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DOVAHKIIN1911
Author's Note: And now we're in season 3!
Co-Author's Note: one of these days i should bug Jak3 to post Max's pony anatomy class and... huh, if this is a parachute, then where did the backpack with my lunch go?
"You want us to what?" Bill asked Dawn as I curb-stomped the shit out of dead Necromorphs on Anon's laptop.
"You heard me. I need you all to accompany the Elements to the newly appeared Crystal Empire." Dawn answered. So that's what Faust was talking about...
"How will we be getting there?" I asked without looking up. I'm in a really hard part of the game, so I couldn't afford looking up.
"The Elements will be going by train." He replied, but laughed a little. "Since that this place is in Alaska, I'm sending you in by the C-5B Galaxy. You'll be using parachutes that Williams allowed me to clone from his, and landing about half a klick outside the protective shield that Princess Cadence has cast."
"Why is there a shield around this Empire?" Bill asked the million dollar question.
"Because a corrupt unicorn that goes by the name of King Sombra has returned. Cadence has her hooves full of keeping that bloody shield up to where she can't fight back." He explained.
"How many of us are going in?" I asked, looking up while Isaac got decapitated.
"Everyone." Well, that was surprising. "Half by parachute, half by train."
"Will we be getting any other vehicles airdropped with us? The fiddy on the humvee will prove to be invaulable." I requested. "And so will the flamethrower on the Crocodile." Lucy was still too slow to think about using her; her crew would freeze to death before making it to the shield.
"I'll see what I can do to make them snowstorm proof." Dawn said before popping out, leaving me and my SEALs team mate alone with Necromorphs.
"It'll be easier on all of us if we had some more damn intel." I grunted, sitting back and looking out of the door. A few random changelings and other redshirts were trotting back and forth. All were doing their best to ignore my cursing.
"I've had to do worse with less." Bill commented with a shrug.
"I believe you. SEALs are the toughest sumbitches I know." I muttered, pausing the game and lighting a fag. "Want one?"
"Why the hell not?" He finally said, allowing me to light one (with my energy sword, of course) and hand it over. Now, back to Necromorphs raping me.
"Yo, Mark." Anon said while I was taking a small break for a little tea.
"Sup?" I asked of him, hearing Nightmare Moon mutter in the background. He replied back, but it was muffled due to a hand on the receiver.
"Just heard from Dawn that we're going to the Crystal Empire. There's a video on the laptop that would benefit you greatly, if you feel like skipping a lot of shit." He said, and I was right on leaving Dead Space to look it up. If I have a lazy way of correctly doing something, I'll do it.
"Name of the video?" I asked once I was on the desktop. Strictly told not to mess with it, so it had the background as half Nightmare Moon, half Luna. Jesus, it looked more horrifying than what NM really looks like.
"My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Season 3 Episode 1 and 2: The Crystal Empire." He responded. "If I'm guessing right, this shit's gonna go down similar to this."
"Jesus..." I muttered once Bill and I finished watching the video. There are no words, other than that the humans are gonna have some fun later on.
"Got a plan?" Williams asked, popping in once I shut the laptop off and put it in my desk.
"Solid as the brick I shat earlier." I replied, slinging my rifle (Dragunov) over my shoulder and exiting.
[Library]
"Ok you yahoos, settle down… settle down," Max called, once again the entire lot of humans, both male and the two females, were crammed into Twilight Sparkle's basement. However, instead of a lecture on pony anatomy, this one was on something more life changing. "Tonight I'll be giving you a hands on demo of the proper care and use of the Tactical Battle Dress Uniform from HALO's ODST." Pretty much this; yea, we're ripping off a game, but we have da magicks. We do what we want.
"ODST stands for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper," as Max spoke, three individuals dressed in armor stepped out before the onlookers and took an 'At Ease' stance, their hands clasped behind their backs. "However, before any of you ask, no, we will not be dropping any of you from space. So if anypon… anyone can think of a better name for the armor, suggestions will be welcome." Though it would be fun and extreme as all hell for a deployment. Sadly, we don't have any vehicles, yet, that can attain high atmosphere flight.
"How about Overly Dick Sucking Tragedy," Callum called out. And while he got a few chuckles, most just rolled their eyes.
"As you can see for yourselves, the armor comes in three different types," the Master Sergeant went on, stepping forward to indicate each in turn. "The first is the most widely used, called the CQB or Close Quarter Battle suit, the second is the Sharpshooter, and the third is the Recon."
"The Close Quarters Battle suit as demonstrated by 1st Lieutenant, Anonymous," Max waved a hand towards the solder in the black armor with olive drab markings and a rank on the left pauldron. "This will be our standard battle armor. While designated as a CQB suit, this variant has also been issued to any demolition experts, such as our beloved General. This uniform is specifically designed to aid a trooper in CQB situations."
"The standard right pauldron, or bicep-shield is a long, two piece ballistic plate, which aids in protecting the trooper's upper body while in a firing stance," as he spoke Anon pulled his weapon and took a stance to demonstrate. "It well also reduces severe injury from magic-based weaponry. The helmet is also issued with an optics device that aids the user in relaying images and video to teammates or command."
"The Sharpshooter will be issued to all our sniper experts," moving over he indicated Jane Shepard in her flat dark-grey armor with its red markings. "This uniform is designed to give a sniper more freedom in combat, the standard left arm guard and shoulder pad is removed, allowing the sniper to aim better and move his or her arm more freely with a sniper rifle, while the standard right pauldron is replaced with a larger plate to protect the sniper's arm from counterattacks. The Sharpshooter variant is also issued with an optics device attachment for their weapon, called the Oracle Scope, it can up-link to the user's HUD and allows for greater accuracy."
"Lastly there is the Recon," again Max stepped over and indicated Judy, the pilot of the C5 Galaxy in her blue and silver armor. "This specialized variant of the armor is issued to toughs who are trained in reconnaissance operations or require better mobility then the rest of us, such as the tank crews, pilots and medical staff."
"The undersuit is the same as the standard Trooper armor. However, the chest plate is replaced with specialized ones depending on the roll of the user, and to provide stealth capabilities with little or no loss of endurance, a Recon trooper's armor well significantly reduce his or her IR signature and reflective surfaces. There are no shoulder plates issued with this variant, which allows more freedom of the arm movement."
"It also has a better profile," one of the newer recruits (Krass) called, pointing out the figure hugging curves of Judy's Battle Dress Uniform.
"While that may be true," Max interjected, "You better not let Big Mac hear you saying that."
"Point taken sir," the man nodded.
"Now than, each of you will have a rucksack issued to you, for all intents and purposes, it's an armored backpack that attaches to the back of your armored vest." That said, each of the three solders turned and allowed Max to point out the packs. "The rucksack comes in a number of different variants. The main purpose is storage, which allows a trooper to store equipment, ranging from ammunition, to medical supplies, to explosives, and long range communications."
"For longer missions, you can be issued a larger rucksack with enough supplies for two weeks of operation without external resupply. The rucksacks have integrated magnetic holding devices to allow for external back mounting of additional equipment. Equipment with magnetic properties, such as longer weaponry, can be carried externally over the rucksack eliminating the use of extra straps or slings."
"Light weight and strong, this suit of body armor is truly a force to be reckoned with. Made up of layered titanium and ceramic composite armor plating to give the user added protection." Max quickly concluded with, "So in short, this armor provides numerous advantages in the field, including ballistic protection, temperature control, as well as thermal insulation against extreme temperatures such as dragon's fire (but it's not a good idea to stand around while getting roasted.) and thermal protection from magical energy weapons. ODST Battle Armor can also, if necessary, perform a space EVA situations or in ocean depths of 500 feet, for short periods of time."
"How long is a short period," one of the crowd asked, yet before Max could answer, he was rudely interrupted.
"Wait, hold up…" Duffy stood up, an irate look in his eyes. "Did you say that the suit is temperature controlled?"
"Up to 30 minutes," Max quickly finished the first question before looking to Duffy. "And yeah, the inner layer of the body suit also contains a heating and cooling system, it regulates temperatures to keep the user warm or cool depending on the weather conditions… why?"
"Dammit, the whole time we were sweating our asses off in zebra land, Mark was all snug and cool in his armor…" Gallan groaned.
With a sigh, Max waited for the grunts and curses of displeasure to dwindle before continuing… "Now each of you will be allowed to personalize your individual armor's colors and the parts that attach to it, like how mine is plated gold and silver to represent Princess Celestia and her Day Guard…"
[On the Galaxy]
"Alright, we have ten minutes to drop! Secure the Humvee and Crocodile to their parachutes!" I yelled, getting everyone and Apple to move. Since we were going to be in Alaska, she has to be bundled the fuck up or risk dying of hypothermia.
"I'm all ready!" Apple chirped, fluttering onto my head.
"Vehicles are strapped in!" Duran and Callum yelled out, getting me to nod.
"Chutes on, prepare for deployment!" I called out, going to the rear hatch. Judy and Max opened it up ten minutes later, and I proceeded to push the vehicles out with the help of the others. The armor may be strong as fuck, but it doesn't augment our strength to the point of an ODST.
I declined that modification when offered it; we already have impenitrable armor when it comes to projectiles (and magic, to a degree), rifles that can pop a head at a mile away, and the creativity of a human. We don't need to add super strength to the list.
"DROP!" I shouted, jumping with Bill, after the Sherman slid off with her crew inside. All of them wore the Recon armor, since it was kinda cramped in there.
Lemme tell you; 30,000 feet in asscold weather and heading down at terminal velocity is not enjoyable. Apple's lucky I have a pocket dimension that made everything at room temperature, or else she'd freeze to death almost instantly.
This damn ODST suit needs some minor calibration; it keeps the heat out, but not the cold. I could tell Bill was loving this, though. I was unlucky enough to still have the testing model, but it still fucking works, so I won't bitch too much.
"I've been waiting too goddamn long to do this again!" Bill exclaimed into our comms, laughing like mad.
"Well it sucks ass for me!" I retorted. "Ya'll are nice an' warm in the suits while my balls are freezing off!"
"Payback for Africa!" Duffy shouted as he fell past me, going into a diving motion. I stuck my middle finger out to his falling form before angling myself to where I'd fly like a precision brick.
"Twenty thousand feet!" I said over the comm. as Judy flew overhead, heading back to Ponyville. "We'll get a runway set up for you, if it's possible." I told her.
"If not, we still have the railroad to bring them here. Max and I will have to escort them, if that happens." She replied.
"I know. When I get the chance, remind me to get you situated with MP5's." I said, before doing a few barrel rolls because I had 18,000 feet to fuck around with. My team wasted a few minutes flying around in circles, before I had to become the fun police.
"Deploy chutes!" I called out, ripping the cord on my straps. I waited fifteen seconds; just my luck mine fucking malfunctions. "GODDAMMIT!"
"We can't get to you, Mark!" Bill yelled over the receiver. "None of us have reserve chutes!" I had a plan, but it was risky as fuck.
"Grab my hand if you can get to it before we hit the ground." I said, before pretty much forcing myself into the pocket six inches from my chest.
"Jesus fuck that's scary as hell." I heard Jane mutter before transmissions were cut.
"Daddy?" Apple asked in confusion as I shook some snow off of me. My right hand was sticking out of the rip, where some snow went into the room.
"Chute failed." I explained, looking around. I haven't really gotten a feel for the place, and it made me smile as I saw that Apple took use to some of the crap that I forgot in there and made Mugs a home away from dimension. "What did you do to my dimension?"
"Nothing much." She shrugged as I felt a hand curl around my own. I stuck my head out for a moment and noted that Callum was gripping it, giving me a nod.
"I got'cha, sir!" He said. I nodded and went back into my dimension, waiting out the fall.
After a while, I felt my hand hit the ground, so I hauled myself to my feet and got a good look around.
It was fucking white everywhere except for a blue dome a klick to the east.
"There's no way that Hannah can land here..." Jane told me after scouting a bit, somehow being the first to land. We got the two vehicles situated, which caused Callum and Duran to promptly load up in the Humvee, Callum claiming the fiddy.
"Hannah actual, that's a negative on the landing strip." Gallan said, pressing a finger on the side of his helmet. "You and the rest'll have to come in on the train."
"Roger that Alpha 3, we'll be back in a week." Judy sighed before leaving comm range.
"Operators, form up." I sighed, waiting for the four to appear. Standing in front of me ten seconds later, in order from left to right; Anderson "Nutcracker" Kenov, Brandon "Chief" Kenov, Elizabeth "Gunny" Ricotta, and Edward "Clockwork" Ash.
"Sir?" Nutcracker said with a salute, being all professional and shit.
"I want the four of you to go and scout out the Crystal Empire, see if there's anything bad happening at the moment." I started. "Remember our ROE; do not open fire unless attacked first, and only kill sentient beings if absolutely necessary. If you spot anyone being attacked, do not hesitate to help out."
"Yes sir!" All four snapped to attention and gave a salute, before turning around and jogging off. I shivered a little as I looked around again.
"Godfuckingdamnit it's cold." I swore, slowly trudging towards the Humvee. "Load up on vehicles and prepare to move out, we're just waiting on their signal."
"What's the signal?" Duran asked as I slid in, the interior slightly warmer than outside.
"Green flare if it's peaceful. Red for signaling that they need help." Rather easy, actually.