//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Second Introductions, Painful memories (edited) // Story: New Beginnings // by Black Alicorn //------------------------------// - - - - - Planet Raxus, April 12th, 2659, 14:37 hrs A soldier shouted. “Damn it where did that come from?!” Wolf looked at the body that was once Corporal Marks. There was a large spike sticking out of his back. He looked up, and there was a tall round tower, maybe twelve stories high, and full of holes from explosives and gunfire. “I want fire on that tower over there.” “Sir?” “Cover me, I'm going in close.” “Yes sir.” The soldiers around him came out of their cover and opened fire on the tower. Wolf left from his cover and began running towards the tower. It was at least a 500 meter walk, through thick enemy fire, with little to no cover. For most it would be a suicide mission. For Wolf it was just another day on the job. Normally he would bring backup, but Wolf wasn't going to risk the lives of his men. He took cover inside a trench. He was spotted by a small Spinar infantry squad. He looked up and saw that, if he followed the trench, he would end up very close to the tower. He began the journey. After 120 or so meters, he stopped to listen. Footsteps, close to him. All of a sudden, a Spinar drone jumped into the trench within inches of Wolf, forcing him on his back. The drones were much like ants, save that they were bipedal and both their legs and arms were covered in thorns. There head was different than the rest of their ant-like body, resembling that of the Praying Mantis. Drones were the basic Spinar class, assuming the role of workers in bug colonies. Just as frail as humans, and extremely stupid, they aren't very dangerous alone. In groups however, as if some kind of telepathy combined their collective intelligence, they were capable of brilliant battlefield tactics, overwhelming small human squads easily. The Drone aimed it's weapon at Wolf. Too late. By the time that it had it's gun pointed at him, Wolf's weapon was already blazing, pumping hot lead into the chest, neck and head of the drone. It fell over dead. He got up and fired his weapon in the direction the first drone came from. The two others standing there were caught completely off guard. Within a second, both were laying on the ground lifeless. Wolf emptied his magazine in the direction of the main Spinar force, then reloaded. He then continued towards the tower. He exited the trench and was 100 meters away from the tower. He ran towards the entrance. He quickly jumped behind a low wall. The Spinar who were guarding the entrance oppened fire on his position. Wolf armed the grenade launcher on the bottom of his rifle, and fired it in the general direction of the guards. A perfect shot, followed by a loud explosion. He got out of cover and walked towards the entrance. Bits of drones littered the ground, covering it in a ghastly green from the blood leaking out. Some of the guards lay dead on the ground, killed by the shrapnel of the grenade, the rest injured. Wolf approached the wounded guards. They were in pain, obviously, barely able to move. Wolf pointed his weapon at their heads. Four gunshots. Four more dead Spinar. Even after everything they did, Wolf just couldn't leave them there. Even he wouldn't deny them a quick death. He proceeded into the tower. It was an apartment complex. Wolf looked into a half open door. It was a large living room. The white pillows on the black leather couch were full of holes from projectiles, the cedar coffee table was overturned, and also full of holes. A drone lay dead on the floor, creating a large pool of green blood. He looked around more. And saw the corpse of a man holding the corpse of a blonde woman tightly with one hand, while the other was holding a shotgun. "At least you decided to put up a fight...." He picked up the shotgun and checked to see if it was loaded. "9 rounds left, good enough for me." Wolf put his rifle on his back, onto the hook that was on his armor specifically for weapons. He looked some more, then he saw it. A teddy bear was on the ground, covered in blood, and with a large hole in it's left leg. He didn't want to look more, he already knew what was there. “The sons of bitches.....” Was the thought in his head. He left the room and proceeded to the roof of the buiding. On the roof, there it was. A Wasp. Wasps were named like that because of the powerful stingers on its arms and because it had wings. The second highest class of bug, Wasps are extremely dangerous, assuming the role of special forces and battlefield commanders, Wasps enjoy many benefits in Spinar society. Highly trained, with a hard exoskeleton that is resistant to small arms fire and natural weapons, in terms of their powerful stingers that can be used as blades, make Wasps one of the most dangerous Spinar classes. It didn't notice the human approaching it from behind. A few moments later it felt something againsit it's head. Then it heard a human voice. “Gotchya.” A single shotgun burst disintegrated the Wasp's head, sending a cloud of green blood in all directions, splashing Wolf's helmet and upper body. He wiped off his helmet. “Wolf to base, sniper eliminated.” “Sorry sir, we lost the base. We're en route to your position.” “Copy that. I'll be waiting. Wolf out.” A few seconds later, a voice from the radio. "Sir, we're taking heavy fire from bug positions to our east! Requesting fire support!" "Copy that trooper, I'll do what I can from here." He looked around and saw the Wasp's rifle. "It'll do." He put his shotgun down and picked up the rifle, then took over the Wasp's former position. He looked through the scope and found the retreating humans. He shifted his view to the east, and found a large concentration of Spinar shooting at the humans. He focused on a drone operating a small machine gun. One shot, one kill. He continued to fire at the bugs, always hitting his target, killing it with a well placed headshot. "How do you like someone shooting back at you?" The rifle clicked empty. He picked up the shotgun again. "Damn, don't Spinar guns carry more ammo?" After finishing that sentence, a massive Spinar flew up over the roof out of nowhere. It looked very much like the Goliath Tarantula back on Earth, only the size of a small basketball court. This was a Spider. With it's eight powerful legs and natural body armor, along with the capabillity of becoming an extremely versatile weapons platform, made the Spider a living, breathing tank. Wolf was caught completely by suprise. He fired off as many bursts on it as he could, before it came crashing onto the ground, knocking Wolf down. He lost his shotgun, and so he rolled to his left, avoiding the legs trying to crush him, got back to his feet and pulled out his rifle and unleashed a hailstorm of deadly rounds. A leg came over and tried to hit him. Wolf dived, dodging the leg. He fired off a short burst, before jumping to dodge another leg. As he was midair from the jump another leg came up and slammed into his chest, sending him over the edge of the tower. He grabbed on to the ledge at the last possible second, and looked down at the battle below. "That wouldn't have been pleasant..." His other arm came up and grabbed the ledge, empty now, after losing the rifle to gravity, and he pulled himself up to meet a waiting Spider. He pulled out his pistol. He fired six shots at it's face before he dived to the left to dodge the Spider's frenzied charge. It turned on a dime, and positioned itself above Wolf. He tried to fire at it's head, letting out five more rounds before one of it's legs knocked the weapon out of his hand. Two more legs came and pinned him to the ground. A giant stinger came down and pierced his shoulder on both ends and lodged itself in the concrete roof. Wolf screamed in pain. - - - - - Wolf jumped off the couch, panting heavily. Cold sweat was rolling down his forehead. He looked at his shoulder. A six inch long and three inch wide scar was there. It took him a few minutes to collect his thoughts after the nighmare. - - - - - No ,not a nightmare. A memory. - - - - - Wolf's thought's were interrupted by Twilight. “Morning!” “Morning.” “Sleep well?” He didn't answer. Twilight already knew the answer. “Bad dream?” “Bad memory.” “War?” “Yeah.” Silence filled the room for a few seconds. The silence was interrupted by Twilight's voice. “Enough about that, how about some breakfast?” “Sure, what are we having?” “Blueberry pancakes.” “Sounds good.” Twilight returned to the kitchen. Nyx came down, while yawning loudly. A smile appeared on Wolfs face. “Morning!” he shouted. Nyx was startled a bit at first, but she quickly returned the smile and answered. "Morning!" "How did you sleep?" “Fine! You?” Some of the smile dissapeared. He lied. “Just fine.” There was a moment of silence in the room. It was quickly interrupted by Twilight's voice. “Breakfast is ready!” The two immediately set course for the kitchen. The smell of fresh pancakes had flooded the room. Wolf smelled it first. He liked, no, he loved it. - - - - - Blueberry pancakes, how long has It been? - - - - - The table was set perfectly. Four plates on the table, all filled with pancakes, with a glass of orange juice on the side of each, with a flower pot in the middle. As far as Wolf was concerned, it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He quickly sat down and waited for the other three. He almost began eating immediately, but he remembered that he wasn't in battle anymore, so he didn't need to eat fast. Nyx and Twilight were the first to arrive, Spike was the only one left. A few minutes passed, before Twilight called him. “Spike! You coming? Breakfast is ready!” No answer. Twilight called again. “SPIKE!” The little purple dragon came down the stairs, somewhat angry that he had been rudely awoken, but otherwise fine. He sat at the table, said a quick good morning and began eating. He looked up at Wolf, and as soon as their eyes met, he fell out of the chair. "Um....Spike?" "T-T-T-Twi-Twilight? W-W-Wh- Who is that?" "Spike, I introduced you two last night. You were probably just too tired to notice him. Anyway...." "Name's Wolf." He interrupted. "Okay....I'm Spike." "So I heard. So, shall we continue?" Without answering, everyone resumed eating. "I'll take that as a yes..." As soon as the pancake touched his lips, Wolf was amazed. It was the best thing he ever had, even better than the soup from the other day. He recommenced eating, he was going to savor every bite. He tasted the orange juice. It was so fresh and delicious, he quickly took another sip, and put the glass down. ***** An hour or so after breakfast, Twilight was taking Nyx to school while Wolf was following. They arrived in front of the school and were greeted by Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Morning Nyx!” “Morning Twilight!” “Morning uh.....who are you?” Twilight tried to answer, but she was interrupted by Nyx. “He's our new friend! His name is Wolf.” Wolf raised an eyebrow. All his friends were dead, killed in the war. He quickly shook his head. - - - - - No, the war is over. You can make friends now..... - - - - - Wolf was quickly surrounded by the three fillies. Scootaloo quickly introduced herself and her friends. “Hi,I'm Scootaloo! This is Sweetie Belle and this is Applebloom. And we're....” The other three joined her for a loud shout of “THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” Wolf was a bit surprised, and he joked: “Could you say that again? I don't think they heard you across town.” All 5 ponies laughed. “Well girls, you need to get in. It'll be time for class soon.” She knelt towards Nyx, gave her a kiss on the forehead and said: “Have a great day at school sweetie. I'll see you later, I'm going to show Wolf around some more.” “Bye mom!” The four fillies left Wolf and Twilight and went into the school. A few moments later, the bell rang. “Well, shall we go?” “Yeah.” “Where should we go first?” “You tell me. You're the one who's living here.” “Well, I'd like to pay a visit to Rarity.” “Who?” “Oh, she's a friend of mine.” “Well, lets go.” * * * * * Deep within the Everfree Forest...... A black pegasus with a dark purple mane approached a unicorn of the same colors. The silence of the moment was ruined by the unicorn. “Report Darkmane.” “The shell of the Queen remains in Ponyville.” “Good.” “Will we attempt to initiate the ritual?” “No, we must gather more forces. If we initiate now, we will be vulnerable to Celestia. We must gather more ponies for the army.” “My Lord, if I may, The Children Of Nightmare attempted to revive Nightmare Moon but failed. How will we do it?” “The Children Of Nightmare were not truly loyal. They were simply touched by our Queens greatness. The...'Queen' they revived was corrupted by Twilight Sparkle. If all goes according to plan, there will be no such problem.” “My Lord, there is a complication.” “What is it?” “An unknown being has fallen from the sky into Equestria.” The unicorn went silent for a moment, he was thinking. “We will observe it. If it becomes a potential problem, we will eliminate it. Go now, Darkmane.” “Yes my lord....” * * * * * Twilight and Wolf arrived outside of Carousel Boutique. “Well, here we are.” Wolf was silent. Carousel Boutique looked much like a tower. He felt a slight pain in his shoulder, right were a large stinger found him three years ago. “Hey, you okay?” Silence. “Hellooooo? Are you in there?” “Yeah, I'm fine.” “Well let's go in.” The two entered. Twilight was very cheerful, but Wolf was silent, his deep blue eyes darting back and forth. He was nervous, it was obvious. A loud crash. Wolf's eyes were fixed on the door where the sound came from. Twilight looked at him. It was obvious that he was preparing to attack, if need be.The door opened. Pieces of fabric came flying out the door. A voice also came out of the door. “No, no, no, no, no no NO!” One of the pieces struck a chair with enough force to knock it over. - - - - - Planet Gift, July 23rd, 2659, 19:56 hrs. Wolf was commanding the 485th infantry. They received orders to reinforce human positions outside the city of New Athens. He looked at his men. All were calm, ready on the outside. But he could easily see the fear in their eyes. One of them, was particularly scared. He approached the dark haired soldier. “Name and rank, trooper!” He was caught off guard, he didn't expect his commander to come up to him like that. Wolf said again. “Name and rank, trooper!” He was ready to answer this time. “Private First Class John Parker sir!” “You look worried Parker. What's wrong?” “My brother is here sir. I haven't heard from him in weeks and I'm worried.” Wolf was silent after Parker's answer. Then he said. “If he's gone, he did his duty. He kept this area clear so that the civilians could get out of here. He saved a lot of lives.” Both Parker and Wolf were silent after their talk. Parker was hoping he would see his brother again. Wolf wasn't so hopeful. He had received a more....detailed briefing. - - - - - Wolf was walking down the halls of a human millitary base. He was going to see Major Dorn, his CO. He stopped at the end of the hall, and turned to face the door that was there. He knocked, and entered. The Major was sitting there with a cigar in his mouth and a shot of whiskey on his desk. He was completely in the dark, he didn't like people to see his face. Wolf never saw what he really looked like. “Captain, first of all let me congratulate you on your work on Raxus.” Wolf didn't respond. The Major continued. “We've lost contact with the 742nd. They were guarding a barricade outside of New Athens. You'll take the 485th and take them to that barricade. Keep it secure, and kill any Spinar you find.” “Yes sir.” "And Wolf....." "Sir?" "Watch yourself out there." "I always do..." - - - - - They arrived at the barricade. Wolf shouted. “Secure the perimeter!” “Yes sir!” “Um, sir?” “What is it?” The soldier showed him the ground. Wolf looked closer. Then he saw it. “My God......” Corpses littered the ground, covered in dust so that they weren't visible at first. Parker quickly went to search the corpses, hoping to not find his brother there. Parker went into a doorway. A loud crash. He found what he didn't want to find and tipped a desk. Wolf looked into the doorway, and saw Parker holding a body in his arms, while sobbing. “Joel! Wake up Joel! Wake up!” Wolf tilted his head down just slightly. Parker then began to yell. “No, no, no, no, no no NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” A series of quick bangs. Wolf looked into the doorway. Parker had three large spikes sticking out of his left side. He fell to the ground. "BUGS! Get to cover!" - - - - - Wolf looked away, his eyes closed tightly. Twilight noticed this. She tried to ask him if he was alright, but was interrupted by another voice. “Welcome to Carousel-Oh hello Twilight, I didn't hear you come in and-WAHAHA!!” Wolf answered to the scream. “Nice to meet you too.” “Oh, sorry, I just didn't expect, well something like, well, you.” “I get it a lot around here.” “Well, no reason to be informal, my name is Rarity, and you are?” “Wolf.” “A pleasure to meet you.” “Likewise.” “Well Twilight, what can I do for you?” “I wanted to say hello and introduce you to Wolf, but now that you mention it, could you fix the gala dress you made for me?” “What happened?” “Well, Pinkie Pie pranked Spike again, gave him the hiccups and he burned half the dress.” “It won't be a problem. I can get started right away.” “Thanks Rarity!” "And maybe I can do something for those clothes of your friend here...." "No thanks, that won't be nessecary..." Wolf answered her. "Are you sure? I could fix it up rather quickly dear, it doesn't look like there's much potential for it anyway..." "Yes, I'm sure." "All right then, Twilight? The dress, if you please..." Twilights horn glowed, and the half-burned dress appeared out of nowhere. “I'll see you later dear!” Twilight and Wolf left Carousel Boutique.Twilight remembered that she wanted to ask Wolf if he was alright. “So, what happened in there? You looked away from the door, with your eyes closed. Tightly.” He answered with sarcasm in his voice. “Just another, happy memory.” “Want to talk about it?” “No.” “You feel up to meeting Fluttershy?” “Yes.” “Well lets-oh wait, she's out of town. She's in Canterlot with Philomena.” “Where with who?” “Oh, Canterlot is Equestria's capital, and Philomena is Princess Celestia's pet phoenix.” “Princess Celestia?” “Equestria's ruler and she also raises the sun.” “O.....kay.” Twilight tried to say something, but was interrupted by a filly's voice. “Mom!” “Nyx?! What are you doing here?” “Cheerilee is sick, and they let us leave!” “Alright. Well, I'm going back to the library to look for a couple of books. You want to come with me, or are you and the other Crusaders going to do something today?” “We're going to go to the treehouse for awhile.” “Okay, be back before sunset.” “Okay mom, see you later!” Nyx left the two. “What exactly are the Crusaders?” “Oh, Nyx and her friends have formed a group called The Cutie Mark Crusaders, and they're trying to get their cutie marks.” “Cutie mark?” “Oh, each pony gets one when they discover their special talent .It represents their special talent.” “Those marks on your rear end?” “Yeah, those.” “So, what's your special talent?” “Magic. Don't you have a cutie mark? Or a special talent?” Wolf was silent for a moment. “If I did have one,i t wouldn't be pretty considering my 'special talent'.” “Which is?” “War.” They were both silent. Twilight looked into his deep blue eyes and she could almost see the pain, the anger, the hatred in him. All directed towards the Spinar. She almost saw his bad side. But she also saw his good side, buried within his battle hardened soul. He was kind, polite and patient beneath the hard, cold exterior. She had already released some of it, but not all. Twilight made a mental note to try as hard as she could to release the rest of his good side. They were silent for the entire trip to the library. * * * * * “Home sweet home.” They both entered the library. It was dark, the lights were off. Twilight tried to turn them on, but she was cut off by an extremely loud voice. “SUPRISE!!!” A red unicorn was levitating a bucket of water. She emptied it on Wolf. - - - - - Planet Gift, July 27th, 2659, 19:54. A tall dark skinned boy approached Wolf quickly. “Wolf! Come on!” Explosions and gunfire could be heard from all around. Wolf was running towards a small tunnel twenty or so meters from him, the boy in front of him. An explosion fairly close to the boy sent him flying backwards. Wolf didn't stop running for a few moments, then turned to face the boy, who had gotten up. Wolf was right in front of the tunnel. “Come on Hawk! Get in here!” Hawk ran towards the tunnel. He was a few metres away from Wolf. Wolf looked up, and saw a large flying object coming towards them. “Hawk, get down!” A few flashes from the flying object. Large clouds of dust errupted from the ground as large spikes impacted. They were getting closer to Hawk. A large spike came through Hawk's chest, sending large amounts of blood onto Wolf's upper body. Hawk fell into Wolf's arms. Wolf turned him around to see his face. He grabbed his hand and held it tightly. Hawk responded in kind. Wolf looked into Hawks light brown eyes.... “Wolf......I'm sorry.” “Damn it Hawk, stay with me!” “Good luck.....” Hawks grip on Wolfs hand loosened completely. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO-” - - - - - “-OOOOOOOOOOOO!” All the ponies watched in silence as Wolf curled up in a corner and began crying uncontrollably. The smile that was on Pinkie Pies face turned to a frown much like the one she had when she thought her friends didn't like her parties, while all they were doing was planning a suprise birthday party for her. “Oh no.......” She thought to herself. Twilight began showing everypony out. The unicorn who had splashed Wolf was particularly sad. Pinkie Pie was the last one to leave. Before she left, she had one thing to say. “Twilight.....I'm sorry.” Twilight nodded, showing Pinkie Pie out. The library was completely empty, save for a sobbing Wolf and a sad Twilight. Twilight approached Wolf. She touched his shoulder, while simultaneously asking a dumb question. “Are you alright?” Wolf moved away from the contact. He then replied to the question. “Please, just...go away.” Twilight didn't think twice about it as she went upstairs, leaving Wolf to mourn a friend he lost years ago. He sat alone in the corner, crying for nearly two hours, before finally falling asleep. End chapter 3.