//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Mobile Suit Gundam: Alicorn // by Alines Reinhard //------------------------------// In the officers meeting room, the leaders of S.M.I.L.E are chatting about the next plan for the war. The meeting was a crucial one since they are literally the brain of the organization. Leaking crucial information about the meeting is strictly forbidden. However, since you are my audience, you can hear some of the discussion from them. “So… How is the negotiation going, RD?” Discord asked with a friendly tone “About a possible alliance with other kingdoms?” After the rewriting of Equestria’s Constitution, fearing that Black Wine’s and The Ponykind's greed would get out of hand, several kingdoms outside of Equestria started to hold numerous diplomatic meetings. Their goal is to establish a global military alliance in case Black Wine’s government declares war on them. Knowing that this might be one of ways to save Equestria from Black Wine’s greed, Princess Twilight and the rest of the Council have requested Rainbow Dash to get on the Flash and Dash to help establish the alliance as a resistance force against Black Wine’s government. The ship was supposed to come to Zebrat for an initial meeting with the Farasi’s princes. However, her journey was cut short after the Flash and Dash was nearly shot down by some 265’s mobile suit trying to capture her under Black Wine’s order. The two suits that make that attempt are two Jegan D Types with additional soldier pods as a way to embark on the airship and bring her out. If not because the Alicorn came to the site and destroyed both suits in time, they might have shot down the airship with every creature on board, except Rainbow Dash. She is still recovering from the attack due to the anesthetic gas, as seen by her fellow leaders in the officer’s meeting room (OMR). She coughed on some of the occasion, making those around worried for her health. Zecora was even ordered to stand out of the OMR along with some other officer to help when needed. “Sorry Lady, but I think you should…” “No… it’s okay. I got this!” The blue pegasi said “Online negotiating is good enough. But since I can’t come to Farasi to meet Prince Abraxax face to face, I want our ship to get to the Hall of Friendship and we can organize an international meeting there!” “But… you are now just a state figure!” Lyra asked in concern “Shouldn’t that prevent you from doing any official diplomatic action?” “No… this will be a secret meeting. Underneath the Hall of Friendship is a secret port where ships as big as us can be shielded. You understand that… Dis… cord?” she coughed for few times. “Yeah… I’ll notice my crew…” However, a unicorn pony suddenly knocked at the door, demanding to meet the blue pegasi at once. Judging from her face, the OMR guard thinks that she has some emergency things to do. They knocked on the door to signal it. “Sorry, but we have some…” As soon as he open the door, the unicorn rushes in without hesitation and speak out loud: “The Council has been turned to stone!” The whole room looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds. To broke the silence, Discord asked her again: “Can you repeat it again, please?” “The Council of Friendship has all been turned to stone. I think all of you should open the TV now!” Bonbon does exactly like the unicorn has told. The news made the whole room gasp in shock when the Canterlot Daily News headline said: “The Council of Friendship has been all turned to stone.” They opened the news just in time for the news anchor to repeat the line and added: -All of 6 out of 7 members of the Council of Friendship have been frozen to stone by “some sort of magical poison”, a Royal Guard officer at Lady Pinkie Pie’s house said. Lady Pinkie Pie has been said to be turned to stone from the inside out in just about 5 seconds, as her husband Sir Cheese Sandwich said. As for the other Council’s member…” “Im… Impossible. Who could have done this!” Discord hugged his head and kneeled down “F… Fluttershy…” “Twilight… Rarity… guys…” Rainbow Dash, as well as every creature else in the room, sobbing as the news anchor continues to report. “Discord… Can you do something with this?” “Statue magic is extremely hard to break, RD…” he said while wiping his own tears “I still don’t have full knowledge about how to cure this… It is almost un-curable!” “This just in, the Royal Guards have found suspicious objects near the sites!” The news anchor then draws all of their attention to the screen again “According to the Royal Guards, they have found some marble like object, which are made from hardened glass, near where the Councils was found. Captain Gallus said that it was nearly identical to the Statues Marbles, the weapon that was used by the Storm Army’s invasion to capture the Princesses. It was unknown who is actually behind these stone-assassinations, but it could be Storm Army again or it’s remnant…” “I knew it! It was Black Wine and his racist party behind this!” Rainbow Dash furiously “They have planned this for years!” “Pardon me, Miss. You mean that…” “Yes! It even has a dedicated plan called ‘Operation Statue of Friendship”. The Ponykind basically murdering them to ensure their position as a ruling party in case any of the rulers wanted to take them down!” “So it was you all along, Black Wine!” Discord mumbled in anger. “Here we are creatures. He has done it!” Rainbow Dash stood up “Black Wine wanted to cause dis harmony in our kingdom. He and his party have caused countless crimes on our non-pony friends and now this. Listen, guys. We'll be going to the Hall of Friendship at once. … After a few hours of preparing for the new settlement on the Parrot Strength, Flash was finally led to his new cabin. It was slightly smaller than his own back on the Canterlot, now with a bunk bed to the left of the cabin when he just opened the door. Both of the beds have their own respective retractable desk which he and Haystack can do their own pilot’s paperwork if needed. “Hello there, roommates!” the Lieutenant greeted him as he carried his own luggage to the cabin “A small cabin I see, but a comfortable one nonetheless. So, which one do you choose?” “Uh… I think the top one is good enough, Sir!” “Okay, as you wish!” He put his luggage at one of the corners of the room and got to wash his face. But before that, Haystack told him. “Hey! When things have settled, you should come to talk to the parrots! They have waited to see you since you were in a coma... No, since we discovered you. It’s like… more than 3 months, right?” “Yes… Yes Lieutenant…” … The hangar deck has, perhaps, one of the most cramped mobile suit storage facilities he has ever seen. Two mobile suits lying down one after another, trapped in their own MS cage as they face the deck’s ceiling. There are wires everywhere, hanging around as if they are trying to capture the creature that’s not paying enough attention to his path. The lighting is still somewhat decent, as the hangar is still very bright from the artificial light, something that even a middle aged parrot with some red head feathers on his head, a black shirt, dark green pants and a missing eye like Mullet could be proud of. “Let me get this straight: you are proud of the ship just because it has better lighting?” Haystack asked with an un-amused face as he asked the parrot. “Is that it?” “No, no, no. I haven’t even finished my talk. I mean… you can tell from the lighting that we have advanced avionics!” “Whatever…”the Lieutenant sighed in boredom and left for his suit. “Oh, is that you there, Brandon Cultrich?” he then waved his hand towards the blue haired human “What a pleasant surprise to see you here!” Mullet suddenly ran straight to him as soon as he saw Flash presented at one of the MS cages, where his Strike Zeta Gundam is lying. After all, creatures are still mostly kind to him. Except if they know he is Flash Sentry. “Well… My name is Mullet, a first-rate officer of the airship! Nice to meet you!” the parrot shook Flash’s hand hard, causing him to nearly tripping down. “How are you feeling now?” “Pretty good, Mr. Mullet…” Flash replied “…though I still have to adjust myself to the new ship.” He looked around the hangar in concern, the wires still hanging and swinging to the ships movement. “Ah… don’t worry about that. We’ll fix those wires in no time!” Mullet answered “And have you checked the Strike Zeta Gundam?” “Yep, just finished checking her in person! I can say that she looks as shining as if she just rolled out of the factory!” And Flash says it with honesty and with a little surprised tone. Although the hangar deck is somewhat cramped, the professionalism of the crew makes both suits coming into the ship without any dent or scratch on their armor. Flash still tries to understand how the parrots are so skillful. “Nice to hear you say that. All thanks to the AE engineer that used to teach us before. What a shame to see they abandoned us.” “Sorry, but can I talk to the Captain, please?” Haystack said to the couple “I think we should have some little conversation about our next move!” … After a hard time navigating through the ship, the trio finally reaches the upper deck, where air was fresher than inside of the airship. Standing at the helm is Captain Celaeno herself, supervising her crew. Haystack nearly fell in love with her once he saw the beautiful parrot: a large brown leather hat, striking golden armor, and her white fur. Everything about her make the middle ages pony blushes as soon as her eyes reaches him: “Ahoy there!”, the parrot greeted. She took a hanging rope near her and flew down with it to the trio. “Nice to meet both of you. My name is Celaeno, Captain of the Parrot’s Strength. And I think I already know two of you, right? So you are Lieutenant Haystack…” she pointed to the brown earth pony. Haystack quickly brought himself back to reality and nodded his head several times as fast. “And you here is Brandon Cultrich, the one who is currently piloting the Strike Zeta Gundam?” she pointed at Flash. “Yes, ma’am!” the blue haired guy nodded. “Ah… I have tons of questions that I wanted to ask both of you. Especially you, Brandon!” Her words caused Haystack to look at Flash with envy. However, he had to hide that look when she turned to him and asked “Every MS pilot is precious, especially in this trying time… Oh, and I forgot to introduce you to our crew!” “This is Lix Spittle, she is our airship’s cooker…” she pointed towards a pink featherless parrot who's walking around the upper deck to check the food containers “…this is Mullet, one of our crew birds. As you might have heard before, he is my first rate officer of the airship. “You can always count on me. To this point, I’ll look after both of you!” he said with his left hand putting proudly on his chest. Next is Boyle. He is one of the airship’s crew birds and the parrot they can always count on when moving heavy cargo, besides the cranes. His missing left hands have been replaced with a golden hook, shining as if it’s a relic of a legendary time. As they are talking, Boyle is currently carrying the food container with Lix down to the storage compartment of the airships. Both of them don’t forget to greet Mullet, the Captain and the pilot duo. “Ahoy there, Lix. Ahoy there, Boyle. When will we have the dinner?” “I don’t know! Can both of you bear a little more?” “It’s okay, none of us are hungry currently!” answered Celaeno. Next are Squabble and Quarrel. These are some of the weirdest parrots they have ever known, at least to Flash and Haystack. Both have wall eyed and both can only speak in squawks. “Don’t worry, they are pretty kind. Once you know them well you will be friends easily!” Mullet said as he looked at the twins playing figures with each other, although Captain Celaeno had ordered them to take the helm previously. The golden-armored Captain Celaeno whistles to them, causing the twins to startle and quickly regain focus on their job. Mullet and Celaeno then continued to introduced them to several others crew members of the airships, including Pinwheel the chief engineer of the airships, whose also have a missing eye like Mullet; Skittles the chief weaponry operator, the youngest crew member of the ship since she is just 25 years old, the same ages as Flash. It is also notable that the 20 years of hibernation means that he didn’t age in that era at all, so it doesn’t count into Flash’s age. He was only 20 when he was banished to the Earthsphere, and the number of years from the moment he wakes from hibernation up to that moment on the Parrot Strength is 5 years, so his age is 25. Haystack has said that to him the moment he and Flash were first met in the sick bay. With that, Haystack elbowed Flash. “Looks like you have a friend on board, finally huh?” he said jokingly. With the introduction, they know that the ship has about 20 crew members overall. With a capacity of 4 mobile suits, Haystack the builders are a little too optimistic. “Sorry to say that, Celaeno…” he sighed “Even though we have Orthinia to help, I’m aware that Black Wine will prevent AE from selling us more of their assets. Perhaps we can steal them…” “Yep, I can see your concern, Lieutenant!” Celaeno replied as she scratched her beaks to think “AE is also untrustworthy. They willing to sell their weapons to anyone as long as it generate profit to them. Glad Black Wine help us get rid of them!” “Ha! Guess he did us some favor!” Mullet chucked. After that, they continue chatting about the stuff that is going around. During the talk, Celaeno pays pretty much attention to the blue haired guy, about how he has come to Equestria and the story of his journey across Equus to combat against Black Wine’s army. Flash has successfully fabricated some part of his story to make sure no creature knows he is actually Flash Sentry: Brandon Cultrich is his real name, he was previously living in a city called Wellington, and was recruited by the Earth Federation to the Antarctic base to hunt the mysterious Alicorn Gundam. “I have a harsh life back in the Antarctica Base, you could tell that it’s weather can be way colder and windier than the Frozen North,… or even the southern Great Iceberg Barrier…” he said. “So… how were you chosen to be a Gundam pilot?” Mullet asked “It is the same as choosing pilots for the S.M.I.L.E?” “I guess it's pretty much the same, Sir… Because the Federation found out…” However, their conversation was cut short when a parrot ran straight at them. She gives them a piece of paper as she is breathing constantly. “Captain, we have a problem!” she said while wiping her sweet on the forehead “Black Wine have murdered the Council of Friendship!” “Wh… Wh… what?” Flash asked in disbelief “You say that!” “He turned them into stone! He really wanted to kick out every creature else and invade the whole Equus!” “That filthy unicorn won’t let anyone live in peace at this point!” Mullet gnashing his teeth “He will continue to hunt us down after this! Angie, is there more information about this?” Angie, the parrot that have brought the news, replied: “Yes… He said that he has commenced a new operation called: Operation Impostor Hunt!” … “To my fellow ponies… Our kingdom has witnessed a terrible tragedy!” On the TV, Black Wine’s speech was being broadcasted. He seems to be sobbing, tears run down his cheek. Although he is just acting, creatures without knowing the full story will think all of his emotions are real. “Our Council of Friendship was assassinated last night by a filthy group of creatures on the traitor ship’s Canterlot. Now, those cowardly traitors are seeking shelter in kingdoms that have tension between us, as well as them…” “Liar…” Mullet mumbled furiously “It’s the other way around. He just wanted to stir up tension and cause war…” Almost all crew members gathered at the mission room to watch the broadcast. The event that was generally called ‘assassination’ have caused massive shock and, as Mullet have said, causing even more tension. Some kingdoms have heavily criticized him for making the assassination up and wanted to start a war, causing disharmony. In one of the wildest scenarios, an Everfree's senator has called to lift the ban on the Canterlot and let S.M.I.L.E go into their airspace. “Turn out the S.M.I.L.E is fighting against that racist! We must let them in!” he said. The fact that there is Lady Rainbow Dash onboard even led more senators from various kingdoms to do the same. Although there are still worries that if they actually do it in fear that it might further escalate the tension or even angered Black Wine and make him order a military invasion upon them, the creatures still support the idea: “With that kind of greed, he will invade us eventually!” a Griffon senator said when he was interviewed “Look what has happened to Blue Rock Mine. There are plenty of illegal businesses like that in many kingdoms across Equus that were run by the Equestrian. The need to get rid of them is enough for him to launch a military operation on their own soil. So why should we hesitate?”