//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 "Red Hammer" // Story: Equestria Noir Case 20 "Red Snow Fall" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 3 “Red Hammer” When Snowflake had finished her song she noticed our presence. Before any of us could speak she started running towards one of the doors. Raiden took the initiative and ran down to her calling, “Hold on, Princess! We’re trying to-“ He was cut off when Snowflake grabbed him around the neck and used him as a pony shield against the rest of us. “One step closer and I break his neck!” she shouted as we came closer. “Normally I wouldn’t object to a lovely mare holding me down,” Raiden said, trying to sound cool despite being held hostage, “but we’re not kidnappers, so I’d appreciate it if you let me go now.” “Who are you then?” she demanded, in the local accent. “Are you Red Hammer’s men, come to claim the last of the royal family?” I decided to play diplomat and introduced myself, “Princess Snowflake, I am Detective Private Phelps Eye. I was sent here from Equestria to aid you.” I gestured to my friends in turn. “These are my friends, Swarm, Big Macintosh and Applesnack.” I then gestured to Raiden and continued the introductions. “Your hostage there is my friend, Raiden. We came so that we could bring peace to the land, but I can see we’re off to a sorry start.” She blinked her blue eyes and then let go of Raiden. My friend fluttered angrily back over to us. When Snowflake caught sight of my friend’s wings and said in shock, “You aren’t with Red Hammer! He would never let a pegasus into his army! Plus you are a unicorn." She said, pointing to me. “I see the truth now, though I must ask, how did you find me?” “Rushanwin pointed us in the right direction,” Swarm replied, smiling a little. Snowflake looked down then back at us and said, “I vaguely remember him being a big stallion that always let me play with his son. Unfortunately, I don’t remember much beyond that and him being a member of my father’s personal guard.” “Understandable,” I replied. “You were only three at the time.” “So why are you here?” Big Mac asked. “Don’tcha think that Red Hammer would come lookin' fer ya here?” Snowflake bowed her head and replied softly, “I knew it was dangerous, but I wanted to see where my parents had their first dance.” She gestured to the ballroom around her and explained, “I had seen many old photographs of them, this was my only way of connecting to them.” Swarm looked on the verge of tears, I gave him a look of concern and asked, “You okay?” “Sorry,” the changeling replied, wiping his green eyes. “Just never liked the feeling of sorrow…” I nodded and looked back at her. “Normally, I’d love to hear your story, but right now you are not safe here.” “More correct then you know, Detective…” We all looked around as suddenly a dozen soldiers entered the room. They all wore armor of some sort, metal by the looks of it, with a symbol on their shoulder pads. It resembled a yellow hammer and sickle on a red background. They were also armed with battle saddles, that they kept trained on us. My colleagues and I stood in front of the princess as an older stallion walked down the stairs of the foyer to the ballroom floor. He looked like he was well into his fifties with a slicked back greying mane. His red coat was covered by a tannish green uniform with a cap of the same color on his head. He had a short beard and a mustache. He was much older than the picture that Voidera showed me. A feeling of disgust came over me like before. “I don’t know how you equestrians got past my border patrol,” Red Hammer said, himself sporting the local dialect, though definitely rougher, “but I have little tolerance for invaders in my country, especially unicorn bloodsuckers and chickens.” I used whatever will I had to hold myself back from his racist comments. Raiden didn’t have as much will and had to be held back by Big Mac. “You have my commendations, however,” Red Hammer said, his face unchanging. “I have been looking for the tyrant’s spawn for years. You did my job for me.” “How did you know we were here?” I asked slowly. “One of my spies in the revolution told me that Rushanwin was listening to rumors. I had my men hiding secretly inside of the palace in case anypony showed up. My officers thought I was being paranoid, but it pays to be prepared.” Snowflake looked at us guiltily and said, “Forgive me; it is my fault you are all in this situation.” “Don’t worry, Princess,” Raiden said with a smirk. “We got this, right Private?” I kept my eyes trained on Red Hammer, for some reason I felt a deep hatred for this stallion. It was like there was a little pony inside my head telling me to pull out white tiger and shoot him between the eyes now. I fought the urge and simply glared at Red Hammer. “So, you think to finish the job, you bastard?” I growled. “You are correct in your assumption,” Red Hammer said, his blue eyes staring into mine. “You are a detective, so I don’t think I need to tell you my motives and reasons.” “Well, as a detective I can’t let you get away with it,” I said, maintaining my ground. “You are bold to speak to me in such a way,” Red Hammer complimented, but I didn’t give into flattery. “Most would cower in fear at the sight of a dozen guns trained on them.” “I’ve had worse things pointed at me,” I said smugly. “Typical unicorn,” he spat, as if he’d bitten into a rotten tomato. “Always so full of themselves because they have horns that can perform tricks.” I ignored the second racial comment today and said, “I’m giving you two options, Red Hammer. You either let us walk out peacefully, or I’ll show you just how much we’re willing to fight to stop you.” “I commend you for your bravery,” Red Hammer said coldly, “but I have grown tired of your games.” He turned to his men and said, “Detain them all for questioning, and bring the Princess to me personally.” With that he and two of his soldiers left, leaving ten more behind. One walked up to Applesnack and aimed his battle saddle at his chest. “I highly suggest you come along otherwise we will shoot your legs and drag you all,” he snarled. Applesnack simply stared at the soldier and said, “I have two words for you.” “I surrender?” the soldier joked, his companions laughing. “Nope,” Applesnack said, pulling a grenade out of his pockets and chucking it at the group of soldiers. “Here, catch!” The soldiers screamed and dodged the grenade. The rest of us used this distraction to run away, just as it exploded, sending three soldiers flying. The other seven began opening fire as we hid behind some pillars supporting a balcony. Bullets hailed around my ears as they shot at us. I looked to my right and saw Snowflake ducked behind another pillar next to Big Mac. Applesnack ducked behind a pillar to my left with Swarm. He took a shot at one of the soldiers with his modified battle saddle. “You could’ve warned me ahead of time about that grenade!” I cried, peeking out of cover to hit a soldier in the chest with White Tiger. Good, now we have six soldiers that want to kill us…no wait! Now five, Applesnack shot another one. Raiden tried peeking from behind our pillar and almost got shot to hell “We can’t get out of here! There’s too many of them!” “You got any bright ideas?” I shouted, shooting and missing a couple of soldiers before taking cover again. “Funny you should mention that,” he said reaching into his pockets and pulling out that disk package from before. He undid the leather pouch and I saw a strange device in his hoof. It was a circular device with a glowing electrical circuit on it’s outline. As the bullets sang through the air, Raiden pressed the device to his chest. Straps came out of it and attached themselves so that the device was squarely where his heart would be. “Raiden, what the hell is that?” I asked, staring. “It’s a mana reactor,” he explained. “A portable ley line that generates power by cycling energy in a circle. My dad has one at his tower back home.” “How much power are we talking about?” I asked, ducking as a bullet almost hit my ear. “Well, if my math is right,” he said looking at me, “which it always is, about three gigajoules.” “What would need that kind of power?” I asked, looking at Raiden with wary eyes. He just smirked at me. ________________________________________________________ Meanwhile in Manehattan Perspective: Arashi Bolt Yet another day of dull paperwork at the office, I thought to myself. I looked at my watch, it wasn’t even lunch time yet. I sighed, nearly thirty years of work poured into this company and all I’m left with is paperwork. Well, I guess we can’t always have the most unorthodox of activities all the time… Suddenly the door burst open and my secretary, a pegasus stallion named Input, charged in breathing heavily. “Sir! The mark VII has just been launched! It’s heading towards northern Equestria!” he cried. I smiled, so Musuko, you finally have decided to accept my gift to you. ________________________________________________________ Perspective: Private Suddenly something came rocketing through a nearby window and landed right in front of Raiden. It was a small black and yellow package of some sort. It looked very heavy and was made of some kind of metal. Raiden looked at me as he dragged the package behind cover. “Cover me while I suit up!” he ordered. “Suit up?” I asked, just staring as four shoes came out from the package. Raiden stepped each of his hooves on them and the metal morphed and twisted itself around him. The armor was black with yellow linings. The metal looked smoothed and made of a strong metal. A mask slowly morphed around my friend’s face, resembling an intimidating warrior’s mask of old. “Raiden, what the hell is that?” I asked, just staring at the suit. “Something my dad came up with,” Raiden replied. His voice sounded metallic from inside his helmet. “Pretty sweet, huh?” “Since when do you have a suit of armor like that?” I asked, still dumbfounded. “Less time for chat and more time getting us outta here!” Raiden said, his now metal covered wings flapping. He suddenly zoomed out above the group of stunned soldiers, and landed in front of them. He held up one of his hooves, and suddenly a bolt of lightning fired out of it, hitting a soldier square in the chest. The others opened fire on him, but the bullets bounced off his metal armor. Raiden kept pummeling the soldiers with lightning bolts, as I looked to the others. Big Mac was nursing a shoulder wound that Snowflake was trying to patch up. “One of them shot him when he was trying to protect me!” Snowflake said, looking worriedly at Big Mac. “Ah’m fine, Princess,” Big Mac said stubbornly. “We gotta get out of here!” Swarm cried, ducking before another bullet hit him. I nodded and looked over at Snowflake “You get Big Mac out of here!” I ordered. “You too, Swarm. You carry Applesnack and get outside. Raiden and I will cover you!” All four of them nodded, and Snowflake lifted the large stallion onto her back. She was about the same size as Luna, so she seemed to have little trouble carrying him. She spread her wings and readied herself. Her blue eyes looked on in shock as Swarm suddenly sprouted wings. “What in the name of the frost is he?” she asked, staring at Swarm. I took a shot at a soldier that Raiden missed, and he fell down like a rock. “No time to explain! Get out of here!” With that Swarm grabbed Applesnack and lifted the earth pony towards the windows. The pair flew out, followed closely by Snowflake and Big Mac. I looked at Raiden as he fired the last lightning bolt at the one remaining soldier. He landed in front of me and the mask morphed to show his face. “Sweet, huh?” he gloated. “Raiden, just what is with that suit?” I asked, looking the strange tech over. “Something my dad invented a long time ago,” Raiden answered, tapping his chest. “Some kind of flight suit modified for heavy combat. The lightning is just me firing off some of the energy from the mana reactor.” “Raiden, this is amazing” I said, just staring at it. “When were you going to tell me about this?” Raiden’s yellow eyes went down and he replied, “Technically, I’m not supposed to have this. This suit belonged to Raiun, my eldest brother.” “Didn’t Raiun…” “Yeah, he was a weapon’s designer who was good with electricity like I am,” he explained, looking down at his hooves. “Raiun became paralyzed while modifying this thing my dad made. I didn’t tell you about it, because I didn’t expect dad to trust me with something like this.” This was a big part of my friend’s life that he hid from me. Then again, it took me nearly a year to show him Tailspin. I’m guessing we all have secrets that we keep even from our closest friends. “Dude I’m sorry for keeping it from you,” Raiden said, his metal wings drooping a little. “Hey, it’s alright,” I said with a smile. “If anything that suit is very useful right now.” “You think Rainbow would think I look sexy in this suit?” he asked with a wicked grin. “There’s the Raiden I know,” I said, rolling my grey eyes. Raiden and I perked our ears as we heard voices shouting. “Sounds like somepony didn’t appreciate the light show,” I said. "Let’s get out of here and meet up with the others.” With that, Raiden grabbed me with his forelegs and we flew out the broken window. Some of the soldiers on the ground tried to shoot at us, but couldn’t hit a speeding target like Raiden. We soon left them, and the palace, far behind. We landed in a small cave where we'd agreed to meet up should the worst happen. Raiden and I entered to find Big Mac holding his shoulder. Snowflake was using her magic to apply bandages to him. I noticed a bloody bullet next to her along with a pair of equally bloody forceps. “You’re a doctor?” I asked, looking at the princess. “I took some classes when I was younger” she explained, wrapping the last bandage around Big Mac. “I got the bullet out, the rest we'll need to find a true doctor to help him with.” I nodded and looked over at the others. Swarm appeared unharmed, but Snowflake kept eyeing him wearily. She must not have seen a changeling before. Applesnack was standing guard outside, his battle saddle at the ready. Raiden’s suit began deconstructing itself until he was only wearing a simple chest piece and the hoof attachments. I’m guessing that was a way to keep the suit portable. Once Snowflake finished with Big Mac she looked at us. “You say you are from Equestria?” she asked. “Yes,” I replied with a nod. “I’m guessing you have a lot of questions.” “That’s the understatement of the century,” she said. I spent the next five minutes explaining all that I could. She took it rather well, although she was a little skeptical about Swarm until she saw what he could do. Seeing a stallion transform into you is quite a sight the first time it happens. I know it freaked me out the first time Swarm transformed into me. After everything was explained Raiden said, “We need to get her to that pub that Rush talked about. He said we could get help there.” I nodded and asked the princess, “Do you know where the Black Boar Pub is?” She nodded and answered, “It's in a village not far from here. I can lead you all there.” She looked at us with guilty blue eyes. "Again, I’m sorry for getting you all involved in this.” “Think nothing of it, Princess” Raiden said with a smile. “Flying into danger, it’s kind of what we do.” More than I would like… _________________________________________________________ We arrived at the village as Celestia was causing the sun to almost reach its zenith. Our cloaks from earlier helped us blend into the starving crowd. I saw more than one colt or filly crying for food that wouldn’t come. One little colt walked up to me and looked up at my cloaked face. He couldn’t have been older than five. His coat was a soft earthy color and his mane was long and black. “Sir, do you have any food to spare? My sister is starving and we haven’t eaten in days,” he begged. Poor kid, I reached into my trench coat and pulled out a small candy bar. His eyes lit up as if I handed him pure gold. I hushed him before he could exclaim. “What’s your name?” I asked. “Driftly,” he answered. “Thank you so much, sir!” “Take this and give it to your sister.” I gave him the candy bar and smiled at him. He nodded and ran off clutching the candy bar tightly. I looked up as Applesnack gave me a steely look. I raised an eyebrow and asked, “What?” “How many more candy bars do you have?” he asked as the rest of the group walked on. “Excuse me?” I said, confused. “You plan on feeding the entire village with that candy bar?” he asked, his voice developing an accusatory tone. “What’s your problem?” I argued. “The kid was starving, why shouldn’t I have helped?” “Take a good look around,” he said flatly. I saw all the other starving ponies. I could count the ribs on several of them. One mother was crying in a corner because her filly couldn’t stop crying herself. “The fact is that won’t fix anything” Applesnack said. “You can’t fix a country by giving handouts.” “What are you attacking me for?” I asked, glaring at the soldier. “I’m just getting you to think,” Applesnack answered. “Our job is to bring peace to this entire nation. By giving that candy bar to that kid, you made him a target for the other starving families.” The more I thought about it, the more right he seemed. “So what should I have done?” I asked. “Ignored the kid and let him and his sister starve?” “I’m not saying what you did was wrong,” Applesnack said with a shake of his head. “I’m just saying that it's only a very short term solution.” I slowly looked away, then back at Applesnack. “You’ve seen something like this before, haven’t you?” I asked, sadly. “Too many times,” Applesnack answered. “I was stationed in Afmarestan before we met in Appaloosa. I saw dozens of starving foals crying for mothers that weren’t there anymore. I just want to make sure that when this nation rebuilds itself, we can’t have this. We can’t have another dictatorship…” I didn’t fully understand his veiled meaning, but he seemed to not want to talk anymore and turned to walk away. Something tells me there wasn’t really a point to him talking to me like that. It was like he was playing devil’s advocate just to get me to think. Maybe he’s right; we can’t just throw money or food at them. We had to find a permanent solution to all this, and it would start by taking down Red Hammer… ________________________________________________________ We entered the Black Boar Pub to find it abuzz with activity. I walked up to the bartender as the others stood nearby. The bartender was a rather skinny stallion with a short brown mane and a sea green coat. He looked up from the mug he was wiping and asked, “Can I help ya?” “Rushanwin sent us,” I said firmly. “He said we’d get help if we came.” “Ole Rush sent ya?” the man asked, almost dropping his mug. “Well, I’ll be damned! Head yourselves to the back would ya?” With that we made our way to the back of the tavern to find several stallions pointing guns at us. Raiden rolled his eyes and said, “This seems to be a habit with you, isn’t it, Private?” “Again, I’ve had worse things pointed at me,” I quipped as a stallion aimed his gun at my muzzle. “Hold on a second!” I heard a voice shout from the stallions. They parted to reveal Rush, he was standing beside a tall earth pony stallion with a blue coat and a long white mane. He had a set of glasses on his muzzle which he lifted upon seeing us. “You are the ones who faced Red Hammer and lived?” the bespectacled stallion asked. “I apologize, Private,” Rush said, his ears flattening. “I did not know that Red Hammer was there.” “He said there was a spy in the rebellion,” I said. “You may have a mole among you.” The blue stallion nodded and replied, “We will investigate the matter as soon as we can.” He bowed his head and introduced himself, “I am Statehood, and you are looking at the Architects. We are the last thing standing against Red Hammer.” “You guys don’t look like much,” Raiden pointed out, several of the stallions looked like college students. They hardly looked like warriors or freedom fighters at all. “Most of us were students before Red Hammer closed down the university,” Statehood said, adjusting his glasses. “Why tell them so much?” one stallion spoke up, he was a deep violet color with a short blue mane. “They could be spies themselves!” “Ease yourself, Tablet,” Statehood said, holding a hoof to calm the stallion. “Red Hammer was willing to send a dozen of his men to kill them. I don’t think he would want to kill six of his own spies.” “Six?” Rush then looked at Snowflake, who kept the hood over her head to disguise herself. “Who is this new one?” Snowflake looked at me from under the hood, I gave an encouraging nod. Slowly Snowflake removed her hood, revealing herself to a stunned group. Snowflake spoke in a regal voice truly worthy of a Princess, “I am Princess Snowendra Jeruntul Frostwind, daughter of King Frostwind, and I am thankful that I see all are safe here.” She smiled at her subjects. One by one, all of the stallions bowed before her. My friends and I followed suit before she stopped me with a hoof. She shook her head slowly and said, “You need not bow, my friends. You have saved my life and I cannot thank you enough.” “Princess,” Rush said, a smile on his face, “now that you are here, we can begin to free this land from the tyranny of Red Hammer” “For the motherland!” one shouted. “Here here!” another shouted. Soon the entire tavern was joined in cheers and celebration. Happy to have the return of their beloved princess, but I couldn’t shake this strange feeling. Rush had a determined fiery look in his eyes. I’d seen it before, in the eyes of many stallions that stand on soap boxes… Just what was Snowflake’s true role in all of this?