(I'ld say the setting time wise is sometime before Littlepip steps out of the Stable) Bright Dawn trotted along a deserted road in the Equestria wastes, heading for a small town called Neigh-bor. His black Commando armor instantly set him apart from your ordinary wasteland traveler, and no, he did not find it on some dead Commando and was lucky enough to not have been tracked down yet, he was a true Commando, and this mission was his initiation into Alpha squad, the elite of the Commandos. Every new Alpha squad member had to go on a solitary mission that would prove their capabilities, and they could go about achieving the mission in any way, via stealth, diplomacy, barging in, etc. The thing about Neigh-bor was that, well, it wasn't very neighborly and had managed to piss off a wealthy client by, well, capturing, raping, killing, then eating his son. Pretty much the whole nine yards. These were raiders who preferred putting their victims in their bellies over hanging them as the town decor, of course after ruining them. His job was simple; destroy the town, bonus included if it gets wiped from the Wasteland entirely. This, of course, was a mission that did not favor diplomacy so they chose him from the candidate list as he was known for his fighting ability, using just about everything at his disposal to kill his enemy. The town palisades came into view and he took up a position to observe it. From what he understood, there was also a second thing that set these raiders apart beyond eating their victims, they also liked trading, which was one of the reasons they were one of the longest lasting raider tribes, apparently they had been around since the War almost. Sitting down and having a little pre-made lunch, he got about to thinking how he would assault the town...
Late January 2280, American Southwest The NCR MOCKINGBIRDS. An elite invitation only Spec-Ops squadron of the New California Republic that was established by the "Legendary Gunslinger" Edward Cooper in 2250. The squadron had been made up of the very best that the world had to offer. Although its function changed over the years, MOCKINGBIRD specialized in covert, sometimes solo missions, to cope with slaver/raider threats, regional complications, and terrorist activities in areas too politically-sensitive to intervene through conventional means. Its members were also trained to complete various missions that were assigned in secret, to the extent that they were considered the modern versions of the ninja. During its history, it had seen multiple important conflicts from the Glass Cannon Crisis in 2258 to its final significant mission in 2276 that resulted in the infamous Six Rivers Massacre. Where it not for the actions of Edward Cooper on that mission, nobody would had survived the mission. Unfortunately, it came with the ultimate sacrifice. Since that mission, Damien retired from over 20 years from service while the remainder of the group continued to serve the Republic with distinction. Since Edwards death and Damien’s absence, the group hasn’t been the same. While they were still incredible combatants, the sense of family didn’t feel right. It was even stranger that the operatives simply vanished from the face of the earth one night in January. The MOCKINGBIRDS vanished while they slept in California after a long day of training, while Damien suddenly collapsed to the ground after midnight in Utah as a pink light flashed around his body. All five of them found their unconscious bodies huddled together somewhere in the Equestrian wasteland, right in the middle of nowhere and completely lifeless. None of them realized what had happened to them, nor do they want to know once they wake up. (I had a funny idea of them being the ponifyed versions of themselves, but I’ve also had the idea of them remaining human as well.) (Oh look, we are also almost at 2000 combined posts and 200 pages.)
(Which one are you gonna go with? And yup, I see that) Hiding underneath a trader wagon heading into Neigh-bor, Bright had his suit in stealth mode as the wagon came to a stop and after some negotiating between the raiders and merchants, were let in. Not until he was sure they were well inside and the gates closed did he let go of the wagon, falling the few inches to the ground, rolling onto his hooves and looking around the settlement. The raiders actually had a fairly respectable town from the looks of it on the surface, and luckily the Commando armor's built-in Stealth-Buck kept him hidden. Putting his weapon in his mouth, he followed the caravan as he noticed a good portion of the raiders were gathering around it as it pulled into the town center and the merchants set up an instant stand, likely nervous as if the raiders didn't like them or what they had, they would likely end up being eaten. Crawling onto an elevated patio that also provided some cover, he slipped out of stealth mode, pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the crowd of raiders, popping up to begin firing down on them...
The MOCKINGBIRDS remained on the ground unconscious after several hours passed by, luckily landing in an area where almost no life seemed to exist. The MOCKINGBIRDS were made up with four males and one women, all of them extremely dangerous individuals. From left to right, the unconscious Rangers were. Ashley Young, “Robin”. The youngest MOCKINGBIRD with short blonde hair and milky blue eyes. Originally born in New Reno, her family was murdered at a young age by the casino families and she was turned into a child solider by slavers and the families themselves. By the time she was 16, she was already pretty lethal and fled New Reno to sign up with the Rangers, where she was soon invited into the MOCKINGBIRDS. Smart and relatively short, she was incredibly agile and was also a wizard with hacking terminals. Rodger Lin; “Crow”. A year younger than Damien and of Chinese descent, he was raised in the Shi inside the ruins of San Francisco. With black hair and a goatee, he was trained at a young age in hand to hand and knives. Not long later when he joined the Rangers, he was quickly invited into the MOCKINGBIRDS where he became Damien’s best friend and partner for plenty of missions, including the famous ‘Showdown in New Reno’ in 2271. Whenever the Crow and Blackbird were together on a mission, the two of them were almost unstoppable. Benedict Miller; “Albatross”. Benedict was known for his unbelievable strength and endurance, while also being at a towering height of 8ft 2in, had a buzz cut and a long beard. Covered from head to toe in religious tattoos, Benedict was a devout Catholic who was built like a walking tank. Throughout his missions, he overpowered many of his foes by his sheer size alone. During one mission, he tore a raider in half with his bare hands and could kill a man in a single blow if he so desired. Unlike the MOCKINGBIRDS, the NCR managed to give Benedict a fully functional minigun salvaged of a pre-war fighter jet that only Benedict had the strength to carry. Jack Keller ;“Harrier”. Also known as “Jack the Ripper”, Jack was talented enough to be accepted into the Rangers. Once such occurrence in his childhood left Jack psychologically scared after his parents were brutally mutilated infront of his eyes by raiders. While broken in spirit, he was what some officials called a “Blood Knight”. Jack would brutally murder any raider he came across, earning himself a fearsome reputation. Jack would later be accepted into MOCKINGBIRD. And finally, on the ground away from the group was Damien Winters; “Blackbird”. Having a rough beard and naturally gelled back ginger hair, Damien was considered the best of the MOCKINGBIRDs by a wide margin. Being trained from birth by his father ‘The Chosen One’ Aaron Winters, and then being trained even further by Edward Cooper ‘The Legendary Gunslinger’, officials in the NCR considered Damien to be ‘Super Human’. After he retired in 2276, one unfortunate event led to another and he eventually declared a one man war on a military nation the size of France. And he was winning. All of them were together in their full MOCKINGBIRD armour, Custom Jet Black suits of Elite Riot Gear which was hand-made back in California, with the designs being taken from the Divide prior to its destruction. Even Damien appeared in full armour, despite leaving it back in Nevada. Even their weapons made it through. Wherever they are, something strange had happened to them. They weren’t....human anymore.
Within minutes, the now very very frightened merchants who were surrounded by a field of at least 40 now very dead raiders watched as the stallion in pitch black armor that resembled some form of power armor hop down from his perch with a grace no power armor provided, the only thing showing of the pony beneath was his muzzle, covered with a soft orange-y yellow fur (think the colors of well, dawn) as the visor to the helmet was far too dark to see into, "Shame on you, providing raiders such as these with goods. Pathetic." He said scornfully to them before turning tail and proceeded to clear each and every house of any remaining raiders before making sure the merchants were gone and leaving the small town, making sure the gate could never reopen, leaving it completely sealed off from the rest of the wasteland except by air. But, considering most who could fly lived up in the clouds, he wasn't worried about it. He then simply trotted away, job completed.
The MOCKINGBIRDS were positioned nearby a path, their stiff bodies giving them the appearance seemingly dead ponies. However, if one were to investigate upon closer inspection, their breathing would have given them whoever passed by the image of them being alive. The gear all of them wore would had cost them an absolute fortune in both of their worlds. Their Riot Gear was built with kinetic shields, which alone would had been the equivalent of a small town in caps. Then there is the weaponry they carried, everything from Ranger Sequoias to Marksman Carbines to Brush Guns and even Benedict's extremely oversized Minigun. After a while, a lone raider ran across the path until he seen something particularly strange. Five well dressed and well armed ponies that already appeared dead. Deciding that this was a moment that was too good to be true, he quietly tried to sneak up onto the bodies. All the raider had was a rusty tire iron and a small evil smirk on his face. "Five of them...this is too good to be true." He said quietly before he was at least a meter away from them. He raised the tire iron with his hoof as a maniacal smile was now well and truly on his face. "Showtime!"
Bright Dawn saw a raider standing over 5 bodies a little ways off the road. Simply grunting before wiping out his gun, a single shot the raider's side dispatch the animal. Then, curious, he walked over to the bodies, noting they had a strange armor with an insignia with the intials NCR MOCKINGJAY on it. "I've never heard of no NCR...or Mockingjay for that matter..."
The bodies appeared lifeless, until Rodger's leg twitched suddenly. Soon, after about a few moments, Jack's leg twitched as well. This proved that not only are these soldiers alive, but completely unconscious with no control of their body whatsoever. Unfortunately, having no control of their body meant that they were...messy when the previous Raider found them, the stench of urine in the air. It was their first time as ponies, after all. It would take a hell of a time to get used to their new bodies.
Bright looked around, "The hell could have knocked out these five so bad?" He asked aloud, he felt like he should stay and watch over them, hell, maybe keeping them safe until they wake up might convince them to come with him back to camp, he knew the Soldier would love having 5 new what looked like soldiers among his ranks.
About three hours after the ordeal with the Raider and Bright, one of the MOCKINGBIRDS woke up. That solider turned out to be Damien, who received a considerable less amount of damage than what he expected. Damien groaned, trying to open his eyes only to snap them shut a moment later. Making a second, slower attempt, she managed to look up to see what he expected to be the the picture blue sky, dotted here and there with a fluffy white cloud, only to find an endless cover of gray Damien was lying in what passed around the wasteland as grass. He didn’t even remember hitting the ground, yet there seemed to be a small crater around him. For a time all Damien could do was lay there, his body numb. He began to fear that she had been paralysed from the neck down or something, but slowly a tingling sensation started to come from his legs and hands. He could still feel them, they were still attached, so he was not paralyzed.... just numb. As feeling returned something started to feel wrong. He could feel the grass against her skin. What happened to the usual feeling he had when he wore his armor? Had they been zapped when he made contact in the environment around him? At the same time, it didn’t feel like he was lying bare skinned against the grass and dirt. It felt like something short and fuzzy was between him. He tried to stretch and move his hands... and again something felt wrong. Damien couldn’t feel his fingers. He could feel the arm, but not the fingers. Damien's confusion and panic only grew as sensation returned to the rest of her body. It all felt so different and familiar at the same time, like it was his body but something had happened. Unable to stand it anymore he tried to get to her feet, but couldn’t. He teetered on her legs for a couple moments before falling forward, catching himself with his arms. Damien took a single deep breath as he closed her eyes, mind trying to feel out why his body felt so strange. He opened his eyes again, curious as to why he couldn’t feel his fingers... and as Damien looked down his heart skipped a beat. He didn’t have fingers. No hands, no palms... where had once been human hands were now hooves, the rest of his arms covered in dull Charcoal coloured fuzz. Panicking, Damien looked back at the rest of his body. Nothing about him was human. His entire body covered in fuzz, her back legs much shorter than they had been and bending at strange angles... and was that a tail?! Nerves snapping, Damien would have screamed if his voice had allowed. Instead, all that escaped his throat was panicked breathing. He needed a mirror... something reflective. He had to see what had happened. Unfortunately, walking was a challenge. After failing to get back onto his legs again, Damien stayed on all fours, walking with a slow deliberate step towards a figure that didn’t appear human yet was dressed in menacing black armor. Eventually, a small pond of water nearby the MOCKINGBIRDS was all that was needed to act as a mirror, the water being dirty yet clean enough to act as one. Damien instead tried to walk to the pond instead, his curiosity getting the better of him. For a moment, Damien looked at his reflection in horror, Damien’s reflection stared back... a reflection that he didn’t recognize. A charcoal colored pony with a bright orange mane with milky blue eyes.... What followed was an ear splitting scream that cut the air like a hot knife through butter.
Bright suddenly gagged Damien from behind soon after he started screaming, flipping him around and forcing him to sit downx "Do you WANT every raider and nasty creature in the area to come running here to kill you?? Seriously, whatever knocked ya out mut have done damage to your brain...Anyways, name's Dagger Shot." (Well, that was his Commando name at least) "Are those your companions over there?"
"Wh....What?" These were the only words that Damien managed to get out of his mouth before looking over to see the MOCKINGBIRDS unconscious in a group nearby him. And that they all happened to be...ponies? Damien was confused about what was happening to him, this was a fever dream for all he cared about. However, this dream felt strangely real. "I....um....wha....sorry" Damien replied before looking at the pony looking at him in the eye, and that it was talking English to him. He understood that his companions wore the same uniform and armor he did, but their new equine features made them different from the rest. Ashley and Jack had wings, Roger had a horn while Benedict had neither. "My name is Damien Winters....I'm...not from here." Damien then used his hooves and felt his head before feeling something strange that stuck out of him. "Is that a horn?"
"Yeah, you're a unicorn. I would think that you would have known that unless you got a serious case of amnesia. Also, it is quite surprising that you somehow got two pegasi travelling with you. I think I've only seen one pegasus up close, and we were trying to kill each other. Damn Enclave raids get annoying..." Bright muttered, "And Damien Winters, that's an awefully strange name ya got there."
"H....Horn?" Damien said to himself in denial before placing his hooves onto his head to feel the shape of the horn once more. He was about to explain his name to the pony next to him until alarm bells began to play in his mind as the expressions on his face turned into surprise and shock "Wait....you have the Enclave here as well?"
"...As well? Look, as far as I know, the pegasus Enclave only exists in those damn clouds above us that they keep pretty much shut tight all the time. They also sometimes like to raid my fellows camp because we got a couple ex-Enclave amongst our ranks, even though I aint never seen them." Brigbt responded, "Come on, lets go check on your pals."
"Pegasus Enclave?" Damien muttered quietly. "What the hell?" Damien then went over to the remainder of the MOCKINGBIRDS to notice that they were still unconscious, but still very much alive. It didn't seem that waking them up one by one would have been optional, but if the situation was to escalate then it could had been dangerous. By now, Damien was trotting much better than he was before, he could now walk naturally but cannot enter a gallop. He went over to the pond and found a pot on the edge of the pond, where a sly grin came on his face. "I have an idea on how to wake them up" Damien said as he tried to pick up the pot with his mouth after assuming that using his hooves would have ended in failure and dunked it with freezing cold water. Two seconds later, he threw the entire pot of water onto his companions. As if on cue, all of them suddenly rose to life and screamed loudly as if they were being attacked. The moment they tried to get up, the rest of the squad looked at each other in utter horror to find they were not human anymore, it was almost funny. All of them except Roger tried to get onto his knees and stand upright but their efforts ended in failure, all of them face planting the ground, which actually appeared quite funny. Roger just casually waited until he looked up over to see a pony in what appeared to be armor, and a Charcoal colored Unicorn in jet black riot gear that was undeniably Damien. The group hasn't seen him in four years, but all of them were still screaming. "Shut up!" Damien piped up before the screaming suddenly stopped. "Calm down, don't react like I just did a minute ago."
Bright simply watched utterly confused by what was going on before realizing these ponies weren't even supposed to be ponies, so he hit a button on his helmet which caused his visor to slid up, revealing his light red eyes, "Okay everypony! Just calm down, I am Dagger Shot and welcome to a crash course of "Introduction into the Equestria Wasteland". No things are not sparkles and rainbows. Things are terrible. Half the things out there want to kill you, and besides raiders, most can do so quite easily! Mucb of the other half are folks just trying to eek out an existence, they usually won't bother you until you mess with them. I am a Commando, member of an elite group of mercenaries who besides the Steel Rangers and the Enclave, both of whom you want to avoid,are the closest thing you'll find to a military around here. I will keep you guys sqfe until you get your bearings then you have the option to come with me or head on your merry way, one way offers an easy ease into the hell we live in and the other offers a crash test into this hell, so take your pick!"
Jack started to talk in the back ground, instantly getting to the point at hand. "You have raiders and that as well? This looks just like our world...except the obvious changes." Damien nodded before drawing some conclusions. "And if that's correct, then I guess we can make some pretty safe conclusions about what the world might be like. From what I know at the moment, the Enclave exists here, so there is no need for me to explain myself about that. Then...we have 'Steel Rangers'. If your thinking what I'm thinking, this is the "Equestrian" equivalent of our Brotherhood of Steel. I understand that while the Brotherhood declared war on us, you know exactly what type of pain they can inflict. We've been fighting them for decades, so you know exactly how to deal with them. And if they decide to engage, you know many of them you could kill." Damien paused to repeat what the Commando next to him said. "Included in this mess are settlements who barely make a living out here and your typical wildlife." "It's like Tuesday all over again." Benedict ended sarcastically before looking at Bright, his minigun almost being as large as he was. "We're not going to pick fights at the moment. While we are certainly more than capable in terms of skill, the last thing we wish to do is enter combat until we can control these bodies. If we were human however, then it's a completely different story." Damien said before looking at Bright. "We'll be happy to travel with you, we are what you would call 'tourists' after all." (Look what was announced on Facebook this morning ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7rULSzCl5w#t=73)
(well, that isnt exactly announced, more a show of progress ^^) "Human? What in the name of the Goddesses are those? You know what, nevermind. Just come along." Bright said before looking back, "None of you guys have weapons...All the more reason to come with me I guess."
