//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 // Story: Nine Millimeter Vorpal Sword // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// Nancy should have seen this coming.  There was a reason for the old joke never again volunteer yourself.  The hippogriffs she’d told it to thought it was funny. There was nothing funny about what she’d gotten herself into now: swimming to a hostile beach, potentially to assassinate someone.  Even the mermaid tail just made it weird, not lighthearted and fun. To be fair, she wasn’t going to try to kill someone tonight, but the pirate seer that had been using magic to track the movement of the hippogriff and pony coalition wasn’t going to be an easy target.  They had some kind of magic barrier around their house.  Even when they came out to the cupula on the rooftop, they were surrounded by glass.  While Nancy would be aiming for their crystal ball, eliminating the user would also accomplish the mission.  Their body was a much bigger target. But there were still a lot of things that had to happen before she shot somebody.  They had to get to the beach undetected.  That seemed easy enough, considering they were swimming underwater.  The going was slow, given that Nancy and one of the unicorn recon specialists weren’t used to having fish tails, but that gave the hippogriffs more time to sweep the area. Upon reaching the shore, they sheltered among the clumps of washed up plants that gave Seaweed Shoals its name.  There didn’t seem to be anyone around, but that could change in a moment.  Nancy tipped the rifle enough to pour any water out of the barrel, if it helped.  She hadn’t been able to sight it in, but hoped that it was still accurate. The shot was going to be maybe two hundred yards.  Nancy could see the darkened house in the distance.  There was no way of knowing when the figure would appear.  There was no way of knowing how many shots it was going to take to penetrate the barrier, the window, and hit the target. The group of them lay half in the surf, though the waves were gentle.  Since she had time, Nancy had dug a space in the wet beach for the M16’s magazine, and used the scooped-out sand to build a rest for the foregrip.  It was as stable as it was going to get.  She looked through the sights, focusing on the cupola where the target usually appeared a few times per night.  In the darkness, she could barely see anything, but had been told the glow of magic would be a target in itself. It was probably a good thing the transformation kept them warm in the cold sea, because the group lay there for perhaps an hour before one of the unicorns whispered, “There it is.” Nancy’s eyes had been given more than enough time to adjust, and she saw a faint pink glow, getting stronger through the house’s glass.  It suddenly popped out above the roof in the glassed-in cupola, a pink orb carried by a shadowy figure. She clicked off the safety and leaned into the rifle.  Her heartrate had spiked in the last few seconds with the knowledge of what she was going to do, and that might throw off her aim, but there wasn’t much she could do to stop it. There was the matter of Nancy being a member of a foreign military.  None of her US Navy officers had authorized her to do this.  This could cause a diplomatic incident of a very different kind.  On the other hand, it wasn’t as if anyone in the Navy was pro-pirate.  Plus, pirates had tried to kill her. She made one final adjustment, and then squeezed the trigger. The muzzle flash temporarily ruined her night vision, but the unicorn alongside her called, “The barrier’s down!” Nancy lined up once more.  She blinked, spotting the dot of pink, and fired again.  She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen, but an explosion and a flash that seemed as bright as the sun wasn’t it.  Her aim must have been true, because the orb had clearly shattered. A few pieces of something fell on the beach near her.  Pieces of the house?  As the sudden pink glow began to fade, she realized the cupula was gone, and a few shingles off the roof of the house, too. From down the beach, two dozen troops rose from the waves, transforming their hooves back.  They rushed the house.  Nancy stayed on her rifle, but found no more targets. A few minutes later, the allied troops were back, dragging someone with them.  They signaled all clear.  The others slipped back into the waves. Over the next few days, Nancy wasn't called upon to shoot anyone else. She cleaned her weapons as best as she could after they'd been exposed to salt water, using what she could find. With their command and control gone, the pirates became aimless.  A few days had passed, and the allied fleet crowding the coast engaged several isolated ships.  Some surrendered.   Nancy didn’t learn the results of interrogating the pirates’ captured seer, nor did she particularly want to.  She’d volunteered for the mission, and was glad to not have killed them, but didn’t really want to see their face, either. In fact, she was transferred to one of the airships for a return to Canterlot once it became clear that the pirates had lost their advantage and weren't going to be much more trouble. Captain Magnus saw her off.  “I understand that magical researcher - Sunburst, was it? - has found something, so I imagine you’ll want to be going.” “Absolutely, sir!” “I’ll send word along to have you presented with a guard commendation medal.  You were a great service to us, in the brief time we worked together.” “I appreciate it, sir, though I hope you understand that if it would delay me even a minute, I would rather just go straight to Ponyville.” He nodded.  “I know how it feels to lose your place in the world.  Good luck.”