Author's note: To anyone that reads this story, I encourage you to leave a review. Even if you stop reading it, and find it completely boring, please, tell me why! I welcome any form of feedback, either good or bad!

Aftermath: Equestria

By Ink_Dash

The sound of a nuke is like nothing you'll ever hear again. It's not just the explosion like you'd think, but the screams of innocent people. The sounds of death. Despair. Lost hope. I've heard at least half a dozen. It does things, makes you see the world differently. Human life is expendable. Millions dead, because of the greed of corporations. Nukes sold to the highest bidder, like children's toys. Toys destined to be thrown carelessly at anyone, anywhere. No one can be your friend, let alone trusted. Work for yourself, and no one can hurt you. Physically? Yes. But not through the mental anguish of loss, and that's the worst way to hurt anybody. Unless they've been through the same pains as I have. Unless they understand someone's world turns on only themselves.

Chapter 1

A pitch black helicopter flew over the treetops, sometimes weaving around taller trees so closely that the blades cut off branches. The rotors were nearly silent, thanks to new state of the art technology to reduce sound.

"Strike One, do you copy?"

"Solid copy Headquarters."

"Strike One, you're being airdropped deep in enemy territory. Your objective is to locate and neutralize their radar and communication jammers. You should be entering… range now." The transmission became distorted. "Eliminate targets with… -treme prejudice. Do… copy?

"You're breaking up, but we copy."

The next part was heavily distorted, but the captain could make out 'Make the Iron Federation proud,' and something that was probably 'over and out.'

"Okay everyone! We're dropping in 2 minutes! Remember, we have no clue what's in the dark zone. Be prepared for anything, and keep your heads on a swivel." Grunts of assent came from the mouths of 10 soldiers, clad in dark camouflage, all the soldiers in the craft but 1. "Newbie, you look queasy. Don't tell me you've got a weak stomach!" she directed this at the younger soldier who hadn't responded, indeed looking as if he may lose his lunch.

"No, Captain Dash! Just need a moment ma'am!"

"Damn right soldier! Everybody, we're dropping in…" she glanced back towards the cabin.

"30 seconds ma'am."

"Thanks Spitfire. In just half a minute, we go into the unknown. It's been 15 years since anyone except the Red Eagle Alliance has set foot here. We have no clue what to expect, so we will expect everything. This is what we are trained for!"

"OORAH!" the soldiers shouted. Spitfire called up from the cabin.

"10 seconds to LZ. Once you get off, I'll be back in 20 minutes, and leave 60 seconds after that. So you better be back by then!" The chopper approached a large clearing. When it was about 5 feet off the ground, Spitfire shouted "Go, go, go!"

24 boots hit the ground, 4 at a time. As soon as the last set touched down, the blades whirred as the helicopter began to lift off over the trees. Even before it went out of view, the squad was heading towards the tree line. Every gun was raised, eyes focused on the forest around them. Only Rainbow Dash's gun was lowered, as she was holding what may be the most valuable thing they had with them. It was the RADAC, which stood for Radio Agitation Dismissal by Amplification of Constants. It sifts through airwaves to find constants and patterns, providing a general direction from which a disturbance is originating. After a minute without a ping, Dash told the squad to stop. Once they were together, Dash turned to look as the newbie fell to his knees and clutched his stomach with one arm.

Dash sighed. "Newbie, if you need to hawk something up, do it now before your retching can give us away." With permission, he did just that. He expunged the contents of his stomach onto the ground and got up shakily.

"I'm fine now, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am."

"You sure about that? You still look a bit… nauseous."

"Just the effect of food going the wrong way, Captain. I'll be fine in a moment." Dash didn't have time to keep worrying, so she took his word for it. She noticed she was actually feeling a bit nauseous herself. I would think everything I've seen would have hardened me past my stomach turning from something like that.

"Okay everyone, we have just over 18 minutes to find what we came here for," she said with a glance at her watch. "We're going to make a beeline for the middle of this forest, and hope the RADAC picks up something from there."

They moved out again, taking just over 9 minutes to travel only a quarter mile. This was because they had to keep stopping on the account of hearing noises, but each time they passed it off as the local wildlife. Someone slipped and fell into mud. He claimed that the root had reached out and tripped him, and obviously no one believed him. Suffice to say that afterward, no one wanted to be the one standing next to him in formation.

As they closed in to the middle, the RADAC got a ping, conveniently in the same direction. When they reached the middle of the forest, they were met with fallen, overgrown trees, all pointing away from a crater, left by what looked like an old bombshell that was sitting in it. They made to continue past, but as they did, the ping turned to point backwards.

"This bombshell is somehow causing the interference. It must be some kind of EMP field drop." Rainbow Dash said, referencing the RADAC. The newbie looked at it.

"It looks like it's pre-War era. Did that technology even exist back then?" He looked unsteady.

"Apparently, it did. Or it's a disguise. One way or another, it's causing the disturbance."

The newbie looked like he was about to fall over, he was swaying so much.

"Really, we can't know. Are you alright?" Dash put her hand on his shoulder to try and steady him.

"Ma'am, I don't think so. I've been thinking. Everything I'm experiencing is similar to the symptoms of radiation poisoning. If this is a dud of some pre-War nuke, we could all be dead by the time the chopper gets back." He suddenly dropped to the ground and dry retched a few times. Dash crouched to keep talking to him when he was done. "Captain, we're all dying. Look around." Dash did, and she realized he might be right. At least half the squad looked queasy now, and they all looked dizzy. Rainbow herself felt pretty nauseous.

"Son, I think you're right. We've got to abort."

"The RADAC, it picks up some types of radiation as a ping when there's very large amounts of it somewhere. Like here. Being this close has probably sealed my fate. But the rest of the squad has just started exhibiting signs. You can make it out." he coughed. "Leave me. Get to the LZ."

"No man gets left behind. You're coming with us." the soldier began to cough violently, and blood began to pool out of his mouth. Dash tilted his head down so he wouldn't drown. The chopper had only entered the forest around 15 minutes ago, and the symptoms had apparently progressed very quickly.

"Just… go!" He managed those last two words through the torrent of blood just before his eyes closed.

"Hey, hey!" Dash shook him. He didn't respond. She stood up quickly.

"We're leaving! We've found the source, but we can't even tell HQ what we found if we're all dead, much less get rid of it. Let's move out!" The squad began to jog back through the trees, the ordeal had left them with only 8 minutes to get back, so they couldn't bother checking angles. The clearing was in sight when gunshots from the rear guards lit up the night behind the formation.

"Contact!" one of them yelled over their own shots.

A soldier was being dragged into the underbrush by the feet, screaming. The other rear watch was shooting into the bushes. Something yanked his feet out from under him, and moments later he too had been dragged away. He could be heard fighting desperately with the unseen enemy, but his cries were silenced quickly.

"Everyone, watch your six and get to the LZ!" The squad made a run for the clearing, but by the time they broke the tree line only 4 soldiers, including Dash, remained. Huge creatures pursued them from the trees, with the forms of a wolf, but with rough, brown skin. Their eyes glowed green, without pupils. As they drew closer, Rainbow Dash could see them seemingly appearing out of trees, until she realized that their skin was tree bark, and they had been clinging to the trees the entire time. Twisted fate, that joke the soldier told about the living tree, Dash thought. It came true in the worst way possible. He had been one of the first to die to the creatures. They caught up to the soldier in the back, one tripping him before another came to fight over the prize. A third bit him at his torso, gleaming teeth shearing him in two. The screams of the dismembered soldier were unearthly, and stuck in the heads of the remaining three for long after it was stopped by one of the wolf-creatures. The surviving soldiers turned around and fired at one that was closing in, bullets ricocheting off the bark hide. It claimed yet another soldier, ripping off limbs before crushing his skull. Another jumped over the dead soldier and it's comrade, leaping a second time for the remaining soldier. It pinned him on the ground, and he struggled to keep its jaws away from his face. Dash ran over, putting two bullets straight into its right eye. The glow faded, and it fell over in a completely disjointed pile of bark.

"You saved my life! Thank-" Dash cut him off.

"Don't thank me yet, there's still more here!" He nodded.

"Yes, ma'am!" He quickly raised his weapon, a Sturmgewehr Model 516, standard issue in the Iron Federation for Special Ops units. Dash left him to deal with his side; she had her own issues, 3 to be exact. She tried to aim for their eyes, but the strange gait they ran with made it difficult. Her bullets glanced off of their heads, not a one landing a substantial hit. Now her magazine was empty, and they were very close. She heard the screams of the other soldier as they fell, and knew this was her end. She pulled out her pistol in a last ditch effort. She had a custom equipped Sig Sauer P230 with a suppressor and flashlight/laser combo. It had saved her life many times before, but she doubted it stood any chance now. They were nearly on her, and though she managed to pop one of the wolves in the eye, it stumbled and rolled before getting back up. Damnit. Well, if I'm to go out, I'm glad it had to be at the claws of mutant tree-wolves and not by some common gunman. The lead wolf leapt towards her, and then and there she vowed that she would stare her killer down. It knocked her flat on her back and it's claws dug into her left arm. She screamed at the pain, but managed to raise her gun and shoot it, emptying the whole clip into it's head and eyes before it could sink it's teeth into her. Dash couldn't feel her left arm. She pushed the now dead wolf off one-armed and got up. Her weapons dry, she dodged the next wolf's pounce to the side while taking her combat knife from its sheath on her leg. She grabbed the wolf's neck and stabbed it through the eye. The third was on her before she could turn around, her reaction times dulled by blood loss. Her pistol was empty, her knife knocked out of her hand. Her vision was darkened, and she couldn't bring herself to move. Its jaws came down over her head. Then, she heard rolling thunder.

The sky lit up as streaks of light pummeled the wolf holding her down, knocking it away. Dash was nearly unconscious from blood loss, and she could hear a loud thumping. Slowly, she realized it was her heartbeat. She could see orange flashes, blemishing the pure white of the full moon. Unbeknownst to her, it was now exactly midnight, and the moon shone directly above the dying soldier. Luna, please allow me to pass peacefully. Hand me off gently to the afterlife. Her eyes closed.