Time Goes On
Jason slowly walked back towards camp with Dash, he'd stayed hidden near the fence, listening for any conversation from the headset. Eravel had said he was going quiet, but Jason didn't want to move before he was sure that the griffins were at least planted. After nearly fifteen minutes and some quiet complaining from Dash, he finally agreed to start making his way back.
They cut through some bushes, navigating past a small pond that Jason made a mental note of for later. Swimming, one of the things he really missed about this whole war campaigning stuff. Ponyville would never match up to this whole experience in interest it held, but at least he wasn't stuck under a small number of activities like he was here. They started to ascend and briefly caught a view of the capitol, an orange slice of moon hanging peacefully above. Jason turned and sat down, gesturing for Dash to join him.
"What is it with you, Jason. We rush everywhere one day, and then it's just sitting around the next."
"Come on, you can't say that's not pretty." He said, pointing an arm towards the twinkling lights. "We don't have anything going on, so we might as well enjoy the city lights while they're still there."
"Heh, oh yeah." She sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. They retained the position as the sky darkened and stars came into being, twinkling and blinking as the rest of the night sky Jason loved to watch came into view.
"I love you, Dash." He said, tilting her muzzle up with a hoof and giving her a brief kiss.
"Not to intrude or anything," Eravel's voice cut in over the walkie talkie, "But I can hear everything." Red quickly made its way through Jason's fur, turning it a shade of crimson tinged grey. He pulled out the microphone, frowning as Dash started to laugh.
"Oh my god, the look on your face! The one time where you're actually this embarrassed and you happen to be in pony form!" She wiped at an eye, letting out a few residual giggles as she recalled his expression.
"Yeah, make fun of the guy that teases you all the time, good call." Jason replied, a smirk making its way onto his face.
"I can handle it, don't worry." Dash winked and returned his previous kiss with a slight purr. "Now come on, I don't want to stay out here."
"Oh, scared, huh?" He asked, putting a hoof up and shaking it around with a corresponding 'ooooh'.
"No! I just- okay maybe a little."
"So, fly back then?" He asked, spreading his wings.
"Well we could..." She walked beside him to look at a wing. "You gotta take better care of these, Jason! Some of these feathers are crooked, you can't leave them like that!"
"But-" He started, before she stuck out her muzzle to rearrange the feathers. His breath caught slightly; it was a strange sensation to say the least, pleasurable to a degree. But not in the same way that he would play with Dash's wings either, that just- he couldn't explain it. This just seemed more a gesture of love rather than lust. Apparently he had a new way to tease her then. At least he kept any sign of the mischief from spreading to his face as Dash finished with his second wing.
"You aren't as invincible as you think, Jason. If you let that get too bad you might have trouble getting off the ground." She said, moving the hoodie and stretching out her own wings to show off.
"Noted, Dash. Although it was a lot better when you do it."
"What can I say, I'm an expert."
"I've only been groomed by one other mare, I can't confirm or deny that statement."
"Well I would hope you've only been preened by me."
"Why?" Jason asked, turning his head towards hers and away from the star he'd been staring at.
"Cuz that's just something you either do yourself, or with close family and, well, mare-friends."
"Ah, another one of those things huh?"
"How simple was romance for you back on Earth?" Dash asked, flapping her wings and floating upwards a few feet. Jason took off after her, and they quickly ascended past the tree line.
"You forget that we had all the technology and a multitude of people. That probably cancels out what little wing related things there are."
"I guess you aren't familiar with the sheer amount of wing related stuff in existence."
"Maybe you'll have to show me then." He replied, a suggestive look crossing his face.
"Maybe I will." She confirmed, matching his expression.
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"Eravel, come in." Jason said, having grabbed the headset from the side of the bed as light streamed in through the windows. There was a pause for a few moments, before a voice replied back.
"Yeah, what's going on?" The griffin asked, his slightly scratchy voice intensified by the ambient static. Dash sighed gratefully, glad that everything was still going to plan, at least for the time being.
"How're things?" Jason asked back, tapping his hoof on the antenna of the walkie talkie as he awaited a response.
"Good, I guess. It was already late when we got into the city, so I didn't really spread the word at all. I'm in an empty warehouse right now with two of the other guys, and we should be moving out in a couple minutes. You're up pretty early today, by the way."
"How long ago was sunrise?" Dash asked, cutting off Jason's response and following it up with a sheepish smile.
"It's like nine or something, so at least a few hours."
"Well just make sure you keep everything organized, Eravel. We need a sudden uprising, not a bunch of small ones."
"Will do. I'm going to turn this off for a while, we're moving."
"Alright, stay safe." Jason finished before the signal fizzled and died.
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"Hey Shining." Dash said as she entered his tent with a groggy Jason in tow. "Things going alright?"
"Yeah, I guess. A griffin came kinda close to camp but we took him out." The general stared at Jason for a moment. "What happened to you?"
"Ugh. I couldn't really sleep last night." Jason sighed. "I'm just--worried, I guess. Usually things are in my han-hooves, and if they go wrong it's my fault because I was there and something went wrong. But here, I order the thing and it's up to Eravel to adapt. I'm not saying he's not up to it, but I'd rather be there."
"Best part of my job right there." Shining said sarcastically, looking over at Cadance. "She says she's happy that I'm not involved, takes the risk out of things and all." His wife frowned. "But hey, I'm good at what I do, right? No food shortages, no problems with the other armies, I'd say it could be worse."
"You do all that?" Dash asked. "I half expected I'd find a pile of doodles laying around at some point here."
"Ah." Shining pulled open a drawer. "Not much of a stack, but you know." He tried to close it, before Jason shoved a hoof into the opening.
"Oh no, you're not getting off that easy." Jason floated out a few pieces of paper before Shining could stop him, and immediately broke out into laughter. "These are great, I can almost tell what they are!" Jason yelled, flipping through pictures of unidentifiable things.
"I'm no good at drawing, what did you expect?"
"I dunno, the lack of an attempt?" He passed the papers to Dash, who transferred a rough half of them to Cadance. There was another set of uproarious laughter before the two mares calmed themselves, a task that was made harder by the shade of crimson on Shining's muzzle.
"Honey, what are these supposed to be?"
"That one was of you, actually." Shining replied with a smirk, drawing a giggle from his wife.
"I'm glad you represented my beauty so well, I think."
"Oh shush, I was bored." She flipped through a few more.
"You must've been really bored." Shining struggled for a moment to come up with a response before Jason interjected.
"Hey, I know I'm usually the goofball around here, but what's the plan in place for actually moving on the city?"
Shining quickly sobered, putting a hoof to his chin in thought. "I only have vague actions ready, but most of those were in case of mass discovery. We can easily move on the city overnight, even in a couple hours if need be, but I'm honestly not sure how well we could do that without a huge number of casualties. So that insurgency plan that you had is pretty important, even if it only results in a lot of dead griffins."
"As cold as that is to hear." Cadance added.
"The thing is though, if it does work," Dash continued Shining's monologue, "The work on our part will be small or nonexistent. But like Jason's said before, it really is a long shot."
"How's communication worked so far?" Shining asked, sitting back down in his chair and stowing the doodles.
"Pretty well, I'm a little worried that the further he gets, the less it'll come through. But since we're on a hill and he's, well, down there, hopefully there won't be a problem." Jason said with a sigh, shifting his weight.
"Yeah, we can only hope. But you seem to work through most things that come up, if Windforge was any clue."
"The thing was though, they were expecting us to let them escape and get the hostages back safely. We don't have that here, and chances are, they've got their best soldiers defending the Capitol. I mean, what have they got to lose there?"
"Good point, there's nothing stopping them from going all out." Jason went a little pale, before he slapped a hoof to his forehead.
"I have to contact Eravel, hold on." He turned on the walkie talkie and started to speak. "What's the situation with weapons over there, Eravel?"
"Hold on a sec." Came a whispered response, followed by some clanging and rumbling. "Just fine. Better than fine, actually. The old weapons factory's still here, abandoned as usual."
"A base of command and we're armed to the teeth." Came a voice from one of the other griffins, followed by a few quiet cheers.
"Oh, and the time of the uprising, although this is obviously subject to change, is tomorrow at two, assuming we can pull support that fast."
"Have you pulled any yet?" Dash asked, biting her lip nervously.
"Some, but only from a part of the slums and the area right around where we are right now. But even if we just control the semi abandoned part, well, it's a maze around here."
"So at the very least troops would be tied up..." Jason finished, staring at the ground in thought. "Okay, I'll check back later, thanks for the update."
"Sure thing, I'll keep this on." Jason heard a few hushed orders from Eravel as he turned the walkie-talkie back off and returned his attention to the group.
"Tomorrow, that seems a little fast." Shining said, furrowing his brow.
"Yeah, but it's all we have to run off of." Dash replied, sighing. "I'm with you Jason, I'd rather be out there." They lapsed into silence, before Jason eventually spoke up.
"Where's Evening?" He asked, gesturing to the open bunk.
"She left, said something about trying to make a few friends or something. Probably hungry, I assume." Shining replied, taking a glance at Cadance who had managed to keep a neutral expression.
"Guess we might as well go find her." Jason mumbled. "Anything to get my mind off this mission." He turned and walked outside, slowing his pace to allow Dash to catch up. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, briefly looking at the wing hung around his neck.
"You really like that thing, huh?" Dash asked, her smile wavering slightly.
"I already told you I did, Dash. Besides, even if you did give me something disappointing I wouldn't love you any less." He was met by a hug, slightly putting him off balance as Dash tried to walk along on two legs.
"I'll never know why I'm so insecure when it comes to you."
"It's probably because I'm so charismatic."
"Oh yeah, that must be it." She replied, poking at him with a hoof.
"We have to unload our stuff." Jason said offhandedly as they passed by their tent, the buggy still outside. A low rumble emanated from inside, followed by a muffled feminine groan.
"I think I know where Evening is." Jason said, deadpan. "That mare, my god."
"Hey, it passes the time, right?"
"Yeah, I guess." He walked around to the front of the buggy, looking in through the entrance at what had become a pile of random junk, with a hoof sticking out towards him. Jason sighed and grabbed the hoof with his magic, pulling out Evening with another cascade of things as she dangled from what had turned out to be one of her back hooves.
"I wasn't going through your stuff if that's what you're wondering." Her forehead lit up as she tried to free herself, to no avail. "Okay fine I was, now let me down!" She yelled, a slight blush forming as blood rushed to her head.
"I dunno, should I?" Jason asked, looking at Dash.
"Nah, I don't think so."
"But-" She yelped as Jason let go and she hit the ground. Evening rubbed her head and looked up at Jason, before sighing. "Sorry, I was just kinda bored."
"Yeah, I know the reeling."
"I think I need a new disguise." She said after some hesitation.
"How come?" Jason asked, pulling the changeling to her hooves and walking inside.
"Cuz I was chatting with these two officers and they just kept staring at me. They were kinda mad and maybe a little scared, I dunno. But how can it be that obvious, hardly any ponies know what I look like!"
"Those officers saw you I think, you know, while you were kinda insane..." He paused. "Anyway, they've probably blown this completely out of proportion by now." He went back outside, returning with the TV and Xbox. "We're probably playing this, right?" He asked, setting down the equipment.
"Yeah." Evening said, starting to get visibly excited.
"So how'd the rest of the love gathering go?" He asked, connecting the wires.
"Meh, I flirted with this one stallion for a while, but I think he was a colt cuddler or something, because I wasn't getting much in the way of response. Or maybe he was just dense. Anyway, this one stallion seemed to take to me before his mare friend came over."
"And then there were the officers, got it."
"You're really good at picking targets, Evening." Dash pointed out with a giggle. "Seriously, the bad luck involved there..."
"Oh, shut up! I've only impersonated a few ponies before, but they've all been real. That's the thing, I've got to make the relationships, and normally I just start out with them."
"It's weird talking with you, with your point of view and all." Dash commented, as Jason blew off a wire connection and plugged it back in.
"Well in a way you ponies are kinda like food, so..."
"You're not going to make any friends like that, Evening."
"Well that's the problem, it's hard to change how I think, especially when most of that was engrained by the hive mind."
"Ah." Jason turned on the TV, bringing sound into the sudden silence.
"Here Dash." Jason started, handing her a stack of games. "Pick one."
"Wow, you found all these?"
"Yeah. Mostly in that one big stack." He turned on a controller. "I never really looked at who's this was, maybe I'll recognize the name or something."
"Well yeah, they're our accounts."
"We made those, but there should be others." He went down a list, his expression quickly turning from one of boredom to one of confusion. He went down a few more options and started to break out in laughter.
"What?" Dash asked, looking at him strangely.
"I think this is Ben's Xbox!"
"Who?"
"My friend!"
"So why's that so funny?" She asked, still confused.
"Because he loved this thing, it's just ironic." He wiped an eye. "Oh my god. Whatever, let's just play this thing, there's nothing we can do to send it back, as far as I know."
"Fine, how about that Nazi Zombie thing?"
"Oh, that should be fun. May as well start from the beginning though." He cracked open the Call of Duty: Black Ops case and slid the disk in. "This should be interesting."
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"Jason." Eravel said quietly over the headset.
"What?"
"What's the best way to hide a body?"
"Uh, well that depends. I'm not an expert here, but I guess you could bury it somewhere with already tilled up dirt?"
"Okay, I can do that."
"You want to tell me why you need to hide a body?"
"Well we had to move through a security checkpoint, and this griffin wouldn't stop asking questions, so we kinda...killed him."
Jason muffled his laughing, although he knew it was nowhere near enough. Then another thought came to his mind, and he sobered. "You're still under cover, right?"
"Yeah, it was just one griffin, no big deal."
"You say that like you've been doing this for years."
"Sorry."
"I'm just joking with you, it's no big deal."
"Okay then, we're getting together a fair number of griffins that believe us, although it's nowhere near what we need. Although Ripper over there says he has connections here."
"That's his name?!" Dash yelled, "Where have we been?"
"No, that's just his nickname. Not that we know his real name..."
"Why Ripper?"
"No one really knows."
"Alright..." Jason paused, not sure what to say. "Contact me if things get crazy, I guess."
"I know, the usual." His voice cut out.
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"Evening, we should sleep." Jason said as their game ended, putting his controller to the side.
"Yeah, okay."
"What? You're just going to go like that, without some sort of fight?" Dash asked back, a look of disbelief on her face.
"Well yeah, I'm tired. I'm not as hungry as before at least, thanks Dash."
"Uuh, you're welcome?" She sighed. "It always makes me feel like I'm cheating on Jason when I give you love."
"But it's just from friendsh-"
"I know, but still."
"Sorry, I guess? Anyway, I'll just get going, I'm a little tired myself."
"Alright, see ya." Jason said as she left, turning back to Dash with a slight smile. "It's a good thing we know other people, you might get tired of just me all the time." He got up and slid off his saddlebag before moving into bed.
"You're feisty tonight, Jason." Dash said with a smirk, before moving to climb in next to him. "Wait crud, I have to take this thing off." She tugged at the hoodie, unable to slide it over her head. Jason chuckled and pulled it off with his magic, before floating her into bed. "Aah, Jason!" She yelled, before he let her drop, wrapping her in his arms as she hit the bed next to him.
She poked at him a few times before settling down and hugging him back, giggling again as he fell asleep a few minutes later. It always amazed her how he could just pass out like this. But it didn't matter too much, they had a big day tomorrow, but whether that was good or bad, well, she couldn't know for sure.