The Step

by Pointman

Chapter 3

Author's Note:

Alright, so its been a while since the last update, and honestly this is only part of what i wanted to put up here for you guys, but i wanted to put out at least the stuff that was completed. Also I'm working on getting an editor so hopefully the frequency of these chapters will increase along with the quality (i probably will go back and revise these later) and Chapter 4 will be MUCH longer than the previous chapters. Hope you guys enjoy

Chapter 3

-0102 hours, Port of Grand Lakes, Equestrian Air Naval Base ‘Invincible’, Headquarters of 1st Fleet

-20 minutes north of Canterlot

Admiral Broadside was getting quite tired of this shit. Yet another night of rain and cold in this backwater

posting that passed for the home port of his fleet. The air was heavy with the stench of booze and vomit,

ponies littered the streets from their night of debauchery, the cobblestone paths were slick with mud and

the Admiral silently thanked himself for wearing his combat boots for this weather. Broadside could hear a

familiar tune carry itself through the streets; following it he found what he was looking for.

The Establishment was called ‘The Anchor’, a tad generic for the sophisticated ponies, but it was the

bar of choice for his sailors. He entered to many ponies in the white and blue of the Air Navy and the

dark khaki of the Marines gathered around a white coated pegasus, who was dancing atop one of the

sturdier tables, leading the song.

Celestia, guard and guide the ponies who fly

Through the great spaces in the sky

Be with them always, in the air

In darkening storms and sunlight fair

Oh hear us when we lift our prayer

For those in peril in the air.

Broadside could only smile to himself as the entire bar clapped to the young stallion’s rendition

of the song . He walked over to the crowd, parting it as they realized who the old stallion was.

He came upon the singer, who saluted him despite having collapsed on the floor.

“Mister Typhoon” The Admiral started "You seem to be having a good time i see"

The young commander looked up and smiled "You should join me, Sir"

"Perhaps later, i do however need a word with you, if you are so inclined"

The Commander looked up quizzically and lazily got up on all fours, he turned to his audience

"Excuse me, gentlecolts"

As they walked away the assembled service ponies resumed their revelry. Broadside gave a

small nod to the bartender as the duo made their way to a relatively secluded part of the counter

as they sat down the Bartender produced two bottles of fizzy cider.

“You know?” Started Typhoon “It’s not often that the Admiral of the Fleets buys me a drink...and not the good

stuff either…am I getting promoted, sir?”

Broadside simply took a long drag from his bottle

Typhoon pressed the issue “Worse than that, eh?”

“We’ve been placed on alert, it’s a possible 'Code Black' scenario”

“Code Black?!” Typhoon sat there for a second completely dumbfounded “But the last time they called a Code Black-“

“They’ve never called a Code Black for the Navy” the older stallion corrected

“Do we have a target? Do we have a timeframe? Who is responsible? Has something bad happened already?”

he shot off in quick succession

“Well, to answer your questions young one…in order I might add” Broadside allowed himself a moment

to get his thoughts straight “Canterlot, No, A team from the First Asymmetric Battalion, and not yet no”

The young stallion relaxed slightly “Wait, it’s just one team?”

“Well, it’s believed that this particular team is responsible for that Changeling invasion a while back,

but you didn’t hear that from me…or at all for that matter”

Typhoon took a long swig of his drink to give himself a moment to process that information

“Well that’s something” He stated dryly “so what now?”

The admiral swirled his cider as he worked on forming his response

“Well…we wait, and we respond in kind to aggression. We are also to be ready to respond

to and intercept any large scale threat…so say my orders at least”

“I don’t know Admiral, this seems like over kill to put the whole Navy on alert”

“Well, the new princess, as you know, is a bit of a worrier, I had to talk her out of moving the fleet

directly over Canterlot…so the Air Navy will stand ready to respond to threats as they arise”

“Should have known, Princess Sparkle IS the kind to overreact to a mean stallion who has

missed one too many psychiatric evaluations” He stated without a hint of malice

“You show some respect there Commander; for the position if not the mare…same goes for the Princess”

“Hehehe, oh I’ll show her a position or two”

“You’re pushing it Mister Typhoon”

“No, no, just follow me here for a second Admiral, picture it: a besieged city, a forlorn princess waiting for rescue,

a dashing commander leading a charge of ships with big caliber rifles from over the distant horizon, locked in

pitched combat the dashing commander personally goes and saves the princess form the clutches of the

‘Basket Case Battalion’ in a duel for her life…and her heart…it’s all very ‘storybook’ wouldn’t you say?”

“Leading? You killing me off already whelp?”

“But sir, your death provides the sailors the will to carry on, give 'em motivation you see”

The old war horse managed to let out a mild chuckle “Sounds like quite the tale, I hope to

read it someday, you would have made one damn good wordsmith”

“What can I say? I’m a pony of many talents”

“Just like your old man” Broadside noted with a nudge

“You flatter yourself too much, ya crotchety old bastard”

“Perhaps”

Both Ponies sat in the relative silence at their own end of the bar. Both waited for the music to

pick up and get louder before they continued conversation

“So” Typhoon began “What’s the word on this guy from the 1st?”

“The Princesses aren’t sure yet, he’s supposedly one of their best and I couldn’t get much

more than that. They’re supposedly bringing in a specialist to talk to this guy by tomorrow;

wouldn’t say who but the smart money is on someone who served with him.”

“I thought that the First Asymmetric was re-deployed to forward base ‘Shadow’...deep in the

Equestrian Desert. How the hay could they get somepony here that quick?”

“Good question…but that’s not my concern…We’ve been getting reports from forward

listening posts of movement from the changeling swarm, they’ve been picking up vibrations on seismic scanners”

Typhoon almost dropped his drink “WHAT…Why have we not been alerted!?”

“Watch your tone…I don’t need this info public just yet.” He said as he glanced back

“Well, at first there was no pattern, no large move out, they were moving in half a dozen at a

time, all taking separate routes, staying off the main roads and before you know it”

Broadside slammed his hoof on the bar “2,000 changelings just north of the Equis River”

Typhoon blinked hard, and collected his thoughts before finally finding his resolve

“Alright, so when do we make our move against them?”

“We don’t”

“…what do you mean?”

“Think lad, we can see them, they know that we can see them, normally these guys don’t amass

in such numbers, last time they hit, they snuck in, they get right in your face and then they overwhelm

you…for them to be so open with their movements and it such number is unprecedented”

Broadside turned to the younger stallion “Think lad…you’re their bloody queen, why would you order this?”

Typhoon sat there for a moment, letting his thoughts collect. Putting his tactical mind to work he could only

think of one possibility

“They…they…wanted it to be spotted…to create a big enough threat so that we

must respond…and then you use the confusion to hit your real objective”

“Bingo, make your enemy watch one hoof and hit him with the other…so for now we’re

gonna do nothing; Celestia has been informed and she agrees with my assessment…so for now we wait”

“So what then do we look for, if this isn’t the main attacking force…where do we watch?”

“Honestly…I have no idea, but chances are that they’re gonna focus on Canterlot, so to that end I’ve

station the 7th Marines just across the river as a deterrent but we’ll keep our eyes focused on the

approaches to Canterlot. In the event of attack on the capital we are to move in with all possible

strength to prevent it from falling into the hands of the swarm…assuming the Guard can hold for as

long as it takes us to arrive”

“I’d rather bet on a pile of snow surviving a night in Tartarus”

“Well, to that end, Celestia’s ‘insurance policy’ is assembling in Canterlot for such an eventuality”

“Elements of Harmony?”

“Eeyup, they’ve worked quite well for us in the past…with luck this whole thing will blow over in a week”

“You believe that?”

“Let’s just say that I’ve ordered additional ‘point defense rifles’ fitted to the cruisers…just as a precaution”

“I’ll drink to that, sir”

Broadside took another long swig of his drink, looking back towards the dance floor he noticed a

young mare gazing in their direction, oblivious to the fact that she had been spotted.

“Me thinks you have an admirer” Broadside noted to his young protégé

Typhoon did not turn “She cute?”

“Never said it was a mare did I?”

“You’re funny”

“One of us has to be…and she IS cute”

“Good to know, where is she?”

“Seven o’clock, round table, magenta coat, light green mane”

“Got her” He said as he used the mirror above the bar “Not bad at all”

“I tell ya, if I were a younger stallion-“

“Then the mares wouldn’t be fighting over me as much, and we can’t have that can we, Sir?”

He stated with a sly grin “Now if you excuse me”

Rising from his spot at the bar he walked over to the young mare, leaving the admiral at the bar alone. He took up his glass once more and downed the rest of it, slamming it back on the counter with a satisfying thud. The bartender took notice.

“Need a refill, sir?”

Broadside let out a slight chuckle then pulled a small bag filled with large denomination ‘platinum’ bits out of his uniform pocket and placed it on the counter.

“They don't pay for anything...am i clear” he noted as he replaced his hat back on his head “Make sure that they spend it all”

Leaving the counter he fought his way through the throng of young ponies that crowded the establishment making his way to the exit and walking off into the night.