//------------------------------//
// Make Friends, Not War 
// Story: If You Want Peace, Prepare For War 
// by tranhdxrbntd 
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The Jaeger, Princess Luna, and Tran stared each other down, as if they were gunslingers in a duel. The Jaeger had a terribly conditioned rifle in his taloned hands and it was leveled in their general direction. Meanwhile, Princess Luna had no weapon ready but she was prepared to cast a spell as fast as she could, if she had an opening. However, she was sure that the Jaeger could fire before she could finish casting any kind of magic. It was exceedingly easy to tell if a pony was using magic, you'd just have to stay alert for any glow appearing on the caster's horn. Tran also had no weapon ready as he and the princess had just been supervising troop movements below. He had his hands by his side, near his signature hand cannon hung on a drop leg holster near his left hand.

The princess and human could take the chance, hoping speed and skill would win out in this duel but their opponent was a Jaeger, so they knew they were facing someone with significant skill too. However, the griffon appeared to be wounded so there was the chance that they could use speed and agility while hoping that the Jaeger would be slowed down from the wounds. Speaking of the wounds, he should have been dead from what they could see. The Jaeger had a few gaping holes in his chest, hell there was one large hole where his heart should be, and one of the wings was missing a significant chunk, also from what looked to be a gunshot, damaged enough that it should be impossible for him to fly. Princess Luna had also questioned how this Jaeger was standing to face them from something else, both of the griffons legs were crushed, as if he had fallen from a tremendous height and landed on his legs. 

Everything in Princess Luna's mind was screaming at her that this Jaeger, no, this monstrosity was an affront to Faust. She felt more and more drawn to her great sword as she continued to look at it. The Jaeger scowled. "Goddamn cheap shot, trying to kill us while we were just shittin' around," the griffon said. Tran's face was its usual dead expression but he clenching his teeth in anger. He knew exactly what the Jaeger was referencing, when an assassination was attempted on Logan and himself. The hand that was hovering around his signature sidearm was feeling more and more enticing. 

The Jaeger looked around for a bit, as if he was confused. "Just woke up and all my shit was gone," the Jaeger said. The griffon pointed the rifle up into the sky, to give the two of them a good view of the damaged rifle. "Found this so I'm just using this fucking shit ass trash." The Jaeger lowered the rifle so it was level again. "Do you know what fucking happened? I woke up and shit was gone. Did you fucking dust off without me or something?"

That was when Tran went from angry to confused. He had no idea what this griffon wanted. This Jaeger hadn't killed either of them by now like both he and the princess had expected. That was when he realized something even more confusing, the Jaeger had been speaking very oddly, using slang in a manner that didn't match how other griffons cussed. Then, he realized the most important thing about how the Jaeger spoke. The Jaeger had asked if they had dusted off. Dust off wasn't a slang that the griffons or Equestrians used. Tran was no longer confused as his eyes went wide. "Sort off. Dust off to charlie mike. Had a bright light," Tran quickly said. 

Princess Luna had no idea what Tran was saying or what was going on but it definitely seemed like the griffon did when he sighed in response. "Well shit. What the hell happened anyways? I woke up and all my shit was gone? Where can I find it and some coffee?" the griffon asked. 

Tran didn't reply for a few seconds. He thought of what to ask next. "I'll get you a cup, what do you want with it?" Tran asked.

The griffon replied an instant later, not bothering to think. "They got some heavy cream and bourbon anywhere on this bird?" he asked back. 

The princess was confused as to what was going on but she definitely knew that Tran had an inkling of an idea. She turned to Tran but was astonished to see him casually walk up to the griffon, as if he was not afraid of getting killed by the Jaeger. "Pray tell, what in Tartarus is going on?

As Tran got within spitting distance of the Jaeger, the griffon pointed the rifle in a safe direction so that it wasn't a potential threat to the human. Tran held out a hand, offering a handshake. "Do you know what's going on right now?" he asked the Jaeger.

The Jaeger had an almost confused look to his face. "Yeah? A battle or something, like we're always in?" the Jaeger replied. The Jaeger took up Tran's hand and shook it and the instant they shook hands, the Jaeger jolted like he was hit with a bolt of lightning. "What the fuck?" The griffon broke his hand away from Tran's and held it out in front of his face. "The hell?" The jaeger dropped the rifle and held out both of his arms in front of him as he started hovering in the air with some wing flaps. 

At that exact moment, Princess Luna enveloped the Jaeger with a shield and drew her saber. She was about to charge but Tran held out a hand to stop her. She had questions but kept them reserve as she dropped the shield spell. Meanwhile, the Jaeger was looking himself over. "The fuck's going on?" the Jaeger asked. 

Tran snapped a few times to get the Jaeger's attention, to which he did. "What's your name?" Tran asked. 

The Jaeger looked confused for a second. "What?" he asked back.

Tran just repeated his question. "What. Is. Your. Name?" Tran asked slowly. 

The Jaeger still looked confused but he opened his beak. "Logan? You know my fucking name," the Jaeger replied. 

Tran smiled for once, knowing his friend was back. He wasn't physically the same as he was now a griffon with a different voice and everything but he was back. Tran looked over to Princess Luna and gestured at the Jaeger. The princess looked just as confused. "Logan?" she repeated back. Her eyes slowly opened. "The same name as your late friend?" 

Tran looked back at the Jaeger. "You've been dead for like a month," he said to the Jaeger. 

The griffon looked at Tran like he had grown a second head and was about to refute it but then he looked down at his taloned hands for a second before looking down at himself. He then realized he was hovering in the air, not having ever noticed that he had taken flight. "What the shit?" he asked himself. "Why the fuck am I a griffon?" 

Tran folded his arms and shrugged, not knowing the answer either. "To make it weirder, you're one of the Jaegers that ambushed us, killing you and me." 

Logan looked back at Tran. He noticed something about Tran that didn't match his condition. "Wait, then why am I a griffon and you're still you?" he asked. 

Tran shrugged again. He didn't know the answer but he did have some theories. "You died immediately, shot in the back of the head, no head left afterwards. Dead instantly. I was hit in the upper back. I killed them back and then died later, Wilson restarted my heart," Tran explained.

Logan at Tran. The explanation took a few seconds to really hit. "Shit, that's fucking metal," he said. Logan, then looked back down at himself and noticed the big holes in his body. "Huh," he said while poking at one of the holes. "This is weird. Like, I can feel things when I touch them with my hands but I don't feel anything coming from the holes." Tran reached out and grabbed his wing, the damaged one, as to which Logan flinched, trying to pull it back. Tran didn't let go and before Logan knew it, some of Tran's fingers brushed against the wound in his wing. Logan immediately yelped in pain and pulled the wing out of Tran's grasps. "Ah, fuck!" he cried out. 

Then, strangely enough, the wound on his wing started bleeding. This was odd because none of the other wounds were bleeding, but for some reason, the one on his wing only now wanted to start bleeding. To make things seem more eerie, he wasn't bleeding a normal consistent flood of red blood like a normal person was. Instead, a dark red, almost brownish sludge-like blood oozed out, as if it was already coagulated. Tran stared at the wound that he had just touched and then at the hand he touched the wound with. He lowered his hands and looked to the princess. "Can you help him with that?" he asked. 

Although Princess Luna had many questions, she trotted over to the wounded Jaeger with caution. This entire encounter was strange and she didn't know what to ask or say about it. She was about to cast a spell but she looked over at Tran to get a final confirmation. "Are you sure about this?" she asked. Tran slowly nodded in response. She looked over to the Jaeger and let out a snort. "Princess of Equestria caught aiding and abetting the enemy, back to the moon?" she whispered to herself. Her horn lit up and a magic glow surrounded the hole in Logan's wounded wing. At first, Logan vocalized his protests to the princess's actions but then let out a moan of relief as the hole in his wing slowly started to close up, flesh knitting itself back together. Seconds later, the wound was no more as there was now a patch of new flesh, with no feathers or fur, could be seen. 

Once Princess Luna released her magic hold on the wing, Logan stood there, looking at the wing. "Thanks, miss whoever you are," he thanked. 

The princess, in response to Logan's statement, look at him with a look of incredulity plastered on her face. How in the world did someone not know who she was? To be fair, before his death, Logan had only ever met two of the princesses of Equestria and didn't know much about Equestria's history and lore. "Pray tell, how did you find your way here? How did you even know where we were?" the princess asked. She eyed Logan's current appearance, a Jaeger. "We are more than a thousand kilometers away from Fillydelphia where that Jaeger's body you've stolen, was probably buried. I would sincerely doubt you were able to get assistance from any ponies." 

Logan paused as he looked at himself and realized he was still hovering in the air. He slowly descended and dropped to his feet. "Huh. Well, after I woke up in this guy's body, I just suddenly got really mad and then went here. I don't know how I knew where to go but I just did. I just had a feeling and I followed it. Until I found you two, I just felt... Anger? Only angry, nothing else, I don't know why? It was weird. I didn't notice anything else about myself other than me being angry until I saw Tran and only after seeing you, I felt not... Hollow? I don't know how to describe it other than that. I know it's not helpful but it's all I can describe it as. When we finally shook hands, it was when I noticed everything, the talons, being a griffon, being hurt, and all that," Logan explained. "I don't even know how I knew how I flew here. I know I have wings but I don't really know how to use them. I've only been like... This, for... I don't know."

Princess Luna still had many questions to ask as barely any of them had been answered. This situation was entirely alien to her, even with her thousands of years of life experience. She keyed in on his eyes, those haunting orbs of only whiteness. After having spoken with the Jaeger for quite some time, she determined he wasn't too much of a threat so she trotted closer to the griffon. Focusing in on those eyes, she waved a hoof in front of the griffon's face. He swatted away her hoof in response. "What?" he asked. 

She took a few steps back from the action before recovering her stance. She refocused back on the griffon instead of just his eyes. "C-Can you see?" she asked the griffon.

Even without pupils, Logan was quite still capable of showing confusion on his face. He raised an eyebrow upon the strange questioning. "Yeah, why the fuck wouldn't I?" he responded. 

"Your eyes. There are no pupils. They are the mirror image of one who's eyes hath rolled back into their head," the princess asked. 

It wasn't if his eyes were dilated or cloudy. They were just pure white orbs, matching the rest of his fur and wings. Tran dug through his gear and withdrew a small metal mirror, holding it out to Logan. He looked into the mirror to look at what Luna referenced and his eyes went wide. "Now that's fucking gnarly," Logan said. He spread open one of his eyes to get a better look at it, finding exactly what was described as true. 

Before any of them could continue onward, several REA soldiers and a Lunar Sentinel stormed out from the lower deck of the airship and into their presence. They went to address the princess or human but were immediately alarmed to see the Jaeger. Tran stepped in front of the griffon to shield Logan as many of them had weapons drawn and aimed. Tran had 
drawn two of his own pistols and had them aimed in response.

The princess waved them off before anything could escalate. She turned her attention to the one bat pony. "What do you report my loyal soldier?" she asked.  

The soldiers' attention darted from between the princess and the Jaeger, as if they were almost unsure of what to do or say. They stayed their curiosity as the one bat pony saluted the princess. "Night Mistress, there has been a situation at the recently arrived airship. Several of its crew and chain of command were killed in a surprise attack by one of the humans, a changeling as to be believed," the Night Sentinel reported. 

The princess took a few seconds to gather the information in her mind, shocked from the revelation. She turned to look at Tran and Logan. "We'll have to continue our conversation for later. We have more important matters to deal with," she announced. She turned back to the ponies and started trotting forward. "Escort me there," she commanded. The bat pony dropped the salute and quickly started marching away, along with the other REA guards. 

Tran turned around to face Logan. "Lose that uniform before you get shot," Tran said while taking off his plate carrier. Logan quickly ripped off the tunic and pants but not the scarf, revealing that his entire body was indeed all white under the Imperial Griffon Air Force uniform. Tran handed Logan his uniform coat before redonning his plate carrier. When Logan had the coat on, Tran started walking at a fast pace to catch up with the princess, Logan quickly following behind him. 

-X-X-X-

Princess Luna, since she was the head of security during this mission, initiated a manhunt for the possible changeling that killed the 3rd airship's personnel. The search encompassed all three airships and involved a large number of personnel, in teams of four, to look for the possible threat. Logan was incapable of participating in the manhunt so he stuck with Tran who, instead of searching for the culprit, went on his own path. Although the princess wanted to question the man's motives, she kept her suspicions to herself. She had learned to stop questioning Tran's motives and went along with it,

If there was a supposed imposter posing as his friend, Tran wanted to find his friend first. He went through the bowels of the primary command airship, to go to the main gathering/rally point of his battalion, the cargo bay of the airship. As expected, he found the remains of his battalion. By now, all of them should have been relieved from the battlefield after this most recent battle. Whoever was wounded was obviously sent to the ship's infirmary while the rest just wanted to rest after such an ordeal. 

The man in question, Eric, was just sitting amongst his soldiers, smoking with them. He was still covered in blood and viscera from the battle, his entire body being stained red. Eric didn't bother cleaning away any of it, save for what was on his face. The many soldiers of the battalion seemed to be completely unbothered by the man's state of address, as if it was a completely ordinary sight.

However, the Princess and her four escorts were completely appalled at the sight of the man. Unlike her, Tran was completely unfazed while Logan seemed to be only slightly bothered by it. Eric saw Tran coming up to him and was about to greet him until his eyes honed in on the griffon trailing behind his friend, one that wasn't Gilda. He was further confused by the fact that the griffon was wearing Tran's combat coat. All at once, anyone could see that Eric seemed to become visibly agitated. He immediately stood up, completely straight and rigid. He had his hands by his side, one hand hovering near his sidearm. 

As if a light switch was being flipped, the room became dead silent. Every single one of the hundreds of soldiers in the cargo bay simultaneously stopped whatever they were doing and focused in on their new guests. Having just finished an offensive, they should have been exhausted from the hell they just came from. However, being in the company of Eric, they all felt like they could take on the world. As long as Eric was leading them, they could fight forever. Being fresh from battle, they had all of their arms, armor, and ammo. All of the soldiers seemed tense and some of them looked like they were preparing themselves for a fight. From seeing how the mood in the room turned to, Princess Luna and her escorts were rather unnerved. The princess and her escorts felt like they were walking into a battle. Those five ponies felt tense and their hearts raced as they prepared themselves for the start of an armed physical altercation.

Once Tran and company were within arm's reach of Eric, Tran offered a hand out to Eric. It took him quite a tense few seconds before he had realize what Tran was doing. Eric, still apprehensive about the situation, took Tran's hand with his own and shook it. "Did you make a new friend?" Eric asked.

Tran turned to look at the griffon that tailed him. He knew the griffon was Logan but the red scarf and the whole, griffon-ness, obviously made him look like any other Jaeger. Sure, Logan was unarmed but it did not help the sentiment. "A friend, yes. A new one, no," Tran cryptically replied. 

Tran gestured over to Logan who stepped up to address Eric. Logan eyed up Eric's blood covered form. He smirked. "New body, who dis?" Logan asked. Eric was completely confused by Logan's questioning and was further confused when he suddenly had a cup of coffee in one hand. "Hey, you got some bourbon I can steal? I need some for my joe. Also, know where I can get some cream?" 

Eric's eyes went wide. "No," Eric whispered. "You can't be."

Logan nodded with an ever growing smirk on his face. "Tran's better at throwing a 9 line and you know it," Logan taunted. 

Before Logan knew it, Eric punched him in the chest. It wasn't a serious punch but a playful one. It was, however, enough to spill his coffee. "How the fuck are you alive?" Eric asked. He gestured at the griffon body and all. "And what the hell is with all that?"

The proverbial switch was flipped again and as suddenly as it happened, every one of the battle weary soldiers of the battalion returned to what they were doing, some even going to sleep immediately afterwards. The princess and her escorts could breathe a sigh of relief as they relaxed. The room felt cooler to be in, with that threat of a fight gone. Logan tossed the coffee mug he was holding at Eric, now that it had been unintentionally emptied. "How the shit am I supposed to know? I woke up like this buried in the ground!" Logan replied. 

Eric grabbed Logan and hugged him. Despite Logan now having a perfectly white griffon's fur coat and Eric being covered in gore, somehow, none of it stained Logan's fur. "It's great to have you back," Eric said, still clutching Logan.

Logan reciprocated the hug. "No homo," Logan said, patting Eric on the back.

Eric playfully shoved him away. "Yep, it's you alright," Eric said. 

Logan chuckled and picked the mug back up from where Eric had set it down. What surprised Eric was that Logan was now holding a pistol. Ever since Logan had originally died, Eric had taken up Logan's sidearm, the FNX 45 since he was the least armed of the remaining three humans, in terms of sidearms. At this very moment, Logan had managed to draw the FNX 45 from where Eric had it holstered. "I believe this is mine," Logan said while sticking it in a coat pocket. "Still got it, by the way."

Eric smirked. He reached down to where he had the pistol holstered and removed the holster from his belt. "You can have it back. You'll be needing it. We gotta get you the rest of your stuff, whatever's left of it," Eric said while tossing the holster to Logan. "By the way, Tran's better at stealing than you." Eric then handed off the spare mags he was carrying for the pistol.

Logan frowned and looked at Tran. "Bullshit! He's better at sneaking maybe but not stealing!" Logan indignantly said. 

Princess Luna stepped up to interrupt the three of them. "While this reunion is lovely, we have a more important matter at hand," she said. Logan exchanged one last look with Eric before running off into this airship's cargo bay, leaving Eric and Tran alone with Princess Luna and her escorts. "We believe there is a rogue changeling intruder masquerading as you. He's attacked the chain of command of the airship that's just arrived."

Upon hearing that, Eric went rigid and tense again. He started scowling and was very obviously angry. For the Princess and her escorts, it felt like the room was all of a sudden, supernaturally warmer like they were standing in a sauna. "That was no changeling. I did that," Eric confessed. 

While Tran was completely unfazed from the confession, the princess was quite shocked from hearing Eric admit to the crime. She wasn't sure of what to do considering the importance of the human's in the war effort. "You know the implications to your admittance to committing your crime? We have to detain you," the princess said. 

Eric stared down the princess. She could feel his eyes bore into her skull and how much resentment he had with the scowl on his face. It once again felt like a battle was about to start and she braced herself, mentally, for a physical altercation. Eric pointed an accusatory finger at Luna's face. Luna flinched and her escorts nearly sprung in to intercept him, stepping closer in the process. "They started a fight and lost, " Eric growled out.

The princess wasn't convinced. She had a look of disgust on her face, remembering the reports of the aftermath. "Five ponies are dead! Officers! Six more are in critical condition! The pilot, the captain of that airship, is barely alive after you cut him to pieces!" she accused.

Eric brought his hands down by his side from a natural reaction and clenched his fists in anger. The princess was rather nervous from Eric's reaction. One hand was very close to where he had a pistol holstered and the sight of him clenching his hands into fists was a good indication of the man's mood. Every second felt like an eternity, as if time was going by in slow motion. The mood/air felt made it feel like they were on the battlefield, as if they were threatened with the intensity of war. "I wasn't the one who drew first. If they didn't want to get shot or stabbed, maybe they shouldn't have tried to involve a knife or gun. I only reacted. Whatever happened, they caused it. Just because the outcome ended up being terrible doesn't mean they're free from the consequences."

The princess took the man's words to heart and sighed. "We have to investigate this and whoever initiated what will have to face the repercussions," the princess said. 

Eric sneered. "Well I didn't start shit. I only finished it," he bitterly said while folding his arms. "And you know what they did? They killed more of us than they killed changelings! In that whole ass battle, more of us died to those fucking idiots than to the fucking enemy! Even if I was the one who started it, even though I didn't, they deserved every bit of it!"

Tran walked over to stand beside his friend and leaned against Eric. "And if you want us to keep helping all of you, don't expect us to be passive bystanders if you do anything to him," Tran said. Even though Tran had his usual dead expression on his face, he looked tense, as if he was getting ready to fight. While one arm was leaning on Eric's shoulder, the other hand was hovering around his holster signature hand cannon. The princess had become somewhat like friends with Tran and she was saddened to be in a situation where he was against her. 

The princess eyed the two humans standing beside each other and knew that this was a lose-lose situation. If Eric wasn't the cause of this wholesale slaughter of their own forces, they would still have to deal with the fact that her own ponies were causing unnecessary problematic situations. If Eric was the cause of this mess, she wouldn't be able to punish him too severely if she wanted the continued cooperation of the rest of the humans, and probably their retinue of ponies and soldiers like Spitfire, Gilda, or their battalion. No matter who instigated the conflict, she was still left with the aftermath, that the entire chain of command of one airship was entirely decimated, rendered non-mission capable. The princess had a pained look on her face. "I can use magic to force out the truth. I will personally interrogate whatever survivors and witnesses that were present while I enact a zone of truth spell," the princess told the two humans. She eyed Tran who shook his head. "I guess I have some work I need to undertake," she announced before turning tail and trotting away with her escorts. 

As she left, Tran turned to face Eric. He stopped leaning against him so he could properly address him. "You said that you didn't start shit and I believe you. But. Big but here, if any of us starts something big down the line, we can't always protect each other," Tran said.

Eric snorted. "If we deserve it, we deserve it," Eric said while holding his hand. Tran took Eric's hand and shook it. Eric turned to look around. "Where the hell is Logan? We should probably give Wilson the news. Probably the others too. A random ass griffon Jaeger might raise alarms if we don't say anything." Eric was unable to see where Logan was in the cargo bay room they stood in. He cupped both hands to his mouth like a megaphone. "Yo Logan, where the fuck are you?!" Eric yelled out. "Get back here! We got shit to do!" 

The two humans waited a few seconds before they got a reply. Off in a random direction in this airship's cargo bay where the two humans couldn't see, Logan responded back by yelling. "Trying to find food!? I'm hungry as fuck!" A few seconds later, Logan walked back on three legs. He was using the fourth limb, his right hand, to hold onto something. Once Logan was back in the company of Tran and Eric, the two of them could see that Logan was chewing on a snack that he somehow managed to find. In his right hand was the same mug he was carrying earlier, now filled up, and a long paper cone that was topped with a big cloud of cotton candy. A few large bite marks were made in the cloud of cotton candy and they could see why as Logan was chewing with his mouth full. 

Eric eyed the mug, now full with a brown liquid. "You found some coffee?" Eric asked.

While still chewing, Logan shook his head. He held the mug up closer so that Eric could see. "Chocolate milk. Couldn't find any coffee," Logan replied.

Eric eyed the chocolate milk and cotton candy. "Where the fuck or who the fuck had cotton candy and chocolate milk?" Eric asked. 

Logan shook his head. "I don't know, I just found it."