X-COM Ponies

by Sneaky Breeze

Dreamscape.

Chapter18: Dreamscape.

-Med bay.

It was the second day of Sneaky’s long rest in the Vita-tank. Bubbles danced around Sneaky’s sleeping, floating form as his back injury had nearly fully healed over. A patch of fur ready to grow over the hairless portion of his back where the plasma bolts had struck him earlier.

At that point the door slid open with a hiss that was followed by the rhythmic clop steps of one of the ponies. Rock Fist stepped inside with his Xcom shirt on, the humorously dubbed ‘Pony toga’ since it hid most of his body. His hooves echoed on the sterile metal and linoleum floor of the medical bay as he travelled past the medical beds and over to the room with the Vita tanks, a total of 4 altogether now. But only three were occupied and in use, the empty one was completely dry since no one wanted to waste the healing fluids that went into the tanks when they were in use.

“How is he doing?” Rock asked a nearby nurse as she was also checking on Chavivi in his own Vita-tank. Chavivi’s stump of an arm looking healed in days what would have taken months and looking ready for whatever the next step in his planned healing was.

“Oh.” The nurse looked around and noticed the gray furred pony standing by.

“Your friend will be awake by tomorrow; he’s healing faster than expected,” she said and tapped on a small console pad in front of the tube, knowing what Rock wanted to know since he checked in on Sneaky periodically.
“He is set to wake up tomorrow at around 3 PM.”

Rock nodded and smiled to the nurse. “Thank you very much ma’am”

The nurse smiled down to him, drawn like most of the other personnel on the base to the ponies’ inherent cute look.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” she said while moving onto Jack, whose injury was nearly gone save for a faint scar on his thigh where the plasma round had struck him before.

“Yeah, I promised his family I would keep him safe. And I've known him and his family for many years,” Rock said looking at sneaky floating in the tube of light green liquid.

“So, what’s it like on your world?” the nurse asked as she moved away and took a seat at a nearby desk, not wanting to pass up a chance to talk to a friendly alien. Rock smiled at the welcome distraction, and walked over to the nurse to begin talking.

As the two talked they became very enthralled in their conversation, failing to notice as Sneaky began moving inside of his tank as his body shrank a small amount, loosening his oxygen mask and letting water slowly slip in.

-Sneaky’s subconscious.

Sneaky couldn’t help but smile widely as he lay resting on a beach chair with a large blue umbrella behind him. Before him was a clean beach with crystal clear blue water, above him the sun shining in a clear sky as a nice breeze kept him from sweating too much, it was the perfect day in his mind.

“I love being me,” he said as he slipped on the aviator sunglasses that had been given to him by Chelsea and was about to take a sip of a smoothie on a nearby table with a radio on it when he had a thought.

“Wait a minute,” he said and sat up, looking around him as his blue hair hung around his face as he turned sharply to see where he was. There was no one else within visual range of him and the only thing to keep him company was a radio and a strawberry smoothie, the small toaster sized radio played music but it wasn’t like anything Sneaky had ever heard, it was distorted and the lyrics sounded like gibberish to him. He switched it off with a movement of his hoof and then looked around more, getting out of the chair and stepping into the sand which did not feel warm, despite the sun overhead.

“No, I should be in the med bay….I got hurt,” the Pegasus said when his memory returned to him and then turned to try and look at his back, not seeing any trace of the injury.

“This is impossible.” He said and felt a pang of panic hit him.

“What if I’m in some type of coma!?” Sneaky yelled and began trembling with the fear of his theory. Being trapped within his own mind until his friends decided to pull the plug on him.

“No…let’s just calm down….I'm sure this is just a dream from anaesthetic and we will wake up when it’s over.” The Pegasus felt his eyes grow wide as he came to a sudden epiphany.

“And if that’s true, then I can do anything I want now that I know it’s a dream,” he said and rubbed his front hooves together mischievously with a grin as he took his seat again and focused his mind. A sudden tornado of sand appeared and before Sneaky’s eyes was Chelsea in a very revealing swimsuit that left very little to the imagination stood before him, her red hair glowing in the sunlight as she moved some sunglasses on her face down to wink at him.

“I’m so glad I have a good imagination,” Sneaky said as he felt his mouth water as the mental version of Chelsea strolled over to him, swaying her hips as she smiled, thumbs hooking into the bottom portions of her swimsuit as she prepared to remove them as she travelled closer and closer to the eager Pegasus.

“This is not in any way how a Royal Guard should act but…..Bucking deal with it!” he said and threw his sunglasses up in the air and landed perfectly onto his face. Sneaky then tried to make a smile similar to that of Celestia’s spoiled brat nephew Prince Blueblood, or prince Blue Balls as many guards called him behind his back. Guessing that it was his smile and regal lineage that attracted so many mares and not his utter lack of respect for anyone. As the scene was about to get very hot there was another sand twister and Chelsea was gone, as if she had never even been there.

“Oh you gotta be bucking, kidding me! Not even in my dreams?” he shouted to the sky and threw his sunglasses down before he picked up the beach umbrella behind him and threw it like a spear into the ocean, creating a large explosion of water from the impact that let some of the water fall down onto him like rain, making his mane hang down and cling to his face. Sneaky panted angrily as he listened to the silence around him, that was soon broken by the last person he expected.

“Is this how all Royal Guard Ponies act when no one watches their actions?” a young but regal voice said as Sneaky heard hoof falls, very specific hoof falls that only came from the royal shoes the princesses wore.

With sweat dripping down his brow, Sneaky turned to see the princess of the moon and of dreams, Luna, striding slowly and gracefully towards him, the sand turning into a pristine marble pathway as she trotted towards him.

“Your majesty!” he said and bowed before the princess and kissed her hooves as she stood only a few steps from him.

“Forgive me, your highness, forgive this humble trooper for his impudence and disres…..wait you're probably just another dream,” Sneaky said and looked at her aggressively, wishing to turn her into Chelsea dressed as a cheerleader from one of the shows on the TV in the lounge.

“I am not a figment of your imagination as that biped was,” The princess said in a most unimpressed tone as she looked to Sneaky with a growing frown.

“Oh…you saw that?.....Uh I can explain!You see-“

“Enough!”Luna shouted in her royal tone, the wind from her voice blowing Sneaky’s mane upwards.

“Yes your majesty,” he said and bowed more respectfully toward her, remembering his place.

Luna’s horn began to glow a brilliant shade of blue as the entire scene changed and they were now inside of a square marble room with two chairs and a large wooden table made of fine oak.

“Take a seat, Private Breeze,” Luna said as she moved around the table and took her seat, Sneaky taking the one opposite to her.

“I require evidence to prove you are truly yourself. State full name and rank.”

“Sneaky, Nimbus, Breeze, Layer. Private first class of your stealth fliers, your majesty.”

“Is Layer your father or mothers name?” Luna asked, having already reviewed the information before she fully connected their minds together.

“Father’s, his name is Brick Sedimentary Layer.”

“Quite unusual for an earth pony couple to have a Pegasus child,” Luna said, continuing her test.

“That is incorrect ma’am. My mother is a Pegasus and my father the earth pony. Besides, our people are no longer separated by tribes and marriages between the three groups is common,” Sneaky said, hoping the princess was not capable of seeing his deeper thoughts so she did not know he was panicking at the thought of her bringing up his immature fantasy with the fake Chelsea earlier.

“Correct. Now the final question,” Luna said though did not seem happy about asking it.

“In the Daring Doo comic books, which was your favorite character?” Luna said with a sigh while gritting her teeth and wishing she had been able to find a personal question that was not so childish but his locker back at the Canterlot guard barracks was full of the comic books.

Sneaky beamed happily as he answered. “Well my favorite was Captain Equestria of course, it was a dumb crossover with another comic and while everyone hates that issue, I love it.” He said with a slight flap of his wings as his mouth formed a wide smile.

“Correct. You are Private Breeze,” Luna said and relaxed visibly.

“We have much to cover and not much time to do it.” Luna said. “Time runs much more swiftly within the dream realm.”

“Where is your current location?” she asked, while preparing to memorize everything he said.

“Well, I don’t know exactly. Somewhere in a nation called The United States of America. In the North American continent to be exact your majesty,” Sneaky said, keeping his face expressionless as he answered questions from the second highest authority in his homeland.

“Not Rome?” She asked.

“Rome, your majesty?” Breeze asked and looked at her.

“Nevermind, on to the next question.” She said, mentally thinking to herself it was no surprise that between an thousand and two thousand years things would be vastly different than the days of ‘Caesar’, especially if Deep Thought’s Human friend Brutus went through with his assassination plan.

“Has anyone among your group noticed their fur turning prematurely white?”

“Uh that might be me but I’m not sure,” Sneaky said and felt nervous when the princess leaned over and examined him.

“Yes, it is you.” She simply said and hushed Sneaky when he tried to ask her what she meant. Luna made a mental note that the strange effects of going through the portal had affected only one pony again, though as to why that was still remained a mystery, along with why it happened at all.

“Have you come into contact with the natives of the world you are on, and can you describe them?” She asked before altering her statement. “Better yet, you are free to create a mental image of the natives. An appropriate mental image,” She said and sneaky sunk in his chair.

“Yes ma’am.” He then focused and conjured up mental images of the Crow’s nest team, from Chelsea, in her flight uniform, to Vahlen to Commander Cotton.

Luna remained silent as she looked at the creatures standing behind the Pegasus guard, they were all as Deep Thought had described in his ancient report. Tall, nearly completely hairless, bipeds with small eyes and short faces.
Sneaky bit his lower lip as the questioning continued for what felt like hours, Sneaky filling in the princess on everything he could, save for things he felt the commander would not want him to say or things he felt were to be kept between him and the humans.

After a while of stalling for time by explaining the antics of Ramos and Boris the princess looked to him.

“Why are you hiding something from your own ruler?” She said, her tone not angry or disappointed, but curious.

“What? I’m not hiding anything your majesty.” He said and brushed his hair back.

“I am over a thousand years old, Pegasus, I know how to sense a lie,” She said and the table decreased in size so that the two were closer to each other when they spoke.

“Do you fear my sister and I are out to harm your new friends?” she asked straightforward and Sneaky knew the jig was up.

“Yes….your majesty., he said and looked down, waiting to be accused of treason. But soon felt princess Luna place a hoof on his shoulder.

“When was the last time Equestria had a war? The worst we ever had to deal with was against roving bands of organized criminals or renegade dragons.” She said to him.

This took Sneaky a while to think up an answer for but he came up with one.
“You’re right, we haven’t had a real war since the time of Discord, one hundred years before you became Nightmare Moon.” The princess nodded to her guard’s response and returned to her original position in her seat.

‘And most call the diamond dog insurrection a security action against one dog clan.’ He thought.

“From what you have told us so far, these humans seem very nice. But are in a horrid situation. I will go over everything you have told me with my sister, well the important parts anyway,” she said and the dream world around Sneaky began to fade slowly.

“You are soon to awaken,” Luna said and looked around, trying to maintain her link to Sneaky. Sneaky grunted as he suddenly felt pain in his chest, and something going on in his lungs as his breathing became labored.

“What…is happening?” He grunted and held himself as he felt his body feel like it was getting smaller and he had more energy, like when he was younger.

“Private Breeze! Listen, there is not much time,” Luna said but before she could get the next sentence out Sneaky began coughing and opened his eyes just as Rock fist finished giving him mouth to mouth.

“Breathe!Celestia dammit boy! Breathe!” Rock yelled, his Xcom shirt soaked with vita fluid as all around them was a pool of spilled vita tank fluid.

“Stop! He’s breathing!” cried out the nurse Rock had been speaking with before while holding Sneaky’s head and checking his pulse.

“Boy!” Rock shouted and smiled, taking a space back to help let Sneaky get some air.
Sneaky rubbed his face before a nurse forced him to open an eye and began to shine light into it.

“What the buck happened to me?” Sneaky asked before coughing more vita fluid onto himself from his stomach.

“It looks like you knocked your oxygen mask off somehow while inside the vita tank and started drowning,” a male nurse said and grabbed some towels to dry the pony off but stopped and decided to grab something to pick up all the glass shards in the room from when Rock smashed the tank open to get sneaky out.

“Rock…come closer, please,” Sneaky said in a hushed tone, and when rock was close he grabbed upon the ear that did not have the translation piece in it.

“I saw the real princess Luna….in my dreams,” Sneaky said, and Rock’s eyes went wide.
They had made contact with their home.

-Equestria.

“CONFOUND IT ALL!” Luna shouted at the top of her lungs. Her voice carrying the force of a storm and knocking around several books and loose papers in her room. After doing a task more difficult than moving the moon she was angry that she had reached her goal but had not been able to get all of the information she needed and wanted.

“I was so close! I could have told the private about his condition. About how he will change age just as Deep Thought does, ” Luna sighed and sat down in the center of the enchanted circle around her room that kept her actions secret from unfriendly eyes. She looked outside a window to see the glimmering of the morning sun rising over the hills of Canterlot, only then did she feel the exhaustion from trying to reach the lost ponies on another world and sleep began to come over her eyes as she laid her body on the floor.

“Perhaps a small rest wouldn’t hurt. I don’t want to panic my sister just yet,” Luna justified to herself as the drained princess fell into her own dreams for a quick power nap in the safety of the arcane circle.

Discord sat bored atop the fourth wall, sipping jelly beans from a martini glass.

“I’m just going to ignore the big sections that are completely blocked out from my viewing for now. I’ll deal with that when it becomes a problem,” Discord said while pointing to the entire part of the chapter above him.

“How about just for the hell of it we look inside of people’s dreams since the chapter is called Dreamscape and I wouldn’t want you all to think the writer is a liar….hmm that rhymes.” Discord snapped his fingers and the scene began to change.

-Doctor Vahlen’s room.

Vahlen laid asleep in her night clothes, which consisted of a pair of jogging pants and a T shirt in case she had to wake up for an emergency so she would not be stuck running around the base in anything more embarrassing. Her hair lay untied and she hugged a pillow close to her body like a teddy bear while she dreamt.

-Her dream.

Vahlen stood up on a podium before a large crowd of teddy bears, some in various states of dissection. She read from a script on the podium to the gathered crowd thanking the scientific community for her nobel peace prize in teddy bear science. All to Discord’s great amusement.

“Hahahahahahahaha! Oh you all should see the looks on your faces! You all look as stupid as her dream does.” He laughed loudly and held his stomach.

“Uh oh, I think I’m going to throw up,” he said before forcing himself to calm down as he kept watching as Vahlen’s eyes drifted to the half dissected teddy bears when her grandmother came out of nowhere, slapping her hands and suddenly Vahlen was a little girl again, crying into her grandmothers dress as she apologised time and time again for taking her teddy bear apart.

“Well this is boring character development and you all don’t want to see that!” Discord said and floated away to Derpy’s room to find her still awake at 3 AM. The gray furred Pegasus lay in bed with her blonde mane in front of her eyes as she rolled around, appearing to be uncomfortable with her bed.

“Oh this is no fun,” Discord said and flew out of the room, not seeing that Derpy was just sleeping with her eyes open and not knowing she tended to toss and turn a lot in her sleep.

Discord continued to fly around the base, wasting precious energy that would require him to rest for a while.

Discord searched around the base, to his displeasure he found Cotton and Boris awake. Sitting on top of the television set in the room Discord watched as Boris had just entered the room to find Cotton sitting at a table with only a few empty cups of coffee to keep him company

“Boris… I… would you mind sitting and talking with me for a moment?” Cotton indicated with a hand to the nearby empty spot at his table.

Boris nodded silently and pulled a chair up from another table. The large man took a seat with Cotton, his body at attention since he was fairly unsure of what to expect.

“You don’t have to be at attention, Boris. I just have to ask you a question. Do you or anyone else blame me for Ramo’s death?” Cotton asked as he sighed and looked to Boris, letting his emotions seep through as his face was the picture of pain and regret.

“No. I do not and I am sure no one else does either,” Boris said while leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs. With a sigh Boris rubbed his face and looked to Cotton.

“I had an officer that was like you. His name was Alexi. He took every death serious and remembered the names of every member there ever was on my team,” Boris began and waited for a moment to see if Cotton wanted to listen or was not in the mood.

Cotton remained silent, unsure of exactly what to say next.

“We had just finished a mission and were on our way to the transport when our radioman stepped onto a landmine hidden in a patch of grass. It was old and rusty, it had been there for god knows how long. He did not set it off but in the position he was in, it could be set off if he tried to move away from it. He was trapped on it.” Boris said. “When we tried to defuse it our bomb expert said it was hopeless, anything that was done would set it off. Then our officer did a very risky trick, he moved down and as if by god’s grace held onto the landmine’s trigger, holding it exactly where the radioman’s foot had.” Boris sighed and seemed unsure of something for a moment before he continued.

“We tried to stop him but he ordered us to shut up and get to safety. Once the mine went off it would create a lot of noise and a mess. I'll skip ahead somewhat but eventually we had no choice and were forced to run to our evac zone. Alexi never said a word, he never looked afraid as we left. The last thing he said to us was, ‘You are all closer to me than my own family’.” Boris stopped for a moment and shut his eyes.

“As we boarded our vehicle we all stopped and listened for the boom as our leader, our friend, set off the mine.”

“Later on we received a leader who wasted our lives like we were children’s toys. All that fucking bastard cared for was meeting his objectives as quickly as possible and making himself earn another medal or commendation. Out of my original squad, I am the only one still alive and in one piece,” Boris said while shifting in his seat with a groan of the chair from his weight shifting.

“Why are you telling me this, Boris?” Cotton asked, unsure of what was being implied or if anything at all.

“I am telling you this because I know you would have taken Ramo’s place. But that is not your job, Commander. Your job is to lead us and accomplish the mission with as many objectives accomplished and as little casualties on our side,” Boris said and stood up, he then walked over and put a hand on Cotton’s shoulder.

“Besides, what would Ramos say?”

Cotton paused for a moment and felt an aching.

“That’s just it, I don’t know what he would have said. I spent all this time and I wanted to join you guys and get to know you but…I just didn’t, I can’t even remember why and that’s what hurts the most,” Cotton said as a sneer crept up on his lips as he felt angry at himself.

“Then make up for it now. But remember, you are our leader. We need you strong for us, Commander. If you let yourself stay in this pit you will not help anyone and only put more of us in jeopardy if we need your leadership,” Boris said and stepped away to a nearby fridge, grabbing an orange for himself.

“I hope this has helped you, Commander,” Boris said.

“If there is nothing else, I will take my leave,” Boris turned and was about to leave when Cotton cleared his throat.
“Boris…thank you,” he said, his mood lightening. Boris turned his head to look over his shoulder and nodded to his commander with a smile before leaving.

‘If anyone has reason to feel shame and regret, it is I,’ Boris thought as he still heard Ramos calling his name out before being killed.

Discord held his tongue out.

“Oh pooh. Now I feel all depressed. I’m going to bed. Goodnight, everyone. I will see you all later.” Discord snapped his fingers and his mind was back with his body inside of the statue in Canterlot, to give himself a rest and gain his strength again.

-Crow’s nest lounge.

Cotton inhaled a lung full of air after the talk with Boris. The tired Commander felt a wave of relief after getting a good speech from Boris.

“I feel like an idiot now for moping so much,” Cotton said with a chuckle as he stood to grab the coffee cups and wash them so he did not be a bother to Tony who was asleep by then.

As he placed the cups into the sink to wash them his earpiece beeped with someone trying to contact him.

“Commander Cotton here.”

“Commander, its me Rock.”

“What can I do for you, Sergeant?”

“Sir, Sneaky is awake and well….we need to see you here in the med-bay. It's important and we would like to see you in person if its no problem.”

Cotton rapidly rinsed the cups and left them in the sink.

“Understood. Il'l be there shortly,” he said as he left the longue and began making his way to the med bay, wondering what was so important that Sneaky and Rock had to see him in person to tell him.

Author's Note:

Check out my editor please.

Also I feel these last two chapters have not been my best but don't worry they will get better soon. *slowly dragging myself to a typewriter while still tied up to the medical bed discord left me in.*