The Flight
Leaning against the wall to his right, Shining Armor sighed. He hadn’t pursued a military career to get caught up in politics and backroom business deals that could or could not possibly result in his own death. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna, OR the multi-billion bit company that she had practically started by allowing some know-it-all scientist ponies access to the Sulacolt and all of her crazy, hyper-advanced technology.
A gruff, crackled male voice came through the elevator intercom, interrupting his thoughts. “Bridge to Captain Armor!”
Smashing a button on the wall to his left, Shining Armor said, “I’m here, Hoofer. What’s up?”
“Just wanted to let you know that we broke orbit as soon as your dropship came aboard. Our week-long voyage has officially started!”
Shining Armor winced at the last sentence. “It’s gonna be a long week, Hoofer. I was told we didn't get enough unicorns for a magic barrier of any grade. Can we improvise?”
“Uuum, that’s a negative, sir. The only thing between us and space is the hull.”
He sighed. “So if an asteroid hits us, we’re pretty much bucked?”
“Well, it’d take a pretty big rock to even dent this filly’s hull, but we’ve still got some guns on this mare. Any rock big enough to do some damage we can just blast to bits.”
“Good to know.”
“Hey, I bet we could just blast the entire colony from orbit and not have to risk a combat drop! What about that?”
“Nope.”
“Aw, come on! Why not?”
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “Are you seriously questioning me, Hoofer?”
The voice stuttered and quickly replied, “Wha- ab-ad-aba- NO, sir! No, absolutely not, sir!”
The elevator stopped, opening up to a large recreational room with a variety of equipment, ranging from training weights to intricate workout equipment. All were employed by four loud, obnoxious, and arrogant white pegasus colts. Said four colts stopped their little party and turned to see who dared to disturb them.
“Damn right. Armor out.” He hit the intercom button again and walked out into the recreational room.
As the four colts scrambled to attention, one of them shouted, “Officer on deck!”
Shining Armor ordered, “At ease!”
A second colt trotted forward. He asked suggestively, “So did our five ‘specialists’ get on board nice and safe and sound?”
Shining Armor walked past him. “Yes, and you’re now forbidden from going on deck five.”
A third colt burst out laughing. “I told you not to ask, Nag!”
Nag spun around, grinning. “Hey, buck you, Steed! You’re the one who said you’d screw ‘em so much they’d get a week of sleep NATURALLY!”
Shining Armor groaned. “Okay, ALL of you, deck five is off limits! Do I make myself clear?”
Nag tapped a hoof to his chin. “Gee, I don’t know, sir, all these decks and levels suuure do look the same.”
A fourth colt, noticeably larger in size, stepped in. “Nag, maybe it would be wise to NOT antagonize the captain?”
Nag gave a small laugh. “Aw, don’t worry, Applesnack, our ol’ man here’s just playin’ us,” he turned to Shining Armor, “Aint that right, ‘old man’?”
Shining Armor maintained his poker face. “No, I’m not.” He walked past the four colts and towards an exit that lead into another corridor. “Applesnack.”
The colt looked at his three friends, shrugged, and sprinted to catch up to Shining Armor. “Yes, sir?”
“You shall accompany me to engineering.”
“Of course, sir.”
Seeing that the captain and his new assistant had their backs to them, Nag looked at Steed. He made an invisible “five” in the air with his hoof, and started air-humping. Steed snickered and nodded.
Shining Armor made his way to a stairwell and descended. “Did we get those canisters of CN-20?”
“Yes we did, sir. Seven of them. Along with those automated synthetics for remote distribution.”
Shining Armor sighed in relief. “Okay, did anything happen while Cardinal and I were gone?”
Apple Snack stuttered, caught off guard by the question. “Um, well-”
Shining Armor interrupted and demanded, “What happened, Snack?”
“Well… there was an accident with one of the power loaders… and a few deaths… were involved.”
Shining Armor stopped on the stairs. “What do you mean ‘a few deaths were involved’?”
Apple Snack gulped but maintained eye contact. “One of our earth ponies thought she could substitute energon for its power supply.” Upon seeing Shining Armor’s expression grow to anger, he hastily added, “It worked really well for, like, eight minutes, but it kinda overcharged and blew up. Dipping into the Sulacolt's enegron stash was prohibited to begin with.”
Turning around and continuing down one more flight of stairs, Shining Armor groaned. “Sweet Celestia, we’re running on a skeleton crew to begin with! What was the damage?”
“A totaled power loader, a dead earth pony, four fire extinguishers- did they tell you that an energon fire is REALLY hard to put out?”
“No, they didn’t. Anything else?”
“Yeah, two unicorns got some really nasty burns trying to put it out, and we lost half a synthetic in the explosion itself.”
Shining Armor walked off the stairs and into a corridor. Trotting past the side rooms, and towards the noise of several ponies shouting, he asked, “You lost ‘half’ a synthetic?”
“Yes, sir.”
After a brief pause, he asked, “Which half?”
“Well… he ain’t sayin’ much.”
“And the half that does?”
“Violently blown to bits and then melted by the heat.”
They walked out into a giant, circular room. At the center was a massive, transparent sphere that made a constant humming noise. White bolts that looked like lightening coursed through the sphere and the two tubes that held it in place, one from the ceiling and one directly below it. Terminals, machinery and a mass of shouting ponies manning said devices littered the chamber.
“Output levels are in the green!”
“Donner, you reading a 5% increase in the energon siphons’ efficiency?!”
“Who took my sandwich?!”
“Who the buck brought a sandwich in here?!”
Shining Armor drew in as much air as he could, reared up, and unleashed the Royal Canterlot Voice. “EARTH PONY TECHNICIAN KLEIN, REPORT TO ME NOW!!!”
All of the shouting stopped. Everypony turned to see Shining Armor standing before them, wearing a glare that could freeze hell itself. Slowly, a light blue, male earth pony revealed himself as he slowly trotted towards the captain of the guard.
Sweat rolling down his face, the technician slowly said, “Earth pony Technician Klein… reporting, sir.”
Shining Armor maintained his hell-freezing glare. “You know why I’m here?”
Gulping, Klein began to tremble. “Y-yes, sir.”
"You broke my only rule."
"Yes, sir."
“What do you think I’m going to do to you?”
“I-I d-don’t know, s-sir.”
“I’m going to flay you alive,” he leaned closer towards Klein’s face, horn beginning to shine, “With my MIND!”
On cue, a purple aura shot out of his horn and enveloped Klein’s face. His eyes went wide with horror as his pupils dilated. He opened his mouth, attempting to scream, but was met with silence. He just stood there, shaking violently.
After a few more seconds, Shining Armor ceased his punishing, halting his magic. The aura surrounding Klein’s face dissipated, and the earth pony collapsed, continuing to shake as he began to drool.
"Let that be a lesson to ALL of you! You were hoof-picked by Celestia and Luna themselves for this assignment! You buck up, I buck YOU up!" Shining Armor turned around and began to trot back. He stopped briefly and looked back at the group of now terrified ponies. “Somepony take him to medical.”
“Medbay, this is Earth Pony Technician Chambers. I’m bringing in ‘Klein’. He’s gonna need your help… no, I don’t know what’s wrong with-”
Memories. Memories of boot camp, memories of being a private, memories of mechanical training and practice, memories of promotion, memories of horror and death. Icing on the cake, she was learning all of this knowledge in her sleep. Fluttershy had learned her new education through the eyes of many soldiers, the best of the best. As her current memory of quickly repairing an APC in the heat of combat against a changeling nest ended, things began to fade into her next memory.
She had experienced pain; she had experienced fear; and she was slowly learning that the victorious are the ponies willing to do absolutely anything.
And Cardinal was monitoring all of it.
She looked up from her seven screen terminal at the sound of the door sliding open. “Hello Specialist Nag, Specialist Steed.”
Nag trotted over to the stasis pods, while Steed pranced over to Cardinal.
Nag calmly said, “Always so formal, Cardinal.”
Steed leaned against Cardinal’s terminal. “Yeah, Cardinal, you should loosen up a bit.”
Cardinal ignored the poor attempt at flirting. “Do you two require anything?”
Nag started looking over the mane five. “Nah, I’m good. Just wanted to meet the new recruits.”
Steed slyly remarked, “Weeell, I am feeling a might stressed out.” He leaned closer to Cardinal. “Maybe you could help me relieve that stress.” Denied by his own attention span, he became intrigued by the videos that were playing on Cardinal’s terminal. “What’re these? Some kind of first pony shooter?”
Nag halted his goggling at the five mares and turned his head towards Cardinal. “You play Coltari?”
Cardinal shook her head. “Negative, I am monitoring the memories being played.”
Steed cocked his head while trying to identify the video before him. “Who’s memories?”
She answered, “A variety of the best soldiers that Equestria has seen, mostly Captain Shining Armor’s.”
Nag popped up to Cardinal’s left, trying to see the screen. “Holy shit, are you serious?! Our old man’s past is being used to bucking educate these green eggs?!”
Cardinal didn’t bother to look up. “Yes, that is correct. Why does this interest you more than your fantasies of mating?”
Steed laughed, “Nag might be shallow, but he’s not THAT shallow!”
Nag pouted. “Because the old man never talks about his past, that’s why.”
“Ah. Your curiosity has overcome your primordial urge.”
Rolling his eyes, he said, “Sure, whatever. Where’s our old man’s memory what-not?”
Cardinal tapped her hoof on a screen. “This was a strike ops mission that took place four years ago."
"We hooked up with Armor almost seven years ago." Nag asked, "Was this when we were presumed KIA?"
Cardinal nodded. "You are correct. This was two months after the attack on Fort Delta, and thus, two months after central intelligence labeled all soldiers stationed there KIA."
Pushing the extremely unpleasant memories out of his mind, Nag asked, "So, was this the first mission you two shared?"
"That is correct."
Steed scoffed, "How romantic.”
Maintaining her monotone, she corrected him. “On the contrary, Specialist Steed, our meeting was under hazardously strenuous conditions.” She pressed a few buttons. “You may view the memory for yourselves.”
He was running down a street. Bullets whizzed by him and struck the pavement. Suddenly, an abnormally large explosion hit somewhere close to his left side. He was propelled into the air. Nag and Steed winced at the first pony perspective of his skull smashing into the concrete. Shining Armor couldn’t move. The only audio was a high pitched ‘ringing’ sound. He began coughing.
“On your hooves, soldier! We’ve got to move! NOW!”
He began moving. The ringing still fogged his hearing, and his vision was clouded, Shining Armor looked around. Rubble, part of a building set ablaze, and two earth ponies wearing helmets and some sort of padded clothing lay sprawled out on the ground in a pool of blood. He heard somepony shout, “Covering fire!” as said pony began shooting.
He looked to the left; a white pegasus colt was helping him up.
“Holy shit, is that THE Commander Sprinkles?!”
“Shut up, shut up! I wanna see this!”
Shining Armor yelled in between coughs, “What the hell happened, sir?!”
Commander Sprinkles grabbed him with his forearms as he staggered around the corner of the building. “Bucking zebra shit stains used goddess damned CN-12 on us!” He set him down next to a dumpster behind the building that was ablaze. “Half our team’s either dead or coughing up their own bucking lungs by now!”
He heard a gunshot, a very loud gunshot, followed by a female shout, “Sniper!”
He looked to the right, where the two bodies were. A unicorn in the same uniform came scrambling around the corner, almost tripping over the dead, and slammed her back against the wall. “There’s a sniper on the roof of the theatre!” She began coughing violently. “I think he got me!” She held up her right forearm; the top half was completely gone, replaced with a bloodied pulp. “Son of a bitch.”
Commander Sprinkles muttered, “Little shit stains were herding us like bucking cattle!” Some sort of pack landed in front of the unicorn. Shining Armor looked to the left to see the commander pulling out a syringe from his backpack. “If that horn of yours still works, wrap up your arm! I’ve got to slow my own infection with this!”
Shining Armor looked back at the unicorn, who started coughing up blood. She clenched her eyes shut, concentrating. That only resulted in her coughing more violently and losing even more blood. Gasping, she rasped, “Buck. Can’t. CN-12’s already got me.” She looked at Shining Armor. “What’s your name, soldier?”
“Lieutenant Shining Armor of the Second Strike Ops Team, ma’am.”
She spat out greenish tinted blood. “Well, Lieutenant Armor, can you still do magic?”
A male voice being broadcasted over some sort of speaker interrupted them. “YOU ARE BEING SURROUNDED! SURRENDER THE DSM AND WE WILL ALLOW YOU TO LIVE! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO COMPLY!”
“Yes, ma’am," He answered. "I was only exposed to a small amount of the gas.”
She picked up the pack with her mouth and tossed it to him. “I’m gone anyway. You might as well use it.”
Shining Armor looked down at the pack and then back up at the female unicorn. “But ma’am, what about you?”
She shook her head. “I’ve got three minutes tops.” She began coughing again. Grabbing her stomach, she vomited a blood shot, pulpy, greenish liquid on herself. Gasping, she managed, “I’m only good for a meat shield now.”
“YOU HAVE FIFTY SECONDS TO COMPLY!”
Shining Armor levitated the pack into his own backpack. He heard Commander Sprinkles say, “Right, I just bought myself another five minutes. Antibiotics only slow this shit down. We've got to move fast.”
Sining Armor asked, “What do we do, sir?”
Commander Sprinkles let the now empty syringe fall to the ground. “My wings feel like they’re on fire. I’ve got about ten minutes before I start puking up my lungs and keel over.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small, green box with a folded antenna on its side.
“YOU HAVE FORTY SECONDS TO COMPLY!”
Commander Sprinkles tossed the box to Shining Armor, who caught it with his telekinesis. “You need to get the hell out of here, lieutenant. We’ll-” He and Shining Armor looked at the now dead female unicorn lying in her own vomit. “-I’ll hold them off while you make a break for the Rook LZ.”
Shining Armor turned back to the dead earth ponies. He levitated a shotgun out of one of their mouths. A semi automatic, 12 gauge pistol grip designed for earth ponies and built by Neighland-Yutani.
A very familiar female voice crackled over her host’s ear piece. “Strike Ops 1 and 2, this is Cardinal. I am at Bishop LZ. What’s your location? I can provide air support.”
“YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO COMPLY!”
Commander Sprinkles answered, “Cardinal, this is Commander Sprinkles! The zebras funneled us into the downtown district! They’re still using those jamming beacons; I can’t give you exact coordinates! Closest LZ would be Rook. Can you reposition?”
“Copy that, Sprinkles. I shall reposition. Is the DSM secure?”
“Gave it to your new favorite lieutenant. I’ve got seven minutes before the CN-12 kills me.”
Shining Armor put a hoof up to his ear piece. “This is Lieutenant Shining Armor. I’ve got the DSM and will be making my way to you, Cardinal.”
“YOU HAVE TWENTY SECONDS TO COMPLY!”
“Copy that, lieutenant. Commander Sprinkles, I shall see to it that you receive proper commemoration. Celestia be with you.”
Commander Sprinkles started coughing up blood. “If she were, we wouldn’t be in this shithole.” He slapped Shining Armor on the shoulder. “Don’t lose that box, got it? If you do, all of this will have been for nothing.”
“YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY!”
Shining Armor nodded. “Understood sir, thank you.” He looked at the dead female unicorn. She became encased in a purple aura and was levitated off of the ground. “Here we go.”
He took off. Hell broke loose. Bullets started whizzing by him and made contact with his meat shield. He heard Commander Sprinkles returning fire and shouting, “I’m your target, you sons of bitches! Come get some!”
That drew their fire for a few seconds, enough for him to duck into an alleyway to his right. As he tossed aside his meat shield, he brought out the shotgun that he had picked up and began jumping over fences and cutting through apartment buildings.
A dark blue unicorn with a short, dark mane, accompanied by two brown coated earth ponies with black and yellow 'N' cutie marks, approached the double doors to the royal court room, guarded by two Royal Guards. Upon seeing the trio, they stepped aside. One said, “Her majesty is expecting you.”
She looked to her two escorts. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”
The two earth ponies saluted her and said in unison, “Yes, ma’am.”
The unicorn entered the chamber. She looked up at the sight of Princess Celestia sitting on her throne.
The goddess of the sun frowned. She turned to her guards and said, “You may leave us.”
The white pegasi looked at each other and then at their princess. “But your majesty, wh-”
“Are you questioning my order, soldier?”
They quickly said, “No, your majesty! We’ll leave at once!” The two pegasi quickly scrambled out of the room.
As they left, the unicorn looked up at the princess. She asked in a smooth but serious tone, “You know why I'm here?”
Princess Celestia curtly nodded. “Yes.”
“Then you know what I want.”
“I told your underling that you’d get them.”
“And she told YOU that it wouldn’t work your way.”
“I made it quite clear that it’s your only way of getting them.”
“We’d get a few hours of examination and testing at most, and then they’d die of starvation. With all due respect, your majesty, cutting a pony open and sowing them back up isn’t an easy or cheap process. We'll be wasting time and money.”
“I’m afraid there’s no other way.”
“You know what we’re capable of.”
She rose from her throne. “Is that a threat?”
The unicorn stood her ground. “You gave us the Changeling cocoons; we gave you stasis pods capable of training ponies into soldiers in their sleep, thus doubling the numbers of your current army."
Celestia slowly sat down.
The president continued, "You gave us the Sulacolt; we gave you combat dropships, along with a dictionary full of technological advancements like APCs and Power Loaders. You gave my ancestors gunpowder; they gave you firearms, cannons with the accuracy and precision to shoot a single pegasus out of the sky!"
The goddess continued to stare at the unicorn.
"You gave us those firearms; we gave you the deadliest weapons that the entire WORLD has ever seen! Glass tipped bullets, explosive tipped bullets, weapons capable of automatically targeting anything that moves, sonic landmines charged with enough electricity to decimate the entire bottom half of anypony! I could go on for hours, just giving you a list.”
“I don’t need a history lesson on subjects that I recall as if they were yesterday.”
“Then you know that we are a reliable asset. This is our home too; we have a right to ensure our own safety.”
Princess Celestia sighed, her frustration growing. “You were already told that you’d get them.”
The unicorn exclaimed in exasperation, “And you’re still not comprehending the fact that if you remove their natural instincts, they die!”
The princess gritted her teeth. “That was just a coincidence, an isolated incide-”
The unicorn interrupted her. “That’s bullshit, and you know it!”
Princess Celestia gave the unicorn a glare that would rival Fluttershy’s Stare. “You are the first pony to both interrupt and yell at me in a long time.”
The unicorn continued, ignoring the goddess’s remark. “The Xenomorph needs living hosts to procreate. They need a hive and strength in numbers. We both know this, princess. We ALSO know that the creature doesn’t know how to do ANY of that, if you REMOVE its instincts!”
Attempting to remain calm, Princess Celestia took a long, deep breath. “We don’t know that. Fluttershy’s pet may have just been an exception.”
The unicorn exclaimed, “It didn’t know how to eat!”
She lost her temper. “It was an isolated incident!”
The unicorn challenged her. “And what if it isn’t?! We’ll have wasted millions of bits on building containment zones suitable to withstand their violent biology, risked our state of the art surgical equipment on the embryo removal surgeries, and for what?! Malnourished specimens that can’t even function like they’re supposed to!"
She paused for breath. "And yet you want us to build bioweapons out of them?! You’re asking for an omelet the size of Equestria, and you’re not even giving us fire to cook with! And what if your captain only manages to bring back a single egg?! Or a single creature?! Then you disarm it of its instincts and poof! There goes our ENTIRE project!”
Princess Celestia stated and explained, “I won’t risk the wellbeing of my kingdom for another weapon; if a second outbreak were to occur, it might not be contained as easily as Ponyville. I’ve given you the privilege of playing goddess. You have your orders, now leave.”
The unicorn pleaded, “If you just let us have the specimens as they were naturally-”
“ENOUGH! GUARDS!” An entire company of guards burst into the court from all sides. One half surrounded the princess, while the other half surrounded the mortal. “Escort this unicorn out of the castle! She is not to be allowed on the premises, unless I or my sister says otherwise! Is that clear?!”
“Yes, your majesty!” The guards began to grab the unicorn to remove her.
Her horn lit up and unleashed a shockwave that sent them flying across the room and smashing into the walls. The half that had surrounded Princess Celestia readied themselves for the enemy’s attack.
To their surprise, she turned her back on them. “I’ll take my own leave, thank you very much.”
He burst into a kitchen to see three zebras staring at him. He saw a mother, a father, and a filly about seven years old. The father shot up. “What in the hell-”
Shining Armor focused on the filly. She became encased in his purple aura. “Don’t follow me if you want your kid to live!”
The child was futilely squirming and began crying. “Let me go! Let me GOOO!!!”
The mother jumped up from her chairs and pleaded, “No! Take what you want! Just please, spare my baby!”
“Don’t kill my daughter! Take whatever you want!” The male began to approach Shining Armor. “Take me instead!”
The shotgun was brought up in front of the zebra. “Stay back! Stay back, or I’ll shoot!” He looked back at the door. The shotgun was levitated towards the door handle. He fired one shell, blasting the lock into splinters and pieces.
He looked back at the now crying mother and trembling father. “Now you’re gonna go out there and play dumb. You’re gonna do everything you can to lead them away from my trail.” He levitated the shotgun directly at the filly’s skull. “I swear to Celestia, I WILL end her life if you don’t! You got that?!”
The father shouted, “Yes, yes! We understand! Please, just don’t kill my daughter!” He grabbed his wife by her forearm. “We’re going out there now, see?” They began backing out of the kitchen. “Xenith, do whatever the unicorn tells you to do, okay? Daddy and mommy love you!”
Xenith thrashed and shrieked, “NO! HELP ME, MOMMY!!! DADDY!!! I DON’T WANNA DIE!!! HEEEELP!!!”
Shining Armor turned around and started running through the back yard. He vaulted over the fence and into an increasingly wooded area. “Shut up, kid! If you wanna see your parents again, shut up!”
“LET ME GO!!! LET ME GO!!! LET ME G-” He bashed the pistol grip of the shotgun against her skull.
Shining Armor increased his speed. “Shut up! Just shut up!”
Her shrieks were reduced to whimpers.
“Cardinal, this is Lieutenant Armor! Can you get a lock on my coordinates?!”
“I shall attempt to do so, lieutenant. You require air support?”
“I’ve got the entire goddess-damned zebra militia on my ass! No, I think I’ll be JUST BUCKING FINE!”
“Copy that, lieutenant. I’ve got a lock on your coordinates. Making my way to you now.”
He charged through a wall of brush and came out into a corn field. “You do that!” He looked back at the wooded area. A red stick came into view, surrounded by his purple aura. “Just look for the wild fire!” On cue, he popped the flare and tossed it into the shrubbery, immediately igniting the surrounding area. He turned back and kept running.
He looked down at the now unconscious, bleeding filly which he was still holding via telekinesis. He sighed. “Cardinal, I’ll be bringing a zebra kid on board.”
“Copy that, lieutenant. I see the fire, approaching you from the west.”
He looked to the west. A more primitive variant of the Cheyenne UD-4L was now in view, arms open and making its way towards him. Relief turned to alarm as he saw a rocket fly overhead and detonate against the dropship. He looked back at the partially ablaze forest. Zebra soldiers were swarming out of it and taking shots at him. He returned fire with the shotgun.
He looked back to see the ship spinning around in circles, descending. Cardinal said in her smooth monotone, “I’m taking anti-vehicular fire. Standing by to return fire, lieutenant.”
Still holding the shotgun and zebra, Shining Armor made a mad dash towards the west. The dropship regained its altitude and turned to face the enemy as another rocket flew by the ship, barely missing it.
Shining Armor shouted, “Cardinal! Cleared hot!”
“Roger that, cleared hot.” A barrage of missiles were unleashed; he threw himself onto the ground and covered his ears. The entire earth shook as missile after missile impacted the tree line. A few seconds after the barrage ended, Cardinal stated, “Lieutenant Armor, all hostiles have been eliminated. Please board the dropship.”
He looked up to see the drop ship landing and back to see the entire landscape torn apart, along with its native protectors, who were now strewn about in bits and pieces. Something landed in front of him. He reared back, aiming the shotgun at what turned out to be a zebra soldier, covered in his own blood.
The soldier gasped for air and began coughing violently. Shining Armor looked at the knife strapped to the soldier’s vest. He pulled it out of its sheath with his magic and slit the soldier’s throat. “Copy that, Cardinal.” He paused for a moment, looking at the now blood soaked knife. He stuck the blade back in the soldier’s throat. “Stick around.” He rose to his hooves and looked up to see that the drop ship’s ramp had opened as soldiers ran out.
“Cover him! Move! Move!”
“Spread out!”
“Go! Go! Go!”
Equipped with twin saddlebags and a holstered sidearm, Cardinal emerged from the drop ship and trotted towards Shining Armor. She shouted over the roar of the engines, “Do you have the DSM?!”
The green box was levitated towards the blue earth pony. “I’ve got it, ma’am!”
Cardinal grabbed the box in her teeth and placed it in her saddlebag. “Good,” she drew her pistol, “at’s wo less loose en.” She aimed it at Shining Armor and shot past him. He spun around to see that she had shot a zebra soldier attempting to crawl back to the tree line. She holstered the pistol. “I missed one.”
He looked back to see she had already turned her back on him. “Sweet Celestia, you scared the shit out of me there!” Child and shotgun still in his telekinetic grasp, he walked up the ramp. “What are you gonna do with this kid?”
He heard the ramp close behind him.
Cardinal replied, “We’ll see to it that she’s cared for. Perhaps we can use her in the future." She placed a hoof to her earpiece. "All cleanup teams, this is Cardinal. I’ll be back in twenty. No witnesses, understood? Cardinal out.”
He moved up to the passenger seats and strapped the foal in; he looked back at Cardinal. “So are they going to declare war on us?”
Cardinal moved past him and up to the cockpit. “The entire point of this operation was to prevent a war with the zebras, lieutenant.”
He sat down in the seat next to the filly. “But won’t they be pissed that we flew into their land, massacred their guys, and stole their chemical weapon plans?” He buckled in. “Aren’t we suppose to be negotiating with them?”
She fired up the drop ship’s engines. As they began to ascend, she called back, “Once we give this proof that the zebras are researching chemical warfare to Princess Celestia, the zebras will be politically embarrassed in front of every other power in the world if she decides to go public with this intel.”
They accelerated into the sky. Cardinal continued, “With the fact that developing chemical weaponry is outlawed, they will be more than willing to negotiate a new trading deal with us.”
“Blackmailing them into a bargain won’t be good for a long-term trading agreement.”
The ship rocketed forward, causing Shining Armor to tense. “I agree, lieutenant. But Equestria needs coal now.”
Getting use to the new high speed, he leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and taking deep breathes. Everything began to fade out into a white screen.
Wide-eyed and grinning like idiots, Nag and Steed looked at each other, back at the screen, and then back at each other.
Steed muttered in awe, “Absolutely badass!”
Still grinning, Nag responded, “And we’ve still got six more days of this shit.”
Author's notes: And we're done!...with chapter three! My apologies for the long wait, but for those who have not partaken in the act of story telling, you'll find that writing does indeed take time. (Also, it doesn't help that it takes a week and a half to get a reply from my beta readers)
At 9:31 PM, Central time, Friendly Uncle sent me a PM that gave the green light for launch, the seal of approval, etc.
Now, how about Friendly Uncle's exact words?
"Well this is getting kind of violent. Did Shining Armor just torture a guy with magic? What the heck. XD
It's well done, I was a little confused by the action during the first flashback sequence with Sprinkles. You seemed to use male and female pronouns interchangeably a few times and I wasn't sure who was who. Aside from that it's pretty clear and getting pretty interesting. It's just... very, very dark. Twilight's Brother beating a little zebra over the head with a shotgun was kind of startling. I like that Celestia isn't going into complete tyrant mode here, there's some ambiguity to what she's doing and why she's insisting on lobotomizing the xenos. I like the way you worked in the exposition about Scuttles Jr.
Real curious to see what the girls think about their training when they wake up."
You think THAT was dark? The Moon will be a much darker chapter, one of many, for this is when the plot escalates.
Any and all feedback is welcome, of course. Every like, dislike, favorite, and watch help out. And no, I am NOT saying that just to encourage you to do any of that, thus gaining more attention to the story, THUS stroking my ego... I'm being sincere.
Anyways, The Moon's going to take about another month and a half, so I advise you bunker down. Thanks for participating!
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Like I said, It's about damn time!
Hmm.... long term waiting.... but this is a good read... I do however have issue with how some of the way you have the action written it seems at times like you're implying they're using hands or using their hooves like hands, and I dislike that a lot xP Granted it makes sense with a Unicorn, but the others, not so much.
Also, keep in mind that Shining Armors special talent is barrier magic, I would like to see that detail not be forgotten in your writing.
969785 Are you referring to the shotgun?
I don’t understand why Shining Armor used Mind Flay on that blue earth pony. I was under the impression that it was a mare that decided to use the energon that caused the explosion, and that that mare was killed. Was he just giving a warning to the crew to screw up anymore? If so, why did he call the engineer by name?
Was the "flay you alive with my mind" a reference to Mass Effect 2? i recall a scene in which Liara uses the exact same words that you used.
And now i finally know what happened to Scuttles Jr. Thank you for clarifying that better for me.
971702 In the last chapter, the pony that Spitfire spoke to over the coms completely and totally DISSED the mane five! And THAT('s how Equestria was made) was the straw that broke the pony's back.
Basically, Shining Armor was like, "Oh, you dis ma main force who also has the personal goals of saving my sister? COMPLETE AND TOTAL RECALL."
971966 1. Yes, it's all true.
2. No problem, it's what I do.
972952
Well, that's not really clear. That happened last chapter, we didn't know the rude pony's name, and Shining Armor doesn't say out loud why he's doing it. Were you planning on revealing that fact in a later chapteras a shock?
973351 Erm, well, I admit that the section IS rather minute, but if you're giving the chapter your undivided attention, you'll read Shining Armor tell the mane five and Spitfire that he'll deal with the colt. I admit to making the error of assuming that since the mission was so crucial, he would know the names of his crew members.
973623 Pardon? I can assure you that this isn't some fan made, non-bible cannon, unofficial prequel to Fallout: Equestria.
The only solid things that I drew from THAT universe were the battle saddle and glass bullets (A really fascinating idea, to me). I also made a reference to Xenith, as you'll read in The Flight, but I'd hardly count that.
Armor = badass?
Great chapter, and I appreciate the ETA for the next one.
I agree with the Unc, I had absolutely no idea what was going on at the beginning of the Cpt. Sprinkles bit due to confusing pronoun usage. But other than that, this chappy shines!
That is all.
Journcy Out.
980518 Hmm, yes, now that I see that multiple people are having that problem, I'll just have to do some revising.
973748
Heh... there were some context clues which drew me to thinking otherwise. Its no problem. Besides I can enjoy a story
Great sequel so far, I had been planning to write a crossover but I made Rainbow more of Hudson. Need I explain....
1023661 Well, we could always build a fire and sing a couple of songs.
1023813
Hey....*grabs* Are you done?
1024490 Wooooah, ton of support all of a sudden! Like, favorite, comment, AND a watch! Much appreciated.
1095551 Now you're watching me as well? Thank you!
And yes, you read over it. You'll want to get to the end of the first half of the memory. Right when Shining Armor takes off running while Commander Sprinkles draws their fire.
"He stuck the blade back in the soldier’s throat. 'Stick around'."
I take it as a reference to Predator, am I not correct?
1121312 YES! Finally! Someone caught the reference!
1222445 You're going to need a bigger gun.
Don't worry, I'm still writing. But, it's a slow process, and school has me pretty occupied.
MW2 reference!!!!
Ha that colonial marines reference though