The Howlers' Delight

by Night Striker

Chapter 8

So, here we were in this strange flying contraption. This thing was fast. Well, not as fast as the big metal bird they arrived in, but it was still fast.
Rainbow was trying to keep up with us, and we slowed down so she could climb in.
I turned to Garret. “So, Garret,” I said. He looked up from the glass thing he always plays with. “How does this fly? It doesn’t look like it should.”
Celestia turned and joined us from the side. “Indeed. I have been wondering that as well,” she said.
Garret turned to us and smiled. “Well,” he said. “I don’t know much. All I know is the blades spin at a super fast speed, creating lift, and the tilt of the aircraft works for the speed and direction.” He turned to look back down.
“Hey, what is this thing? It looks awesome!” Rainbow cheered from the edge.
I looked up. She was playing with the thing that looked like a giant “gun”, as the humans called it.
“Rainbow, don’t touch that!” Garret yelled, looking panicked. He turned to look at Jake and Bagel Man. “Lock down those turrets!” he roared, sending them into action, racing to the sides.

        “Grab onto me,” Odigirex said.
        “What?” I asked, unsure of what he was planning.
        “Grab onto me,” he repeated. I grabbed onto his shoulder.
        Suddenly, Odigirex dissolved into shadow and rocketed into the air. Within a few seconds, we were flying at what must have been over a hundred miles per hour over the trees, away from the clearing. I looked at my hand. It appeared to be holding onto a cloud.
        After a few minutes, I adjusted to the speed. Looking forward, I managed to make out a large city resting on a cliffside.
        “That must be Canterlot,” I thought. “It’s a huge city.”
        Odigirex tilted downwards, materializing on a spire. I was still holding onto him, trying to keep balanced.
        “What are we doing?”
        “You wanted information? We’re getting information.”
        “Wait, how are we doing this?”
        Odigirex motioned downwards. “This building is a library. You should be able to find what you need.” He turned into shadow again and flew us into the library window. I noticed that the others had followed us in.
        I looked up at the name of the section of the library we were in. “Starswirl the Bearded,” I read out loud.
        I looked around. Scrolls and books were piled on the bookshelves. There did not appear to be anyone else in the area. I started searching.
        After a few minutes, I found something in a book. A section in the book said something about a unicorn’s theory that emotions could be transferred through universes.
        “This might have something to do with this all,” I said to myself.
        Suddenly, I heard yelling.
“Breaching!
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
“Fire in the hole!”
The door to the section was blown into splinters that showered over me and the Lykosumbra. Once the dust had settled, I saw Garret and the other soldiers standing with their guns at the ready. The Lykosumbra growled and showed their claws, glinting in the sunset light.
        A battle was about to begin.

The helicopter was flying around. When we landed the troops, everyone gathered around as we walked over to Celestia.
“Celestia, Luna,” I said, getting them to turn around and look at me. “I would like to take a look at this library you have been talking about..”
Celestia seemed to think about this for a while before she turned to Luna.
“Lulu, could you take Garret and his soldiers to the ‘Starswirl the Bearded’ section for me? I have to head to day court.”
I heard some soldiers snicker at Luna’s pet name. Luna just sighed and looked at us.
“Come, thou shalt follow us if thou wish to find the section.” And with that she walked off into the castle.
I turned to the soldiers and they just shrugged. I turned around again and we began to walk towards the library. Sky was flying next to me as I played with my iPod, not paying much attention. She was so intrigued by this magical device that she flew into a stone pillar. Needless to say, the soldiers laughed their asses off. I pulled her back up and continued walking again.
As we neared a door with a large book shelf carved into it, I could hear strange voices behind it. Then, I heard the freakiest thing in the world:
I hear Sam!
I turned to the soldiers and they nodded, letting me know that they heard it too. We armed our weapons and stacked up on the double doors. We put a small block of C4 on the door and backed up. The ponies did the same.
“BREACHING! CLEAR, CLEAR, CLEAR! FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
We ran in to see Sam with the Howlers.
Instantly, we all picked our targets and opened fire. The Howlers rushed forward, causing us to back up. They got a few hits on a private, but thanks to our new healing skills, we were able to keep him alive. We began to lose ground ever so slowly as the Howlers kept advancing forward. When we were halfway out of the room, I heard Royal Guards yelling at us from behind for fighting in the sacred section. But when they realized who we were fighting, they immediately drew their spears and joined in to help us fight this strange menace. With the guards’ help we were able to retake the room, but not before Sam and the Howlers began to disappear. I could hear bells going off around the castle as guards raced around, scanning for any more of the Howlers.
I looked around at the now-trashed library section. Then I turned to my soldiers and said the simple phrase:
“Well... Shit.”

I walked in with the girls after Garret and the other Delta soldiers secured the room. Garret was holding his signature ACR and was looking around at the bullet holes everywhere. He turned in time to see Rainbow Dash smash into his chest, causing him to fall onto the ground.
“That was so... AWESOME!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she looked at the ACR. “I totally need to get one of these!”
I chuckled, getting everypony to turn and look at me. “Rainbow, I don’t believe it is wise to have everypony running around with these!” I laughed at how stupid the idea is. Garret cringed and changed into his pony form, teleporting out from under Rainbow Dash. He then turned back into human and looked at me. “I agree, these have turned my world into a warzone...” I was shocked but kept my mouth shut. Well, that was until Celestia stormed in.

Freaking Celestia! We save her sorry-ass library, and then she comes storming in and freaking yells her head off at me for shooting up a couple of books! I mean, I know they’re old, but who doesn’t make any copies!
Apparently her!
“Garret!” roared Celestia, getting me to turn at her again, stopping my walk away from the library towards the helicopter with my soldiers.
“Yes?” I asked in a pissed-off tone, arching an eyebrow.
“Where do you think you’re going, Garret?” she yelled at me.
“Her mouth, I should just shoot it off...” I thought to myself as I turned and continued walking.
“Back to Ponyville,” I said as I continued to the helicopter where the soldiers that couldn’t be pegasi were getting in.
I climbed into the helicopter and sat on the edge, hooking myself up so that I could sit right on the edge and not worry about falling out. Celestia was still yelling at me but thanks to my awesome blocking-out skills and the spinning blades, I couldn’t hear her. I put my hand to my ear, pulled it away and shrugged. Then I turned on the radio connected to my helmet and my soldiers. The pegasi-soldiers all morphed and prepared to launch alongside the helicopter.
“This is your Lieutenant speaking. Let’s head home,” I said as I felt the helicopter lift off the ground in perfect unison with the pegasi.

I watched as the helicopter and soldiers lifted off in perfect unison. I turned to see Celestia teleport away, probably into the throne room. I turned to see Luna looking at the helicopter.
“What are we to do now, Luna?” I asked.
She turned and looked at me. “We follow them,” she said as her royal carriage suddenly landed in front of us. I stared at it with an open mouth and turned to Luna.
“Not even going to ask,” I said as I stepped inside alongside Luna. The chariot shot into the sky and followed the helicopter as it flew over the Everfree Forest. Suddenly, it began rocking side to side as the pegasi soldiers pulled out their guns and formed a “V” formation, flying in front of the helicopter and out of sight. We gasped as we saw why. The turrets on the side of the helicopter opened fire with a sound that can only be described as a ripping noise. We felt the carriage lurch as a large dark needle embedded itself into the chariot.

“I’m breaking a sweat, but it’s alright!” sang the soldiers along with the Skrillex song we currently had playing over the radio. That was, until a large black needle embedded itself into the landing gear of the helicopter right by my leg. Immediately, I jumped into the helicopter and activated the gatling guns.
“All units listen up-” I started, but immediately stopped as a scream came from my left. I turned and saw a soldier with a needle in his arm.
“Medic!” he yelled as he fell being caught by the lucky medic seated next to him.
“Hostile Howler ambush! I repeat, hostile Howler ambush!” I yelled into the mic as both turrets’ ammo belts were loaded. “Pegasi, fly back as fast as you can! The target is going after the Blackhawk.”
I watched as they formed a standard “V” and sped away out of the forest. “Okay, Delta,” I said as the soldiers turned to look at me. “Let’s show them what happens when you mess with the goddamn best.”
Cheers went over the radio as the gatling guns on the side opened fire strafing the forest as the spikes continued to go all around the helicopter.
“Sir,” one of my pilots said over the radio, “We have a carriage behind us with two ponies on it. Orders?”
I stuck my head out of the side that was currently reloading and sighed. “They’ll turn back eventually. How far until we’re out of this forest?” I said over the comms.
“One min, sir, but why is there black smoke over Ponyville?”
Suddenly the spikes stopped as we shot out of the forest airspace. The town wasn’t on fire as much as the forest was. The pegasi soldiers formed back up around the helicopter with the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen.
“You lit a controlled fire correct?” I said into the mic causing one of them to look at me.
“Yes sir. Ten-acre controlled fire.”