//------------------------------// // Ch8: Security Studies // Story: Equestria: The Afterlife // by Timzocker201 //------------------------------// POV: Twilight Markus darted upstairs and I followed, while Rainbow stayed downstairs to soothe Fluttershy. He rummaged through his things again and put on his Vest, Helmet and those things he called >>Gloves<<. “Markus, do you really need all this? We are just going to the Royal Palace, not to the Changeling Lands.” I smiled at him, but he didn’t even turn around. “I may have been called to Canterlot, but seeing how that went last time, I would say this is equal to a call to arms.” He dug deeper into his bag and produced a red pouch with a white cross from it. He attached said pouch to his belt and did to the same with his knife, which was strangely attached to his heel. He also took another pouch from the bag, which he said contains his >>pistol<< and hefted it to his side. Then he finally took his Rifle, which leaned against the wall beside his bed. “Are you two ready yet? The train’s going in twenty minutes! We need to hurry and get to the station. NOW!” We heard a voice call from downstairs. “While we indeed need to get moving, I’m sad to tell you that you aren’t coming with us, Rainbow.” Markus said, as we both went downstairs, where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were already waiting at the door. “What?! WHY?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Markus looked outside through a window. “Because My soldier-sense is going off right this moment and I certainly won’t put Fluttershy in danger after we’ve just saved her.” He went upstairs again. When he came back down, he had his spare Bow and a few arrows in his hands. “At the same time though, I don’t think that they will take her successful escape all too well and might come after her again, so I need someone – or somepony – to guard her.” He looked down at Rainbow Dash and smiled. He then held his Bow and arrows towards her. Rainbow Dash looked at the Bow, then at Markus and a wide grin slid over her face. She eagerly took both Bow and arrows and slid them over her shoulders. She then raised a hoof to her head and saluted. “I won’t disappoint you, Markus.” “I know you won’t. Now dismissed, Soldier!” Rainbow and Fluttershy both went out the door and towards Fluttershy’s cabin, while Markus and I headed for the station. During the time we were waiting for the train to arrive, I found myself curious yet again. “Say, Markus, what’s this soldier-sense you were talking about?” Markus looked down at me with a friendly smile. “It’s some sort of a sixth sense, which I obtained through my experience in the military. Basically it’s my ability to quickly judge a situation without needing to think about it.” The train arrived and we took off to Canterlot. Markus slept during the whole train ride. Righteously so, as he probably needed some rest after the little adventure they had. In Canterlot we were greeted by a whole guard company, which was to escort us to the Royal Palace. Markus and I shared a surprised look, but shrugged it off as intense safety measures, indicating that Markus was right again. Little did we know… We arrived at the Throne room and saw Celestia sitting on her Throne, as well as Shining Armor standing beside her. We both kneeled down before her. “We have heeded your call, your Highness. What is it that you wish of us?” Markus said, while bowing deep. “Indeed, you have…” Celestia said. Suddenly I was pulled aside by Celestia’s magic and a horde of Guards streamed into the room. They formed up around Markus and pointed their spears directly at him. Markus stood up and looked around at the guards, before calmly looking at Celestia. “May I ask, what’s the meaning of this, your Highness?” Celestia looked down at Markus with anger visible in her face. She rose to her feet, before she spoke up. “Captain Markus Becker!” Her Royal Canterlot Voice echoed through the halls of the Palace. ”My Student Twilight Sparkle informed me of your extreme measures during the operation a few days ago.” Markus looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I looked to the ground in shame. I may have overdone it just a little with that letter to Celestia… “However, we’ve decided to let it slide since it was a necessary evil for the good of all of Equestria.” I rose my head up and smiled at Markus. I thought that this whole situation would turn out to be just some overdramatic act by Celestia and Luna to thank him for his deeds. “At that time, we couldn’t have imagined that your wrath and bloodlust would soon turn on our own citizens!” My head darted up to look at Celestia. I was shocked at the accusations thrown at Markus. “Say what?” Markus calmly stated, as he raised an eyebrow at Celestia. “Thou knoweth exactly what we mean, human!” Another voice echoed from the door. It was Luna, who was approaching Markus from behind. “We know what thou hast done to our citizens! This witness has stated us what happened!” A Unicorn Mare with a yellow coat and white mane, wearing a white frock, entered the room. “Your Highnesses, this… THING… came to our village demanding subordinance from us.” “NO!” I screamed. “He couldn’t have! He was with us the whole… time…” I stopped as Markus raised his hand at me and smiled. How could he smile in a situation like this?! “As we didn’t obey him he started plundering our huts and slapping and raping the mares and foals! A few of our Stallions tried to oppose him, but he smacked them down. He then proceeded to kill all of the Stallions, young or old, with that weapon of his, before he did the same to the mares. I luckily was out on the fields when all that began. When I came back, I had to see in horror, how he swung that weapon of his towards my own mother’s head, crushing it with a single blow.” The mare began to sob and Luna wrapped a wing around her. “What hast thou to say for thy defense?” Markus smirked at Celestia. “She’s lying…” he muttered. “First of all: >>smacking<< is not how this weapon is us-- LUNA PASS’ AUF!” (Luna watch out!) He screamed as he turned around to face Luna and the mare. But it was too late… The Unicorn slid a Ring on Luna’s horn and levitated a dagger from her frock towards Luna’s throat. She then put a hoof around Luna’s shoulder and pulled her toward the exit. Two Earthpony stallions who wore the same frock as her jumped into the room and overwhelmed the two guards at the door, before joining the mare, one on each side. The Guards that surrounded Markus earlier now stood in line with him, facing the mare, but they couldn’t do anything. None of them were unicorns except Shining Armor and if they were to close in on her she would’ve probably just stabbed her right away. Shining tried to cast a spell, but the mare saw it and cut Luna’s muzzle as a warning. Upon seeing this, my brother immediately stopped casting. Markus put a hand on his rifle. “Let her go.” He demanded, still with his normal calm. The mare started to snicker, then laughed out. “No.” She then said. Markus put his left foot forward. “Let’s try this again. Let her go!” He demanded this time with a bit more force behind his voice. The mare still proceeded towards the door and chuckled. “Or what? Are you going to throw that thing at me?” Markus chuckled. “No… Else I’m going to show you how this thing is properly used…” He wrapped his left hand around the front part of the weapon. “Last chance: Let. Her. Go! I will give you three seconds.” His right hand gripped at something on top of the middle part of the rifle and made a jerking motion, which opened and closed a small chamber on the side. “One.” He raised the rifle to his shoulders and rested his head on its rear part. “Two.” He placed one of his right hand’s fingers in an opening on the lower middle part of the weapon, which contained something that looked like a lever. “Three.” He pressed the lever four times in quick succession. Each time he did so, a loud crack could be heard, followed by a metallic pinging on the ground. It all went down so fast that neither the Mare nor the stallions or the guards, not even Celestia, Luna or me had time to react in any way. Suddenly I heard screaming and I turned my head to where Luna was standing. What I saw was a truly horrible sight. The two stallions were lying on the ground in some unnatural poses, with a blood-dripping hole in both their foreheads. The Mare had lost her horn and her left hoof was mangled and bloody. She slumped to the ground and screamed in pain and agony. Markus sprinted towards and past Luna to the Mare. “Shut up.” He said, as he planted the rear of his rifle firmly into the mare’s face, knocking her unconscious. He then pulled some bandages out of his red porch and bandaged her leg. He did all this without even flinching, his face only showing pure proficiency and an almost scary indifference towards the situation. The only thing that kept me from cowering in fear from this undoubtedly powerful being was that… I knew that he was trained to do this. That this was not what really defined him as a person… Still, I couldn’t keep my shock hidden, as seeing death from above was one thing, but witnessing it up-close was a whole different story. Celestia was in shock too, but not in fear. Her face held some mixture of relief and self-hatred. She was probably blaming herself for causing this in the first place... Some of the Guards before the Throne turned around and vomited on the floor. None of us could blame them. Even though all of them were trained in combat, none of them had ever killed, not even seen anypony DIE from this close. Even during the Changeling attack on Canterlot neither the Changlings nor our Guards used lethal force. Markus turned around and faced Luna now. She instinctively made a small step back, but Markus ignored it. “Are you okay, your Highness?” He asked as he reached out for her muzzle. He grabbed it and turned her head to look at each side once. He then let go and began treating the cut. Luna meanwhile regained herself and started to stutter “W-Why didst thou save us? We accused thou of such horrible things…” Markus finished the treatment and looked her in the eyes. “I am a soldier, Luna. My job is to protect those who are in need of protection. In this case that was you. Also I don’t harbor any negative emotions towards you. You were tricked into believing I did those things and besides that, even I would probably panic if there was a being from another universe which suddenly solved a major military problem without breaking a sweat.” Markus gave her a wink and a smile. He then grabbed the Ring off her horn and threw it towards me. “Twilight, can you please give me a quick analysis of this Ring?” I caught the ring with my magic and thoroughly analyzed it. “Well, it is some kind of an Anti-Magic Ring, though it isn’t the materials that have the effect, but rather there is some kind of magic cast upon this. Also I think I can sense some kind of cu—“ I heard a thud and I immediately looked up from the ring. Luna had collapsed to the ground and Markus knelt down beside her and pressed his hands onto her belly. “Damn that was my fault. I got careless!” He muttered to himself. I darted to his side to help, but when I reached him I immediately looked away from Luna in order not to vomit. There was a large gash in her belly reaching from her forelegs all the way to her hind ones. Some organs started to squeeze their way through the opening and she was bleeding rapidly. I looked at her face. She was in terror, but still conscious. She was visibly in pain, but too shocked to scream. She wanted to look towards her belly, but Markus pressed her head down to the ground. “No, don’t look at it.” He looked at me. “Twilight, can you cast healing magic on her?” I shook my head and my eyes started to water. “No, wounds from curses can’t be healed by magic. Can’t you do something for her? Please!” He nodded and pointed towards two guards. “You there, get a doctor and two Nurses with a stretcher ASAP!” The two guards nodded and darted off. Markus meanwhile opened his red porch again and took a small package from it. He ripped it open and revealed a prepared sewing needle with some surgical thread already attached. He wasted no time and immediately started sewing the wound as fast as he could. Celestia meanwhile came down from her throne and paced towards Luna, but Markus signaled her to stop. “Believe me, Celestia, you don’t want to see this.” He looked over his shoulder and then back at Celestia. “Say, is your infirmary located at the other side of the castle or why aren’t those two back yet?” Celestia and Shining shared a short look, before she answered. “We don’t have an infirmary at the Palace anymore.” Markus’s look shot up toward Celestia and for the first time he looked like his face alone was enough to kill somepony. “You WHAT?! Why don’t you have an infirmary?!” Celestia stumbled backwards and started to stammer. “U-Um, you see, when the Changelings attacked some of them were hidden amongst our servants. So, after we defeated them, Shining Armor decided that it would be best to get rid of the less important facilities in the castle to lower the amount of servants and with that the risk of infiltration.” Markus’s head turned to Shining Armor, who was now standing beside Celestia. “We’re going to talk later.” He said in a threatening tone. With that he went back to his work and finished up. Still, though the wound was now closed, she was bleeding rapidly through it. Markus now unsheathed his knife and took a red cuboid object with a metallic top from one of his pockets. He pointed towards two other guards. “You two, go get some ice-cold water!” Luna meanwhile was groaning in pain, as her shock wore off. Her breathing was steady and she was looking directly at me now. I smiled and tried to calm her as much as I could. Markus meanwhile used that cuboid object to cast a flame and he held his knife over it. The two guardsponies came back with a bucket of cold water just as the blade of the knife began to shimmer in a dark reddish tone. He put that object back to the ground and now took a handkerchief out of his porch, which he rolled into a ball. He held that ball over Luna’s muzzle and said “Open up.” Luna reluctantly opened her mouth and Markus stuffed the ball inside. “What are you doing to my sister?!” asked Celestia with a disturbed look on her face. “I’m going to singe the wound to stop the bleeding.” He looked back at Luna. “I won’t lie to you, Luna, this is going to hurt and I don’t have anything with me that could ease the pain. When it starts to hurt bite down and scream, it will ease the pain at least a little. Twilight, you are to make sure that Luna stays conscious. If she seems like she loses her consciousness then empty that bucket over her, if that doesn’t help, kick her in the face.” I wanted to object, but Markus already started bringing the hot knife down towards the wound. “Brace yourself, Luna.” The knife hit with a lout hiss and I could hear Luna’s muffled screams through the handkerchief in her mouth. Yet, she stayed conscious. “One done, three left. Brace!” The knife hit again and Luna started to spasm in pain. Two guards came to hold her down, albeit their faces were showing that they rather wouldn’t. I admired their bravery and loyalty to do something they didn’t want to, just in order to save their princess. “Two done, two left!” Markus reheated the knife, while Luna breathed heavily through her nose. The blade began to glow again and the process repeated. Luna almost fell unconscious during the third time, but a few taps to her face were luckily enough to keep her awake. I wanted to ease her pain. I really wished that I could, but I was unable to. I couldn’t help in any way, other than keep her from getting relieved from that pain. It really hurt, but I knew it had to be done in order for her to survive. “Three done, last one! Brace!” The knife went down again and Luna screamed like it was the last thing she could do. She started closing her eyes and taps didn’t cut it anymore. I panicked and instead of going for the bucket first, I smacked down hard with my front hooves. Luna awoke with a gasp and was too stunned to notice the pain for a moment, but that didn’t last long. Markus finally lifted his knife off the now blackened wound and held it into the water. A short hiss could be heard, as the blade was rapidly cooled down. He crouched over to Luna’s head. Her screams had subsided and she was only panting and groaning by now. He removed the handkerchief from her muzzle and stuck it back into the pocket. “Congratulations, you’ve made it. You’ll get through. Now try to rest a little, but stay awake, please.” Markus said in a soothing tone and with a smile on his face. He sat down beside her head and stroked her mane. I must admit, I got a little jealous at her, but I didn’t say anything. The guards soon arrived with a doctor and a stretcher and Luna was taken to the Canterlot Central Hospital. Markus talked a bit to the doctor in the hallway, before the doctor, too, left the Palace. Markus then stood in the hallway and looked through the windows into the City. Celestia approached him from behind, but before she could say something, Markus spoke up. “Celestia, I want our contract to be cancelled.” Celestia’s ears dropped and her eyes started to water for the second time ever since I’ve known her. She wanted to say something, something that would make him change his mind, but soon decided that it would be no use. She turned around and simply said. “I—I understand. Of course, seeing the state our security forces are in would deter any proficient sol—“ “You’re seeing it the wrong way, Celestia.” Celestia’s ears perked up again and she turned around to look at Markus again. “Our contract stated that I would get three months to settle myself into my new environment. Seeing the state your forces are in, however, made me realize that this might have been a little optimistic.” He turned his head slightly to speak over his shoulder. “I want to ditch the remaining two months and be integrated into your military as soon as possible. I would like to take command of a company of ponies, 60 souls in strength.” Celestia was slightly taken aback by that last statement. “60 Ponies?! I’m sorry, but we currently don’t have that many guards available.” Markus sighed and dropped his head. “We may not have that many currently available, but there’s a batch of new recruits coming up, numbering exactly 60! They will finish their basic training in a week and will then enter Guard-deployment.” Shining stated, his face living up to his name. “Very well, I shall take command of that unit then. I will personally take care of their further training after they’re out of basic.” Markus seemed pleased and both Celestia and Shining Armor let out a sigh. However, Celestia’s ears dropped again, as she asked Markus one last question: “How did you to stay calm during all of this?” Markus gave a slight chuckle, before he answered: “My world isn’t as peaceful as yours, you know? During my service in the Bundeswehr, I’ve seen situations far worse than this. I’ve seen my comrades be dismembered, scorched, evaporated. Some of them lost a limb, but were so shocked that they simply just picked it up and tried to reattach it. Of course, seeing things like this is horrible for the first few times. *sigh* But I’ve seen things like this every day for almost five years. I’ve grown used to it.” Silence fell upon us and I saw Celestia gaze upon Markus with a mixture of pure horror and admiration. “Speaking of calm however:” Markus spoke up again. “Shining Armor, could you please come over here?” Shining trotted over to where Markus stood and stopped a few hooves behind him. “Yes? What do you want fro-- “ Markus suddenly swung around and kicked my brother straight into the muzzle. The kick connected with a loud snap and sent him literally flying for a good distance, before touching down again. He started screaming in pain, as his muzzle was now hanging at an odd angle, but none of us dared moving. Markus knelt down beside the crying Shining Armor and clenched his muzzle shut. “OH MY, YOU’RE HURT! IT SEEMS YOU NEED A DOCTOR, WE SHOULD TAKE YOU TO THE INFIRMARY! OH WAIT, THERE IS NONE!” Markus screamed in a way that even made Celestia tremble in fear. “Listen up, idiot: If you’re going to fry your own sorry ass, help yourself, but actively endangering every single servant in this Palace, not to mention the very princesses you are to PROTECT, is a big sign for me, that a certain blue-maned muffin-brain isn’t fit for his role. I advise you: correct this mess and don’t you even dare doing something this stupid ever again.” Markus let go of my brother’s muzzle and looked at me. “Patch him up.” He ordered me. I immediately darted to my brother and used healing magic on him. Markus meanwhile turned around and walked to the exit. He stopped, however, just before he reached the door. He turned his head to speak over his shoulder: “You are to meet me at the Golden Oaks Library tomorrow at noon. If you dare to be late, your spine will be next.” He turned to Celestia, who by now was shuddering from head to tail. “Oh and Celestia, would you please take care of that Unicorn? I might come by and interrogate her myself.” With those few last words, he left the Palace, having made himself a name with the guardsponies who were there that day.