The next day, I awoke first. I'm glad Mjolnir's comfortable enough to sleep in. Really helps out in treacherous territory. Regardless, I opened the Pelican's troop bay. Daylight greeted my Legendary visor.

I stepped outside, grabbed a couple of MREs from the crate/table and started checking the long-range sensors. So far nothing, though there was thousands of contacts very close to the planet's surface. I smacked the antenna. Nothing. I chalked it up to some sort of interference and went on my way.

There wasn't much to do since Pizza wasn't up yet. I sat and munched, listening to the birds chirp, the leaves rustle in the gentle breeze and twigs snap right behind me. Wait... what was that last part? I quickly slammed my helmet back on. Just in time, too.

*Twang* My shields barely flashed at all, just dropping a sliver. I spun around and drew the Mighty Magnum. I also knocked over the folding chair. Poor chair.

I couldn't see anything but foliage, luckily this is a Mark VI Gen2 helmet. I switched to VISR. Still nothing? Hold it, VISR only works with registered shapes. Maybe thermals? Bingo. Medium heat sig 35 meters to my front, in the foliage. *BAP* Running Riot! Really? It was still keeping count? Either way, kill confirmed!

I looked around as Pizza came out of the Pelican weapon at the ready. I found a broken arrow shaft on the ground. Looking back at the heat sig, I started to wonder just what I killed. Walking over, I found it to be another horse. This one, however, had a blue pastel coat to it. That's not normal. It also had a crossbow in its mouth.

Did a horse really just try to kill me with a crossbow in a forest? Not even the wackiest games of Clue can come up with that kind of a story! “Keep me covered,” I called to Pizza. I saw more saddlebags. Time to sift through them!

This one had a bunch of gold coins with what looked like this planet's sun on one side and its moon on the other. Each one was about the size of the challenge coin I had in one of my ammo pouches. I pocketed those coins just because they were neat. Next I pulled out some sort of purple chemical in an Erlenmeyer flask. Either its grape juice or deadly. As tempting as it is, I'll pass. I set it aside.

Ah! Another note. My sleuthing skills are coming in handy now!

Corporal Soup,
We've investigated the area where your platoon got wiped. They were all killed by the manticore there, but something else killed the manticore. We're not sure what. The forest was locked down since these things started encroaching South. What I need you to do is track down and, preferably, kill whatever took down that manticore. The damage done to the beast doesn't match any of Equestria's weapons, so stay frosty.
Happy hunting,
Captain Cupcake

“What's more odd to you: the fact that these orders look more like letters, or the fact both came from a man by the name of Cupcake?” I asked Pizza.

He laughed, “His name's Cupcake?”

I donned my stuck-up officer façade, “That's Captain Cupcake to you, Ensign.”

We shared a laugh together until it awkwardly died down. “Pizza, the odd thing is though... I got a confirmed kill on whoever shot at me with that crossbow. Here is only this itty bitty cavalry horse, with his tongue around the trigger. With this being a new world and all, these odd names, and that manticore... What if these horses are in fact the soldiers that got jumped way back there?”

“Joe, that's crazy...”

“As improbable as it is, it still has a non-zero chance of being true, and in all likelihood, is. I'd put my money on it.”

“And you would lose it just as fast, plus you already bet on Innies.”

“Just think of it as splitting.”

“That's not fair!”

“It's what you did...”

“True, but this one is with... more evidence! Yeah, that's it!”

“Is card counting any different?”

That shut him up. I decided to have Pizza stay behind and guard the LZ as I went North to investigate the manticore area. It seemed rather fast to have an assassin after me the morning of the next day.

When I got to the road I turned around to make sure the beacon was working. Bingo! Blue triangle, 12 o'clock. Pizza was out of range for what his armor could do, but the Pelican had more juice. I turned to head East along the route from yesterday. I started up another recording.

“This is Joe. Birds have been confirmed. Repeat, birds have been confirmed.” ...What? I didn't have anything else solid to report in.

I finally found the area of the manticore attack. I made sure my BR was chambered. The first thing that I noticed was the lack of bodies. Everything had been moved overnight. The blood remained, though. I heard voices, one man talking to another, also a man. I started the recording and made my way behind some trees. “Surveillance,” I whispered into my mic.

“...As I've been telling you, this is unlike anything I've ever seen before!” The first one spoke.

“Many thing's you've never seen before. What makes it so that this is one I should be aware of?” the gruff, second voice responded.

“Well, this happened to have taken out the manticore even after your platoon couldn't even scratch it.”

“I already know that something else killed the manticore, and I've already sent my best tracker after it. He should be back soon.” Apparently this second voice was Captain Cupcake.

“No! Captain, what I mean to say is that it isn't who killed the manticore, but what. You see, what killed this manticore was a weapon the likes of which we've never seen before! And I think I know how it works.”

“Then how does it, Keen Eye?” The Captain sounded grumpy. Probably because his platoon was dead, or that “Keen Eye” was obnoxious, either way, couldn't blame him.

“High velocity, minute projectiles. They must travel at extreme speeds to do such damage.”

“Clearly, because tearing off half of a manticore's face is not an easy, delicate job.” Okay, curiosity got the best of me. Time to peek around the corner.

Wow. In blue dress attire was a hulking horse. If Arnold Schwarzenegger was a horse, this would be that on steroids... after Spartan training. Even if he was a man, I wouldn't want to fight him, and I'm the supersoldier!

The other horse was scrawny, and in a white lab coat. The two both had white (fur) coats. Cupcake had a brown tail, but his mane was concealed by his uniform. The lab tech, Keen Eye, had thinning, grey hair for his mane and tail. His mane was in a two-credit comb-over.

The third horse in the group was wearing all black. He had similar gold armor to the cavaliers and Cpl Soup. He held a sword in his mouth. From ancient studies, it looked like a roman gladius.

I'll just assume he's the Captain's bodyguard.

The lab tech pointed right at me, and I ducked back behind the tree. “You see! This here could have only been done by said projectile. I believe you should have someone try to pull the projectiles out of the manticore, it would really help me devise a weapon that can use such projectiles.”

I let out a held breath. Apparently he was only pointing at the tree one of my ricochets had hit, not me. Good. The Captain spoke, “I've already ordered the manticore incinerated, but you'd be more than welcome to sift through the ashes. I would try to find a reference in that spot on the tree, if I were you.”

I heard two sets of footsteps leave (or is it hoofsteps?). That left me and the egghead. Great.

I spun around the tree, grabbing the lab tech around the neck. I sidestepped behind him and continued my spin, bringing both of us down to our sides. He tried what he could with his hooves to try to dislodge my grip, but he clearly wasn't military. He tried bucking me with his hind legs, until I wrapped my own around his gut, securing his position. The shear weight of Mjolnir would keep him down.

His struggles lessened, and then ceased. I let go and rolled back onto my feet. Figuring it best to bring him with me, I slung my BR, scooped him up in my left arm, and kept my magnum drawn with my right. It was just like CTF.

I brought him back to the LZ, Pizza was manning the fifty. “Friendly plus one coming in,” I radioed.

“Who's the plus one?”

“A prisoner.”

“Why is he a horse?”

“I won the bet.”

“Really?”

I hit play on my surveillance recording. “This was between Captain Cupcake and our friend here, Keen Eye. Let's get him tied up before he comes to. I don't want him running for help AND screaming.”

I kept my BR on Keen Eye as Pizza went to grab some rope. This was going to be an interesting day indeed. Pizza tied him to a tree on our perimeter as I sat down to finish my breakfast. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing!

Once I finished, Pizza and I swapped places, me getting the fifty, Pizza getting some chow. As I kept the HMG trained on the perimeter, I heard some groaning from my six. “Pizza, you've got the gun.” I left the HMG and turned to greet our POW.

He seemed to be shocked to find himself tied up and even more so to see me. I depolarized my visor to talk to him face to face.

He spoke first, “You... what are you?”

“That's beside the point. I'd like you to know that no harm will befall you without provocation.”

“Oh, you're in some big trouble now! Cupcake will come looking for me... and he already has a tracker after you! One of the best!”

“That tracker wouldn't happen to be named Cpl Soup, now would he?”

“How did you...?”

I just pointed the busted arrow shaft at him, “...without provocation,” I repeated

“What?.. You killed him!”

“He shot first. Beamed me in the back of the head, too. Glad I had my helmet on. Anyways, is it normal for the Captain to put a hit out on someone, or is it just that I'm special?”

“He's afraid... I think. If he is, he's doing a good job of hiding it. I think he doesn't like having someone with superior firepower out and about.”

“Ah, then we've got ourselves a modern Napoleon.”

“Who?”

“Not important... Now tell me, is the hit KOS or was it just Soup?”

“KOS?”

“Oh, you’re definitely not military. Kill On Sight, KOS.”

“No, I think he wanted to keep it on the down-low. Why do you ask?”

“Because you're going to introduce me to him.”

Both Pizza and Keen Eye responded in tandem, “What?”, with Pizza spitting crumbs over the HMG.

“Oh, yes! And, Pizza, you're gonna have to clean that up.”

I was surprised my little prisoner didn't run away or lead me on a goose chase when I let him go. Maybe he was trying just to be friendly? It would be desirable for first contact. He took me right up to what looked like a temporary military camp. There were tents everywhere, but it didn't seem like there were any permanent structures. Maybe the manticore problem was a recent development?

He walked me right up to what seemed to be the command tent, judging by the bodyguards out front, one of whom was familiar. I also took notice that most of the men here seemed either scared or in awe of my presence. I might be able to use that. Keen Eye said, “He's with me,” and the guards nervously let me through. Seeing as most of the troops here didn't pass my gut in stature, I guess it is only natural for me to stoop down to a crouch to enter the tent. Man, these horses were tiny!

Cupcake dropped his jaw seeing me. Either that, or at seeing my BR in hand. “What in Tartarus is this thing?!” he belted at Keen Eye.

“I killed the manticore... and your little hitman,” I told him.

“What?”

“You sent Cpl Soup to kill me. He fired, I survived. I fired back, he didn't.”

“You killed one of my men?!”

“In self defense, Captain. Right now I was wondering if we should work through the basics of first contact, or-”

“I'll show you first contact!” He drew a dagger and lunged at me.

Too close for my BR, and too fast for me to draw my knife, I rolled back. I put my boot under his gut and pushed, then completed my roll and 180'd. I launched him out of the tent and I rolled outside, myself.

The guards, seeing the tussle, unsheathed their swords. They were out matched, it would be a slaughter. “Attack!” Cupcake yelled at the guards and troops, pointing a hoof at me. Looks like there was no peaceful way to do this. Why must first contacts always go so wrong? First Harvest, then Requiem, and now here! Wherever “here” may be...

I drew my magnum with my left hand, bearing it down on the guard to my right. I turned to face him. *BAP* I then mule kicked the guard behind me in the face with my right boot. There was a resounding crunch. Double Kill!

I only let my foot tap the ground before I brought up my right knee as I used my Thruster Pack to boost left, smashing the Captain in the face, before he could close the distance for a knife kill. His face made a similar crunch sound.

I dual wielded my BR in my right hand, magnum left, sweeping for targets. A soldier charged me with his shield, possibly trying to draw my fire. I fired my BR straight through the shield, killing him. Triple Kill!
Two more, nine o'clock. *BAP* *BAP* Overkill! Killtacular! Rampage!
The other guards seemed to hesitate. Maybe I could use their rattled nerves? I let out a scream that seemed to come from the Devil himself, and I amplified it using Mjolnir's sound systems. Not quite a studio, but close enough for barking orders. They scattered like rats from a sinking ship. Looks like I won this round.

I turned to see Keen Eye still stunned, jaw dropped, clearly on the verge of a breakdown. “I'll best be going... I really hope this doesn't happen again.” I left without waiting for his response. I faced no resistance on my trek back to the Pelican, they were probably still counting their losses and trying to get over it.

“Hey, Joe. How'd it go?”

“I killed five of them. So, not good.”

“They'll probably be after us, now, you know that.”

“Yeah, but their Captain wasn't the most talkative. I probably shouldn't have greeted him with 'I killed your Corporal', huh?”

“Ya think?”

“Just keep the gun up. They'll be here eventually.”

I walked up to the long range scanner. Still nothing... wait. Those near-planetary contacts. Some of them are moving near here. Is it still a glitch, or could they have air support? Seeing as they have medieval cutlery, I'll say it's the glitch.

I started another recording, “This is Joe. Turns out there is a sentient, native race to this planet. Their military seems to be equivalent to that of the 20th century, but their weapons and armor look like a bundle between medieval and ancient roman. First contact did not go as planned, we killed them in self defense, but they seem to have taken it as outright murder. We'll stay put to try and track 'Mdama's fleet, continue our original mission. We should be able to hold the line at our LZ. This is Joe, signing out.”

“More science reports?” Pizza asked.

“You know those egghead types, yes. I think we'd best start condition two watches, at least until the heat dies down.”

“You know I hate condition two-”

“Stow your belly-aching, you're a Spartan. We're both being hunted here, and I have a feeling they'll try to take our heads and leave the rest for those... manticore things.”

“Alright, let's sync watches. You deal for first watch.”

“Alright.”

Timers synced, I dealt first. He got Ten, Nine; I got a Five. He stood. Flip, and it's a Seven. Hit. Six, I'm forced to stand at 18, he wins at 19. Looks like I got first watch. Just when it started raining, too.

Pizza went and chowed down some early lunch as I stood watch for four hours.

Two later, Pizza joined me, starting his watch. Two more, and I went to gobble another MRE and then hit the hay extra early. Two more hours and I went to relieve Pizza.

“You know, this kind of watch is meant for three shifts, not two.”

“Well, since when did we play precisely by the book?”

“Good point.” He went back into the Pelican for some sleep. I stayed at the fifty, the auto-turret covering my ass. Two more hours of nothing.

It went on like that for several shifts, the rain coming on and off periodically. Eventually, when Pizza was on the last two hours of his watch, I was having trouble sleeping in this dead of night. “I'll take the 'Hog out for a spin, try to clear my head. I'll be back for my shift, so stay put.”

“Will do.”

I hopped in and the engine growled in its oddly high-pitched tone. Not exactly a muscular-sounding vehicle, but it made that growl intimidating through sheer reputation. I headed East, along my path earlier that would take me to the lake.

I nearly reached the edge of the lake when the Warthog got bogged down in the mud. This normally doesn't happen. I got out to see if I could excavate the tires. Ah, Hell, the 'Hog was tusk-deep in the mud. I headed back to see if the Mantis could pull the Warthog out.

About 100 meters on my early return trip, some red blips popped up on my motion sensor. I halted, took cover by a tree and looked around. I wasn't seeing anything. I checked my motion sensor again. Oh, shit! They're above me!

*Twang* Shields dropped a sliver, I aimed skyward. What the Hell? These horses had bat wings! As cool as that was, NOT FAIR! Their armor was also a dusky purple color, not the gold from the others. I scoped in and fired. *BAM BAM BAM* I also noticed these troops had slit eyes, like those of a cat. Unique.

Another, behind me *BAM BAM BAM* no longer behind me. Double Kill! Great, this guy's still counting! *Twang* *Twang* *Twang* *Twang* Now that they were starting to fire en masse, my shields were starting to crumble. Time to really put up a fight! *BAM BAM BAM* *BAM BAM BAM* *BAM BAM BAM* All body shots, one dropped. No triple kill? Oh, well. *BAM BAM BAM* *BAM BAM BAM* Double Kill! Triple Kill! There it is! Untouchable! Ooh, a bonus!

*woosh* I turned to face this one. He had landed behind me, brandishing a war axe. He swung downward, I thrusted to the side and drew my own blade. I tackled him to the ground, then sitting atop him, I plunged the blade into his skull, hilt deep. Assassination! Withdrawing the blade, I drew my magnum. *BAM* Double Kill! Another one down.

My motion sensor was all red. Time to dual wield, same as before. *WAKRASH* My shields flashed red. My vitals started fading. I looked down. A fucking spear went straight through my gut on the right side. Like I needed that kidney, anyway. I looked up and saw the... the airborne ballista?! It was towed by two of these bat pony things.

Boy, was I loopy. At least it seemed they stopped shooting me. Oh, look, my BR and magnum are in the mud. That's no way how to treat a weapon! Give it some respect! Oh, and there is this spear running through me. Let's use it!

I raised my right arm and smashed my forearm through the spear's shaft, my other hand holding it steady, so as to not make it worse. Time seemed to slow. Ha, how funny! I reached around back and pulled the rest of the shaft through me. It tickled a little. Now the bat ponies' jaws dropped at seeing this, even the ballista team slowed. Wow, they even had fangs! That's so cool!

Spinning the busted spear around, I chucked it at the ballista team. Through one and into the other. Double Kill! Now that was a cool voice. A blackness slowly crept into my vision. Ok, sleepy time now.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

“I highly doubt you sustained such an injury. I also doubt that the sentient life on this planet just so happened to be candy colored horses.”

“Admiral, do you want me to tell you what happened or not?”

“I suggest you hear him out, Admiral.”

“Very well, continue.”