Tracks That Go Home
Tracks that Go Home
The men walked into the crystal elevator and rode it all the way to where Shining Armor would be waiting. After everything from that day, they were ready to take whatever easy way up they could.
They made haste to get to the throne room where Cadence and Shining Armor would be waiting. The guards let them pass without trouble. The men had gone on a mission for the wellbeing of the crystal ponies, after all.
When the men walked into the throne room, Cadence and Shining Armor stood from their seats and ran over to them to greet them.
“What happened? What did you find?” Cadence asked emphatically.
“Other room,” Duke said firmly. Cadence blinked, but nodded along with her husband and the group left for a more private area in case of prying magic eyes.
Once they were in a separate room, away from the ears of the public, they all took seats around a small table with the map of the Frozen North on it. Frost stretched out comfortably, and Duke leaned forward onto the table. The men waited for the ponies to speak.
“Well?” Shining Armor said.
“Well,” Duke said. “We found the place and it was in total wreckage. Only four survivors.”
“And what did you do with them?” Cadence asked.
“We had to take down three,” Frost said. “The forth is one you might want to do deal with yourselves with.”
“What?” Shining Armor said.
“The other one was a hostage, one Prince Blueblood,” Duke said.
Shining Armor and Cadence’s eyes exploded in size to be even astronomically bigger than usual. Cadence tried to form words, but while her lips moved, nothing came out. Shining Armor was simply speechless.
“Why would we want to do that to him?” Cadence asked. “He’s family…”
Duke saw Shining Armor mouth, ”Only by extension,” with a hint of disdain. Shining Armor clearly already disliked him, and no doubt with good reason.
“Well, when we went in there, we weren’t expecting to find him,” Frost said. “But before we ran into him and his captors, we did find a new substance, probably a chemical weapon, that we didn’t know of previously. It was still being developed by someone in there.”
“So?” Shining Armor.
“It needed magic, apparently, to be generated,” Frost answered. The ponies weren’t quite putting two and two together. “Prince Blueblood helped them to develop it.”
“What?” Shining Armor asked, his voice suddenly taking on a dark tone.
“Yes,” Duke said, equally as dark. “I believe he cited his reason as being that they deprived him of his comforts and his life is worth far more than that of lowly peasants.”
Shining Armor was visible angry. “That little shit…” he grumbled.
Cadence was shocked. “I can’t believe Blue would do this,” she said.
“You must not know him very well, then,” Frost said. “I don’t know what sort of punishment you have for that here, but back home-“
“Frost,” Duke said with a warning tone. Frost ceased speaking.
“Oh, he’s gonna pay,” Shining Armor said.
“We still need to get his side of the story,” Cadence said.
Duke pulled some documents out of his bag. “Here it is, ma’am,” he said, sliding the across the table. “These and the other documents have an excellent chance of telling you about how he used his magic to help them develop a new gas.”
“Do you have any of this gas?” Shining Armor asked. “Dumb question, but still.”
“We did take a vial,” Duke said. He pulled it carefully out of his bag. “It’s clear, so you can’t really see it, but there is something. Some kind of magic revealed it to us.”
Shining Armor took it in his magic. “There’s a protection spell on it,” he said. “Whatever it is, it must be worse than the other gas.”
“Blueblood said it started with a V,” Frost mentioned. “Not sure what it could be.”
“I don’t think any gas names start with V back home, but then again, I don’t know many languages other than English,” Duke said. “It could be anything for all I know.”
“Thank you for bringing it to us,” Cadence said. “We will send it to Aunt Celestia right away to get it analyzed.”
“Good,” Duke said. “I wasn’t comfortable carrying that thing around as it was.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Shining Armor asked.
“Only that we’d like to go home now,” Frost said. “You have everything we had, all the gryphons are currently deceased, and the city is safe for now.”
“I second that,” Shining Armor said. “I know how it feels to be away from home for fighting. I’ll send you back to Ponyville on the train tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Duke asked.
“Logistics need to be worked out, and if something comes up and we need you here, in the city-“ Shining Armor wanted to make it very clear that they wouldn’t be going out into the wastes again. “-You’ll be available. Plus…”
“What?” Duke asked.
Cadence sighed. “Well, Blueblood isn’t a citizen here. If he did help the enemy, more than just we are affected, and the law of the land is that he must be tried first in his homeland.”
Frost blinked. “We have to ride home with him.”
“I’m afraid so,” Shining Armor said. He floated over a few things from a desk to the side. “Here. Duct tape, in case he starts running his mouth.”
Duke took the tape. “Cool. This’ll be all we need, I think.” Shining Armor nodded and returned the other items to the desk off to the side.
“Well, if that’s all, I suppose you boys can go rest for the day,” Shining Armor said. “Good work.”
“Thanks,” Frost said. He stood up and walked off. Duke, however, remained.
“Are you not tired?” Cadence asked with a mild chuckle.
“Oh, I am,” Duke said. “But remember how I asked you for that favor?”
“Ah, yes,” Cadence said. She leaned forward. “So what do you need?”
Duke looked back to make sure Frost was gone. “I imagine you’re able to find out what is best for ‘wooing’ individual ponies…”
The next day, Duke and Frost waited at the train station. Their understanding was that a team went out, grabbed Blueblood, and tossed him in the dungeon when they returned. A prison escort would take him here, and the men would take him back to Equestria. They had a feeling that duct tape would be helpful on the ride back.
Eventually, the prince was brought to them, grumbling the whole way as he was shackled at the ankles and had a bag over his seemingly odd horn. The men nodded to the tired-looking guards and took custody of the traitor. When they left, Blueblood finally spoke his mind.
“Cretins, I shall have you flogged-“
“Shaddup,” Frost said curtly. He ripped some duct tape off the roll.
Blueblood squeaked and ended his chatter immediately. Frost smiled and nodded, and Duke just quietly thanked his partner for taking care of it.
“Here comes the train,” Duke said, pointing down the tracks.
The train came up quickly, and the men boarded with their charge and gear. As the train started up again soon after, they looked back at the city in the frost, glad to be done with it. They were trained to deal with the cold, but that didn’t mean they liked it. Why couldn’t Equestria consist of Hawaii-type places? Of all the alternate worlds to end up in…
Duke wanted to get his mind off the weather. “So Frost,” he began.
“So Duke,” Frost replied.
“You got any special plans for home?” Duke asked.
“Like Ponyville?” Frost asked. Duke nodded. “Not particularly. Maybe I’ll hang out with Amel, if I don’t end up sleeping too much.”
“Not gonna use her as a pillow?” Duke asked with a grin.
Frost laughed. “Not sure how she’d feel about that.” Duke knew.
“I don’t know, she seems like a cuddle machine,” Duke said. “And she’s so soft and fuzzy, too.”
“Like a giant teddy bear,” Frost said with a chuckle. “You got any special plans that don’t involve me? You seem intent on this.”
“Oh, you are my special plan,” Duke said. “Maybe I’m going insane with this, but hey. I’m in a land of pastel-colored, talking, magical ponies. I probably went mad when we hit the ground.” How long ago was that, anyway?
Frost raised an eyebrow. “Uhh, okay,” he said. “Care to share?”
“Sharing is communism,” Duke said.
“Sharing is caring,” Frost corrected.
“Then caring is communism,” Duke said jokingly.
“Curses, capitalism’s greatest enemy is kindness and ponies!” Frost decreed. The men shared a laugh.
“What is wrong with you two?” Blueblood asked.
Without a word, Frost quickly ripped some duct tape off and put it on Blueblood’s mouth. Blueblood couldn’t resist in time and was totally silenced for the remainder of the ride.
“Good,” Duke said. Blueblood tried to get it off, but without fingers, he couldn’t. And he knew better than to use his magic when there were two humans armed with very powerful weapons escorting him to Canterlot.
The rest of the ride was spent in blissful quiet, with the men having small talk here and there and Blueblood ultimately falling asleep in his seat.
When the men arrived in Ponyville, they were expecting their new friends to greet them at the station. Frost had called back the previous night to tell them they were returning, but no one showed up. It was more than a little suspicious, though; there wasn’t a soul on the platform or around it.
“Where is everypony?” Frost asked of no one in particular.
“Not a clue,” Duke said. He ripped the duct tape off of Blueblood. “Where is everyone?”
“How the hell should I know?!” Blueblood responded angrily, putting his hoof over his mouth.
“Whoa, snappy,” Frost said. “I don’t want to travel with a guy like that.”
“Me neither,” Duke said. “So you can walk back to the city on your own.”
“Walk?” Blueblood said with disbelief.
“Yes, walk,” Duke said. He pointed toward Canterlot, up on the mountain in the distance. “It’s in that direction.”
“I will wait for the train before I walk,” Blueblood said defiantly.
“Fine by me,” Frost said. He and Duke walked away from the platform. “How long until he notices that sign that says all trains are cancelled?
“Doubtful he’ll notice in the next hour,” Duke said. He glanced back to see Blueblood staring forward. “Maybe even two.”
“Sucks to suck,” Frost said.
“We should probably grab him and take him to Princess Twilight,” Duke said.
“Nah, I don’t think we’ll need to,” Frost said dismissively. “He thinks he’s innocent. He’ll turn himself in.”
“True,” Duke replied.
Duke and Frost continued on with all their gear, suspicious about the lack of activity but glad that they didn’t have to navigate the busy streets with all their gear with them. When they looked up, they did see some pegasi guards flying around in groups of three, flying fast and at varying altitudes.
“Weird,” Duke said.
“Hey, there’s a bar there,” Frost said, pointing forward. “Let’s see if anypony is there.”
The men moved toward the Salt Lick bar and made their way inside. In the bar, there was only a single pony at the bar, cleaning glasses as she picked them up. She was young, they could tell, and she was clearly extremely tense as she worked. They could see the fear rigidifying her.
“Hey, miss?” Duke said.
The mare looked up with a gasp, dropping and breaking a glass. “Oh, it’s just you men,” she said. She grabbed a broom and swept up the broken glass. “Been wondering how long it would take you to stop by.”
“I bet,” Duke said. “Humans like to drink, right?”
“Ha, that’s what the owner says,” the mare said.
“What makes her say that?” Frost asked, curious. Duke listened intently.
“She knew someone, I think,” the mare said. “She doesn’t say much about the human who used to stop by here with his friends.”
“Where is she now?” Duke asked. “I imagine that if something is up-“ Duke pointed his thumb at the door. “She’d want to watch the bar.”
“I’d have a gun,” Frost chimed in.
“She’s in Canterlot right now with friends,” the mare said. “She sent a letter by magic to watch the place while she was out. With the threat level being what it is, she didn’t want to wait for someone to keep an eye on her business.”
“Threat level?” Frost asked.
“Yeah. A threat was made against Ponyville last night,” the mare said. “It said to expect retaliation in the coming days. Not sure for what, but you can’t tell very often with guys that make threats like that.”
Duke scowled. He wanted to keep learning about the other human, and he seemed to have a solid lead here, but if the town was threatened, that took priority.
“If that’s true, we can’t stick around for drinks,” Duke said, stepping back. “Frost, let’s move.”
“The threat level is Red,” the mare said. “Watch out if you go outside.”
Frost raised an eyebrow. “We will,” he said. With that, he and Duke walked outside and promptly started to watch out.
“I imagine Princess Twilight is on pretty high alert right now,” Duke said.
“If the air patrols are any indication,” Frost replied.
“You would think there’d be more,” Duke said.
“This war looks to be getting worse,” Frost said. “Resources and ponypower are probably spread thin.”
“If Equestria isn’t careful, it’ll start dealing with what we had to deal with,” Duke said. “I hope they can finish this war soon.”
“This war is the same as ours,” Frost said. He looked up and saw two patrols fly overhead. “It’ll never end. There is no single enemy. No matter how many hostiles they eliminate, a new one will step up.”
“As long as there’s two sides, the fighting will never stop,” Duke finished.
“Where do you think Amel is?” Frost asked. “I don’t want to leave her at home on the edge of town alone.”
“She’s a smart mare,” Duke said. “She knows better than to stay in dangerous places.”
“True,” Frost said.
“You know, if I were to get married, my wife-to-be would need to be smart,” Duke said.
“I know,” Frost said. “Gotta make up for you, after all.”
Duke chuckled. “So I guess your girl better be pretty,” he said.
“Ha, nah, no need,” Frost said. “If I ever got married, she’d be nice, smart, and she’d understand me and my job.”
“You probably don’t have to look far, then,” Duke insinuated.
“Duke, you might know women, but I am wildly unfamiliar,” Frost replied. “I've never exactly been superb with women.”
“Glad to see you’re still clueless,” Duke said.
The men thought about where Amel might go in the event of an emergency. The safest place she could find in the safest location. The first place they thought of was Twilight’s castle, but that was a prime target for an attack. Hit the bottom, and the whole thing goes down hard. The next location was Rarity’s place, and odds were, more ponies would be there.
The men made their way to Rarity’s Boutique. As they walked there, they encountered a couple of patrols, each one consisting of two earth ponies and one unicorn. It was a smart tactical decision; the earth ponies were stronger and better at close fighting, and the unicorn could provide magical support to the two of them. And with how many patrols there were, odds were good that if there was a surprise attack, another patrol would hear a scuffle and come running.
When the men arrived at the Boutique, they found it being guarded by four earth ponies and with two pegasi circling overhead. Rarity’s home appeared to have become a safe haven for whatever ponies were still in town. On top of the guards, there were also several barricades set up and even a couple of enormous machines that appeared to be Ballistas.
The men approached the building and the guards nodded. “Go on in,” one said. “They’ve been waiting for you.”
“Really?” Frost asked.
“Princess Twilight received word of your return earlier and told the townsponies,” the guard replied. “They needed the good news.”
“Can we head in?” Frost asked hurriedly.
The guard chuckled. “Sure thing,” he said. Frost walked in quickly, leaving Duke outside.
The guard looked to Duke with a smile. “The foreign one likes him,” he said.
“I’m quite aware,” Duke said. “Though of all the humans here, I think I’m the only one.”
“Sounds like he could use some help,” the guard said.
Duke shook his head with a grin. “You can’t even begin to understand.”
When Duke entered, he was greeted with the sight of what could have easily been a hundred ponies, sitting around the main room having hushed conversations about what was going on. Duke could see Frost with Amel and Rarity by the small stage. Amel leaned against him with her eyes barely open, like she was about to fall asleep.
Duke made his way over, carefully stepping past the ponies scattered about. Most of them skittered away as he walked by, trying to stay out of his way. As he got closer, Frost spotted him coming by and waved him down.
“She looks tired,” Duke said as he walked up.
“Poor dear, she’s been doing so much to help these ponies since they took refuge in my shop,” Rarity said, looking admirably at Amel. “She worked hard to help them be comfortable.”
“She’s earned a rest, then,” Duke said. “Is there anywhere more comfortable for her?”
“Upstairs, Sweetie Belle’s room, first on the right,” Rarity said. “Nopony is up there, so she can rest peacefully.”
“Frost, why don’t you take her and your stuff up there,” Duke suggested. “I’ll get a rundown form Miss Rarity.”
“Sounds good,” Frost said. He picked up his gear and gently placed Amel over his shoulder and headed upstairs.
Rarity sighed. “Poor girl couldn’t sleep when the threats came in,” Rarity said. “Everything was happening at once. Ponies in a panic, you two were still gone, the town was in danger… She barely slept. Kept herself occupied by helping the others.”
“A good way to stay busy,” Duke said.
“She was always thinking about the worst case,” Rarity said. “Worked herself up, thinking Frost was gone and you would come back wounded.”
Duke nodded. “I’m glad she cares. I’ll talk to her later, tell her not to worry.”
“You know that won’t stop her,” Rarity said.
“I know,” Duke said. “I’ll try to help out how I can.”
“That’s very nice of you,” Rarity said.
“So how bad is this threat?” Duke asked, done with small talk. “What kind of thing are we looking at? A bomb, an infiltration, what?”
“An assault,” Rarity said.
“What?” Duke asked.
“They said they are going to bring a force to attack Ponyville,” Rarity explained. “That they would take control and declare Ponyville Gryphonville.”
“Well, that isn’t going to happen,” Duke said. “Still, I’d rather evac the townsponies to keep them out of the way. If this attack happens, we need to keep the civilians safe.”
“That’s very noble, but we can’t leave,” Rarity said. “The attack could come at any minute. The guards said we are in the declared time frame as it is; the attack is any time from today to four days from now.”
“So they might be waiting for an evac to hit the civilians,” Duke deduced. “Those bastards.”
“Quite,” Rarity said with a hint of distaste for Duke’s language. “And your friends from Luna aren’t due back for some time. The town is almost as vulnerable as it could be.”
“But now we’re here,” Duke said reassuringly. “Don’t worry. Frost and I will help out with the town’s protection.”
“Thank you,” Rarity said. “But you are also medics, yes?”
“Highly specialized occupation,” Duke said.
“Do you think you could also take a look at some of the ponies here before you help the guards?” Rarity requested. “Some of them were hurt in the panic, and if the attack comes soon, you may be needed after.”
“We’ll probably be needed during, too,” Duke said. “Frost and I will take care of you guys.”
“You truly are angels,” Rarity said graciously.
“The Guardian Angels Weapon System,” Duke said. “That’s what we signed up to do.”
Duke left Rarity in her spot and went upstairs to go tell Frost what he learned and what they were going to do. When he arrived at the room, he knocked lightly and then entered, dropping his stuff at the door as he walked in. Frost had Amel on his lap scratching her ear in a chair toward the wall, away from the window.
“You look comfortable,” Duke said.
“Hardly,” Frost said. “She’s heavier than she looks.”
“At least she isn’t skin and bones,” Duke said.
“That would be terrible,” Frost said. “I never liked bony people. They look strange, and their bones poke you when you touch them.” Frost stopped scratching Amel and put his hands together on her back. “So what’s going on?”
“Well, it looks like we’re joining the guards for defense,” Duke said.
“As expected,” Frost replied.
“We’ll also be acting medics and doctors for the townsponies in case of harm during the attack,” Duke went on. “Rarity asked if we could help some of those already hurt before we do anything tomorrow.”
“How did they already get hurt?” Frost asked incredulously.
“The panic of the threat,” Duke explained. “You know how people get.”
“And I guess that ponies running around is probably more dangerous than people,” Frost reasoned with himself.
“We’re inside the timeframe of attack, so we’ll have to be vigilant.” Duke looked out the window. “They’re probably going to wait until a good moment, like an evacuation, for their assault.”
“I hate these guys,” Frost said. “Do you think we can draw them out before?”
“We’d have to go out and find them, leaving the town more vulnerable while we’re out,” Duke said. “It isn’t worth the risk. We need to outwait them and defend the townsponies. We carry too much firepower to risk ourselves, either physically or by not being around.”
Frost grunted. “I always hated waiting,” he said.
“Me too, but that’s too bad,” Duke said. “So move her to the bed and come downstairs with me. We need to treat who we can now so we can be prepared tomorrow, and ASAP today.”
“Roger that,” Frost replied. He moved Amel to the bed, despite her unconscious protests to his leaving. “Let’s get started.”
Duke and Frost went through their gear for their medical supplies and made their way downstairs to start treating ponies. While they worked, they constantly had their minds on what their response to the assault would be, depending on what it was, and how serious the damage would be. Whatever injuries they were fixing up now, they would be nothing compared to what they could encounter later.
And those were the kinds of injuries that were meant to kill.
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Why griffon ISIS, why?
Dat cover art.
VX nerve agent, it's a gas that starts with a V
Duct Tape gets ever more awsome with every new discovery.
Brazilian Wax?
Hey, Blueblood, we want to try something.
Makes you wonder just what they are going to try, to hit the most important location deep inside the entire country.
Or even worse, its a distraction, and theres going to be something involving one of those vials, a water supply, and the city of Las Pegasus or such.
Lol H550
Now when will frost notice the signs. Brohoof /)
6084536 I took contact to the author a while back a got my answer, thanks anyways
6084543
Or did you?
6084550 I thought I did, did I not?
6093613
He's somewhere. Where, exactly, is the mystery.
6096592
Well, since we're talking about misplaced others, theres the currently misplaced BlueBlood..surprising they left him on his own when they know hes a traitor to the Crown and the nation.
Also now that i have read the other tales the hint-dropping is quite noticeable now. Nice work, the rumors have been rather rampant from others.
Don't get me wrong this story is AMAZING and I love it, all the kudos! But I mean...threat level red!? Immanent attack on Ponyville!?...have a nice day Blueblood!! you high value target turned traitor with vital intel!! You'll be fine on your own. Really?!