//------------------------------// // Ch 3: Command Decision // Story: There Is Nothing New Under The Sun // by chasethebrony //------------------------------// Command Decision Shining Armor’s Headquarters was in the Ponyville Hotel. He turned the back dining room into his “war room”, the front area into a mess of clerks and staff sorting reports and ensuring that the mustered forces could be fed and paid on time. “Sir, we have a fresh report in from the scouting element you sent in after the beast” “Thank you Lieutenant, assemble my staff and have them meet in the War Room please.” “Yes Sir!” As the assorted leadership from the Army and the Guard, Shining armor took Lt. Lost aside. “Is the report on paper?” “Yes sir. We also have the sub-leader of the tracking element who found the thing” “Please have him enter and wait with me during the meeting” a burgundy unicorn followed the lieutenant in, and moved over to Armor’s side. “Corporal Radiant Dawn reporting sir!” “At ease corporal. If you will just wait a minute, the combined staff is almost ready for your briefing” “Yes sir” Once the assorted mares and stallions that compromise the combined staff arranged themselves around the table, Shining Armor called them to order. “Well ladies and gentlecolts, we now have a confirmed visual on the creature in the Everfree forest.” At this announcement the assembly began muttering, but stopped when prompted by the Capitain. “I went ahead and invited Cpl Radiant Dawn to give us a personal briefing of the situation” With a gesture he turned the meeting over to the burgundy corporal. “Well, we were tracking the creature from the initial track point. After a couple hours, we managed to follow the prints towards the edge of the forest.” She gestured at the map. “We were approximately here, when we lost track of the trail. Using my magic, we were able to use the materials found at the initial site to point us in the direction of the creature. As we approached, the creature stood up on its hind legs, put a shell on and dashed off. We tried to pursue, but it intentionally ran straight into the areas of the forest that are hardest for us to get into. From there, we lost visual of the creature, so we assembled the team and split into two halves. My element went back to rendezvous with Corporal Starlight and update her on the situation. The other element was put in the charge of Corporal Apple Snack who was to surround and patrol the area to ensure that the creature wouldn’t escape until reinforcements arrived. After rendezvousing with Cpl Starlight, she sent a messenger ahead to our Company Command for further orders and reinforcements. The rest of her flight flew to Apple Snack’s position to help with containment. Company command sent us another squad of Guard to help at the containment site and requested I return to HQ for further orders. That is all so far sir” “So we have the creature continued in the forest?” “yes sir. The position of the area is over here in the forest” Radiant Dawn pointed at an area labeled ‘impassable’ on the map. “Can you please describe what the creature looked like?” “The creature walked on its hind legs and was about half again as tall as I am. It had no fur with the exception of the top of its head, it seemed to be stuff a tail into its leg, but that seems a bit ridiculous. It also seemed to have some sort of carrying apparatus mounted on its back. We only saw it for a couple seconds. But while we were chasing it, it performed some quite amazing feats of acrobatics while weaving through the underbrush. Where we then lost it” The table exploded with conversations about this strange intruder in the Everfree Forest, while Shining Armor just sat at the end thinking deeply. “Did you say that it wasn’t running very quickly corporal?” “No sir, it was running at a sprint, but we would easily be able to overtake it if it wasn’t for the dense forest getting in our way.” For a moment, the captain of the guard sat thinking deeply. “Ok, I have a plan” Shining finally announced with a smirk. “Since we are having trouble capturing it in the forest, why don’t we push it into the plains where we can catch it? What I want to do is to give it an avenue of escape so that it flees out into the grasslands to the west. Then when he is out in the open, we will use pegasi to swoop down onto his position and capture it. What Guard elements are in the forest right now Lieutenant?” “Uhh, we have First and Second Platoon from Company ‘A’ out in the forest right now sir. In addition we have Corporal Starlight’s search element and Apple Snack’s Tracking group in there as well. That should make for a total of forty eight ponies on the scene.” “Then tell them that they are to form a “U” shape line and begin to push in on the creature’s position. Right now the only authorized magic is regular use and brush clearing measures. No fire is to be used in this exercise. We want to capture the creature, not kill it in an inferno. Any questions?” Nopony spoke up, so Shining dismissed them with a nod and turned to Lieutenant Lost. “Bring some paper and a pen to my room. I am going to send the princess’ a report.” As everypony left, Shining was left to his own thoughts and worries. Cornered and Dangerous I have been sitting here in the brambles for the better part of the day. I managed to scarf down a quick granola bar, but I am afraid to try anything that would alert my pursuers to my location. For the past hour they have been searching for me. Thankfully, clearing and navigating dense brush is more difficult for a species without hands, so they have progressed slowly. Ever since they cornered me here several more flew in to join the rest. Yeah, that’s right flew. There seems to be a third kind of horse, they are a bit slighter in stature than the other two but the main difference is that they have wings and can apparently fly. I still can’t understand what they are saying, but I doubt it’s good. I have been crawling around my hiding hole, looking for an escape. I managed to get into this spot without getting cut up too bad, but I don’t expect the same to happen if I try to exit through in a rush. Thankfully all those years of stalking deer during hunting season have been paying off. I keep slowly low crawling ahead in the hopes that I will be able to find a slightly clearer avenue of escape. Moving slowly, I finally see a path. A tiny deer trail creates a hidden path through the thorns. I am able to stand (even if hunched over) and I can put my backpack on instead of dragging it behind me. Keeping my pistol at the ready, I begin to sneak forward to what I hope is a path to freedom. Cutting Edge “Mmmhffggrrfan!” “Sorry I can’t understand you when your mouth full Storm” Storm front spit out the machete he was using to clear brush and called to Pearl who was working on trying to clear another part of the thicket. “Hey I think I found a path! It looks like it goes straight through the underbrush. We may be able to use it to get deeper into the thicket.” After spending the longer part of the day hacking away at brambles, Storm Front was glad to finally see that the path may lead him to capture the monster inside. As Pearl turned to go check out the path Storm found, all hell broke loose. two explosions happened in short time and Storm Front collapsed screaming in pain. Then the monster sprinted past the wounded pony and ran off deeper into the forest. Torn between chasing down the monster that just maimed her friend or helping Storm Front, he eventually ran to his friend's side and tried to stop the bleeding. “MEEEDDIIIICC!” she screamed over the sounds of Storm’s agony. Using her uniform as a makeshift pressure bandage, she pushed down on the wounds in her friend’s side. Her screaming was heard by a convenient pegasus patrol who immediately split into two groups. The first to go get a medic and fly the pony to the wounded Storm Front, and the second to begin the pursuit of the creature. Flight of Fancy After sprinting past the horse thing I shot, I slowed down to a jog momentarily in order to pace myself for what would probably be a lengthy chase. I felt a bit of remorse that I had to shoot the creature, but I figured that if they were organized enough that they are forming search parties, shooting one of the two would cause the second to be forced to choose between its partner and chasing me. If it was chasing me I probably would have shot it as well, but thankfully it looked like it was staying to try to save its partner. Taking a sip from my hydration bladder, I realized that I had nowhere to go. Now that I had shot and maybe killed one of them, surrendering for capture was probably a bad idea. Fighting it out to the death ala Gladiator seemed pointless, as I really didn’t want to die. Nothing against dying valiantly in glorious combat, it’s just that there is a time and a place for it. This was definitely not the right time or place. So back to running for my life I suppose. Hiding Behind the Wall of Hair Fluttershy was not happy. She had been called away from her animals to give chase to some mythical being nopony was sure even existed and she had to leave her critters in the care of the local veterinarian Mane Goodall. Nothing against her, it’s just that she and Fluttershy did not exactly meet eye to eye when it came to dealing with animals. Where Fluttershy would use kindness, Mane would use strictness, and so on and so forth. So, when the opprotunity presented itself for Fluttershy to make a quick trip to her house she seized it ferociously. “Well, if you say so....” Ok, so maybe not as ferociously as she had intended, but it works. Either way, she just got six hours leave to go take care of personal matters. Happy to be away from the depressing aura the war camp gave off, Fluttershy began to trot happily to her home. Upon arriving she noticed that there was another hole in the fence around her chicken coop. “Ohnoohnohnononononono” Looking in the coop she saw that most of her chicken friends were still there. Except for Henrietta. Again. “Why can’t that hen be content with just staying in the henhouse with all the others?” Fluttershy mused out loud. Noticing that the chicken’s tracks went into the Everfree Forest caused the yellow pegasus to freeze. ‘Not this again’ she thought to herself. “Ok Fluttershy, be assertive. You have gone and rescued chickens from the forest once before, and you can do it again.” Doing her best to feel confident and in charge, she began the long walk into the Everfree forest.