//------------------------------// // Chapter 23: FUBAR // Story: Lazarus: The Rise of Man // by Immortan Joe //------------------------------// Celestia stepped down the stone stairs and onto the cobblestone path that led from the main gate and into the castle yard. Surrounded by a regiment of royal guardsponies stood a metal being that was nearly nine feet tall, high enough to even make Celestia herself look up for once. By her side, Celestia heard the small Pony, Winter Dawn, gasp and quickly hide behind her hooves. This made Celestia snort softly as she glanced back at the small pony. “Do you know what this is?” The royal mare asked, to which the small pony gulped and looked up at her with fearful eyes. “I think I have an idea,” The white unicorn muttered softly. Celestia nodded her head slowly and turned to look at the large being before taking a breath. “My name is Princess Celestia,” The naked Princess said in a loud and professional tone. “I am the oldest of the two rulers that is Equestria. Please, I ask of you, state your business here today?” Silence fell over the castleyard as Celestia looked at the black, metal creature that returned her gaze with its own lifeless stare. The wind howled across the mountainside as the dark cloudy sky shrouded the sun and dimmed the world around them. Off in the distance, Celestia swore she heard the familiar chopping of air that human contraptions made. Suddenly the mechanized creature sounded off a deep honk, startling everypony around it, including Her Majesty. Its slim, blue eye flashed briefly just before its arm shot up towards Celestia, its hand flat and fingers pointing towards her. The guards stumbled back, just as the captain barked at them to hold their positions. Just then, something shifted on the being’s palm, a small capsule opened and a blue light began to float out of it. Magic particles lifted and began taking shape, slowly shifting themselves into what resembled Celestia herself. “What in the world?” Celestia murmured under her breath as another image beside her portrait appeared, it was a crown and between the two was an arrow. Below that was the bewildered face of a pony. Celestia cocked her head confusedly and the anonymous pony did the same, was it suggesting confusion? Was it asking if she was the ruler? She just announced that she was. Perhaps it just didn’t understand? Celestia gulped as she shifted her wings and nodded her head. “Uh...” she gulped and regained her composure, she wouldn’t lie. This was rather strange to say the least, surprisingly this was more awkward than Discord being in control. Of all times that beings from another realm, or time in this case, had to arrive was when all the weird stuff started to happen. “If you’re asking if I am the ruler––” Celestia took the moment to bow her head. “––Then yes, that is correct!” The chopping in the distance was gradually becoming louder. A few moments passed, silence once again falling. The howling wind and chopping air continuing, but was silenced by a pony guard sticking his head out from a nearby watchtower. “Hooman flying chariot inbound!” He shouted down to everypony in the yard, the chopping now heavily present along with a deep buzzing. The metal beast in the yard turned its head violently just as the human flying machine appeared above the wall. Its massive, metal blades, slashing the air into submission which deafened those around it. The engines screamed aloud as the large bird descended onto the castle grounds. Celestia shielded both her and Winter Dawn from the gusting wind, the castle guards stumbling back, partially panicked but quickly regaining composure. “Form rank!” The captain of the guard shouted, his voice amplified by a sound spell. “Wait!” Celestia shouted but was silenced by a sharp, loud crack followed by a loud whining sound as the metal human contraption recoiled back slightly. Smoke billowing out one of its engines, the blades screaming loudly as the the metal monster twisted sharply to the left before quickly dropping fifteen feet to the ground, banging loudly against the castle floor, the whipping blades ripping into the dirt and cobblestone, before whirling a sharp chunk of metal that had been torn from the craft right towards Celestia’s face, only to be deflected off the shield she had prepared earlier. Moments passed as the smoke and dust from the craft faded, the whining engines dying as the surviving blades came to halt. Blinking her wide eyes, Celestia noticed the black mass of the large, armored creature approaching the craft, in one of its hands it held a boxy, L shaped item that was nearly the size and length of a mare’s leg. The tip of the object was pointed towards the human machine and was smoking. Celestia blinked once more, confusion still fresh on her mind before she shook her head after a few seconds. “W-wait!” She yelled out again towards the large metal creature, its weapon still pointed as it walked towards the human craft. Celestia lowered her shield and began to move towards the creature. “Your Majesty no!” Winter Dawn shouted, her mind screaming at her that the most powerful alicorn in Equestria was in danger. “It’ll kill you!” Yet Celestia wasn’t listening, she wouldn’t let that thing in front of her exacerbate the already tenuous relationship they had with the humans. Celestia wrapped her magic around the metal beast’s shoulder and yanked it back. Even the large mechanized beast was unable to hold up against her magic and its shoulder reared back. Thus forcing it to face Celestia’s pleading eyes. Suddenly, the side door to the human craft slammed open, smoke billowing out as the few human soldiers and diplomats stumbled from the vehicle and onto the cobblestone and grass. The diplomats in white suits dropped to their knees, wheezing and coughing, while the few soldiers in black stepped out out of the craft, weapons raised and trained outwards in all directions, moving tactically as they kept an eye out for what shot them down. “Alright!” William shouted out to his men, “get those idiots back inside the ship, and keep close to the craft till we figure out what the fuck just happened!” Sergeant Stacey snatched Angela Green by the shoulder and yanked the woman back onto the craft. Taking a breath, William brought a hand up to his transmitter and pressed it. “Baghdad to Hotel. Over” The radio was silent for a few seconds before spitting out some static along with John’s partially obscured voice. “Hotel, send it.” William peeked around the corner, smoke and dust still obscuring most of his vision, his visor was dusty as well, making things even harder to see. “We’ve taken unknown fire and splashed, and Alpha Papa doesn’t seem fit to checkout.” William couldn’t see or hear it but John as of the moment was whirling and cursing. A few seconds passed and the static filled voice would return. “What’s the situation right now? Over.” “Fit as a fiddle and hunkering down. Over.” William watched as the dust cleared from his eyes, squinting as he made out a large humanoid creature appeared to be communicating with what he recognized as the Equine leader. “What in God’s name…?” he muttered as he saw the tall creature tear itself away from the white pony, only to raise what was obviously a gun right back towards William. Suddenly, Will felt something grab the collar of his tactical vest and yank him back into the craft just a sharp crack could be heard, as sparks erupted from the metal right where Will’s head was. “What in the world are you doing!?” William could hear the Pony Princess shout in pony her language. “They’re friendly!” Yet what she was saying clearly wasn’t getting through to the thing’s head as another sharp crack sounded out. This time whatever the thing fired pierced the hull of the Condor, and just barely grazed everyone inside as it tore through the other end. “Fuck, Commander! We’re fish in a barrel here!” Lt. Michael shouted as another shot tore right through the hull once more before striking one of the scientists in the kneecap, blood and bone shrapnel spurting outwards as the man issued a sharp cry before falling onto his back. Shouting the obvious words, “I’m hit!” Before falling back wailing. “No shit!” Stacey caught the man and pulled him towards the back of the craft, William shook his head. Michael hopped over to William and pointed out towards a garden of statues, hedge mazes, walls, and other various bits of cover. “Pop some smoke and give us fifteen seconds, my boys and I can get over there and suppress this motherfucker.” William nodded his head. “I see no issue with that,” he said opening his left pack and pulling out his M18 smoke, he quickly pulled the pin and tossed one out before tossing a second for safe measure. Smiling wide, Michael motioned his squad of men. “Alright boys! Last one to those hedge rows takes the cover closest to the enemy!” Once the smoke was of reasonable density the eight man squad leapt out of the craft and dashed across the castleyard. Muttering under his breath, Michael yelped a little when the ground next to him exploded as one of the enemy’s rounds struck just inches from his right leg. Behind him he heard a cry and then a, “Juice is down!” from one of his squadmates. His heart lurched momentarily before he grit his teeth and tried to not think about losing one of his men just yet. His eyes locked on a large statue of what looked like a pony soldier, Michael dove behind it, chambered a round, stepped out of cover, and trained his laser sight on their attacker. A large caped man in a suit of medieval looking armor... what the fuck, was his thought just as he squeezed the trigger on his SCAR before scoring a round of 7.62 right into one of King Arthur’s knights. At least, he thought he did. When the heavy round slammed the attacker right between their eyes, its head flung back, as its body stumbled into the white equine leader. The mare yelped and teleported out of the way as the large behemoth brought a hand to its scratched helmet, the bullet having shattered and carved white specs into its armor. The metal monster grunted as Michael lowered his rifle and muttered, “Oh fuck,” right as the armored giant raised its weapon and fired a returning shot right through the statue and straight through the man’s chest. Commander William jammed his transmitter and raised his AK12 as he blasted a dozen rounds into their attacker. Within seconds, the entire castle courtyard would be flooded with the sounds of gunfire as the rest of Michael’s men got into position. “Baghdad to Hotel! We’re taking fire, one civilian casualty! Target appears to be human in nature and heavily kitted!” “Hotel to Baghdad, please repeat, the target is human?” William jolted as another AP round tore through the VTOL like warm butter, the fuck is this thing shooting?! “Did I fucking stutter?!” William transmitted as he stepped out and fired a dozen more rounds at the metal monster before dropping his magazine and replacing it with another. The ponys now having escaped from the combat area. Before Central could reply William jammed the transmitter once more when he got behind cover. “It’s a fucking armored giant! A huge fucker and it's tearing my men to shreds––” William went silent as a blast of unbelievable energy enveloped the entire battlefield, his sentence cut short as he felt his body freeze up along with the bullets still traveling through the air, one of which he saw piercing the hull and gunning for his left thigh. Time had stopped. Or so it seemed. William found himself still able to shift his eyes about, though mostly he kept gazing at the fucking bullet about to shred his damn thigh and either, get him infected with the pathogen, or simply just ruin his ability to walk for the rest of his life. Maybe even destroy his femoral artery and make him bleed out. Either way, time stopping at this very moment fucking sucked. “What is the meaning of this?!” William’s eyes shifted when he heard the sound of Celestia’s voice. “W-words cannot even describe how... shocked and disturbed I am right now!” Celestia stepped back into her castleyard, or what was left of it. Bullet-holes and casings now specked a large portion of the grounds, and in the center laid a human soldier, a gaping wound in his back, inches from his spine. The man was still breathing, but barely, and blood was pooling beneath him. Stepping around the stasis bullets that floated in the air, Celestia’s eyes widened as she knelt down beside the bleeding man. His facemask was torn from his head and Celestia could see the human’s features for the first time. She couldn’t tell the man’s age, yet the grizzled look he had and the stern, but also pained looking face showed a great amount of maturity, even when facing through the agony of bleeding-out. The projectile that had hit him had passed through, luckily missing vital organs and leaving only a large hole.Yet the diameter was far too damaging to get the man to a doctor fast enough to save him; at least a human doctor. Closing her eyes Celestia ignited her horn, a light formed around the entry and exit points of the man’s wounds. Spider webs of flesh and muscle began to form around the gaping hole, connecting to each other as the man’s injury seemingly healed itself. Standing back up she smiled softly before glancing over towards the garden, the direction in which all the smaller bullets she had stopped were coming from. She saw at least six other humans, all wearing their masks and black suits, stationed behind statues, and hedgerows, their weapons raised, tips exploding in flame as the bullets soared out of their barrels. Of course, that’s what they were doing before Celestia used her magic to bring everything to a grinding halt. Walking over, she noticed the statue of her favorite captain had a hole through it, behind it she saw another human lying in the grass, his mask still on as it laid there with a sizzling hole in its chest. Celestia’s eyes widened and she quickly got down but stopped when she noticed that this one... this one wasn’t breathing. Celestia closed her eyes and shook her head, getting up she turned to the armored creature, the one that openly attacked for seemingly no reason. “You...” Celestia muttered and began approaching the creature, her magic flashing out with a bright light. The bullets dropping to the ground like dead weight along with every soldier, including the giant. William scrambled and turned to look at his thigh, sighing with relief when he saw the metal slug on the floor. The same slug that nearly tore through him. Though he wasn’t a religious man, he drew a cross on his chest and sighed before poking his head outside slowly. He saw the white mare approaching the iron giant, her horn flashing as she hoisted the creature back to its feet with her telepathic abilities which William and had dumbed down to that of Professor X’s powers. Don’t fuck with her or she’ll murder all of us with just a simple thought. “You come to my kingdom, terrify my subjects, and start a fight on the steps of my home. How dare you.” William watched as the pony forced the attacker’s arms to its side, restraining it with nothing more than pure thought, gazing back over at the garden, William saw two operatives dragging the wounded man named Juice to safety while the others crowded over where Michael had been. Will’s eyes widened and he bit his lower lip. Getting up, he moved over to the armored assailant, drawing his SIG William, chambered a round, and pointed it at the head of the attacker. “Remove the helmet,” William spoke in Equestrian after clearing his throat, Celestia jumped at this and turned, recognizing the voice and body structure of the human next to her. “You’re the human commander,” She muttered and Will rose a hand up and flicked the gun at the armored man. “Remove that helmet so I can put an end to this right now,” His voice came out in a growl, anger getting the better of him, but he paused when his radio began to emit static once more. “Baghdad, this is Overseer,” Admiral Watson’s voice came past the static, most likely watching from the POV cameras on the soldiers’ helmets. “Lower your weapon, I want the assailant brought back here alive. Preferably removed from that... power armor.” William brought his hand to his transmitter. “Negative, sir, our ride is splashed. Over.” “Copy that, Baghdad. We’ll send another one for pickup,” Watson replied bluntly, his voice sounding frustrated, possibly due to the fact that they lost one out of the four VTOLs. A sharp hiss came from in front of William, and he saw that Celestia had figured out how to remove the helmet, pulling it off her eyes narrowed at the sight of an uncomfortable looking... teenager. William blinked when he saw a young, youthful boy struggling in the power armor, most likely trying to move but held in place by whatever psionic trick Celestia was applying, keeping the boy from doing so. The Commander’s mouth dropped slightly and he pulled the gun back from the boy’s head, all intentions of blasting his brains out flew from his conscience. “Central are you receiving this...? Over.” William muttered softly as the boy opened his eyes and looked at him. The kid’s skin was pale and his eyes were charcoal black. A few moments passed as William watched the squirming child, his radio crackling with static. “Yes...” Watson’s voice came through, the tone and demeanor completely different. “Baghdad... situation has changed, we can’t risk bringing that thing back...” Watson’s slow and unsteady voice trailed off for a moment before finally coming back and saying, “You know what to do.” William blinked and swallowed the lump in his throat, Princess Celestia turned her head to look at William, his mask hiding his pained expression, closing his eyes he took a deep breath. Within a span of half a second, William raised his handgun once more and blew the child’s brains out. Killing it instantly along with his dignity. :[-]: Celestia released a startled cry when she saw the boy’s brains splatter across the back of his power armor and across the cobblestone pathway. Her magic fading as the entire suit crumpled back onto the ground with a loud bang. Her eyes tearing up as she glared in utter horror at the human commander who had forced the being to meet its demise. It took every ounce of her will to not send the human off the side of her mountain. Instead, she stepped back and swallowed the lump in her throat and asked, “Why?” Her voice quiet and hoarse. William holstered his handgun and turned to the pony, clearing his throat... his voice came through quiet and heavy with pain. “I-I...” his head sunk to the floor. “Th-there was nothing we could do.” He took a deep breath, his voice regaining composure as he took all the pain he now felt and shoved it away into that heaping trash pile he always tossed it in. “He was... corrupt you could say, a corruption that has no cure, and... can spread if not dealt with.” Celestia raised her eyebrows as she shook her head. “But you didn’t even try!” William clenched his fist and refrained from shouting at the Equine Princess, he grit his teeth. “For eight years,” The Commander spoke softly. “For eight years we tried.” He pointed to the dead super soldier. “Beings such as him are the ones who committed genocide on my race, no diplomacy, no political actions. They just started killing.” Celestia blinked and straightened herself out, wings rustling as she bit her lower lip. “It didn’t try and kill us ponies,” The mare spoke softly, her nerves still a little on edge. She hadn’t seen this much death since back when the three pony tribes were separated. Over the years she had become complacent, too used to things being solved peacefully or without anypony getting hurt. What she didn’t know is that humanity usually tended to solve everything by just stomping out the source of what was causing the issue, whether it be by gunshot or a laser guided bomb dropped from a drone. At least... that’s how things were solved back during the Fall. William took a breath. “I didn’t know, I wasn’t here for that...” William shrugged, he wasn't suited for this talking bullshit, why did he have to be the one given the power to communicate horse tongue? “All I know is that we came to have a friendly chat with you guys but were shot out of the air above the LZ. Maybe it was just trying to get on your good side just to shoot you in the back...” William covered his facemask with his hand and took a breath, he had no idea how to continue on with this. Their ship was shot out of the air, they had a wounded civilian in the cabin, one KIA, and another man who lost a large amount of blood and had his mask knocked off. He was a Field Commander, not a fucking diplomat for Christ’s sake. For the first time since basic training William not only felt awkward, but also partially humiliated as his brain kept replaying the scene of him shooting a fucking child in the face over and over. How the hell do spec ops guys deal with all the shit they have to endure? Celestia took a breath, her own mental state finally calming down. “I wish... to apologize for the one you lost over there.” Celestia tossed her head towards the broken statue and Michael, whose body laid lifeless on the ground. His squad stood over his body, helmets resting on their chests. “Lieutenant Michael Young. One of the best, but a little immature, officers under my Command...” William took a deep breath and shook his head. “Damn bastard was always one to go bull-rushing into danger, always knew to pick the best tactical positions that I never thought of.” William took a breath. “Yet. Those slugs that... kid was shooting... there was no preparing for this.” William shook his head. “Baghdad, this is Central. Aborting mission, extraction is on its way to your position. T-minus forty minutes. Over.” William pressed the transmitter. “Copy that. Out.” His voice was low and overall tired-sounding. “My apologies, Princess. My boys and I will be heading out of here within the hour.” Celestia looked at the Commander and nodded her head slowly. “I must apologize, Commander. I had no intention of bringing harm to you or your people. This was just all an unfortunate coincidence for us all.” William nodded his head as Angela Green, the Horizon diplomat, stumbled out of the craft and ran towards William. “Commander William!” Angela shouted urgently, a tinge of worry in her voice, as Will turned his head towards her, gritting his teeth. It was just one bad thing after another. “It’s Roger,” The woman said, referring to the man who got hit in the kneecap by a stray slug. “It’s bad, we can’t stop the bleeding and he’s fallen unconscious!” Celestia turned her head to William, confused due to the fact she couldn’t understand Angela at all. “Is something wrong?” Celestia asked William. “I may be able to help.” William looked to Celestia and nodded his head. “Yes, follow me.” The man bleeding in the cabin of the Condor whimpered as Celestia sat back after fixing the man’s leg. Similar to how she closed up Juice’s supposedly fatal wound, she released a small breath and looked to William who seemed surprised by the alicorn’s magic. “It’s a fucking miracle...” Sergeant Stacey muttered under her breath. “If only she saved Michael’s ass.” William shot a look at the Sergeant, but didn’t say anything. The girl was probably feeling guilt for not being the one to lay down her life for the CO. William released a small breath and looked to Celestia, he bowed his head. “Thank you, Princess, because of you this man will be able to walk again,” he said sincerely. Celestia smiled softly, happy to help the humans that had unintentionally been forced into a firefight. Though it wasn’t her fault that had happened, she just couldn’t help but bear the guilt. “You’re welcome, Commander... Keshiner?” “Please, just call me William,” Will told Celestia, the alicorn nodded her head and shifted her wings a little bit before standing up. “You’re welcome, William.” The mare glanced about the interior of the now partially tilted VTOL. “If you’d all like, you can take temporary shelter inside my castle while you wait for... extraction you called it?” William nodded his head. “Basically means our ride out of here but,” William stopped for a moment, fuck it, he thought. “Yeah sure, I don’t see the harm in hanging out inside.” He got up and turned to his boys and girls. “Alright everyone, Her Majesty wishes that we hang out inside for a bit. So to please her I need you guys to mount up.” The men and women inside nodded their heads and stood up, grabbing their gear and weapons. DeSilva, the pilot of the craft, stumbled out of the cockpit groaning, his face partially bloodied due to the crash landing causing him to ram his face into the dash. “Th-the fuck happened?” The dazed pilot asked, William turned and gasped when he noticed the man wasn’t in any of his bioprotective gear. “Shit!” William cursed out loud and DeSilva flinched, the migraine he had was taking its toll. William shook his head and approached the man, nobody had prepared for this. While the pilots did have protective gear, no one had anticipated the fucking VTOL getting shot of the sky, and then turned to swiss cheese by a God damned fucking future gun some teenager had. DeSilva groaned and covered his ears, the man dropping to his knees as he gagged. His head ringing, nose bloodied. He just felt like utter shit. “How’re you feeling?” William asked as he knelt in front of DeSilva, this wasn’t the first time William experienced someone who was exposed to the open air down on the new Earth. Lt. Shaun Bell back when that fucking grizzly in the cottage attacked them was exposed when his suit was torn open. Which honestly, he still didn’t know why the fuck a grizzly was in a goddamn cottage. Yet, the only thing he recalled ever happening over the couple days after Shaun’s exposure didn’t seem too bad. The man just seemed out of it all the time. But... the fuck was he talking about? He didn’t know shit. For all he knew the three men who’re exposed might be goddamn goners or worse. They could become Sleepers. William shivered at the idea. “I feel like shit...” DeSilva replied, his voice ragged. “I don’t really know what happened, we were coming in for landing, and then we fell like a brick. I heard gunfire and then here we are.” William nodded his head and took the man by his arm, hoisting him up. “C’mon... we’re going to take shelter in the castle.” “Your majesty!” A voice shouted from outside the craft, Celestia, who had been observing the strange design that made up human seats, turned her head. She hopped out the open hatch and saw an imperial guard running towards the downed bird. “What is it?” Celestia asked quickly. The guard came to a stop wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. William stepped out with DeSilva and blinked as he looked at the tired horse. The stallion picked his head up. “It’s Manehattan! It’s under siege!”