//------------------------------// // Story time (Part 2) // Story: Does it matter if I am a changeling or not? // by General Sparky //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Fun and Games in the Navy Sparky and Raynen would spend most of the time in the base. They had many fun times in the base, especially when it came time to do ship cleaning. Ship cleaning is an activity where all naval personnel would clean the ships in the base. Be it surface or subsurface ships, these would have to be thoroughly cleaned. The base that Sparky was stationed in had 4 battleships, a battlecarrier and 3 submarines. These vessels form the bulk of the Equestrian Navy main 'warfare' force. These ships would take a lot of time and effort to clean as these ships are big in size and has different weapon systems. To clean these ships, the divers would clean the hull of the ship which is in contact with the water. (Sparky is part of them), whereas other ponies would clean the deck of the ship and clean the barrels to ensure that the shell do not get stuck when leaving the barrel during operations. The whole activity would conclude with a simple live firing exercise to ensure that the ships are operational at the end of the activity. Sparky loves the live firing as the ships looked very majestic when the main gun fires. The thundering sound as the cannon fires and the shock wave it produced cannot be replaced by any other machine. To witness the live firing, Sparky needs to be placed on top another pony's shoulder or back but the ponies usually did not let him see the scene as they treat her as a misfit and should not be allowed to see the live firing. Moments like this made Sparky wished she was taller, so she would not be blocked from view by pretty much all the other ponies. She managed to found a way around this by simply climbing on top of a nearby building and seeing the exercise from there. She dreamed on serving on these ships, maybe her wish would come someday soon, she told herself. Soon, the exercise would come to an end and everything went back normal. Chapter 5: An unexpected news Some time has passed, there was nothing special going on until the fleet commander announced that the Desert Fox was coming to inspect the warships. Everypony was in disbelief at first. There is just no way somepony so well-known could be visiting them. One of the two only five star generals to serve in the Equestrian Army. He was feared by his adversaries and loved by his allies. During the first and second Equine-gryphon war, he has led the 7th Equestrian tank division (also known as Ghost division) to victory against formidable odds. It was said that he had conquered the entire Griffin Isles in just 7 days against 300 Gryhon made M3Lee tank using less than 50 Equestrian made Panzer 8 Maus tank This commander was Rommel. He was in his late 80s by now and is still commanding the Ghost division. He always travel around Equestria in his Command tank, affectionately known as the Mouse. Naming the tank 'Mouse' is misleading. It is more like an elephant. Its armor was thicker than a battleship's armor, it had a main gun of 155mm and an auxiliary 88mm located below the main gun. During the war, a quadruple barrels flak gun was placed on top of the main gun to protect it from air threats. It is a wonder the this tank could even move, let alone hit a top speed of 25km/h (15 mph). It could even travel on water like an amphibious vehicle. It is likely that the tank was created by magic rather than construction, nonetheless it still frightens it's enemies whenever the sound of it's powerful engines is heard. There is not much details given about when is he coming to inspect the ships. The commander ordered every crew to be prepared to receive the General when he comes. Every crew except Sparky. Sparky sighed, looking at her reflection on the sea floor. She was always excluded in military parades, mostly due to her inability to fit into any Equestrian military uniform. It definitely did not help that she would get spiteful stares from other ponies. She turn behind, leaving her reflection behind. 'Happy Thoughts, Sparky. Happy Thoughts.' Sparky thought to herself. Chapter 6: A meeting with the Legend 3 days after the announcement was made, a lone tank could be heard in the distance. Sparky's ears stood to attention when the faint sound of the tank's powerful engine was heard. Sparky smiled and tried her best to inform other ponies about Rommel's arrival. However, her words went unheard as many ponies did not trust her. Seeing as no pony was taking her words seriously, she climbed on top of a nearby building and watched as Mouse (unsupported) slowly made it approach. Out of the blue, her heard a rifle loading. She looked around to see if there is anypony loading a gun nearby but did not see any. A horn faintly appears on the top of her head. Oh no! Little Spark thought, this meant that an attacker is nearby, but the target is not her. Little Spark uses her sense of smell to find the sniper's location. The sniper was hiding in a bush to her right about several meters away. She rushed down to tackle the sniper. As she landed on the sniper, she heard a 'bang' and a 'clang'. The bullet missed the commander's cupola by several centimeters. "Damn it, I missed my shot!" The sniper shouted. Little Sparky looked at the sniper. The sniper is a black Night Fury. The Night Fury stare back. For a moment, everything was silent. The tank's machine gun open fire and started to move faster. The bullets from the machine gun scored several hits on the Night Fury but it did not flinch. A pony suddenly appeared behind both Little Spark and the Night Fury. "Nice try, Night. It seemed that you have met a new friend." Rommel said, upon seeing Little Spark on the Night Fury. "Who are you, little one? I have never seen a creature like you before." Rommel asked. "I am Little Spark, General." Little Spark replied. Little Spark stood in awe of Rommel. His purple body was well-covered by his uniform, which was adorned with 6 golden medals, two of which has a tank symbol and the 5 yellow stars on the collar which symbolizes his rank. The uniform concealed his wings and his helmet concealed his horn, making him look like an earth pony. As Little Spark was in awe of his presence, Rommel began examining Little Spark. Those dorsal fins, tiny claws and long tail could only be seen on a Alpha predator, but she was too small to even qualify as one. Then again, looks can be deceiving. "How old are you, little one?" Rommel asked. "I am 18 this year." Little Spark said, looking up to make eye contact with Rommel's eyes. Rommel looked down at Little Spark and smiled. Maybe she isn't as threatening as I thought. Rommel use his hooves to briefly carry Little Spark and said,"You are pretty light. You really should try to gain some weight." before putting her on the ground. Little Spark used her eyes and looked down at her body before looking back up at Rommel. She mentally sighed. She replied, "I will try." As if I could ever gain weight. "Look at the time, I have to be somewhere, may we meet again." Rommel said, before teleporting back into his tank and continue his journey to the naval base. As Little Spark was about to go in the same direction as Rommel, Night said "You OK? You look very upset." "I'm fine, just leave me alone." Little Spark replied. "O...k. See you around." Night said, before flying off to some unknown locations. Little Spark, seeing that no one is around, let loose of jets of nuclear flame. She was a living Nuclear reactor, and she does not have the chance to do this often, especially near other ponies. Thanks to her small size, her flame does not leave a huge mark. Though it is better to do such activities discreet. After that she returned to the base, and saw the inspection.