//------------------------------// // 1. Introductions // Story: Project Eclipse // by Borsuq //------------------------------// The moon's light shone upon the ruined temple, revealing everything that could be seen. The huge pyramid was in the middle of a clearing in the forest, surrounded by broken pieces of columns and blocks of stone with very old patterns carved on them. The only noise besides the humming of the wind that could be heard was a very deep snoring. A young light grey earth pony with mane and tail black and a twisted clock with wings for a cutie mark crept silently, knowing he couldn't under any circumstances wake the source of the snoring. While the objective was just to get inside the inner chamber of the pyramid, it would be a LOT easier with the guardian of it is sleeping. Glancing at the guardian and making sure that it was sleeping, the earth pony gazed at the pyramid, looking for the entrance. There seemed to be none. The stallion frowned. "Well played." he thought, looking up. The very tip of the pyramid appeared to have some kind of switch, but to be sure, he would have to climb all the way there. Rolling his eyes, he started to make his way toward the base of the pyramid, listening to nothing but the whisper of the wind... "Oh bugger." he said out loud and jumped back behind one of the columns as the place he stood a moment ago was engulfed by the inferno of dragon's flames. The two other earth ponies looked from the top of the largest tree at the edge of the clearing as their friend was nearly burned by the guardian of the temple. "Well, looks like Trottingham woke the dragon up." said the tan one with brown mane and tail and disappearing horseshoe for a cutie mark. "Um, I don't think it was his fault, Manehatten." replied slightly younger pony, whose coat was dark grey, his mane and tail red and his flank blank. "It looked more like the dragon waked up on his own." "Of course, why make it easy." Manehatten frowned as the guardian continued to breathe fire at Trottingham. "Although, we now have an excellent distraction. Do you think we could climb the pyramid from the opposite side, Eastin?" Eastin cringed uncomfortably, like most of the time when somepony asked him about something important. "Err... not, I don't think so. The front wall is the most stable one. If we tried to climb on one of the others, we would alert the dragon, at best. At worst..." "Okay, scratch the 'climb from the other side' idea, got it." Manehatten said, rolling his eyes, although he long since gotten used to Eastin's observations skill. "Let’s go and help Trot before the dragon will burn through his cover." They both rose and jumped down from branch to branch, they moves quick and perfectly synchronized from many hours of joined training. "Um, so what's the plan, Mane?" Eastin asked as they landed on the ground. "We take advantage of the fact that Trot is keeping the dragon attention on himself, creep on him, and hit him in the base of the skull. That should knock him out." "Em, I don't think dragons can be knocked out that easily. Especially as big as this one." "Oh, come on, not getting knocked out from a hit to the base of the skull? It's not this big." "Okay, I was wrong!" Mane screamed as they run for cover. "Well, about time." Trottingham commented as Manehatten and Eastin ducked behind rocks in front of him. "Hey Trottingham." Mane said nonchalantly, as if this was all planned, while the dragon continued to breathe fire at them. "Did we miss all the fun?" "Hardly, chaps. So, what's the plan?" "Need to think about it a moment. In the meantime, move up, Trot. You're too far away from us." "With all due respect, I'd prefer NOT to be killed. If at all possible." replied Trot, ignoring the order. Manehatten growled out of frustration. One of the two reasons that he hated being in charge was the fact that the soldier he was partnered with often ignored his orders. The other reason was that he wasn't very good at it. He turned to Eastin. "E, any ideas?" "Err... Could you phase around him, maybe?" suggested the younger colt. "Doubt it. When I turn intangible, I can still get hurt from magic, and dragon's flames have plenty of it. Any other suggestions?" "Well, that depends." interjected Trottingham. "Have any of you managed to grow a horn in the last couple of minutes?" "You mean besides the one I'm going to shove up your ass if you don't move the hell UP?!" "Yes, I can see everything fine from back here. Thank you." answered Trot. "We need to get into that pyramid." the tan pony reminded him. "How are we supposed to get pass the dragon? Please, tell us, mate." "Maybe you should try one of yours knock-knock jokes." sighed Mane. "Oh, who's there?" Manehatten cursed at himself. "Nopony, stop." "Nopony, stop who? Shall I go on?" "Yeah, I was kidding. Now shut up." "Shut up, who?" "Eastin, give me some idea before I will throw myself into the fire." Mane pleaded, facehoofing himself. "Err... how about Trot distracting the guardian..." "Already did that, mate." "... with his time distortion ability." E finished. "Oh, bugger." Trottingham frowned. "Well, you heard him, Trot." Mane smirked. "The last time I used it, I managed to keep it up for five seconds, and vomited later." "I guess that means it sucks to be you. Now move on, those rock are getting hotter." Manehatten ordered; glancing on Eastin, he added: "You will go climb the temple, and I will assist Trot as soon as he gets this firestorm away. On my mark. Sync?" "Sync." both Trot and E said simultaneously. "Mark!" Trot grimaced, but this time he listened. His eyes flashed and he disappeared. After a second the dragon roared and turned around. Mane and E jumped from behind the rocks... only to see a dragon's tail swing at them. "E, get back!" Mane shouted as the tail passed through him. Too late. The moment Eastin felt the dragon's tail touch him, everything disappeared, "Oh no, not again." E thought. "What happened?" asked Trot. "The dragon hit E with its tail, and..." Mane started to say, but somepony finished for him. "... and you failed." All three colts looked as the door to the Simulation Room - a building with many magical runes embedded into its walls to increase the powers of illusions for training purposes - opened and two unicorns entered. At once the earth ponies quickly stood in formation. "Soldier Manehatten, you've been a part of Project Eclipse for three months." said the one with black coat, white mane and tail, and red snake swallowing his tail for a cutie mark. "I would expect you to know that when leading a squad in battle, you need to plan ahead for every possibility." "Yes, sir, sorry." Mane muttered. "Soldier Eastin, could you tell what mistake also Manehatten made?" E glanced uncomfortably at Mane before he said. "He... should have sent me for the reconnaissance instead of soldier Trottingham, since I am the smallest one and my coat has the darkest shade, sir." "Exactly." the older pony replied, glaring at him. "Why didn't you tell him that at the beginning of the simulated mission?" "Um...” Eastin shrank away. "I... thought that maybe I was wrong." "Director," the other unicorn interrupted, the brown one with black mane and tail and a clipboard for cutie mark, "may we speak a moment?" "We already discussed that, Counselor." the Director dismissed him. "Please update the Leaderboard." The Counselor nodded and turned toward one visible rune and shot a magical beam at it, causing the blue hologram to appear. 1. Crystal 33, 654 2. Canterlot 30, 956 3. Los Pegasus 16, 890 4. Fillydelphia 16, 669 5. Baltimare 16, 453 6. Manehatten 16, 285 7. Trottingham 16, 102 8. Hoofington 14, 937 9. Cloudsdale 13, 564 10. Eastin 7, 560 The Counselor's horn shot again and the list have changed. 1. Crystal 33, 654 2. Canterlot 30, 956 3. Trottingham 17, 010 4. Los Pegasus 16, 890 5. Fillydelphia 16, 669 6. Manehatten 16, 489 7. Baltimare 16, 453 8. Hoofington 14, 937 9. Cloudsdale 13, 564 10. Eastin 7, 620 Eastin's ears dropped as he saw the score, although he expected that. Mane must have noticed his expression. "Director, sir, shouldn't E get more points?" he tried to speak for him, despite the fact that Eastin didn't warn him at the beginning of training. "After all, he did have the right idea." "But didn't say it out loud." the Director pointed out unsympathetically. "Do you think that Diamond Dogs would have dropped dead if they heard after a battle that the enemy had 'the right idea', soldier Manehatten?!" E guessed from the smirk that appeared for a split second on Mane's face that he did think so. "No, sir. But why Trottingham gets so much points?" he asked, pointing the hoof at him. "He first woke up the dragon, and then disobeyed a direct order!" "Jealous, chap?" "Soldier Trottingham refused to listen to an order that would get him killed." replied the Director. "Ingenuity and adaptability are admirable traits. He also managed to use his time sync ability without any side effects. As for the dragon, he didn't wake it up. The illusion was set to have the odds 100 to 1 of dragon waking up. You were just unlucky." "I'm always unlucky." Mane muttered. "That is all. You are dismissed." "Come on, chap, cheer up." said Trot. "You're bound to be used to it by now." "You know, you aren't really helping, Trot." Mane frowned at him. They have left the training section of the compound and were heading towards the dining hall. The weather outside was beautiful, for once, but that didn't lift E`s spirits. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, guys, but really, I'm fine." he said, as they passed few guards, not wanting to trouble them. "Riiight, and Los is chatty." Mane replied. "Look, you shouldn't feel bad. After all, you're the youngest one, you are a part of the Project for less than a month, and you still haven't gone through the Augmentation Process, so... "Fillydelphia is younger than him, is a part of the Project barely few weeks longer than him, and also haven't gone through Augmentation Process, and yet she still kicks our flanks during joined trainings." Trot reminded him. "Yes, but Filly is a psycho." Manehatten commented, and smirked. "And it will be fun to watch her beat the living hell out of you when she discovers that you are ahead of her on the Leaderboard." "Oh, bugger!" Trot said, who forgot about it. "Is soldier Fillydelphia really that brutal?" Eastin asked. "You haven't met her?" "He obviously hasn’t met her if he's asking." Trot chuckled. "I didn't have the training session with her and Hoofington yet, no. I mostly have with you guys." "I really don't know how Hoof deals with staying in the same house as her." Mane said, shaking his head as they entered the dining hall. "He probably casts a barrier around himself before he goes to sleep. But yeah, she's a bitch." "Who's a bitch?!" asked two offended female voices. Manehatten cursed when he noticed that two mares a bit older than him and Trot were sitting at one of the tables, eating supper. "Oh, it's just you two." he said when he took a better look at them, breathing with relief. "For a moment there I thought Fillydelphia was here." "No, she left some time ago." said reassuring the white pegasus mare with blue mane and tail and two ponies' reflections for a cutie mark. "Thank goodness. Did you had a training session with her and Hoof, Cloud?" "Yeah, but it wasn't that bad." "Of course not. She nicer to you ladies." "Pity you aren't, Trot." said the violet unicorn with mane and tail gold and acid for a cutie mark. The colts stared at her, not understanding her hostility. "We saw the Leaderboard change." explained Cloudsdale while rolling her eyes. "Ah, is the Venom Lady pissed I got ahead of her on the Leaderboard? So sorry." "Hm." she grimaced as Mane and Cloud chuckled. "I can tell Filly how the two of you talked about her, you know." "Oh dear, I stand corrected: I'm not sorry." he frowned at her. "You know, Balti, E was also..." "If you're going to try and convince me that E was talking bad about somepony, I'm going to spit on you." Baltimare warned him. "Well played." "Could the two of you stop flirting with each other?" Manehatten asked as he went to pick up some food. "We're not flirting!" "I must agree with her. After all, she prefers mares, right Cloud?" Eastin watch unamused as the two mares jumped at Trot. "Remember to not use abilities, or leave permanent scars." Mane warned them as they started kicking his partner. "We know." Balti growled back as Trottingham tried to get away. "So we're agreed, Director?" the Counselor asked. "Yes, I suppose so." The Director frowned. He disliked when he was being proved wrong, but he wouldn't have made the brown unicorn his aide if he couldn't see the few flaws he could make. "Go and deal with this, I'm going to see what subjects Crystal and Canterlot managed to bring this time." he said, dismissing the Counselor. The other unicorn bowed and trotted away. The Director turned toward the lab section of the compound. In the middle of the lab, filled with few unicorns, and many chemicals, books, schematics, and notes. Two ponies stood in attention near two cages with many runes on them as they waited for the Director. The black unicorn mare with mane and tail blue and a mirror for a cutie mark glanced at her partner, an orange earth pony stallion with yellow mane and tail, his cutie mark is a symbol of a shadow. "How do you think the Director is going to react when he sees that one, Cant?" she said, pointing with her tail at the bigger cage. "I don't know, Crys." Canterlot answered with a shrug. "Pity we had to destroy the corpses of the others, he would have love to dissect them." "Hmpf." said Crystal, unhappy. "Oh well, he will probably want to dissect this one anyway." At that moment the door opened and the Director came in. "Sir!" both Crystal and Canterlot saluted. "At ease, soldiers." he said and pointed at the cages. "What kinds have you brought back?" Crys and Cant exchanged looks. "Well, sir," Crys started with her horn glowing; one of the runes on the smaller cage turned off, revealing the sleeping spider-like creature, "this one is the average one, a 'reaver',..." "Didn't I send you to find and capture the most unusual ones?" "Yes, sir, but after we finally managed to capture this one, we had to make haste; the patrol of those... strange bipedal night creatures was coming nearby." "In that case, I understand." the Director said, nodding. "It is imperative that the sentient beings over there aren't aware of our presence. Not yet, at least. What kind is this one, then?" Instead of answering, Crystal just turned off the same rune on the bigger cage. The Director's eyes widen as he beheld the eight-legged tall creature, partially covered by carapace, partially but some kind of clothes. His face would be hard to locate if it wasn't for the eyes that spoke of intelligence. "It turns out you completed your mission." the Director finally said. "Thank you, sir. It was hard to catch this one: he constantly teleported, caused some kinds of explosions, and attacked us telepathically. After we managed to finally capture him, we had to activate the run for cancelling magic. We also had to turn on the one for cancelling the noise, as well. It kept screeching at us." "What was he saying?" Once again, Crystal simply turned off another rune instead of just answering. "Ph'nglui mglw'naft C'Thun Ahn'Qiraj wgah'nagl fhtagn!" the strange creature started screaming. "Ph'nglui mglw'naft C'Thu..." Its other words were unheard, because Crystal once again activated the rune. "It repeats the same sentence over and over." she explained. The Director stared for a long time into the eyes of the creature. Finally, he turned to the one of the assistants present in the lab. "Schedule soldier Fillydelphia for an Augmentation Process." he said, glancing at the average subject. "Three days from now." "Yes, Director." said the unicorn, taking notes, "And..." he added, returning to stare at the huge creature. "Schedule soldier Eastin for an Augmentation Process a week later." Crys and Cant exchanged alarmed glances. "Director, you want to augmented E with... this!?" Cant asked. As the Director turned to him, he continued: "Sir, I must protest! Remember when you augmented soldier Trottingham with an unusual one as well? He nearly got a mental breakdown, and this one is even..." "Leave personnel decisions to me, soldier!" the Director shouted, leaning over to him. Both Canterlot and Crystal backed away. "Now," he said more calmly, "let's wait for the Counselor to join as, and you can give a full report." E, Mane, Trot, and Cloud laughed as Balti finished telling how their training ended with Hoof being slammed into a tree by Filly. "The Director scolded her of course..." she continued, chuckling "Oh, right, because that works perfectly on our dear Fillydelphia." Trot muttered, amused despite few bruises Balti and Cloud gave him. They all laughed again. Eastin started to feel better after another disappointing training, but soon he started to get worried again as he saw a familiar unicorn enter the hall. "Hello, Counselor." Manehatten greeted him as he came closer. "What brings you here, sir?" "Soldier Eastin, to be honest." he answered, and turned to the young colt: "Can you come with me, soldier Eastin, or do you need to finish eating?" "Um... no, I'm done, sir." he replied, nervously, and stood up. "See you later, guys." His friends were about to reply, when the Counselor interrupted them. "Also, the Director wanted me to tell you all that tomorrow you have all day off, but the day after that, there is going to be joined training session with all soldiers, ended with one on one matches." Everypony beside E cheered to that. "It's been a while since we had one of those." Balti said. "This should be fun." Eastin wasn't convinced. He had usually training sessions with just two or three others soldiers, and knew very well they were all better fighters than him. "Counselor, sir, is there any way I could fight Baltimare?" Trot asked. "I'm afraid the matches are going to be decided by randomisation, soldier Trottingham." "Oh, bugger." "What, you wanted to get beaten again?" Balti chuckled. "Hey Balti?" E heard Trot ask, as he and the Counselor started to leave. "What?" "Knock-knock." "Oh for... who's there?" she asked, resigned. "Pay." "Pay who?" "Payback's a bitch, and so are you!" "Why you..." Eastin didn't hear the rest of this, although he was fairly sure that he knew what was going to happen. "So, um..." he asked the brown unicorn. "Where are we going?" "To your quarters. There is something I wish to discuss with you there. The Director and I noticed that you have problems adjusting to the Project. You're far below the other soldiers in terms of combat." E didn’t answer, but simply cringed. "We believe that most of those problems steamed from the fact that you lack assertiveness." the Counselor continued, as if not noticing the earth pony's reaction. "The Director and I discussed this for a long time and I think we finally found a solution to help you." They stopped in front of the door to E's quarters. The Counselor signaled him to open the door. "What kind of solution?" he asked as he opened them, feeling a bit excited. If he could be more assertive, then maybe... His train of thoughts was interrupted as something very fast slammed into him and pinned him to the ground. Eastin tried to move, but with this unknown enemy holding him all he could do was roll his eyes at him... Or rather, her. The one who attacked him was a mare. A very pissed of pegasus mare, that was the same age as he. "Oh, no..." "The Director and I thought that maybe if you were paired with a very... assertive pony, it would help you to get more confident." the Counselor said, not reacting to the violent welcome E has received. "We decided to pair you with soldier Fillydelphia." The dark blue mare with purple mane stared into his eyes. "You have no idea what kind of trouble you are in." she said.