//------------------------------// // Waking Up // Story: The Great Trial Continues! // by Dimitri2278 //------------------------------// Dec 8th, 2042 Maresk, New Stalliongrad, Greater Equestria 1430 An armoured grey and white-maned unicorn stallion paced back and forth as he faced away from a bawling blue mare with a pink mane and a dark blue pegasus stallion with a black mane who was comforting her. "So let me get this straight: at 1300, your son went downstairs to play VR when the serge happened. And the basement just...disappeared?" The stallion nodded in response. "It was horrible! Longspear just went downstairs to play his games when poof, gone! Just...I'll show you," he said as he left his sobbing wife, despite her attempts to cling to him, and led the guardstallion to the basement door. "See for yourself," he opened the door to reveal...a room with a grass floor. The guard put a hoof to his chin in thought as he closed the door with his horn. "I'm sorry, sir. But I'm afraid you need to leave," the stallion hesitated, so the guard put a hoof on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find him," the stallion nodded with teary eyes and complied with the order. He helped his wife before a few more guards came inside and escorted them out. Once they were gone, the unicorn turned to the others. "Alright, colts, let's get digging," - Dec 8th, 1978 Yazov's Bunker 1500 Yazov slowly began to regain consciousness as he heard voices overhead and felt something or someone rocking him violently back and forth. "Comrade Marshal. Comrade Marshal!" he shot up, opened his eyes, and saw at least a dozen soldiers looking at him with both shock and relief. As he began to regain focus, he felt a searing pain shoot through his skull as he lay back on the soft bed. "Ugh, my head!" he said as he brought a hand to it. As his vision swam once again, he could see the figures surrounding him. "Comrade Yazov, can you hear me?" asked one of them. "Ugh, yes, I can," groaned Yazov as he sat on the side of the bed. Another man outstretched his hand. "Can you stand?" Yazov nodded before gripping his hand firmly as he got off the bed while the other clasped his skull. "W-What happened?" he asked in a groggy tone. This time, an officer, judging by his peaked cap and black uniform, came up to him and gave a quick salute before standing at attention. "Comrade Marshal, allow me to address?" "Go ahead," replied Yazov as he continued to hold his head. "Well, about two hours ago, some sort of...force knocked us all unconscious," he began as Yazov gestured for him to continue. "And we have failed to connect to any other bunkers using the network," As Yazov finally began to recover from his headache, he lowered his arm and turned to face the man, whom he now recognized was Captain Leonid Smirnov, the man in charge of the headquarters communications. "Comrade Captain, would you mind sending someone to get some anti-biotics? I don't know what happened, but it feels as though I hit a wall," he said as the searing pain of previously began to be replaced with a dull throb. As he regained more clarity, he quickly realized he was back in his room. "Of course, Comrade Marshal," said Smirnov before turning to another soldier. "Well, you heard him, get me some drugs and a medic!" he bellowed as several soldiers saluted him before rushing to carry out his orders. Once they had left, Smirnov walked over to a desk by the bedside and picked up Yazov's cap before walking over to him. "Your hat, Comrade Marshal," he said as he presented him his cap. Yazov quickly took it before placing it on his head. "Thank you, Comrade Captain," he began as he furrowed his brow. "When did you get up?" "Well, you see...we only woke up a few minutes ago. As it would appear that since I and a few others were sitting when the blast hit, we had it better than you and those standing," said Smirnov. "I see..." began Yazov, as he put a hand to his chin. "Comrade Captain, what is the situation?" he asked with a cocked brow. It was Smirnov's turn to pause and collect his thoughts. "Well, Comrade, we have about 300 soldiers in this headquarters, with an estimated 1,023,000 civilians and soldiers scattered throughout the rest of the complex," he began as Yazov nodded for him to finish. "Of those 300, roughly 2/3 of them are in a similar state as yourself," "I see... Well, that certainly makes things difficult," began Yazov as he took a hard look around, seeing the priceless equipment seeming unscathed from the blast, aside from some loose items. "Form up!" bellowed Yazov, as the men in the room assembled facing him in a single line, with the highest-ranking and tallest on the right at attention. "Alright, I will be leaving to check on the injured in the infirmary. Therefore, I expect you all to get back to your stations. Do you understand!?" "Yes, Comrade Marshal!" they replied in unison. Yazov gestured to the Captain to come forward. "I will take two men with me. The rest are yours," he said as he saluted him before turning and marching away as two men left to follow him. Smirnov then turned to face them. "Well, you heard the man. Dismissed!" with that, they quickly broke formation and ran out the door. - Dec 8th, 2042 Maresk, New Stalliongrad, Greater Equestria 1500 "Come on, guards! For Equestria!" yelled an armoured white pegasus stallion with a blue mane as he charged at a group of human soldiers with a spear in his hoof and many more stallions and mares following behind him. Before the men could bring their guns to bear, the stallion threw his spear with incredible accuracy and hit one just below his helmet. "Get some!" he then drew his sword as he got into the fray, slaying soldier after soldier as he advanced. Soon enough, he spotted his main objective, an elevated position reinforced with sandbags and barbed wire. Above the defences flew the dreaded flags of the USA and the HLF. (Human Liberation Front) 'Come on, I'm so close to the checkpoint,' With a growl of determination, he charged the position. Followed by what remained of the guards. As he drew closer, however, he heard a familiar "click" before looking down. "Oh, crud," he said as the landmine exploded, causing the world around him to pause. "Damn it!" he shouted as a menu popped up in front of him. He sighed before pressing quit, and the world went black. - "Ugh, I was so close!" said a blue teenage pegasus colt with a white mane as he tore the VR set off, keeping his eyes closed in the process. He then flopped back onto his bed. "Dang nab- Ouch!" only to find himself in pain as he landed on the cold hard floor. "Ah, wha-" his eyes snapped open, and he looked around. Seeing grey concrete walls with pipes running alongside them, with pannel lights on the roof providing light. "What in Tartarus? This isn't my basement!" he yelled as he got back on his hooves and dusted himself off. 'Where in Equestria am I?' he asked as he picked up the damaged VR set. "Looks like I threw it a little hard, huh?" he asked himself as he heard two sets of heavy hoofsteps coming down the hall behind him. "Oh, thank Celestia, I thou-" he stopped himself as he turned and came face to face with three sets of jackboots. As he looked up, he saw two humans wearing khaki fatigues and sidecaps, while the one closest to him wore a black dress uniform and a peaked cap. The men all seemed shocked and confused as the young colt began to quiver in terror. "H-Huma-" he didn't finish, as his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fainted. Then, the man in the peaked cap turned to the others. "Either I hit my head harder than I thought... Or there is a small colourful horse on the floor?" The other two men nodded as the three of them all turned back to the colt, with one kneeling down and poking it. - Dec 8th, 1978 Yazov's Bunker 1515 The soldier then stood up, his face as pale as a ghost. "C-Comrade Marshal, it's real," The other man then turned to Yazov. "What should we do with it, Comrade Marshal?" he asked as he put a hand to his chin. 'I knew The Great Trial would leave a mark. But I never thought it would create such a creature,' he then knelt down beside it, flicking its mane out of its face. "Come, let's take it in for interrogation. After all, it did speak English," the soldiers both nodded, as one picked it up, while the other continued with Yazov towards the infirmary.