The World Today

by Dracarion

S1E02 Fragment - Part 2

According to Plan
By Dracarion

Griffon Lands, Kingdom of Marrl III, Shimmer Ridge, 1011 NB

Across from where the young unicorn stood was the spot where the infamous Battle of Shimmer Ridge would rage. He knew this. He also knew that the ponies about to be involved would be victorious. That’s why he was here now, even with his group only being given the order a mere quarter hour ago. He looked through his binoculars at the group approaching the ridge itself; a full battalion of ponies were approaching a few dozen griffons. With just those figures, the ponies would have a quick and conscience victory here. However, the problem was the griffon heavy weapons in the crag below where he stood, and while not many, they were the key support for their ambush. His orders: Eliminate the heavy nest.

Dusty stood a few feet away, his green pelt blending slightly with the green shrubs around him. “Do you know now why we do this, knife boy?”

“Yeah, I know Dusty.” He said, returning his binoculars to his pack and straitening his black coat. He turned to face Dusty, a sick grin on his face. “Fun.”

Dusty sighed. “You’re good at whatcha do, knife boy, I’ll give ya that much.” He turned to where a few other ponies stood, a mix of all three races were ready to go. “Alright!” He barked, causing everypony there to turn and face him. “We’ve heard that there are maybe a dozen feather-heads in there about to tear the ponies a new one. Well, as always, make your peace with your god, cuz we’re goin in to the hornet’s nest in,” he checked the makeshift sundial he’d setup, “five.” One pegasus kept staring at him, an expectant look on his face. “What do you want, cloud head, a buckin’ moral boost? Pray and get ready to act.” And hope to hell that Luna watches your bucking ass. The pegasus shrunk under the sudden lashout from his leader. So far, only one colt hasn’t flinched from me on day one and he can’t be more that sixteen, where as this cloud head’s gotta be nearly thirty!

After five minutes of mumbled promises and a few ponies writing, they formed up near the mouth of the cave upon which they had been standing earlier. “Alright,” he muttered barely loud enough for the group to hear him, “here’s the plan.” He motioned to Carver. “Knife, give us a distraction.” He turned to the other unicorn in their group, who was wearing bits of griffonic armor. “Eyes, tell us when to go then give ‘em all ya got.” He turned to the other earth pony in his command; a large red apple adorned his flank. “Rope, I’m just gonna hope we’ll need your skills. And cover your Luna forsaken mark.” Finally he turned to the new pegasus of the group. “I’m gonna say right here and now that I don’t care what your name is, you’re now Wings. Wings, just go in there and beat those feather-heads until they surrender. I don’t know what you’re good at, but we’ll see soon.” He turned back to the opening. “Go.”

I’ve heard, Carver thought to himself as he prepared for his role, that the first casualty of a battle is the plan. With that thought, he merged into the shade of the overhang and headed into the cave. A few griffons inside, eliminate.

Shadow walking is not teleporting, though the laypony will call it that, rather it is closer to, and by most is considered a lesser form of, dimension walking, in which one immerses themselves into a shadow, and can move swiftly through it. However, its ease of movement is based on the darkness of the shadow; a faint shadow is like walking in snow, uphill, for miles, where as in a dark shadow, it’s like skating on ice. And the entire inside of the cave was a dark shadow.

He slipped inside, quickly scanning the interior of the cave. Nine feather heads total, eight silhouetted by the cave mouth, and one near a second entrance, holding an assault rifle. With that he’d found his distraction, materializing and bringing a rock down onto his head. The griffon splattered Carver, who wasn’t expecting quite that big of mess. He suddenly tasted… vanilla?

-- - - --- -

Equestria, Chargecago, Home of the Night Strikers, 1020NB

The grey unicorn stood there coated in sticky ivory spots, a remnant of the horror he’d just let loose on the melted ice cream with the milk as his mind had wandered. “Damn it.” He muttered, before he scooped up the flattened container in his magic and dropped it into the trash. As he cleaned and put away the remaining groceries, his mind wandered to the noises coming from above him. “Well, it is their house.” He said to himself, as an exceedingly loud moan drifted down the stairs. He contemplated his next move as he put the last box away. The noises from the two mares’ room had gotten faster, and louder. “I~~I’ll leave them alone.” He stated decidedly as he pulled his keys from his coat pocket.

- --- --- ---

He’d been driving for about twenty minutes when he spotted a car going off to his right that made his fur stand on end. There was something familiar about it, and it wasn’t the car itself; nor was it immediately that he recognized the mare driving. It was a magical signature in the car, his signature. He clicked on his blinker and turned, intent on following his new found prey.

“Command, access, phonebook, Shiny, call.” He said, watching as the window display changed with each command, until an icon of a hoofset was displayed indicating that the call was being placed. Carver noticed he was heading towards the highway during his pursuit, and definitely wanted to let his ‘friends’ know that he could be late getting back. He wasn’t surprised when the fell through to voice-mail. He took a corner as he listened for the beep. “Hey Shiny, just wanted to let you know that I’m chasing down my coat, and I’ll be back later tonight, or at least I should be.” He bumped a button his phone, ending the call. He found himself on the highway, the signs indicating that he was heading towards Canterlot. He kept his eyes on the old black GTO he’d been following, knowing that the orange and purple mare inside had his coat.

As he drove, his mind wandered back to the cave.

- - -- ---

Griffon Lands, Kingdom of Marrl III, Shimmer Ridge, 1011 NB

The young unicorn stood in the darkness, panting almost euphorically. It had been eight on five, and it was nowhere near a fair fight. Of the eight griffons that were in there originally, only two remained breathing, and they were barely doing that. It had been far from one sided though, as Eyes now was Eye, and Wings’ namesakes were on opposite ends of the room both from him and each other. Ever with those setbacks, all five members of the group were not only alive, but could walk out on their own.

“Hey, Knife, what say we even the odds a little, huh?” Dusty said, pointing a green hoof towards the artillery positioned before them.

Carver nodded eagerly, hopping behind one of the large cannons. They know both sides were waiting for this signal, but for different reasons. They pointed two cannons, and fired them towards the griffon ambushers. They were both sure that somewhere, hearing the blast, the ambush lead was giving a moral boost to his troops. Dusty turned the other cannons to face into the cave. Rope had gathered Wings’ wings, and helped the flightless pegasus out. After all but Carver and Dusty were gone, Dusty turned to his ‘friend’.

“No witnesses, no evidence. Got it?” Dusty asked. Carver nodded, starting to turn the remaining cannons to point into the cave. “Good, go to work.” With that Dusty departed, knowing that his orders would be carried out. Carver tied the fuses for the cannons together, and ran one long fuse to the mouth of the cave before trotting over to the ‘survivors’.

“Sorry about this.” He redrew the wicked dagger he had become infamous for using. “Orders and such.” He made one quick slashing motion across both ‘prisoners’ before resheathing his knife. He lit the fuse and darted from the cave. The meet point was a short distance away, in broad daylight. He had just arrived at the meet point, where Rope was attempting to save Wings’ wings, when there was a series of blasts behind him, and a huge fireball rose out of the cave.

- - ------ -

Equestria, Intercity Highway, Roughly Manehatten, 1020NB, 1:30 AM

Carver realized that he’d been driving for nearly two and a half hours now. Judging by the fact that she was still on this road, he could only guess of two locations where she could be heading, either Clouds Fall or Canterlot.

-- -- - -- - -

Equestria, Canterlot, Palace Gardens, 1020NB, 4:00 AM

Carver was grateful for his shadow walking abilities at the moment as he followed the orange mare who had possession of his coat. She walked over to a particular tree and sat down. He started to follow her into its shadow, but stopped when he heard her talking to somepony. Unfortunately because of the distance he was following her by, he’d missed the first part of the conversation, and was straining to hear what he could now.

“…But yeah, I got this since I was here last month.” She said, running one hoof down the scale-covered sleeve of the coat. “I don’t really like it all that much though, as it fits kinda tight over my wings and binds when I drive.” She cast a quick glance around, before reaching out and lovingly touching the tree. “I’m sorry about what happened, I really am. I was just… We were… I…” She was quaking, but from where he was watching, he couldn’t see the tears that ran down her cheeks. She calmed after a minute, stood and stretched. “Well, it’s been a good visit,” she paused to wipe the trails from under her eyes, “but I gotta run. See ya next month.” And with that, she turned and trotted away from the tree….

…and right into Carver. She leapt back, wings flared and a look of panic on her face. He stepped forward and simultaneously, she stepped back. “Hello again.” He said, both of them stepping again, Carver now standing within the tree’s shadow. “I take it you remember my promise…” he seemed to vanish into smoke, just to reappear beside her, his front hooves wrapped around the top of her outstretched right wing. “…but with you it wouldn’t be any fun.” He twisted her wing up and out of the way, exposing the flesh underneath. A scar ran down her side about the length of her wing. “Your avia complex was injured during the war. In fact, were it to be intact, you would be begging me for anything I wanted, right now, just for me to stop.” He grinned and released her wing. “But we don’t have to go into unpleasantries, just gimme my coat back.”

“Alright,” Scootaloo said, “on one…” her phone chose that exact moment to ring. “One second.” Only one of four ponies should be calling her, and the name displayed definitely wasn’t one of them.

- - --- -- --

Equestria, Clouds Fall, Abandon Warehouse, four minutes earlier

Dawn was freaking, literally. “Ungrateful! Inconsiderate! Unfathomable!” She shook her head, trying to get a clear though through. When her creation had bolted, he’d clocked her good, leaving her laying there. She’d tried to find him inside the warehouse, but found that he’d already smashed out a window to escape; he’d also trashed half her library she’d built up here. She finally looked at the clock on the office wall. It was nearly four in the morning.

“Well, Dawn, only one thing to do.” She reached into a drawer, a look of determination on her face as she pulled a revolver. She set that on the desk surface and pulled a phone from further back. “It’s time to call in a favor.”

“Hello?” She heard a voice answer.

“Scoots?” Dawn’s voice was fraying.

“Yeah?”

“Oh man, Scoots.” Dawn fell back into her desk chair. “I bucked up. I really bucked up. Bad.”

To be continued

/*A/N: Yeah, a 4th dimensional chapter, but it's mostly for the backstory on Dusty and why he's going to react how he does (sorry if I spoiled anything for anypony.)