot of noise and a mess. I'll skip ahead somewhat but eventually we had no choice and were forced to run to our evac zone. Alexi never said a word, he never looked afraid as we left. The last thing he said to us was, ‘You are all closer to me than my own family’.” Boris stopped for a moment and shut his eyes. 

“As we boarded our vehicle we all stopped and listened for the boom as our leader, our friend, set off the mine.” 

“Later on we received a leader who wasted our lives like we were children’s toys. All that fucking bastard cared for was meeting his objectives as quickly as possible and making himself earn another medal or commendation. Out of my original squad, I am the only one still alive and in one piece,” Boris said while shifting in his seat with a groan of the chair from his weight shifting. 

“Why are you telling me this, Boris?” Cotton asked, unsure of what was being implied or if anything at all. 

“I am telling you this because I know you would have taken Ramo’s place. But that is not your job, Commander. Your job is to lead us and accomplish the mission with as many objectives accomplished and as little casualties on our side,” Boris said and stood up, he then walked over and put a hand on Cotton’s shoulder. 

“Besides, what would Ramos say?” 

Cotton paused for a moment and felt an aching. 

“That’s just it, I don’t know what he would have said. I spent all this time and I wanted to join you guys and get to know you but…I just didn’t, I can’t even remember why and that’s what hurts the most,” Cotton said as a sneer crept up on his lips as he felt angry at himself. 

“Then make up for it now. But remember, you are our leader. We need you strong for us, Commander. If you let yourself stay in this pit you will not help anyone and only put more of us in jeopardy if we need your leadership,” Boris said and stepped away to a nearby fridge, grabbing an orange  for himself. 

“I hope this has helped you, Commander,” Boris said. 

“If there is nothing else, I will take my leave,” Boris turned and was about to leave when Cotton cleared his throat. 
“Boris…thank you,” he said, his mood lightening. Boris turned his head to look over his shoulder and nodded to his commander with a smile before leaving.

‘If anyone has reason to feel shame and regret, it is I,’ Boris thought as he still heard Ramos calling his name out before being killed. 

Discord held his tongue out. 

“Oh pooh. Now I feel all depressed. I’m going to bed. Goodnight, everyone. I will see you all later.” Discord snapped his fingers and his mind was back with his body inside of the statue in Canterlot, to give himself a rest and gain his strength again. 



-Crow’s nest lounge. 

Cotton inhaled a lung full of air after the talk with Boris. The tired Commander felt a wave of relief after getting a good speech from Boris. 

“I feel like an idiot now for moping so much,” Cotton said with a chuckle as he stood to grab the coffee cups and wash them so he did not be a bother to Tony who was asleep by then. 

As he placed the cups into the sink to wash them his earpiece beeped with someone trying to contact him. 

“Commander Cotton here.” 

“Commander, its me Rock.”

“What can I do for you, Sergeant?” 

“Sir, Sneaky is awake and well….we need to see you here in the med-bay. It's important and we would like to see you in person if its no problem.” 

Cotton rapidly rinsed the cups and left them in the sink. 

“Understood. Il'l be there shortly,” he said as he left the longue and began making his way to the med bay, wondering what was so important that Sneaky and Rock had to see him in person to tell him.

> New Details.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chap 19: New details.

Sneaky Breeze sat on a dry medical bed as he rubbed a towel over himself, trying to get off the fluids from the vita tank. To his side was Rock Fist, making sure Sneaky did not suddenly feel sick and being there to help him if he did. Around them were several medical staff checking to make sure there were no loose pieces of glass from when Rock cracked the glass of Sneaky’s vita tank enough that the fluid spilled out, as well as mopping the floor.

The sound of the med bays door opening brought curious looks from Sneaky and Rock as Commander Cotton entered the room, looking very tired and yet still wide awake.

“What happened here?” Cotton said, turning his head to see the state the med bay was in with multiple nurses mopping the floor.

“Uh, that’s part of the story,” Sneaky said as he blushed, hoping the commander wouldn’t be mad.

Cotton stepped closer to the bed Sneaky and Rock were sitting on and looked to the both of them.

“You called me down here. Is something wrong?” the human asked as he looked down at the two ponies. Rock cleared his throat and spoke to Cotton the way he would a superior.

“Sorry, sir, but I would prefer if this conversation were done in private. I am afraid this information is of a sensitive matter, sir,” Rock said, getting a few curious looks from the staff.

“Well, alright,” Cotton replied and turned to look at a nurse. “Is private Breeze ready to move out?”

“Yes sir. He was almost done with healing anyway and his injuries appear healed,” replied the nurse whose scrubs indicated that she was in charge. Cotton waved his hand for the ponies to follow him and led the way out of the medical bay, listening to the rhythmic trotting steps of the two ponies as he led them to his office where they could confide in him. With a quick hand movement he turned on the lights to his room and then pulled up some chairs for the two to sit.

“Take a seat if you want, and then let’s hear what is going on.”

Both Rock and Sneaky took their seats in front of the commander.

“Sir, there is a lot that you do not know about our world, things that are mundane to us but would frankly be amazing to you humans,” Rock began, standing at attention the whole time while Cotton took a seat behind his desk, making a note to finish the letter to the recently deceased base members later.

“Just cut to the chase, Sergeant.”

Rock visibly swallowed as he prepared to tell his commander the news. “One of our rulers, Princess Luna, has the ability to enter into a pony’s mind when they sleep, into their dreams. And moments ago she entered into Sneaky’s mind while he was healing in the vita tank.”

Cotton lifted an eyebrow and wasn’t sure what to think of this. ‘On the one hand, they are talking ponies with some kind of mystic power, and we are at war with aliens. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if bigfoot showed up riding Nessy.’Cotton thought and looked to Sneaky.

“Is this true?” he asked and Sneaky sat up in his chair.

“Yes sir, Commander. She was in my mind and I spoke with her, I told her a censored version of everything we have encountered on Earth so far.”

Cotton felt a twitch run through his body.

“What do you mean censored? What did you tell her, Private?” Cotton leaned forward, looking fairly imposing over the ponies.

“Don’t worry, Commander, I only told her about what planet we are on, who you are and the situation,” Sneaky said in one breath.

“Nothing that would jeopardize the base or Xcom.” He added and noticed drops of sweat running down his body as his wings trembled very slightly.

‘Why is the commander scaring me like this? He’s our friend.’Sneaky thought in his mind as a faint, nearly unnoticeable, energy came off from the commander.

Cotton sat back in his chair and thought about what he had been told. The room was silent, save for the breathing of the three and the hum of the base’s air conditioning unit. Many thoughts rolled through the commander’s mind as he pondered on what action to take. The ponies had proven themselves loyal members of the team and risked their lives for a world they knew next to nothing of.

“Okay, I want you both and Trixie and Ditzy to report to Vahlen and Central tomorrow at around two-thirty. You are going to tell her and her team about what happened. I won’t lock you up but if any of you cause problems you have to understand I will be forced to consider you a danger to the base.”

Sneaky looked to Rock for guidance and watched as he nodded.

“Yes sir, we will do as you order,” Rock said and sneaky nodded as well.

“And if you see this ‘Princess Luna’, tell her that Commander Cotton formally wishes her greetings from Earth and from Xcom,” Cotton said before dismissing the two.

“Get some rest, you will probably need it tomorrow,” he said and watched the two guard ponies salute him before leaving. Once they were gone Cotton quickly typed up a message detailing the recent events to Vahlen and to Central, as well as telling Central to make sure the base’s security personnel kept an extra but non-invasive eye on the ponies.
When finished he leaned back and placed his hands over his face.

“Dammit, I don’t want to handle this,” he said and rubbed his aching temples while he let his mind run through a million reasons why he should just report this to the NORAD base and turn the ponies over to them, and yet he couldn’t for fear they might be dissected or ill-treated as just a another alien race would have it out for humanity. And if their princess could sense that then humanity would ruin its only chances of peaceful contact.

“But that’s not my problem….or is it? Fuck I hate being in charge, being a grunt was easy.” Cotton said and brought up the letters he had been working on all night. He looked to them with uncertainty and then decided to focus on only them before heading to sleep for the night. When he was done he felt a sense of satisfaction and hoped that the families of the fallen were alright before he headed off to dream, all the while feeling an odd sensation but ignored it for a later date.



-Next day in the science wing.

Vahlen looked to the message the commander had left her, to study the ponies again and find out more about their world. She was more skeptical about the claim by Sneaky and Rock of their princess somehow visiting them in their minds but would follow the commander’s orders.

Vahlen rose from her desk and stepped out of her office in her usual labcoat and with her hair tied into a bun. Before her Rock and Sneaky were sitting before her while Trixie was nowhere to be found. Ditzy Doo, or Derpy as her nickname was, had been taken by Central for some questions.

“Where is Trixie?” Vahlen asked.

“Oh, she doesn’t want to leave her room but I think they will get her down eventually,” Sneaky said, without his usual peppy tone since the night before he had heard about the death of Ramos and was still getting over it.

“Alright, are we ready to begin?” Vahlen asked, her voice translated and picked up by the earpieces of those within her vicinity.

“Yes, Doctor.” Sneaky replied.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Rock said.

“We will just be going over more tests, some scans and then finally some questions,” she said before her and several other staff members began the busy day.

‘Though I would much prefer to talk to the commander about the incident with the Alpha Chrysalid, I guess it can wait till later,’ she thought, thinking of how Cotton had somehow shoved the Chrysalid away from Boris without touching it.


-Central’s office.

Central was seated at his desk with the friendliest smile he could muster as he looked to Derpy with her odd and yet oddly adorable crossed eyes.

“Did you want to see me, Mister Central?” Derpy asked while her eyes moved around as if of their own choice, when it was really just her looking around the room.

“Yes I did miss Do, as I’m sure you might know Sneaky met your princess last night.”

“Uhuh, he told me. Maybe she and Princess Celestia can get us home now,” Derpy said, practically beaming with joy.

“Perhaps, and we would love to get you home, you have helped us so much but before we do anything we would love to know more about your world, your peoples and its cultures,” Central said as several cameras in the room recorded everything.

“Well I wouldn’t mind telling you, what do you want to know?” she asked.

“Just start with these princesses of yours. Tell us everything you know, there is no rush.” he said as the conversation began and the cameras recorded a wealth of knowledge about the world the ponies came from, along with information about their rulers.

Meanwhile, as Cotton tried to regain some of the hours he had lost before, he was awoken from his sleep by a loud pounding and the voice of an angry old Asian engineer.

“Commander, Commander Cotton!” Dr. Shen said in a raised voice as he tried to wake the Commander up.

“Fuck sleep then,” Cotton said and forced himself to get off of his bed and slipped on some pants and answered the door.

“Commander, am I to assume the rumors are true?” Shen said looking uncharacteristically angry. Cotton rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked to Shen.

“What rumors?”

“That somehow the leaders of the world our pony friends came from have contacted them and the first thing you do is have them interrogated and experimented on?” Shen said, looking out of breath.

“No, calm down, Dr. Shen, that’s an order,” Cotton said, not wanting to be rude but he was getting a terrible migraine all of a sudden. Shen at first seemed ready to yell, but calmed himself.

“Commander, do you realize we have a chance for peaceful contact with another species?”

“Yes, I do. That’s why I ordered the tests. If we are going to meet them we may as well get to know as absolutely much as we can. I didn’t order our friends to be dissected, just to be asked some questions and studied a little more.”

Shen stood before the commander and after a few moments nodded. “Alright Commander, but they better not be injured. This could be a historic moment in human history, maybe pony history as well.”

“Yeah I hope so, now is there anything else?” he asked and Shen shook his head.

“No. Goodbye, Commander,” Shen turned and made his way back to the Engineering wing and to his office, taking a minute or two to check on the works of the other engineers and mechanics there.

Once Shen reached his office he checked his computer for any information or emails to him, one thing of interest caught Shen’s attention. A response had been given to Shen from his old colleague. When Shen opened it he could not help but smile, it seemed that the SHIV and HWP drones would get just what they needed to be completed.


Discord looked to the readers after finishing the chapter. “Well there is certainly a lot going on. And it seems I figured out what the princesses were doing. All that energy to contact Earth must have messed with reality, that’s probably why I couldn’t see what they were doing,” he said and played with his beard before looking to the readers and lifting an eyebrow.

“Oh what's that? You want to see what moi has been up to?” Discord smiled and snapped his fingers.

“Well, if you insist.”


-Aboard the alien’s cloning ship.

Sectoid Commander 742 awoke in one of the cloning rooms, all around him were large vats filled with the growing bodies of other clones. Clones made from his genes and programmed to follow only 742.

The Sectoid groaned internally as he held his large cranium. “What happened?” He asked no one in particular as he picked himself up to see what had occurred. He felt groggy and sore but in a similar manner to when a psionic connection was made to another being.

‘I was on the way to the cloning ship and then….that voice, was it real?’ He thought before the memories came flooding back to him, or at least memories that Discord allowed. 742 felt his eyes widen as he looked to a total of 57 cloning tubes with Sectoids inside, all ready to be grown and serve only 742. Their genes were as pure as could be, they would be better than most of their brethren and several more generations of clones could be extracted from them.

“A rebellion, a Sectoid rebellion,” 742 thought and stood upright, defiant, and filled with pride.

“It is time for the Sectoid race to stop being enslaved, this is the first step, and soon, I will be in command,” He said and set about trying to make more clones, and plotting the next steps in his mind.


Discord smiled. “Soon, everything is falling into place, and once this rebellion is in full swing the Ethereals will be in chaos as their empire crumbles around them. Then from the ashes of their rule, I will rise! Stronger than ever, feeding off of the combined chaos of Earth and the empire. Then I will turn my attention to Equestria. Then when I have fed off of my old home I won’t just have one world to play with, but entire dimensions.” Discord said, his eyes bright red with his madness fully in swing.

“All of existence in every universe, every world will be in chaos. As it was meant to be, and I shall sit atop a throne of chaos for all eternity.” He said and began laughing manically. 


> Shadows.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 20: Shadows

-Area 51. William Carter’s office.

Director Carter sat in his office, his old yet strong hands rested motionless on his desk as he read summaries of Xcom bases around the world and the state of the world in general. He felt a mixture of anger and unease over himself which was no different than usual but it was more noticeable than usual.

“Dammit,” he hissed through clenched teeth as he read about riots that had broken out in Florida when martial law was declared and the National Guard was forced to arrest close to two-hundred people and used tear gas to disperse the crowds. It wasn’t much better elsewhere. In China their government was enforcing harsh curfews to deal with possible panic. In other parts of the world people just disappeared, likely going into hiding and abandoning their homes, which did not bode well for the world economy or war effort.

Carter rubbed his aged temples as he thought on what to do next. He knew what he could do to at least lower the amount of panic, as speaker for the council he was granted a unique level of insight into what the various members and protectorates of the United Earth Council did, and could plan his actions accordingly. 

“They may not like me intervening but it’s not like they can stop me.”

What the other council members did not know was that Carter had been a member of the original Xcom and had more experience in defending the Earth than they could ever dream. During the first invasion many small towns were either infected by a deadly virus or simply disappeared entirely, the losses had been close to two thousand. But back in the day it had been far easier for the government to hide things from the people, whether truly for their own good or not.

After the war ended with the destruction of Mosaic, the enemies leader, Carter did his best to keep Xcom alive. He feared the day that other alien races would came to Earth with ill intentions, but as time went along Xcom became tied up in red tape as more local dangers made themselves known on earth. Hostile nations, religious extremists, anarchists, economic collapse. Carter began to fear that mankind would destroy itself before the aliens returned, if ever. 

So in response he created his own shadow operations group. International like Xcom but truly secret, armed with technology that made them more dangerous than any other unit in the world. While he did his best to keep Xcom alive, Carter felt that his new organization, dubbed “Majestic 12”, after his old squad from the secret invasion, could do things that Xcom could not. And had pull with every country on the planet to varying degrees. Their strength was doubled with aid from an unexpected, but not unwelcome, source.

Carter then heard his cell phone ring and picked it up from his jacket to see who it was. After a quick glance, Carter’s heart began racing as he recognized the number as one reserved for Majestic operations from a specific region. Without a moment's hesitation he answered the phone.

“This is Majestic zero, zero, zero, C,” Carter said, referring to his codename. On the other end a majestic agent looked over missions specs as he reported to his superior.

“Sir, we have a contact of unknown make,” said an agent hidden at the SETI program. Since the invasion by the aliens the resources of SETI had been repurposed to help track and monitor alien space craft.

“Where is it headed?” Carter asked while quickly turning on his computer to tell the staff handling AURORA to be prepared.

“Unknown, Sir.  It is entering the atmosphere now. It matches no known make or style of the aliens so far. Sir, it was also picked up accidentally, we didn’t know it was even there until the ISS module we placed caught footage of it. It just seems to be hovering right now, possibly scanning frequencies.”

Carter’s heart skipped a beat. They were usually able to detect the aliens when they approached the planet and even had better detection systems than Xcom. If this one ship could slip past without their noticing...

“Acknowledged. Forward me the information and keep scanning for it, try everything and record anything you find.” Carter didn’t wait for a response as he hung up and sent a message to the AURORA team.

‘Watch the skies, the aurora is rising.’ Carter sent the message before giving them data sent to him by SETI.



-Wolf’s den, Alaska.

Alarms began sounding throughout the underground facility as the orders were handed out. The joint US/Majestic owned base was the keeper of many secrets and technologies that could tip the balance between victory and annihilation in this new war. 

Pilot Tim Choi wasted no time in getting into his flight suit, which looked eerily similar to a slimmer version of a space suit with a strange power pack on it and if one looked closer at the materials it was made of, they would have difficulty identifying it. Tim had just grabbed his helmet when he turned to see a tall thin alien in a similar suit. Its skin was a dark green gray that seemed to have a dry look about it. The alien’s eyes were black, save for red pupils that had an other-worldly glow about them but its most striking feature was its lack of a mouth, until the mouth revealed itself by openening vertically in an alien like smile.

“I see you are ready.” The alien said in a voice that echoed as if multiple people spoke at once.

“Come on, Zak. We got the call,” the Korean American said as he slapped the shoulder of his co-pilot.

“Finally a chance to see if the Aurora can handle the stress of battle," the Zudjari pilot named Zak’tel, affectionately nicknamed Zak by his human allies, replied as he followed Tim to the hangar where the experimental plane,‘Aurora’, was located. The plane looked like a cross between an F-22 Raptor, a shrunken version of an SR-71 Blackbird, and a UFO. It had no cockpit glass, no visible engine or exhaust ports, and was hovering in the air under its own power. The only breaks in its perfectly curved body were where the flight crews where injecting fuel into it or where a ladder was connected to allow the pilots entry.

“Good hunting.”

“Good luck.”

“Go get some!” Where some of the many cheers and well wishes given to the two pilots who had been training for this day for a long time. Zak’tel had trained for it nearly all his life.

A small entry way opened up in the side of the plane where a ladder was placed to allow the pilots entry, Zak’tel at the pilot’s seat and Tim manning the electronic surveillance equipment and laser weapons.

When the two pilots were seated they sealed their helmets onto themselves and strapped in. The ladder was pulled away and the fuel injector disconnected.

“What is our load out?” Zak’tel asked as he began the preflight checklist, paying special attention to the inertial dampeners and the antigravity matrix, for if those failed then their deaths would be quick and very messy. 

“We have six Avalanche Air to Air missiles, and two laser cannons loaded up and ready.” Tim replied to his friend while pulling out a small photo of his wife and daughters, taping it to the console before him where it wouldn’t interfere with the many switches and buttons.

‘I promise I'll keep you safe,’ Tim mentally said, knowing full well that Zak’tel was a low level psionic and could possibly hear him.

The ‘tower’ called into their radios with the confirmation they needed as large doors opened up over the underground hangar.

“You are clear for launch, coordinates of target are being uploaded to your onboard computers,” a Zud’jari officer said as he drank some coffee and looked at a holographic screen before him. “the target has not moved since last we saw it, you should still be able to catch it Aurora-1.”

“Understood. We are launching in T-minus ten, nine, eight....” The countdown continued as flight crews made sure everything was in order and cleared out as the Aurora began floating into the sky by its own power. The large craft turned its ‘nose’ towards the general direction of the enemy ship and with a sudden sonic boom it was gone, moving faster than any mortal eye could track. The staff at the base saying prayers or well wishes to the two as they took the Aurora on it’s first actual combat run.



-Edge of the Stratosphere, faster than the speed of sound.

The Aurora raced at speeds so fast that its two organic crew would have been shredded and destroyed, had it not been for their specially crafted flight suits which aided them in withstanding the mind boggling G-forces they faced. Despite this it was relatively quiet inside of the Aurora. The only sounds where that of the pilot's own breathing and various readings from their sensors. 

“We should be approaching the unknown craft now, reducing speed.” Zak’tel breathed out and ran his hands along the touch sensitive screen in front of him while also adjusting their height to level them out with the UFO. 

“No visual sighting yet,” Tim replied, scanning a live feed image of the area before them while the Aurora flew over the earth. Tim switched through various modes of viewing until their computer warned them of communications being jammed with Earth. Tim and Zak paid no mind and activated their own Zud’jari made jammer so the UFO could not report their presence.

“Target located, reducing speed to twenty percent power. Begin charging weapons,” Zak ordered his co-pilot while quickly activating the various recording equipment as well in case they were forced to retreat they would still have something of value. 

The Aurora closed in on the unknown ship, it looked like a medium class UFO, only of a different color and the materials seemed to almost make the craft shimmer. Most of the scanning results were coming up empty, save for the Zud’jari material scanner which recognized some of the metals used in the manufacturing of the craft. Within a minute the Aurora flew past the UFO without any reaction, grabbing pictures through modified fiber optics along the belly of the ship and running scans of every type one last time. 

“They didn’t do anything? They must not think of us as a threat.” Tim smiled while watching the readouts for the laser weapons turn green for a full blast. 

“That or they cannot detect us. Either way they will soon be no more. Prepare to engage, use Avalanche missiles first,” Zak’tel ordered and rerouted some of the ship's systems to see if he could use the material scanner to help get a lock-on for the missiles. Once he did that the Aurora was turned around and heading straight for the UFO, small pods opening on either side of the plane and on the bottom. 

“I have a lock. Firing,” Tim said calmly said with practiced control as he tapped a button and felt the tell-tale shudder of the Aurora as two Avalanche missiles that raced out from the bottom of the Aurora and at the hovering UFO. 

The missiles were only one mile away when the UFO suddenly dodged them, and with two short blasts of plasma it destroyed the missiles once it was safely away.

Not wasting any time Tim knew what Zak'tel was about to say before he said it. “Firing lasers! Full power!” 

Two bright red beams of energy came out from the sides of the Aurora and straight at the UFO, too fast for it to dodge the UFO took both blasts and was thrown back, spinning somewhat as its unprepared shields were overwhelmed and its hull bore a charred scar.

“Direct hit,” Zak’tel confirmed with a proud smile as he brought the Aurora around for a strafing run, but the UFO had apparently had enough and began retreating away from earth. 

“Shit, it's getting away,” Tim cursed but Zak was not through. 

“No. Whatever it was doing is important to the enemy, and we cannot let them escape with the knowledge of the Aurora. We will pursue,” Zak decided and put more power into their engines, hoping they had enough liquid Elirium to keep up with the UFO. 

“I just hope she can take it,” Tim replied and altered the mode of fire for the lasers to short bursts rather than one long continuous beam. 

The Aurora, painted jet black, chased the glowing UFO through space, doing its best to keep pace with it as the circular ship began pulling off evasive maneuvers in the empty space between the Earth and the Moon. 

“I can't trust the computer to get a lock. I'll have to it the old fashioned way,” Tim said, switching off his targeting computer and grabbing hold of a yoke in front of him, his trigger finger itching to fire. Tim kept his eyes on the screen before him and the highlighted form of the UFO moving around to keep out of his crosshairs.  

“I will try to get closer.” Zak’tel increased their speed and tried his best to ignore the groans of protest from the bulkhead of the Aurora. The two ships chased each other when the UFO suddenly reversed course, flying directly at the Aurora, firing bright plasma bolts at the Earth made craft.

Zak dodged the bolts smoothly and did his best to avoid the green blasts of energy. The Aurora was constantly spinning and turning to get a shot out on the UFO, but it could not. It was then that Zak began to feel a noticeable haze in his mind, as if he had gotten drunk and could not think straight.

‘Ethereal?' Zak wondered and heard a response as the UFO was dangerously close to the Aurora and Zak felt the psionic fingers of an Ethereal forcing their way into his mind.

‘Zud’jari? Where did you come from? Why do you serve the humans?’ The ethereal whispered in Zaks mind as the Aurora began flying erratically towards the moon.

“Zak, what are you doing? We won't have enough fuel to make it back!” Tim shouted and Zak instantly defied the ethereal and turned the Aurora around one-hundred eighty degrees, pointing its nose and guns directly at the oncoming UFO.

‘Where is your base of operations? Are there more of this craft?’ The Ethereal asked and Zak felt his head begin to ache as he fought off the urge to think on Dulce’s location. The only other base where Zud'jari lived also contained more experimental models of the Aurora and other technology, but he couldn't let the Ethereal know that. Instead he focused on the mental image of the UFO blowing up.

“Guns hot!” Tim shouted into his helmet as he squeezed the trigger, and watched as the laser bolts silently shot out from the Aurora like bullets from a mini-gun. Several hundred laser shots hit the bulkhead of the UFO before its shields came back online and it sped directly at the Aurora. 

“It’s gonna ram us!,” Tim mistakenly cried out as he kept firing more and more shots at the UFO. The ethereal in fact wanted to try and pry information from their minds to give to the master.

“Chicken,” Zak replied and flew at the UFO while he took control of the missiles. With near superhuman effort Zak ignored the shouts and psionic punches thrown at him by the Ethereal while he piloted the Aurora directly at the UFO, knowing who would turn first.

As he predicted the UFO began turning away and Zak moved the Aurora to fly in a 'C' shape as if to ram the UFO before he fired off the last four avalanche missiles directly at the UFO, aiming for the section they had damaged in their first blast. To avoid a collision Zak’tel instantly decreased the aurora’s speed to two percent and turned. 

Neither pilot saw the impact of the missiles with the UFO but they both received confirmation when Zak turned the Aurora around in a full three-sixty degree turn that would rip any other craft to pieces. 

The UFO had been moving too fast to avoid the missiles and had several dents and one hull breach to show for it. The UFO was now drifting into deep space, its lights flickering while it drifted aimlessly, tumbling end over end as bodies of Sectoids and snakemen were sucked out into space.

“Tim, full blast. Charge the lasers and let us return home.” Zak commanded and Tim obeyed. The UFO was destroyed soon after in a fiery detonation after being struck by two long beams of energy. Whatever data the UFO had been gathering was lost with its demise. 

“Woohoo!” Tim shouted, pumping a fist into the air and quickly bringing it back when he struck the metal roof of the Aurora above him and wished the sharp stabbing pain away, but it did nothing to ruin his good mood.

“We are at fifty-two percent fuel, we might just make it back home,” Zak said and with a swelled up ego powered up the engines and returned home, being given a hero’s welcome by the residents of the base, both human and Zud’jari. 
Back at Area-51 Carter paced back and forth in his office. He was a man of action and missed being in the field, but he knew that he was of much greater use in his current position. The allied Zud’jari greatly respected Carter for liberating them from generations of enslavement. They had arrived three years after his squad had eliminated Mosaic and dealt with the subsequent fallout of that. 

Twelve ships filled to the brim with Zud’jari refugees who came in hope of being allowed sanctuary on Earth. When Carter came to the designated landing zone his former boss ‘Director Faulke’ had demanded that he eliminate them all, that all these aliens were a threat to humanity even if they weren’t armed. Their very existence was a threat, if so much as one of them was discovered then the panic would be uncontrollable. 

At that point Carter knew he had to go his own way and put Majestic to the test. He faked the destruction of the Zud’jari ships and pretended to had gone through with the slaughter of the innocents, but in truth there was no way in hell that Carter would kill a bunch of refugees who simply were looking for a safe place to live. 

With the help of the Zud’jari infiltrator back at the original Xcom base, Carter was able to get the refugees comfortably set up. Faulke would eventually find out, but Carter was more than willing and able to deal with it when the time came.

Carter’s computer chimed with the arrival of a message and, for the first time in what to Carter felt like months, Carter smiled and relaxed. The mission was a success and the scans taken by the pilots of Aurora-1 were invaluable to the science staff back at the base. From the report sent to him Carter was able to tell that the Laser cannons built into the Aurora were very effective against the enemy ship. 

“It’s time I sent X-com a little gift then.” He smiled again and began typing up a message to the Majestic egg heads to send the schematics and plans for the laser cannons to the X-com command bases so that the Interceptors would have more firepower to throw against the invaders.

“Just give us more time you bastards, and then we’ll be fighting you on even ground.” Carter chuckled and opened a compartment in his desk to pull out some celebratory alcohol as he also brought up a report from his agents inside of ‘The Crow’s nest’ to see what was up with his neighbors.

“Let’s see what our extra dimensional ponies are up to.” Carter said as he downed the bourbon and instantly wished he hadn’t since he realized he could not actually remember when he had placed the bottle there last.

Discord meanwhile swiped some of it from the bottle and stabbed a straw into floating bubbles of the bourbon. “Mmmm, well it tastes fine to me.” He said and stretched. 


“When I conquer all of existence I might leave a few people sane so they can keep making me products like this.” He mused to himself and slurped loudly as he drank the floating bubbles of alcohol that only he could see or interact with. 
All was calm until discord flinched and covered his head with his arms when Carter suddenly rose from his chair, knocking over the bottle on his desk and drawing his handgun from his black jacket. He aimed the old .1911 pistol behind him as he turned, pointing the barrel directly where Discord’s ghostly snout was and for a few incredibly slow seconds the god of chaos was pale with fear before he reminded himself that he was in a form where nothing could touch him.

‘Right?’ He asked himself and refrained from moving until Carter lowered his gun. 

“Jesus Christ that drink must be bad, no more booze for you old man. Your'e too important to go senile.” Carter said and broke into a near uncontrollable laugh at his odd moment. He picked up the bottle, which had been spilling its ancient contents onto the desk and placed his handgun back into his shoulder holster. He dropped the bourbon bottle into a trash can and left his office still laughing, forgetting about his cane and simply going to get some towels to clean his desk.

“That….was strange…and very interesting.” Discord said before looking to the readers.

“Well it looks like I may have found some very interesting mysteries here. So many things to ponder upon. Truly there are interesting times to live in, very interesting times to live in.” Discord rubbed his chin, his usual grin gone as he wondered if Carter really had sensed him in the same room, if it was something more than he was giving humans credit for, or if he was just jumping at shadows.