Sketch-it took a deep refreshing breath, it felt like a sweet and harmonious change to the hustle and bustle of Galloport's thick steamy air. Back in Galloport there was nothing but steam vehicles, and ships traversing back and forth from the Southern Leyline, back to the Empire, the traffic was for some usual, but any newcomer would be driven crazy from the constant whistling. The windy breeze brushing across her bright purple coat, her short mane glowing with an icy twinkle bobbed about. Ears perked and eyes closed she replied in a soft tone,
"Ahhh Ponyville, it's everything brother described in the letter. Sunshine, perfect weather, and quiet, just like the mareweather's acres of quiet fields." Feeling so at peace with herself she took another deep breath and confidently answered to herself, "Alright, time to..." She swung the door open to her brother's town house and with one look she was in shock... "Whaa..." Caught off guard by the emptiness she thought something bad may have happened. Analyzing the room some more she caught glimpse of a chest on a small table with a neat little envelope on top. "What's this?" Curiously she approached the letter. Holding the envelope she ripped open the seal with her teeth gently and pulled it out reading,
"Dear Sis, when you get here there will be a chest with some of my monthly earnings, should be approximately two thousand five hundred bits, which should pay for some furniture and food for a while so you can get started earning your own. Yeah I know I didn't have much time to furnish, I was planning to get some stuff, but Prince Shining Armor gave the order to send us to Athenus across seas to deal with a threat, if I could I would've stayed, but if I didn't go I might have not seen that nice painting you did, I think it was called, 'domaine de la savane d'or.' I have to say it was quite a beautiful piece, it was selling at the Athenus Galleria of Fine Arts.
I can't believe that these colonies have grown so culturally diverse. Originally they were just military outposts, but a lot of the families refused to separate, eventually these large colonies started sprouting out of the blue. Aside from that it's pretty intense, on patrol, everyday now it seems the enemy has tried to take a crack at us, but we have this Leyline sealed tight!
Love you and hope to see you long lost sibling of mine, I know you probably have a lot of questions so hopefully I get to go back home soon, I want to tell you everything face to face."
With a pause she held her hoof to her heart smiling brightly, "Awww, thanks long lost brother of mine, and I hope to see you soon too..." Turning back to the empty house she sighed, "Well looks like I got some work to do, might as well take some of these bits and look around Ponyville." She turned around to open the chest and to her surprise the whole thing was lined with one bit coins, her face drooped as she read the letter inside, "By the way sis sorry for not making my earnings a more manageable size, I didn't know how to dispense them for you so I put them all in one bits..." Staring back down as she closed the chest she mumbled to herself, "Oh brother... well still that's ok I suppose..." As the happy pony began to trot herself to the door she heard her stomach rumbling. "Ohh... oh my, I forgot to eat! I've been so wrapped up on all this moving excitement that I forgot to pack some food!" She continued out the door with her first objective to find something to eat.
Strolling around town she spotted the most obviously sweet place to get a bite to eat, good old Sugarcube Corner. Sketch-it knew about the excellent sweet tasty goodness that had been conceived in the confines of that building. Everypony across Equestria knew of the Cake Family's grand delectable dishes, "Mmmm, the building itself just looks so sweet and welcoming. Ten bits for something to eat should be fine." Traveling across the road she could see the congregation of ponies around the marketplace which she made a hoof note to visit there after her dine of deliciousness.
She entered the building and immediately was greeted by two hyped up ponies not but a year or so younger than herself. The sudden welcome caught Sketch-it off guard and dazed the poor pony,
"Hello, hello welcome to....." They fluttered their hooves in the air jazzing out as they joyfully welcomed Sketch-it, "SUGARCUBE CORNER, where every bite is a party in your mouth!" Confetti fell from the ceiling as the two ecstatic ponies introduced themselves.
"Let us introduce ourselves..." The dynamic duo answered simultaneously until they reached to their individual greetings. The bright blue eyed unicorn filly answered happily in a sweet tone, "I'm Pumpkin Cake." The brown eyed pegasus colt with a quick response added , "And I'm Pound Cake."
The two ponies pointed over to the older mare and stallion running the counter responding together, "And these two are our parents... Mr and Mrs. Cake!" Before they could continue Mr and Mrs. Cake realized the loud greeting had Sketch-It frizzled and confused. Mrs. Cake ran over to the customer and replied with the utmost haste,
"Please, excuse the greeting dear..." Mr. Cake nodded over at the counter adding,
"Yes our kids get very excited when somepony new comes to town, we've never seen your face before ummm..." Sketch-it shook her daze off and quickly responded,
"Oh umm, that's alright. The name's Sketch-it, I'm Lightheart's sister if you know of him?" The two older shop keepers took a second to try and remember when Mr. Cake acknowledged seeing him once.
"Why yes I do recall a Lightheart, tall looking stallion blonde mane, he was wearing an officer's uniform... I suppose he's overseas then, he came by once to grab a bite before he was shipped..." Mrs. Cake immediately felt concern for the poor pony and insisted on making things sound more hopeful for her sake,
"Well I do hope he returns safe and sound, I've heard a lot about the colonies, mostly the hullabaloo about the war and what not..." She paused looking over at Sketch awkwardly smiling, "Oh might I be nosey and ask where exactly are you from filly?" Sketch-it began to trot her way inside glancing briefly at the treats as she commented,
"Over from Galloport, to be honest I didn't know I had a brother, apparently some of my art work was displayed over at Athenus, because he found one of my pieces and immediately contacted me to come live in Ponyville. You see I was orphaned as a foal, I didn't have much memory of my family, so it was a HUGE surprise to know this..."
"That's sooo sweett of your brother to do something like that, and to remember a pony for so many years, he must've really cared about you..." Pumpkin Cake answered with a twinkle in her eyes. Pound Cake glanced over at his father who was tearing up.
"Dad... are you... crying..." Being caught off guard Mr. Cake turned around insisting,
"Nooo, I... I just got... something in my eyeeeeeyeeyyeeee...." Under his breath he murmured, "That's such a lovely story it makes my heart fill with joy..." Quickly he regained his composure and turned as he sniffled questioning the pony customer, "What... can I get for you today Sketch-it?" Before she could do some investigating of the treats the two pony siblings jumped in and started yammering about the many tongue tantalizing goodies!
"Oh I suggest you try our jam filled cupcakes, they are AMAZING! One in particular we still have leftovers from Zap Apple harvest just last week, you will be positively charged with amazingness! Strangely I'm wondering why nopony has taken it already?" Pumpkin cake insisted as she continued to point over at several other cupcake dishes including an adorable pumpkin flavored cupcake with sweet marshmallow and whipped cream topping. Sketch-it's mouth watered,
"Ooohhh those do look delicious!" Sketch-it approached the cupcakes when her attention was put to Pound Cake who fluttered over to a huge chocolate cake with filling of shredded carrots and caramel topped with cream cheese and sprinkles.
"This is one of my dad's favorites, the ChocoCaramelicious Carrot Surprise! What pony can resist chocolate caramel and cream cheese icing all together with sweet carrots and sprinkles!"
"Chocolate, Caramel, Cream Cheese... Carrots, OH MY!" Sketch-it's eyes were bobbing around looking at all the sweet cuisine wondering which one she should try when she heard the sound of the door opening. Normally this would not cause such a notice but the atmosphere changed making Sketch-it alert. Everypony turned as a bright yellow coat, a shining horn, a pair of wings, a sharp minty green mane flowing down to the side of this pony's shoulder. This rather unique pony trotted into SugarCube Corner and that's when Sketch-it first lay eyes on an Alicorn.
She was but a young filly of what she could grow up to become, Sketch-it only had the assumption that alicorns were connected to the royal family grapevine, but this was the first time laying eyes on such a pony. She truly lived a sheltered life from the regal, but most regal families didn't have much to do with the growing colonies. Mrs. Cake trotted her way to the pony and took care of her business right away as she felt it necessary to not keep regality waiting. She was not the only pony to feel this pony was special.
Sketch-it curiously ached wanting to say something, or to get to know the pony but as soon as she was in she placed her bits on the counter and left with a rather nice slice of cake. Sketch-it caught glimpse of her cutie mark, oddly it had not inclination of what her skill may have been, an outline of a stem and leaves of some sort. As the pony left the building, Sketch-it decided to make a purchase and investigate, she threw her need to do list to the wind wanting to know more about this mysterious Alicorn.
"I'll take this..." She quickly grabbed a fluffy cupcake and dropped the ten bits leaving in a flash. Mr. Cake tried to wave her down stammering on his words,
"Uhhh miss... the cupcake was only three bits...! Oh dear..." Bursting out of the door with a flick of the cupcake in the air and a snatch, chew, and gulp she downed her cupcake in one motion. On alert she perked her ears skimming around with her eyes for the mystery pony.
"Where the hoof did that Alicorn go? She has wings of course stupid me, she could be gone in the clouds by now... wait... ahhh there she is!" Quickly spotting the minty mane and the creamy yellow coat, she cantered her way to the pony. "Excuse me... Excuse me!?" As Sketch-it caught up to the pony she slowed to a trot up beside her. "Ummm, hello?" A quick turn of her head she seen Sketch-it's wandering eyes.
"Oh hi there, were you talking to me?" As Sketch-it took a small breath she nodded lightly brushing her mane to the side.
"Yes I was, sorry for not specifying but I didn't really know your name to call out, I'm Sketch-it by the way..." Gazing at the Alicorn she couldn't help but be awestruck as she blurted, "I... I've never really seen an alicorn except in books..." The pony gave Sketch-it a very rash expression of confusion. "Well I take it from that expression, I mean... well I've just, I used to live in Galloport, which little to no regal ponies such as yourself even exist so I mean... well they do exist I knew but none ever came to Galloport, well maybe but I never seen them... ...." The Alicorn suddenly began to feel her head spin as poor Sketch-it continued to ramble on and on trying to explain herself and only just burying herself in her own explanations, when the pony raised her hoof up to her snout and commanded,
"Whooooaa, slow down there Filly... first off the name's North, secondly I'm not Regal, that's flattering mind you but really I'm not. Thirdly..." Suddenly she raised an eyebrow. "You come from the outside colonies?" Immediately as she put her hoof down from Sketch-it's snout she began to turn her motor mouth back on.
"Why yes, I mean well I was orphaned so I don't really know if I technically came from there but, ummm... I did cross the Great Harmonious Barrier to get here so I... ummm..." North planted her hoof to her face in slight irritation, she usually didn't associate around very talkative ponies but she did have an interest to know more about this one pony, afterall out of all that confusion and nonsense running out of that pony's mouth, she was bound to have rather colorful stories of the outer colonies, something North was very curious about but didn't have a real extreme urge to go exploring herself. With a gesture she let Sketch-it join her on a walk to her home.
As half an hour passed by Sketch it ended her huge explanation with, "And that's basically what happened. You know despite the outer colonies being unprotected by the Harmonious Barrier, they do have a lot of great things about them, imagine waking up every morning looking off to a floating cloud port full of beautiful glistening steam ships. There was all sorts of exciting things to do, I hope Ponyville is even more so!" She giggled. North shook her head around rolling her eyes as she mentioned,
"Well Ponyville's not really that exciting, I don't think I could ever say I have been hooves close to a steam ship like that before, did you ever get to ride one?" Sketch-it threw out a hoof gesturing with a sneer,
"Ha Ride one, the captain of the Mareweather's Fortune let me pilot the ship out of the launch dock, so many dials and buttons, plus a fancy looking device called a Computations Log Assistant it's like a thing you can punch in codes that makes the ship do things all by itself, it's really quite radical! It can store log entries, and depending on compass and other devices it can sail without the captain holding the wheel using timed settings It's crazy stuff."
"WOW..." North awed at the thought of getting to go on board a steamship of that magnitude. "I've never heard of anything around here having that sorta sophistication... mostly anything remotely flying is a whirlybird, blimp, hot air baloon, pegasi, and myself." Sketch-it tried to think of the reason why and she answered,
"I guess it's because the outer colonies deal with over sea travel." North nodded in acknowledgement commenting,
"Well I'm no stranger of the workings of steamships, I have plenty of books about them, I really want to see one physically though." The two ponies arrived to North's house in what felt like a short time. Sketch-it took a look at the position of the sun thinking to herself what time she had left to get the supplies before dark came.
"Oh no I was so caught up I forgot to check for some furniture and knick knacks for the house...!" She turned her attention back to the town with a self disgusted frown. "Ahhh I'm so scatterbrained..." She turned back to North with a nervous smile. "It was nice meeting you North, but I gotta hurry my hooves back to town and get my shopping done, catch you later!" With a quick wave she darted off, leaving North walking her way into her home thinking to herself aloud,
"Well that went well, you were very friendly North and you managed to strike up a very long and intelligent conversation, psshhhh..." North may have been withdrawn from most pony society but she didn't have very much doubt in herself and her ability. She strictly chose her lifestyle. "There was no doubt." Acting all smooth with herself she made her way over to bookcases almost like a mini library of books.
Moments later a rather small looking dragon with a purple scales, green spikes, and a rather upward beat to his step came knocking on North's door. She halted her reading with a quick snatch of her bookmark she dropped it on her page and slapped the book shut casually making her way to the door.
"Hey North it's me Spike, I got the latest issue of Daring Do Ready for you! Daring Do #16 The Case Of The Mysterious Zompony!" He chuckled as he held it up to the window by the door. North's eyes lit up and she squealed abruptly.
"OouueeeeeEEE!!! YESS, OH MY GOSH, this is AMAZING, YOU'RE AMAZING! Thank you spike thank you so much!"
"Aww shucks I'd do it for anypony." Spike answered happily as she secured the book gently in her mouth and pranced herself over to her bookcases. Placing it very carefully up top with every book up to date.
"Yeah sure but I don't see you going out of your way at personally delivering Books like you do for me." Spike shrugged and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah but everypony else don't give as much attention to the library as you do North, and I'm like really thankful. It reminds me of when the girls were around..." Spike began to think about Twilight Sparkle and the other fillies he hung out with years ago, his appearance hardly changed since he continued to not take on his dragonish habits, but he's weathered his sadness and longing for his friends over a period of long painful years.
He found a bit of that happiness around North and a few other ponies to keep him happy. North trotted over to Spike and put her hoof on his shoulder,
"Well you certainly are welcome, though you should be saying that to me, you've never let me down on Daring Do's or any other book I've ordered!" The sound of her accepting and friendly tone reminded him so much of Twilight and he nodded with glee pointing at her with a jazzy gesture,
"Well you most certainly are welcome North." He paused a moment and curiously inquired, "Hey if you are available can you help me tomorrow, Cheerilee's Summer school class is going to the library for story telling. It's no problem if you can't but it would be really awesome if you could help me out." North pondered the thought of young fillies and colts being disruptive nightmare, and kinda lurched on the thought of giving a shot at story time... but she knew it was for a good cause and she owed Spike for his half hour on foot deliveries to her house.
With a grimmace she agreed,
"Alright, I'll try my luck at story time, hopefully they are not much of a handful..."
"Yeah hopefully, last story time I got pulled around by my tail and somepony plucked feathers off Owlicious, it was a mess, well anyways I'll see you tomorrow then, have fun with Daring Do and the..." As North began to close her door Spike made a cooky expression as he twiddled his fingers in the air like a ghost adding with an adorable spooky voice, "Casssee off Theee Myyyysssterriousss ZommmPonyyyyy!" Laughing to himself he cheerfully jogged off to town with North rolling her eyes amusingly. Closing the door she leaped on her couch yanking the book from the table and opening it straight on the page she left off. With a half cocked smile she snickered,
"I'll get to reading my Daring Do later, but for now HoofRight Marvels of Industry, time to let me know the secrets of your success!"
The day was still bright, the sun gleaming across the vibrant landscape of green rolling grass and dancing leaves. Sketch-it found herself unable to make haste, instead she wanted to take in the scenery of ponyville, she had never witnessed anything like it.
"Nothing, not even MareWeather's acres of fields were so beautiful, this is what it's like inside the Great Harmonious Barrier. It's, like from a dream..." Soon the poor filly found herself spinning around in circles in her excitement, she rolled over onto the side of the small path laughing to herself, "Ahhhh, look at me, I feel like a young school filly, the grass even feels so soft..." Suddenly she heard something underneath her. "Whoa, wait I know grass does not move like that... or feel... OH YIKES OMAGOSH, I'm SOOooooo Sorry!" She hopped up in alarm as her attention was drawn to a pony with a rather beautiful apple red mane and a golden yellow coat, carrying a saddle full of apples. Her cutie mark seemed to be covered by two bandaids crossing over her flank. "Oh I'm really sorry, I was not looking where I was going and I just, I mean, agghhhh..." Sketch-it became aware of her ramblings and closed her mouth waiting for the other pony to speak.
She shook herself off with a worrisome gaze trying to be as nice as she could be, without sounding irritated that a load of apples she was carrying were scattered around,
"It's ok, ain't the first time I was bumped into, an surely ain't gonn be the last'n either..." She began to pluck the apples up from the ground giving them a good look before tossing them up into her saddle basket. She turned over to Sketch-it and asked with a rather country pony accent, "I ain't seen ya round these parts, what all brought ya here in lil ole ponyville? Anythin special?" The frazzled pony looked over to her and introduced herself fittingly,
"Well I uh, yes as a matter of fact. My brother had sent me a letter to come live out here with him when he gets back from the war." The apple hauling filly widened her eyes interested in the subject and with a final flick she tossed the last apple into her basket and replied,
"Well isn this a coincidence, my own brother is off fightin the war, hey if ya have some free time ya wanna trot with me to the marketplace. Ah need to be bringin these here apples to the stand might quick... but I wanna hear more about ya seein that yer new here an all." The welcoming invitation and the fact this was heading to the destination Sketch-it was aiming to go made her unable to refuse the gesture.
With an uppity trot the mares walked the rest of the way to the town square of Ponyville trading stories amongst one another.
"Wow Applebloom you sure have a lot of responsibility now huh?" Sketch-it inquired to the hard working pony. Applebloom agreed commenting,
"Yeah, it is a lot o'work fer one pony. What with granny passin, my sis dissapearin and Big Macintosh leavin to fight oversea. Woulda been might impossible if'n it weren't fer the rest o' the Apple family helpin me out during harvestin season." As they came up to the marketplace she could see some of Applebloom's kin she spoke about running the stand. As Sketch-it began to part ways she heard Applebloom reply, "Nice a meetin ya Sketch, I'll see you round town I spose."
The new pony had already met quite a few ponies and began to feel like she was settling in pretty nicely to her new home. Proudly clopping over to a shop named 'Furniture and Curiosity.' She obviously knew where to take her bits to buy her furnishings.
With a couple of minutes skimming through for a nice bed and finding herself investigating the curiosities portion of the store, she made some hoofnotes of what she wanted to buy.
"Ok so how much would all this cost..." She asked the store clerk. He was a bit caught off guard from her wide variety of purchases.
"That's sure a lot of purchases, that will be a total of seven hundred n' fifty bits missy, you just moved into Ponyville?" The tall shop keeper stallion inquired curiously. She nodded adding,
"Yep, just across the streets, I can get the money now, but as you can see I packed very light and my saddle isn't really for carrying a lot... can I ummm, also buy that carrying saddle if I promise to bring the money from my home?" Normally this would've been rejected back at Galloport, she was hoping to Celestia that he would give her chance, she didn't have anything that could carry the amount of bits waiting for her back home really, all she had was a tiny light weight travel saddle which couldn't hold more in the pouches than maybe quick spending bits.
Surely to her surprise Ponyville was not like Galloport, the shopkeeper gave her a friendly nod and took the satchel saddle off the stand giving it right to her. "Oh Thank you so much, I will be back!"
"Alright, I'll get this all packed up for you!" He cried out to the scrambling pony. The brown stiched heavy padding on the satchels felt like they could carry a pony on each side and not break at the seams! Sketch galloped into the house and opened the chest sighing as she stared at all the gleaming bits again.
"Sure wish they were not all one bit coins now..."
Taking the bits back to the shop, Sketch-it had a surprise as an earth pony and a pegasus were packing the stuff on a wagon to be taken to her house.
"Oh wow you sure do work fast." The stallion clerk nodded replying,
"All in the customer's satisfaction young mare, we here at Furniture and Curiosity don't believe in dis-satisfied customers. Why I could go as far to say that Ponyville is the most honest and friendly folk around Equestria." Sketch agreed to that responding,
"Sure feels like it."
When everything was unpacked and the ponies moved everything to Sketch-it's taste, they left her in a room that she could hardly believe was empty just a few hours ago. The Kitchen now had a nice round wooden dining table with two chairs, the little stove and the sink now had cutlery and knick knacks decorating the room. The living room with a cushy red couch, a personal phonograph, and her bedroom beside an empty bedroom had the most feather soft bed she could find from the store, a dresser, and to top it all off some odds and ends for her bathroom.
"HA Funny..." She mumbled to herself as she hopped on the couch to take a load off her hooves, "Curiosities is right, everything on that side of the store was soaps, knick knacks, spoons, forks, carrying luggage, antiques... they should've just called it Furniture, and everything else." She stretched her hooves over the couch and yawned. Sketch-it began to close her eyes for a bit and when she finally drifted she felt a warm happy comfort.
Almost as sudden as she had closed her eyes to nap, an abrupt sound went off and she jumped up squealing! "AYEEEEE!" Out of nowhere her eyes were filled with ponies everywhere in her room! "WHAT THE HAY!"
"SURPRISEEEE!" A very big surprise indeed! Her house somehow in an instant of napping had become a ranting raving party with streamers flying about, punch, food, and all sorts of ponies with excited faces! In front of her Pound Cake fluttered in the air while Pumpkin cake rejoiced,
"We figured since your brother was away, and you were alone and you were new here, we'd give you a good old fashioned Pinkie Pie Ponyville Party Welcome Experience EXTRAVAGANZA! We all like to call it the PPPPWEE!" Her brother gave her a conflicting eyebrow arguing,
"Well the name needs some work..."
"Oh what do you know Pound Cake. I think it sounds exciting and full of energy PPPPWEEEEEE!!!" The energized ponies began to argue about the acronym letting Sketch-it sneak off towards her bedroom. She didn't feel like having a party at the time, she wanted some nice peace and quiet after her activities.
"Stickem up partner..." Sketch-it froze turning her attention around to Applebloom giving her a persnickety expression as she gave the purple pony a good sharp focused gaze. In her mouth she held a golden delicious by the stem and she tossed it. Sketch-it's horn began to glow as she quickly reacted catching the apple with her magic. "Nice Catch there partner, hey mozey on over'ere I got some ponyfolk I wanna introduce ya to." Feeling she was caught sneaking away to her own surprise party, she lurched over following with her ears pinned back with an upset like she had done something wrong.
Sketch-it felt very shy around so many ponies, she was rather used to dealing with one on one conversations, not a whole town squarely with their attention on her. Applebloom stopped in her tracks in front of two new pony faces that Sketch-it had yet to see. A white coat mare with a fancy mane, purple on one side and a cotton candy pink on the other. She was a rather graceful unicorn, adorn with a snazzy pop culture singer attire, a flared mini saddle skirt, with her hooves slipped in very comforting purple suede. "This here is Sweetie Belle..." Applebloom commented as she pointed a hoof to her, then changing direction to a pegasus pony who had a jagged mane of purple with a tan coat jumping up at Sketch-it's face with a boastful tone introducing herself,
"And I'm Scootaloo. One of the raddest ponies in all of Equestria only Second to the AWESOME Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo's eyes started to grow starry as she thought about her fillyhood idol. Applebloom just shirked off her friend's over energized attitude.
"Yes well, these are mah friends, Sweetie Belle works at the Carousel Boutique, she also sings at the Town Hall every now n'then... an scootaloo, well. She's just Scootaloo, ain't much ta say that fits her." Confidently Scootaloo nodded with a grin as she explained her job,
"Yep I'm just that awesome, most of the time you'll see me helping the post office, I can cover this entire town in less than an hour." She made a gesture with her hoof as she added, "I get the job done in no time flat, in fact I hold the fastest delivery record in Ponyville!" Sketch-it began to curiously catch glimpses of the girl's flanks and the cutie marks were covered by bandaids oddly. She couldn't help her interest in the subject and asked,
"So what's with the bandaids on your flanks..." She didn't know how to put it any other way. The girls laughed to themselves. Scootaloo just played it cool and answered,
"These, pfffttt... it's nothing really..." Sweetie Belle cut her off before she went on with a voice that just blew Sketch-it away, it was very dulcid and sweet reminding her of Lady Mareweather, who was a natural singer.
"It's more a tradition, you see when we were just little fillies we were always trying to search for our cutie marks, we were the Cutie Mark Crusaders as we liked to call ourselves..." Applebloom butted in adding,
"We were might impatient little ponies, I remember that one time I got a hold of that there heart's desire remember that girls..." The girls giggled as the memory of her getting more than she bargained for. "Ahhh that was a crazy day I'll tell ya, never been more happy ta see mah flank blank." Sweetie Belle nodded and continued,
"Yes well, anyway back to the story... you see we had a lot of adventures together trying to find what made us special, really great times I can recall, but when we finally did get our cutie marks, it was a really great accomplishment for us, but we found that most of our greatest moments of adventure and fun was when we did not have cutie marks... soooo we made it a tradition to cover our marks." Applebloom nodded agreeing,
"As sure as apple cider's sweet, we're no longer the cutie mark crusaders..." Scootaloo interjected with a grin as she exclaimed,
"WE'RE THE BLANK FLANKS! We're sooo much cooler than other ponies because we don't accept being labeled by our marks!" Scootaloo naturally over confident and full of energy, and Sketch-it though feeling intimidated, could tell she meant no harm to her words. Sweetie Belle inquired about Sketch-it's name, and she gladly answered back to her.
After trading some funny stories about their childhoods, Sketch-it was starting to get in the mood to hang around them. Her desire to hide away in her room had slinked away replaced with more of a desire to investigate other ponies that lived in Ponyville.
She ate cake and drank punch as the music kept rolling till the hours waved goodnight to the sun. As it began to get late everypony was starting to leave, the few that stayed came to Sketch-it to give her their personal welcomes. A rather aged looking mare with a pair of distinguished glasses came to her first greeting her,
"Hello there Sketch-it, and I would like to personally welcome you to Ponyville, now I don't know what you are used to back from where you come from, but we are a very friendly town, and we ask everypony to participate in our celebrations and events held year round. I hope to see you around." She gave a sparkling smile as she left.
"Well it's about time to hit the hay fer me, Apple Fritter and Golden Delicious is gonna be helping tomorrow at Sweet Apple Acres, See ya round Sketch."
"Yeah I'm gonna be crashing too, gotta get up early and deliver the mail, then I'm totally going to lounge in the clouds..." Pausing for a moment she pulled out some shades and placed them over her eyes grinning, "Like a boss." Applebloom started to laugh as they both left she had to let Scootaloo know,
"Sugar cube you do know it's night time?" Scootaloo just responded,
"Pffftt... mare what's wrong with wearing sunglasses at night?" Applebloom rolled her eyes not feeling up to responding back.
Sweetie Belle stayed behind to ask Sketch-it if she would like to come to her boutique and help her out with a secret project. Sketch-it's eyes widened curiously, she didn't expect to be asked for help to do anything seeing as she was new, but Sweetie Belle, something about that pony, she didn't seem to be really persnickety in nature, and she had such a welcoming tone. Given she had the courage to ask a stranger to come over, She never in a million years would hear anypony in Galloport asking a stranger to help.
"Well sure I'd love to help but what exactly do you want me to do?" Sweetie Belle looked a little distraught which gave Sketch-it an uneasy feeling she was hiding something,
"Well I can pay for your time, you just seem like the kind of pony that may be good to help me on something I'm working on, I'm nowhere near as good as my sister, and I've been working on some fashion designs, I'm thinking about reopening the Carousel Boutique..." She paused as she felt like withdrawing the offer, pondering in her head how she was going to do this, but the cutie mark on Sketch-it's flank made her hopeful that maybe, this pony knew something about creating fashion designs, she was after all not from quaint little ponyville. "It's been closed for nearly twenty or more years, and now that I've come of age really I want to give my sister some respect, and I need help, I've asked Applebloom, but she's busy due to Big Macintosh being overseas and Applejack not being around. Scootaloo does not want to even think about making dresses so I'm stuck..."
Her sweet and desperate tone had already convinced the concerned unicorn to help her, but taking up fashion might be out of her skill, but this pony needed help and being a new town and everypony being so friendly, she did not hesitate to agree on it. "Thank you Sketch, thank you so much!" Sweetie Belle gave her a sweet nuzzle and clopped off to her home, hoping Sketch-it will come tomorrow as agreed!
"Ahhh now that everypony is gone maybe I... AYYEEEEEE!!!" The Startled unicorn met snout to snout with a shy little pegasus behind her, and the panicking pegasus suddenly flapped maddeningly shrieking back,
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Frantic Ponies ran back from one another when Sketch-it realized she was just as scared of her as she was. "Oh umm... excuse me I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you, I... I'm Starlight." The pegasus whispered quietly. The pegasus shimmered a white coat and a radiant dark blue mane flowing across both sides of her shoulders. Her cutie mark seemed to be puzzling as it was a star with a question mark.
"Oh well ummm, yeah you probably know my name by now..." She chuckled as she trotted up to the shy little pony. Starlight nodded happily and began to inch around to leave when she turned at the entrance of the house replying,
"What you're doing for Sweetie Belle, I think is amazing. I'll go ahead and get out of your mane. It was a nice party by the way." The random pony left into the night leaving Sketch to clean her house a bit feeling curious about this strange pony. With her magic she began room by room wiping the mess of punch puddles and crumbs of cake. Over on the table by her chest, appeared to be a couple of presents which caught the pony off guard.
She quickly finished cleaning the house and ran back to the presents feeling an overjoyed sensation with a big giddy smile. She never had been given presents just for a welcoming party, this was new to her. She opened up the first one and it had a tag from Sweetie Belle. The present turned out to be a beautiful hair ornament with a sapphire gem glowing with a slightly deeper color than her mane. In the next box, it was from North.
"Odd, she was not here... I mean I didn't see her, what is..." Turned out to be supplies and a little note saying,
"Dear Sketch, an artist is not an artist without the tools of the trade, I figured I would go ahead and get this for you." Sketch-it laughed completely forgetting the fact she seriously forgot to pack much of anything from her old home, she had been far too excited to even think about anything but this sibling of hers. "Thanks North, so far my mind has been out of order. Hopefully I can fix that tomorrow."
A few presents later she came to one present in particular, this one looked extra special. She began to open it up as quickly as she could when a note flew up. "Aghhh what..."
'Dear Sis, I've been feeling you should hear about what I've been doing over at the outer colonies, to start off I've been doing well, me and some of my fellow Stallions At Arms have been working hard...'
-Flashback to Lieutenant Lightheart-
In Athenus the eager Lieutenant LightHeart was marching with his platoon unit. In his green officer's uniform with his blue coat spotless and his blonde mane trimmed his tall presence looming over many of his platoon. Him and his small unit of stallions were on site of one of the military bases that were placed across the main defense line between the empires of the known world and the Lost World. Across the comms at the barracks a strong military hymn was playing as the soldiers were doing their physical training.
"March one, two, three, four, march one, two, three, four... We do what's best for the empire knows best, We will fight for Harmony's Sake! We will Prevail!!! For the sisters of our great empire's flag. THE CELESTIAL EMPIRE, shall End the Chaos! And restore harmony at all cost!" The song echoed loudly as the stallions ran laps, some carrying heavy equipment.
Big Macintosh being from Ponyville as well journeyed with Lightheart. As the Lieutenant cantered with his fellow stallions, Big Macintosh was by his side being the Sergeant and at the top of his class of stallions for his extreme strength and loyalty to following orders, he was assigned by LightHeart's side.
"Major General HoofPanzer has been running us ragged for quite some time now huh...?" Big Macintosh agreed with a simple,
"Ayyyeep..." LightHeart was starting to feel out of breath as this was about the eighty ninth lap around the field which was a huge plowed section for physical training.
"Almost hit ninety, just one more Stallions...!" The sound beyond the camp miles away of guns going off alerted the soldiers.
"Sounds like Canterlee's taking a pounding..." The stallions all stopped as the sound of warbirds growled overhead, a team of mustangs and pegasi squadrons zipped by heading for the carrier landed at the small cloud port docks. Big Macintosh and LightHeart watched quietly as one stallion asked,
"Where do you suppose they're going?" LightHeart's best guess was,
"Suppose they be heading over to Canterlee right now... I find it really strange the enemy has not sent any ships at us yet."
"Sir with all due respect I think the enemy is pretty dumb, they should know that he who conquers the skies conquers the land..." Big Macintosh agreed again with a,
"Ayyeep..." LightHeart turned to the soldier and added,
"Also keep in mind that the less you know about your opponent, the more dangerous they become. It does not matter how powerful you are or what you control, if you underestimate your enemy you can lose even with outnumbering odds in your favor."
"Ayyeep." As they stopped for a break they listened in on the comm as the music was interrupted with,
"Attention all units in the 111th division you will be reporting to the Athenus Cloud base for departure with the 9th Fleet..." As further orders for other soldiers were made Lieutenant LightHeart looked over to his Sergeant and replied,
"Looks like we're flying with the Majestic Wing."
"Ayyep." Lieutenant turned to his fellow stallions and cried out,
"PLATOON, LET'S HUSTLE WE GOT ONE MORE LAP TO GO!"
"SIR YES SIR!" The platoon cantered once more to finish their lap. The sound of loud hooves hitting the dirt as fifty stallions cantered through the field echoed around the base. What made an even more loud and glorious sound was the sound of an entire military corps of the GreenBacks 89th a size of fourty thousand strong these soldiers were marching through towards Canterlee as the request for support was called in.
The 89th's hooves thundered through the ground like a quake. Along with the pony power there were a number of armored units chugging steam engines along side. The sound of the music that came back on the comm matched the glorious display of power.
"HAIL CELESTIA, HAIL PRINCESS LUNA... HAIL TO THE CELESTIAL EMPIRE!" The loud chantings, the shimmering saddle rifles, the waves of green uniforms had the nearby ponyfolk of Athenus cheering them on.
As LightHeart dismissed his platoon when they finished the final lap. He trotted by the path watching as the Imperial 89th Corps made a spectacle of power.
"Must be something big to move General Honour's entire corps there..." LightHeart's NCO and close comrade of few words just nodded with him with his simple response,
"Aayeep." Lightheart chuckled at his friend being a stallion of few words.
"As much as I like military food, I think I'm in the mood for more fresher oriented food, how about you Big Macintosh?" Big Macintosh nodded replying for once,
"Count me in." The two of them made their way up the road towards the city of Athenus.
A beautiful city built just on the border of the Lost World. These were known as the Leyline Colonies, a line of cities side by side providing supplies to major military outposts of the Celestial Empire. As agreement these were only temporary military occupied colonies because neighboring kingdoms were very uncomfortable with the empire's military movement passing through their kingdoms.
Around the major known world the Griffin empire had spanned a strong hold of the air in accordance to an agreement to all the kingdoms they were to abandon after the end of the war. Occasionally there would be griffin scouts passing through the borders vigilant on making sure these enemy invaders didn't try to sneak through. Every Leyline had Cloud Bastions stationed higher than regular pegasi stations, these bastions were occupied by heavily armed griffin soldiers ready to deploy in the case of an emergency.
Though tensions with the races were on the red they knew what was at stake! The first attack literally crippled the Zebra and Camel kingdoms, if Princess Luna had not sent the royal guard to buffer the assault, the Zebras and Camels would've been wiped off the map.
Lightheart's constant thirst for the knowledge of this war seemed to be driven by a feeling deep inside him, a personal event that had made him both sorrowful and intrigued. His attitude seemed very positive despite it being a war, seemed the only thing keeping him happy was the smiles of his brethren stallions. A hope that harmony would be established once more after twenty so years of war still seeing no end!
The two stallions took their first trip over to a nice open mic bar where performers were rocking up the building, and for the soldiers it was a rather nice discount. A sweet filly was singing a tune to everypony.
"I watched him fly away, long ago, twenty years I'd say. The war had only just begun, a terror to think that chaos would cover our lands. Twenty years ago I lost the one I loved. He fought for me to live in peace, but now I've been grieving since then. No peace for me as the time fades. Time still goes on and still no rainbow in the clouds of my love, memories are fading away as my grief grows numb. I feel so discorded in a world promising peace. I watched him fly away..." She continued to sing through the sad jazz as it went on.
Lightheart and Big Macintosh felt drawn to her very provocative voice, but what she was singing about.
"Dear Celestia that's a sad tune, she's got a beautiful voice but that song..." It sent chills in his spine thinking about how many widows, how many fatherless fillies and colts were out there.
"Aayeep..." They didn't take too long to decide and leave when they realized the crowd was in grief.
While the whole town seemed to cheer on the military's effort, some were just not in the mood for happiness. What harm could it be though, everypony needed to grieve for their losses or else it could have damaging effects holding it in.
Lightheart trotted around the town and noticed something through a window, a pony also noticed him looking through and quickly raced to the door replying,
"I see you looking through lad, come in, come in!" Lightheart and Big Macintosh was corralled inside without even thinking. "Ahh yes the boys from our Prince's great army welcome, welcome to my shop, I noticed you were eying that fine sun dress. Thinking about a filly back at home?" Lightheart felt a little shy about it but he nodded answering,
"Yeah you could say that..." The wording had the strange slender pony think of something entirely different,
"Well... you know it matters not, it is none of my business why you buy this piece, it matters to me that you do not leave this shop without this beautiful thing in your saddlebag..." It was a rather beautiful dress of yellow with a topaz stone at the collar, and white frills at the end.
"I'm curious why is there so many different varieties of objects in here?" The strange pony shrugged with a rather sarcastic answer,
"Well of course I run a pawn store stallion did you not see the sign...?" Lightheart felt silly as he mumbled,
"I suppose I didn't think to look for a store sign..." Big Macintosh trotted around looking at all the knick knacks as his officer was haggling up a price to buy the dress. He was thinking of his sister and how she might like a few presents from him. Big Macintosh was feeling the same way.
After the purchase Lightheart heard a sound outside that he didn't like. "What was..." The sound was very quiet but Lightheart could tell it wasn't but a mile away. Big Macintosh turned around and galloped out after Lightheart who made a bolt for the door.
Screams suddenly started to flood their ears and looking up he could see what the panic was all about! There soaring over the sky was the terrifying scene of artillery shells dropping like a thick rain of STEEL!
"INNNCOMING!" The two stallions found themselves racing towards the base as fast as they could with screaming shells dropping and violently thrashing the ground!
Completely caught off guard the GreenBacks were in a perfect little bottled up marching formation where the first artillery impact minced General Honour's Corps. In an instant the jungle poured out masked soldiers in dark jungle uniforms! The scene of a demonic shadow seemed to loom overhead as clouds seemed to be swirling darkness with a strike of lightning in the air!
"What in Equestria is..." Lightheart felt his hooves slow down as he watched the weather shift so dangerously violent. "They're shifting the weather...!"
"Ayyyeepp!" Big Macintosh and Lightheart raced, with their manes flying through the wind as the artillery shells dropped were mixed with smoke shells and explosives. Blasting canisters of smoke caused such a confused state for the thousands of stallions that literally any hope to organize was impossible!
"Agghhh... I can't see, this smoke...!" Lightheart began to stop backing up. "Big Macintosh where are you!" Just as the smoke was engulfing the area completely, the enemy underestimated the size of the pegasi squads housed in the cloud port. "What... BIG MACINTOSH! WHERE ARE YOU!?" A figure started to appear through the cloud of thick smoke. "Is that you!?"
At this point a small squad of fillies in a pegasi unit strafed through the smoke clearing it up. Their squad leader stopped and turned her attention over to the sight of five figures on the ground. Lightheart was separated between Big Macintosh by three dark figures.
Gasping as he seen the enemy's eyes glaring at him, he stood his ground disarmed with no weapon but his magic. He raised his horn as they raised their guns.
"Magic shmagic that unicorn's gonna get creamed!" The filly squad leader with her fiery attitude shot back with her guns ready, and she strafed again blasting them with guns meant to rip metal apart! Lightheart looked up catching a glimpse of a deep red tail streaking with a yellow highlight glowing in the sunset.
"Thanks for the save..." He mumbled to himself as he galloped over to the bodies. He levitated up a small bit gun and strapped the saddle rifle on his back. He strapped on a rifle saddle from the other on Big Macintosh replying, "Here, let's go help our stallions out shall we?"
"Ayyeep!" They raced towards the battle scene where their ears started to feel the intensity of sound. As they entered the base limits the sounds of the artillery pounding was thrashing violently, bullets were whizzing by and smacking the ground, guns were shredding eardrums with the loud popping and cracking!
"Get on that gun soldier!" The voices of officers were screaming as the fight to obtain machine gun positions were a primary objective, to prevent the enemy from taking hold of an emplacement. The sound of a steam driven beast hissed as a huge tank of steel turned a turret around and fired a shell piercing theough the air and exploding as it impacted!
As the fight on the ground engulfed the major ground forces, the carrier which hardly even had a chance to leave had a magic barrier still holding after several artillery shells attempted to knock it down. The captain was given orders to send his craft and pegasi through the jungle and snuff out those artillery positions!
Battle hardened veterans on board were sent up first with several low rank reconnaissance fighter pegasi to scout positions.
"This storm is pretty risky for our pegasi, we need to make this quick, first we need to locate the unicorns responsible for maintaining this weather cover, after that's dealt with I want you to bomb every artillery emplacement you find. If you can't find those blasted weather controllers, then just wing it and take out anything hostile!" The captain gave the orders and let his air crew do their job.
The battle raged on as the carrier's light anti ship cannons were used as artillery for the recon pegasi spotters. Bolts of lightning scorched the air, one poor pegasus found himself being struck directly by a purposely guided bolt. Eventually the pegasi started a low flight tactic until they grounded to save time turning themselves into heavily armed gun turrets! The haymaster cannons they were equipped with tore jungle growth down with ease. Warbirds stayed in flight making scattered bombing strafes into the jungle to cause confusion.
Lightheart charged with a few of his platoon units who met up with him towards a gun nest! They breached over the mound where waiting inside was a group of enemies attempting to dismount the machine gun.
"AHHHH!" Lightheart dropped down with the bit gun floating in the air firing periodically with shell after shell zipping by one until one snapped through his neck and sent him thrashing on the ground. As the squad flew down in a rage, one of the others holding the machine gun turned towards Lightheart with an evil glare through his mask. Without warning Big Macintosh dropped with a hard tackle, his rifle knocking the pony back, he gripped his bit and as the gun touched the pony's flesh he bit the trigger! POW! "Thanks for the save NCO, alright stallions let's get this gun back up let's go!" A rather ditzy looking unicorn with a butterscotch coat and an aqua colored mane held the machine gun with his magic replying,
"Duahhh... where does it go again sir?" Big Macintosh poked him and pointed out the opening in the makeshift bunker. "Ohhhh, dahh ok." Lightheart turned to them and replied,
"Big Macintosh, Snails operate the gun, the rest of you, take aim and fire!" They held the ground retaliating the enemy force with an efficient advantage!
"GRENADE!" One of the ponies yelled as a grenade flew in! Big Macintosh caught the enemy as he foolishly showed himself to the gunner, and he let out a spray of metal through his chest! Lightheart took the grenade with his magic and lobbed it high into the air.
They continued to provide cover fire in the bunker until they slowed their attack as Honour's Corps came running through and the 181st Armored Cavalry drove through on steam driven tanks. For a while the squad watched as it seemed the sounds just faded away with a droning hiss of steam and riddling metal tracks in the back of their minds. Their thoughts of awe as the scene of the battle unfurled in front of them. Scorched earth, pluming smoke, and a raging storm above overcasting the battlefield was pure horrific.
'Dear Celestia, I never thought when I was a young colt something this farfetched would be happening. I never thought war could've been possible ever, not to this scale especially.' Lightheart watched in shock as one of the enemies lay on the ground and disappeared under the tracks of a thundering steam tank.
"NO MERCY FOR THESE DISCORDIAN MONSTERS!" A total of a thousand stallions or more made a run into the jungle! "GIVEM A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE!" To counter the enemy one of the head officers, a Lieutenant Major commanded a large group to start dispensing their own smoke grenade tactic!
"Alright lads let's GOOO!" Lightheart and his small squad charged out of the bunker to the field with the armor as they ferociously opened fire. Shells zipped through into the jungle and tore the dirt and plant life inside to pieces.
As the first group reached the edge of the jungle a loud synchronized scream of guns let out a mad series of crackles and POPS! The jungle lit up as a small set group of enemies had taken the confusion to establish a line of defense!
Lightheart and his stallions in the back dropped to the ground as the bullets zipped out! Mists of red flew everywhere and ponies dropped in lines. Smoke bombs held in someponys' mouths were triggered and clouds started making plumes in the air in scattered disarray. Even some of the crews were pierced through the thick tank armor.
"Now's our chance, let's go while the smoke's up and their guard is down." Lightheart ordered as the gun nests ceased fire. His makeshift unit started to move forward. His platoon of only fifteen had newcomers from other squads and companies all following him as he was the top ranked Lieutenant.
They crawled into the smoke following his lead, the guns were waiting to see somepony come through the smoke, instead of seeing somepony, more smoke bombs began to fly deeper into the jungle! It was payback time! The enemies reacted accordingly and opened fire randomly, unfortunately for them, they had no idea the stallions were all in a prone.
"Alright men separate in four squads, Big Macintosh take them, you Sergeant Major take those, and you CWO take that group, take out as many nests as you can find, keep under the cover... go, go, go." The ponies crept under the cover of dark storm clouds and smoke returning the favor to the enemy.
Lightheart came across the first nest with his small squad and without even a challenge took his magic and dropped a grenade around the unsuspecting nest. BOOM! The explosion sent the enemies flying out of the nest and the fight started! In a panic the other nests started firing forward again in random directions, taking this moment of surprise the squad hopped in the nest and began to dismantle the gun.
In a matter of seconds before they could use the gun the nests began to go silent one by one. A total of seven emplacements in a line brought down in an instant. Big Macintosh and Snails took care of one side. Big Macintosh had tackled down a stallion and stomped his head with his hoof, he turned firing a shot into the back of the gun operator, the other was overtaken by Snails as he valiantly jumped in and with his magic pummeled him straight out over the sandbags into a spike trap that was hidden in the brush in front of the sandbags.
The neighboring gun placements didn't have time to dismantle as Big Macintosh single hoofedly tore the machine gun mount off and slapped it on their side letting it go off sizzling the fabric of the sandbag as Snails fed the belt ammo.
On the opposite side of Lightheart, the other squads led by the Sergeant Major and the CWO, with their unicorn stallions they simply plucked them out of the nests with a grenade just as Lightheart did. The officers and a few squad stallions started yelling to one another,
"OLIVES!"
"NO THANKS I'M FULL!" Another one answered. Lightheart took that as a positive response. It looked as though the gun emplacements were dealt with quicker than usual. He analyzed around the barrier and noticed some sharp objects in front of the barrier when his thoughts of security were shattered in an instant!
A loud crackle came out from in front and started spattering the sides of the sandbags as several positions ahead began to open fire at them! LightHeart heard a group to his side screaming out maddeningly,
"FREAKING CELESTIA'S FIRE, GET BACK, FALL BACK!" The Sergeant Major made the call, his crew and the CWO with his jumped back behind the sandbags with Lightheart screaming,
"DON'T!!!" Prone beneath the raised ground around the barrier, they heard the bullets ripping at the dirt. Lightheart ducked his head down as he just witnessed the two squads fly over blindly into the spike traps. He began to feel a deep sinking feeling inside watching that gruesome image.
"Sir... I'm... getting a call on the radio!" One of the soldiers with him had a radio on his back giving the Lieutenant the receiver in an instant to his superior.
"This is Athenus Commander, Major General HoofPanzer to all available units, we have been given orders to fall back from the jungle! Shining Armor's Royal Air Corps has been called in. They're going to execute an MPB strike, I repeat all available units fall back from the jungle, an MPB strike has been ordered by Prince Shining Armor!" LightHeart's stomach felt a deep sinking sensation. These two attacks were already radioed over to the base in Firelight Haven, exactly where Shining Armor was personally posted with his royal armies in the Fringe. He responded so fast strangely to this attack, the MPB or Magic Powder Bomb strike was nothing to feel easy about. Shining Armor used it rarely due to what it was capable of. In mass his airforce would drop these bombs and anything caught in it's explosive range would be turned to a pile of sparkling cinders, which was not at all as pretty as it sounds. Apparently Shining Armor did not want to risk the enemy being so close, so he was going to completely eradicate the jungle vegetation, along with the enemy positions.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" The stallion asked his superior trying to sound louder than the bullets dropping on their position! LightHeart wasted no time as he yelled back,
"SOLDIER WE NEED TO PULL BACK OUT OF THE JUNGLE... SHINING ARMOR'S GIVEN ORDERS TO SET THIS JUNGLE ON FIRE WITH MPB's!"
"MPB's!!! WHAT...!!!" Disturbed the soldiers followed LightHeart who jumped over the side rather than behind into the spike traps and they all fell to a prone position and crawled across the jungle floor to the other position to get Big Macintosh and his group out of here! Bullets were tearing through vegetation as some of the soldiers could see the mass of flashes as a larger emplacement of barricades were up ahead. "This is beyond Haystacks sir, how did this many marauders sneak up on us... I thought the Griffins were supposed to be watching us from the Bastions?" Another soldier behind agreed crying out to state another idea as well,
"Yeah but you also have to think they may have hoofed through the jungle out of their sight!?" LightHeart shook his head arguing back,
"No the Griffins were not on watch is what it was! There's no way they could sneak heavy artillery equipment without cutting through the jungle and giving off their position, they had to have dropped off units from a transport when nopony was on watch! If they had used the jungle the griffins passing on their patrol would've seen them moving!" He reached up to the sandbags and risking his neck he peered over yelling, "COME ON THIS WAY... WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Big Macintosh and his group jumped to the side and followed them until they reached the smoke! The enemy bullets could not reach over the emplacements giving them a safe retreat.
The soldiers outside barricaded behind several steam tanks all aiming their weapons ready to shoot whatever came out of the smoke, with orders to not fire until the targets were identified. They began to grip their bits ready as they spotted figures popping out of the smoke! LightHeart and his troop shot out running forward as a massive pegasi force escorting heavy bombing warbirds began to cover the sky!
"Come on stallions get back here NOW!" A Captain commanded as he ran to them pulling their flanks back behind the large tank barrier! "GET DOWN!" The sky was quiet as the steam powered craft made no noise. In a silent cloud of steam they disappeared through the storm cloud dropping their payload.
"We're overhead the target let's drop these POWDER BOMBS, the sooner we're out of this storm cloud the safer we are!" Thousands of bombs began to drop! The tail fins of these large monsters began to whistle as they sliced through the air falling below into the jungle. All the ground forces could hear was that annoying whistle until everything suddenly turned completely dead silent. The scariest weapon in the arsenal of Shining Armor's Royal Air Force, a weapon that as soon as it hits the warhead goes off and deploys a silent magic vaporizing explosive making no noise. A few thundering booms could be barely heard as artillery positions still managed to fire their guns before completely turning to ash. Everything the enemy was hiding in acres of jungle vaporized! The captain's eyes widened as he mumbled,
"That's just an eerie sight stallions. To think Shining Armor has access to a weapon that could destroy all life it touches in a dead silent magic explosion. It's creepy enough to make your coat stand on end." They watched as the storm clouds began to recede and before them... nothing but lofting sparkles of magic cinders.
(Flash Forward to Sketch-It)
"So after a short lived skirmish we regained control on the base, we lost some good stallions in the casualties... but after this incident we managed to get those lazy griffins to actually watch over us at night. As I conclude this letter sis I'm currently on board the Ironsaddle, it's a beautiful ship and our stallions are looking happy as we're heading for the Cloud base stationed deep in the Lost World.
I know it sounds weird to you probably that we're looking forward to meeting face to face with the enemy on their ground, but we're just hopeful this all will end soon. I brought you over some things I bought after everything started to get quiet, luckily the dress was never harmed in my saddle... Love you and hope to see you soon sis, Lightheart."
She couldn't bear to wait as she opened up the box to reveal some goodies he had bought. "Ooohhh look it's the dress, oh wow he was not joking when he said it was well taken care of..." It still had a glow to it, especially the Topaz stone on the front of the collar. "Hmm what else did he... SOCKS... why socks... oh they're dress socks for the dress... ok so he bought an entire outfit I see..." Lightheart apparently bought a whole ensemble for the dress, figured just a dress would seem too unthoughtful. "Ok what else is... ... Oh my gosh what is this..." She pulled out a scarf and a black artist cap. "Ok brother enough with the clothes where's the..." Pausing as she seen the bundle of things hiding under the clothes she laughed, "Hahahaha knick knacks..." She rummaged around with her hoof to find a couple of dolls, spices from the Southern Leyline, just all sorts of small things. She smiled as she took a little snow-globe of Athenus and shook it around smiling. "Oh brother I can't wait to see you, I got sooo many things to ask about and tell you!" Concluding her night she flopped on the couch holding the snow-globe yawning, "I wish you were here already..."