//------------------------------// // Part 2, Chapter 19: Beast // Story: The Portgate // by Archival //------------------------------// "It was impossible to keep the Eden Project's secrecy total, especially after we set up on the other side. I think what happened was that once we pulled the three people back to Earth, news got out one way or another. Then, the media came over to the facility a few days later to ask some questions, maybe interview some people - and what do they see? Tons of military vehicles on the way there, and the military setting up outside the facility. Nobody could ignore a story like that. So, now, we have two news vans lining up at the checkpoints for every supply shipment that comes in - and these aren't just from the local news. I saw three cars from BBC trying to come through in one day, the reporters in the front seat and the cameramen and equipment all packed into the back seat. Heard about some people coming from China, Russia, Japan, and even Brazil coming over to report on us from other guards, too, although I never saw them. And I swear, the 'Press' section of the facility grounds was almost half the size of the facility itself.” -Robert Young, Security -Luna- The forest air was chilly that morning. A fresh, clean breeze ran through the tall trees of the Everfree, plucking the fiery leaves off the branches and dropping them on the floor. The clouds in the sky were thin and wispy, slowly meandering across the horizon and past the bright, white sun. Luna inhaled the cool air, savoring the slight chill that filled her lungs. The Everfree's weather was impossible to control, whether by pegasi or otherwise, but she had to admit that she might not have minded all that much if it were always as nice as this. A gust of wind rushed past her head, bringing with it the rich aromas of her breakfast. She looked down at the rough tin diningware that lay before her, the plates and cups scratched and dented from years of service. A smile stretched across her face - her breakfast might not have been the fanciest, but it was still delicious, and her knife and fork made quick work of the four-pancake stack in front of her. She delicately grabbed the porcelain cup of tea (the quartermaster had insisted on bringing it with the reinforcements from Canterlot for the use of Her Majesty) with her magic and took a sip, setting it back down gracefully with the refinement and etiquette of the highest Canterlot royalty as the taste lingered on her tongue. Luna loved her tea, whether she was in the Capitol or the Farlands, and she never left the castle without a few bags of the leaves in her saddlebags. Truly, it was the drink of choice for the refined, educated pony. She quickly glanced around, searching for any high-ranking officers or otherwise that might have been around as she sat outside her tent. They were always such a bother, she thought to herself as she chewed on another forkful of food. Nobody was around except for the occasional regular, and her grin widened as she hungrily stared at her pancakes. They would have a fit if they saw their Princess eating like this. A minute later, Luna wiped the sticky, syrupy crumbs off of her face with her hoof and licked her lips, raising a metal cup of coffee to her muzzle as she inhaled the rich flavors of the dark roast. She tilted her head back and chugged the drink, letting a few drops spill down her neck as she did so. The warm liquid flowed down her throat, almost scalding it, and the strong, bitter taste woke her up almost immediately. It was a secret of hers that she loved coffee; the nobles were always scoffing at the coffeehouses all around Canterlot's outskirts, and she couldn't have them ogling her for enjoying the stimulant every time she went outside. After a cup, she always felt like she could take on the world - which an alicorn could anyways, but that was besides the point. Coffee: the working pony's drink of choice. Her ears perked up as they caught a thumping noise in the distance. It didn't take long for her to identify the rhythmic thuds as a messenger's steady run, the gallops closing in on her location with intense speed. Nobody in the camp would be running that fast, she thought to herself, at a time like this unless it was something important. Luna leaned back in her chair and shook her head as she wiped her mouth with a napkin, disappointed that she couldn't enjoy her breakfast in peace. "Princess Luna! Urgent message from Scout Group Nine!" the mare yelled as she rounded the corner towards the alicorn, her equipment clanking against her armor as she galloped. Luna curiously stared at the out-of-breath pony as she saluted her. "What is it?" she asked. The messenger straightened up. "Twenty minutes ago, Group Nine reported a dragon sighting northeast of camp! Ma'am!" Luna's eyes widened. "A dragon?" "Yes! Fire dragon, estimated forty meters." "Its heading?" "Directly south, Princess." She leaned back in her chair. "Is it being tracked by scouts?" Luna questioned, her voice slightly less tense. "Yes, Princess, Groups Eight and Seven are monitoring its behavior." "Very well," the alicorn sighed. "I don't think it's headed for us. Perhaps...wait, what about its location?" "It was five strides away from Group Nine when they encountered it." "Five, twelve and a half...that's about..." Luna suddenly pushed herself out of her chair, the realization hitting her like a brick. "Princess? Orders?" She stood there for a split second, muttering something under her breath as the mare asked her for further instructions. Suddenly, without a word, Luna leaped past the confused pegasus and began to gallop towards the rising sun at breakneck speed. "Messenger!" she yelled as her hoofbeats echoed throughout the camp. "Relay these orders!" "Princess! What are you doing?!" the messenger yelled back as the mare followed the Princess, their hoofsteps in sync as they ran past tent after tent. "I want all commanders and a reconnaissance squad to rendezvous west of the foreign encampment, immediately! Invisibility spells on all observers!" "Observers? Princess, wait! Where are you going?!" she shouted. Luna was fast, and her pursuer was beginning to lag behind. "Have the camp go on high alert! Prepare anti-dragon measures!" "Princess?!" "I'll be fine!" Luna called back. "No time, just deliver those orders!" Luna leaped into the air, her wings unfolding and extending to their full span in an instant. She furiously flapped her alicorn wings as fast as she could, the beating sound of feathers on air echoing across the treetops. Her commands hadn't been very clear, but there was no time for that. If anything, she shouldn't have taken those few seconds to issue unnecessary directives. Either way, if she was lucky she would be the first of all ponykind to observe what would happen in just a few moments. The only question was what she would see. -Noah- This was the most calm evacuation and the most panicked defense Noah had ever seen. At the first sign of the enormous beast lazily flapping through the sky, surveillance hit their (recently installed) panic button with blistering speed. Immediately, the evacuation alarms began to ring, calling all personnel across the outpost to orderly head through the Portgate and back onto Earth. Years of evacuation drills throughout everyone's lives prevented any confusion as everyone began to file out of their tents or head back to base, the queues back to the underground facility orderly and calm. In no time at all, all "civilians" were safe behind the portal and headed back to Earth's surface. After the last researcher passed through the airlocks, the second part of the contingency plan was enacted without delay. Further announcements would inform the remaining security forces to keep a lookout for a "cargo plane-sized overhead monster, ETA eleven minutes" and order them to prepare for "anti-air procedures." There were no "anti-air procedures." Noah cursed as he looked around his surroundings, searching for anything that would help him in the coming fight. The tents around him were all occupied by science equipment or living quarters, and he was too far away from the armory to make it in time. There were still about ten or so minutes before the "monster" would arrive, and his tiny little submachine gun would probably do no good against what he had in mind. "All security personnel, prepare heavy defenses at the northern side of camp! Bring the biggest guns you have!" He stared at the plastic casing of his gun. The body armor piercing, 5.7-millimeter rounds loaded in the FN P-90 were all he had, and he would have to deal with it. Noah stomped off to the north side of the camp, his boots kicking up grass and dirt as he ran. "The target is a...a dragon, about one hundred and forty feet in wingspan and two hundred long. ETA 7 minutes. Do not open fire unless aggression is displayed. The camp was eerily quiet without any researchers or construction workers in the tents and down the roads. Aside from a few security guards with heavy weapons in tow, Noah was completely alone as he hurried towards the outskirts of the encampment. The only sounds he heard as he ran down the empty road was the stamping of his feet and his heavy breathing, with the occasional shout or order from afar. The tents began to thin out, their canvas walls gradually being replaced by a sandbag perimeter around the camp swarming with other personnel. Noah slowed down as he walked up to the open space between the front line of defense and the tents, taking caution not to get in the way of anyone else. Security was hurriedly setting up hasty preparations for their incoming guest as well as they could, with some preparing light machine guns and others loading various rocket launchers. Some of the weapons, he noticed as he looked across the sandbags, looked like they were older than Noah himself. Nobody had expected to face an airborne threat in a world whose natives had no known motor vehicles, and he realized that they were woefully underprepared for the gigantic dragon headed their way. Somewhere behind him, he heard a loud screeching sound. Noah turned his head towards the high-pitched noise, the telltale sound of brakes grabbing his attention. Someone had pulled a humvee up to the perimeter, and its driver was waving at him to get in. "What do you need?!" Noah yelled as he ran toward the armored vehicle. "I need someone to get on the fifty. My pal was in the Bunker when the alarms rang. You know how to operate one?" "I can try," Noah responded as he climbed into the humvee and onto the gunner's seat. He had ridden in one a few times back on Earth, but only as a passenger. Hopefully, the enormous Browning would work like any other gun he had operated before. "Awesome. Hang on, I'm gonna scoot closer up front," the driver said as he slowly drove the vehicle up to the sandbag banks. He stopped ten feet short of the tan sacks, then turned towards Noah. "That thing should be fully loaded. I dunno if this thing swivels high enough to hit what we're going to fight, but you should be able to adjust it." Noah nodded, then pushed the massive gun as high as it could go. Apparently, it stopped at about forty-five degrees, and he hoped that it would be high enough. After flipping open the ammunition box to see if it really was full, Noah pulled the charging handle back with a loud kerchunk, readying the weapon for firing. His fingers wrapped around the grip as he moved his head behind the sights, waiting for the first sign of trouble. An earsplitting roar suddenly burst through the trees, the sound drowning out all other noises as it traveleled through the forest. Silence spread throughout the perimeter as everybody stopped what they were doing, their heads turned towards the sky. The echo of the roar lingered like a cloud of smoke around the camp, gradually fading out as it was replaced by another sound. The beating of wings. Noah, being on the gunner's seat on an armored vehicle, was one of the first people to spot the enormous dragon as its figure slowly rose over the treetops. His arms shook as he pulled the front sight post up towards the red beast, the bead constantly drifting off target and off center. The man barely noticed as the people around them lifted their weapons towards the sky, waiting for the behemoth to come into view. Another roar echoed through the forest, and Noah's breath caught as he saw the dragon spit fire out of its wide, hellish maw. The flames flew as far as the dragon was long, a red cloud of swirling fire that blossomed with deadly heat. Mumbling suddenly broke out amongst the sandbags, the nervous chatter barely audible to his ears. Suddenly, the dragon rose up into the sky and above the treetops, its beady eyes scanning the camp. Shouts replaced the mumbling as everyone pointed their guns at the leviathan monster. It surveyed the small group of humans below, then roared at the one hundred and eighty-four personnel defending the outpost as it slowly flapped its wings. Another jet of fire streamed out of its mouth, this one much wider than before. The fiery cloud spread across the sky into a huge blotch of heat, obscuring the dragon behind it - until it burst through the cloud completely unfazed, its wings propelling it directly towards the defenders. Nobody recalled who was the first to open fire on that day. Noah knew it wasn't him, since he didn't pull the trigger until he heard the whoosh of a guided missile being launched, but he would later recall the details to be extremely hazy. What he did know for sure was that he didn't hesitate to unload burst after burst into the gigantic dragon as it flew straight towards them with a look of pure malice on its visage. The ear-splitting, bone-shaking Browning almost deafened Noah, and the weight of the humvee just barely kept the recoil manageable. He didn't know if he was landing his shots, but judging from the reaction of the dragon he assumed that they were doing well. The fire dragon was a huge, deadly creature, but it was large and slow - and that was its weakness. Its scales could withstand even the toughest of arrows and crossbow bolts, and magical attacks barely impacted the highly-resistant plating on its hide. Only a group of experienced, specially-trained unicorns were known to be able to even scratch a fully-grown dragon, and the immense magic required to pull off such a feat would leave said unicorns exhausted and spent for days on end afterwards. But the dragon's scales were no match for gunpowder and lead, and the sheer number and variety of munitions thrown at it was absolutely devastating to the beast. The .50 caliber M2 rounds that shot through its hide stung like needles through its flesh, and the scales that were previously its main line of defense were no match for the armor-piercing rounds designed to punch an inch through steel. Even worse were the rockets that the giant dragon was too slow to dodge. Millennia after millennia of torching villages had taken the need for agility and speed away, and the enormous red dragon was a clear, unmissable target against the blues and whites of the morning sky. The rockets, both guided and unguided, slammed into its body, sending scorching-hot copper deep into its flesh and bone. The dragon shrieked and roared in fury as it flew towards its assailants, steaming crimson blood dripping onto the grass and leaves below. Noah's bursts became longer and longer as it closed in, the gigantic beast unhindered by the volley of metal being hurled towards it. Despite all they had done to put the giant monster down, it was still hurtling towards them at a steady pace. The roars of the dragon became louder and louder, and Noah swore that he could smell charred meat as it closed in. "Back up! Back up!" Noah's head almost slammed into the gun as the humvee suddenly lurched backwards, its driver frantically backing up away from the dragon. The barrel of the machine gun veered to the side, sending a stray burst of bullets into the dragon's wing. A deep, ugly shriek burst out from its jaws, the pain sending it further and further into a fit of rage as it dove towards the sandbags. Time seemed to slow down as something in the dragon's throat began to glow, causing the air around it to bend and warp. Noah watched as the dragon's mouth split wide open, bending as far as it could go before it let out an enormous jet of flame and fire at the people to his left. Most of them managed to dive away from the enormous being's thin, concentrated beam, but a few unlucky victims were caught in the stream of fire. Noah didn't focus on those lost souls as he continued to fire at the dragon, watching it cut a burning swath through the rest of camp and swoop back up for another attack. Even from fifteen meters away, he could feel the intense heat of its flames on his face as it turned around, ready for another attack. The missiles had mostly stopped as their operators ran out of munitions, and the dragon, though visibly hurt, was still airborne and ready for battle. Just as it began to dive towards Noah for a second attack, his gun suddenly stopped firing with a dry click as the spent casings and linkages stopped spilling out of the machine gun. Jammed, he cursed to himself as he opened the top cover and stared at the gun. "Hey," he called to the driver, "the gun's jammed!" The driver didn't respond. Noah bent down and yelled again. "The gun's-" "Get out! Right now!" the driver shouted back as he opened the door. Noah quickly pulled his head back up - and frantically began to lift himself out of the turret as the dragon closed in on the humvee, its jaws opening in preparation. He felt the intense, painful heat of the dragon's fire on his back as he jumped off the roof, the grass doing nothing to pad his fall as the armored car's diesel tank exploded behind him. A sudden, sharp sting ran up his legs, shrapnel from the exploding humvee digging into his calves and thighs. Noah's vision blurred as he tried and tried to stand up, each movement causing his legs to burn in agony. His bottom half essentially useless, Noah dragged himself across the damp grass in a desperate attempt to escape the heat of the burning vehicle. He almost didn't notice as his arm bumped into something hard and plastic lying on the ground next to him, its purpose known to him only by intuition. Noah pulled the solid, hefty looking weapon towards him, his hand slipping around the grip automatically as he stared at the LCD screen mounted on the side. In a daze, he hefted the gun onto his shoulder and aimed it at the dragon as a series of diamonds and circles followed the beast's torso, causing it to beep rapidly until the beeps merged into one, long tone. Noah, in his dazed and confused state, knew that meant something good, and instinct guided his actions as his index finger seemed to move by itself. A series of high-power electromagnets inside the fifty-four inch LM-PEAAR railgun activated as Noah wearily pulled the trigger, sending its five-millimeter payload hurtling towards its target at immense speeds. Whoever had loaded the gun didn't properly calibrate it, and the thin metal dart moved through the air at Mach 10 - far faster than it was designed to fly. The sheer recoil of the railgun sent it kicking backwards much harder than anything Noah had felt, throwing the targeting screen smack dab into his face with the strength of a horse's kick. However, the projectile's fins weren't designed to withstand such high velocities, and the dart began to wobble mid-air until it spun towards its target like a throwing knife. The Lockheed-Martin Personnel-Equipped Anti-Armor Railgun was designed to be capable of firing many different projectiles, but the one it was planned to fire the most was the Type 1-11 5x240mm finned flechette. It was designed to penetrate through feet of armor and disable vital systems such as engines and electronics equipment, where it would cause the most damage. Its dense mass and high speed, combined with its tiny impact area, would be unstoppable by anything short of a mountain. However, it was not designed to be shot at maximum force through a 500-kiloGauss railgun, and it was spinning at breakneck speed just a tenth of the way between the gun and the dragon. Wherever the dart would hit, it would cut an enormous slit rather than a tiny pinprick through the dragon, like a knife through Jello. That was the first reason he was lucky. The second reason was that the ten-inch, depleted uranium-tungsten alloy flechette cut a straight path through the dragon's right wing joint, almost severing it completely as it continued past the joint and through its back. Its four thin, sharp fins shattered off as the dart hit the hard, resilient spine, slicing through the rest of its body like razor blades and coming to a stop just before they broke through the other side. However, the rod continued freely through the spine, fracturing the top half and slicing open a deep, wide trench down its back in a diagonal slash before spinning off into the sky. That wasn't it, though; the projectile's sonic boom wrought havoc upon its already serious wounds, tearing the cuts even wider and deeper as the deafening crack pulverized flesh and bone. Another roar pierced the sounds of battle and fire, this one much louder than before. It was far different from the dragon's previous battle cry; this was a shriek of distress, of pain and agony. The dragon's right wing was completely disabled, and it began to drift right as it panickedly flapped its left wing as fast as it could. With one of its wings crippled, the enormous beast quickly fell towards the ground, its right side spewing blood onto the tents below. A deep, bass thud shook the ground as the dragon smashed into the western side of camp, throwing up a cloud of dirt and debris where its impact crushed the tents below. Noah, his ears still ringing from the supersonic register of the railgun, looked up towards the sky in search of the dragon. The skies were clear and free of monsters, and he sighed in relief. His injuries suddenly hit him like a sack full of potatoes, and he had a sudden urge to close his eyes and fall asleep. Just before he passed out, however, he saw the faintest trails of a rainbow halo, dissipating into the air without a trace. The remaining defenders, exhausted and spent, slowly meandered their way over to the defeated dragon, its wounds already sealing themselves off. It would take many months for it to recover, though, and it simply lay there in surrender as its eyes wondered what fate had in mind for the dragon. A slow trickle of personnel began to stream through the Portgate, fire extinguishers and first aid kits in hand as they rushed to deal with the aftermath of the carnage. The dragon had burnt one section of camp and smashed the other, and its fiery breath had grievously injured dozens of people in its assault on the outpost. Somewhere above the treeline, an observer watched the figures below as they moved to put out fires and aid the wounded. Unbeknownst to those it watched, it looked over the carnage that the dragon had wrought, and the wounds it had received for its efforts. It stared at the shimmering, blue hole in time and space in the center of the encampment one last time before turning around, its wings silently flapping through the cold, autumn sky.