Anon, an augmented human being is thrown into a different world and now he has a chance to start over will he be able to overcome his past?
In 2072, Anon is a man trying to live his life normally despite his past when he suddenly finds himself in a different world. Anon is determined to take this as chance to finally start over his life and maybe learn to let go of his past and finally move on. Unfortunately, dark forces plot behind the curtain. Will he be forced to retake his old life? or will he be able to make a difference and become someone new?
It was early in the afternoon and Anonymous was taking a walk through a neighborhood when he stopped at a house that was located in a somewhat decent part of town. There, in front of him was a baby blue house with a small white porch and hanging in one of the columns the flag of the North American Union its distinctive emblem with a maple leaf on top of two eagles, a bald eagle looking west and a golden eagle looking east perched upon a white column and three white stars in its upper left-hand corner.
Anon started walking down the gravel path when he suddenly stopped shortly before laying foot on the small white porch looking down at his shaking left hand his mind immediately started thinking back to moments he wished he was never a part of. Memories of regret and pain made him clutch his fist and walk back from where he came, angry at himself.
While Anon detoured towards a park that was close by to clear his mind, he muttered to himself, "Not today... maybe tomorrow? Yeah tomorrow" he looked downcast as memories began playing out in his mind.
Anon was a well-built, tall man with thin jet black straight hair combed back and he was currently wearing a black t-shirt with blue jeans. Anon walked into a park he had been to before in his early childhood life. Anon was never fond of this park because it always reminded him of the time he and his sister used to live in it.
WW3 had started in winter of 2035 and didn't end until Spring of 2050 there were billions in casualties of which 65% were civilians and that's not counting the various nuclear meltdowns which were caused by hackers from both sides of the war. During this war Anon and Alice were still living relatively peaceful lives along with their father Maximiliano Reyes and their mother Joy Reyes in Baja California. One night they could see flashes along the horizon of endless sea from their shared bedroom window, little anon and alice watched in amazement and awe as they saw streaks of light come from the sea their innocence being watched by their worried parents who knew full well the meaning of the lights. The siblings at the time had no idea these lights heralded the beginning of their struggle for survival.
During his walk Anon was interrupted by the music he was listening to through his earphones when he noticed storm clouds forming. Looking above he could feel a few raindrops hit him warning of the storm that was upon him, looking forward and putting away his earphones he started jogging down the concrete path to find shelter. After jogging for a bit he found himself under a bridge where there was a bench he hadn't seen before.
"Huh, it must be new I guess," he thought as he walked over to the bench and sat down. As Anon sat down he leaned back on the back support of the bench, leaning his head back and closed his eyes, taking in the sound of the rain. Anon's mind started to play back memories of his time in orbit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Battleship Aurora, be advised the enemy dreadnaught is approaching from the east sector 25B please confirm."
"Base, this is Battleship Aurora we see the enemy they're closing in on us fast! Battle AI is detecting enemy weapons zeroing in on us we will proceed with evasive action!"
The Aurora was a deep space battleship equipped to transport troops as well as lend support for larger fleets. Currently the Aurora was on its way to link back with the main fleet when they unfortunately intercepted by an enemy Dreadnaught.
Anon was a Sergeant of the army's orbital ground forces or OGF for short. Elite soldiers trained in all types of terrain from the urban megalopolis' of earth to the industrial wastelands of the moon. Trained harshly and enhanced bodies with faster reflexes, incredible speeds, superior strength as well as having a small storage chip embedded into their brains with all human knowledge, history and tactics. However even with all these enhancements and training they were still human, they still felt the mental fatigue of a long battle and the emotional fatigue that was accompanied with it.
It is no secret these soldiers were sent to some of the most extreme and dangerous places in the solar system, and most feared them all together giving them well deserved nicknames such as "bloodhounds, mutilators, executioners, angels of death" and so on. Its well known cherub squad was the most infamous for utilising the most brutal forms of dispatching the enemy.
Anon was part of the cherub squad and he knew full well what the squad was capable of, what he was capable of. He was no stranger when it came to battle and survival since he had grown so accustomed to it since his time as a war orphan protecting his 5 year old sister. It sometimes scared him, the cruelty of which he was capable of but he steams ahead as he knows full well that he has his sister on board of the same vessel he was in.
Anon and his squad were having a meal in the mess hall when they heard the alarm blaring through the sound system, indicating they were to suit up and head to the docking bay to await further orders. While changing into his space suit, which was a dark grey color with an assortment of pockets containing ammunition and other equipment, a loud explosion could be heard along with the feeling of a violent vibration coursing through the ship. The sound system came back on while anon hurried faster to put his suit on and from the sound system he heard a familiar voice "all personnel must abandon ship!" it was his sister, Captain Alice Reyes.
"This is not a drill! Enemy dreadnaught has fired a large calibre railgun and has hit the engine room! Head immediately towards the lifepods!"
A male Lieutenant who was on the bridge turned from the microphone to face Alice in a deep voice said "mam you must leave the bridge, my team and I will supervise the evacuation from here and take command of the guns."
"Request denied Lt. Davidson, I will make sure to hold off the enemy to maximise the chance of survival of our men."
Lt. Davidson knew that once she had her mind set on a goal it would be almost impossible to make her think otherwise, but even so he tried to reason with her and in a last ditch effort he said "But captain what about your husband and daughter?...What about your brother?".
Alice was taken aback, she thought about her family, but with a deep breath she resolved herself looking back at the eyes of the lieutenant and saying "My family is also here Lieutenant, this ship, its crew, ARE my children and as its mother I will save as many souls as I possibly can."
Lt. Davidson's face softened a bit, looking down at his feet as he rapidly steeled himself and looked back at Alice, who looked back at him with her hands behind her back and a resolved expression on her face, standing tall and head high, looking down at him as if waiting for an answer. With a quick salute and meeting her gaze said "Then we shall stay!" he then quickly turns around barking orders to his section of the deck, making sure he can board as many of the crew on to the lifeships as he can.
Alice was sad inside even though she did not show it, she knew it was hopeless. Dreadnaughts were known to carry some of the most feared weapons humanity has to offer and she knew going up against it with no proper support the Aurora would be doomed and although trying to outrun it was possible they were no longer capable of doing so with the fusion reactor blown to bits. However, judging by the speed of approach and the fact that they haven't fired any more rounds to completely obliterate the Aurora she quickly realised they were attempting to board and take the battleship. A devious grin appeared on her face, an opportunity to exact revenge against the dreadnaught had just presented itself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Anon"
Anon woke up to the sound of a familiar voice.
"Anon wake up bud."
As Anon sat up right he saw the face of his brother-in-law Jason holding an umbrella. "Saw you walking up the porch but I couldn't go outside since I was busy cooking." He looked down for a second and took a deep breath "listen, I know it's hard, believe me it hurts not only me but also Carmen." Jason then lowers himself to Anon's eye level, looks with sympathetic eyes and says in a soft tone "If you want to talk about what happened up there i'll listen, I'm not going to pressure you to speak to me."
Anon tries not to look into his eyes and says "I'm not ready yet...sorry."
Jason looked into Anon's eyes, slightly nodded and said "its okay bud you can tell me when you're ready ok?" Jason stood up and helped Anon off the bench. He continued "Why don't we head to the house and get some lunch, I know Carmen will be very happy to see her uncle."
Jason started to walk first and then Anon started walking right behind him. Suddenly, as Anon took his third step, he felt a sense of vertigo as sounds seemed to faze in and echo out his movements felt as they were lagging behind as he looked forward he could see Jason continue to walk and continuously put more distance between them. Feeling just as weak as that time when he was training in a high gravity chamber that was simulating the approximate surface gravity of neptune he collapsed but instead of falling on concrete he felt grass. Much too tired to stand up, he lays on the grass unconscious.
A Griffon diplomat in a fancy tuxedo slammed his fist into the conference desk after hearing equestrian diplomats’ answers to Griffon's demands. The room was filled with both equestrian diplomats, griffonian diplomats as well as minotaurian diplomats serving as a third neutral party, all of them with serious and solemn faces. The griffon who stood up from his paws in a small display of rage was an important diplomat of grand repute who had been tasked with negotiating reparations over a large skirmish with the equestrians.
The minotaur diplomats were located at the end of the hall in a semi-circular podium facing the oval-shaped conference table where on one side there were griffonian diplomats and on the other equestrian. The role of the minotaurs was to simply be mediators. The conference room was large and very old with a large circular dome in the center adorned with a grand painting depicting the goddess Faust in an open green field wearing a transparent tunic revealing the markings in her slim hourglass body figure which looked like cracks coursing through her body, she was also holding a scroll in her left hand along with holding a balance in her right hand. the whole building had a roman like architecture holding relics from by gone times some even before the existence of both celestia and luna. To say this large building was of enormous historical importance would be an understatement as it was said to have been built by the goddess Faust herself.
"This...IS UNACCEPTABLE!"
"Order! We will have order!" a minotaur from the area in the center banged the mallet on the podium.
All the diplomats’ banter and insults slowly died down to listen to the minotaur who raised from his seat to address the assembly.
"Equestrians, Griffonians and Minotaurians alike I announce the commencement of a 1 hour recess, it is my belief that with a full stomach we may be able to reach a solution to this crisis"
The diplomats of both Equestria and the Griffonian Empire stared each other down as they retired toward their designated eating spaces, as the conference hall emptied and the sound of hoofsteps died out the griffon that had the outburst of rage got up from his seat and walked closer to the minotaur overseer and signaled the minotaur to get closer. The minotaur nodded and lowered his head to the griffin’s beak and heard him say: "The sunflowers bloom in winter."
"but there is no sun to follow." The Minotaur said in a low and deep gravelly voice. His other companions looked to both the sides of the conference room to make sure they were alone with the griffon before speaking.
"Your reputation precedes you griffon, yet I still question your methods." said the towering minotaur.
"Please, call me by my name, Gunther." Gunther bowed his head to the minotaur and continued "Do not fret, that was nothing but a display of intimidation."
"One that may cost you gravely ambassador, remember, if you do not make the equestrians soften their stance in regards to the economic sanctions you will receive no help from Minotauria economic or otherwise."
"I can assure you that we will be benefiting from a mutual military alliance quite soon" he states matter of factly.
"What makes you so sure we would agree?" the minotaur scoffs.
Gunther looks to his eyes with a serious expression "The equestrians have been gaining too much power over the last decade with the addition of various territories, a new anointed princess and most important of all a thriving economy. I believe that Minotauria's main concern is the economic one isn't it Iron Hoof?
Iron Hoof harrumphed and looking annoyed clarified "That is Mr. Iron to you griffon don't you forget that and, yes, it is the economic aspect which we fear." after a small pause he continued "What has the Zebrican Government decided?" asked the minotaur in a soft voice.
"They have assured us they will join as long as the economic sanctions aren't too harsh and we promised the King a bride for his son as well as some land rich in vegetation once the conflict is over."
"A... bride?" Mr.Iron looked at the griffon with wide eyes along with a questioning gaze.
"Luna of course. The king was quite clear after all, he worries he won't be able to see his grandchildren before his deathbed." Gunther states with a deadpan expression while wiping away dust from the aged podium from his suit.
"humph...they were never the smartest bunch it's quite honestly astounding their nation has been able to survive this long."
"ha-ha, I agree with your statement, however they will serve their purpose in due time." as he smirks he looks at his watch "well what do you know, I’m a bit behind schedule! I only have at least 30 minutes before the recess is over." as the griffon turns around and to leave without looking back he asks "If we land an adequate deal with the equestrians will you agree in joining the alliance you and your country?"
"We have received the go ahead a week in advance ambassador Gunther but our terms still stand you MUST minimize economic sanctions before Minotauria can agree."
Gunther, bows his head to the minotaur and excuses himself out of the conference room.
As Gunther opens the door to a dining room filled with his compatriots drinking, eating and going through paperwork. He makes his way to the center of the room and upon getting there he attempts to get the attention of his peers by producing an eagle-like screech from his beak. Clearing his throat, he accommodated his tie and proceeded to say:
"My fellow comrades, the conflict we desire is still far away but today...TODAY WE TAKE.THE.FIRST.STEP!"
"Hear, hear!" his comrades chanted.
"If we make the equestrians soften their economic sanctions; which they will" the diplomats chuckle "we will be able to solidify a military alliance with Minotauria and Zebrica. With the Alliance we will be able to cut the equestrians to size and control equestria from the shadows."
"B-but the princesses!" someone mentioned among the small assembly of griffins.
"Worry not. They will serve us! Once everything is settled, they will be thrown into a cage to be tortured, ridiculed and to forever raise and lower the celestial bodies, after all, just because they are immortal does not meant they are exempt from pain and suffering just like the rest of us mortals!"
His comrades began to chant and cheer:
"Hear, hear!"
"Down with those royals"
"Forever our slaves!"
"Long live the king and its empire!"
"Revenge, revenge, revenge for the 153!"
"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"chanted Gunther raising his fist to his chest the rest of the griffons quieted down, followed his gesture and chanted along with Gunther.
"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"
"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"
"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"
Meanwhile in the equestrian dining room...
Among the ambassadors there was a latent worrisome aura to the room as ambassadors debated and went through their papers also among them a pony by the name of Solar Flare, a pony with red fur and a grey mane and beard he was a pony of old age who had overstayed his time as an ambassador was trying to convince the others that economic sanctions should be intensified despite the fears of further military action by the griffonians.
Equestria feared that another skirmish close to their borders could escalate to a formal war. They were confident they could win the war however they would not have the moral high ground in that situation thus they would look like the aggressors and that international image would cause their trade to suffer and the image of the princesses tarnished domestically and abroad.
This situation was the direct result of miscommunication between Equestrian infantry and Griffonian civilians. An Equestrian major and his company of 100 soldiers were lost during a patrol in the border after their compasses started to malfunction and ended up following a river in hopes it would take them back to civilization. Sometime later they ended up in a griffonian border village called Broadnest, this is where the story diverges, they were confronted by the locals who tried to expel the soldiers towards the woods after an equestrian tried to get intimate with a female griffon without her consent, the locals were furious and some of them gathered together to try and expulse the company from their village, griffonian reports show that equestrian forces lined up, took positions and charged at the crowd with swords and spears at hand slaughtering all 53 of the villagers who were present at the time and then proceeded to burn down and sack the small village rounding up the villagers and causing 100 more casualties.
Equestrias military, however, reported that after entering the village a soldier was trying to meet up with his griffon marefriend who he was dating for some time already so he could chat with her, make up for lost time and in the meantime wait for the signal to leave so he and his company could be escorted and sent back to the equestrian side of the border, the villagers unfortunately, misinterpreted their relationship and acted in a hostile manner which put the company in harm's way.
Solar Flare could simply rub his forehead from just remembering the two reports; no matter how someone looked at it, it looks as if equestria deliberately attacked the locals. There was simply no way to clear this up as the bodies of the couple in question were later found lying on the floor, dead.
"Gentlecolts, please, allow me to clarify first that I am of the same mindset that we should not escalate this any further." pausing for a second he then continues "HOWEVER we should put in place these temporary economic sanctions so that they may not think of us as 'willing to bend the knee'."
The other looked at him with a distasteful look and some with outright anger for suggesting such a thing. A pony by the name of Black Cloak in the back got up from his chair and walked towards Solar Flare, shoving him out of place and turning back to the crowd.
"It seems Solar Flare has a severe case of senilelism, who would be so kind as to escort him to the gentlecolts room so he may spout his bullshit there?" the rest chuckled for a brief moment except for Solar Flare who looked at him with anger "all of you as well as I know that angering the griffons will only escalate the situation!" everyone nodded in agreement and mumbled among themselves "So I'm going to propose to you my fellow ambassadors this: First, we help with reconstruction efforts of Broadnest, second, we offer a state apology to the Griffonian empire and finally hand over the major who was in charge to the griffonians so he may be judged in the courts there." an eerie silence emanated from the gathering of ponies they really didn't like that last proposition. Noticing this Black Cloak quickly tried to fix his slip up "W-well the last proposition we can review in just a bit and change it out with something a bit more adequate."
The rest of the ambassadors nodded in agreement however they made it clear that any punishment made to an equestrian soldier should be handed out by equestria and by no other. Soon it was time to reconvene at the main hall and all of the ambassadors proceeded to retake their seats. When Iron Hoof stepped out of the minotaur dining hall and into the main hall both the equestrian and grifonian ambassadors rose from their seats quietly as per tradition.
Iron Hoof takes the center podium, taking the ceremonial mallet, he bangs it against the table once and directs himself to the hall of ambassadors.
"At ease gentlecolts" the diplomats then took their seats awaiting the final speech. Iron hoof took both hands and laid them above his chest where his heart would be and opened instead with a prayer "O Faust we of mortal descent ask of thee that the situation at hand be guided by your infinite wisdom to a peaceful conclusion and conflict be avoided if there should be conflict please guide the souls of all to nirvana and for our warriors ascension, please, forgive our transgressions and guide us to redemption." after a minute of silence he finally concluded "Make it so, dear Faust"
After Iron Hoof had concluded the prayer the rest repeated the last portion "Make it so, dear Faust"
Iron Hoof then took his seat. "The meeting is now in session, have the equestrians come to a solution?"
Black Cloak stood up facing the griffon diplomats he unrolls a scroll and holding up high he clears his throat to speak "We have come to draft a new set of propositions" the griffons lean slightly towards the pony in expectancy of the new propositions "First, Equestria will help with reconstruction efforts of Broadnest. Second, Equestria will offer a state apology to the Griffonian empire. Finally we will exchange a total of 10,000,000 bits which will be paid off monthly for a period of 5 years at a fixed interest rate of 2.5% in exchange for the company. We will handle the judgement of the major and his company and a suitable punishment will be handed down upon them."
The griffins were quite surprised to hear such advantageous terms; compared to the last ones these were a blessing. Gunther couldn't help but sneer internally, everything went better than expected and to make matters even sweeter the equestrians were practically handing over their countries money on a silver platter, money which will surely be used to finance the rapid industrialization planned by the military.
Gunther, as the head ambassador stood up from his seat to speak on behalf of the griffon ambassadors "We humbly accept these terms and take back our previous terms." Immediately everyone in the hall clapped as the crises had been averted.
Iron Hoof called for order, banging the mallet he receives the attention of everyone in the hall "Very well, a solution has been achieved so with the power that has been invested in me by your countries and Faust I hereby declare Solutio est effectum, pax et bellum, quae averso."
After formalising the pact the diplomats began making way to their respective countries all except for two. In the now dark hall a griffon stood face to face to a pony with black fur and long red mane that reached his neck.
It was Gunther and Dark Cloak who were holding the secret meeting "Dark Cloak, you did a swell job handling the situation on your part you can expect your payment to arrive shortly" said Gunther with cheer.
Dark Cloak Looked angry at the griffon, in his mind he was conjuring ways in which to kill him and hide the body but he needed to calm himself before things got out of hand so after taking a deep breath he addressed Gunther "Believe me Gunther I am absolutely Livid if I could I would strangle you right here." Dark Cloak made a motion with his hands to better emphasize what he would do the griffon.
Gunther simply scoffs with a smug smile he looks directly to his eyes and says "You know you can't do a damn thing to me, if you don't want that information leaking out to every equestrian newspaper, just imagine, from Appleloosa to New Manehattan the headline will be: Ambassador Black Cloak, Filly Fiddler caught red han-"
Black Cloak, in a surge of fury immediately raised his fist but stopped himself mid swing returning his hand to his side. "I swear, you will receive your due in time FUCKER." he remarks in a poisonous whisper.
Gunther simply smiles and gets close to Black Cloak and whispers to his ear "I own you for the time being, remember this when I ask for your services again, we are watching your every move and dont you dare talk about this to anypony."
Gunther then proceeds to exit the building leaving a scared yet furious pony behind. To Gunther all was going according to the plan.
Solar Flare an aged earth pony was taking his seat in his personal carriage and gave the order to make way to his home. While the carriage pulled away the pony relaxed his head after such a stressful day but he couldn't shake this feeling of uneasiness that sent goosebumps throughout his back as if he was forgetting about something. He then remembers what it is: his fountain pen.
It was not just any fountain pen it was a family heirloom passed down by his mother and by her mothers mother. The fountain pen was given by celestia herself after his ancestor had valiantly defended a small village by the everfree from a diamond dog slaver raid. In those times a fountain pen was something only a highly skilled blacksmith pony could make. It had a glossy black color and was decorated with the countries official insignia in gold and silver, the gold bearing Celestia's sun and the silver Luna's moon.
Immediately after remembering, he told the carriage pullers to change course and quickly head back to the hall. While on his way he still felt inexplicably worried thinking back on the events of a an hour ago he came to conclude that it was probably just his age, maybe his patience was just running thin with the newer generation of diplomats. "Ugh, I'm getting too damn old for this." he mused.
Upon arriving he told the carriage pullers to await him in the entrance and so they did. He walked up the steps of the immense building, down the main hall and passing the ancient relics on display when suddenly he began hearing voices coming from inside the main conference hall which he thought was strange because there wasn't supposed to be anyone there and as he got closer he could make out the voices better.
"Dark Cloak, you did a swell job handling the situation on your part you can expect your payment to arrive shortly"
Solar Flare stopped in his tracks standing up front to the entrance of the hall not believing what he just heard. "Payment? what payment?" he whispered to himself. His gut feeling telling him he should keep himself hidden he decided to obey it this time, upon getting closer to the door he slightly opens it just enough to peak inside and with his amber colored eyes he could see Dark Cloak with a scowl in his face, visibly angry speaking with Gunther.
"Believe me Gunther I am absolutely Livid if I could I would strangle you right here."
Solar Flare was taken aback from the young stallions words in all his years working with him he never saw him so furious! 'What is it that made him so angry? What payment was the griffon talking about? Were they working together and if so for what?' Solar Flare thought to himself.
"You know you can't do a damn thing to me, if you don't want that information leaking out to every equestrian newspaper, just imagine, from Appleloosa to New Manehattan the headline will be: Ambassador Black Cloak, Filly Fiddler caught red han-"
'Filly WHAT?!' Solar Flare let out a gasp as he thought about the revelation he just heard. Solar Flare was seething with anger as he looked in the direction of Dark Cloak 'Absolutely disgusting! How dare this THING commit such a monstrous act! When I report back i'm going to make sure myself he gets hanged!' his thoughts were filled with both anger and disappointment towards his future ex-colleague.
"I swear, you will receive your due in time FUCKER."
Solar Flare scoffed silently "No, it will be YOU who meets your demise you damn predator!" as Solar Flare continued to focus his attention to Gunther and Black Cloak and their conversation in hopes of more information.
"I own you for the time being, remember this when I ask for your services again, we are watching your every move and dont you dare talk about this to anypony."
Solar Flare was already fuming at Dark Cloak but when he heard Gunther threaten an equestrian citizen his angry thoughts were quick to target him as as well "Watch your tongue Griffonian or by Celestia my wrath will fall upon you as well."
The aged pony noticed the griffon face towards the door and walk towards his direction. He quickly scurried towards the opposite side of a nearby pillar making sure his hooves didn't make a sound so he could hide. He heard Gunther open the door and step out as his lion paws patted away from the entrance he suddenly stops looking back at the door. "I could have sworn I closed it before..." Gunther whispered to himself. Gunther looked at either end of the halls not able to see anyone at first glance but before he could continue to walk into the direction in which Solar Flare was he was suddenly called out by Dark Cloak.
"Will you continue to pester me with your presence Gunther?!" Dark Cloak bellowed. Dark Cloak was still in the process of gathering his belongings but the words of warning from the griffon still resounded clear and strong in his head. The griffon recoiled when he heard the unicorn pony yell at him and opting not to respond him he took last look towards the hall before he marched out of the building.
Solar Flare finally came out of hiding he faced the door where Dark Cloak was in. He needed answers but this gut feeling he had, something instinctual, something...primal was telling him to RUN and not look back but his need for answers overrode the need of survival and as he opened the door he saw that Dark Cloak was nowhere to be found. Deciding that for now at least he will search for the fountain pen he opts to simply go to where he last used it which was during the signing of the treaty. Upon heading to his side of the table he finds his pen on the table glistening from the moonlight that was being filtered through the stained glass windows giving the pen a kaleidoscope glow.
"What are you doing here?" Dark Cloak called out from the dark "What is it you seek Solar Flare?"
Solar Flare looks behind him and sees Dark Cloak emerge from the darkness his fur camouflaging him hell in the darkness. He was wearing the ceremonial suit he has during the conference complete with a beautiful ceremonial cutlass.
Solar Flare without taking his eyes off of him silently takes his pen and places it in his breast pocket while making the best fake smile he could muster from his years in the job, gives a few pats to where his pen is located and simply said "Forgot my fountain pen."
A silence permeates between them as Dark Cloak stares Solar Flare intently clutching his sword with one hand and scanning him with his eyes for any sign of him lying. Solar Flare begins to feel uneasy as it takes all his concentration to look clueless and innocent. All of this effort however was for naught.
"What is the real reason why your here Solar?" Dark Cloak was not amused something told him Solar Flare was lying.
Steeling himself Solar Flare finally confronts him, after all why should he continue to beat around the bush? "I heard everything Dark Cloak, do not think that you will escape easily from this you damn pervert."
"What makes you think you will come out of this alive?" asks Gunther as he walks in the room once more "Your transport was outside, I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of taking care of them for the time being."
With a worried face Solar Flare couldn't help but imagine the worst. "What did you do to them?"
With a mocking expression Gunther gunther pulls out a small empty vial and shakes it a bit "They're asleep, passed out during the job." gunther puts back the vial, his face changes to a serious one and looks at the aged pony like a predator looks at its prey before pouncing. "Perhaps, they killed Solar Flare to steal his belongings."
Dark Cloak and Solar Flare look at the griffon with shock. Dark Cloak picking up on what Gunther insinuated looks at Solar Flare and unsheathes his ceremonial sword.
As the sword is being unsheathed Solar Flare looks at Dark Cloak with a pleading look and with a shaky voice he pleads for his life "No, please, I have a family." he then takes a knee and while mentally dazed he feels a sense of hopelessness. With nopony in the area knowing of his plight and his advanced age working against him he would never be able to run or fight his way out.
"Any last words old stallion?" asks Dark cloak as he raises his sword above his head.
Sneakily taking out his fountain pen from his breast pocket and clutching it close to his chest he then thinks about his Wife, daughter and especially his granddaughter wherever she may be at the moment. 'I'm so sorry Sunset, my dear Sunset, please forgive this old stallion.' with a quick movement of his hands and all the force he could muster he lunges forward with his fountain pen pointing it at Dark Cloak.
"AARGH!! FUCKING OLD STALLION!"
Solar Flare reached his objective stabbing Dark Cloak in the stomach. He takes a step back looking at the young stallion grabbing the fountain pen and yank it out and throw the pen toward the conference table landing under it afterwards he seals his wound using his magic. Lowering his sword he uses his magic to pull the earth pony towards it but the old stallion resists trying to back away towards the opposite direction. Being pulled in slowly by his magic the old stallion tries his best to free himself, he tries walking backwards but the marble floors began to betray him as his hoofs slip from the surface. He stares at the sword glistening in the moonlight with dread, as it slowly gets closer and closer. The stallion looks at the face of his aggressor with frightened eyes he sees his face contorted in fury, his nose bleeding from the overuse of magic and snarling at him while his eyes were locked into the place where he wanted the sword to penetrate.
Solar Flare feels the sword give a light poke towards his stomach and immediately the adrenaline kicks in making him push back with even greater force but the strength of the much younger stallion proves his last efforts useless.
"N-NO PLEASE DON-GHA AGGHH AGGGHH" Solar Flare's strength vanishes as the sword slowly plunges into his stomach releasing blood that began to flow from the wound and his mouth. His legs continue to try uselessly to push back but with dwindling force and his fists bang on Dark Cloaks chest with not as nearly enough strength as he would have wanted "ple- ACK ont please" finally with his head upwards facing the decorated ceiling tears began to stream from his eyes and the eyes lost their lustre as he gave his last breath.
Immediately he stopped resisting and went limp with the sword still impaling him, the blood continued to flow from under him decorating the white marble with crimson red. Finally Dark Cloak pulls the sword from his abdomen being careful not to stain his suit and then proceeds to clean the blood from the blade with a handkerchief.
Gunther claps from his seat and with a smile looks at Dark Cloak "Could have finished much faster but oh well at least you finished the job. i'll give you a 7 out of 10 for this display" Gunther then proceeds to walk towards the exit but before he leaves, without turning around to see the murderer he speaks to him "You will be payed for this as well, please tell me, how do you like your fillies? trained or feisty?" Gunther chuckles for a brief moment before Dark Cloak responds as he stares at his handiwork.
"Feisty, now leave me be! I still have work to do."
Gunther starts to leave slightly disgusted from his answer. Without saying anything else he steps out of the room to leave the stallion clean the scene.
Canterlot Palace
3 days later
The funeral for the diplomat was grim to say the least. Solar Flare's wife Ruby Shine was distraught and inconsolable upon hearing the news the grief making her shut herself in the room they used to share. Amber Gem, his daughter, being accompanied by her husband fared no better and would sometimes join her mother in her grief. Upon hearing the news concerning her grandfather, Sunset Shimmer, broke down in grief and was engulfed in anger towards the captured aggressors. She immediately made her way through the portal to attend the funeral and meet with her family. Celestia and Luna attended the funeral not only because protocol demanded it but also to support Sunset Shimmer's family in their darkest hour.
2 days ago Celestia had received word from Twilight of a human currently hospitalized in Ponyville hospital but due to state affairs they were not able to meet up with him and because of the funeral they would have to postpone the meeting until the next day.
It was a beautiful morning, birds chirped and the rays of the sun began to shine from the horizon lighting it with a yellow-blue glow announcing the start of a new day. In a small cabin house located in the outskirts of Ponyville the rays of the sun began to filter through the curtains and hitting the eyes of Redheart. "Nooo, 5 more minutes," she protested. Redheart stirred in the bed trying to ignore the light, but in the end she gave in finally sitting up on the edge of her bed. She made her way to the bathroom to wash her face, so she could wake up, she didn't have to walk too far since the bathroom was exclusive to her room. Five minutes later she emerged from her bathroom refreshed and her hair tied into a bun.
With a cheery attitude she heads for her closet "Alright! Just gotta get dressed, breakfast and then head on to work!"
Redheart changes into her nurse uniform; the uniform was a one piece uniform that could open from buttons that ran on the left side of her body and ended where the skirt began, the skirt reached just a bit above her knees and finally to complete the uniform a small white nurse cap with a red cross in the center. Nurse Redheart posed in front of her full body mirror doing a pin up she had seen in a fashion magazine once. Giggling, she walks out of her room.
She proceeded to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She made a sunny-side-up egg breakfast sandwich complete with a sautéed tomato. She served the tasty breakfast on a platter and served herself a glass of orange juice, looking at her recent creation she bites in tasting the delicious, mouthwatering sandwich savoring every moment "Breakfast is the best," she sighs. She looks up from her plate and looks at the hanging clock: she was late for work.
"Oh crap, I'm late!" Redheart quickly downs the sandwich with the orange juice and gets up from her seat, runs out the cabin and starts jogging down the gravel road. After a few minutes she starts slowing down to a walking pace as she begins to admire the scenery; the blue sky, the white puffy clouds; the green hills, the strange creature lying down in said hill.
Redheart stops and from a distance narrows her eyes to try see what it is that she saw. With a bit of courage, she walks slowly towards the figure and quickly notices from the blood he's visibly hurt. She starts running up hill toward the creature and kneels at the creature's side. She notices he looked strange, he looked like a pony but his facial features were much flatter, he had no fur except for the top of his head, he didn't have hoofs at the end of his legs and his clothes were made of a strange fabric which seemed smoother and delicate.
Whatever this creature was, he seemed to be badly hurt; a thin line of blood was flowing out of his mouth and he seemed to be unconscious.
Redheart uses her hands to gently touch his chest and use the bit of magic earth ponies usually have and since her special talent was related somewhat to the field of medicine she would have a bit of an idea as to what she could do at the moment. 'A broken rib, a light concussion, and... Foreign objects in his brain, arteries and back of his ear?' the mare looked at the creature with a puzzled expression shortly after receiving the information she was able to gather from her magic. The broken rib would prove to be a serious problem, with a broken rib she couldn't just try to pick him up and carry him to the hospital it meant she would have to improvise. Looking around, she spots a branch close to the edge of the everfree forest, an idea quickly forming in her head. Running back to her house, she grabs the blanket she slept in the night before and quickly runs back to the wounded creature tying up the blanket to the branch she creates a makeshift stretcher.
She gently puts his upper body on the blanket making sure he doesn't accidentally hit his head on the gravel, she picks up the branch which in turn lifted his upper body a bit and start to move towards the hospital gently dragging the creature behind her. The creature grunts in pain and she, upon hearing him, tries to pick up the pace.
She looks back at him with sympathetic eyes, "I'll get you to a hospital, hang on for a bit".
Ponyville Hospital
5 minutes later
The hospital was relatively calm that morning the only ponies coming in were going to get a checkup or had a mild case of stomach ache from consuming too much of Pinkie Pie's muffins. The peace, however, was interrupted by nurse redheart who pushed open the doors to the entrance of the hospital as she steps in with the creature behind her. She looked as if she ran a marathon and her bun was close to breaking free.
"DOCTOR, WE NEED A DOCTOR HERE!"
The receptionist looks at the creature and runs off to get a doctor, but the doctor was already running down the hall towards the entrance. Quickly using his magic, he grabs an emergency stretcher trolly from the end of the room and pulls it close.
Redheart immediately tells him the details "Doc be careful, he has a broken rib, concussion and foreign objects in his body. I found him atop a small hill at the edge of the everfree."
The doctor nods "Is he even pony or is he a minotaur? Any sort of identification? What about a medical history?" The Doctor without hesitation picks the creature up with his magic and gently lays him on the stretcher trolley.
Redheart shakes her head "I'm afraid I don't have anymore information."
The doctor does a short nod "I'll see what we can do. Meanwhile, go clean up well talk later" the doctor speeds off towards the emergency room with the injured human beside him leaving redheart behind wondering what exactly did she just save.
Over an hour later she had already cleaned herself up having taken a spare uniform from her locker and retied her hair bun back into place. She was currently sitting outside the room of the creature waiting for the doctor to come out.
The head nurse, Nightingale, was lenient towards Redheart; having decided to assign her to care for the creature as a reward for her heroic action. Redheart was sitting at the entrance desk trying to distract herself from the boring routine but from the back of her mind she was still worried for the creature , it seemed to be in a bad state while it was unconscious. The Doctor emerged from the room and walked over to Redheart.
Redheart stands up facing the doctor "Is it ok doctor?" she asks.
The doctor puts on a smile "He will be fine Nurse Redheart, we were able to ID him through what looked like a presentation card he had in his pocket. It seems his name is Anon Reyes, male and according to his presentation card born September 1 2035." The doctor hands her Anons ID.
"That's not possible, that's a little over a millennium from now" Redheart replies with a puzzled look.
The doctor nods in agreement "That's not all, the country of origin named here isn't from anywhere I know."
"Strange" replies redheart.
"Right now what he needs is rest, I was able to treat his fractured rib and concussion only partially. As for the foreign objects, unfortunately, those will not be extracted until I get more information about them so make sure to talk to him about it if he wakes up ok?" as the doctor finishes speaking redheart nods in affirmation.
"Why were you not able to treat him completely?" Redheart's complexion seemed to fall a bit in worry.
"something is stopping me from treating him completely. I dunno what it is but until I can get more information I can only do this much unfortunately." the doctors expression sullens.
"I will go contact miss Sparkle, I'm sure she will be excited to talk to him once he wakes up" the doctor pats her on the shoulder and continues "You did good today nurse redheart, had you not noticed him he would probably have suffered more before expiring." the doctor then walks away.
Redheart enters the room and sees Anon asleep on a hospital bed. Taking a seat on the armchair beside anon she takes a closer look at him noticing his facial features. 'He's not bad looking I guess?' she looks him over, but stops when her conscious catches up to her. 'What am I thinking I don't even know this guy' she mentally scolds herself.
Autumn 2045
"Anon, hold onto our hands!" Maximiliano and Joy held the hands of their 10-year-old son while Alice, a 5-year-old girl, was carried by her mother. They had just left their house to head towards a public bomb shelter that was near. The neighborhood was in chaos many people ran in and out of their houses trying to gather their belongings, others sagely left behind their belongings and also made their way to the bomb shelter. Anon had an idea as to what was happening, but his sister could still not understand the magnitude of the problem they were in.
The world seemed to faze into darkness as they ran down the street eventually Anon saw only his younger self from a third person perspective and followed him as he ran into the darkness. Young Anon's clothes began to tatter and get dirtier and soon the world fazed in to reveal the walkway to the hiding spot in which they took refuge he and his sister: under a partially destroyed bridge. Young Anon carried in his hand a small can of canned corn, Anon knew exactly where young anon was headed and followed him. Young anon stopped in the middle of the bridge, facing where the bridge would start and pulled on a door that had its hinges partially destroyed the door made a loud creaking sound and revealed a small room originally designed for storing a few maintenance droids only now the home of two orphans. Anon was standing in the entrance watching everything unfold.
Young anon walked up to a small dirty mattress that lay on the floor and on that mattress was his sister sick, cold and wrapped up in her jacket trying to make it through the cold. It was a cold December they had been surviving for a bit over a month, but winter proved to be harsh even in Los Cabos: they had global warming to thank for that.
"I brought food" Young Anon sat down cross legged in front of his sister trying to open the can with a knife he had taken from an abandoned house.
"You eat it" Alice says in between coughs.
Her brother shakes his head "No, you need it more than me" He hands her the opened can and helps her up to a seating position.
"Thanks Anon" She says as she starts to sniffle "I jus- I just wish mommy and daddy were still here!" she breaks into a sob.
Anon silently watched his younger self hug her and silently join her sadness. The world around Anon started to darken and an intense light shone through it which blinded him, slowly the light got closer until his whole world was consumed by the light.
1 day later
Anon stirred in the hospital bed starting to wake up, he feels a mild pain emanating from his chest. Instinctively he reaches with one of his hands towards where the pain came from, only to be stopped by a soft hand. Anon finally opens his eyes and sees Nurse Redheart.
"Please, don't move, you have a fractured rib" she says in a smooth voice that strangely calms him down if only for just a bit.
Anon stares at Redheart "Wh-what are you?" he looks up and down at the mare that stood before him, her fur was short and pure white, had pink hair tied up in a cute bun and those large blue eyes seemed to mesmerize him; her body had an hourglass figure, she was quite busty and a few other details he noticed was that she had no feet, but instead hooves she had what looked like a snout but more rounded and less pronounced and finally her ears seemed equine; to Anon she looked alien to him but breathtaking nonetheless.
"My name is Redheart, Im a pony, I'm also a nurse of this hospital and I was assigned to take care of you until you get better." she says calmly. She noticed now that when Anon spoke to her he has this sort of accent when speaking equish he seemed to roll out his r's a bit more.
Anon nods in silence still admiring her beauty before finally speaking "Nurse Redheart, may I ask how I got here?" he asks.
"Well, a day ago I found you wounded, I made a makeshift stretcher and dragged you to the hospital so the doctor could treat your wounds." Redheart explains with a serious expression.
Anon eyes went wide "I was out for a day?"
Redheart nods.
Anon thinks to himself, 'Well, damn I guess im pretty lucky to have been found.' Anon looks at her with a sweet smile and chuckles lightly before speaking "Mi salvador, My saviour," he says while maintaining eye contact with her.
Redheart didn't really know what that first part meant but, that voice, it was earcandy to her; she was slightly blushing when she heard that last part "Your welcome Mr. Reyes." she says trying to hide her blush by looking in another direction.
Deciding to return the conversation on track,she composes herself and looks back at Anon "A-anyway I have been told by the doctor he was not able to remove some foreign objects that seemed to be in your body so by any chance do you know anything about them that might help?".
"I'm sorry Redheart but those objects must stay inside, of course, I'm not saying I would die without them but they help out my body to perform better than what a normal human being would and no offence but by looking around the room I doubt you would have the right tech to extract them," He gives Redheart a warm smile and continues "Did I by chance have any belongings with me?"
"Why, yes if you excuse me I'll go fetch them." Redheart heads out the door.
Anon takes this opportunity to think things over, 'What the hell? A pony she says! Well, she does seem to have some characteristics but she looks almost human! and where the hell did that flirt come from? compose yourself dammit! You just met her. More importantly I was out for a day and got a broken rib! I need to take the pills for faster recovery'
Anon calms himself a bit and looks out the window his bed was close to looking at the town below he could see more of the same species as Redheart but he also saw others that looked like her but with different colors of coat and hair. What astonished him was seeing others with horns and some flying with wings of their own 'This world is definitely not earth or any of the other colonies how did I get here? How do I get back?' His thinking was interrupted when Redheart enters the room with his clothes neatly folded in her hands. Anon didn't notice at first but he was in a hospital gown.
"Ah, thank you, could you hand me my pants?" Anon reaches his hands out wincing a bit at the pain as he did so.
Redheart gives him the pair of pants "You can't leave yet ok? You need to completely heal first"
Anon nods with a warm smile "Now why would I leave if your here?" Anon mentally facepalms himself. That damn habit of being flirty around the opposite sex had caused trouble before.
Redheart was visibly embarrassed "I'll just...be outside, if you need anything just call out for me" flustered she leaves the room before Anon could say a word.
Not able to resist anymore, Anon facepalms himself only to wince at the pain from his chest caused from moving his arm. Anon sits up in his bed, toughing through the pain from his chest and dips his hand into the backpocket and feels what he was looking for. He pulls out a small aluminum case that still contained 10 green pills with a small printed red text on them saying 'TWIST BEFORE CONSUMING'. Anon takes one of the green pills and twists one of the ends causing a silent hiss to emanate from the pill he then immediately pops it in his mouth and swallows.
The pills were first aid nanobots capable of repairing and destroying harmful or damaged tissue in the body. Developed during WW3 these pills gave many soldiers a second chance to fight another day and after the war they were used to cure many types of injuries without the need of a surgery. The pills however were not cure-alls, they couldn't be used to treat illnesses due to how "messy" at their job nanobots were. Anon judged by the extent of his damage it would take at least 1 hour to heal his body.
Anon was sitting on the bed when he starts to feel the nanobots work their way through his body and finally congregate themselves in the affected areas. It felt as if there were hundreds of ants crawling on his chest and head area; It was mighty uncomfortable.
*Knock Knock*
Anon looks up towards the door as it opened to reveal another one of those ponies but this one was had a lavender coat with long hair that reached a bit past her shoulders and had a pink stripe running through it; another major difference he noticed were the wings and horn she seemed to possess, he hadn't seen that on any of the other ponies when looking out the window. She was also wearing a sort of librarian outfit that looked adorable on her.
"Oh, good afternoon!" the lavender pony steps into the room with a cheery smile. She proceeds to sit in the armchair beside his bed.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle what's yours?"
"Um, name Is Anon, Anon Reyes"
"Well Anon, I'm here to help you get back home do you remember anything before arriving here?" Twilight's horn iluminates with a dull purple glow and starts to float a notepad and pen to write down some notes when Anon looks amazed at it.
"WAIT! How are you doing that?!" Anon pointed at the levitating notepad in front of her. Anon was astonished at the scene as his mind tried to formulate a logical reason.
"Oh right, I forgot humans don't actually use magic" she says with a sheepish smile "Sorry to have surprised you like that."
Anon was caught off guard about what she said 'Magic? what the heck?' he open his mouth to speak "Wait, you know what I am? how?" he looks at her with a surprised face.
"Well I actually stayed in your world for some time after passing through the portal. I must say that you look quite different from your peers, your eyes are noticeably smaller."
"You've been to earth? When? and what do you mean my eyes are smaller?" Anon was amazed at the thought of humanity having established unknowingly with a different species but he found her last statement a bit odd.
"Well it was about 5 years ago, I was a student in Canterlot High for at least a week and the eyes of your peers were of a similar size as to mine," she states matter-a-factly while giving a nervous grin.
Anon, without saying a word, decides to speed up his brain functions. The world around him seemed to go at an excruciatingly slow pace, twilight's eyes were half-lidded because she was blinking and moved extremely slow; it was as if he stopped time. Anon starts searching information stored in the artificial third lobe of his brain for this high school she mentioned. After what seemed like hours no information came up about this "Canterlot High", no records, no register; nothing. Anon frigidly came with to a hypothesis: she is either lying, referring to an unknown location inhabited by humans or from what she mentioned about the eyes talking about a completely different place which would be an amazing discovery.
Still thinking to himself, he thought about this portal Twilight mentioned 'could it be a way out? maybe this is where she found those other humans.'
Decreasing his brain functions to reestablish normal perception of reality he immediately corrects her with a deadpan expression "I'm sorry but humans with similar eyes as yours? It doesn't seem to be the same place im from."
Twilight's eyes widen "Oh my gosh! Could it be your from a different world?" Twilight squeals as she starts scribbling notes blindingly fast.
Pointing to himself Anon speaks "Im from a country called the North American Union, which is located in the American Continent um...planet earth." Anon didn't know if he wanted to go into more specifics so he leaves it at that.
Twilights lean in on him, hands on the bed and a huge grin that would make the cheshire cat make a run for his money "NO WAY!" Twilight squeals with glee once more.
"um...yes way?" he tries to avoid eye-to-eye contact but fails and for a few seconds he's caught in the gaze of the purple mare and blushes slightly. Although not as "gifted" as Redheart he still struggled a bit from looking down. 'You're a soldier! get a hold of yourself dammit!' he mentally scolds himself.
Twilight sees him get flustered and realizes what she is doing, pulling back and returning to her seat; she looks to the side and lets out a nervous cough into her fist.
"Sorry about that, I got a little excited," she says with a nervous smile.
"It's fine Twilight, anyway, regarding your first question I actually don't know how I got here; I was walking behind a friend and then this sense of vertigo just made me collapse."
"Huh, well that certainly complicates things, without much information I won't be able to actually pinpoint where you come from." Twilight's face sours a bit after saying that information.
Anon looks towards the window with a solemn expression on his face. He spots a family walking in the streets of the city, the parents walked while holding the hands of their child who was floating an icecream cone in front of him, happily walking along the path. The silence was interrupted when Redheart entered the room with a tray of food in her hands.
Redheart's eyes widen in surprise as she does a small bow towards Twilight "Oh, Princess Twilight Sparkle! It's an honor to see you here I didnt think you would come this late. Were about to end visiting hours."
Anon looked back at Twilight wide eyed at the sudden revelation "Princess?!"
"Please, I don't really like being called princess, Twilight is fine" she turns around to RedHeart "I wasn't aware, I'm truly sorry"
Redheart shakes her head "Not at all miss Twilight, however I think it would be better to leave Anon to rest."
Twilight nods and turns to Anon with a tender smile and puts a hand over his "I will see you tomorrow Anon, Ill send a letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to ask for their advice, although knowing them, they just might come by and visit."
Twilight gets up from her chair and makes her way through the door. Redheart lays the tray with Anons food on his bed and lays out a spork. The food was a salad with red fruits with a side dish of yogurt and a cup of water.
"Thank you Redheart you been of great help to me" Anon takes the spork and begins to eat.
The next day Anon woke up because of the sunlight filtering through the curtains, as he rose his hands to rub his eyes he noticed that the nanobots had done their job and he no longer felt any pain. Satisfied with the results he gets up from the bed to stretch and walks to the bathroom. After taking care of business he sits down on the bed.
*Knock Knock*
Anon turns to the door then speaks "Come on in, Im awake" Anon yawns. Suddenly he hears a tray drop to the floor.
Startled Anon looks at the direction of the door and sees two mares in royal regalia. One of them had a pearl white color of coat, was tall probably a bit taller than Anon, magenta eyes, multicolored mane that seemed to flow in an ethereal manner and possessed both wings and horns. The second one had green eyes, had a dark shade of blue for coat, her hair was also ethereal like her taller counterpart and of an almost equal dark shade of blue.
Celestia and Luna looked at Anon with a shocked expressions.Celestia was the first to move forward, she held a hand to her mouth as her eyes seem to well up. Anon was starting to get worried and wanted to say something but was cut off by Luna who got close to him and gave him a hug. Anon noticed she was sobbing silently as she pressed her face forward to his chest.
Luna tries to speak silently in between sobs "We missed you so much dad" the waterworks let loose as she held him harder, scared that Anon would disappear into thin air.
"H-how?" Celestia spoke up in between sniffles as she also got closer slowly. She hesitated before reaching out with one hand trying to make contact with his shoulder just to confirm if what she is seeing is real.
When her hand made contact with his shoulder she could feel the warmth from his shoulder confirming to her he was real. Almost immediately she also succumbed to tears as she tried to smile "D-dad, its really y-you, I, no, w-we have missed you so m-much" Celestia drops on her knees and grabs hold of his leg nuzzling against it as she breaks down to a sob.
As the two mares continued to break down, Anon looked towards the door to see a two shocked guards and Redheart holding her hands over her mouth as she witnessed her leaders crying like foals.
Finally Anon looks at the two and lays to each a hand on their shoulders and with a calm face speaks "Im sorry but I think you got the wrong person"
"But you look just like him?" Luna said in disbelief.
Celestia and Luna were having a hard time accepting Anon was not their father despite his efforts to convince them. Luna showed a pendant which held a drawing of their father. The resemblance was uncanny. Whoever it was in the image, could easily pass off as an identical twin.
The equestrian princesses began to interview the human so they could determine if Anon posed a threat to their ponies. After Exchanging some basic information, they explained where he was and this world's inhabitants. Both Celestia and Luna were partially convinced Anon posed no threat.
With a regal composure Luna spoke "Where is thou from?" Luna asked.
Anon gave a brief explanation as to where he was from and about humanity. When Anon talked about humanity reaching the moon Luna was shocked to hear about it but was completely baffled when Anon told them about colonizing the moon and the recent efforts to terraform it. The mood darkened when Anon began retelling about the last three world wars and other proxy wars he participated in as a result of the state of the world. What really horrified both Celestia and Luna the most was the death toll.
"Surely that must not be true...right?" Celestia asked from behind her ethereal mane.
Anon grabs both of his hands and rubs them; a grim expression in his face as he looks downward. "It's all true. Greed, pride and anger were the culprits of my world’s most terrifying wars. Soldiers were sent to die in the millions and in the end the only thing that ended the conflict was not a peace treaty, but a stalemate." Anon looked up towards the princesses "My sister and I went through so much during the conflict, losing everyone we knew and loved."
"Then why become a soldier?" Celestia looked into his eyes with a deep questioning gaze.
Anon felt as if she was analyzing his soul. Steeling himself he answers with conviction "Aside from having no choice it was also because I wanted to stop anybody else from going through the same ever again and I will do so even if it has to be through force. I know it may seem paradoxical but it's the only way I know how."
For a moment silence befell the austere hospital room. Celestia was the first to break the silence "Anon" Celestia sighed "I believe I know a place in which you can stay for the time being while we look into how to send you back home." Celestia hoped that by changing subjects she could maybe divert the conversation.
"Really? That's great! I appreciate the help your highness's." Anon did a small bow from his seated position in the bed despite the uncomfortable sensation from his chest.
Celestia shook her head "Please, Celestia is fine, no need for titles." she continues "You will be staying with my student, Twilight Sparkle."
1 Month later After Anon’s Arrival
Griffonian Military Parade Mystery!
Two days ago the Griffonian Army celebrated the anniversary of the unification of the griffonian tribes creating the now known Griffonian Empire. In this parade however, instead of seeing lines of Griffonian soldiers parading and waving their swords up high into the air we witnessed the reveal of a peculiar new weapon.
The Griffonian army calls it a "rifle" and refused to release any more information regarding this new weapon. The weapon did not seem to have any sort of sharp edge and seemed to be more of a highly decorated long stick. Here at the Equestrian Daily have chosen to remain skeptical of this new "weapon" so we decided to ask the captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, for his opinion he had this to say: "The department of Research and Development is looking into what this rifle could be but for now we have other pressing issues to tend to."
Although the prince would not answer more questions the griffonian diplomat, Gunther was happy to state the following: "It is the product of our efforts to industrialize our nation. I have witnessed the power of the rifle for myself, rest assured it will change the way wars will be fought in the future."
Celestia laid the morning newspaper beside her desk. Standing up she walked toward the Prench doors which lead to the balcony that oversaw the city of Canterlot. She stopped in front of the doors simply admiring the view of the city through the clear glass. Her thoughts were on this new weapon the griffonians had recently deployed for their men. She could feel something was wrong, VERY wrong. The amount given to their soldiers was no joke they were essentially substituting swords and crossbows with this new weapon, worst of all, the griffonian soldiers were tight lipped as to what it could do. The situation only got worse when she heard rumors that the Minotarian Republic was preparing to announce a military alliance with the Griffonian Empire by next month.
Sunset Shimmer had reported to Celestia her findings in the murder case of Solar Flare. She was on Black Cloaks tail following him from the shadows. She had the suspicion he was somehow involved in the murder. The evidence gathered in the meeting hall was slowly stacking against him. All she had to do now was wait until he slipped. What really perplexed Sunset Shimmer however was the possibility of a third party somehow involved in the murder. This also worried Celestia. Considering where the murder took place, the time in which the diplomats left the building, the bloody fountain pen and the fact that nearby locals saw a griffonian carriage leave the town a bit late were bad omens when taking in consideration the current geopolitical situation. Luna was having difficulty trying to enter the dreams of the diplomats, especially a certain Griffon diplomat.
Her thoughts drifted from the griffonian situation to Anon. For the past month Twilight would send everyday a separate report to her in regards of what she learned about him. So far, everything seemed to be going well for Anon, he met with the bearers of harmony and was quick to make friends with them. From what she had read, Twilight found that Spike had taken a liking to Anon. Anon treated Spike like a little brother and if the reports were anything to go by it seemed a bond was beginning to take root ever since Anon had started teaching self-defense to the young dragon.
The world from which Anon came from seemed to be highly advanced. Celestia hoped to maybe receive help from Anon to further advance Equestria, maybe an outsider's perspective could help her ponies progress.
Celestia was disheartened when she heard about the information gathered by Luna from Anon’s dreams during his first few days in Equestria. Although she couldn't see much due to what she could only describe as some sort of interference by his subconscious she was able to recover some information. He was indeed not their father. Luna was unable to find any memories of them in his mind. Luna could not hold back her tears in front of Celestia, out of the two Luna was the most hopeful but she was struck down with grief when she learned the truth from Anon's memories.
When both their mother and father disappeared, Luna was the most affected, crying and refusing to believe they were simply gone. Soon after life became very difficult for the two. It's the reason why Celestia became a bit of a prankster in the first place. It was to bring a bit of happiness to Luna so she could overcome her grief. Even after many centuries they hoped they were out there somewhere.
Celestia remembers: The stars didn't shine the night they disappeared and a bone chilling darkness engulfed Equus.
2 Months AAA
Cerberus Pact Proclaimed!
This morning our correspondence in Minotauria confirmed that during the early hours of the morning the Cerberus Pact -a military alliance- was ratified between the Griffonian Empire, Minotaurian Republic and the Zebrican Kingdom. Diplomats from the three countries clarified that the alliance purpose is to maintain peace in the region amidst the recent threats from the Yakistan Confederacy towards the three other nations.
Celestia was first to respond, warning them this alliance is detrimental to the stability of the continent. Our reporters tried to interview prince Shining Armor but received no response from him, instead, we received an official letter from Equestrias Department of War stating: "We have no reason at the moment to intervene in the matter. Our priority is the safety of Equestria as well as its citizens and at the moment the Cerberus Pact poses no immediate threat to Equestria."
The members of the Cerberus pact have made it clear in an official statement they would not attack Equestria, however they made it clear if they were provoked it would result in "swift destruction".
Twilight had just finished writing her friendship report and was now starting to write down her report in regards to what she had learned from Anon. Twilight paused taking a second to look at the couch in the middle of the library. There, lying on the couch, was Spike sleeping after a tiring day of training with Anon. His purple and green scales covered by a blue blanket sleeping peacefully, it was a shame she would have to wake him up later. 'If only I had a camera' she thought.
She focused her attention to the report she was going to write down trying to think back of all she had learned about Anon, she thinks back to all the good he had done for her friends, Spike and her; the more she thought about him the more she smiled. Shortly after arriving at the castle he would be insistent in helping in her research, Twilight was little apprehensive at first but after proving his worth with an extensive exam she accepted his help. Twilight's once lonesome experiments were now even more exciting with Anon around. She was fascinated with every piece of information he had to give; he was like an open book and she loved that.
She also enjoyed teaching Anon about magic. It was like teaching unicorn foals for the first time. At the time she couldn't help but smile thinking 'Is this what Cheerilee feels when teaching the foals at her school?'. Every question Anon had about magic she would try to answer to the best of her ability. She had to admit, Anon made some very interesting questions in regards to the functionality of magic that would lead her to think magic in a different way.
Anon was a mystery to Twilight, he mostly avoided talking about his past and would only give little bits of information when it was necessary. It hurt her a little to know that Anon still couldn't confide in her or her friends, but deep within her she knew that in time he would come around.
A few days later
Anon was sleeping on a chair in Ponyville's hospital when a hand tapped him on the shoulder.
A voice softly spoke to him "Anon?"
Anon opened his eyes seeing Redheart with clipboard in hand. Anon groggily speaks "How is Scootaloo doing?"
"Thanks to the pill you gave her she is stable at the moment, thank Celestia." Redheart assures him.
Anon's face smiles smugly "See? Told you it would work."
Redheart smiles and playfully punches Anon on the shoulder "You did an amazing deed you know that? What you did was heroic."
Anon scratches the back of his head embarrassed a bit by the comment "It was nothing really."
Redheart bends a bit and hugs Anon surprising him. She whispered in his ear "Don't underestimate what you did; you could have run away when that manticore attacked her but instead you risked your life to save her." Redheart looked Anon in the eye and continued "It was kind of you to do that ...and sorry for slapping you when you gave her the pill."
Anon chuckles a bit and sighs. Standing up Anon breaks the hug and speaks "Is Scootaloo awake?"
"No, she's still asleep. We will be monitoring her for the time being just to be sure"
Anon nods "Is it ok if I stay?" Anon asks
"Of course. Family members are the only ones allowed in a patient's room, but you know more about the pill you gave her so I believe it would be wise for you to observe her for the time being in case anything happens."
"Thanks. Hey, how come you never told me you were studying to be a doctor?"
"You didn’t ask. Besides I wanted to keep that a secret from Pinkie you know how she is."
Oh yeah Anon could imagine Pinkie would be throwing a massive 'congratulations on being a doctor party'.
"That’s good news! Don’t worry my lips are sealed." Anon makes a gesture to indicate he zipped his mouth.
Redheart chuckles "What I would like to know is who told you I was going to be a Doctor?"
"Um if I don’t tell you what would happen?"
"I would find out by myself and punish you with extra work next time you come and volunteer."
"It was Spike."
"Why that little- Oh how could I get mad at him. Those cute little ears are naturally more sensitive to sound than a ponies ears."
"Don’t worry ill chat with Spike over his slip-up later"
"Please do"
4 months AAA
Yakistan Confederacy declares war on the Griffonian Empire!
This morning the Yakistan Confederacy has announced a state of war now exists towards the Griffonian Empire and her allies the reason being due to a recent border skirmish in which many Yakistan warriors lost their lives.
The nation of Yakistan claims that griffonian soldiers were crossing into Yakistan territory and when asked by the Yakistan army to turn around they refused and kept marching forward. The Yakistan soldiers regarded this action as a provocation and attacked the battalion of three hundred soldiers but the Yakistan regiment of one thousand men was completely wiped out from the rifles the griffonian army had unveiled just a few months back.
It is clear now that the destructive power of these weapons is beyond what was expected, it far surpasses the sword, shield and bow. It is even more alarming when the EDW (Equestrian Department of War) admits that they have no strategy as of yet to counter such weapons. The only assurance the EDW has given to the ponies of our nation is a guarantee that their battlemages are ready to face any new adversities.
As of the moment not only are the Yakistan going to fight griffonians, but also minotaurs and zebricans as both have already responded to the declaration with their own. This means that the Yakistan Confederacy will have to fight Cerberus Pact member nations putting them at a huge disadvantage.
The situation seems to be dire at the moment for the Yakistan Confederacy. We at the Equestrian Daily would like to express our solidarity to our Yakistan neighbors. May Faust and the Father guide them.
What Anon wanted more than anything was to take this chance to live a peaceful life, away from the hell earth had become. He was just coming to terms that he probably wouldn't be able to go back after being told by Luna it would be long process to create a working portal to his world, centuries to be exact. That didn’t mean Anon would give up, instead, it gave him a new purpose: to somehow find a way home. When Anon questioned about the portal that connected Equestria to Canterlot high he was told by Luna the portal had already existed long before both Celestia and Luna were born.
On a happier note, Anon found himself adapting to his new environment quite easily. Getting used to the terminology used by the locals took a bit of time but eventually he got the hang of it. With time, he quickly made friends throughout the small town of Ponyville especially with Twilight and Redheart.
He held Redheart as a friend, she was kind and stern when needed, a great listener and her patience towards everypony made her a great role model for the young ones; she was also very optimistic. He loved helping her with her thesis on preventable diseases, she would pay close attention and try her best to understand him. Anon, however, noticed how close she was slowly becoming for him; feeling as if they could be more than just friends.
Twilight, however, was somepony he held close to his heart; she was endearing, "adorkable" and he liked how she would pay him close attention whenever he spoke of the history of mankind, he liked the clumsiness she would display by accident when she was behind schedule, her humbleness towards everypony was a quality he loved and her smile when she saw Anon create something new was simply priceless. Anon found himself falling for the mare.
Anon had been living in one of the castles rooms. The floors and walls were entirely made out of a purple crystal, his bed was beside a window with a view of Ponyville and his desk was in the opposite end of the window. Anon was just about to head to bed for the night when a few frantic knocks were heard from his door.
"You can come in." Anon said from his desk.
Twilight bursts in the room dressed in her yellow pajamas with letter in hand. She was obviously nervous and seemed looked to be in a hurry.
Handing him the scroll she says "It's for you. It seems to be urgent"
Grabbing the scroll, he asks before opening it "How do you know its urgent?"
With a huff she says "Celestia never sends letters this late to anypony unless it’s an emergency."
Anon looks at her a bit confused. He opens the scroll reading what was written. All of a sudden, immediately after reading, a white flash engulfs the room and Celestia appears before Twilight and Anon.
Without bothering to say hello she goes up to Anon and speaks steadfast "We require your help Anon."
To Anon she looked worried "How can I serve you?" Anon asked.
Celestia explains to Anon briefly what her military observers witnessed in the one-sided carnage. The observers were convinced they were going to be outmatched by this simple griffonian invention. New strategy would have to be planned and drawn out; it completely flipped the tables and they were witnessing it before their eyes. Equestria was ill-prepared to face this new way of warfare thus why Celestia seeks the help of Anon. Anons world was no stranger to conflict so Celestia thought it would make sense to recruit Anon into the army as a military officer.
"Please Anon, help us... guide us, Equestria needs your help." Celestia says those words with a tone that reminded Anon of a worried mother’s tone. "I fear the worst is upon us."
Anon, glancing over to Twilight sitting cross-legged on his bed with her hands covering her mouth in shock over the information made Anon think carefully before giving his answer to Celestia "I'm at your service" Celestia smiled and was about to speak but Anon continues "On one condition"
Celestia didn't care. She needed his help "As long as its within reason I'll accept."
"I want a certain degree of autonomy, other terms we can discuss later. I promise my terms won’t include anything too crazy." Anon states matter-of-factly.
Celestia nods "I promise it will be done. Thank you Anon." she turns to leave a shocked Twilight and determined Anon behind but before leaving she turns back looking at Anon "The train leaving towards training will be here early next Monday morning."
Anon simply nods "Yes, Celestia."
Celestia leaves after saying her farewells as an uneasy silence engulfs the room. Anon seated in his desk chair looks over to Twilight sitting cross legged on top of his bed with a tearful expression looking like she was on the verge of tears.
"Don't go... please." It was a soft muttering almost inaudible. Tears started to trickle from her cheeks to the bed bellow.
"I have to g-"
"NO, YOU DON'T" Twilight was now truly starting to cry, sobbing on her hands and trying to wipe away tears using her arms to no avail.
It hurt Anon to see her crying. He tried to comfort her but she swats his hand away.
After a few moments of nothing but the sound of Twilight sobbing he questions softly "Why not? Give me a good reason as to why I should stay." Her behavior reminded him of that time he saved Scootaloo from the manticore.
Twilight was trying hard to let her words out "I-I need y-you here...I want you here." She knew that wasn't the only reason but she didn't want to tell him like this, not yet. But if she didn't tell him she would never forgive herself.
Anon was quick to counter "This is bigger than you or I. The country needs me, Celestia said so herself. I could help training them for the challenges ahead, you know I can!"
Twilight knew he was right but she didn't want to lose him. The information given by Celestia worried her deeply "What about Spike? huh!? What about the girls?" Twilight clutches her hands "What about me? Did you even consider how I felt? You simply said yes like it’s nothing!" Twilight shouted, she rarely raised her voice and that surprised Anon.
"I'm doing this for you, the girls, ponyville, Spike; Everyone! Its so I can keep you guys safe!" Anon's hand was pulled by Twilight closing some distance between him and the mare.
Silence reigned over the room; tension still palpable. Twilight tried hard to wipe her tears and force out the words she's been trying to say for the last month, to convey her feelings, the thoughts she had for him but when she opens her mouth nothing comes out.
"Do you even know what your job will consist of?" She sniffles "Being an adviser means that not only will you have to give advice to the military but it also means you will have to prove your tactics are effective in the battlefield." Anon looks confused but Twilight continues "It’s called Trial by fire for a reason."
Anon connects two and two together "Wait, I thought I would only be giving them some advice maybe a few training lessons not actively participating in battle." Anon sounded genuinely nervous.
Twilight start beating him in the chest "You dummy, y-you idiot, y-you dimwit!" her sobs started up again.
Anon grabs her hands while Twilight keeps trying to hit him. Letting go of her he embraces Twilight in a hug carefully trying to avoid her horn. Twilight's bout slowly lost force and she returns his hug while crying in Anon's embrace. The sound of her crying was heartbreaking, it tore away Anon's heart bit by bit. The urge to comfort her only magnified by every hitch in her breathing and the tightness of her embrace. Anon raises a hand and pets her mane for a while which made her crying to slowly grind to a halt leaving only sniffles and a damp spot on his shirt.
During the few seconds of silence Anon thinks about what he was told by Twilight. If what he was told was true, he would have to have a long talk with Celestia about being told partial truths.
Anon speaks softly to the mare "Twilight"
Twilight stirs in his embrace and finally lifts her face upwards revealing her puffy red eyes. Anon flashes a reassuring smile at her, lifting her head with one hand. Twilight's cheeks turn a rosy red.
Anon looks into her purple eyes "Now you listen to me good Twilight. I am no stranger to the dangers of warfare; you can rest assured I am not scared." Twilight eyes well up and tries to protest but is stopped by Anon' words "Now I want you to promise me something mi amiga querida," Twilight understanding him a bit and slowly nods “No more tears. Stay strong. The only tears I want to see from you are of happiness when I come back ¿entendido?"
Twilight nods and in a quiet voice speaks to him "Can I stay with you tonight?"
Anon thinks about it for a moment and gives his answer "Um, sure. You can stay" He breaks the hug.
Twilight gets under the covers and shifts to her side facing away from Anon. Afterwards, Anon turns off the lights and also got under the covers and shifts to his side facing away from Twilight. An awkward silence permeates in the room, no words are spoken for a few minutes which in turn felt like hours. Finally, Twilight speaks up softly "C-could you hold onto me? P-please?"
Anon's thoughts raced for a few seconds before calmly responding "Sure."
Anon shifts his body again to face twilight who was still in her original position and slowly -a bit awkwardly- drapes an arm over her abdomen trying to avoid touching her breasts. Twilight responds curling up and pressing against his body. She takes a hold of his hand and closes her eyes, his body heat keeping her warm and his rough hands intertwined with hers which to her felt strangely pleasant and reassuring.
Anon was so far enjoying the moment. At first, he was surprised, a bit nervous, but he decided to give her this moment and simply try to sleep. The feeling of her warmth and the smell of lavender emanating from her mane had a calming effect on him eventually causing him to drift into slumber. Only a week is left until Anon leaves and he intends to enjoy it as much as he can.
1 Week later 5 a.m.
The sun wasn’t even out yet and the train platform was full of young colts and mares who were saying goodbye to their families. Fathers tried giving advice to their sons and daughters while mothers tried to convince them to stay. The guards located there were keeping an eye on everyone as the fresh recruits boarded the train.
Twilight, the rest of the girls, Spike and Redheart were there to say farewell to him and wish him good luck. Rarity had made two special uniforms for Anon following Anon's design. The one he was currently wearing was based off a ceremonial uniform from back on earth. It was completely black with red fabric covering his chest and neck area in a v shape, gold buttons and gold stripes embroidered onto his raincoat, pants were completely black accompanied by shining black jackboots; His ceremonial hat was completely black with a red stripe running horizontally and located on the center it carried his countries emblem in a gold color embroidery. Finally, his white gloves, Anon loved the gloves, unlike the synthetic white ones he used to have back on earth these were made with natural silk. Although not standard in the military he was grateful to Rarity over the small detail. Rarity made sure to make the uniform with the best material she could get her hands on and it was noticeable. The fabric was soft and the colors were vibrant; the shoes were made with sturdy material yet it was relatively comfortable to walk around with.
The train's horn signals the last call before departure and Twilight is visibly fidgeting in place while the others are exchanging their final farewells. As Anon picks up Spike and hugs him Twilight's mind begins tormenting her. This could be the very last time she talks to him. As she watches him put Spike down her mind began racing: What could she say? Will she see him again?
Before Anon could step foot on the train she shouts "Stop!"
Anon looks back and sees Twilight run up to him. Standing in front of him she stands on the tip of her hooves, grabs him by the collar of his uniform and pulls him down to her giving him a kiss on the lips.
For a moment gasps could be heard from not only Twilight's friends and Spike but also from Redheart and some of the ponies who witnessed their princess kiss that stranger from another world.
Separating herself from him she speaks "You come back safe or I’ll never forgive you! understand?" As she realizes what she just did her face turns beet red. She didn’t think she had it in her to confess much less in this brazen manner. She cant even face away as she was petrified by her embarrassment.
Anon looks into her purple eyes for a moment still stunned at what happened. Twilight is about to turn around and walk away from the embarrassment but Anon grabs a hold of her hand and pulls her in for a kiss. She stiffens up for a second but slowly lets herself be taken by bliss as Anon takes her into his arms.
Separating himself from Twilight, Anon looks into her half-lidded eyes, cupping her face with a hand and speaks softly with a smile "I'll be back, safe and sound mi amor. I promise."
The girls and the rest watch surprised at what had just occurred.
Applejack is grinning and was the first to speak up "Well I’ll be"
Pinkie speaks up while moving in place "I didn’t expect that! Did you expect that!? Oooo I’m so jealous!"
Rarity wasn’t surprised but she was very happy for the two as evident by her smile "Please darling, it was too obvious! He’s such a gentlecolt after all; it was only natural this would happen."
Fluttershy simply hid behind her mane in embarrassment at what she had just seen. "O-oh."
Redheart looked a bit saddened while she abstained from saying anything and opted to give a small, bittersweet clap.
When Anon finally boards the train, he leaves his luggage in his designated seat and quickly heads to the final cart to wave goodbye along with the other soldiers as the train pulls away from the station.
6 months later AAA
Victory for the Cerberus Pact!
After 2 months of gruesome, bloody fighting a swift victory finally graces the continent! although at what cost? The usage of the Peck Mk 1 (griffonian rifle used by all member nations of the Cerberus pact) proved to be the key tool to this relatively quick victory but it left a young generation of yak youth to their early deaths leaving many female yaks widowed and mothers without sons or daughters.
Before the griffon army laid siege to the Yakistan capital they were met with one of the bloodiest battles of the war: the battle for Hoof Plains. The young Yakistan general, Hamel, developed a new doctrine of warfare called "trench warfare" in an effort to curb the deaths caused by the usage of rifles. Aided by a few unicorn ponies and half pony/half yak volunteers originating from Equestria which provided magical offense. They managed to push back the griffons from advancing into the city, buying time for the residents of the capital to flee the city. However, after hours of fighting, the yaks were eventually driven back. Defeated they marched towards the city and shortly after communicated their surrender to the Cerberus Pact.
The terms of the treaty of the Crystal palace established the partitioning of the Yakistan lands between the Griffonian empire and Minotauria. Observers of the treaty called it completely outrageous due to one of the clauses including the indiscriminate drafting of yak citizens into forced labor by the Zebrican Kingdom.
It is no secret that in the homelands of the Griffonian Empire and the Zebrican Kingdom, slavery is still legal and widely used for construction and other manual labor. The Zebrican Kingdom, however, is notorious for their savage treatment of slaves.
Celestia and Luna made a public announcement within Equestrias Parliament their plan to cease paying reparations to the Griffonian Empire effective immediately and economic sanctions were to be imposed onto the member nations of the Cerberus pact. Their announcement was met with applause by most members for the exception of a coalition of the dove faction led by Black Cloak.
Upon arrival Anon notices two ponies beside Celestia, one unicorn pony had a gray coat with black mane accompanied by a no-nonsense stoic expression and the other had a dual tone blue mane and white coat.
The pony with the white coat walks up to Anon "Ah! You must be Anon Reyes!" Shining extends his hand out to greet Anon as he gets off the platform "The names Shining Armor, Twilight told me all about you and Celestia-"
"ahem!" The gray unicorn coughs into her hand "Captain please, time is of the essence"
The gray unicorn salutes Anon to which Anon responds with his own "I am General Wisp; I will be accompanying the princess today."
Wisp was small in comparison to the other mares Anon had met so far, heck, for a second he thought he was talking to a teenager. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but here a sentiment Anon sympathized with.
Shining sheepishly smiles "Welcome to Star Swirl training grounds! From what I understand you will be staying with us for the next 2 months?"
"You would be correct Shining. Now we shouldn’t wait any longer, I want to observe the training process firsthand. Could you please take me to watch the new recruits?"
"Right this way please." Before leaving Wisp calls over a few guards to take Anon’s luggage to the officers’ quarters.
The group makes their way together towards the entrance of the fort. The design of the interior was inferior to what Anon had been accustomed to back on earth; it reminded him of those wooden forts he would see in old western movies.
The fort was filled with soldiers some were training with swords, spears, practicing archery, practicing hand-to-hand combat and others were practicing magic. Around the fort there were tents, weapon racks and even various blacksmiths pummeling a hammer against hot iron. Shouts of commands could be heard: 'parry, slash, stab and pull!' Anon attracted the attention of various soldiers who were previously occupied. Some looked at him with curiosity, others with suspicion.
Celestia snuck a few looks towards Anon to see what his reaction was but all she saw was an unimpressed expression. It started to worry her that he was disappointed in what he was seeing but on the other hand that is why he is here, to help them improve.
Eventually they walk towards another set of gates, these ones took them outside the fort and into a large field where there were siege weapons such as catapults and trebuchets. Anon could see out in the field there was a large group of ponies some of which he recognized coming from Ponyville. What really caught his attention however was the presence of what looked like griffons among the recruits.
Anon decides to ask Shining Armor about them "Um, Shining are those griffons over there?" he asks pointing at the small group of griffon-looking ponies talking amongst themselves.
Shining looks over to where Anon is pointing "Ah! Those are actually Hippogriffs. They are half pony half griffon. We do receive griffons from around Equestria from time to time" Shining glances over to Anon for a second a bit worried "Is there a problem with that?"
Anon lowers his hand and shakes his head "None at all. It’s my first time seeing one is all." Anon was having trouble trying to understand how inter-species breeding could even be possible but if there was something, he learned during his first few weeks in Equestria it was that everything here defied logic and science.
Shining relaxes a bit and lets out a breath of relief "That’s good. It’s a relief to know that even in other worlds there are ponies as open minded as you."
Anon looked confused. He didn’t encounter much prejudice while living in Ponyville so hearing those words was a surprise to him.
"There is discrimination in Equestria?" Anon asks.
Celestia answers for Shining "Unfortunately, yes. Although it is more noticeable among the nobles and politicians than within the general populace."
Time went by until finally an instructor appeared before the recruits. The instructor introduced himself to the recruits and started laying out the laws of the land and every time he asked for confirmation from the recruits, he would receive a resounding 'yes sir!'
The day went on and as he observed the recruits, he began to see the faults in the way they were training. 'They’re training for close quarters combat,' Anon thought 'Is this the only training they’re taking?.
Anon turns to face his companions "Celestia, Shining, why are they still training for hand to hand combat?"
Shining and Celestia turn to him. Shining speaks first "They are training for when they fight up close to the enemy, others train to operate the siege equipment and the unicorns train in offensive and defensive magic."
Anon simply shakes his head before responding "Although it’s not bad to train in hand to hand combat, the war of the future will no longer depend on strength alone, no, it will be a war of industry. It’ll be a war of distance." The other three looked at Anon with confusion.
Anon sighs "Is there a place we could go to speak in privately? Preferably dark, I think it would be better to show you what I mean."
Shining thought for a second where they could go until he remembered a relatively quiet room inside the fort.
Shining finally speaks "Well there is the logistics office, its where we handle everything in regards to the daily necessities of the fort. It should be quiet in there, the only ponies in there are other officers and a few guards"
Anon nods "is the room large?"
"Yes"
"Please take us Shining" says Anon.
Upon arriving to the office Anon attracted the attention of a few guards who with one look at his uniform pointed spears at his chest.
"Halt! State your name and pu-" The guards stopped what they were going to say when they saw Celestia, Wisp and Shining behind Anon.
Shining spoke to the guards "Back to your post guards, he's with us." Wisp simply nodded to the guards who looked at his direction.
The guards complied and went back to their original positions beside the doors.
As they enter the room Anon notices personnel writing and passing papers around unaware of their surroundings. The room was silent with only the sound of quills scratching the surface of the paper. There were at least six ponies working on a huge pile of papers on each wooden desk and at the end of the room was a stone chimney with the portraits of the Alicorn sisters and in one of the walls was a map of all Equus with a few pins stuck to a few locations.
"Is it possible for them to leave the room?" asks Anon to Shining in a low voice.
When one of the officers noticed their presence he frantically stands up from his seat to salute. His other companions look towards his direction and reacted in a similar manner when they saw who was in the room.
"I’m afraid it won’t be possible. The ponies working here have all been working since yesterday to make a financial report for the upcoming parliament hearing." Wisp says while cleaning her monocle. "They haven’t slept or ate anything in all that time."
After hearing this Anon notices the bags that were forming from under their eyes and the strain it was causing to their alertness.
Anon turns to look at Shining "Fine, but I have another question."
"What would that be?"
"Can they keep a secret?"
Shining nods and turns his attention towards the ponies hard at work. "Stop what you are doing for the moment. Anything you see or hear from this moment onward is to be kept confidential until told otherwise by officials understood?"
"Yes Captain!" All of the officers confirm in unison.
Anon looks around "Tell them to clear out a table and move it to the center of the room."
"You heard him. Look alive on the double!"
The ponies did what they were told and cleared a table of its pile of papers, ink bottle and quill. Once the table was at the center Anon walked towards it and pulled out a small disk like device and cable from his pocket. Everyone in the room stared at the device and cable with curiosity. Anon looks at both Celestia and Shining and motions them to come closer.
Anon points at the device in the table "See this device here? Made it myself a few months ago with the help of the girls. I was planning on showing Twilight some entertainment from Earth but I guess that will have to wait for a bit."
"Entertainment?" Celestia asks.
"I won’t get into that right now."
Anon connects the cable from the device to a small socket concealed on the back of his ear. The ponies in the room gasp and murmur from one to another. Celestia looked genuinely surprised, Shining's eyes went wide and Wisp’s face contorted to one of disgust.
"That doesn’t hurt does it?" Celestia asks.
"No, not at all." Anon sits on a chair, closing his eyes as he tries to concentrate "What you are about to see are historic events from earth, nothing comes from my imagination or has been altered in any way, shape or form." Having established a connection to the device he speaks before starting "Please do not move from your places, keep in mind nothing you see will hurt you in any way." Before anyone could say anything Anon slumps into the chair.
The small device whirrs to life and opens from the top half. The top half of the device starts to ascend and once reaching the ceiling it starts to project a hologram of Anon. Celestia looks to the Anon slouching on the chair then looks to the hologram and then back.
"Wh- I- What is this?!"
The hologram of Anon answers her "Please stay calm, I’m just projecting myself so I can interact easier with you guys." Anon's hologram turns around and opens his arms. Once opening his arms the room is plunged into darkens and a blue sphere comes into view. The sphere was located in the center of the room, in front of Wisp, Shining and Celestia. The room around them looked as if it had disappeared leaving only the officers who were looking around in awe and talking among themselves. There was no sign of a single corner of the room or desks which could be seen, it was just a dark void and in front of them the only source of light was the blue hue emanating from a blue sphere.
Laying down his arms Anon speaks "This is earth. Its where I originate from. What I want to show you now is what you will probably be facing in the near future."
The sphere fades and an open field of grass takes its place. They were somewhere in the middle of a green field dotted with trees when shouts and the sound of drums and flutes could be heard in the distance.
Anon speaks "Belgium, June 18,1815."
Lines upon Lines of British and Prussian soldiers made their way on one side of the field and on the other side French Soldiers marched to meet up. Once at a certain distance A heavy barrage of artillery rained around Anon and the rest leaving small craters behind. The area around them was quickly covered in smoke as the two armies fired upon each other and the roar of the canons could be heard from afar. The officer ponies got up from their seats, some tripping over the invisible tables and chairs trying to frantically find the exit as they panicked over the barrage of artillery that was falling around them.
Anon turned his attention towards the ponies that were frantically trying to find the exit "It’s not real! Stay where you are!"
A cannonball hits dead center where the group of ponies were and explodes. Many of the ponies froze up in expectancy of the aftermath but slowly, cautiously, calmed down when they saw they were still intact.
Anon smirks "If that had been real, you would all be dead." He looks towards Shining who was slowly emerging out from under an invisible table and composing himself. Wisp was frozen in her original spot and was noticeably shaken breathing in and out at a fast pace. Anon feels something grabbing tightly his legs and looks down toward the Anon on the chair. Celestia was holding on to his legs frightened.
"Could you let go please?"
Celestia looks up. Embarrassed she quickly gets up and brushes off the dust from her dress, Anon continues.
All around them the sound of marching gets louder as more lines of soldiers on both sides get in range. The leaders of the formations order to fire and both sides fire upon one another leaving only the dead on the grass besides their fellow soldier. Every volley of gunfire whizzed by them leaving everyone in the room ducking down and a few others awestruck.
As the battle waged on around them Anon starts to speak "This battle is known as the battle of Waterloo. This battle alone caused in total around sixty-five thousand dead."
The room begins to darken again and the sounds of shouts, gunfire, the beating of drums and the galloping of horses faded along with it. The Earth then came into view, this time the nightlights from major cities could be seen dotting the various landmasses.
"We human beings have been at war for most of our existence. We fought for resources, land, money, women and we’ve also fought for even the most mundane of reasons. Our history is bloody and cruel a crucial difference I have found when reading the history of Equestria which seems to be quite tame."
The room darkens once more as the earth disappears and another field takes its place but this one was muddy with a dark landscape. It was filled with large craters, burnt trees and dead bodies littered the wasteland. Marching could be heard as well as voices. Shining looks down behind him and sees a trench filled with soldiers of a nation he couldn’t recognize and all of them had a similar form as Anon. They’re faces had a macabre expression on them the light of their eyes snuffed out as they await orders. Some of them were on their knees, shaking and praying to a god Shining had never heard of while others with the same macabre expression were standing in place smoking a cigarette and staring downwards into nothingness. Shining could only identify one thing and it was the weapon they were carrying around.
Shining turns around looking towards Anon to ask a question but Anon beats him to it "Battle of Verdun, 1916."
"When weapons began to be even more dangerous nations began adapting the tactic of digging out trenches and manning them with soldiers to fight wave after wave of enemy soldiers as their main tactic."
A soldier who was dressed in a different manner marched up to the trench and began giving orders to his men. The soldiers who were lost in thought were now starting to affix bayonets to their rifles and lining up on the side of the trenches. The soldier who Shining now deduced to being some sort of officer, blew on a whistle, some soldiers were hesitant but the majority of other soldiers climbed the ladders set in front of them. Shining unconsciously moved out of the way but when a soldier had just gotten out of the trench the sound of machine gun fire could be heard in the distance and the soldier who had just gotten out dropped lifeless. Shining was shocked in place as soldier after soldier poured out from the trench and began running into the wasteland some not even making five steps until they dropped dead slamming their faces into the mud lifeless.
Wisp looked horrified to what she was witnessing but was even more horrified when she saw a soldier explode and disappear into nothing but a red mist and a bits of flesh. The whizzing of artillery falling around them rendering any unfortunate soul brave enough to keep running into a quivering mess as they dropped towards the craters left behind by the artillery in a fruitless effort to seek refuge.
Anon speaks up from the sound of the battlefield "37 million, that is including both civilian and military deaths as well as soldiers who were never found and deaths caused by sickness."
Gasps and murmurs could be heard among the small audience.
Shining looks at Anon "That can’t be right! That’s too many casualties! Where in the world do you get that many ponies?"
"Industrialization. When uncommon products become cheaply available there's bound to be surplus and with more products becoming even more readily available, that in turn allows the populace to have even more children." silence filled the room "Of course, there are other factors but industrialization would be the main reason."
"This war was called the great war for a reason," Anon pauses before continuing "This conflict involved over more than one hundred countries." Nobody spoke, not a single sound came from their mouths. "But later on, it would be called the first world war or world war 1."
The room stays in silence and the landscape around them darkens once more and again the earth comes into view once more this time with a bit more nightlights than last time.
"After the conclusion of the Great War there would be yet another conflict on a global scale World War 2. I won’t bore you with the details but let’s just say it was even deadlier than the first one."
"Were there any more wars like these two?" Shining speaks with uncertainty if he wanted the answer
Anon gives his answer "Yes. It would be known as the Third World War, nicknamed the 'Dreaded war'." Anon averts his gaze to the side "I refuse to unveil the details now but I will send a more detailed report on it at a later date."
Wisp finally speaks up from the silence with a scowl "Is there anything that would make your kind redeemable? All I’ve seen is nothing but destruction and death." She looked truly saddened "Please tell me this is not the norm; please tell me this is not what our future holds."
Anon doesn’t speak. Instead, his hologram disappears and the room goes back to normal. Anon wakes up disconnecting the wire and standing up he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before giving his answer.
"Yes, it is true, we have been at war against each other for centuries." Anon turns to the audience "But, we also have families, friends, lovers and a sense of brotherhood rivaled only by the inhabitants of this world. Nobody on earth or in its off-planet colonies want war, on the contrary, we strive for peace even in times of war." Anon looks towards Wisp "I have lost my family because of war; I would give anything I had to get them back." Anon tries to hold back his tears and continues "It is not in our nature to hurt others, rather, it is to help others. We can’t stand to see others suffer that is why I became a soldier in the first place."
"Then why not become a doctor or anything else?" asks Wisp now with a calmer expression.
"During the Dreaded war my sister and I became orphans. After the war we didn’t have anywhere to go and no other family member was alive so we had to provide for ourselves. I was the oldest so I had to help my sister move on in life at whatever the cost and that cost was my education."
Wisp cringed a bit knowing where this was going "You joined your countries army to provide for your sister?"
"Yes. As soon as I turned 18, I volunteered for the army and simply followed wherever the pay was higher so that led me to the orbital soldiers, a relatively new branch which operated anywhere in the solar system."
The day continued with Anon, Wisp, Shining and Celestia talking a bit more in detail in a private barrack reserved for nobility. They discussed the terms for Anons help which involved the creation of a company under Anons name to kick-start Equestrias industrialization which will become key towards the countries protection and prosperity, bits in exchange for Anon's guidance in training the army and the rights to any research done within the aforementioned company would belong to Anon exclusively.
Anon was especially stubborn on keeping whatever technology he created a secret from the country. He knew that the level of technology he was going to try to create was something their society was simply unprepared for.
"What will it be called?" Wisp asks.
Anon looks at the faces present and thinks what to name the company. Anon remembered the name of a fierce beast described in mythology which he thought would be adequate.
"Leviathan."
The room stays in silence for a few seconds with the confused faces of everyone present.
Shining speaks "What’s a Leviathan?"
one month of training later
"Attention!"
Out in an open field lines of soldiers who were just a moment ago chatting among themselves were now standing up at attention when they heard Anon. It was strange at first when they were told they would be receiving special training from a military observer but after some time they accepted it anyway.
The training was Tartarus on Equus, it was the toughest implemented yet or so they were told by their small audience of observers consisting of other soldiers and a few officers. Anon was to most pony’s opinion a hard-ass, the unending running and ever heavier weight lifting caused some to simply quit and go home. Anon inspired fear among the recruits but there were those who took it more as a challenge and continued to prevail despite the proverbial verbal abuse and relentless physical tasks given as punishment.
The trainees notice Anon carrying a large wooden crate with the word "Leviathan Industries" across it and the face of a serpent like creature behind the text.
A trainee from the front steps up and after giving a stiff salute speaks "Sir, may I ask a question?"
After putting the crate down Anon turns to the recruit "Yes you may recruit"
Pointing at the box he asks "What is that?"
Anon simply opens the crate "Your new weapons recruit. Fresh from the factory."
The recruit looks inside the crate and sees what looked like a club made almost entirely of metal. He also notices a small rectangular metal box with the words "Ammo box" on the top.
Anon takes one of the rifles and gives it to him. The pony, confused grabs the rifle from the barrel like a baseball bat as if he was about to hit the ball but Anon stops him by pulling the rifle away from him.
"On second thought I think it would be better if I show you how it works." Anon says.
Anon takes the rifle and holds it out with his two hands "This, mares and gentlecolts, is the future of warfare. Watch and observe, keep all of your questions until after the demonstration."
Anon takes the ammo box out and pulls out a few bullets and places one of them into the rifle’s intake located on the top, afterwards he pulls back on the lever letting out a somewhat familiar mechanical clanking sound.
They were located in an open field with nothing but trees surrounding them so he commands a recruit to take a rolled-up target practice decal used for archery and set it up on a tree. The recruit does so and returns back to his place.
"This weapon is a rifle, maybe you heard of it maybe you haven't. Its Equestrias response to the new armament the griffons have been rolling out as of recently. It’s called Leviathan 1 and from now on this weapon will be your primary weapon of choice. It will be your wife, husband, marefriend, coltfriend, sister, brother and family. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"I'm sorry, you ponies don't sound so convinced! should I PT all of you from here till kingdom come?!
"NO SIR!"
"Good. You see that target over there?"
"YES SIR!"
"Keep your eyes on it."
Anon takes position and sets the butt plate against his shoulder. Looking down the iron sights he takes a deep breath and speeds up his brain functions causing the world around him to seem to go slower bit by bit and as his sights settled on the center of the target he slowly squeezes the trigger.
"KA-BLAM!"
All of the recruits jumped in place and covered their ears from the noise. The recruits could feel the vibration caused by the rifle shuffle softly through them. To some it seemed exciting, others saw their future manifested in that single shot.
Two months later
The day for the trial by fire was closing. Anon had gone through hell during the parliaments hearing with the politicians in Canterlot. He was questioned about his loyalty, species, technology and relationship with the princesses. The politicians were a pain in the ass, they heckled him on almost every turn and was passively insulted by almost everyone in the building. The politicians were more in favor of Hamel's trench warfare doctrine than with Anon's mobile warfare proposal stating "The best offense is the best defense."
A certain pony by the name of Black Cloak, from the Dove Faction, spearheaded the efforts to shutdown Leviathan Industries ever since Anon received the finance from Celestia and Luna's personal treasury. Anon HATED this guy, to him Black Cloak was nothing more than an idiot hiding behind the facade of trying to preserve the peace while behind closed doors he was promoting segregation of anypony who wasn't of either of the three races of ponies or ponies who's cutie mark was -according to him and his cronies- of no use.
Anon was able to meet with the young Yakistan general, Hamel, during the chastising the politicians were giving him. Hamel was to Anons surprise really humble, trying to calm down the politicians and give some time for Anon to explain himself. During a lunch break Hamel showed interest in meeting with Anon since he was really curious of his species and the military tactic he was proposing. Anon and Hamel were joined later by Shining Armor and among the three they shared stories and generally had a pleasant conversation.
With the tension lifted they headed back into the dreaded battlefield of words that was the parliament . With a new wind Anon pushed back against Black Cloak's words choosing to instead show them with actions what he was proposing would work. After observing what he had showed Celestia, Shining and Wisp Parliament agreed and set a date for the trial by fire all was left to choose was the location. Anon was given three options: the blistering cold of the tundra landscape of the Crystal Empire, the dense jungles of Equestrias tropical southern jungles or the dry wastelands of the badlands.
All of them were shitty locations.
The cold of the Crystal Empire could kill his men through hypothermia and even if they could solve this by simply using appropriate clothing and magic they still had to deal with the remnants of Sombra's followers who were accustomed to the cold and have domesticated beasts infamous for their brutality.
The jungles to the south is just as bad, large swabs of the jungle were not controlled by the weather team, swamps were abundant and the existence of deadly pathogens combined by the dangerous wildlife within the dense jungle made it a suicide mission. Their objective would be to hunt down wild hydras who had the jungle under lock-down.
Finally there was the Badlands. The Badlands seemed the simpler alternative since the objective itself was simple: Destroy a diamond dog slaver base. The catch however was the lack of communications and the closed space of the diamond dogs tunnels. Many others had already gone in but none had come out.
The only silver lining to all this was that all other attempts to solve these problems was done using primitive tech. Anons section consisting of 7 soldiers were going in with new weaponry and if he has enough time, new equipment as well.
In the end Anon accepts the third option. His reasoning being that his section would be properly equipped and had already gone trough close quarters training using the new rifles his company provided so this meant they probably had a better chance. Having made the decision, he was told to report to the selected battlefield in three days.
After the summoning, Anon was able to finally able to get some quiet time in one of the castles rooms, away from the politicians and from anypony else.
He walks over to a guitar he had purchased that morning during his jog around Canterlot. Picking it up he opens the door to the balcony overlooking the city. Taking a chair he sits down and starts tuning the instrument.
*Knock Knock*
Without looking up from his guitar he speaks to whoever was bothering him at the moment.
"You may come in."
It was Shining Armor.
"Hello, Anon. Can we talk?"
"Sure! Whats up?"
"Well, I just recieved a letter from Twilight telling me about, well, your new relationship with her."
Anon puts down his guitar "Oh. Listen, I have no bad intentions if thats what you were gonna ask."
"No Anon, I didnt come here to ask what your intentions are with her although I have to admit I'm still worried." Shining sighs "Twilight is old enough to decide who to love. Shes a grown mare and I guess im scared my little sister is growing"
"If its of any consolation, I know how you feel. I was suspicous of my brother-in-law, paranoid even." Anon chuckles from the memory "Could you blame me? She was my only family. Its not wrong for you to be worried in fact I would say youre doing a good job. Just keep in mind: she will always be your sister coltfriend or not."
"Anon what worries me is the mission your heading into. If something happens to you my sister would be devastated and I hate seeing my family saddened."
Smiling, Anon puts a hand to his shoulder and pats him "Were not that different. Were fools with good intentions."
The day had finally come to start the trial by fire.
It was early in the morning and Anon was sitting in the officer’s section of the train as he overlooked the beautiful scenery race past him. The officer’s section was luxurious, it had red carpets, the seats had extra cushioning and there were hot stewardesses offering cigars and alcohol beverages. But none of that actually interested Anon except for only the view. The train continued chugging its way across plains of untouched green grass, large fields of flowers and lush green forests while the sun slowly raised from the horizon tainting the sky in a yellow-blue hue. Back on Earth it would be hard to find a scenery quite like it.
Anon was confident of his section's training. As far as he knew, they were currently Equestria's finest despite the lack of experience in battle. His worry, however, was the lack of intel regarding the slavers base.
Anon takes a quick look at his watch which was given to him by Redheart as a farewell gift. Realizing it was about time to get ready he picks up his equipment and heads to the soldier’s section of the train.
The cart was empty, with the exception of Anon's section soundly sleeping despite the loud noise caused by the train tracks clacking at a steady rhythm. Some of them snored loudly and many were sprawled in these weird sleeping positions.
Anon stifled a laugh when looking at the childish sight. With a cough he composes himself and with a commanding voice he speaks loudly "Good morning!"
A few of the ponies slowly open their eyes but when they see Anon standing in front of the door, they immediately stand up straight and urge the others to do the same. Everyone, except private Turntable.
While everyone was standing up saluting, Anon walks towards Turntable and shakes her gently on the shoulder. She stirs, trying to swat away his hand while lifting up her head and moving aside the bangs which were covering her eyesight. When she sees Anon she shoots up in attention and salutes him.
Anon scans with his eyes everypony in front of him.
'Turntable, Misty Dew, Quickshot, Nimble Forte and Cloud Sweeper are all here. Good.' he thinks to himself.
Taking a quick look at his watch he speaks "You ponies have five minutes to get ready and report to officers’ quarters for a quick debrief of the mission. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
Anon smiles "Good, see you all there then."
Anon turns around but is stopped by Misty Dew.
"Um, Sir may I speak?"
Anon turns to look at Misty Dew "Yes you may private."
"I thought common soldiers aren't allowed in the officers section of the train?"
'Ah yes, THAT' Anon thought irritably as he suppressed an eye roll.
Common soldiers were not allowed in the officer’s section of the train unless it was an emergency. This rule was put in place by the officers who were composed by a majority of nobles and sons of nobles. It was seen as uncouth for low born to mingle with those of noble birth. Fraternizing with them was also looked down upon less somepony get attached to the peasants.
"As long as you are in my section, you are allowed to go wherever I go regardless of social status. Any other questions?"
Misty Dew shows a toothy grin "No sir, thank you sir!"
Anon makes his way into the conference room and sits on the other side of the large mahogany table. He goes through his notes while he awaits the others to get ready. The room was quite large and looked like something out of a Victorian era gentleman's club complete with a drinking bar.
While he waits, Anon has a hard time trying to concentrate on his notes as his mind is filled with thoughts about Twilight. Her smile, her quirkiness; her lips. Anon can’t help but smile at the thought. He couldn't wait to be back.
'lucky bastard' he thought to himself.
This job is almost over. All he has to do now is stay alive and he would be back with Twilight, Spike and the rest of his friends.
'Wonder if Redheart is doing' ok? Heh, she's probably stressed out without me helping her the afternoons.
Anon would usually help around the clinic as a volunteer and share medical information with Redheart to help her in her efforts to become a doctor. He reasoned that they would need the information anyway and, in a way,, repay Redheart for her kindness.
Anon continues to smile as he remembers a stressed out Redheart becoming putty under his hands whenever he gave her a shoulder massage. He would walk her home, talking about mundane things and would sometimes invite her to go out to eat at a local restaurant or go out for drinks at a local bar.
Now that he thought about it, he was also going to return considerably wealthy. The cherry on top? A new business of his own. Leviathan industries is -for now at least- a weapons factory but Anon wasn't very keen on the idea of giving weapons so he has plans for expanding into consumer goods and hopefully using it to find a way back home.
'Home.' Anon thinks somberly. His smile disappears from his lips as he thinks about the family he left behind. His niece, Carmen and Jason his bro-in-law, his friend.
'They're probably worried sick' he thinks. The idea of leaving what was left of his family behind dug a hole in his heart. At the very least he would like to let them know he's fine.
All manner of ideas occurred to him when thinking of some way to get back. From rockets to portals and even magic.
Knock Knock
Anon is rudely snapped out of his thinking by the sound of knocking at the door.
"Come on in!"
The door opens and Cloud Sweeper is the first one to enter. Behind him, is the rest of the squad.
"Sir!" he salutes suppressing a wow from his lips as he looked around him.
"Please take a seat everyone. We need to go over this mission details."
Every one sits down and after giving a look around the luxurious room they give their attention to Anon.
"Alright, here's the situation." Anon spreads out a map of the badlands on the elegant wooden table "We don't have much info on the mission except for the fact that the Equestrian military had been receiving reports from the locals who live near the area about a diamond dog slaver group." Anon looks up from the map and looks seriously at his group "Its reported foals have been abducted from this town as well, so its safe to assume there will be civilians in the area of operations."
He points an area close to the southern edge of the desert "This is the area which we will be searching. The train will pass by close to this area and continue its way towards Fort Blaze. The train will NOT stop, we will jump off it to avoid any suspicion from possible enemy scouts."
The faces of everyone quickly changed from nervousness to a fiery determination.
"Just tell us what to do sir and well get it done" Cloud Sweeper said with a grin on his face.
Anon smiles "I like your determination private. Which is why you and Turntable will be our improvised scouting party". Anons smile turns to a grin that made Cloud Sweeper wish he hadn't opened his mouth.
Cloud Sweeper's grin thins out as its replaced with a nervous smile. He turns to Turntable who was carelessly smiling at him. Nervously he could only squeak out "H-h-Hooah?"
Anon was ready. He was sitting with his teammates inside an empty cart with wide side doors that he would open once they were in the area. Every one of his squaddies were getting mentally ready to head into the scorching desert that awaited them.
So as to make everyone carry as less weight as possible, he special ordered from Rarity clothing with the appropriate desert pattern. These were to only be used for this one mission since Anon would be soon retiring his service and the soldiers he trained were to be taken to their respective posts after a well-deserved temporary home leave.
The Section was comprised of two earth ponies: Nimble Forte and Quickshot. Nimble Forte was a tall male earth pony with a pale red mane, a pale orange coat and his cutie mark was a sledgehammer with wings. Quickshot was the other male earth pony with the same colors as Nimble forte but in reversed. His Cutie mark was an arrow.
Misty Dew was a female yellow unicorn with a short Cyan colored mane. Her cutie mark was a water drop sliding from a leaf.
Finally, there were the two Pegasus: Cloud Sweeper and Turntable. Cloud Sweeper was a male pegasus, had a light blue colored coat with a white mane and his cutie mark was a broom sweeping a dark cloud. Turntable was a female with charcoal black coat, short gray mane and her cutie mark looked like rainbow-colored sound waves.
Turntable was deaf from birth. Although unfortunate, this was something she did not allow define her, through every soul crushing challenge Anon would put her through, she would pull her weight and continue despite Anon's insistence she should quit. She had this uncanny ability to sense vibration disturbances in the air which would alert her of another's presence, an ability which has proven to be her proverbial ace under the sleeve.
Outside, the scenery changed and soon the temperature was rising to unbearable levels. The once green forests changed to dense jungle and murky swamps before giving way to nothing but sand, and in the distance, large mountains surrounded the desert on all directions. Yellow dunes covered the landscape and one could easily get lost in this desert if they aren't careful enough.
"What are you going to do after this Misty Dew?" asked Quickshot.
"What are you talking about Quickshot? We’re going to be sent to wherever were needed" responded Misty Dew.
"I meant after this mission, y'know during our temporary home leave?" asked Quickshot.
"Oh well I was thinking of hanging out with a few friends back in Manehattan, after visiting my folks of course" said Misty Dew.
"Doesn't sound that exciting" interjected Cloud Sweeper.
"What about you Cloud Sweeper any plans?" asked Misty Dew.
"I-ahh, I don't know, maybe ill take a temporary job with Canterlot's weather team." said Cloud Sweeper.
"What will you be doing after this sir?" Asked Nimble Forte who was so far just listening.
Anon looked up from the map he was looking over for the what felt like the tenth time and rubbed his chin thinking what he would do once he was back in Ponyville "Well, first thing I'm going to do is take my girl- I mean marefriend to a date and see where that takes me"
Turntable rapidly calls for the attention of Cloud Sweeper quickly signaling with her hands "Um, Sir? Turntable would like to know if the rumors are true that you are dating the princess of friendship?"
Anon looks at Turntable who looked like she would explode from the anticipation of the response.
"Yes, its true. Although we haven't really gone on our first date just yet" Anon admits with a hint of bashfulness.
Everyone gasped except for Quickshot who lifted his head and groaned. Turntable gasps when Cloud Sweeper tells her his answer but gives a thumbs up in her happy-go-lucky way.
Nimble forte slapped his knee as he let out a hearty laugh "Ah knew it! Ya owe me 10 bits little bro" he extended his hand.
Nimble Forte's voice reminded Anon of those old cowboy movies he used to watch back in the day and to a degree, Applejack.
"Ah geez, I'll give it to you after the mission" sighs Quickshot.
Nimble Forte shrugs "Fine by me."
Anon chuckles and quickly glances at his watch.
"Stand up! 1 minute until drop off. Give your equipment one last check!" says Anon in a loud commanding voice.
The fun time was over and everypony stood up from their place. As they were giving their equipment one last check, they could feel the train gradually lose speed.
Anon opens the large doors to reveal the desert landscape. The sun’s rays of heat felt like a sledgehammer to the face and the feeling was only augmented by the sand hitting against his cheek like small needles.
Anon checks his watch on last time before shouting to the rest.
"Now! Jump off!"
This was it. The beginning of the mission.
It finally clicked within the minds of everypony present and where once uncertainty and fear were prevalent in their minds; now they felt this is where they belonged.
Casting a protective shield over everyone, Misty Dew speaks "Let’s get this over with guys!"
Anon stays behind to make sure everyone jumps off before jumping off the train himself. Once the last pony is off the train, he jumps off landing on the surprisingly soft sand. Rolling over, he quickly turns towards the rest of his section to make sure everyone was okay.
To his relief, he could see the others slowly rising from the good tumble they had undergone. Everyone was somewhat evenly spaced between each other making it easier for him to make a quick mental head count.
"Ow." Says Quickshot while sucking in air through his teeth "You seriously need to do better with that spell Misty."
"Oh shut up. Your alive aren't cha'?" she says as she lets slip that Manehattan accent.
Anon speaks up "Everyone stay down until I say so."
"Yes sir!" Says Nimble Forte.
'I guess jumping off a train was going a bit overboard but what’s done is done I suppose' he thinks to himself.
Turntable turns towards Cloud Sweeper signaling to him a question 'Do we group up with Anon?'
Cloud Sweeper signals back "I'll ask". Quickly he turns towards Anon and speaks up "Sir, is it safe to move up?"
After checking the horizon Anon looks back "Yes! Everyone, group up with me!"
Everyone starts to walk towards Anon while keeping a close eye to their surroundings. Once every one was standing close to Anon, he takes out a map of the area and spreads it in front of them.
"Alright. We are currently right here" Anon pointed to an area marked in a blue circle "Our search area is right here" he takes his hand leading it towards the south of the map and points to a circled area marked in red "Turntable, Cloud Sweeper you guys will have to scout ahead and to report back if you find any diamond dogs. We will be traveling behind you two."
Cloud Sweeper signals Anon’s instructions to her and she nods enthusiastically before they both stand up.
"We'll get it done sir!" Cloud Sweeper says before flying off with Turntable behind him.
With those two currently flying through that dry arid air Anon turns to the rest.
"Remember: eyes peeled and ears at attention. If you think you see something do NOT hesitate to tell everyone."
"Yes sir!" Everypony says in unison.
Anon lead the group towards their destination going through the hot desert. There was an eerie silence among them as they walked through the desert. Not a single gust of wind could be felt only the punishing heat from the sun and the scorching sand bellow their shoes could be felt. Anon was sensing his sections morale was slowly dropping so he starts to think of a way to cheer them up.
Anon perks up as an idea forms in his mind.
"Hey guys i got a good marching song for everyone!"
"A marching song sir?" asks a sweaty Misty dew
"Yep, just keep up! It goes something like this:" Anon take a deep breath before starting
"Oooh!
We play fair and we work hard and we're in harmony.
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.
Mickey Mouse. (Mickey Mouse.)
Mickey Mouse. (Mickey Mouse.)
Forever let us hold our banner high.
High. High. High.
Colts and filly's from far and near you're as welcome as can be.
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.
Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.
Who is marching coast to coast and far across the sea?
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E."
Despite not knowing who this mickey mouse was, everyone started to get into the rhythm and Anon could tell everyone was in a noticeably better mood. In retrospect Anon thought singing like this could attract unwanted attention. Slapping himself mentally he decided to let it go for now.
As Anon soaks in the enjoyment from singing with the rest he hears the flapping of wings in the distance and looks up to see Cloud Sweeper and Turntable flying towards them.
As they land Cloud Sweeper and Turntable were clearly out of breath. Cloud Sweeper could barely keep his head up as he spoke.
He takes a deep breath before continuing. "We spotted a diamond dog convoy. They seemed to be carrying something large."
"Something large? Can you give a description?"
"It was a big rectangle shaped box" said Cloud Sweeper
Anon nods "You two did a good job but your work isn't finished yet. You two will guide us." said Anon
"Yes sir!" said Cloud Sweeper.
Cloud Sweeper and Turntable lead the group through the dunes towards where the diamond dog convoy was last spotted and after arriving, he flies up high to spot the convoy. He spots the convoy heading towards what looked like a large cave entrance and if he tried to look farther, he could see what looked like guards.
Pegasus were known to have amazing eyesight, a perk which aided them when flying. Their eyesight was comparable to the eyesight of an eagle. It was a fact which baffled Anon when he was first told by Redheart and yet in a way, it made sense.
Cloud Sweeper descends to tell the rest of the location of the convoy.
"Sir! The convoy is located south-east of here at about 1 kilometer away." reported Cloud Sweeper
"Good." says Anon
Anon looks towards the rest. They were in good spirits, they looked ready.
Nimble Forte speaks up in his low gravelly voice "Were ready sir, Ah say we attack at night so we can surprise them"
"I like that idea, Cloud Sweeper and Turntable, you two will be sniping so make sure to be up high and signal us the positions of the enemy."
"Consider it done sir!" Cloud Sweeper turns to signal Turntable the orders and shortly afterwards they unfurled their large wings and took to the sky.
"Misty Dew, I want you to stick with me, well flank the entrance of the cave from the left and Nimble Forte will team up with Quickshot and flank them from right."
"Yes Sir!" They say in unison.
By the time they got close to the entrance of the cave the sun was beginning to sink in the horizon and the moon was starting to take its rightful place in the sky. As they got close to the area they could hear the chatter between the Diamond dogs.
Before they separated to get to their respective positions Anon stops Nimble Forte, Misty Dew and Quickshot.
Quickshot speaks in a whisper "What’s wrong sir?"
"Misty Dew, can you cast a night vision spell for us?"
Without thinking it twice she casts a spell and for a brief moment there was a yellow glow. Anon panicked and quickly looked over the dune and saw the diamond dogs still obliviously speaking to each other.
Anon lets out a breath he was holding "Misty Dew, next time you cast a spell during the night you better cover up that horn of yours." he scolds her.
"Sorry, won’t happen again sir" says Misty dew nervously.
Anon rolls his eyes and signals her with a "come over here" hand gesture.
Anon turns towards Nimble Forte and Quickshot "You two, remember your training and you will get out of this alive. Await my signal to start the attack."
In a low voice Nimble Forte speaks "Yes sir."
Anon and Misty Dew get to their position resting their rifles over the crest of a sand dune. Misty Dew points her rifle at one of the diamond dogs head.
"Not yet Misty Dew, first let me contact Cloud Sweeper. For now, keep a watch on those diamond dogs" says Anon.
She nods.
Anon rolls over to his back and tried to locate Cloud Sweeper amidst the darkness. Without the augmented eyes he had back on earth, he had trouble finding Cloud Sweeper.
'Note to self: create some new eyes once I get the required technology.' he thinks in annoyance.
Anon Finally spots the not so discreet light blue coat of Cloud Sweeper. He tries waving to them to get his attention and to his surprise Cloud Sweeper and Turntable wave back.
Anon closes his fist and points to himself to signal he wanted info on the situation.
Cloud Sweeper signals back telling him what he needed to know.
"Two enemy guards. Swords. No other enemy spotted. Area Clear." Anon translates to his companion.
"Understood sir. Do you want me to fire now?" asks Misty Dew.
"Not yet, wait for my mark." says Anon.
Anon looks towards the right side where Nimble Forte and Quickshot should be and easily spots them.
He waves at them and they wave back. Anon begins to order them to aim at the other diamond dog who was sitting on a chair asleep.
Anon raise a hand "Ready, aim..." He quickly lowers his hand and closes it into a fist.
"CRACK!"
The muzzle flashes light up the area for less than a second leaving only the faint smell of gunpowder and the echoing sound of their gunshots tearing through the night sky.
"Move! Move!" Anon yells at the others in the ground to move up as he rushes towards the entrance of the cave with the rifles butt plate tightly pressed against his shoulder and his sights aimed at the dark entrance of the large cave.
The others followed closely behind when out from the darkness of the cave came an abnormally large and weirdly shaped diamond dog with sword in paw ready to slash at Anon. Without thinking too much about it Anon shoots into the chest of the beast but the shot doesn't stop him. Instead, the diamond dog simply roars in pain "AAAAARRRGHH!" and continues to run towards him.
Quickshot empty's a round on the diamond dog's chest but the diamond dog continues to charge at them with sword now raised up high; his body fueled with only adrenaline now.
Suddenly, the beast finally falls down followed by the crack from a rifle that could be heard in the distance. Anon turns around to see Turntable in the distance pulling back on the bolt handle releasing the empty casing.
Anon keeps his sights trained on the entrance in case any other surprises came through it.
Without looking away Anon scolds Misty Dew "I thought you projected a night vision spell?"
"Sir, with all due respect I did!" she said nervously.
"Then how in the name of Celestia did nobody see this deformed fucker inside the cave?" asks Anon in a mild tone
"Um, sir? I think I just found out why." said Quickshot
Anon sees Quickshot holding what looked like a large gray crystal.
"What the hell is that?" Anon asks.
"Its called an illusion rock. It’s mostly used to hide things behind an illusion or in alchemical research" answered Misty Dew.
Nimble Forte speaks "Well ah've only used ‘em to prank ‘mah little bro here back in the day". He chuckles "He would really think the house disappeared in thin air!"
Quickshot simply rolls his eyes in clear annoyance.
Anon chuckled for a second at the thought but his mind quickly brought him back to the situation at hand.
"Save the stories for after we finish the mission. Misty Dew, is there any way we can get rid of these illusion rocks?"
"Yes sir. They're quite brittle so we simply need to crush one of them and the illusion will fall apart."
"Already on that!" Quickshot says as he takes the rifle and slams the butt of the rifle against the crystal.
After firmly hitting the crystal it fractures and the cracks start spreading throughout causing the illusion to waver before being completely gone. Instead of a dark cave entrance they were surprised to see a well-lit entrance with a set of large metal warehouse doors leading into the cave itself.
"Well I'll be damned, that's actually quite smart of them." said Anon in shock
"Misty Dew, open the doors" Anon commanded and she complied.
Misty Dew heated the hinges of the large doors to a melting point using her magic causing them to fall flat revealing a wide hallway illuminated by luminary crystals in the walls.
"Alright everypony, stay behind me and keep your senses sharp I want us to get through this quick and clean." Anon quickly turns around to signal Turntable and Cloud Sweeper to stay behind and await their return.
Anon keeps his weapon pointed in front of him as he leads the group inside, attentive to any sounds or movements.
As they made their way deeper into the cave, voices could be heard coming from the wide passage.
They made their way through until they reached a set of large iron sliding doors. The imponent set of doors were pitch black with a carved symbol on each one. At first glance the symbol looked regal in style with clear Egyptian-like connotations.
To Quickshot the symbol looked strangely familiar "I've seen that symbol somewhere," He whispers as he gets closer to inspect it "Yep, its Zebrican."
"How do you know that?" asked Anon.
"Uncle is a trader from the Zebrican kingdom and he would sometimes bring trinkets from there to gift us and on the bottom of those trinkets would be that symbol"
Anon hears this and starts to feel his stomach contort "Are Zebricans known for dealing with slavers?" He asks.
Quickshot looks back at Anon "Um, yes. I believe their businesses still deal in slavery, although, as far as I understand, its usually the rich who own them."
"All the more reason to stop this little operation let’s move on." says Anon
Anon slowly opened one of the large doors a few centimeters with the help of Nimble Forte and peered through the crack. What he saw on the other side sickened him, shaking his soul to the core.
Slaves.
The room was dark and the night vision spell Misty Dew had cast already faded. Despite that, his eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness.
There he saw many bodies shiver in the strangely freezing cold room. In that accursed room he could see that there were not only ponies but also griffons, zebras and other creatures. It seemed to him that the slavers didn't really care who you were, to them you were all equally worthless.
The floor of the large room was made of a rough surface concrete with not-so-subtle large grooves clearly made for maximum discomfort since most of the older ones seemed to be on their knees and those knees were slightly bleeding, leaving a large trace of blood each time they shifted the position of their knees. This indicated they had been in that position for a considerable amount of time. Some of them shook violently and their knees buckled under them from not only the cold or fatigue but also from the pain.
The older ones were facing the dirty blood-stained walls, their eyes covered by an equally dirty blindfold and everyone had their wrists chained to the wall. The young ones were in the center of the large room, their eyes were blindfolded and hands restrained to their backs. The poor souls squirmed as they tried to huddle together searching for whatever heat they could get in that freezing room.
Anon was enraged by the sight.
Where could these poor souls have been taken from?
Where are they being taken to?
Why are there so many children here?
What about their families?
Are they still awaiting the return of their loved ones?
But most importantly...
Who is behind this treachery?
His train of thought was interrupted by the characteristic smell of decay and death he was so familiar with from back on Earth. The sounds of the damned echoed in his head, their wails, shouts of suffering and despair overlapped with the silent sobbing and whimpers coming from within the room.
Anon’s face went pale, his breathing hitched speeding up as his right hand began to violently shake
"Sir, are you ok?" whispered Misty Dew.
Anon snapped back to reality. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down and focus. His hand stopped shaking as he gripped the gun harder. 'Even here my past won’t leave me alone' he thinks to himself.
"Breaching" Anon whispered.
Misty Dew nodded and let the other two behind her know.
Quickshot and Nimble Forte grabbed the handle for one of the doors and slid it completely open with anon pointing his weapon on the edge of the door as it moved. Afterwards he carefully rushes towards the other side of the room, checking his corners before reaching the other side and pulling on what looked like an electrical lever.
The clear crystals located on the rooms ceiling slowly turned on revealing where the smell was actually coming from.
When Anon turned around, there, at the other side of the room on both corners were two piles of corpses. On one side were the adults and on the other were children.
It would have been an understatement to say Anon was mad. He was in a state of absolute fury.
"Clear!" Anon called out now breaking the silence.
As everyone rushed inside, they slowed their pace to a walk when they saw the scene in front of them.
"What...in Tartarus?" said Nimble Forte.
Misty Dew turned to her left and saw one of the piles in the corner and when she did her hand covered her mouth. "Sweet Celestia..." after a few moments she gags from the smell "I... think I'm going to be sick"
Quickshot could only stare in silence. Not surprised, shocked or disgusted, simply deadpan.
Some of the slaves perked up when they heard their voices many of them begging to be freed.
Anon noticed another large industrial door to his left he hadn't previously noticed. Whoever was behind this evil had to be behind that large door.
"Quickshot! Misty Dew! I want you two to evacuate everypony out of this room and take them outside."
"Consider it done." said Quickshot.
"Nimble Forte, you stay with me. We got one more area to check." Anon pointed to one of the rooms.
As they made their way, they heard a commotion coming from the other two.
"CORINA!" one of the freed slaves -a zebra- moved quickly as his limp could allow him towards the adult pile.
His knees buckled under him as he kneeled once more facing the pile. He extended his hands to pull out one of the zebra mares in the adult’s pile. Unlike everyone else in the room she wasn't wearing anything, her black mane was shoulder length and covered her eyes.
Giving a once over he noticed the nasty gash which ran across her stomach. It was dry, no bleeding, which could only mean she died some time ago. Despite this the stallion held her in his arms silently repeating the name of his beloved as if hoping she would wake up.
"Don't take off their blindfolds until they are outside." said anon in a calm manner.
The other two continued to take the unfortunate victims of this place outside to a safer area.
Anon slides the large door open to reveal a well-lit hallway ending in another large sliding door. He quickly makes his way to it and opens it just like the last one.
It was a large underground warehouse. There were lines of crates stacked up high with different labels on them, it seemed to never end.
Anon and Nimble Forte split up, while Anon took the left side of the large warehouse, Nimble Forte would take the right. They continued moving on until they met up in front of a set of wooden doors.
Nimble Forte takes the sledgehammer he had with him and smashes it close to the handle causing the lock to give in and break.
Anon and Nimble Forte race in quickly checking their corners. Anon quickly spots a surprised Zebra in an unidentified uniform.
"Contact!" says Anon.
Nimble Forte and Anon were faster to react and when the zebra tried to reach for his rifle which was propped up against a wall, it was already too little too late. Two bullets impacted his chest, one of which shredded through his heart instantaneously cutting off his blood flow.
With a grunt the zebras back hits against the wall and slides down leaving a streak of blood on the wall. Meanwhile, Anon continued to rush to the other side of the room while Nimble Forte checked on the zebra.
When he finally reached the other side, he was finally able to appreciate the surroundings in a calmer manner. The inside was a large room unlike the room the slaves were in. It was -to put it mildly- fancy. This room was truly out of place considering where it was located in. A large chandelier hung from above, the floor was covered in a crimson red carpet, there was silverware with tea and coffee in the middle surrounded by papers strewn about and large cabinets on the left side of the table.
To the other side of the room there was a large detailed map of the northern edge of the badlands. Anon could see various green pins pining small pieces of paper labeled "Supplies Depot".
'Supplies? Supplies for what exactly?' Anon thought. His eyes wandered up and saw red pins pinning a few suspicious locations.
'The supplies are probably to keep the slaves as well as themselves fed and these red pins are probably to indicate security outposts. But something doesn't feel right.' Anon’s brow furrows as he's deep in thought.
"Sir, I believe you should check this out." Nimble Forte hands over a khaki colored circular patch with a pair of palm trees in the middle and a slogan on top.
Anon read the slogan on top "Milites Harenas."
"You know ancient equis?"
Anon shakes his head "Where I'm from its called Latin" Anon shakes his head in confusion "This planet keeps surprising me"
"What does it say?"
"A close translation would be 'soldiers of the sand' or 'of the army and the sands'. Something doesn't seem right here."
Taking another quick look across the map he sees a red pin where Fort Blaze would be located. It seemed odd to pin a fort when slavers aren't exactly known for combat prowess, usually they would avoid contact with anyone who wasn't their employers or potential buyers the exception being of course their unfortunate targets. Diamond dogs weren't considered very smart either, they would have to be led by somepony else to actually be effective in their raids.
'Thinking it over, it doesn't make sense to pin forts so far into Equestrian territory. For Celestia's sake, there are red pins located as far as Ponyville! Diamond Dog slavers wouldn't dare venture that far! At least, I don’t think so' thought Anon.
A chilling thought began to creep up his mind as he began to connect the dots. Realization hitting him like a professional boxer.
"Sweet Honey Ice Tea!" exclaimed Anon
"Umm what?" asked Nimble Forte.
"These are war plans!" Anon hunches over the table skimming through some of the papers
His eyes go wide when he goes through some of the information "Holy crap! We've hit the motherload! Quick! Take every paper that seems suspicious, its evidence now"
Anon and Nimble Forte began stuffing any paper that seemed relevant down their rucksacks before they ran back to the entrance so they could meet up with the rest of the section.
When they finally came to the entrance, they saw the now freed slaves receiving treatment from Quickshot and Misty Dew. As soon as they stepped foot out of the caves entrance they were assaulted with questions from the survivors.
Anon waves his hands "Please, quiet down!" the small crowd that had formed in front of him went silent.
"My name is Anonymous Reyes, Anon for short. I am the leader of this group of soldiers."
The crowd stared at the strange creature who proclaimed himself to be the leader of the rescuers, hanging on to hope he didn't have bad intentions.
"Our objective was to destroy this slaver base and take you to the nearest fort. So, I will ask of you to help your injured and we will escort you to safety."
The small crowd lets out a sigh of relief when they hear they would be freed. Smiles formed on many of the creature’s present.
"Please, stay close and keep silent as we make our way to our destination."
A mixture of nods and hasty "thank you's" permeate through the crowd.
Anon looks upward and signals to Cloud Sweeper to let them know they can come down from their position. Once they do they seem to be a bit exhausted.
Anon faces Cloud sweeper who had his hands on his knees "How was the camping trip?"
"Tiring, but we can keep going sir" assures Cloud Sweeper as he tries to wiggle his wings to relieve the stress from the muscle at the base of his wings.
"Good, the missions almost over. I'm going to need you and Turntable to continue being our scouts and lead us back to the drop off point. We need to get there before sunset."
"Sir! We'll get it done!"
"Atta boy!" says Anon with a smile.
Anon watches as Cloud Sweeper and Turntable take flight once more before focusing his attention in the large crowd.
"Misty Dew!" Anon calls out.
Misty Dew had just finished treating the wounds of an older looking griffon when she was called out "Sir!"
"I need you to take the front and keep a look out as we advance"
"Yes sir!" she says before heading to the front.
Anon turns his attention to Quickshot who also helped tending to the wounds of a few others.
"Quickshot! Stay behind the group and make sure nopony gets left behind." commands Anon.
"Yes sir!" he says before moving to his position
Nimble Forte who was beside Anon spoke up "Got any orders for me sir?"
"Yes, you will stay with the survivors and help anybody who cant walk without help. I will also do the same" says Anon.
"Aye sir!" Says Nimble Forte.
Anon and Nimble Forte make their way into the crowd supporting anybody who needed help. Anon carried on his shoulders a small zebra filly who couldn't walk at all from her broken right leg. He also spotted the same zebra he had seen previously inside the cave.
Anon extends his arm out to him "Here let me help you up."
The zebra looks at him, then at his arm before taking it and helping himself up. He wrapped his arm around Anon shoulder leaning his weight on him.
"There we go." says Anon finding his balance.
The crowd finally begins moving at a steady pace, slowly leaving behind the nightmare that was the slavers base.
The morning soon turned into midday as the blazing heat began to heat up the sand under them. Although zebras and ponies are unaffected, the same could not be said to the griffons.
None of the griffons in the group could use their wings as they were either clipped off or were injured. Anon sacrificed whatever bandage he had on him to wrap them around some of the younger griffons as per the request of their adult counterparts.
The small zebra filly who had taken a ride on his shoulders was now resting her head on top of his, her head shielded from the harsh sun with Anon's shirt uniform leaving him with only his white t-shirt.
"Hang on there kiddo, well get you home soon enough." said Anon.
Time passed and they eventually reached the rails. They awaited there until they could see the plumes of smoke letting them know the train was approaching.
The train slowly reached a halt and from one of the sides of a cart the door was slid open revealing a soldier in metal armor.
He takes notice of the large group behind Anon "Oh! um...are all these survivors?"
Anon looks back in a sort of sarcastic manner before looking back at him "Geez, I don't know, what do you think?"
The soldier calls out for the rest of his companions and helps everypony to get on board of the train.
Before the children got on the train, they surrounded Anon and his section giving them hugs and thanking them for the rescue.
Once inside, he leaves the survivors at the careful hands of the medics at the on-board infirmary to better attend their wounds.
The sun was starting to set after a long day of being out in the middle of the desert, the train continued its path to Fort Blaze before continuing its route to Canterlot. Anon makes his way to the soldier’s quarters to meet up with his section.
He finds them sitting across each other fooling around with a deck of cards.
The place smells like a football locker room after a game but it was welcomed compared to what they had gone through.
Nimble Forte is the first to react when he sees Anon, standing up straight to salute "Sir!"
The others do the same almost immediately.
Anon smiles "At ease everypony" He takes a seat close to them. "Well done guys! The mission was a success!"
Everyone smiles exchanging high fives "When we arrive at Canterlot we will be required to write a report of our mission so please try to be as detailed as possible."
Turntable raises her hand
"Yes Turntable, what is it?"
Turntable starts to use her hands to speak while Cloud Sweeper translates "She asking whats going to happen to the survivors."
Anon's smile fades "They will be left at Fort Blaze where they will be receiving proper medical treatment but from then on it will be completely up to them. The children will most likely end up in an orphanage or be returned to their respective families if they still have families to go back to. The bodies we found in that place will be retrieved by a recovery team which I presume will be aided by a small army."
"Sir why didn’t we destroy the cave?" Misty Dew asked.
"We didn’t destroy it because the slaver base turned out to be some sort of war room. Nimble Forte and I have evidence in our rucksacks so high command will want the base intact so they can retrieve bodies and any other information they deem important."
"Is there anything we can do sir?" asked Nimble Forte.
Anon takes his time to answer "Yeah." Anon leans back on his seat "Keep fighting".
Anon smiles "But I suppose for now you guys have earned a drink."
Their faces immediately light up at the proposition of free drinks.
"You really mean it sir?" asked Misty Dew
"I don’t see why not. Just don’t go overboard okay?"
Meanwhile aboard the HMSS Griffonstone...
Inside the captain’s cabin the diplomat Gunther was sitting in the captain’s seat when all of a sudden, the door swings open revealing an old graying griffon who was going through some papers.
When the captain notices Gunther’s presence he scowls at him "What are you doing in my seat Gunther?"
Gunther stops twiddling his thumbs "Just wanted to know how it feels like to sit in the captain’s chair" he says with a casual smile.
"Get off" the captain says coldly.
Gunther shrugs his shoulders mockingly and gets off the chair "Okay then"
Gunther takes a seat in front of the captain’s desk and the captain sits on his while going through papers. A few uncomfortable seconds go by with no one saying anything until the captain speaks.
"You can tell the emperor that the plans are complete and were just waiting for his signal" he says without looking at Gunther.
"I’m sure the emperor will be most happy with the news captain Shores" he says.
Captain Shores finally puts down the papers to look at him "You can also tell the emperor I do not agree with working with her" he puts down his glasses "Her tactics are... unorthodox" He says with disdain.
A feminine voice calls out from the entrance of the room "Nor do I"
Both Gunther and Captain Shores look into the direction of the voice and see a womanly silhouette.
From the entrance comes out a tall woman with blonde hair, green eyes and a white naval uniform.
Gunther stretches out his hand "Ah! Ms. Reyes, how are you doing this fine evening?"
