Equestrian Wars

by Saacsa

Must Be Repaid

"Ah donno, Twilight," A southern accent drifted into my thoughts, reminding me of my home in Louisiana, "It just seems a lil'... strange is all."

"I know, Applejack, "A different, slightly sharper, voice that was void of the country accent floated to my ears. "But this might be our last hope for the war." This, however, caught my attention. My eyes shot open and I sprang up from a small bed, freezing mid-breath.

Before me stood, and I kid you not, two technicolor ponies. Again, let me repeat this, Two. Technicolor. PONIES! I was shocked to say the least. One was a lavender color with a royal blue mane that came down and wrapped around the side of her neck. The hair was streaked hot pink in one area and purple in the other. Her bangs fell around what appeared to be a horn. A horn. A freaking horn. This was a Unicorn. What the hell was going on in this place? The... horn... was parting said bangs nicely at the color pattern. She wore a futuristic battle suit that looked sort of like medieval scale armor, but with bright, cyan streaks under each fold. It was a silverish-grey color and was outfitted with a small pouch on the side that appeared to store ammo and grenades. She had an odd looking weapon that could be considered a gun, for horses.

The other one was a orange pony with a straw colored mane that was put up practically. She wore roughly the same battle suit as the other one, but two laser-guided mini-guns rested on her shoulders, along with a brown stetson on her head. The both quickly regained from their startled composure and the unicorns horn began to glow. I felt a cold, metallic barrel on the back of my head and heard a click. The orange one's mini-guns began to spin up and lock onto me with the lasers.

"We are not going to hurt you. We. Are. Friendly." The Unicorn said carefully and slowly in the same, sharp voice I had heard earlier. She had the air of magic about her. I guess that makes her Twilight. I nearly fainted. They could talk. TALKING. TECHNICOLOR. PONIES! I took a deep breath in attempted to calm myself, it kind of worked.

"You have a gun at the back of my head... And your friend over there has two live mini-guns pointing at me." My deep, yet warm voice said logically. They looked about as surprised as I did when they had talked.

"We needed to make sure you wouldn't freak out and kill us both before we got a chance to explain everything." The Unicorn shot back. They appeared intimidated by me. Strange, considering they were the ones to randomly teleported me here. It didn't matter anyways, I might as well take advantage of the situation.

"Well, you have a LOT of explaining to do." I said and crossed my arms like I was scolding a child.

"You're in another dimension. We are losing a war that could decide the fate of this land. My mentor, Princess Celestia, told me to summon you here." She explained sort of vaguely, only hitting the highlights. Another dimension? Interesting. What was even more interesting is the fact that these equines have a monarchy. I wondered if this 'Princess' was a pony too. But that didn't really register to my mind at that moment, I was focused on a more important thought.

"Oh god... PLEASE tell me that I am NOT a talking, brightly colored horse!" I exclaimed and began to check my anatomy, which, thankfully, checked out to still be human. The orange pony, whom I had guessed was Applejack due to the voices I heard earlier, took a little offense to that statement, but she held her tongue.

"No, you are still human." Twilight reassured me.

"Okay, but how do you know what I am?" I asked in confused relief.

"I'll explain later." She said.

"Alright... But why me?" I asked.

"Pardon?" Applejack asked. Yep, definitely the accent from before.

"Why me? Why not somebody else? What makes me so special?" I asked. I felt the cold barrel lighten its pressure as Twilight sank into memories that were obviously painful.

"I'm not sure," Twilight paused, "Other than the Princess saying that you were the last hope for the war and the greatest soldier in the universe." I have to admit, that made me blush a little. I let the pride sink in a some, but not to much. I don't like being overconfident. It's never gotten me anywhere before but back to square one.

"And I'm not to sure about that one..." I said and rested my bent index fingers' lower knuckle in-between my teeth as I always do when thinking. "I need to talk to your 'Princess'." I said.

"Y'all will get yer chance when this is all over." Applejack's voice chimed in.

"Yes, after we win this war, you may talk freely to Celestia as you wish, but until then, you have to help us." Twilight said with a more determined face.

"And if I refuse?" I asked. I didn't know what I was thinking when I said that. These ponies obviously were my only source to get home. I guess I really didn't feel like fighting whatever they were fighting. The guns barrel pressure was reapplied, which made me decide that I needed to tread carefully here.

"Then we loose the war and everypony dies." She paused and glared up at me, "Including you." She finished we an icy edge that could pierce titanium. I paused and weighed my very unfair options. "Please," She added softly, "We need you." She pleaded.

"I guess I really don't have much of a choice." I said in defeat. Her face lit up like the fourth of July.

"Oh thank you! We have a combat suit and some specially modified guns prepped and ready for your choosing-"

"Wait... How did you have time to prepare that stuff for my specific figure?" I asked, "Being a different species from a different dimension and all." I added. She laughed. I felt the cold metal on the back of my head finally move away and clunk on the wooden table behind me.

"That's simple enough. We use to have human's in this land. They aren't around anymore, though. Ancient history in fact. The only reason that any of us knew that they existed is our head scientist, Lyra Heartstrings. She owned a large history book all about them that she had 'confiscated' from the Canterlot library. It still surprises me that she was able to get in there at all. But that mare can be very sneaky when she wants." Twilight finished with a laugh.

"But how did you have enough time?" I asked again, relaxing a little bit when Applejack finally took her mini-guns' lasers off of me.

"This war has been going on for ten years, Jack. While I trained for the spell to bring you here, the other ponies, namely Rarity, Lyra, and I, prepared for your arrival." She explained. "Now, please, follow me." She said and motioned for me to come. I followed her through a dark corridor and she pushed a button, making a metal door slide open. Light poured in and I had to cover my eyes to shield against the sudden brightness. "Stay here until I say your name." Twilight told me. I was to distracted to form a response, so I merely nodded. She stepped through the blinding light, disappearing in its glow.

"Ponies of Ponyville!" She yelled.

Good lord, that was cheesy. I hope they don't have more towns named like that.

"We have hope for the war! We can change the tide! Our secret weapon has finally arrived!" My eyes finally began to adjust to the light and I saw Twilight standing at a podium. I heard ecstatic cheers erupt from a crowd. "Meet the new general of the Equestrian Royal Army! Meet YOUR new general! Jack Himith Halok!" Twilight exclaimed, stepping aside on the podium as I walked out into the warm sun. I walked up and looked down onto the crowd Twilight had been addressing. A few dozen ponies of different shapes, sizes, and yes, colors, looked up at me in awe and confusion at the same time. One of them caught my eye, however. It was a brown pony with a dark blue mane. But his eyes scared me, they were a bright, icy blue. I swear, they stared straight through my soul.

"What the hell is that thing, Twilight?" A cocky voice sounded from a hovering cyan Pegasus... Pegasus. Yes, they have Pegasi here too, apparently. What was next? An Alicorn? Yes, I was looking to get jinxed on everything that day.

The Pegasus had a rainbow colored mane and tail that ended in sharp points, flowing cleanly down her neck and over her head. She was outfitted in a lighter looking suit and had a shotgun barrel protruding from the chest area. I didn't have the chance to respond to her question as a green bolt ripped past me, nearly knocking my head off. It impacted the wall behind me and left massive scorch marks. Yikes. That could have been me. Things were certainly escalating quickly here.

I whipped my head around to see who or what had fired the bolt to see a blackish-green pony with bug-like wings and a horn. The odd thing is that it was perforated. It had holes everywhere but the torso and face. The legs, tail, mane, wings, and horn were scattered with them, but there was another thing. Its eyes. They were terrifying, and were a bright, icy blue and stared straight into your soul. It was the same pony that I had noticed before. What the hell was it?

"CHANGELING!" One of the ponies in the crowed unintentionally answered my question. Oh. I was kind of hoping that it was friendly, but by that blast, I would say not. The cyan Pegasus sprung into action without fear, firing some kind of laser into the Changelings head. Or what use to be its head before the blast made contact. The thing collapsed into a crumpled heap and Rainbow Dash landed on the platform beside me.

"That was a close one. Now, back to my question. What are you?" She said.

"I am a... human," I continued, despite my nervousness, "A native being from a different dimension and planet. I don't know why it was me in particular that was brought here to help you fight those... Things. But I assure all of you ponies that I will fight." The crowd erupted in cheers. I held up my hand and they all quieted. Nifty. "As long as I know why." I announced clearly.

"Because," Twilight's voice cut in from the side, "The Changelings attacked for no reason. We had no time to prepare or repel the attacks. Few cities remained under our control then and fewer do now. Innocent fillies, colts, and families were slaughtered and torn apart. It was a massacre." Twilight said grimly. Man, this ponies sure had it rough. I felt a pang of anger ripple through my body.

"In that case. Lets go on a bug hunt!" I yelled into the crowd and they exploded in cheers of excitement and happiness. Twilight told me to follow her once more and she led me back into the previous building.

"Why does this place look peaceful, for the most part, instead of a war-zone?" I asked her as the thought hit me.

"I had to come to the only place in Equestria that has yet to experience the harsh war to make sure that I wasn't going to get interrupted in both my spell and my studies." She replied.

"Ah, so that thing back there? Is that what we are fighting?" I asked with the false hope that she would answer 'no'.

"Yes," Oh well, "They are called Changelings. They can shape-shift into anypony that they want too. The problem is that we don't know who to trust. Their only handicap-"

"Are the holes." I finished.

"Not exactly." She said. Oh. Well that made me feel like an idiot. "They all share a hive-mind, which means to be controlled by a single being or mind. Which also means that if we take the bitch down, her brood dies as well."

"What about that rainbow one? It was apparent that she didn't know what I was. You told me that all of you ponies knew about me being human." I said. She laughed, again.

"No," She giggled, "I said that some did. It was on a need-to-know basis. The only ponies that needed to know were me, Lyra, and Rarity." She said and pressed another button. A metal door slid open and we walked through it. "Though, now, it's obvious that everypony needs to know." She said with a light laugh.

She pressed a glowing blue button and the room was lit up from the sides, revealing a multitude of guns lining the walls. They all had the basic handle, trigger, and barrel of a normal gun, but had a futuristic look to them. You know, sleek and black, but with lime green stripes running the length of them in digital lines. They were organized from type and ranged all the way from a massive anti-tank style sniper to the tiniest handgun I had ever laid eyes on. I gazed at them in awe, but my mouth really dropped when my eyes trailed over to the combat suit they had so elegantly designed for me. Bands of metal striped in V shapes across the armor in the moderately same style as the Twilight's. I was stunned as I scanned the jet black suit. The only way any of the ponies would have been able to see me in that thing at night was the fact that neon lime green streaks came up in between the plates. Then my eyes made their way to the top where the helmet was and I frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Twilight asked almost instantly after my frown appeared

"How am I suppose to see out of that?" I asked with confusion while examining the helmet. Like the rest of the armor, it had metal plates and was completely black. But the plates were less spaced out and looked like they could click into place. Holy shit, that would be awesome. What had confused me about my sight was the visor. It came down in the shape of two wide V's and glowed a bright neon green like the rest of the suit. I looked back over to Twilight, who was now smirking.

"Want to find out?" She asked.

"It's what I came here to do." I said with a light chuckle. She laughed and led me to a rounded door and motioned me to go through it after she pressed the button. I obliged and then the door closed rather rapidly for my liking. "Twilight?" I asked with an uneasy feeling.

"Sorry, darling, but you're dealing with me now." A sharp tone of elegance flowed through some speakers in the corner of the ceilings. Damn it, I just couldn't get a break, could I?

Author's Note:

If i made any mistakes, feel free to inform me and i shall fix them as soon as possible! PS, I leave references throughout this entire story, if you can guess them all, you get a cookie and a mustache. Stay Brony, my friends.

Comments

[Frost Wolf]

F'in awesome so far

[hammerhead6000]

Is that a suit in Dead Space?