Ponyville, Library

“Alright everypony, I got you girls here because I’m concerned with the strange emotions floating around, literally by the way,” Twilight said. Twilight was on the first floor of the Library, her friends all there with her. Each had a look on their face that said what they thought about the meeting.

Rainbow Dash, a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane, had a look that showed her annoyance with the topic. Applejack shared the same look Fluttershy, a butter colored Pegasus with a pink mane, had, which was one of concern. Rarity, a white unicorn with a styled purple mane, had a look of light worry on her face. Pinkie Pie, a pink earth pony with a darker pink mane, looked as she always did. Twilight had a look that spoke her worry about it in volumes.

Rainbow spoke up first, “Why do we even care about it, Applejack and her family are fine and so is Fluttershy. Our crisis has already been diverted so why should we care anymore?” All five ponies gave her a look that told her that her words weren’t appreciated.

Rarity gave her input next, “Twilight darling, I do believe that this strange thing is cause for worry for everypony, but what exactly can we do? It’s not like we know what’s causing it, and so we can’t do anything about it.” Twilight nodded at her friend’s statement and adopted a look of concentration.

Her reply was, “Well, we may not be able to get rid of it, but we can try and keep ponies away from the places that seem to be afflicted with this strange anomaly. So why don’t we try and keep tabs on those places and try to keep ponies from entering the premises.” Twilight looked rather proud of her plan, and the rest of the mares present looked like they were thinking, well except Pinkie, she just stopped moving which was her equivalent of thinking.

“Well ah think that it’s worth a try Twi, but how do we keep track of them places all th time. I can keep track o th acres, but what about th other places that seem ta be gettin strange?” Applejack voiced.

“Well we all move around a lot on a daily basis, so I thought that I could compile a list of places that are affected, and we can check them if we go near one. How does that sound?” Twilight asked them.

“That should work well enough, I mean, I go around the entire town at least once a day so I shouldn’t have a problem with that. So just pass off one of those lists next time we meet, I gotta go and do my weather duty,” Rainbow said. Shortly after she practically flew out of the Library, forgetting to close the door when she was out of the Library.

Twilight shook her head slightly and shut the door with her magic. After that she looked back to her other friends with a look that asked, is the plan good? The remaining mares each gave an affirmative, and went about leaving, except for Fluttershy and Applejack.

They had been living with Twilight for the duration of time that their homes were affected, and the feelings hadn’t left yet, so they would remain with Twilight. After that, the three went about what they do almost every day. Applejack went to go and do same chores around the Library, Fluttershy settled on reading a book, and Twilight was organizing a group of shelves yet again.

Every once in a while they would speak to each other, talking about things that had to do with the tasks they currently preformed. Applejack asking about what she should do with some things that she was arranging upstairs for her and Fluttershy, Twilight saying how long she would be, and Fluttershy asking about snippets of the book she didn’t fully understand.

All in all, they were acting as if they had lived together for their whole lives. What they didn’t know however that a stranger anomaly was growing within the Everfree forest.

Everfree Forest, unknown location

The place in which the emotions originated, it was filled with overpowering energy. And all that energy coalesced into one spot. In that spot was a swirling mass of different colored energy.

It seemed to be a portal of sorts, but what kind was not known, or it wasn’t a portal at all which was very possible. All that any would be able to tell if they found it, was that it was made of very powerful magic, magic that if uncontained, could cause problems if not kept in check. It wasn’t natural in a way.

It felt different than any normal portal; it gave off a presence instead of anything related to magic. Its mere existence was a mystery, and yet, it was probably the most frightening thing in the area, that fact wasn’t surprising though. All creatures steered clear of the area as though it was on fire.

The truth of that fact though, was that they felt the presence in a different sense than a pony would. They felt the good and evil mashed together in an incompatible mix. The portal was just the result of the violent clash.

It defied natural balance, casting out random spouts of energy that healed or destroyed the nature around it. The direct area itself had the color slowly bleed out over time, resulting in the colors being muted shades. That alone told any and all that the portal had a very malevolent presence.

It was only a matter of time before the portal showed its true meaning, a meaning that absolutely nothing would ever know, until it was nearly too late.

Aremia, country side, town: Carsen

Zero’s blood was boiling at the sight he was seeing. His team could see it clearly, all because of the red lines trying to come past his wrists; his runes prevented that progression though. Although the downside to the lines being trapped on his hands, meant that anything he would do would gain a large power boost. Zero only got more pissed off though as he couldn’t keep his emotions in check.

They were approaching the main building of operation, which was just a large shot out, but intact, office building. This section of the country side was cleared of the Alespid threat prior to the team’s arrival. Good thing to, because if Zero had been a part of the clean up, there would be a lot more to clean up.

The town was in shambles, buildings still in the process of collapsing, and tents with injured people everywhere. It was a horrid sight, and one of the twins had to throw up from the sight of a man with his intestines spilled at his sides. Zero only got angrier, meaning that the lines burned brighter casting off a visible red glow.

Still, the team parked the two vehicles they took and proceeded to the inside of the building. Once inside they all had the urge, Zero still shaking with rage included, had the serious urge to face-palm. People were literally tripping over each other in their hurry to carry out orders that were most likely inconsequential.

So they had their two strongest teammates take up the front to help push people out of the way, those people being Cassen and Zero. Good thing to because more than once did a Private slam into one or the other in their rush. Cassen laughed and Zero shook his head every time, but never once did they slow the brisk pace they had set.

Once they got up the stairs though, a new sight greeted them. It was fairly calm other than a couple people rushing between the stations they were monitoring. The only spot that had completely calm people in it was dead center of the room. That was where they were headed, and since they were out of the catastrophe zone, Cassen and Zero moved back into their places.

Once they reached center room the team gave a serious solute, and were given three in return from the four commanders, one of which was giving commands through a microphone attached to a bulky radio. When they eased out of their stances, Carter said, “Sirs, what are our orders, as I understand, we are the distraction, so how do we go about this, Sirs?”

The reply came from the commander at the Radio who said, “We want you to do just that, we don’t care how, but as soon as we call for tactical retreat, you make all Cass break loose, understood.”

“Sir, yes, Sir,” the team chorused in unison.

With that out of the way, the team just went down stairs, Cassen and Zero once again leading, and went outside to the armory tent. The tent in question had been supplied with the weapons the team would use via teleportation. And being the way it had to be during the mission, the team literally loaded up.

Each team member grabbed two pistols, one custom, and one standard. Their weapon of choice for their class, and a combat knife, they all also adorned a black bandana around their necks. Several pouches of ammo were added to their chests upper arms, minus Zero on that one, and upper legs. After that, a second primary was put on that was slung over their chests on top of the ammo, each S.P. being a sub-machinegun.

Zero, though he had what everyone else did, added more to his outfit. A sword that formerly belonged to an Alespid was over his back; the blade was at least four and a half feet long, it was two inches thick and slowly narrowed to the blade, meaning that it looked somewhat wide. A second combat knife was added to his chest so one was on each side. A second custom pistol was added beneath his standard pistol, so one rested on his right hip and thigh respectively. A mask was covering his lower face and nose that was plated with metal. Gloves that were plated with metal were on his hands, and that completed his look of pure bad assness. Or so the team thought.

With that tedious task done, they went back over to the vehicles they arrived in. this time though, Cassen was driving the vehicle Zero was inside with Zero in the passenger side. While she was driving they made idle chatter about the abilities of the team, then Zero made a good point, “All of the team can use magic right, so do you guys choose not to use it?”

“Well I don’t know why we don’t, but most of our magic is passive anyway, like me, I can sense explosives in a way,” Cassen said. Zero was looking over while enchanting his bullets, but as soon as she said that, Zero lost it and began laughing like an idiot. “What the Cass are you laughing at jackass?”

“If you can sense explosions, does that mean you ignore yourself when you bitch at me?”

“You mother fucker, I ought to kick your ass for that one.”

“You’d be hard pressed to touch my ass, that’s one part of me I intend to keep unharmed by anything.” When he said that, Cassen began laughing, and realizing how that sounded, Zero laughed shortly after.

Until Carter ruined the moment, “I’m on the radio back here, so could you keep it down.” Zero looked back to see Carter go back to talking on the radio, and smirked.

“Sure we’ll keep it down Carter, but I hope you know we’re going to get loud later,” and Zero made sure that the person on the radio could hear him to, the resulting laughing made Carter frown with a blush. “What the Cass, are you a man or woman Carter, get that blush off your face damn it.” The man on the radio laughed harder, and then Carter realized the microphone was still on.

Carter looked at Zero and said, “That wasn’t cool at all Zero. That was embarrassing as all Cass, so never in your life do that again.”

“So I can do it in yours still?” Zero asked with a grin.

“You son of a bitch cut it out!” Carter said loudly.

“You know it’s rude to call somebody a bitch that you don’t even know right.” After Zero said that, Carter groaned in frustration, Cassen laughing all the while at his misery.

Zero turned back to the front and began enchanting his bullets again, as he had spent most of the day before to enchant his team’s bullets; it was only fair that he got some of the extra fire power too. It was a tedious job to do for sure, but in the end, when an Alespid’s head explodes, it is made entirely worth it. All that was cut short though as Cassen yelled, “FUCK, INCOMING!” and bailed out of the door.

The three in the back, bailed out and then Zero did what he always did to protect the car behind his. He bailed and as soon as the rocket made contact with the vehicle, Zero sent a shockwave through the air, sending the vehicle away before it could become an impediment to the other vehicle. Of course they still drove through the smoke and left over flame from the explosion but that was safer than hitting an exploding wreck.

All the people who bailed recovered and drew their weapons, Carter his assault rifle, the twins with their sub-machineguns, Cassen with her sub-machinegun, and Zero with a scoped pistol. As soon as they were drawn, bullets began hailing on Zero and Carter who were on the right side of the road. The people still in a vehicle were fast to get out, but they weren’t quick enough for Zero and Carter not to have to take cover. So without delay, the two men jumped into the ditch that provided decent cover.

When they heard their teammates returning fire, they twisted around as they were facing away from the enemy, so they could help fire at the Alespids. Lucky enough, the Alespids survived on scavenged weapons when it came to a gun fight, so they didn’t have ammo to waste. The team however, had several clips on standby, but only had the supplies in one vehicle left as the other was demolished. With the precision that the twins offered, Zero sending magic missiles every now and then, and a couple concussion grenades from Cassen, the Alespids didn’t stand a chance.

As the team gathered up by the enemy cover that no longer housed said enemy, they gave each other praise as that kept spirits high. That was the team’s key to winning their battles, without positive thought, you can’t win a thing. Not to be confused with them thinking they could win everything, as they recognized that in some situations, they would die if not careful.

After their little moment of happiness, they began to check over the Alespids, another part of their success in battle. If they ever fought a kill squad like that, then they would not only recover left over ammunition from the bodies, but check for rank and faction. Rank to know what kind of trouble they would face in the real battle, and faction due to the fighting styles each faction carried.

After several trips to the vehicle and refilling their ammo pouches, they had one person man the truck while the rest walked at the sides of the road. The vehicle was moving slow enough for the people on foot to keep up. It was a convoy position type deal if one were to look at the formation, and the team had the shared feeling that they would end up gaining more troops inside the fire zone.

It was common knowledge that some people wouldn’t leave the team, and try to help, but that almost always ended poorly. So the team just took it slow, because as Zero said once before, you don’t rush an enemy that holds a hard point unless you want to die. Simple but effective, one of the team’s founding traits

Little did the team know, even to Zero himself, something was slowly changing in his head; be it good or bad, it was changing drastically.