//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Messy Introductions // Story: Primeval // by MlpHero //------------------------------// August 13th, 2043 The Provalance Hero Bell Well, it is what it is. Here I, or we, because Sandbar, are. Far from Warsaw and somewhere in the Prov. There’s not much here for miles, minus one building off in the distance. I ain’t sure what to think of it. Who would live this far out in the middle of nowhere. As I said, Warsaw is pretty far off, and the Republic’s WAY off. I hope whoever’s here can help us.  —Hero The two friends continued walking, looking at the building. Hero aimed his rifle up, causing Sandbar to look over. “Woah woah, tap the brakes…” he said. “We don’t want them to feel threatened.” Hero sighed and lowered the rifle. “Fine.” The building itself resembled a small redesigned bunker, expanded out with a few towers flanking each corner, and the entire building was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Sandbar looked at it. “The buck is this place?” “Isn’t it obvious?” Hero retorted. “It’s a military base.” Sandbar rolled his eyes. “I know that,” he retorted back. “But why’s it here? This is still Warsaw’s territory.” “Probably some deals Firelight and Stellar got with some other Faction,” Hero said, looking around the building. He then turned to Sandbar. “Did you hear the rumors about those two datin’?” Sandbar scoffed. “I don’t believe for a second.” Hero nodded. “Yeah. Heard they both had kids though.” Sandbar nodded back. “Yeah… but they left Warsaw and headed for the Republic.” “Thought one headed for the Starlight Region? You know, the Crystal Empire?” “Yeah, proba—” “Halt!” The two froze and looked up. At the entrance gate, there was a guard. They were in tan fatigues with standard green military helmets. Republic soldiers. “Crap…” Hero said, dropping his rifle. Sandbar did the same. The soldier walked up. “Who are you?” Sand gulped. “Uh… I…” The soldier raised his rifle. Sandbar squeaked. “I-I’m Sandbar and this is—” Hero hit the soldier with his revolver. “Argh!” he grunted, watching as the guard was thrown to the ground. “Woah Hero! What the heck are you doing?!” “Relax, he was probably just another Wolfpack soldier,” Hero brushed it off, picking up his rifle. Sandbar sighed and picked his rifle up, following the nymph. The two made their way towards the base. Up in the tower, a white pegasus watched them move up. She reached for a radio. “A pony and a changeling are moving towards the entrance,” she spoke. “Should I take the shot?” “No. Let them enter,” the radio replied. “We’ll set up an ambush.” The pegasus nodded, grabbing her bow and some arrows, before opening a hatch and climbing down. ~~~ Hero and Sandbar tried to open the door, but it didn’t budge. They looked around, before Hero looked at the guard. He ran back, soon returning with a keycard. “Found this. Think it’ll work?” “It has to,” Sandbar replied. Hero slid the card into a card reader, the pushed the door open. The lights were off, and they couldn’t see a light switch anywhere. Sandbar looked over at a nearby table, grabbing a nearby flashlight. He switched it on, looking around until he found the light switch. He walked over and tried it, but the lights didn’t turn on. “Crap…” “Hold on.” Hero looked over. “Point the light over here.” Sandbar trotted over, pointing the light at Hero’s hooves. There, sitting on the wall, was a fuse box. Hero opened it, noticing all the wires. “Hm…” “Uh… are you sure you know how to do this?” Sandbar asked. “Yep. Just… gimme a bit.” Hero began flipping switches. Most of them were just door access points. However, and after a bit of struggle, Hero was finally able to get the lights on. “Alright, there we go!” They then looked up, noticing that the building was much bigger than it appeared from the outside. The two looked around in both awe and confusion. How could a building be bigger on the inside than the outside? They’d begin to move forward until they came across a room labeled ‘armory’. Hero used the keycard, unlocking the room. He pushed it open, peeking in. He stepped in, admiring the many weapons. He looked around, noticing flamethrowers, rifles, sub-machine guns, machine guns, pistols, shotguns, and many other weapons. Hero trotted in further, picking up an MMSh-41, a weapon that came from the Lunar Union. How did this get here…? Before he could grab it, he heard Sandbar scream, “Buck!” followed by several gunshots. Hero whipped around, raising up and beginning to aim his rifle, only to have it knocked away by… a changeling? Before he could react, he felt something hit him  hard in the stomach, then in the head. Hero collapsed, wheezing and holding his stomach. His vision slowly began to fade. As it did, he heard someone. “Jeez Bez, did you have to hit that hard?” ~~~ Hero soon came to, groaning. He held his stomach, praying that whatever he last ate wouldn’t come back out. He looked around, noticing he was in some kind of hospital bed. He sat up groggily, like how one would on a school day. Sitting up, he was able to take in his surroundings. Yes, it definitely was some kind of hospital. He soon noticed he wasn’t restrained, and he was able to slice off the bed. He looked at another bed, noticing Sandbar was lying there. “Sandbar?” He stepped over. “Sandbar!” he whispered. “Get up!” Sandbar didn’t move. And Hero soon learned why. Three bolts had struck the poor pony. Twice to the chest, once to the head. “Oh buck…” He then heard sounds of a large group coming towards the room, and he hid behind the door. A group of creatures stepped in. A pegasus, a changeling, a hippogriff, and what appeared to be an Umbrum mixed with a griffon. Hero watched as they stepped past the door, heading over to Sandbar’s bed. Hero noticed the hippogriff had one of the keycards. Hero carefully grabbed it, before retreating from the room. ~~~ Bezier, the changeling, leaned against the wall in boredom, her rifle making it uncomfortable. “Who do you think these two are?” she asked to no one in particular. The others looked over. Melody, the pegasus, shrugged. “He could be a Wolfpack spy.” Bezier looked at the unconscious earth pony. “I don’t think so. I mean, this pony looks young.” Griff, the griffon, blinked. “Dude, we’re all underaged.” Bezier rolled her eyes. “I still don’t think the Wolves would send two kids on what’s basically a suicide mission.” Melody looked at the other bed. “Uh… speaking of which… where’s the changeling?” The group turned, noticing the empty bed. Toast, the hippogriff, looked at the other beds. “He’s not in these beds. Where else could he have gone?!” ~~~ Hero stepped through the hallways. He looked around, watching many creatures trot through the building. He then noticed the armory not too far. He sighed. He couldn’t just run towards the door. They’d know he wasn’t one of them. Unless… He stepped behind cover. In a flash of green, he emerged as the purple hippogriff. Hero chuckled and walked towards the armory, quickly sliding the keycard in, then stepping in and closing the door behind him. Hero then reverted back to his changeling form, looking at the many weapons. However, he noticed something else. His revolver was sitting on some kind of display. He blinked, stepping over and grabbing it. He raised it up, smiling. Popping out the cylinder, however, proved something wrong. The bolts were gone. “What the.. did they take the bolts out? I know I put some in…” “Looking for something?” Hero whipped around, noticing a red changeling standing in the doorway. In his hoof, a box of 44. caliber bolts. Before Hero could say anything, the changeling threw the box at him, hitting him square in the face and sending the bolts all over the floor. The changeling then charged him, grabbing and throwing Hero to the floor. He then began punching Hero in the face. The older changeling clearly had the upper hoof, but Hero had an idea. He kicked the changeling off of him, then quickly crawled for his revolver. The changeling regained his stature in time for Hero to fire the revolver straight into his chest, sending him stumbling back into the wall. Hero stared at the changeling, not listening to the yelling of pain and anger. He instead was focused and staring into space. The cocking of a handgun quickly snapped him from his tranz, as the changeling held up a pistol. Hero quickly kicked it away, raising his revolver, ready to fire. But, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It felt wrong. But, why? Hero sighed, lowering the gun. He leaned down to the changeling, lifting him up. He put the changeling on his back. The screams of anger soon turned into words of confusion. As he stepped out, he looked up, noticing the many soldiers staring at him. He lowered the changeling onto the ground, then pulled his revolver out and slid it over to them. With rifles aimed up, he slowly lowered onto his knees. However, as they moved to detain him, someone stepped past them. A cyan, reformed, changeling. “At ease everyone, at ease,” he said. “At ease?!” a blue changeling called out. “That kid shot my brother!” “At ease Venom Stinger! Or I’ll have your bucking head!” the cyan changeling snapped. The blue changeling hushed. The reformed changeling turned to Hero, helping him up. “I bet you have questions, kid.” Hero nodded, standing. The changeling smiled slightly. “We have answers. But, we’ll need your help.” Hero nodded again. “Look, as long as it helps Warsaw, I’m here to help.” The changeling chuckled, shaking his hoof. “General Pharynx.” Hero smiled. “Hero. Hero Bell.”