//------------------------------// // Chapter 4/ECA: Comfort of the Castle // Story: Red Banners, Red Stains // by BurgerFanMan //------------------------------// Recruits go to war for the action and bravery and sacrifice. They return with a newfound respect for a quiet and calm night. Ambassadors' Wing, Canterlot Castle, 6th August, 2045. 03:04 PM boing-boing-boing scribble-scribble "...and thus, first contact was made. A historic moment for all man- and pony-kind..." bang-bang Chief Corporal First Class Andrej decided suicide by table-head smashing wasn't fast and pushed his chair back from the small, posh oak desk in the corner of the bedroom. Behind him, Soldier First Class Everard and Soldier First Class Lukas North were watching their fellow Soldier Newbery's acrobatics on the huge, incredibly bouncy king sized bed while Corporal Harris Romano had taken over another desk to write what he called 'the greatest nonfiction journal ever created'. Corporal Harper was currently in the fancy bedroom's ensuite bathroom; his intestines had not liked the drop from zero-gravity space at mach 25. The two women in the squad, SFC Janelle and Chief Corporal Sharice, had been given another room entirely to themselves just across the hall. Andrej strolled over to the fourth-story window- an ornate glass with velvet curtains- to gaze outside. The view would make any Swiss mountaineer instantly jealous. The ambassadors' wing of 'Canterlot Castle', where the 200 soldiers, engineers, medics, and scientists from the European Continental Alliance currently resided, was a huge four-story building that, despite its height, managed to almost blend into the vegetation and greenery of the castle grounds when gazed upon from outside. The part of the castle where the wing was stretched out into the city on the castle's west, allowing each room an unobstructed view of Canterlot's rich uptown beyond the castle's outer walls. It was clearly meant to act as a display of wealth and power to any visiting dignitaries. Below, Andrej watched armored Royal Guards- which seemed to be Equestria's ceremonial military force- patrolling the grounds. The ponies, mostly unicorns albeit with some earthponies, pegasi, and other species he had never seen, had weapons sheathed at their sides. These ranged from battle axes to swords- he had yet to see any kind of firearm. Beyond there were rows of houses and shops stretching till the huge, steep mountains, which enfolded the city from almost all sides. Andrej could honestly see why the city was the capital of what was supposedly one of only a handful of countries in this world. Firstly, the city was built along the side of a literal mountain. On the lower half of the mountain was Lower Canterlot, where the bulk of the population and industry were located. Apartment buildings, businesses, and houses occupied whatever space they could find in the maze of streets which wound up and down- literally- through the city. A handful of main streets ran in a zigzag from the base of the mountain to Canterlot Castle. The other part of the city, Upper Canterlot, was built on a sort of plateau that appeared to have been carved right out of the mountain. Except for where it was connected to Lower Canterlot, Upper Canterlot was surrounded by huge mountains of rock towering over it, snow capping their peaks. The difference in height made Andrej feel slightly queasy. Upper Canterlot was mostly occupied by the upper- and upper-middle class, with mansions for the rich and apartment blocks for those who serviced them or worked at the castle. According to the ponies, Equestria was extremely equal in wealth and quality of life, but evidently there was still a gap between the rich and the commonfolk. The architecture of the buildings seemed to Andrej like a mix of every European culture. It felt strangely familiar and new at the same time- if it weren't for ponies walking the streets or soaring overhead, and the location of Canterlot, it could have been any large western European town. A loud clatter of metal and a crash behind him made Andrej leap forwards into the window. He whipped his head to see SFC Newbery out cold on the floor, a dented metal grate on the floor next to him. Lukas was checking on him while Everard stared upward in shock. Andrej looked up too to see a gap in the roof where the cover to the ventilation system was. with the head of a grey-coated pony stuck out. She was gnawing on a stark red apple with two fangs in her mouth, her light red mane hanging down limply. Andrej could make out the tips of wings just behind her shoulder. Corporal Harris grabbed his assault rifle, lying next to the desk, and tossed a pistol to Andrej which he caught deftly, flicking off the safety. "DON'T MOVE! DON'T MOVE!" The pony- a thestral- raised her hooves in surrender, apple stuck in one of her fangs. "Domt shoot!" Her voice was muffled by the apple, which she unpinned from her fang with a hoof. Andrej moved carefully across the room, keeping the pistol pointed at the thestral. He stopped next to the door and exchanged the pistol for a more accurate rifle, placing his hand on the doorknob. "Wait, no! I'm sorry about err, knocking out your friend, it was an accident!" She glanced at SFC Newbery who was now sitting with his back to the wall, attended by SFC Lukas. He sighed. "What are you doing up here?" The thestral had retreated further up into the vent, and Andrej could just barely see her taking a wary bite from the apple. "I live here. I heard a lot of noise so I came to investigate." Newbery grinned guiltily. "So," the thestral said as she carefully lowered herself further from the vent, evidently hanging upside from some point inside it, "who are you? I haven't ever seen any of your species before. It's like if a griffon and a minotaur had a deformed ugly baby." She made fake puking motions. Andrej decided not to take offense. "Well, we're humans, from the world of Earth. We're all soldiers of the European Continental Alliance and we were, er, dropping from space and somehow landed just below Canterlot. Then we met wi-" "WAIT, WHAT? FROM SPAAAAAAACE?" The thestral's eyes are wide in awe. From Andrej's limited experience with the ponies, he decides she must be a teenager or young adult. "Oh, yes. Our technology is much more advanced than yours. We have a magnetic launcher that can send rockets with supplies or people outside the atmosphere with just a bit of electricity. Everyone here from the ECA was on standby on an orbital station. There was some urgent mission in Antarctica- that's an icy continent to the very south of Earth- and our orbital station was the only one orbiting close enough to get the drop pods down quickly." The thestral, having finished her apple, put her hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "So, there's more of you here? How many? Are they all Your-o-peen soldiers? Are they all ugly? Do any of them have wings? Can they be sneaky? Can they sink their fangs into someo-" "Alright, chill it, thestral. What's your name?" The thestral jumped a little at the interruption. "Oh, right! I'm Hopeful Shadow, and you can just call me a batpony! 'Thestral' is just what the fancy people use." Andrej nodded and shuffled once again to the door. The batpony's 'fangs' comment had put him on edge. SFC Everard was still trying to load his rifle, currently slotting bullets into an empty magazine, and Lukas was tending to the extremely dizzy Newbery. Corporal Harper had not yet appeared from the bathroom, despite all the ruckus. If the batpony attacked, they could probably kill it before it did any damage if it shared the anatomy and durability of a regular horse. However, he didn't know if it had any magic or ranged attacks, or more mundane weapons. It would only take a fraction of a second for the batpony to throw a dagger or knife at any one of them. The uncomfortable silence was broken by the door smashing into Andrej's back, sending the batpony back into the vent with a hiss and almost causing Andrej to fire his rifle. He spun around to see Chief Corporal Sharice and SFC Janelle standing in the doorway, concerned looks on their faces- or, at least, on Janelle's face. Janelle had apparently hastily donned full heavy combat gear: bulletproof gear covering her entire torso, and a combat helmet sitting lopsided on her head. Sharice, meanwhile, was simply wearing regular non-combat uniform. Both of them carried assault rifles. Sharice inspected the room, taking in the rifles and pistols in everyone's hands, SFC Newbery lying against the left wall, Everard surrounded by fallen bullets, and vent soot covering the huge king bed just in front of the doorway. A flush sounded from the bathroom to the right and Corporal Harper stepped out, pistol gripped tightly in one hand. "So, chief.... we heard some noise and came to investigate," Sharice said with a French accent. She gave Andrej a judgmental stare. He waved his arms wildly at the room. "There was uhhhh a vampire in the vents... and she tried to kill the... and Everard's magazines were empty... so we made it surrender and uhhh..." He shrugged. "Everything's fine, I suppose." Sharice rolled her eyes. "Alright then. While you were fighting the vampires hiding in the ventilation system, command distributed duties to everyone. Here," she passed a two-page document to Andrej, who lay his rifle against the wall. By order of this unit's commanding officers, on behalf of the European Continental Alliance: Due to the loss of contact with ECA High Command for the foreseeable future, all ECA missions in the area will come under the command of Commandant Woodward. The following rules are in effect until further notice: All equipment not currently in squad possession must be cleared by the head Quartermaster before being signed out. No paramilitary member, soldier or officer may leave the building without express permission of a Captain and without their squad unless part of their duties. Follow Red Zone safety rules: Keep a weapon on you or within reach at all times, ensure your squad leader always knows your location, and avoid frivolous use of supplies. Keep your ID on you AT ALL TIMES You will not receive pay. If you wish to dispute these rules, please contact a clerk of your nationality and have them file a complaint. Andrej looked up. "Aren't all our clerks back on Earth? And what's this about us not receiving pay?" Sharice shrugged. "There's no money to pay us with, and it's worthless in Equestria anyways. No point in getting paid." Andrej hmphed at this and resumed reading. Remember, we are not just Europe's, but the entirety of humanity's ambassadors to an entire world of sentient creatures. Be trusting and kind, but also vigilant. See the second document for your squad's duties and schedules. Good luck, and God save us all. Andrej picked up and inspected the other page. It showed a table of squad names, duties, and timings. He scanned the 24-squad list- noting the times the guard would be changed and when the paramilitary departments would be available- until he came to 'Wooderatten'. Their duty simply read 'Public Relations', with the timings slot being left empty. Andrej turned over the page to see notes on each duty. Public Relations- Interact with local populace and authorities. Gather intel on way of life, improve public image, etc. May leave building at any time. That was surprising. The Wooderattens were the youngest squad in the unit, having been sent to the orbital purely so that more veteran sections could be diverted to the front lines. He had expected them to receive guard duty or a desk job, not the important task of PR in such a situation. He shrugged. "Alright, squad. Get suited up. Yellow zone combat gear. We move out at... 3:20." The small crowd of squadmembers around him dispersed with salutes to get ready. Andrej joined them while he formulated a plan in his head. "Ready, chief." "Ready, sir!" "...and the Wooderattens now prepared to head out into..." "Do you think five armor plates are enough?" "R-ready! I think?" "Can we go now?" "Ready, sir." Andrej inspected his squad proudly. Corporal Harris had brought a notepad with him to document their 'travels', Janelle was wearing way too much equipment, and Everard was still struggling to tie his helmet strap, but it seemed they were well prepared. He gave Newbery a light pat on the back to stop the hyperactive soldier from bouncing all over the place, and motioned down the corridor. To say that the Floor 4 of the Ambassadors' Wing was spacious would be an understatement. Each room easily accommodated an 8-man squad each, potentially twice as many if they were housed as tightly as in regular barracks, yet there were over 40 rooms on the floor. The layout was simple, with a single corridor running the length of the building, bedrooms and other cupboards, dining halls, and conference rooms lining both sides. The corridor itself was huge. The ceiling stretched upwards so far that they had to crane their necks to look up at it; the corridor was clearly designed with flying species in mind. The unit had taken advantage of the width of the corridor to pile equipment and building materials on either side without blocking movement, as well setting up a small command center currently occupied by two squads with Commandant Woodward. In fact, it was so wide you would need to park two main battle tanks to- Andrej stopped short at the sight of two Leopard MBTs blocking the end of the corridor, the still decently wide gap between them being taken up by a small desk and crates to funnel visitors into a metal detector. It seemed they were already trying to turn the place into a secure embassy. As the squad approached the checkpoint, Andrej could hear a loud argument taking place between a navy-blue pegasus and one of the human guards on duty. A pair of unicorn Royal Guard watched intently from the other side. "I'm not stepping into your-" the pegasus glared at the metal detector- "infernal machine." "Qu'attendez-vous de moi ? Se rendre?" replied the guard, appearing bored. Andrej could tell otherwise from the Frenchman's tight grip on his rifle. "On ne se rend pas toujours, tu sais." "I don't speak Prench," huffed the pegasus. Andrej flashed his ID at the French guard, who moved aside to let them pass. On the other side, the pegasus gave them a suspicious glare while the two Royal Guards blocked their path. Andrej could swear he heard quiet movement coming from the empty space to his left, but he dismissed it. "Halt! State your intentions." "We've been assigned to tour the city and learn about the pony way of life," replied Andrej diplomatically. The guard to the right- a white-armored, white-coated pony with a special orange marker on her right front shoulder- looked them over skeptically. Andrej uncomfortably shifted his rifle, which was slung over his shoulder. After a moment, the guard shrugged and motioned to one of the four rooms on the 'Equestrian side' of the corridor. "Ask for the journalist team. If they're on break, come back in half an hour." Andrej nodded his thanks and walked over to the room, leaving his squad by the checkpoint. The door was wide open, revealing about a dozen ponies with desks, large stacks of paper, sofas, and some equipment. If it wasn't for the various forms of medieval weaponry along with other sharp-looking objects resting in a rack against the far wall, this could have been mistaken for an office room without computers. About half of the ponies were busily working at the desks, only sparing a curious glance or two at Andrej, while a group of ponies in Royal Guard armour were deep in conversation around a water dispenser. Andrej decided it was safe to enter and approached the guards. "...and they actually let it sign up." "What the hell? We can't join the Nightguard, but batponies can join the Royals? Sounds like the Princess is playing favourites." "I dunno. The Nightguard is much ne- oh, hello." "Er, hi. I'm looking for the 'journalist team'." A pegasus gave a small laugh and motioned over to three of the ponies standing around the dispenser. "Well, you've found them. Shushie Hoofs, Silver Hide, and Blurry Flash," he pointed at an earthpony stallion, pegasus mare, and unicorn stallion in turn, "can help you with... whatever it is you need." "Right, well... we kind of need to tour the city, if you have a couple of hours?" "There's no way." "Yep, he's totally reformed now. I hear he's living with Fluttershy at a small town called Ponyville. Just rumours, tbough." As the Wooderattens walked down the streets of Canterlot with the pony journalist, the Coporals and SFCs had struck up a lively conversation about the recent history of Equestria. They were currently talking about some mad chaos god called Discord. Andrej was trying to wrap his head around the power of magic in the world of Equus, but it seemed the younger squad members had instantly accepted it. He glanced over at Chief Corporal Sharice, who as usual was quiet and cold. She was subtly watching any civilian ponies that took an interest in them, although there weren't many as the journalist team had led them through the back routes of Canterlot. "...and she's like, one of the fastest pegasi alive! Wait, have I told you about the Wonderbolts yet? They're- oh, we're here." The street ended very abruptly at the huge wall at the edge of Lower Canterlot, which they somehow hadn't been able to see before. It stood proud and gleaming with stark-grey stone bricks. There were occasional stairs leading up to the top of the wide wall, which they climbed up to reveal a stunning sight. Now that they were below the thin fog which had clouded the view from Canterlot Castle, Andrej could see endless rolling plains, forests, and rivers stretching to the horizon. A couple of large farming towns dotted the landscape, with large roads winding through the terrain to connect them. It was as awesome as the view from Canterlot Castle, in its own way. "Canterlot," Sharice said suddenly. Andrej turned to her. "What?" "Canterlot." She gave a sudden giggle which Andrej could only describe as 'insane'. "When a pony is running, you say they're cantering." "OH." Andrej understood and stifled a laugh of his own. "Well, it's no worse than... Moscow." He continued to take in the details of the landscape for a few minutes while he collected his thoughts on Equestria, ponies, and other dimensions. The rest of the squad had resumed listening to Shushie Hoofs and Blurry Flash's tales about the country and the Elements of Harmony, whatever those were. Sharice, Andrej, and the pegasus, Silver Hide, stood together silently on the edge of the wall until Silver Hide spoke up. "Like the view?" "Oh, yes. Slovakia's countryside was beautiful but this... I think nothing on Earth can compare to it. It's gorgeous." Silver Hide's grin turned slightly mischievous, which Andrej didn't properly register. "Hypothetically, if you were to be picked up into the air, where would you be picked up from?" "Hm? From under the shoulders, I suppose. Why- AHHHHH" The pegasus had grabbed Andrej from the armpits and shot straight up into the sky with a single beat of her wings. They rapidly ascended Canterlot as Andrej's screaming subsided. "Alright, alright, give a little warning first," he shouted over the rushing wind. "Oh, sorry." Silver Hide didn't look very repentant. It took them barely half a minute to get above Upper Canterlot, and Silver Hide's ascent slowed down as the air thin. Andrej kept his eyes firmly on her face, not daring to look down. Her eyes glinted with the joy and rush of flight. "Oh, don't worry, human! If you happen to accidentally fall from my grip I'll catch you. Although you are a bit heavy..." Well, I'm never going to get an opportunity like this again. May as well take a look... Andrej forced his gaze downwards and gasped. Although it was heavily obscured by clouds and fog, Upper Canterlot was laid out like a model town below them. He could just barely see ponies going about their late afternoon routines, with the massive Canterlot Castle and its glittering domes and spires overseeing it all. Most of the buildings were white, gold, or similar bright colours, which almost hurt to look at. Andrej could also see a few dozen pegasi flying above or even walking on the clouds above the city. He pointed at it, shouting to Silver Hide. "What are those pegasi doing?" "Those are weather ponies scheduling some rainfall tonight, and some civilian pegasi just enjoying a walk on the clouds. Do you want to take a closer look?" Andrej decided he'd had enough of flying for a day. "No thanks, can you take us back down?" "Aw.. alright." Silver Hide pulled her wings in and glided down smoothly. Now that he wasn't panicking about flying, Andrej noticed ponies pointing or staring at the strange pair. He wondered how long it would take for the ponies to get used to humans in Canterlot- or if they'd adapt to them at all. "That'll be eleven bits." "Here you go!" Andrej gave his vanilla ice cream an experimental lick. It was a lot thicker than he was used to, and the cone was wider, but it tasted almost exactly like any street vendor's ice cream back in Europe. He gave a thumbs up at Silver Hide's query about the taste. The group had found a bench outside an inn- yet again reminding Andrej that pony technology and society was remarkably like that of the later medieval times- and bought an ice cream each from a passing vendor, who had used magic rather than industrial machinery to prepare and cool it. "Speaking of bits," Newbery said as he finished off his cone, "you guys don't have internet or computers yet you have radios, right?" Blurry Flash nodded. "Given what you have described, our level of technology does not match that of yours. While we're on the topic of technology, I was curious about your friend's equipment..." He nodded towards Janelle's heavy armor and next-gen helmet. Andrej narrowed his eyes and shook his head slightly at Newbery, who had opened his mouth to reply. Blurry Flash had been asking military-related questions for the entire tour, trying to worm them into the conversation and make them seem innocent, but Andrej didn't want to be spilling military 'secrets' to the ponies just yet. "Oh, the armourrrrrrrrrrrheyyyyyyy soooo if there's no internet that means there's no internet companies, right? We're sure to make a killing in such an untapped market!" Andrej faked a hearty laugh- he had lots of experience, from dealing with officers- which was joined by the genuine laughs of his squadmates. A batpony with a camera hanging from his neck trotted over to the group. "Two bits for a picture? It's great quality, one of the newest model cameras available!" The squadmembers and ponies mumbled their agreement and, after Silver Hide passed over two bits, posed in front of the inn. Click! I'm sick of listening to these quotes about bravery and glory and the true meaning of life. War is simply a dirty mess where no one knows what's happening. ???, ???. ??? Clink. Another empty, brown bottle joined the growing group on the edge of the top deck. Another full bottle left the other group nearby. The bright lights from the buildings nearby barely illuminated the face of the man sitting on the edge of the deck, legs swinging, barely caring if he fell. Another empty bottle joined the group on the left. Another left the group on the right. "This one's for you, Teddy." The man tossed a bottle down onto the pier below, laughing as some guards jumped at the noise of the bottle breaking. He lazily got up and threw on a coat, then headed for the bridge. The coat's insignia was that of a Staff Sergeant's.