//------------------------------// // Higher Authority // Story: Ghost Recon: Equestria // by 123456789123456789 //------------------------------// From inside the enclosed space, the three operatives sat in silence, hearing nothing but the distant echo of water hitting the deck. Each man sat on the edge of their own bed, all deep in thought, as though they were waiting for something to happen that would affect them significantly. The three men were Ghost Leader Cedric Ferguson, Robert "Pepper" Bonifacio, and Jimmy "30K" Ellison. The steel door to the left of them opened slowly, breaking the silence with a slow, metallic screech. Each of the men looked towards the door to see their commanding officer, Major Scott Mitchell. “Any news?” Ferguson asked. “No.” Mitchell replied “It seems he’s officially MIA, presumed dead.” “No, there’s no way Kozak would just die!” 30K shouted “He’s a tough bastard, and he’s alive...” He clutched his dogtags “I know it.” “Look, the least we could do is carry on.” Pepper spoke up “It’s what he would have wanted, 30.” “You’re talkin’ like he’s already dead, Pepper!” 30K walked up to Pepper slowly and gave him a cold, suspicious glare. “You know he was as much a brother to you as he was to me!” Pepper proceeded to grab 30K’s collar and pull him upwards. 30K grabbed Pepper’s collar, fruitlessly attempting to do the same. “That’s enough, you two!” Ferguson intervened, pulling the two apart “We’ve all been rattled by what’s happened, but fighting about it isn’t going to solve anything!” “He’s right, gentlemen. Whatever Kozak found is the reason he’s gone missing.” Mitchell said with a solemn voice “We need to find out what it was and how to stop it before it can do anymore damage.” “Okay.” 30K nodded. “What do we need to do?” Pepper asked. Both men wore determined looks on their faces. A gentle breeze passed through the weathered barn, gently awaking Kozak from his slumber. He slowly opened his eyes and then immediately sat up, scrambling for his guns. But, when they were nowhere to be found on his person, every muscle in his body became tense as he slowly looked around in an attempt to analyse what dire situation he was now in. But, instead of finding himself surrounded by enemy hostiles, he was met with the sight of a humble barn that looked handmade in design. Sunlight peeked through the holes in the walls and ceiling of the barn, creating many miniature spotlights. One of said spotlights fell on a pile of weapons and tactical gear to the left of the engineer. Kozak lifted himself off the ground and reached for his equipment, inspecting each piece thoroughly for any changes to their usual setup. Only after he was satisfied that his weapons were in perfect condition did he contemplate his current situation. After taking another look around himself, Kozak remembered everything that had transpired the day before. Kozak had never been very sharp when waking up after sleep, be it one hour or twelve, he always woke up and assumed he was in the worst possible situation, not taking a moment to consider what had happened the night before. He wondered if he should seek help about that fact, completely unphased by the fact that he was in a place filled with colourful talking ponies. But the veteran had seen many things, so his stoic reaction was almost always to be expected. The peaceful silence in the room, which Kozak was very unaccustomed to, was broken by a light knocking on the barn door. Kozak turned his head quickly and fixated on the door, his instincts kicking in as he pulled his pistol out and aimed it at the door. “Um... Mister John?” Kozak immediately recognised the voice to be Applebloom’s and relaxed, holstering his gun “Are you awake?” she asked shyly. “Yes.” Kozak replied. He walked towards the left door as it opened to reveal a small yellow filly with red hair and a big red bow. “Did you need something?” “Well, Applejack told me ta bring y’all some food.” Applebloom pulled out a bucket filled with apples from behind the door that was currently closed. Kozak got on one knee took the bucket of apples in one hand and then placed his hand on her head. “Thanks.” Kozak said gratefully. The engineer gave a small smile from under his face mask, which went unnoticed by the eager young filly. She smiled widely at his show of gratitude and cantered back towards the apple orchard. Kozak watched as she trotted away, and then grabbed an apple from the bucket. He stared at it for a second before wiping it on his bulletproof vest, pulling down his facemask and taking a bite. He looked down in amazement at the bitten apple in his hand as he vigorously chewed the piece in his mouth. Mmm... that orange cowpony wasn’t kidding about these apples. Kozak thought. He looked down at the bucket of apples and silently thanked Applebloom for bringing so many. He continued to eat the apples from the bucket, reminiscing about the poor quality of food he had been eating for the past few years, and comparing it to the red deliciousness of these apples. For once, Kozak was happy to be where he was now, but was completely unaware of what was in store for him today. Applebloom happily trotted to the clubhouse on the edge of the Sweet Apple Acres orchard. She couldn’t wait to see Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, or rather, she couldn’t wait to tell them about how she had gotten to spend more time with their new found friend than they had. Applebloom was a sweet little filly, but she always liked to gloat to her friends whenever the opportunity arose. She reached the clubhouse, and could hear talking coming from inside. She entered to find Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle arguing with one another. “-but it doesn’t matter if that was his skin! He still looked so awesome! Almost as awesome as Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted. “No, he looks really scary! And it’s definitely not his skin! Didn’t you hear him talking to Rarity about it?” Sweetie Belle replied. “Well, not really. I was listening to Rainbow Dash tell me how she went easy on the John, because she knew straight away that he was good!” “But she didn’t even attack him!” “Exactly!” Sweetie Belle just huffed, signaling she had given up on Scootaloo, and turned away from orange filly with a pout on her face. “Are y’all finished?” Applebloom said, grabbing the attention of her two friends. It seemed as though they hadn’t even noticed her standing there during their argument due to the looks of surprise they both held on their faces. “Oh, hey Applebloom! Why are you so late?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Well, ah was gonna come straight over here after breakfast, but Applejack asked me to go an’ take some food to John.” Applebloom said with a smile on her face. “Really?!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shouted in unison. “What did he say?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Well, all he said was thanks... Oh! He also patted me on the head!” Applebloom said proudly, her smile growing wider. Both fillies stood there for a few moments in silence before looking at each other and then back at Applebloom. “That’s so awesome!” Scootaloo shouted. “You’re so lucky!” Sweetie Belle added. And, with that, the three young fillies began planning various ways to earn their cutie marks, most, if not all, including Ponyville’s newest guest. After Kozak had finished eating every freshly-picked apple that had been in the wooden bucket, he decided to return the container to it’s rightful owner. He pulled his mask up over his mouth again and began walking towards the living quarters of the farm. Just as he reached the door, however, it swung open, revealing a large red stallion with a blonde mane. They both froze, but showed no signs of surprise at one another’s presence. The red stallion simply moved his eyes around Kozak’s body, analyzing him. Kozak knew this kind of personality; he had dealt with it a few times during undercover missions. Men who always analysed every detail of a person, who were somehow able to discern whether or not they were to be trusted. The kind of men who were very few and far between. The stallion’s eyes had stopped moving. “You that hu-mane Applejack let stay in th’ barn?” He asked slowly. He had a deep, calm voice. “Yes.” Kozak replied with an equally calm tone. “You ain’t gonna hurt mah family, are ya?” “Not if they don’t hurt me.” “Ah suppose that’s fair.” The stallion nodded “Th’ name’s Big Macintosh, but everypony ‘round here calls me Bic Mac.” He extended a hoof out in front of him. “John. John Kozak.” Kozak grabbed the hoof and shook it firmly. Without a word, the two continued walking past each other. Kozak had to lower his head slightly, as the house was clearly not made for anyone taller than 6ft.. Applejack emerged from a doorway on the right of Kozak. “Oh, Mr John! You startled me!” Applejack said. Kozak noticed a familiar look on the mare’s face. Though it was discreet, it was there; a look of genuine fear. She was attempting to hide it out of consideration for his feelings. “Here’s your bucket back. Your little sister brought me some apples in it.” “Well, that’s mighty kind of ya, Mr John!” Applejack took the bucket from Kozak’s hands and walked back into the kitchen with it. Kozak began looking at some of the pictures up on the walls, but before he could study the captured memories in any detail, a loud knocking came from the front door. Kozak decided to answer the door, and gave no consideration to the fact that he was a foreign creature here, and that whoever was at the door might have a heart attack upon seeing him. He opened the door to find Twilight Sparkle on the other side of it. “Oh, Mr John!” Twilight said in surprise. “Oh, hey Twilight!” Applejack said after returning from the kitchen “Well, ain’t this a pleasant surprise! Is there something ya needed?” “Well, actually,” Twilight looked nervously at Kozak “I was wondering if I could ask Mr John here some questions?” “Sure.” Kozak replied, nodding in approval. Twilight turned around and motioned for Kozak to follow, obviously wanting to speak in private. This made him slightly weary of what she might want to ask. Twilight stopped when they were a fair distance away from the house and turned to face Kozak. “S-so...” She muttered. It seemed as though she was somewhat hesitant when speaking to the engineer, and that being near him was the last thing she wanted to do, much less talk to him. “You said you had some questions for me?” Kozak decided that it would be best if he took the lead out of respect for Twilight. “T-that’s right.” The mare appeared much more confident now “I have quite a few, if you don’t mind?” Kozak shook his head, and the unicorn nodded in response “Alright... first thing’s first,” Twilight pointed at Kozak’s Assault Rifle “What is that metal object you have on your back?” Kozak stared at her for a few seconds, wondering how to phrase the question. He wasn’t going to lie, or refuse to answer the question; he had given Twilight his word, and that meant more to him than it did to most people. It was the only part of himself that he actually liked, and he was determined to keep it that way. “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain...” Kozak took his gun into his hand and presented it to Twilight “This object is designed to fire small projectiles at high speeds, with almost pinpoint accuracy. The projectiles can travel hundreds of metres in seconds, and can penetrate the toughest materials.” He strapped the assault rifle on his back again while Twilight stood there in complete awe. Kozak’s explanation had answered her first question, but raised so many others that began racing through her mind. Before she had a chance to speak again, however, Kozak pulled out his pistol and presented it just like he had the assault rifle. “This is a much smaller version of the one on my back, but subsequently is less powerful and the projectiles travel much less farther.” He placed it back in it’s holster “Humans call these devices ‘guns’.” Twilight had gained a look of horror on her face after realising that the metal device Kozak had just shown her had been pointed at her and her friends. “W-why would anypony create such a device?” Twilight asked, somewhat fearful of the answer. “To kill.” Kozak replied very coldly, causing Twilight to grimace “It was solely created for use in war as a more effective way of killing.” he added. Twilight was completely shocked by what she had just heard. She wondered why anypony would want to kill another in such a gruesome manner. To her, it seemed barbaric. “During the great war against the Griffon Kingdom,” Twilight mused “ponies had to fight against griffons. They were forced to create new, more effective ways of defeating the enemy, before they were defeated themselves. What you’ve just told me goes way beyond anything ponies would ever dream of creating, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand why it was created.” Kozak gave a confused look at Twilight from under his mask, which she seemed to pick up on “What I’m trying to say is, I’m okay with the fact that you have that.” “I’m assuming that was to clear your conscience rather than spare my feelings?” Kozak chuckled. Twilight was a slightly taken aback by this, but then gave a friendly smile. At this point, she had become visibly less tense. “Y’know, you aren’t really as scary as I thought you were.” Twilight said. “Well, you aren’t as girly as I thought you were. You handled what I told you pretty well for such an innocent looking pony.” Twilight giggled whilst Kozak watched her, smiling under his mask at the display of innocence “So, did you have anymore questions for me?” he asked. Twilight brought her hoof to her chin and began tapping it. “Well, the other night, you said that those were clothes?” Twilight pointed at his clothes. “Oh, right. This is armour.” “What?!” Twilight shouted in disbelief “How can it be so thin?!” “It’s a special type of armour that stops the projectiles that come out of guns.” “That’s amazing!” Twilight came up towards Kozak and inspected the armour more closely “Do you have anything else as amazing as this?” Kozak gave a small grin and reached for the button on his left shoulder. He pressed it, activating his optical camouflage. Twilight’s mouth gaped even wider and her pupils dilated as she stared at the shimmering mass in front of her. She let out a excited squeal that could put any little girl to shame. “OHMYGOODNESSYOUKNOWMAGICTHISISUNPRESIDENTEDICAN’TBELIEVEYOUCANTURNINVISIBLE” Twilight took a large breath of air before continuing “IHAVETODOCUMENTTHISANDIHAVESOMANYQUESTIONSPRINCESSCELESTIANEEDSTOKNOWABOUTTHI-” The mare suddenly stopped her excited rant and her excied expression turned to one of shock “Oh no! How could I have forgotten about Princess Celestia?!” Kozak looked down at the unicorn who had now become frantic as she started mumbling to herself. Her hair had suddenly become uncouth and she had started hyperventilating. “Wait, Twilight,” Twilight quickly focused her attention to Kozak “who’s Princess Celestia?” Princess Celestia was tired. She had been kept up all night by the magical disturbance that had emanated from the Everfree Forest. It was stronger than any she had ever felt before, but that wasn’t what worried her. She was worried by the fact that it had happened so close to where her Student Twilight Sparkle and her friends live. They were not only close to the princess, but they were also the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and if anything were to happen to them, it might mean the end of Equestria. She was currently in the royal chariot and was being accompanied by two of her strongest guards. Once they had reached Ponyville, Celestia was surprised to see that there was no one there to meet her. Not even her faithful student. She immediately thought the worst, and decided to take action. “Guards,” she addressed the two pegasi that had been pulling her chariot “search the town for Twilight Sparkle and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Make sure you find them, and if you find anything you might consider a threat, you have my permission to do whatever necessary to protect this town. I will stay here in case they are just running late, and will call you back if they arrive, understood?” The two armour-clad pegasi saluted and flew off in separate directions. Celestia had now been put on edge, but she knew that she could do nothing but wait. She only hoped for the safety of Twilight and her friends. After explaining who Princess Celestia was to Kozak, Twilight had run off to gather her friends. She had told Kozak to make his way to the entrance of the Everfree Forest, where they had emerged from last night, and made sure to stress the fact that he should be discrete whilst traveling through the town if he didn’t want to scare any of it’s inhabitants and cause unnecessary panic. Luckily, Kozak was an expert in stealth, and had the ability to become invisible at will, so traversing the town quietly was no problem for him. He had reached the edge of the town and just begun walking toward the spot Twilight had told him to go to when he spotted a yellow object in the sky. He noticed that it landed near where he was supposed to meet the girls, and couldn’t help but investigate what it was, despite Twilight’s warning to stay out of trouble. As he got closer, he spotted three ponies; two of them were armour-clad pegasi, and the other had both wings and a horn, and was significantly larger than any of the equines he had met so far. Based on Twilight’s description, he guessed this to be Princess Celestia. Kozak quickly made his way to one of the trees on the edge of the forest for cover. He peeked out to see Celestia raise her hoof. The two pegasi saluted her and then flew off in different directions towards the town. Hmm... They must be soldiers of some sort... Kozak thought Then that means that she has a fair bit of authority. He focused back on the Princess to find her looking around herself, as though she were looking for something that she knew was there, but couldn’t quite see. Wait, is she looking for me? How could she possibly know I’m here? But then Kozak remembered the description Twilight gave of Celestia. She was the most powerful being in this kingdom, and considering that this was a land of talking ponies with wing and horns who could perform magic, it made sense that she knew he was there. “I know you’re out there, I can sense your presence.” Celestia said “Show yourself!” Kozak moved closer to Celestia. “You’re much more perceptive than I thought.” he said, disengaging his optical camouflage. Celestia was taken back by his appearance, which was no surprise, since Kozak stood slightly taller than her. “What do you want?” she asked in a stern voice. Kozak didn’t like to be questioned, but was willing to answer truthfully, given his current situation. “Nothing in particular.” he said. Celestia looked more aggressive now, which caused Kozak to pull out his pistol and aim it at her. She flinched at the sight of it, but still maintained her stance. “What is that?!” she asked, a clear tone of worry in her voice. “Just a precaution.” “Are you threatening me?” Celestia asked with a scowl on her face as her stance became much more aggressive “Do you know who I am?!” “You’re Princess Celestia.” Kozak replied instantly, putting her off guard for a moment. She visibly steeled herself. “So you know who I am?” She asked “I have never heard of a creature like in you in all my years of ruling Equestria, so how is it you have heard of me?” “Twilight Sparkle told me.” Kozak replied bluntly. “What?!” she exclaimed “What have you done with her?!” Celestia pointed her horn at Kozak, indicating she was ready to attack him. “Nothing.” Kozak said calmly. “You’re lying! Why would she tell something like you anything willingly?!” she shouted. Kozak had now become tired of the Princess’ unwillingness to cooperate. “Look, I haven’t done anything to her. She’s only gone to look for her friends and bring them here.” This seemed to calm Celestia, as her stance had returned to a less aggressive one. Kozak decided it was a good time to lower his pistol as well “I don’t mean any harm. I’m only looking for a way to go back where I’ve come from. “How can I trust you?” she asked. “Well, for one, I’m not pointing this” He motioned his gun “at you anymore.” He holstered his pistol and decided to move closer to Celestia, causing her to move back a bit. But before Kozak could move any closer, he felt something slam into the back of his helmet with enough force to knock him unconscious. One of Celestia’s royal guards had spotted Twilight and her friends making their way towards the location he had just come from, where they were meant to meet up with the princess, and had decided to report back. As he flew back, however, he spotted a creature of some sort having a standoff with Celestia. It was clear that she was talking to it, but he couldn’t see anything that resembled a mouth anywhere on the creature, so was unsure if it was talking back. The creature was completely black, and had no discernible features, other than it’s eyes, which were glowing an unnatural light blue. The guard did not want to approach the monster, as it seemed to be pointing an object at the princess, and, judging by the fact that she hadn’t attacked yet, he concluded that it was a kind of weapon. Due to the fact that he had no idea what the weapon did, he thought it best to wait until the perfect moment to execute a sneak attack. He noticed the creature put away the object, and had begun walking towards Celestia. The moment she flinched backwards, the guard acted instinctively, flying as fast as he could directly at the monster. He slammed into the back of it’s head, which seemed to knock it unconscious. “So, where were we supposed to meet the princess?” Rarity asked. “Just up ahead, near the entrance to the Everfree Forest.” Twilight replied. “Do you know why she came here?” Fluttershy asked. “There’s been a disturbance in the magical field surrounding the forest, bigger than any that has happened before.” Twilight explained. “You don’t think John has anything to do with it, do you?” Applejack asked. “I don’t know...” Twilight looked dejectedly at the ground “Considering the circumstances, I’d say it’s definitely possible.” “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him so easily!” Rainbow Dash shouted “Why did you send him alone?! He’s probably done something to the princess!” “Don’t say things like that, Rainbow! I’m sure everything’s fi-” Twilight was cut off by the sight of John lying unconscious on the floor in front of Celestia and her two guards “Oh my goodness!” Twilight ran up to John’s unconscious body “What happened to him?!” “Don’t worry, Twilight, he’s only unconscious.” Celestia explained “It looked like he was about to attack me, so one of my guards attacked him in an attempt to protect me.” “Was he going to attack you?” The unicorn asked. “No...” Celestia looked down at John “He explained he was friendly and attempted to approach me. It was all just a misunderstanding, although I fear I won’t be able to make it up to him...” “His name is John.” Twilight said “He called himself a ‘Human’. We found him in the Everfree Forest last night when Fluttershy told us she heard a thunder-like noise and we went out to investigate.” “Hmm... that is most peculiar... I think he may be the reason for the disruption.” “That’s what I thought too, but I don’t think he did it willingly.” Twilight said, eliciting a look of confusion from Celestia “When we found him, he said that his home was far away from here. The way he said it makes me think he doesn’t exactly know how he got here.” “Well, the only thing we can do now is tend to his wounds and wait until he awakes.” Celestia said. In truth, she did not know how to proceed from there after, and was weary of what might happen. The only thing she could really think about was John’s aura; it was bleak, filled with sadness, as though he had experienced death much more than once. Any normal pony would go insane from such an aura, yet he seemed perfectly reasonable when talking. She could only compare his aura with one other. Her own. Author’s Note: Phew! This one was a toughie! Not only was I on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I also lost the steam I had before I went, so it took quite a while to get it back. Don’t worry, I’ll try and get a new chapter out as soon as I can after this one (Just as soon as I relax for a few days). Well, as always, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!