//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Spiral Saga: Operation Lazarus // by Kleptoshark //------------------------------// “Uughhh…” “Quick! Get up get up get up!” Applejack awoke to see Pinkie Pie standing over her. As if this wasn’t worrying enough, Pinkie Pie was wearing a very panicked expression as opposed to her normally chipper demeanour. “Pinkie… what happened?” Applejack quickly realised why asking Pinkie to explain something to you while you’re half-asleep is not a good idea. She had to ask the hyperactive pony to slow down multiple times before finally understanding what was going on. By this time they had been joined by Fluttershy, who seemed to be the only pony left in the field other than themselves. “So, y’all’s saying that aliens came in and knocked us out with gas b’fore abducting our friends? Remind me why you were somehow-?” “I always have a gasmask nearby-“ “-in case of gasmask emergency?” the skepticism was evident in Applejack’s voice. “Of course!” Pinkie Pie’s optimistic personality seemed to be coming back. “’Right, so, wait, can we jus’ do a headcount here?” At this point, Fluttershy added to the conversation, “I-I think we’re the only ones left.” she mumbled. “Right, so what say we go after ‘em?” Applejack cocked an eyebrow, looking back to Pinkie. “Which way’d they go?” “They carried them off into the Everfree Forest…” Pinkie Pie said, the enthusiasm draining with each syllable. Suddenly, the idea of going after their friends, at least single-handedly, seemed to lose its credibility. “Well, whadda y'all suggest we do?” Applejack shot back, “Just sit ‘round on our rumps?” “We could always send a letter back to Canterlot,” Fluttershy murmured, “I mean, the Princesses would help us, right?” She looked to her friends, timidly waiting to see how they would receive her suggestion. “Well there’s an idea,” Applejack said approvingly, “first things first, tho’,” she said, getting onto her hooves, “we shouldn’t stick ‘round here, we sure ‘aint going to get anythin’ done by sittin’ here.” ~~~ Herex was lying in the middle of his throne room, staring at the ceiling while the gears in his head turned. He was always the most relaxed this way, the cool steel pressed against the back on his head, the gentle, distant rumble of the Clockworks soothing his mind while he schemed, imagining the next big project he’d come up with. Seerus’ time travel project was a pleasant distraction, but he wanted something more… original, something with his own mark on it, as opposed to a salvaged version of somebody else’s creation. He was considering a new bio-weapon of some sort. He recalled his “Toxoil” project in Compound 42, his attempt to create a flammable, sentient, gelatinous biotoxin. The idea behind the Toxoil would be to train them to hone in on knights, light them on fire, then let them charge straight at the knights. Of course, after a report telling him that a number of toxoils had formed a hive-mind and started attacking some of the workers, he realised that the compound would have to be eradicated. Inevitably, the Knights put a stop to that, why did they always have to- “Sir?” Herex’s eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright with a start. Herex hoped his orderly hadn’t realised that he had dozed off. The recruit shuffled nervously, clearing his throat and inspecting his toes. You're just being paranoid, Herex, he thought to himself, nobody could imagine taking you off-guard. Herex pushed his goggles up onto his brow, rubbing the drowsiness out of his eyes. His irises were an irradiated green, contrasting with his black sclerae. “Speak.” The order came out crisp and clear, making his orderly snap to attention. “Sir,” he started, “the Ghostmanes are back from their expedition, they succeeded.” “Oh?” Herex stood up from the floor and stretched his back, making his vertebrae crack and pop. “Lieutenant Rejyk has retrieved denizens from the new dimension, believed to be sentient.” Herex’s brow shot up in surprise as he replaced his goggles over his eyes. He rolled his neck left and right, stretching out the last of the stiffness with a series of loud pops while he mulled over the information. “Alright, give them a few hours to… acclimatize. I’ll have questions for them by then. Casualty report?” Herex wished he didn’t have to ask this, but he knew it was necessary. “Of course, sir.” The orderly cleared his throat again, producing a typed report from his satchel. “Lieutenant Rejyk has been assessed for several injuries dealt to him by one of the inter-dimensional denizens, our menders are reporting a thorough recovery, and he should be able to return to active service soon.” The orderly shifted his weight nervously before continuing, knowing his superior didn’t appreciate bad news, “Sergeant Jetzul died honourably. Reports state he was killed in combat with a feral animal in the vicinity of the trans-dimensional rift. His conduct will serve as an example for generations of soldiers to come.” Herex sighed, he regretted death that resulted from his orders, but he knew that casualties were inevitable in combat. “Well stated, soldier, may Jetzul find eternal peace in The Sanctuary.” ~~~ Applejack was pacing around anxiously. They had written a letter to the princesses in Canterlot, and Fluttershy had insisted on delivering it herself, taking off at her best speed. Applejack only hoped that the princesses would send help soon- *CRACK!* “Well, that was a rush,” Celestia said somewhat shakily, “are you okay, Luna?” Luna, who was equally dizzy after having assisted her sister in teleporting an entire squad of their respective royal guards all the way from Canterlot, replied shakily. “Yes, I think I’m alright, but I feel do feel bit woozy.” Luna looked back at her sister, a fatigued grin on her face. “Right,” Celestia continued, turning to address Pinkie Pie “Pinkamena, could you explain what’s going on here? We received your letter, but I’m not certain I read your note correctly, you said something about aliens?” “Hiya Celestia, Hi Luna, yeah, it was really scary, a bunch of aliens came and carried off Dashie, Twi, Rarity, and Spike! They weren’t all that smart, but it was really scary!” Pinkie looked up at both of the princesses, waiting for their response. Celestia was still a bit wary of Pinkie’s story, but she knew better than to dismiss the pink mare’s claims. Four of her subjects were missing and she was determined to- Celestia succumbed to the a sudden onset dizziness; the teleportation had a very taxing effect on her equilibrium, causing her to stagger slightly before falling onto her flank. “Perhaps the Princesses could just rest a moment while the Royal Guard handles the situation?” This came from Shining Armour, the captain of Celestia’s personal guard. “Of course, Shining, I have every confidence the Royal Guard will be able to solve this mystery.” Upon hearing this, Bellerophon, the captain of the Lunar Guard, muttered his frustrations at this. "Oh sure, just give them all the fun." Luna looked at her guard captain upon hearing this. “Would you like to accompany Celestia’s guards in attempting to search for anything regarding the missing mares?” she asked politely. “Accompany them?!” Bellerophon knew better than to use an insolent tone in front of his sovereign, but his pride wouldn’t stand for it. “I’m certain the Lunar Guard could find twice as much information regarding the missing mares, and twice as useful!” the dark-coloured pegasus puffed his chest out, determined to show himself more than capable of backing up his claim. “Talk is cheap,” Shining Armour was not going to have himself stood up by this wannabe-guard who was claiming to be better than him. “You feel like putting your money where your mouth is, punk?” Fluttershy had enough of the arguing, it wasn’t getting anypony anywhere, and she hated it. “QUIET!!” She screamed. “…please?” After a moment of shocked silence, Luna seized the moment to gain control of the situation before the guard captains began arguing again. “I propose a friendly competition,” she suggested, “the Royal Guard and the Lunar Guard will go into the Everfree forest,” she continued, motioning to the twisted tree line in front of her, “and look for anything that could be of use in our search.” She paused, for dramatic effect. “Whoever’s clues prove to me more useful in finding the mares, is the better guardspony.” Bellerophon and Shining Armour both replied in unison. “Deal.” “Well then,” Celestia chimed, “what’re you waiting around here for? Get going!” ~~~ Across an inter-dimensional boundary, Rainbow Dash felt herself being gently nudged awake. “Daaaaash..." “Ugh,” she mumbled, “Just a few more minutes…” “Daaaash..." “Just a little bit longer…” “Dash! Wake up!” “Oh, what is it?!” Dash retorted angrily. She opened her eyes and took in the metallic atmosphere around her, and suddenly the events of yesterday came back to her in a flood. She sat up quickly, still expecting to be face-to-face with the black-padded creature she was fighting with; she still had a hoof sandwich with that jerk’s name on it. “Calm down, Dash,” Twilight said, assuring her, “there isn’t much you can do from in here.” Rainbow Dash straightened up, and took a moment to examine her surroundings. She appeared to be in a steel-plated jail cell, with a door made from wrought-iron bars. An ache in the side of her head confirmed that the floor was indeed, made from uncomfortable metal plating. In the room with her were Twilight, Spike, Rarity (who was still fast asleep), and…. There appeared to be a medium-sized bipedal creature, sitting in a corner of the room. It was wearing armour that reminded her of Celestia’s own guardsponies. He was wearing large armour-plated boots and gloves that were so oversized compared to his thin frame that they very nearly gave him a comical look. He was also wearing an almost spherical metal helmet, a pair of radio antennae protruding behind his head from where he ears would be, and a curious pale-green visor obscuring his eyes from view. A canteen hung from his shoulders, in addition to a tabard. The tabard extended down his chest and was secured to his waist by a pair of utility belts with several pouches and pockets attached to them. Upon seeing this alarming creature Rainbow Dash sprang to her hooves, and felt a lancing pain through her flank, she remembered the injury from earlier. Although between her wound and this weird… thing they were sharing a cell with, Dash decided that the latter required more attention. She leaned over to Twilight. “Who is this guy?” She hissed. “No clue,” Twilight responded, “he isn’t very talkative.” Dash glanced back to Rarity, where Spike was still doing his best to wake her. Then back to the armoured creature that was busy fiddling with some sort of electronic device clutched in his hands. Dash realised that if Twilight couldn’t find anything out about… it… then she didn’t have much of a chance to find anything out either, but Rainbow Dash approached the metal-clad creature, determined to learn anything she could. “Hi.” She started. The armour plated creature gave a grunt of mutual acknowledgement, not taking his eyes from the piece of machinery he was busily re-assembling. “My name’s Rainbow Dash.” She continued. “Well isn’t that a coincidence.” The creature muttered. At this, Rainbow Dash looked back to Twilight, seeking encouragement of some sort. Twilight merely shrugged. “How so?” Dash continued, hoping the creature would explain the meaning of his cryptic response. “Well,” he stated, “I have a name too, it really is a small world after all.” His metal helmet betrayed none of his emotions, but the sarcasm in his voice was more than apparent. Dash was taken aback by this metal creature’s flippant response, but was determined to find out as much as she could. “So… what’s your name, then?” she continued. “My name’s Hahn, I’m a Spiral Knight.” He said in a monotone. Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, well she had gotten a name, that was a start. The latter half of ‘Hahn’s’ statement still confused her, though. She gulped, then opened her mouth her continue. “What’s a Spira-?” “A Spiral Knight is someone who doesn’t like being asked stupid questions.” Hahn interrupted, “Now could you please… leave me alone? I’m in the middle of something important here.” Rainbow Dash decided she had enough of Hahn’s rude demeanour, and limped back to Twilight with a humourless scowl on her face. Twilight seemed rather pleased, in contrast to her friend’s expression. By this point Rarity had finally regained consciousness, and the group were mulling over what little information they had about their cellmate before a guard opened the door. “You,” he declared, pointing at the ponies, “Crimson Order member Herex has granted you an audience, now follow.” He stood beside the open door, motioning for them to leave. Twlight gulped nervously, then turned to the other Equestrians, “Let’s get going then.” She said, nervously exiting the cell. “Well, what if we decide that we don’t want to see ‘Crimson Order member Herex’ just now?” Rarity pouted, she was not one to be bossed around. In response, the jailer merely growled, and unsheathed a stun stick from his belt, the tip sparking dangerously with electricity. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Spike put threw himself in front of the disgruntled jailer, desperately attempting to protect his crush from an unfortunate accident, “sh-she was just speaking hypothetically, right?” He turned back to Rarity, a pleading look in his eyes. “Yes, of course!” Rarity had not expected the guard to resort to violence so casually, and gave a nervous grin. The guard merely grunted, returning the stun baton to his belt. “Now, follow.” He growled. ~~~ “Sir? I think I found something!” Bellerophon galloped over, equal parts of joy and anger. “Keep your voice down!” he hissed “You don’t want the Royal Guard to take credit for what you found, do you?” He changed his tone, unable to hide his giddiness at his guard’s discovery. “What’d you find?” he whispered, his slitted-pupils glinting in the waning light. “Well, see for yourself, sir.” The Lunar Guard motioned to the ground nearby. Indeed, at their hooves, was a gruesomely butchered cockatrice; near its decapitated body was a circular, bloodstained sawblade, half-buried in the earth. Bellerophon was somewhat disturbed by the scene, but he wouldn’t let it get in the way of his optimism- this was definitely a good find! He congratulated the guardspony who had found it, and, judging the angle of where the blade had come from, by where the blood was splattered, he suggested that they search over where it was assumed to be thrown from. They both crept through the brush, giddy with the idea of finding even more. Neither of them was prepared for what they found, though. Standing in a small clearing, was a statue, or rather, the petrified body of a mid-sized bipedal creature clothed in close-fitting armour, one hand was pulling a scarf away from its face to expose a toothy scowl, in his other hand was clutched a sawblade, identical to the one that killed the cockatrice. The Lunar Guardspony was about to approach it, but was restrained by Bellerophon, who hissed at him to exercise caution. They were both still mulling over how to approach the situation when one of the members of the Royal Guard sauntered over, rapped his hoof against the petrified creature, and turned around. “Found iiit!” he called in a sing-song voice. “Oi!” Bellerophon called angrily, motioning for his fellow guard to follow him, “We found it first!” The gold-plated pegasus gave them a smug look, “Oh really? It’s your word against mine- what’re you going to do about it?” He straightened up, giving a self-righteous smile. “I’m going to call it,” Bellerophon said, leaning in and lowering his voice to almost a whisper "'Called it." The Royal Guard, who was now joined by Shining Armour, and several other Royal Guards, looked mortified, “Y-you can’t do that!” “Why not?” the bat-winged pegasus was definitely starting to enjoy himself now. “‘Because only foals ‘call it’” Shining Armour interjected, the lack of humour evident in his voice. “So?” Bellerophon shot back, “That doesn’t make it any less legitimate.” Shining Armour rolled his eyes. “Fine, you found it first.” He turned to address his Royal Guard, who were now protesting his concession of victory. “What in Celestia’s name are you whining about?!” Shining Armour shouted at them, “Currently, three mares and a dragon are suffering who-knows-what at the hands of these creatures,” he shouted, motioning toward the statue, “one of which is my kid sister,” he added, “and you’re treating it like it’s all some sort of game?!” even the Lunar Guard turned their gazes to the ground, ashamed of their own carefree conduct. He turned back to his dark-coated counterpart, “I don’t know about you,” he said, matter-of-factly, “but I think the fact that we found it is more important than some stupid game, wouldn’t you agree?” Bellerophon mumbled a curt “Fine.” The taste of victory soured in his mouth. “I don’t suppose you could teleport us out of here?” He said, cocking a humourless eyebrow. “Of course.” Shining Armour’s horn fizzed with magical energy, and all the guardsponies, including their oversized lawn ornament, were teleported back to the field, in front of a pair of pleased princesses. “So,” Celestia asked curiously, “who won?” “We did.” Bellerophon muttered, however something in his voice made Celestia think that he wasn’t exactly happy with victory. She made a mental note to ask Luna about what happened later, as she turned her attention to the snarling statue that stood before them. “So… how do we reverse the petrification?” one of the Lunar Guard asked, “The cockatrice responsible was found dead.” “Oh?” Luna inquired, “If that’s the case, we need only wait, the effect should wear off soon-” As if on cue, the stone prison keeping Sergeant Jetzul contained in paralysis crumbled and shattered around him. To be quite honest, nobody was nearly as surprised as Jetzul himself, whose last memory had been of an odd creature staring at him to suddenly be replaced with several quadropedal creatures of varying colours and sizes. He realised that he still had a sawblade clutched in his hand, so he took the only logical course of action for someone in his situation. He threw it.