The trailing hours of the day turned out to be some of the hardest physically in Flitters entire life. Returning from work, she found Jack waiting for her. Flitters ears flattened against her skull as she caught sight of his visage. Jack had painted his face with some kind of paint, rendering it the same colour as the surrounding forest. He wore only his fatigues, and he had not pulled on his exo-skeleton. Despite the paint, his features looked oddly drawn; his eyes having sunken into bruised hollows within his skull. His teeth glowed white against the darkness.

/Ready?/

Flitter swallowed nervously and nodded. She immediately regretted it. Jack grinned even broader, and waved her to follow in his wake as he walked. Galloping to catch up to Jacks whirring strides; Flitters mind drifted.

I wonder what we’re going to do… How do humans even get tough? I hope he doesn’t chase me with the stick again… I-

Flitters train of thought ground to a halt as ran face-first into Jacks rear. The human turned and shot her a disapproving look that forced her ears to fold against the side of her head again.

/Listen up Flitter. You want to be tough? I’ll make you tough./ Jack ran a hand through his hair and scratched his stubbly beard. /It’s going to hurt. Are you sure you want to go through with this?/

The flat out truth surprised the mare, but she quickly squashed the feeling. “Yes. I want this.” She smiled. “I’m ready!”

The corners of Jacks drawn mouth jerked upwards for a moment. /Well then, welcome to Camp Kessle, where the weather sucks and life is hell./ He pointed at a rough trail that winded off into the bushes. /Run./

_____________________________

Hours later, after Jack had sent the battered and bruised Flitter home with a nod of approval, he pulled off his sweat soaked shirt and laid down on his cot. Once his eyes closed, he began a journey that he knew all too well.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The MRAP lurched slowly side to side as it trundled across the desert sand. The oppressive heat blared through; slowly cooking the soldiers within the vehicles protected compartment. One particularly violent dip in the road awoke Jack as his kevlar helmet bounced off the steel roll bars. Jolting up in surprise, he looked around to try and discover what had interrupted his nap. PFC Krammer smirked at him as he stretched out on the opposite bench. “Well well well! Look who finally decided to wake up from his beauty sleep! Welcome back Jackie boy.” Krammer chuckled as Jack blinked, and rubbed his sleep filled eyes. The burly Kansas boy turned his head towards the front of the vehicle. “Hey Sarge! I hear we got bucked for detail on Mars! What gives?”

A snarl of an answer sounded from the front. “High Command decided that the cancer that is your ass shouldn’t be allowed off earth! Besides, not like the desert there is any fuckin different.” The sound of the familiar, jovial attitude of his squadmates put the still half asleep demolitions expert at ease.

Sitting up with a deep yawn, Jack rubbed his eyes again and looked around. “Are we there yet?” He asked loudly so he could be heard over the sound of the crackling radio with it’s blown speakers and bombastic rock music.

“Nearly, why don’t you take a cat-nap there, Sleeping Beauty!” Somebody Jack couldn’t see called out from near the front of the vehicle.

Erecting his middle finger at his squadmate, Jack sat back and stared at the bouncing ceiling of the vehicle. Various bags and boxes rocked back and forth against the netting that held them back. Looking back down, his eyes passed over a strangely pale young woman with vibrant blue hair. At a glance, she seemed to be wearing an untarnished ballgown that was such a deep blue it was almost black. She seemed to be staring intently at him; her mouth was moving as if she were saying something to him. Blinking in surprise, Jack furrowed his brow and leaned forward. After blinking, he found himself staring at Corporal Helsy. The small woman in dirty camo fatigues grinned, and held out a half empty water bottle. Realizing her intent, Jack took the bottle, and nodded his thanks before knocking back the tepid water.

He nearly spat it out. The water tasted like heavy copper; almost like blood. Looking back down at it, he found plain, clean water. Jack sighed weakly, and rubbed his eyes again. “I feel like I’m going crazy.”

His quiet self proclamation was lost unto itself as the armoured vehicle slid to a stop and the driver blared the horn. “Alright fuckheads! Evaaaryboody out!” The back door glided out on its well greased pneumatic arms, and a small step ladder was slid out by Krammer. The six man squad piled out without much hurry; their gear bouncing back and forth as they pulled themselves from the cramped confinement of the MRAP. As usual, Krammer started complaining the moment he was in the sun.

“Man, I can’t believe we lost out to the Two Oh Fourth for serving on the UDE Dauntless. And then Mars! What do we get instead?” Krammer lifted his arms and gestured at the oppressive desert. “The fucking sandbox. We should just glass this place and be done with it.”

Jack pulled his tan ballcap down over his eyebrows in a feeble attempt to shield his sunglassed eyes from the belligerent sun. It felt like his body was on autopilot as his boots dug into the soft dirt and sand; his reaction to Krammer’s bitching was just as automatic. “Shut the fuck up Krammer.” His feet were already sweating as he set off in a plodding course over to the small army patrol that sat sheltered from the suns rays behind some old ruined building. The army Sergeant stood stock straight as he chewed the fat with Gunnery Sergeant Simmons. After a moment, the sergeant waved Jack over. As he complied, Jack spied Helsy poking at the MRAP with her boot, and looking around the area with vested interest..

Her hair is very blue today…

The thought was foggy, and soon forgotten as he came to a stop in front of the pair of noncoms.

“Staff Sergeant Kessle here is our EOD tag-along, he'll clear out this little problem of yours. Just tell him what you told me, and get your boys to keep a fucking eye open.” Gunnery Sergeant Simmons idly fingered his long range sabot rifle as he glanced over at Jack. He blinked three times whenever he started a new sentence. He would blink four times when pissed off.

The army sergeant simply nodded, and placed a gloved hand over Jack’s shoulder to lead him off. The sergeant started talking about how they’d found the IED and called it in, but Jack couldn’t quite make out the words. It felt like he'd heard it all before, time after time after time.

Feels like I’m thinking through cotton… fuck.

Jack rubbed his eyes again in a poor attempt to clear his head. Unfortunately, the sergeant had apparently finished his explanation of the situation. Clapping Jack on the shoulder again, he grinned. “Good luck. We’ll watch for trouble makers.” As the sergeant sauntered off, Jack felt lost. With the sun cooking his head, and the taste of the coppery water still lingering in his mouth; Jack was slow to respond. With what felt like great effort, he plodded back over to the MRAP. Lightly kicking open a large green case, he started pulling the painfully heavy bomb suit over his uniformed body. To his surprise, Corporal Helsy walked over and started helping him pull on the armoured suit, albeit with unskilled fingers. The visor of the mammoth helmet flipped closed; leaving him with a flash of Helsy as the pale girl in the blue dress again. Helsy stared at him intently and with great interest. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She frowned, and touched her throat, her eyes breaking contact with Jack’s.

Not taking the time to wonder about the strange happenings that were fluttering around before his eyes, Jack picked up his toolkit and started his long walk towards the supposed IED. Helsy followed along, even though she wasn’t allowed. Furrowing his brow with annoyance, Jack made a deliberate motion with his hand to try and shoo her off. After one motion he gave up; his eyes met hers through the thick protective visor of his suit. It felt appropriate that she follow him to his destination.

Silently thanking the lab-techs for the built in cooling fans and chilly liquid tubes inside his suit, Jack sank down to his knees in the boiling, disturbed earth. With a gloved hand, he gently brushed aside some of the dirt until his fingers tapped up against a large metal cylinder. Helsy watched him work intently over his shoulder, her eyes following his deft movements as he uncovered the large trap.

“Shit. One twenty fiver's. three of them…” Jack hummed to himself as he looked the crude bomb over. Several mismatched wires were protruding from the detonator caps of the tank shells. “That’d be ten point two kilos…” Chewing the inside of his cheek, Jack brushed off more sand.

His heart skipped a beat, and his breath hitched in his throat as he stared down at the detonator. It was armed, and ready to receive signal. Several blocks of C4 laid around it, with the shells arranged around them. Before he could move to disarm it, a painfully familiar whip-crack echoed through the air, and somebody yelled for cover. A lightning fast projectile slapped against his heavily armoured torso, but didn’t come close to penetrating. Cursing loudly, Jack flattened himself out, and started fumbling with his toolbox. Helsy laid prone next to him, her vibrant blue hair spilling out from under her helmet. Dirt kicked up around them as angry lead wasps filled the air over and around them. The sonic howl of incoming iron spikes punctuated the air as well, filling his heart with dread as the echo of the Spiker rifle’s call sounded out on the wind. Insurgent forces usually waved around painfully outdated fudd guns, not bleeding edge tech. Finally yarding out a pair of well worn side-cutters, Jack ripped off the detonators faceplate.

“JACK! Get to cover!”

Taking the moment to look over, he watched with muted horror as Krammer was hit by a four round burst from a Spiker rifle; the six inch long iron spikes blasting through his armour and body as they stitched upwards, the last round smacking him between the eyes. Krammer’s head split in half like an overripe melon; his eyes blown from their sockets by the concussive force of the round. Bits of grey matter and bright red blood splashed across the desert floor as Krammer slumped; his body pinned to the side of the MRAP. Helsy laid next to Jack, her eyes wide with terror and confusion. Her own spiker rifle laid in the sand, untouched and unfired. The pairs eyes met, and a strange, electric feeling passed between them. Jack started laughing nearly hysterically as he stared at her; the woman’s eyes went even wider with worry as he did.

“Your dress is going to get ruined!” He started cackling madly as she stared at him and bullets and spikes ripped up the ground and his squadmates. He could hear the army gunny yelling for them to fall back, and he felt his arms pushing him up despite him having not told them to. His legs started pumping, pushing his lead laden legs through the sand. The glance back at the bomb and Helsy felt like it was in slow motion; just as Jack made eye contact with Helsy, the little red light turned green, and his entire world went white.

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP

Jack bolted upright with a stilted gasp; his heart beat steadily and heavily against his ribs in a nearly successful attempt to jump out of his chest. He groaned loudly as he sat back against his bed, which he’d fallen out of. Wiping his hand across his sweat covered forehead, Jack glanced down at his PDA.

4:37am

Jack grunted disapprovingly. This isn’t when my alarm is supposed to go off. He swiped the lock, and found himself staring at the map. Three red blips were slowly entering his territory. Jack cursed, and bolted upright; his earlier confusion and fog washed away under the succulent feeling of adrenaline. Pulling his exo-skeleton on and tossing his sweater over top; Jack grabbed his laser rifle, and pulled his balaclava over his face. His boots rapped off the rocks as he swiftly exited the cave.

The chilly winter air met him immediately as he crossed past the insulated tarp. He felt goosebumps rising against his clothes, but he paid them no heed. A quick glance at his PDA sent him east, through the lighter brush. The darkness would have completely consumed him, had he not brought his night vision goggles. The dreary green overlapped everything, making it possible for him to see more than a foot beyond his face. Slowing his advance as the blips grew closer, Jack kneeled down next to a large tree. His PDA vibrated several times again, and he felt his heart sink as he watched another eight blips enter his detection radius. Silencing his PDA; he slowly pressed through the brush and bush. With his rifle muzzle up, Jack waited for his targets to enter his field of fire.

As the first off green form entered his ironsights; Jack’s trigger finger slid slowly into the trigger guard. He slowly started to depress the trigger as he lined up the shot with the center of the target. Just before lancing the target down, he paused, and watched. Squinting against the green tinted darkness, Jack could now tell that the target was a short woman. A human. The woman cautiously treaded over the forest floor with bare feet. It didn’t take long for Jack to realize that she was completely naked. As Jack pulled his finger out of the trigger guard, the small woman chirped musically, and another six figures followed along behind her.

That’s… five female, four male, all mid twenties early thirties, all naked. One smaller male, probably fourteeen if I’m any guess… Now, where’s number eleven?

Jack panned his vision around, trying to spot the eleventh mark that had entered his territory. As he did so, the group took shelter under a massive fallen tree. Before he could question their reasoning, the sky split open, and rain started pouring down in a steady torrent. Huffing in annoyance, Jack rolled his shoulders in a weak attempt at trying to keep the rain from pouring down his neck. Despite his best efforts, the rain made it in. Casting a disheveled look at the huddled humans, Jack found his vision taken up by a wall of muscle.

What.

Pulling back, Jack couldn’t help but stare at the massive mammoth of a man who was standing before the huddled group. He snipped and snarled at them, before grabbing one of the skinny males by the scruff of the neck. The larger male tossed the smaller one out of the small alcove, all while making guttural noises. The smaller male chirped weakly, and slunk off into the woods.

So that’s the Alpha…. Big fucker.

Chewing the inside of his cheek, Jack slowly pulled away from the group of humans. As he silently walked back to his warm, dry cave; he cast glances over both his shoulders as he went.

Not alone anymore… Could get interesting… bad bad bad.

A shiver passed through his body, causing his exo-skeleton to clatter quietly

Stupid thing, shut the fuck up. shut up shut up!

He scratched at the connectors where the exo plugged into his body. A fiery itch was beginning to spread from them. Biting the inside of his cheek until the taste of bitter copper slowly filled his mouth; Jack trekked back home. The rain was swiftly becoming relentless; beating down upon his irritated form. To keep his mind off of the incessant itching in his flesh, Jack forced his thoughts to the feral humans.

Who are they? Are they smart? Escaped slaves? Questions. Need answers. Maybe Flitter? Flitter would know better. Should watch, be careful. Should scratch itch. NO. Should not scratch the itch.

The tarpaulin covering his caves entrance whipped loudly as he pulled it against the heaving winds; it’s flapping was only silenced when Jack pinned it closed against the wooden palisade. Now soaked to the bone and sodden; Jack plodded into his cave and started stripping down, before rekindling his fire. laying his soaked clothes out on some select rocks and his sitting log, Jack laid back on his bed. His eyes sagged slightly, before jerking back open.

NO. No, nonono… Don’t want to see Krammer. Don’t want to see Helsy. Helsy…

A worried giggle escaped his lips as flashes of his dream surfaced. Not much remained, other than what he already knew by heart, and a midnight blue ballgown covered in sand and blood. Jacks eyes fluttered again, and he squeezed them shut as he silently prayed.

God… please, don’t let me dream again… please.

__________________________________________________________

Jack awoke with a start, having just placed his head down on his abused pillow. His alarm was chirping quietly, marking it as his normal time to rise. A quiet groan escaped him as he sat up; his bleary eyes failing to focus immediately. His stomach churned violently, and was swiftly accompanied by intense withdrawal cramps. Jack clutched his sides and forced the pain back down until the cramps were a simple throb inside his abdomen; they were swiftly ignored in favour of a simple breakfast.

Don’t have much food left. Should try and fix that problem.

Rubbing his eyes in an attempt to clear away his morning funk; Jack plopped down onto his log. The cooking food smelled heavenly, despite being mostly vegan. His stomach growled angrily in need, despite it’s earlier agonies. A curious glance down at his local map confirmed one single thought.

They haven’t moved. Odd. I’ll have to check on them.

The smell filling the cave swiftly filled his nostrils, and fueled his stomach’s want for sustenance. Leaning forward, Jack pulled his small pan off the fire and brought out his mess kit fork. The small breakfast was swallowed without much thought or care for taste. For a moment, Jacks stomach was silent. Then without warning, it lurched violently, throwing him to his knees. Bile rose in the back of this throat, threatening Jacks cave floor with his breakfast. Rising with wobbly urgency, Jack barely managed to stumble out past the tarp before his stomach rebelled, and his breakfast hit the forest floor.

Jack remained on his hands and knees as long as he could, before being forced down onto his side as his body was wracked by lancing pain that threatened to rip him apart. His heart beat like a trip-hammer as he writhed and shook on the forest floor; the last of his breakfast and bitter stomach bile coming out with a wheezy cough. The pain was too much; it ripped into his muscles and tore at the bioconnectors for his exoskeleton, it threatened to kill him dead, and leave him to rot on the forest floor.

Rage and pain built up, and burst through his mind. Jack reared up on his haunches and howled in anguish; his cry echoing through the forest and surrounding hills. Startled birds fled from the trees, and numerous ponies close to the forest rethought entering it that day. Jack shook violently, his body shivering from the exertion. Slowly, his lips twitched upwards into a crazed grin. A quiet giggle escaped his lips as he forced himself back to his feet. His prosthetic legs refused to shake, and carried him back to his cave without a single issue. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Jack started throwing on his clothes; the heavy exoskeleton lifted itself up and slammed into place on his body. His rifle practically shouldered itself, and several spare magazines found themselves inside his chest rig. Acting on autopilot, everything seemed as if it was being done by someone else; Jack’s mind was far detached from the movements of his body.

With a jerky start, Jack set off into the brush, towards the dots that occupied a tiny section of his local map. His lunatic grin died, and his eyes narrowed and started scanning the forest.

Purpose. I have purpose. I want this.

He repeated his mantra over, and over again inside his head until the searing pain crept away in fear. He repeated it again as he crushed brush and scrub under boot. His Exoskeleton whirred and clicked in tandem with his legs; his trigger finger played across his rifles trigger guard. It was a silent threat to any who could understand it.

Author's Notes:

Oh god. This chapter. This chapter has been smited more times than I care to even count. I apologize for it's shortness, but it's more of a gateway to the next chapter I have 'planned', which I hope will be bigger. Anyways, things are getting interesting with the incursion of wild humans into Jacks land. They've brought an unseen friend as well.