//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Mobile Suit Gundam: Alicorn - Volume 2 // by Alines Reinhard //------------------------------// “Thank you for letting us see you, your majesty!” Celaeno replied “I am Celaeno, Captain of the Parrot’s Strength, 1st squad of S.M.I.L.E!” “S.M.I.L.E? Is that short for something? That’s a cute abbreviation for an armed force!” “It stands for the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria, your majesty! We classified mobile suits as monsters so this is our job!” “A secret organization and still have some guts to say it out loud here? Okay… never mind! And how about the rest?” “This is Lieutenant Haystack, Commander of S.M.I.L.E’s main mobile suit force. Second is Ensign Brandon Cultrich, S.M.I.L.E’s mobile suit pilot as well as Haystack’s subordinate!” “Ah, I see… Glad to know you two, Haystack and Brandon! So… what do you really want to talk about?” “First is… I want to ask you for some favor to hold our ships here in Kirin’s Groove for a little longer, since we are running low on both fuel, ammunition and food supply. We also sometimes need to fix our ships and mobile suits here too. Sorry for disturbing you and your kingdom for all of those demands.” “I know, because I have to risk the kingdom and all of its citizens for a possible Equestrian attack right here. Do we have any benefits if we agree to your demands?” “I will ask for additional support from S.M.I.L.E’s headquarters and the Harmony Alliance to aid us in case of an invasion. We have the Rapid Communication System on board that was only designed for S.M.I.L.E’s ship, so that they will catch it easily without any intervention.” “Are there any guarantee for that?” the Queen asked which made Celaeno think for a while. Flash could clearly see the sweets running down the fur of her face with her eyebrows furrowed. He knows that it’s also a very question to answer, as this is a matter of life and death of thousands of innocent lives. “My life, your Majesty!” she replied in determination. “Your life? That’s a bold one, Captain!” the queen said calmly. “What the… what do you think, Celaeno?” Haystack asked in concern “Our system is proven to be 100 percent good, you don’t have to…” “The condition in a war is different than in peace time. While that system was tested in the hardest conditions, the enemy could come up with a better way to jam our communication…” Celaeno whispered to the two of them. “This is my decision, although the Kirin’s Groove have openly joined the Harmony Alliance! I’ll make sure none of your lives were lost in case I’m wrong.” “Okay… but count me in if the worst happens!” Haystack said. Flash has always known his commander has some sort of feeling for his beautiful captain. “No, I want you to live…” “Enough! Let's just say I agree with your decision, Captain. What’s next?” the Queen asked “I don’t really have much time for you today!” “Well… my friend Ensign Brandon Cultrich has some news for you.. You know that your daughter Spring Garden has been missing for 6 years, right?” “Yes, what about that? She and friends have gone to your capital and never returned since then. Her mentor, Princess Twilight herself has straight up begged me to wait, cause guess what, she’s Luster Dawn personal mentor! But then it’s been six years!” “Well… he has some news for you… Mr. Brandon knows where she is!” Haystack said. “Wh… What?” Rainshine mumbled. Flash could tell she is shocked when she changes her position from leaning on her right hoof to sitting upright, her eyebrows raised and her pupils slightly dilated. “He has Luster Dawn’s diary in his bag right here. He certainly has the secret of that Alicorn Gundam because of the connection between him and them. I will let him tell you the story!” The Queen then ordered her guards to closed off the curtains and get out of the throne room, so that she, Haystack and Celaeno could hear what really happen: “Six years ago, the group of friends that consisted of Luster Dawn the unicorn, Butter Burger the earth pony, Yolinda the yak, Grisela the griffon, and Spring Garden, your daughter, came to Canterlot to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle. When they arrived at the castle, they encountered Black Wine and his plans to ‘kick the creature’s butt’ out of Equestria. He knew that Princess Twilight will never allow that as she tries to preserve harmony as well as he knew that the citizens of Equestria love her extremely. That’s why he has planned what you have known: imprisoned the Council of Friendship. When Black Wine saw them at the door as he was talking about that plan to The Ponykind’s member, he ordered his guard to chase them down. Luckily, they have found a way to get out by a secret path that was said will get them to Ponyville in no time. But also unfortunately, it led them to the Earthsphere, to Antarctica, where they encountered the Alicorn Gundam. While struggling to control the thing, she accidentally causes it to consume her and her friends. Fearing that she and her group will be imprisoned forever, she has casted a spell on it which will help the group find the appropriate creature that will free them…” “Wait… hold on! You said that Alicorn Gundam’s action that just running wild everywhere and causing mass destruction to the Abyssinian’s fleet are Luster and her friend’s?” Haystack asked in shock. “Half right, Sir. The Equestrian and those at AE have installed a special software that is basically a catalyst that tricked them to go rampage. I’ve talked to them, Sir. They are certainly not evil and they need help, not just from me but all of us!” “So with what you are saying, the ‘appropriate creature’ that you said is… you?” Celaeno asked. “Yes… Yes, Captain… We started to have that kind of ‘connection’ when I touched a part of its cockpit that I mistook for a small snow cave. That ‘connection’ is actually called the Haunting Curse, and it’s the reason why I frequently go to sleep due to them just coming to my dream, creating nightmares and begging me to free them. At first, I just tried to shake them off, but after learning to co-exist, I think we are becoming friends now.” Flash paused for a little while, and the continued: “Our job is really to try to retrieve that Alicorn Gundam primarily, and beating Black Wine’s army in general will be all of the Alliance's job. However, I just want to say we should not treat that machine as well as their magic of friendship as a weapon. That’s all…” “So… how can we save them out?” Haystack asked. “There is a special place in the Everfree forest for that… I still don’t know what to call it…” “Ponehenge, Flash!” Luster’s voice whispered in his ears like a small wind. “Ah… yes, the Ponehenge! They use that place to release imprisoned creatures I guess. But… I’m not even a unicorn, as you can see…” “We're gonna talk about that when we get there!” Haystack interrupted, “Now, we should focus on how to bring that thing back, as we are doing it right now.” “Thank you for your information. But…” the queen suddenly said “Did Spring Garden say anything to you, Ensign Brandon?” “Tell her I love her…” Spring Garden whispered into Flash’s ear “And tell her I just want to see my place again… I’ll signal her through you!” “She said a lot of things to me when in the dreams, your Majesty!” Flash replied “But overall, she loves you. And… she also wanted to visit this place once again when she had a chance!” When Flash said “…when she has a chance”, Rainshine suddenly sees some strange phenomenon in his eyes: somehow, she could see the glimpse of her only daughter's eye, to the point that Flash’s pupil seems to turn from blue to purple at one point. “Spring… Garden…” she mumbled, her eyes started to have some tears. But she has to shake her head and swallow her feelings before continuing to ask. “Do you have any proof for that?” “I only have concrete evidence that he has some sort of connection to the Alicorn Gundam, that’s it, your Majesty!” She looked at Flash and his comrades for a few seconds. The blue haired human before her had both his hands behind his back and looked at her in a very confident eye. While to her, he is a human, his pose somehow telling her “It’s him, the one that will bring your daughter back to life!” “Sorry, Ensign Brandon, but can you and I have a personal conversation?” Every creature was shocked to hear what she said. Flash is not excluded from that, with his pupil dilated and his mouth open a little wider. But then, Haystack nods his head to Flash, signaling him to just do what the Queen said. “As you wish, your Majesty.” The blue haired pilot said as he bowed to the queen. … Later on, he was led to a garden full of strange flowers and plants. The garden was possibly the most beautiful one he has ever come across: thousands of flowers and plants placed in multiple columns, added with the presence of some butterflies, bees and some ladybugs. The birds around them are chirping and the sun is shining upon them. The place was truly a paradise, at least to Flash. “This is the place where she used to collect plants for her potions...” the queen slowly presented “…she always came up with some crazy ideas when she was small, like how to make potions that could fix her little plushie or how to make the perfect ballerina dress…” She chuckle right after saying “…ballerina dress” before continued: “Studying here was a dream for her when she began to learn potion crafting from me. Well… it was pretty far from our palace, as you have seen. I used to try to prevent her from going there because she still didn't have not enough knowledge to fully protect herself…” Flash could spot several of “Danger!”or “Do not touch unless you’re professional!” around the place, which indicate there are some toxic plants being planted. “And even when she has fully grown and has enough knowledge, I still hesitate to let her into this place. Why? It was because of my fear that she might go away and never needed me anymore, especially when she wanted to get to that one school called “School of Friendship”. She said she could make tons of new friends and teach them about the potions. Well… I rejected that idea a few times and explained that ‘because you are a royalty and this kingdom can afford to lose you’. Sounds reasonable right? No, there are kingdoms that send their princes and princesses overseas, and they do it a lot. I know that if I allow her to do that, she will gain a lot of respect from the citizens, especially when she is heir to the throne. Yet my selfishness still gets in the way! However, Princess Twilight herself once came to visit us and I asked her ‘Should I bring my child to your school?’ to her…” “So… how does she reply?” Flash asked with a careful tone. “Don’t need to be too careful with me, deer. I’m not like I can burn you since I’m in a good mood today!” she answered, the she decided to go on “She just answered as: it’s all depends on me, but she once has a student that she have hesitate to let her go to the point she have kept her in Canterlot longer than she should, but eventually in order for her to get friends – she actually a smart pony without friendship at the start…” Then, she turned her eyes from the garden and looked at Flash. At that moment, he noticed the queens started to have some tears in her eyes again. She continued her story without wiping her tears: “That’s why I also let Spring Garden go to Ponyville as she wishes. I love her so much that I also have the same fear as Princess Twilight once had to her best students: she ended up not needing me anymore…” “Mom, I always love you, and I will never stop needing you!” Spring Garden suddenly screamed in Flash's ear. Right after that, Flash hugged the queen uncontrollably. “Spring… Gar… den…” Rainshine mumbled, the tears have got to fall heavier than before. “Mom, sorry for all these years…” the small gray kirin said “…I never wanted to leave you!” Rainshine eyes widened as she asked herself why she felt Spring Garden hugged her instead of the human embracing from Flash. However, she still enjoys it because to her, Spring Garden is already home. She hugged Flash back as a result. “Thank you, dear…” she said as her hoof embraced the blue haired pilot into her. “Awe…” the rest of Spring Garden’s friends could be heard moaning right next to them. After that, the queen let him go slowly and carefully, as if the human shaped creature before her is really her missing daughter. She continued: “Thank you for what you have brought to us, Brandon…” she said as she wiped her tears “…I hope that you and S.M.I.L.E succeed. By the way, do you want to visit around with your comrades, I would like to invite you to a party tonight as a welcome gesture from us, the kirins.” “It… It’s our pleasure… your Majesty…” Flash politely bowed before the queen. … “So you get to visit the garden, the princess' personal room, and her personal museum without us?” Haystack asked before having another sip of wine, his face started to get more red. “Yeah… Yes. But you should control your drinking, Haystack!” Flash added when he smelled some alcoholic breath coming out of his commander’s mouth and caused him to lure them away, while his face slightly wrinkled. “You dare use that against me?” the Lieutenant raised his voice as he started to get drunk. His voice is now getting deeper and more hoarse. Around them are crew from both the Parrot’s Strength and the Black Hawk having fun with each other on the party tables. There are traditional kirin’s salad, Jahana, kirin’s traditional soup,… all sorts of foods, drinks and even wine, which Haystack absolutely loves, on the tables. Creatures laughing, chatting, playing games, and singing as well. There is a pony who brings a guitar along, singing a country song with his hoarse drunken voice with some of his creatures' friends as they hold each other's shoulders. The party was held at a large hall with wooden walls and ceiling, bright torch with kirin fire, and some beautiful paintings of the kingdoms. Queen Rainshine has ordered her castle kirins to organize the party as a gift to the creatures “that will die for us during the invasion”, as well as a gift personally for Flash as he is the one linked her to Spring Garden, as she did stated before that. This also the reason why suddenly, a griffon raises her cup of booze above the crowd and said: “Today, we drink this cup for friendship, the queen, and for our friend Brandon. I don’t know what happened to you but I could say thank you!” “All hail Brandon Cultrich!” the rest of the room hailed. Flash reply to them by a nod and said: “It’s an honor to be your crew mate!” he said “Thank you for all of the support you have for me!” A few seconds later, Boyle, Mullet and Celaeno, all appeared to be somewhat drunken, approaching where Flash and Haystack are sitting. They hugged the duo and start talking: “Hey mate, thanks for your effort. By the way, how can you convince her?” Boyle asked “Does she have a crush on you or what?” “Wait, what? No, she just hugged me and that’s it… But if you want to hear, we might have to talk about it tomorrow, okay?” Flash appeared to be the only one that is still relatively conscious. But he too soon gets along with the rest of the crew only after a few cups of kirin sweet wine. The kirin guard was stunned to see half of the crew members of both ships sleeping together along the party table. Along with crew members who were still conscious, they had to remove them and bring them back to their ships. Seashell Blue was surprisingly in a bright mind and decided to join the effort. “Jeez Brandon! Learn to drink!” he slightly complained while carrying his humanoid friend “You only drink 3 cups!” … The next day, Flash was ordered to present himself at the mission room to talk about what really happened to Flash and the true nature of his connection to the Alicorn Gundam. Flash was actually being led to the combat bridge because that is also the place for Celaeno to plan her mission. The room still maintains its mysterious atmosphere with its only source of lights are the mission table, where the map was shown, and the lights of the monitors and buttons from the controlling machine around it. Gathering around the mission table are Celaeno, Haystack, captain Alina of the Black Hawk, as well as Mullet and Boyle. When Flash walked in, they immediately silenced in the middle of their chatting. “Ehem, Ensign Brandon Cultrich!” Celaeno started off what Flash called an “interrogation” due to its atmosphere with a throat clearing gesture “If I’m not wrong, you are personally invited by queen Rainshine to visit around her ‘places’, is that true?” Flash slightly nodded his head to the question. “I want you to said it out loud, soldier!” the captain said with her eyebrows raised. “Yes, captain!” “Good! Now tell us what’s happening there, and the reason behind it, please!” Flash decided to tell the entirety of the conversation he had with Rainshine, as well as the detail of the garden he had visited. They were shocked to learn that he have unintentionally hug the queen, but they quite doubt about his explanation ‘the ghost of princess Spring Garden force me to do it “Sweet Celestia… Consider yourself lucky when none of the guards know what you did… I heard that we have a somewhat bad reputation with the kirins…” Flash has heard stories of some casual Kirin’s Groove citizens trying to avoid the port as they have some opinion that opposes S.M.I.L.E’s activity in Kirin’s Groove soil. Some even criticize them as a “war magnet” due to the fact that Black Wine’s army is still chasing them. Haystack even suggested that her sudden change of decision simply because she could find a clue of where her daughter might be a way that “…we are trying to brainwash her! No political leader should make decisions based on their personal feelings, you know?” (as Haystack ranted with the captain when he came to the combat bridge with her). “So… how does she know that princess Spring Garden 'forces’ you to do that?” Haystack asked with his emphasis on the word ‘force’. “I don’t know, but clearly she saw some Spring Garden in me… anyway as you may have known, he helped us have that party last night with his… gift. By the way, can you fully explain your relationship with the Alicorn Gundam in full detail?” “Wait… I thought you had told me in the throne room so that you could tell it to the rest of the crew?” Flash asked in confusion. “Yes, but we set up this ‘interrogation’ to make sure what you say is honest!” Celaeno calmly said “Your claim that you are being haunted by Luster Dawn and her friends seems too… unrealistic, and straight up insulting!” She slightly raised her voice when she mentioned the phrase “straight up insulting”. Flash was then required to retell the story that he had told during his meeting with the queen in the throne room. According to Haystack himself, he has repeated the tale “without any difference”. Despite that, they still decided to continued asking: “How can we know that you are not making up your story?” Mullet questioned. “I could tell that he’s not because of his personal meeting with Queen Rainshine… It’s not a coincidence when he mentioned how her deer daughter is going on at the moment and then she invited him to have a personal visit. But it may be she suddenly feels bad for her daughter when Flash mentions the princess’s name, though” , Haystack commented “And, as I said, it would be unacceptable for a leader to let her emotion control her.” The group then stayed silent for a while. It was an awkward silence because while Flash’s claim sounds like he made it up from a self-written story that he imagined himself as a savior of the worlds, the evidence that they discovered themselves started to show more support to the claim. “Okay… let just say you will have to give us that notebook for sometime cause’ we’ll make some investigation on you. Until then, you'll be under constant monitoring by none other than your superior officer…” Celaeno said. But she was cut off as Haystack proudly put his right hoof on to his chest and said: “As I have always done, madam!” Right after that, Angie was allowed to come into the bridge to say: “It’s time for lunch, every creature!”