My Little Pony: Worlds Collide

by The Grimm Reaper

Chapter 3: Long ago

My Little Pony: Worlds Collode

Chapter 3: Long Ago

Year: 20 A.G.W (Eve of the Caline War)

"General on board!" a canine called out to the crew of the airship. Every animal there turned towards the only entrance and saluted, keeping straight postures and closed lips. A young black wolf with deep blue eyes stepped forward wearing a disinterested face.

"At ease." he said, ignoring everyone as he made his way to the Captain's seat. An amused white wolf followed.

"Jeez, General, you've been on this ship ten seconds and half of them have already pissed their pants. Lighten up, will ya?" the white wolf said, leaning against the back of the chair. The black wolf sat down and crossed one leg over the other.

"I'm not here to make friends. I want to get this war over with so I can get back to my life." he replied.

"One would think you'd be more grateful seeing as how you were given the rank of General right off the bat instead of working your way up the ranks like any other soldier."

"They asked for my help, this rank was one of the terms I negotiated with them. Among others." The black one said as he held out his hand for another canine who held a list of recruits.

"Oh? What were some of the other terms?" the white one asked.

"Well there was the formation of my own team, the right to lead them how I saw fit, level zero clearance, which is the same level a Field Marshal receives..." he began selecting the recruits he wanted. "And you." he replied, handing the pad back to the canine waiting for him. While the white wolf took a moment to feel somewhat appreciated. The candidates that the black one chose stepped onto the Bridge, single file.

"Excellent. My name is Bardock Igneel and I'm in charge of this operation. The ten of you have been chosen to work under me. I understand that some of you may feel upset at having to work under someone who hasn't risen up the ranks like you have. My only answer to that little problem is this: I don't give a damn. I am here because the higher-ups asked me to be; end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" the black one asked. All ten canines of varying skill and profession remained silent. The only sounds were those of the consoles on the ship beeping, followed shortly afterwards by the muffled yelling of another soldier behind the entrance. Curiosity got the better of everyone and they looked over to the source of the yelling just in time to see a brown German-Shepard-Wolf cross stumble into the Bridge. Her uniform was a shambles; the top button on her leaf green vest was rolling on the floor, her pants were un-pressed and wrinkled, her hair was... not regulation and her tail even seemed out of joint. She stumbled into the other room, standing beside the furthest recruit to the left.

"Sorry I'm late, General!" she said, trying for a salute, but it was wasted given her appearance. The white wolf chuckled.

"This one's rather rough around the edges, huh?" he asked, looking to Igneel who had his eyes fixated on the hybrid.

"And you are?" Igneel asked the late-comer.

"Uh, Ensign Rio Leila, Sir. I applied to be a part of your team." she replied, holding her salute.

"That's funny, you weren't on the candidate roster." Igneel said, looking to the canine who had given it to him.

"WHAT?! That bitch! She told me I was enrolled!" Rio said, losing all sense of military presence.

"Kinda touchy, huh?" the white wolf whispered to Igneel.

"Yes John, she is. Commander, why wasn't Ensign Leila on the list?" Igneel replied, bringing up a list of Military Personnel.

"I'm afraid to say that Miss Leila did not meet the required standards for enrolment into your team."

"WHAT?!" Rio yelled, forgetting that she was speaking to a superior Officer. Igneel found Rio's profile and opened it up.

"I'll say," John began. "She has low statistics for Intelligence, Endurance and hand-to-hand combat."

"But her acrobatic and weapons skills are above average." Igneel continued.

"Bardock, every other recruit on the team has higher statistics than that, in every aspect."

"Statistics can be faked. Miss Leila, what's the square root of five-thousand-two-hundred-and-thirty-four?" Igneel asked.

"Uhh... thirty-six?" she replied.

"See, she's way off the mark." John argued.

"She's half right. What about twelve times twelve?

"Seventy-two?" Rio enquired.

"You're dividing the answers by two, aren't you?" Igneel asked, smiling for the first time that day.

"Bardock, what are you saying?"

"She knows as well as I that half of thirty-six is seventy-two. And seventy-two is the square root of five-thousand-two-hundred-and-thirty-four, sans the decimal places. She faked her own test scores." Igneel explained. Rio smiled back at him.

"Busted, huh?" she asked.

"Why fake her own test scores? To what end?" John asked, looking between them.

"You never know who works for who. Could be our profiles are stolen and taken to the enemy. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna stick out to them unless I'm on the battlefield at the time." she replied.

"And the uniform? What excuse did you have for such reckless preparation?" Igneel enquired.

"I just slept through my alarm and hurried here as fast as I could." she replied sheepishly. Everyone except Igneel fell to the ground. He would have too, had he not been sitting down.

A moment passed and the room was silent save the mechanical beeps of the equipment on the Bridge. It was interrupted again by the sound of chuckling coming from the General. The chuckling was followed by slow clapping, then laughter.

"Very good. Welcome to the team, Captain Rio Leila."

"CAPTAIN?!" the others blurted out, astonished by the sudden rise in Rank.

"Yes, she'll be your Captain throughout your term here. The rest of you have been promoted to Commander effective immediately. You will all have your own squadrons which you will control through her orders, more often than not relayed through myself or General John White. We'll be heading out on the Airship Tesseract in thirteen-hundred hours. Make sure you're ready and don't leave anything you can't be without behind, because we won't be coming back. Dismissed." Igneel said, waving them off. Despite his apparent standoffishness towards procedure, the new recruits saluted the General.

"Thank you, General. I won't let you down." Rio commented before following her new subordinates to their quarters.

"You knew her already, didn't you? An old friend from High School?" John asked, grinning from ear to ear at his friend.

"Not really. I we bumped into each other once out the front of the High School. She said two words to me and went on. Well, you can consider it one word, I guess." he replied, grinning in turn.

"What did she say?" John asked.

"Called me an asshole." he chuckled.

"And you made her a Captain based on that?" John laughed.

"She has the posture and personality of someone who's reckless. Reckless Captains will not let the death of their charges slow them down. That's who I'll need in my team. Its why I chose you." Igneel replied.

"And the fact that I married your childhood friend isn't a factor?" John asked.

"Actually, that was not one of the pros to your employment under my Command. I still hate that you got to her before I did." Igneel replied, dropping the grin instantly.

"Hey, calm down. She chose me. I can't help it if she saw you more as a brother than a potential boyfriend." John defended.

"Unfortunately. If I could blame you, then I'd have an excuse."

---

The Tesseract was a masterpiece of engineering, combining particle fusion with solar energy to make it both powerful and energy efficient. Bardock Igneel was the initial designer of the airship, which made him the best candidate to utilise it in the war as he knew every nook, cranny and surprise she had in store.

"General, air space is cleared for take-off. All systems green and we have the go-ahead from Central Control." said the Comm. Officer.

"Very good, take us out, Lieutenant." Igneel said. General White sat in the chair beside him, leaving a single chair to Igneel's right empty.

"So, is our new Captain even going to be here for the maiden voyage?" John asked. Igneel slid forward in his chair, resting his head on his closed fist.

"She's on the ship, that's all that matters." he replied with a bored tone to his voice.

"You've got something planned for her, haven't you?" john said, smiling slyly at his friend. Igneel made no move to confirm John's assumption but waited a moment before answering.

"In actuality, I have plans for the both of you. The other ten I recruited are just extensions of my reach towards the battlefield." Igneel replied.

"So you're going to play God of War, and the Captain and I are to be your right and left hand. How charming of you." John teased.

"I've got a task for the right hand. It involves two fingers pointing out in a backwards peace sign." Igneel replied, smiling slightly.

"The words 'Naff off' spring to mind." John chuckled.

"I truly do love the British. Their vocabulary leaves something to be desired in ours." Igneel heard the bridge doors open and Captain Rio sat in the seat to his right, dressed much better than he'd last seen her.

"Glad you could join us, Captain. John here was getting worried." Igneel said, teasing the white wolf.

"That's not true. Besides, I'm married." John argued.

"Strange, you don't seem like the type to let that stop you, General White." Rio replied, smirking at the now blushing general. There was a moment's silence between the three of them.

"Would you like some Aloe Vera for that burn, John?" Igneel asked, causing Rio to snicker.

"You know, Bardock; I just found a use for both my hands that only requires a single finger each." the white General replied.

"Leaving the Docking bay, General." the Pilot said.

"Rotate starboard propeller to the right thirty degrees. Our exit path is a little off." Igneel replied.

"Correcting angle."

"So, what kind of a name is Bardock anyway? And is Igneel a family name?" Rio asked, leaning towards the General with a curious look on her face.

"Yes, it's a family name. As for my first name, My parents were high as a kite during both my conception and birth, it's a miracle I managed to develop a single IQ point. My mother actually tried to name me Burdock, like the vegetable, but she slipped her tongue and the Doctor wrote the 'a' down instead.

"I heard about you from before the war too, you're like one of those beautiful mind genius guys." Rio commented.

"That's correct." Igneel replied.

"He's also an arrogant ass with an ego bigger than this ship." John said, leaning over Igneel to whisper loudly to her. Some of the other officers chuckled at this.

"You'll have to forgive my friend, John; he was never loved as a child... or as an adult." Igneel retorted, causing more chuckling from the surrounding crew.

"So how long have you guys been friends for?" Rio asked.

"Almost twelve years now. I met Igneel here through his childhood friend whom I began dating the day before." John replied.

"And when was the happiest time of your relationship?" Rio asked.

"Thirteen years ago." Igneel replied, smirking at the other General. John just huffed.

"You see, Igneel's pissed because he's in love with my wife who was the childhood friend I mentioned meeting him through. I was just fortunate enough to get to her first. See, Igneel's not the kind of guy to go for dating and that. He's devoted to his science inventions. Matters of the mind are what's most important to him. But Lindsay, my wife has always been that one exception. Needless to say it was a real surprise for me when I found out she'd accepted my proposal. I always thought there was some kind of connection that I could never get past." said General White.

"There is. Needless to say, John, if you ever do anything to hurt her."

"I know, you'll use me as one of your science experiments and turn me into a bitch when you're done with me. Trust me, that's enough incentive for any guy to stay leashed to his wife." John replied, crossing one leg over the other.

"So you guys are always like this?" Rio asked.

"More often than not, but it's great fun, huh Igneel?"

"Oh, yes. It's like living in Disney Land!" Igneel replied sarcastically.

"We're gonna win this war for sure." Rio commented.

"And what makes you think that, Captain?" Igneel asked.

"You're both so confident. I know that confidence should be something to be avoided, but when you're this laid back about the whole thing, you've gotta be good at this." she replied.

"I was asked to join for a reason. Clearly winning the war is that reason, and I intend to do it quickly and smoothly. Nothing will go wrong."

Comments

[thatguyyeah]

where are the humans

[Blacklaw]

Fuck yes, MOAR!

Keep being Awesome!