On Earth it was just starting to become morning. The light from the sun covered the summer plains of the state of Wyoming with its warm glow, illuminating a complex of prefabricated structures surrounded by barbed wire and sandbags. An Onorussian flag flew high from a pole in the center of the compound, tanks were parked along the outer fence, protecting the buildings from anything that could possibly come at it. One of the buildings in the compound was a barracks for the several hundred troops stationed there, they were already awake and preparing for their daily tasks.

The compound was known as Outpost Juliet, a forward base for the advancing Onorussian forces that were gradually clearing and securing land and resources. That particular day was going to be nothing special, there would be helicopters moving out to map and search for survivor settlements, as well as ground patrols and air support. One of the women that would be going on a helicopter patrol was of polish descent, she had at one point been a radio operator, and before that a forced soldier of the EOL. Wiktoria adjusted her M-60 as she sat in the side of a Huey helicopter, the sleeves of her uniform were rolled up and a pair of aviators covered her eyes.

Since the war had ended with the EOL she had decided to remain on Earth to help with evacuation and relocation efforts, and gradually she had found her niche as a helicopter door gunner. The sound of the engine starting and the chopper blades rotating was soothing to the muscular Polish woman, the perfect start to a beautiful day. The pilot, a stocky black man by the name of Murphy, knew that she liked to listen to the engine. That was probably why he had started it up so early, all of the crew were very accepting of her, even despite her history. The co-pilot was also Polish, a rather handsome man by the name of Nicodemus, but everyone just called him Nico. Truth be told, Wiktoria found him rather attractive, though she’d never say it to his face. Finally there was Kim, the other door gunner. He was a new guy from Japan and mostly kept to himself.

“Alright, today’s objective is to perform a flyover of that settlement to the north that our ground teams spotted two days ago.” Nico announced over the headset, normally it was the job of the pilot, but it had become a bit of a running joke that Murphy’s word was law and they didn’t want to give themselves bad luck. ”Now, unlike we usually do, we’re going to be observing only. Our ground guys say they might have seen some heavy weapons in their compound, so we aren’t landing and making first contact.” Wiktoria adjusted her grip on her M-60 as the huey’s engines continued to spin the rotor up to speed. The downdraft began kicking up sand and dust, and many of the ground forces were looking at it with rather amused expressions. ”Everyone set?”

“Yeah.” Wiktoria replied, as did Kim. Murphy nodded silently before pushing the throttle up, Wiktoria adjusted her helmet and sunglasses as the ground began to fall away from the helicopter. Throught the speakers in her helmet she could hear the radio being changed, eventually the sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Fortunate Son’ was playing to lull the crew into relaxation for the beginning of the trip. Wiktoria watched the trees and plants on the ground begin whizzing by underneath the helicopter, the beautiful rising sun was brightly shining its orange glow over the land below. She felt like she was in some sort of Vietnam movie, even though she knew the reason they were fighting was for the right reasons.

In the distance she could see a pair of F4 phantoms streak by at a higher altitude, most likely on station in case any of the ground forces needed support. The olive drab helicopter continued on regardless of the planes in the distance, the chopping blades echoed through Wiktoria’s ears as she leaned her head back in the seat and looked up at the ceiling. She reached up to a knob on her helmet and tuned out the music, preferring to listen to the simple noise of what was basically a giant fan, the ultimate white noise. Occasionally Wiktoria would peer down at the ground, watching as the burned out ruins of houses and towns would occasionally pass into her view.

Wiktoria could see corpses of dead infected lining the roads, some of them were crawling weakly, but after five years of decay they were pretty much completely decomposed. The woman couldn’t help but ponder how absurd everything would seem to her five years in the past, and yet there she was, riding along in a helicopter built in another dimension full of mythical creatures. Wiktoria shrugged and smirked, leaning on her M-60 and listening to the occasional radio chatter between Murphy and Nico. Even in such destruction, the land held a very special beauty to her, one that she was glad would not be forgotten.

”Hey, Tori? What do you think these guys are gonna be like?” Kim asked from his position on the other side of the chopper, Wiktora sat up and rubbed her chin in thought. ”My money’s on them being a bunch of elmos, you know? Probably gonna flip the fuck out when they see us.”

“I’m hoping they aren’t those anti-government nuts that build compounds in the woods. Those are the worst.” Wiktoria replied casually, referring to the numerous times their patrols had come under fire by so called ‘Patriots’. Most of the time a show of force was enough to get them to fall in line, but they were still pains in the ass to deal with. “Actually, no… Doomsday cults are the worst, or they would be… If we didn’t have napalm.” That got a chuckle out of the rest of the crew, it had become common practice to treat cults as extensions of the EOL, as most of the time they employed slavery.

”Let’s just hope those heavy weapons don’t have any ammunition.” Murphy said, Nico and Wiktoria groaned.

“Damn it, Murphy! You just had to say that?! You have any idea how much I hate getting shot at?!” Wiktoria shouted, Murphy only chuckled over the comms before going quiet. The helicopter dropped down in altitude, now flying twenty feet or so above the trees below. Wiktoria and Kim could tell that meant they were getting close, both of them readied their M-60s. Wiktoria took a moment to remove her sunglasses and flick the visor down on her helmet, a HUD appeared and provided her with a reticle that was tied to her gun’s point of aim. She just loved modern technology, the helmet also came with a mask to shield her face from the harsh wind, which she also pulled on. She rolled down her sleeves and rested her gloved hands on the trigger of her weapon.

”Alright, we’re coming up over the settlement in about thirty seconds. Eyes ready everyone.” Nico informed while the helicopter began banking to one side, most likely to give them a better angle to circle around the compound of survivors. They hadn’t responded to any radio communications, but if they had heavy weapons it was likely because they were ignoring the messages. In the cockpit Nico had picked up binoculars and was peering through them at the compound up ahead, it was larger than they had expected, with fences running around the perimeter and numerous vehicles parked in a crude motor pool.

Wiktoria could see people rushing around on the ground as the helicopter flew past and began to circle, the many buildings down there looked like warehouses, and one of them had their doors being pushed open. To the surprise of the co-pilot, he saw a bulldozer roll out of the building. It was an older looking vehicle that had been armored up like an EOL tank, with two fifty calibers mounted on the top of the cab. Murphy turned on the auto-hover when they were at a safe enough distance, allowing Nico to get a better look at the compound. He could see a flag waving on a pole in the distance, the flag of Wyoming. On the ground he could also see the tank had seemingly stopped, and he could see people arguing and pointing at the helicopter.

”We’re gonna hold here for a bit, they’ve got a ground column moving in from the south.” Murphy said, he switched off auto hover and began to slowly circle the compound, Nico began relaying what he was seeing to the ground commander while Wiktoria was left to her thoughts. It must’ve been the shock of those survivor’s lives to see a helicopter with military markings circling overhead, she could only imagine the emotions that they were feeling. The sound of jets in the distance told them that if anything were to happen to the helicopter, retribution would be swift.

Hours passed, on the ground Wiktoria could see dust rising up from the road running towards the compound, that was Murphy’s signal to turn the helicopter back as it was in need of fuel. The helicopter passed over a column of armored humvees painted olive drab, bearing Onorussian markings as well as a white flag at the front of the convoy. Sitting in one of the humvees was one of the UNs former agents, now a simple grunt in the Onorussian military machine. Lieutenant Hinkman. His sleeves were rolled up as he sat in the passenger seat of the lead humvee, as usual his hair was buzzed short and he wore a pair of mirrored sunglasses. He looked like a CIA agent of some kind, but that made sense considering his previous job.

As the helicopter passed overhead Hinkman was listening to the radio communications between his driver and the six humvees following behind his. Trees passed by on either side of the road as they rolled along the nearly overgrown dirt path, kicking up dust and rocks as the war machines rolled on and on. In the turret of the humvee there was a private holding a poll with a white flag, it was assumed that since the helicopter hadn’t been shot at the survivors were moderately friendly, or at least sensible. Hinkman adjusted his kevlar and checked on the M-16 tucked between his legs, occasionally glancing over at the driver. The soldiers he was riding with were human, and relatively new recruits. He hadn’t even learned all their names yet, but somehow he had been put in charge of babysitting them.

“Take the left turn up ahead.” Hinkman said as he pointed to a road up ahead, the driver nodded and turned down that road. Ahead of them they could see the compound of survivors, as well as some signage that indicated it had once been a construction company. That would explain how well fortified it was, as the materials were most likely on hand. “Slow up. Watch the road ahead.” Hinkman advised, adjusting his seat nervously. It was logical to assume the survivors could’ve come up with some sort of spike strips, it wasn’t the first time that had happened.

”All Reaper victors this is Styx, victors two through seven will hold back as Reaper one-one makes contact with the foot mobiles.” The sound of the battalion commander said over the radio, Hinkman looked out the window behind the humvee and watched the other vehicles slow to a halt.

“Why’d they do that, lieutenant?” Asked one of the corporals in the back seat, Hinkman picked up his rifle and rested it in his lap.

“In case we get lit up, they don’t want the convoy to get hit as well.” The man said simply, he smirked faintly when he heard the faint sound of rounds racking into chambers. “Ease up, boys. I doubt they’re that dangerous. When we stop let me do the talking.” The others nodded quietly but Hinkman could tell they were watching every angle they could, which was good, because he was nervous on the inside. To ease his tension he began humming to himself, the humvee slowed as it approached the gate of the compound which had a fifty mounted behind numerous sandbags and was currently being guarded by ten men. They wore rather well maintained work clothes, half of them held shotguns or rifles while the rest had melee weapons like nail boards and clubs.

Hinkman took a deep breath before he opened his door and stepped out of the humvee, the recruits inside the vehicle watched with rapt attention, but they trusted his judgement enough to remain calm. He let his rifle hang on its strap across his chest as he began approaching the gate, biting his cheek to try and keep himself from shaking. The men ahead of him looked a bit surprised at his uniform, specifically the Onorussian flag patch on his shoulder. They parted after a few tense seconds, allowing an older man and a younger man to walk past them. The older man wore a flannel shirt and jeans, his boots were stained red with greying black hair. The younger man looked like a younger version of his counterpart, with a couple exceptions, obviously father and son.

“Who are you?” The older man asked as he got closer, Hinkman straightened up.

“Lieutenant Hinkman of the Onorussian Expeditionary Force.” Hinkman said simply, the two men didn’t change their expressions. “The United Nations folded into a new government, the details of which I’m afraid are hard to believe.” The men crossed their arms over their chest, almost in unison. “We are prepared to evacuate your people to a safe area south of here.”

“What if we don’t want to go?” Asked the older man, the younger man looked at him with a bit of surprise. “We’ve been doing fine on our own, why do we need some safe zone? What’s to keep us from staying here?”

“Nothing.” Hinkman said simply, putting his hands on his hips. “Unless you want schools, medical supplies, real beds, jobs, and so on.” He paused, catching a whiff of something. “Not to mention hot showers.” The older man didn’t look impressed, but his son did. Hinkman watched the younger man tug on his father’s shirt before whispering something up into the man’s ear. The older man scowled and looked down at his son, then back at Hinkman.

“No.” The man said simply.

“But dad, you said we were doing this until the government reached us!” The younger man shouted, Hinkman was prepared to see a full on fight ensue as the guards at the gate began to mumble to one another. “That’s the government dad, sorry if it isn’t what you expected.”

“Damn it, Zack! Not now!” The older man shouted back, Hinkman sighed and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, followed by his old zippo lighter. He lit up and took a drag on it, causing some of the smoke to waft towards the two bickering family members. They paused and looked at him and were surprised when he offered them a couple, which they each took.

“Look, sir. I understand you don’t believe us to be legitimate, I’m sure being skeptical of this sort of thing has kept you alive.” Hinkman said as he exhaled another cloud of smoke, before lighting the cigarettes of the other two men. “But believe me when I say we’re legitimate, and soon all of this land around you is going to be crawling with soldiers, tanks, trucks, and so on.” The older man looked around as he heard the faint sound of fighter jets in the distance, coupled with those of helicopters getting closer. “Even if you wish to stay, wouldn’t it be fair for you to ask your people if they care to come with us?”

“I… I suppose…” The older man said with a sigh, his decision was made mainly because he hadn’t heard engines like that in a long time. One helicopter and a couple humvees would be easy enough to get, he reasoned, but jets and multiple choppers. That didn’t seem feasible for anyone but a government. “Zack, stay here. I shall address the group.” The younger man nodded as his father walked back towards the gate, leaving Hinkman and Zack to themselves. For Hinkman it was just another day in the Onorussian expansion into Earth. For the people in that forboding fortress however, it was likely the start of a better life.

[♠]

Luna’s bedroom was quiet as the moonlight shined through the window, curtains open wide and illuminating the furniture with just enough light. Maria and Dominic lay in bed as Luna sat by the window, holding Altair in her hooves and gently rocking him back and forth. He had started crying earlier, and it was Luna’s turn to take care of him. Thankfully he hadn’t been hungry and she hadn’t needed to wake Maria, Luna had simply changed his diaper and he became cool as a cucumber. Now she was trying to get him back to sleep, her vision turned out into the night sky.

Altair was wrapped in a warm bundle of blankets, and his eyes roved over the night sky as well, Luna could tell he was fascinated by all the spots of light up above. He quietly babbled something, Luna smiled faintly and adjusted her position on the floor. She looked down at Altair, he’d wiggled one of his arms out of the blanket and was tugged softly on Luna’s mane with a look of curiosity across his face. The alicorn chuckled as her son stared at her mane, trying to figure it out as best he could, staring at the stars that lined her ethereal hair.

“That’s my mane, yes…” She said when Altair looked up at her, her voice quiet and her tone warm. “I bet you’re really curious about stars, huh? Of course you are…” Luna gestured with her hoof out the window, pointing to a very clear constellation. It was one that she had formed when she and Dominic had first started courting almost two years prior, depicting a human warrior in Roman Armor. “That one there? That’s ‘The Great Warrior’. I made that one just for your dad…” Altair looked at the very clear constellation with his babyish wonder. “I’ll make one for you and your mother soon… You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Altair only babbled quietly before yawning and relaxing into his bundle of blankets.

Luna lifted his blanket, and by extension him, with her magic. The mare walked him over to his crib and set him down, watching as he closed his eyes and drifted off to dreamland. As a baby, his dreams were relatively simple and Luna was glad to say so far in his month of life he had only had good ones. The mare turned to the bed and moved closer, then climbed in beside Dominic and pulled the covers up over herself. It was a peaceful night, there weren’t any nightmares she could sense within the dream realm, she hoped it would stay that way for the rest of the night. It was quiet and tranquil… For about three minutes. All three of them opened their eyes as Altair began crying again, before Luna could get up Dominic was already getting out of bed with a groan.

“You have that meeting tomorrow…” Luna said groggily, the man simply shook his head and approached the crib. She sighed and closed her eyes, listening to the man talking in a low tone to his son. The Imperator slipped on his robe and tied it closed before he lifted the crying Altair out of his crib and cradled him in his arms.

“Oh quit being such a baby…” Dominic said tiredly as he walked to the door of the room, hoping to carry Altair out of earshot of the already tired Maria and Luna. The guards standing outside the room looked over with a bit of sympathy as Dominic walked past them and closed the door, Altair was still crying loudly. “Come on, kiddo. What’s wrong?” Dominic asked rhetorically, Altair replied with a wail. “You don’t say…?” The Imperator quietly leaned against a nearby wall and rocked Altair back and forth, eventually he managed to get the boy to calm down a bit. “It’s okay, buddy… You’re okay. I’m okay. Everything’s okay.”

Altair slowed his crying and looked up at his father, Dominic couldn’t tell what had him so upset, but he supposed that babies just like crying in the middle of the night. The commander rocked his son back and forth and walked back into the bedroom, watching as his son closed his eyes once again. Dominic sighed quietly and placed the now sleeping baby back in his crib before walking to the bed and laying down tiredly, it didn’t take him long to fall asleep, and this time thankfully Altair didn’t find anything to his dissatisfaction.

The rest of the night passed peacefully and quietly, in the morning the three herd mates awoke and prepared for their various days. Maria was glad to be staying home with her son, it was nice to have that time to herself. The EOL and all of its followers had made ‘Housewife’ a dirty word, which was one of the reasons so many families were returning to that sort of family setup, to spite the enemy. As for Dominic, he had meetings with his generals regarding plans to invade and annex the Caribou Empire and their allies whenever their newest nemesis decided to attack.

Dominic had no qualms with the idea of annexation, on Earth before the fall every nation was too afraid to take what they wanted, relying more on diplomacy and never really getting anything done. Putin had been doing his best to guide Dominic through the tricky workings of Empire building, as was Luna. Luna knew how to handle problems internally, and she was doing just that, helping the Onorussian congress to come up with compromises whenever they needed them. That was the usual day that they each had, and each of them had come to enjoy it in one form or another.

Maria fed Altair as Dominic dressed himself in his usual uniform, his sword and handgun hanging from his belt. Luna had taken to wearing a sort of toga rather than her regalia, a purple sash signified her rank. Maria’s was back to wearing her usual casual clothing, leaning back in a chair in front of a window that overlooked Canterlot with Altair suckling from her breast. There was no real alternative, as formula wasn’t widely available or used, and Maria didn’t believe in using it anyway.

They said their goodbyes, and just like that Maria was left alone in the room with her son. She sighed for a brief moment, as much as she enjoyed having time to herself, she also enjoyed Dominic and Luna’s company.

“Guess it’s just you and me, squishy.” Maria said to Altair as she looked down at him with a smile, the baby looked up at her with curious eyes. “You get cuter every day, yes you do!” She booped him gently on the nose as he let go of her breast, causing him to giggle and fidget. She held him up a bit and gave him a raspberry right on his little baby tummy, causing him to giggle more before she pulled back. “You’re the cutest little boy that ever lived, you know? Even cuter than your old man.” Maria giggled as she wrapped Altair in his blanket. “Don’t tell him I called him old, okay?” Altair replied with a babble, Maria smiled and stood up with him in her arms. “Want to go for a walk around the castle? We can go watch the workers fixing the roof!”

Altair responded with a happy squeal, Maria knew he liked watching the people and ponies working to repair the damage from the war. It was finally being done now that Canterlot was pretty much rebuilt, and Altair had taken a shine to the crew of workers. Maria stood from the chair and adjusted her tank top with her free hand before she walked to the door and stepped out into the hallway, the guards standing beside the door snapped to attention as they usually did, but relaxed when they saw that Maria had Altair with her.

“Good morrow, Imperatrix Maria.” Said one of the guards, a man with a flair for medieval actions. Maria had learned he used to be a LARPer, and he was most likely living his dream as standing guard in a castle. The woman smiled back at him, and Altair babbled and tittered as he was one to do when he was happy. The other guard, a griffon female, gushed at the adorable child’s actions.

“Good morning, Imperatrix. And good morning to you too, nibblet!” The griffon said as she looked at the baby, of course Altair could only respond with his baby noises. Maria smiled at them both as she adjusted her grip on her son.

“Good morning, Clark. Good morning, Peregrine. We’re just going to see the workers this morning, after that I think we’ll take a walk through the market, in case anyone comes looking for us.” Maria explained, the two guards nodded and went back to their posts. “See you in a bit.” With that the woman began walking towards the sound of distant hammers, Altair seemed to pick up on the noise and began to babble excitedly. They passed numerous restored paintings on the wall, as well as a couple new ones. Maria noted one was of a thestral, it stood out against all the regular paintings because it was the only one to depict a thestral. The pony in question was depicted in a rather heroic position, Maria knew that it was a painting of Lieutenant Colonel Errant. She had heard plenty of stories from Dominic about the mare, and Maria was sad that she had been killed in the war with the Changelings.

Altair babbled again, picking up on his mother’s emotion through her body language, though he wasn’t really conscious of this because he was still a baby. Maria looked at him and straightened up as she walked further through the halls, it didn’t take them long to reach the workers that were putting up the new roof and clearing away the old debris. They had become accostumed to seeing the Imperatrix and her son in the morning, and many of them waved as she arrived. Maria couldn’t figure out why Altair enjoyed watching them move rubble so much, perhaps he was just curious about everything. Honestly, she hoped that was the case. Dominic had always devoted great passion to things that interested him, such as military history and strategy. If Altair had inherited that trait Maria knew that he could do anything.

They stood their quietly, and Maria enjoyed hearing the excited noises from her son. For half an hour they watched the work progress, listening to the workers shouting to each other from scaffolding. After a while Maria felt it was time to depart, and she waved happily before turning to walk away. Altair didn’t object, not that he could do much if he did, because he was a baby. Maria instead made her way back to her room where she set her son in his crib, only temporarily however, as she was dressing herself a bit more appropriately. The woman opted for her old Sniper’s cloak, it would help hide her face from the crowds. She didn’t like going out into the public, as she knew people would treat her differently because of her status.

With her disguised donned, she went back to the crib and gathered Altair, he tugged at her cloak as he usually did on their outings. Quietly the cloaked woman stepped out of her room once more, passing by her familiar guards and making her way through the winding hallways of Canterlot Castle. She passed more paintings and sculptures, some had been recovered from Earth, such as several Presidential portraits. Maria didn’t pay them much mind as she made her way to a back door, already there was a team of Lunar Marines in plain clothes waiting there. They knew the drill well enough, and she was glad to see they were just as ready as always. With a small purse of gold in her pocket, she and the marines began walking towards the local market.

The hustle and bustle of the city was a nice change of pace from the castle, which was usually almost as quiet as a monastery. In layman’s terms, it was a chance for Maria to relax and cut loose. Altair enjoyed the outings well enough, and Maria would be sure not to leave him out if she decided to make any interesting purchases.

[♠]

Dominic quietly sighed as he finished looking over the latest operational layout for a war with the Caribou and their allies that seemed innevitable. Dubbed War Plan Black, it accounted for the varying strategies that would be needed to take out the three allied nations of Saddle Arabia, Zebrica, and the Caribou Empire. The Zebras were a mainly agrarian society, and so wiping out the central government would be simple enough, with food supplements to keep the population in check. Of course there was a chance of uprising, but as far as Onorus was concerned they were throwing in with the enemy. For Saddle Arabia it would be a bit more simple, as they were more concerned with wealth than anything, and their military was notoriously corrupt. Enough money in the right places would give Onorus a corridor to their capital with minimal loss of life… And failing that, bombers would suffice to wipe out the ground based military units.

The Caribou were the real challenge, and Dominic likened them to the phanatical citizens of North Korea. That meant civilian casualties were likely to be high, but considering they were a slave keeping nation, that was not much of a concern to the Onorussian high command. Many would call them cruel, and to some extent that was true, but their orders were simple. Preserve Onorussian lives over those of Caribou. Dominic’s generals had proposed an aggressive strike on the nation’s ports and land trade routes, and to keep squeezing them until they capitulated or starved. To aid with these operations, the think tanks of the CIMC and Providentia had produced horrifyingly lethal fusions of human and Equestrian technology.

Dominic was most intrigued by the Onorussian’s first generation of battle suits, power armor using charged crystals as their source of energy, with Earth Made steel and kevlar being employed as armor over the crucial arcane components. There was also the new research being done in E-Mat Conversion, a process that could possibly permit the use of energy weapons in the Terran theatre. It was all very Sci-Fi, and Dominic liked it. A she stood in front of a table that projected a sort of holographic map of the Caribou Empire, he couldn’t help but feel like some sort of futuristic conqueror. The future was his for the taking, all he needed from the Caribou was a reason. In time he was certain he would have that reason, but for the moment he would bide his time and patiently wait for that day.

Author's Notes:

Here is another chapter for you lovely lovelies, I'm sorry it's so late, but I've been working on some stuff lately and it's been leaving me kinda tired. In a related note, here's a tip from your dear author, be careful when using any machine at the gym. I used too much weight, and my muscles in my arms hurt so much I have to type like a T-Rex. It's getting better though, nothing permanent. What's coming up next is a bit of a big time skip, just so you're aware of that.

Now, here's your clip of the day, because I friggen love Firefly, and I hope you do too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmU-Bmk4Wrk