//------------------------------// // 7) Planning // Story: Fireteam Odium // by EchoTheFloof //------------------------------// The night sky had calmed above the camp outside Manehattan. The machines still hovered silently in place above the city, almost as if they were watching those that had managed to escape the warzone. As the ponies slept in the various tents scattered across the fields, three smaller machines flew quickly towards them. When they got close, the roar of the engines was reduced to a whisper, allowing the passengers aboard them to teleport to the ground. The guard on patrol paid them little attention, simply giving a nod in their general direction and passing by. Taking that as an invitation to enter, the three guardians walked straight into the camp, Exodus breaking away to find the medical tent for Chrome. Kervis and Kalis waved their goodbyes and continued on, hoping to find the tent that housed the white pony Exodus had spoken with. After a few minutes of searching they came across a tent that they could only describe as regal. The tent's fabric was a dark blue with black trims around the sides. It was far bigger than the others and had two guards standing at attention in front of the entrance. When they got closer, the ponies took notice of their approach. “Halt! State your business or leave, this is a restricted area.” The two beings looked at each other, considering what to say. It took only a moment of thinking before Kalis spoke up. “We need to speak to whoever commands you. Exodus said he spoke with a white pony earlier. Would we be able to talk with her?” “Princess Celestia is currently... unavailable. This tent belongs to Princess Luna, what is it exactly that you need to speak to her about?” “We would like to know some things about the city, as well as information on the army stationed there before the attack.” “She could probably aid you with those matters, and I can go speak with her. No promises on her wanting to talk with you, however.” “If you could that would be appreciated,” Kalis had assumed on the ride to the camp that the guards would be far more difficult to speak with, but this one was almost accepting of them. The pony trotted into the opening of the tent, leaving his partner to watch the two guardians outside. The silence was just becoming awkward when the first guard poked his head of the entrance. “The Princess would like to speak with you,” He said, ignoring the guard to his left that gave him a desperate look. Kervis gave a nod in response and followed the pony inside the tent, the Hunter trailing behind him. As they passed the fabric entrance, the atmosphere around then quickly changed. There was a table in the centre of the room, a map sprawled across it. In each corner of the tent, ornate chairs were placed in an orderly fashion, though there was only one pony in there to sit upon them. She was a dark blue pony, the polar opposite of the pony that Exodus has described. Her mane flowed slowly in the air, her tail following the same movements to give her a more mystical look. She looked over them with teal eyes, her wings shuffling slightly as she realised exactly who it was that had entered her temporary home. “I assume you are Princess Luna?” Kervis asked, slowing to a stop when he reached the edge of the table. “I am, and I assume you are the two that have been causing havoc across our nation?” The blue pony responded, an edge noticeable in her voice. “If you call saving my own skin causing havoc then yes, but that isn't why we are here.” “Yes, I've read the reports. You saved quite a few ponies today, though I wish you could have done it sooner,” The pony had looked down slightly as she said this, seemingly thinking upon something. Kalis, however, didn't take the comment lightly. “Sooner? The fuck is that supposed to mean? Exodus moved as quickly as he could and we aren't exactly gods. Where were you during the fight? I didn't see a single soldier in that city while the evacced those ponies out of there.” “I had to stay here and defend these ponies. I couldn't stand to lose the ones that stood by me during my homecoming.” “What was the death toll? If you had been given a report then you will know the numbers. How many ponies died thanks to you wanting to protect a few hundred?” Kalis was taking more of a combat stance as the situation progressed. The Princess didn't respond at first. Kervis was about to try and stop the situation when the pony gave her reply, “Nine-hundred and thirty thousand.” “What?” “That was the death count. You got eight-hundred ponies out of the city, the rest of them didn't make it.” Kalis took a step back, stunned into silence. She was so prepared to blow up at the Princess that hearing the number caught her off guard. “Can we please just calm down? We need to figure a plan out before the Cabal get any new ideas,” Kervis said in the hopes that they could settle their differences elsewhere. There were bigger things to worry about, “If they send their Primus planetside, we are going to have a real problem.” “How could things be any worse than they already are? Nearly a million ponies died in a single day,” Kalis muttered something at that but didn't speak up, giving Kervis room to speak, “If you think that was bad, you haven't seen destruction. Even we have difficulties bringing Cabal Primus' down, and they have killed many of our allies in their assaults.” “And what exactly is this being that is capable of defeating you so easily? While I don't fully agree with the things you have done here I cannot deny the fact that your combat skills are exceptional,” Luna had clearly gained interest in the subject as she had sat up from her slouched position, giving the Titan her full attention. “A Primus is a Cabal commander, and they are tough fuckers at that. Our fireteam has never successfully killed one, though we are more than willing to try should the situation demand it.” “So this... Primus is leading the assault?” The pony asked, still sitting at attention. While she may not have liked them very much, she was certainly worried for her ponies. “Yes. Removing him would hit the Cabal hard. They rely on their leaders for guidance and without it, they often break down into smaller groups that are much easier to deal with.” “They would continue? Surely they wouldn't have any chance at that point, wouldn't it be better for them to surrender?” “To reference a fellow guardian, the Cabal have six words for advance and no words for retreat. They won't back down until every single one of them is dead.” The Princess looked down at the ground at that. Her face betrayed her confusion, as her head was almost unable to wrap itself around the valour her enemies showed. Kervis could hear Kalis shuffling slightly as she waited for the Princess' reply. But a reply never came. The Princess had almost seemed to forget that the two guardians were still standing there. After a few minutes the silence was broken by a grunt to Kervis' right. He turned to find Kalis walking out of the tent. “Kalis? Where are you going?” Kervis asked. “To the other ponies. I'll catch you both later, I need some time away.” The Titan gave a small nod and switched his gaze to the pony, who had watched as Kalis left. “I think I may have a plan, but we are going to have to talk with each other before we offer it. We may come back later on, hopefully with that plan ready.” An approving nod was all he got in response, giving him no other option but to leave. As he exited the tent he took his helmet off, breathing in the cool night air. “Ghost, bring the ship in. We have a plan to make.” - - - Kalis strode toward her ship, blanking out everything around her. Her mind had been reeling from the sheer number of deaths that the city had gone through in the attack. She had figured there would be a lot more dead than evacuated, but she hadn't thought that the number would have such a difference. And the fact that the Princesses had sat in the camp as their ponies died tipped her into a level of rage she hadn't felt in a very long time. When she reached the edge of the transfer area she teleported to the ship, leaving the same familiar cloud of light in her wake. “I know you are angry, Kalis, but I'm sure that they had their reasons for doing what they did,” her Ghost said, hovering beside her as she walked to the pilot seat. “You saw what happened out there, Ghost. All of those ponies that died could have had a chance if they had stepped in and actually helped. But as usual, the royals take the back seat and let the grunts do all the work.” “Would you send the Speaker to do a guardian’s work? A country needs a leader, and those Princesses are clearly the leaders of this one. You should probably take some time to calm down and think this through.” Kalis only gave another grunt in response, firing up the Inquisitor's engines and raising her craft into the sky. When she spotted the small house in the hills she pushed forward, probably slightly harder than she needed to. The ship made it to the house in only a few seconds, passing over it and landing on the other side. There wasn't any lights on within the home, which wasn't surprising to her, but she still took a look through the curtains to see what was going on within it. In the darkness she could just make out the shapes of three ponies sitting within the living room, though their colours couldn't be determined with the naked eye. Shrugging slightly, she turned to her Ghost, “Transmat them to the ship. And do it gently, especially with the kid.” The Ghost nodded and a cloud of light could be seen beyond the windows. When the ponies were in the ship, she teleported over to it to find a sight she would probably never forget. Lemon and Breeze were sitting in the centre of the ship, a drowsy look on their faces. However, it would seem that when they were teleported it brought the blue pegasus along with them. As soon as said pegasus realised where he was, he broke down. Cries for mercy could be heard among the various other noises that blurted from his mouth. But Kalis simply didn't have the patience to deal with it. In one fluid motion, she walked forward, grabbed him by the waist and teleported down to the entrance of the house. When her eyes fell upon the door she slammed it open and punted the pony into the house before returning to her ship without a word. He spent the next three hours crying in a ball before falling asleep. Back on the ship, Kalis slumped down into her seat, letting the two behind her get used to the ship once more. Leaning forward, she opened her comms to Exodus, “Hey, you there?” She asked. “Yeah, what's up?” “I got the other two from the house. How's that soldier you brought back?” “He's fine. Brought him to the medical tent and they said he just passed out from overusing high levelled spells. He should be back up in a few hours.” “Good. Never seen energy like that... did he call it a spell? Like magic?” “I would assume so. It would give an explanation as to why he, and various other ponies, have horns.” Kalis hummed in thought as she pulled the ship up higher and pointed in the direction of the camp. She could see the distant lights from the fires within the city on one of the surveillance monitors, and as she looked at them, her mind went back to that number. She hadn't lost anyone she loved, and was glad of that, but it meant she couldn't connect with the ponies that had. Every pony in that camp had lost something, be it another pony or their belongings. And while they could have had a chance, she realised she couldn't put all the blame upon the two Princesses. There would have been catastrophic losses regardless of whether they stepped in or not, and them trying to stop it could have ended with them dying aswell. Sighing, she pushed the ship forward towards the camp, doing her best to ignore the fires shining on the monitor to her left. - - - The train from Ponyville pulled into a station near Manehattan. According to the conductor, it was the closest they could get without endangering the train. While they departed the vehicle, their attention was completely controlled by the devastation in the distance. Charred buildings lay in ruins, smoke columns rising from various places within the once great city. Above it, barely visible through the smoke, were the objects they had seen in Ponyville. They were huge machines, hovering silently. The smoke ceased its ascent some distance under them, giving a clear view at certain angles. “Do you know where the Princesses are?” Twilight asked one of the many guards stationed at the train stop. “They are in a camp outside of the town. I assume you need to be there?” He asked, standing at attention. “Yes, we need to get there as soon as possible.” The guard nodded and walked straight into the crowd of guards, the others stepping aside to allow him passage. When he returned he was flanked by two older looking ponies. They wore long elegant robes that Twilight quickly recognised. “War Mages? I mean no disrespect, but why are you two here? Surely the Princesses can handle what has happened.” “We are here under their orders,” The one on the left explained, “We can send you straight to them, if that is what you wish.” Twilight blinked, trying to process the situation. War Mages hadn't been used in a long time, thanks to the Princesses being able to do what they could. If the situation was that dire that they were required, something must have gone wrong. “Y-yeah, that's exactly what we need. Can you get all of us over there in one go?” The two ponies nodded and lit up their horns, covering all seven of the new arrivals in their combined magical aura. When the spell was ready they activated it, sending them straight into Celestia's tent. When the disorientation passed, their eyes fell upon a sorry sight. There, her eyes red and swollen, was their Princess. She looked like she had been crying for a long time, and had fallen asleep sometime during her distress. “What the...?” Applejack started, but found that she couldn't continue. Seeing her leader like this was something she couldn't have been ready for. The girls were silent for a while, simply staring at the unconscious body of the Princess they all knew and loved. Their silence was interrupted by a new sound. “Hey, is this a Princess' tent?” It was a male voice, but it had an odd undertone. Almost as if it was synthetic. “This tent belongs to Princess Celestia. Do you have business with her?” Was the reply, likely from one of the Solar Guards standing outside. “Yes, I need to speak with her about what we have come up with.” “Fair enough. You will be allowed to speak with her, but be warned, if you try anything I'll be the first to run you through.” There was a pause before the first voice continued, “Understood. May I?” “Go ahead.” As the guard said this, a being she had never seen entered the tent. It stood on two legs and had an odd combination of armour and clothing that gave it a mysterious look. When it looked over at the sight, it stepped back slightly before darting its head around to the ponies before it. “There better be a good explanation for this,” It said, one of its arms moving up slightly. Twilight could have sworn she saw a spark of lightning cross between its fingers. “We found her like this,” Rainbow said. She had taken a more defensive pose and moved to the front of her friends. It didn't look like she wanted to fight, but it was clear that she would if she had to. The being nodded at that, its arms still raised slightly. It walked over to the sleeping Princess and looked down at her. “Ghost, is she okay? She doesn't look too good,” It asked, ignoring the ponies looking at each other in confusion. Their confusion became stronger when a small white machine appeared beside the black robed creature. “She'll be fine, probably cried herself to exhaustion. Though she's going to have a splitting headache when she wakes up,” It said. “Hm, send a note to the others. Let them know what has happened. I'm going to need the ship down here aswell.” “No problem. The Galliot is on its way,” With that, the small white thing disappeared, and the tall one started to leave the tent. As it passed the seven ponies, it gave them a request, “Look after her, won't you? She looks like she needs someone to talk to.” Twilight nodded at that, her eyes locked on the black faceplate of the being in front of her. Happy with the response, it continued to walk from them. - - - The flight above the smoke was quiet for Exodus. His Ghost didn't have any reason to speak up, and the Warlock was too busy thinking on the situation to give any sort or conversation. When the Galliot reached the top of the newly formed cloud, his suspicions were confirmed. There was at least twenty Cabal carriers hovering above the city with swarms of dropships flying in close proximity to them. They didn't appear to see him as he slowed his ship down, giving him an opportunity to send a picture to the fireteam. “What do you think we should do? A fleet of that size could fuck this entire planet up,” Kervis said through his comms when he received the picture. “And there isn't any way in hell that we could take on that many Cabal on our own. We might be good, but I think hundreds of thousands of soldiers could be considered better,” Kalis commented. “I think the best course of action right now would be to figure out why they are even attacking this planet. The timing is almost too good, and I don't like it.” “The only way to do that without getting these ponies killed would be to board one of those ships. But I don't think they would be too happy to see us.” Kervis pointed out, giving Exodus a moment of thought. “What if we made use of these ponies teleportation?” Exodus offered, “We could have them teleport us to a carrier, then we could gather the data from a terminal and leave. They wouldn't even know that we had boarded them.” “You think they will want to help us? We haven't exactly given them any reason to trust us in the long run.” Exodus pulled his ship back and began flying down below the smoke cloud, out of sight of the Cabal. When he knew he was safe, he gave his response to Kalis, “They won't have much of a choice. We are the only ones here even capable of fighting them, so like it or not, they will have to listen to us.” “I guess we can only hope they accept the idea. Meet you with the Princess.” Kervis said. “Go to the other Princess, the one I met before isn't exactly in a good enough shape to make a decision like that.” “Got it, see you all there.” - - - The three guardians stood before the entrance of the tent. Kalis had been the last to arrive and Exodus had filled them in on what needed to be said. As they talked to each other, the guards simply stood back and watched. It was clear that they didn't want to intrude upon the conversation, but still listened in regardless. When the three were ready, Exodus passed into the tent. The Princess was sat in the same chair as last time, her eyes locked upon the Warlock. They stood before her in silence, each waiting for the other to speak. When she could take the silence no more, the Princess spoke up. “Why have you returned so soon? Do you have more information that we need to know?” Exodus gave a small nod and steeled himself. He wasn't sure what the reaction from the pony may be, but he wasn't willing to risk being caught off guard. “The Cabal have stationed a fleet of carriers above the warzone. From what we can tell, there is a couple of million soldiers all at the ready. Even we can't fight against an army that strong.” The Princess tilted her head slightly, “Then how do you propose we continue?” “We need to find out why they are here in the first place, and for that we need to get aboard one of their ships. We were hoping to get aid from you in order to do this,” Exodus explained. “If it brings us closer to bringing this world to peace once again, I will be happy to help. What is it exactly that you three need?” “We need a pony capable of teleporting us onto one of the carriers and then off of it. We can't use our own ships as they would be too easy to see, but a single movement to and from the carriers shouldn't be easy to detect.” The Princess hummed in thought, “That could work, and I could provide you with a pony capable of doing it, but I would like to send a guard with you.” “With all due respect, we can handle ourselves just fine.” “I imagine you can, but I would also like to learn things about our new enemies. And having some extra backup can't possibly hurt.” While Kalis wasn't happy at all with the pony, she could understand what she meant. Nodding slightly, she stepped forward, “I think it would be better for me to go with the guard. A full fireteam is much too easy to see and Kervis isn't exactly quiet.” Kervis shot his head around at that, “Kalis, are you sure? That place isn't going to be easy to navigate.” “Don't worry, big guy, I'll be fine. Who do you want to send? It would help to have a pony knowledgeable about stealth,” Kalis asked to the pony. “I will send one of my personal guard alongside a War Mage to get you on board this... 'Carrier'. When you are on it, my pony will work to keep you safe, I ask that you do the same.” “Of course. Thank you for your aid, I doubt we could have done this without you.” The dark blue pony nodded with a smile, bringing the conversation to a close. The team promptly left the tent, each one saying their goodbyes and moving to their ships. 'This is gonna be a long night' Kalis thought to herself as she jumped up onto her ship, awaiting the ponies that would help her get into the carrier.