"A battery?" Tolwin asked into his helmet radio. They received Faust's transmission as soon as they headed back to the basecamp. This better mean something beneficial.

"Not just that." Replied Faust's distorted voice over the radio. "We also found miscellaneous mechanical parts, a plate of vehicle armor, and a half-empty canteen of water." Yes, we've found him. Finally!

"And I trust his vehicle is somewhere within that vicinity?" Tolwin responded with a grin of excitement forming on his tired face.

"No, we can't find it anywhere."

The grin faded. "What do you mean you can't find it?"

"I mean just that, sir. We've scouted the area twice. No car in sight. Just this stuff littered about the place."

"Faust, the car is totalled. You saw how the 'Snooty' gun took him out. Even if he survived, he couldn't move it without an industrial vehicle. Or an aircraft, maybe."

"Maybe someone was here before us and did just that, sir."

Tolwin thought for a moment. Can't rule out the possibility. The mysterious driver is alive, and definitely not alone. Therefore, we are also not alone here. "Finish up with the transponder and RTB when you're done. We'll talk about this later."

"Yes, sir." The transmission ended with an uncomfortably loud click of static.

...

...

...

Faust hung the hand-microphone back up to the radio set up in his Otokar Akrep light reconnaissance vehicle and leaned back into his seat with a deep exhale. "Yep."

"Well," Junkers started as he stepped closer to Faust's door, "those were the biggest pieces we could pick up. There's some nuts and bolts, metal and glass shards, and a few other things hanging around the grassy areas. Stuff like that."

Faust managed a nod to Junkers and continued to stare out his windshield, lost in his thoughts.

"Faust," Junkers said, breaking the sudden silence, "I've been thinking."

"That makes two of us." replied Faust in a mildly irritated tone.

"I think we're still in the desert."

Okay, you've peaked my interest. "Excuse me?"

"Well, technically not, but I think we're still in the same land."

In other words, we're still on the same planet. Faust had been wondering about this as soon as they arrived to this strange place, and he had come up with a similar conclusion as well. However, he was interested in Junkers' take on the theory.

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, first of all our radio communications are Sat-Com. The fact there are still orbiting satellites capable of sending and receiving transmissions tells me we are still on Earth, in the same dimension, in virtually the same province of the desert. And the only reason we're not picking up our older transponder signals is because, A, we've traveled too far out of range, or B, someone found our transponder sites and sabotaged them. And I'm very heart-set on A."

Well done. I'm pleased to hear another person sharing the same thoughts on the matter. Let's see what else you have to offer. "What else?"

"I'm still working on some other theories. Trying to make sense of some other things."

"Be sure to let me know when you sort it out."

Junkers nodded and stepped away from the door. "You know, you should take it easy. I'll buy you a drink when we get back."

"With what?"

Junkers lacked an appropriate comeback and instead walked away pretending to hide his smile.

...

...

...

God, I feel like a shepherd of aliens right now. Ray led the group of ponies through the thick jungle that was the Everfree Forest, weapon comfortably slung to his shoulder. A select few of the ponies stayed behind due to their fear of this place, which Ray did not quite understand. Though he has never been in one so lush and beautiful, this particular forest appeared to him as normal as any other. After all, they did find him here.

"So," Ray began, "what's the deal about this place? Why are you so afraid of it?"

"Things in here don't work the same as in the rest of Equestria." Rainbow Dash answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Fluttershy answered, "animals care for themselves and plants grow on their own."

"Plus," Rainbow Dash added, "the clouds do everything all by themselves! Moving, raining, you name it."

Ray was completely lost with these latest "facts." How is this abnormal activity at all?Then it occurred to him. Ah, so good ol' mother nature must work completely different here. That means, the mysteriously 'different' Everfree Forest must be the gateway back to my normal world. It all makes perfect sense. But, why be so afraid of it? Why not explore it? Certainly, this purple unicorn Twilight Sparkle fits the type to do just that. Let's find out. "So, how does that make it the least bit intimidating? Sure it's probably strange and all, but I don't find it sinister."

"'Cause," Rainbow Dash began, lifting off the ground with her beautifully feathered wings, hovering in front of Ray with a playfully mischievous expression, "every pony who's ever come in, has never come... out!" My multi-colored friend, you are adorably amusing, but you don't scare me one shiver.

"Rainbow!" the southern pony shouted, "It wasn't funny the first time, and it sure ain't funny a second time!"

Rainbow Dash crossed her front hooves, as a human would with their arms when intimidated. "It wasn't supposed to be."

"Still, knock it off."

"Fine, Applejack, sorry for having a little fun with our new... friend." She sighed and turned to Ray again. "What the heck are you anyway?"

"A human." And Ray left it at that, continuing along the path within the forest.

"A hooman... ha! That's a funny name."

Applejack grabbed Rainbow's tail with her mouth and swiftly yanked her back to the ground. "Hush up."

"Jee, AJ, you're awful bossy today. Eat a rotten apple this morning?"

Ray ignored the pony-folks' shenanigans and proceeded with his own thoughts. The rainbow pegasus' earlier words failed to intimidate him, but they were still thought-provoking. If ponies have traveled in this forest before, and have never returned, it's likely because they found my world. Yes, it is a gateway! And their absence is likely due to the fact danger lurks almost everywhere in the desert. It took him a moment, but he finally realized something bizarre about the gateway theory. If the forest is the pathway between worlds, how is it that I'm the very first human to discover their land? They've obviously been here for quite a long time. Decades by the looks of it! This... this doesn't make any sense.

When they finally arrived at the spot where Ray was discovered by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, he froze in surprise. It's gone! There was a mess of dirt and rock where the wreckage had previously lay in waste, but there was no obvious sign of the vehicle anywhere. Like it had completely vanished.

"Hey, where'd it go?!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

Ray's instincts took over again, forcing him to unsling his WA-2000. "I swear it was here. Someone must've been here and towed it out. Someone with a vehicle capable of removing it without getting snagged on the slopes here. Like a..." His voice trailed off, as he remembered a very specivic vehicle a certain rogue faction had in their devastating inventory. Like an aircraft. Or a heavy-lift helicopter, to be precise. Yes, the faction was here. They have my car!

"What about that over there?" the small, yellow filly nearest to Applejack asked, pointing ahead of them with her hoof.

Ray look ahead, in the approximate direction she indicated. Something metallic was situated within a mess of brush not too far ahead of them. It was light tan like a sandy desert, streamlined with segmented plating. Some kind of armored vehicle? His heart sank. It's them. "Twilight, get everyone out of here. Now."

"But why?" She asked curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Don't ask, just trust me. Get everyone back to town. Hurry."

She nodded with slight confusion. "Okay, everypony, let's go."

As Twilight hurried the other ponies in the opposite direction, Ray began venturing towards the partially-concealed military vehicle.

"Aren't you coming with us?" She asked.

"No. I'll catch up with you later."

Twilight was uneasy but didn't argue with him, and instead continued on with the rest of the group.

Ray wanted a closer look at the vehicle, to confirm it was the very same faction he had escaped from back on the desert road yesterday. He stuck to cover behind the trees as he advanced further into the woods, weapon trained towards the suspected enemy. Adrenalin rushed through his body as his heart pounded, speeding his breathing rate and sharpening his senses. He forced his overtly loud breaths through his nose.

Voices. He stopped and kneeled behind a slope in the ground, peering through the scope of his rifle to see his enemy more clearly. He identified the vehicle as a heavily-armored HMMWV with a roof turret bearing a modified 14.5mm ZPU-4 quad-barrel anti-aircraft gun. Next to it was an Otokar Akrep with a communication dish projecting from the roof in place of the machine gun turret.

Panning his scope to the left of the site revealed the source of the unclear voices. Four unarmed men wearing green flight suits stood around a seven-foot cylindrical device planted firmly in the ground. Ray didn't recognize the vertical piece of equipment at all, but it appeared to be some kind of long-range communication device, or some kind of relay for sending or receiving signals. The predicated technicians were using high-tech military laptop computers placed within armored briefcases, probably to communicate with the device and adjust it for whatever function it served.

Various other men patrolled the site, armed with what appeared to be a mix of American, French, and Russian firearms, including modified Colt M4A3s, FAMAS F1s, and Kalashnikov AK variants of all major types. All wore hand-stitched service patches reading "Phantom Raiders - Voces Seditionis" with the text wrapping around the image of an eagle being slain by a metallic bolt of lightning.

Ray realized this was the closest he has ever come to a rogue faction before. He was careful to stay hidden behind the brush as he advanced closer, stealthily, ensuring himself as not to step on anything to exert a loud noise. He was still curious about the odd device the four techs were gathered around, taking further glances at it through his scope each time he knelt back to the ground. Details became more clear as he proceeded, but it still wasn't enough. He finally found a spot within a depression in the earth where he could read the stencilling on the side of it. It read "DARPA - SGPTMTU X224 NO 16."

Ray knew the first acronym meant "Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency," but the following abbreviation was the true puzzle. He figured that if the device was old enough to be a product of the former DARPA group, then the "X224" designation most likely indicated an experimental, hence an "X" instead of "M" for a military production model. In which case, it was probably stolen from one of the agency's experimental workshops. The "NO 16" indicated it was not the only device of its type to be constructed, therefore the faction might have gotten their hands on the rest of them.

As he panned further down the device with his scope, sure enough he came across the bold stenciling "EXPERIMENTAL." Training his gun to one of the tech's computers he could see computer code being manipulated, with a bordered header at the top of the screen reading "Standalone Global-Positioning and Terrain-Mapping Transponder Unit - #16."Mystery solved. It's a fancy tracking device.

Something cold and metallic pressed against the back of Ray's head. Time seemed to stop.

"Don't move," said a stern, yet muffled voice, "unless I tell you to. Got it?"

Ray nodded slowly, as not to alarm his captor, feeling the gun barrel scraping against his skin.

"Excellent. Now I want you to let go of your weapon."

Ray complied, indexing his finger away from the trigger and neatly setting his rifle into the grass. He felt the gun barrel break contact as as the sound of crunching leaves echoed in his ears. He looked down at his belt. He was still wearing his equipment, including his sheath containing the M1 combat knife. Since his right hand was also concealed from this angle, he had an idea. "Are you sure you want me to do this?"

"Don't speak. Just do as I say."

Ray nodded. If I die doing this, I die, but at least I did by finally trying this trick on someone. Here goes... In the blink of an eye, Ray rolled to the right, whipping his knife from the sheath and throwing it dead center in the heart of his captor. He was a soldier wearing all desert camouflage from the Gulf War era, now stained by blood rushing from his wound. He let out a cry of pain under his Bandero mask, waving and firing his weapon in all of the wrong directions. The gunfire pierced Ray's ears as it echoed through the forest, catching the attention of the nearby soldiers. Oh shit!

They scrambled. Three of them, followed by a third leaping from the Otokar Akrep, ran towards the sound of the gunfire. Others, including the techs, took cover behind the vehicles, with one daring individual jumping into a gunner seat positioned behind the HMMWV's anti-aircraft gun.

One of the advancing soldiers spotted him. "There he is! Open up!" Time to run. Again.

Ray grabbed his weapon and dove for cover behind a thick redwood tree just as the whole company erupted with gunfire. Ray whipped his gun around and returned fire, forcing the approaching soldiers to dive to cover themselves. He quickly recoiled back to cover behind the redwood, giving them a chance to waste more bullets. As he whipped back around to return fire yet again, he ceased the moment he saw the four monstrous barrels of the AA gun trained at him. You've got to be kidding.

"Hit it!" someone shouted between the loud pops of the automatic rifles.

Ray sprinted away from the tree, diving for a slope in the land. The AA gun rumbled, sending earth-shattering tremors through the ground. Ray watched as bright red tracer rounds streaked across the treetops above like fireflies from hell, with the armor-piercing explosive rounds shredding the ground and nearby plant life. Soon enough, his previous cover that was the giant redwood sported a massive hole at the base. It was now weak, forcing it to break and crash to the forest floor, taking several smaller trees with it.

Ray did not want to stick around any longer. He leapt from the slope and sprinted back to the pathway out of the forest, trying desperately to escape the endless wave of high-caliber slugs and splinters of wood blasted away from trees unfortunate to be caught in the AA gun's line of fire. Ray was eventually clear from the gunfire, but now was most definitely not the time to slow down. I have to warn Ponyville.

...

...

...

"Cease fire!" Faust shouted to his team, who continued battering the forest with their weapons. "I said cease-..." He trailed off the moment he saw Junkers emerge from the Otokar Akrep with a M202 FLASH rocket-launcher over his shoulder, with the transponder situated directly behind him. Junkers extended the rear tubes and took aim. "No! Wait!"

It was too late. Junkers fired an incendiary rocket into the forest, setting fire to the shrubbery within the blast radius. Faust tackled him to the ground, ripping the launcher away from his hands. He got back to his feet and faced the unit. "Cease fire, god dammit! Put a sock it it!"

Silence at last.

"What's you're problem?!" Junkers said, getting in Faust's face.

Faust's eyes reddened with rage. "What's my problem? You want to know what my goddamned problem is?!"

Junkers began shying away, looking at the trees instead of Faust's angry eyes.

"Look at what you did!" Faust shouted, pointing at the fire growing in the distance within the forest. "You just started a forest fire with that thing!"

"How was I supposed to know?"

Faust picked up the M202 multi-barrel launcher and read the stencilling out loud to him. "M202A2 FLASH - FLame Assault SHoulder Weapon - 4 Max. 66mm incendiary rockets." He paused and looked back up at his shameful team member. "'Incendiary' means 'fire', you dumbass!" Faust pushed the launcher into Junkers' arms with force that threw him off balance.

"I'm... I didn't-..."

Faust ignored his stuttering and looked behind Junkers, at the transponder device. "And as if that isn't bad enough, look what your backblast did to the transponder!"

Junkers turned around to look. It was completely scorched, with various plastic components almost completely melted away. The field laptops were burnt to a crisp, screens cracked, melted and distorted. Useless.

"Congratulations. You just wasted a perfectly good, billion-dollar transponder setup."

Junkers swallowed hard, backing away, looking at the ground in shame.

Faust paused to calm himself. "Agusta!"

"Yeah?" Agusta answered from behind the AA gun.

"Junkers is under arrest. Keep your sidearm on him until I get back."

Agusta reached for his holster and pulled out his FN Five Seven, aiming it at Junkers. "Junk, you mind relieving yourself of your weapon?"

Junkers glared at Agusta, throwing his rocket-launcher at him with a sudden outburst of anger.

"Hoho! Testy."

Faust reached inside the Otokar Akrep, grabbing two medium fire-extinguishers, and began walking away from the unit.

"Faust!" Agusta shouted. "You mind telling me where you're going?"

"To try and put the damned fire out, what do you think?"

"You're not serious."

He shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to try. Just keep your gun on him. I'll be back soon enough." He continued on.

Along the way, Faust muttered curses under his breath. The extinguishers were extremely heavy, being early and bulky Kidde 468003 Pro models with class D dry chemical powder. Blisters began forming in his palms the longer he carried them, but refused to take break, as the fire was still in the early containable stage. When he finally reached the area ablaze, he dropped one of them in relief and began attacking the flames. It was more than enough to put them out, and to his surprise, he didn't even need the other unit. Before long, it was fully contained. Faust dropped the extinguisher on the ground and sighed with more relief.

The sound of a twig breaking behind him woke up his instincts, forcing him to draw his sidearm. "Who'se there?" There was no answer. Suddenly another twig breaks, from the opposite direction. The driver. He's toying with me. "I know you're out there!" He scanned the forest in all directions, but saw no one in sight, except for the Raider team in the distance.

...

...

...

A blood-curdling yell of terror echoed in the forest, followed by a single gunshot.

"Faust?!" Agusta shouted, keeping his gun on Junkers. Something must've happened. The driver must still be out there! He tried again. "Faust!" Nothing.

"You two!" He waved his sidearm at two soldiers still dug in the dirt from their earlier firefight. "Go check it out."

They nodded as they pulled themselves to their feet, then headed into the forest. Into the great unknown.