No Turning Back
Luna took in a deep breath as she returned to her body. Cracking her eyes open, she looked back into the pool. Ryan and Harris were going North in what was essentially a stolen vehicle. She scrunched her face. “I do hope that they don’t lose themselves.” she said to herself. She exited the room up the stairs.
Once up top, she decided to turn her mind to other things. The first thing that came to mind was Starstep’s earning of the Crest of Valor. Deciding that would be unproductive, she instead went into her library and looked for a book. Scanning her shelves, she wasn’t looking for anything in particular. She saw one book; Mythical Creatures of the Everfree Forest. She didn’t feel like reading that one, but it sparked a thought.
Were there human-like creatures in Equestria? In old stories, she had certainly heard of things comparable to them, physically. None were ever similar to humans in respect to society, or intelligence. Even the ponies didn’t seem to quite compare there.
Luna decided that she would look around her library for a bestiary of all Equestria. She knew she had one, and it would have to be enormous. She looked around her shelves for a bit, but couldn’t find it. It wouldn’t be in the forbidden section of the library, would it? She had been gone a long time, so certain creatures may have been found that Celestia would want to remain unknown. “No, not today, at least. Maybe another time.”
She left her library and plopped herself onto her bed. Her mind went back to Starstep and the Crest. “He must have it somewhere.” she thought. “But where?” Her mind turned to his team, and the potential that some were still alive, captives of the previous government of the Southern Griffon Colonies. She felt like they should do something. Problem was, as her sister said, there was no one qualified. Starstep’s potentially alive teammates were pretty much on their own. A lump formed in Luna’s stomach. “Poor Starstep...” she said. She wanted him to be happy. He was her best friend, and before, she couldn’t see how much this still pained him. Now, she wanted to do whatever she could to make it right.
Before she could continue her thoughts, there was a knocking at her door. It was followed by shouting. “Get out of here! She’s busy!” she heard Starstep yell. The responding voice was all too familiar.
“I must speak with her. Move aside, peasant.” It was Blueblood.
Upon hearing Blueblood call Starstep a peasant, Luna almost exploded. Directing herself at the door, she used the Royal Canterlot Voice even louder than she thought she could. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!!” she demanded. Using her magic, she blasted her doors open. “AND HOW DARE YOU SPEAK IN SUCH A MANNER TO HIM!” Starstep was a little to the side, surprised at Luna’s loudness.
“A-a-auntie luna, Auntie Celestia requests your presence!” Blueblood yelled, terrified. Luna’s anger subsided a bit. Just a bit.
“Fine. Starstep, you go on ahead. Tell her I’ll arrive shortly.” She turned to Blueblood. “I must speak with my nephew.” Blueblood gulped, and Starstep ran off to avoid the storm that was coming.
Luna sighed disappointedly. “You do not appreciate what you have at all, do you?” Blueblood was about to answer when Luna didn’t allow it. “You know that there are Ponies out there who have trouble getting by, who work a thousand times more than you, and yet you look down on them? These subjects of mine, NOT YOURS, have greater virtue than you seem capable of.” Blueblood shrank down. “You know, there are other places that are much worse that you could have been born.” she said. Blueblood trembled. “There are places where those who live there are subjected to violence and fear every day. Places where they die for no reason, where they suffer because someone hates them for no reason.” She was referencing a place that only she and her guard knew about. “You were lucky enough to be born into a world of peace, and even a position such as yours. Yet, you don’t appreciate it.” Luna turned around and began to walk away. “Do not ever treat my guard in such a way again,” she warned. “Or I will punish you.” She heard frantic hoof-steps behind her as she walked off.
While she walked to her sister, she noticed that everyone she passed was giving her nervous looks. Had she really been that loud?
Luna entered the throne room and walked to her sister, who sat seriously on her throne. Starstep was nearby. “Leave us.” Celestia ordered him. He nodded and trotted away. Luna locked eyes with him as he passed. He definitely had no idea what was going on.
The doors shut behind him, making a loud boom as they did so. Celestia got up. “Come with me.” she said. Luna followed.
The two regal sisters went out into the garden. Around them were statues, shrubs, small trees, and other natural decorations. Birds chirped, bees buzzed, and the wind blowed slowly in the garden. It was all peaceful. “I must discuss something important with you.” Celestia said suddenly. The sisters stopped next to an empty statue stand. Luna figured she knew what this was about.
“Yes?” she asked.
Celestia faced the empty space. “We cannot find Discord. There are still no leads.” She looked south. “At the same time, there is an increasing amount of uprisings in the Southern Griffon Colonies. Our subjects are increasingly in danger toward that region.” Luna realized the implication.
“You think that Discord is the cause of this.” Celestia nodded.
“I fear that he may be trying to take over the world again.” She tensed. “And that if he starts down there, he may succeed.”
Luna now looked to the south. “What can we do?” she asked. Celestia frowned as she responded.
“I think that we may have to try to restart the Nighthawks and the Golden Eagles.” she said. Luna turned around.
“How? It was ended because no one volunteered...”
Celestia nodded. “We may have to take current guards and train them for it.” Luna looked at her sister, concern painted on her face.
“What if there are no guards who want to join?” she asked.
“We may have to not allow that.” Luna’s mouth fell wide open.
“We can’t do that!” she said. Her sister winced. “We stopped that practice over twelve hundred years ago!” Celestia’s head fell.
“I know.” It rose back up. “But if we don’t...” She looked up. “Equestria may fall.”
Luna felt like there was a two ton brick in her gut. She just wanted to fall onto her rump and take that all in. She did just that. “We should find out if he’s there first...” she suggested. Celestia nodded.
“I already sent scouts there. They should return in a time, maybe two weeks. They will have all the information on what’s happening.” The two went silent. Celestia started moving back toward the throne room. “If you have any ideas, please, don’t hesitate to tell me. I’ll listen to anyone at this point.” She left, leaving Luna alone in the garden.
Luna watched her sister as she exited the garden. That Discord could be causing such trouble was grave news. If he so wanted, he could easily start some rebellion down south to put the old government back into power. With his help, they could start another war with Equestria, and with so few soldiers, Equestria would be defenseless.
Deciding to let her sister think about that, as she had experience, Luna walked around the garden. She looked at the decorative foliage, the small animals in the trees. She also looked at the statues. There were statues of enemies her sister and the citizens had overcome. There were also statues of old heroes throughout the garden. As she walked through the garden, she thought about the potential that Starstep’s teammate was being held in the south. “There isn’t any chance of getting him...” she thought. With Discord causing trouble, no guard would ever be able to infiltrate the area and perform a rescue. “It will be up to the Elements, my sister, and I to solve this problem.” She shuddered at the thought. To fight a war with six ponies would be incredibly difficult.
Luna halted. To her right was a statue that she was unfamiliar with. Most of these statues she had been here for when they were built, and others were there before she went away for a thousand years. This one, though, she didn’t know. It was a guard statue, but he was wearing a different outfit from most. It looked lighter, exactly like Starstep’s old armor. The guard was clearly male, and had a face mask on to hide his features. Luna looked down at the plaque.
In commemoration of the brave Nighthawks who gave their lives to rescue their fellow stallions.
This statue was dedicated to Starstep’s old team, or at least the stallions who made up the Nighthawks. Luna felt a pang of sadness at it. “Such a loss of life...” Her eyes became teary. “If only we could fix past wrongs.” She left the statue and made her way back to her chambers, not noticing the unique glint from the chest piece on the statue as she quietly grieved the loss of such brave warriors.
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Ryan had nodded off while Harris drove them north to the border. It wasn’t set to take very long for them to get there, since they were actually in a pretty nice van. Good milage, speed, and cargo space. During the ride, Ryan had put his vest back under his shirt to conceal it from the border guards that they may or may not encounter.
Harris started to nudge him. At first, Ryan only pushed back, not wanting to be woken up. Harris slapped him across the face. “Ow!” he yelled. He turned and looked grumpily at Harris.
“Ryan,” he said. Ryan looked forward. “We have problems.”
Ahead of them was a border checkpoint. Ryan had really been hoping that there wouldn’t be any border guards here, but Murphy didn’t agree. “Damn.” Ryan thought. He had been trying to think of how he would get through a border station, but fell asleep and couldn’t plan. There was one guy who could probably think of what to do. “Discord!” Ryan thought. Discord happened to be always listening to them, and responded.
“Yes?” He elongated the word playfully.
“Not the time.” Ryan said. “We have a problem.”
Discord laughed in his mind. “Oh, I’ve known about this for a while. i just didn’t tell you.” he said. Harris must have been hearing it too.
“What!?” he yelled. Ryan scowled. “Why would you not tell us this, exactly?” he asked. Discord popped his head through the roof.
“Because I thought it would be more interesting to see how you handle finding yourself in tough situations.” he said. Ryan snarled at him. “Oh, come now, don’t be so huffy!” Discord replied. Ryan ignored him and went to pull out his pistol, just in case. It wouldn’t budge. “Ah, ah, ah.” Discord said, wagging his finger. “There are rules that even I have to follow.” He had locked their weapons in their holsters.
Ryan gave up his attempt to take out his pistol and instead focussed on the task at hand. There were about ten cars ahead of the boys, and each one took its time getting past the checkpoint. “Harris, we need something.” Ryan said in a rushed tone.
“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” he responded. Two more cars passed through the checkpoint. Ryan observed the gate. it was a flimsy looking wooden rod that extended off of the little room it was attached to. Harris saw him looking. “You thinking what I am?” Harris asked. Ryan put his hand up.
“Wait.”
The two boys waited in their position until there were only a couple of cars left in front of them. To avoid suspicion, Ryan got out and looked under the car to make it look like something was wrong with the van. When he saw some border guards approach, he got back inside.
There were no cars left in front of them. The gate was closed, and a guard approached them. He knocked on the window. Ryan kept his eye on his while he lowered the window. “Can I help you?” he asked. He hoped the guard didn’t speak english.
“Why you in government car?” he asked in broken english. So he spoke some.
“Alright.” Ryan said to the guard. He turned to Harris. “Punch it.” he said calmly. Harris slammed down the gas pedal, and they boys sped forward.
Unfortunately, the flimsy wooden rod was not wood. It was a long steel rod. When they hit it, the car jolted slower, sending Ryan forward into the dashboard. “Go *cough*, GO!” he yelled. Harris hit the gas again, and they sped forward past the checkpoint.
Still recovering from hitting the dashboard, Ryan could hear sirens behind the van. “They’re following us.” he said. Harris growled.
“Yah, I know!” Ryan got up and proceeded to the back of the van. “What’re you doing?” Harris yelled back. Ryan looked around.
“Trying to buy us some time!” he said back. Harris returned his eyes to the road before them.
Ryan looked around the back of the van. There were some zipties, old handcuffs, a fire extinguisher, and some clubs. There was also rifle ammo. “Too bad we don’t have a rifle.” Ryan thought. He would shoot at his pursuers if he could.
Ryan kicked open the back door of the van. Off to the rear was a group of maybe three cars pursuing his and Harris. Their sirens blared as they sped towards the much slower van. “Can’t this thing go any faster?!” Ryan yelled, still thinking of what to do.
“This isn’t exactly a Porsche!” Harris yelled back. Harris grumbled something inaudible.
“Think, think, think!” Ryan said rapidly. Discord wouldn’t allow any shooting, so bullets were useless. But there were some stray bullets in the back of the van. Ryan picked them all up in his hands, about forty-five 7.62x39mm rounds. The pursuing cars were fast approaching. “A little closer...” Ryan said to himself.
Discord was watching everything with interest. If necessary, he would step in and try to ensure Ryan and Harris’ escape, but he wanted to see what the boys would do. He watched closely as Ryan approached the back of the van with over four dozen bullets cradled in his arms. “I wonder what he’s doing?” he said out loud. The pursuing cars approached the van.
“หยุดและหยุดยั้ง!” someone yelled from one of the loudspeakers. Discord heard it as, “Cease and desist!” Ryan was having no part of that. When the car wasn’t six feet behind, Ryan dropped all the rifle rounds. They acted as a hailstorm on the lead pursuing car, cracking the windshield and breaking it in spots. The passenger just kicked out the window and they kept going. “Stop!” Discord heard. Not having any part of it, Ryan went back into the van.
The car got closer to the van; now it was probably three feet away. The passenger in the pursuing car leaned forward out of the windshield. In his hands, he was holding a pistol, not unlike one of Ryan’s. When Ryan returned to the open door of the van, the man tried to point his gun at Ryan. He pulled the trigger, but shooting someone from a moving car is hard enough when the person they’re shooting at isn’t also moving. His shot went way off to the side, hitting a tree. Ryan must not have heard it, but he seemed unphased by it. In his hands, he had several sets of metal handcuffs. He grabbed the side of the van door and leaned back. Gripping the handcuffs, he whipped them around with a swing of his arm. It was just long enough to strike the man across the face. The man fell to his right and nearly fell out of the car. His driver slowed and fell behind the other cars, eventually coming to a halt.
The other two cars were gaining. One sped ahead of the other, coming up about four feet from the van. Seeing that they were too far away, Ryan threw the handcuffs at the windshield. Unlike the bullets, they were heavy enough to actually smash through the glass. They landed right in the drivers face, who veered to the right in his panic. He slammed into a tree.
Now, there was one car left. It came up behind, but did not approach. Instead, the passenger sat in the back seat and was performing some unknown activity. Ryan was uneasy about this. “This is so exciting!” Discord shouted, snapping his fingers and making some popcorn for himself.
Ryan’s uneasiness proved right when he saw the man lean out from the back half of the car, assault rifle in hand. It looked like an M16A3. Ryan shut his door and fell to the floor for cover. Above him, he could hear the bullets slam through the door and fly above him. “What the Hell is going on back there!?” Harris screamed. There was a bit of metal between him and the seat, thankfully, so he should be safe.
“Just don’t poke your head out!” Ryan yelled back. Harris kept driving.
Ryan looked around the back of the van for anything that might be useful.The handcuffs and bullets were gone, and zip-ties were worthless. The clubs might work, but not at this distance. He did have a fire extinguisher, though. “Harris!” Ryan yelled.
“WHAT!?” Harris yelled back in half fear, half anger.
“Get ready for more bullets!” Ryan grabbed the extinguisher and reopened the door. Looking out, he could see that the man was back in his car, probably reloading.
“Harris!” Ryan yelled. “Are we approaching any turns?”
Harris yelled back, “Yeah, there’s a small one up ahead!” Ryan nodded to no one in particular and held the fire extinguisher tightly.
“Hang on!” Harris yelled. Even though the turn was small, it still managed to move Ryan a bit. But it was in the perfect direction; he was looking right out the door. Pointing the nozzle out the back, Ryan released a large spray from the extinguisher. The man had just started leaning back out of his door as he did this. With the extinguisher, Ryan coated the front windshield and sprayed the man leaning out of the window. The car swerved and started to slow, but it did not slow down enough. It went off road and landed in a four foot deep, five foot wide ditch. The man with the rifle had fallen out and rolled across the ground, also landing in the ditch.
Ryan shut the door again and released a sigh of relief. He had stopped their pursuers. “Bravo, bravo!” Discord said out of nowhere.
Ryan responded angrily. “Why would you not let me use my weapons?” he yelled. “Why would you-” Discord cut him off.
“Because I have a set of rules that YOU must follow, or you won’t get any of my help. My first rule; no killing people who don’t deserve it.” Ryan leaned against the wall and looked down. While Discord was right, killing innocents was bad, that wasn’t his concern right now.
“That’s not my concern, demon.” Ryan replied. Discord flinched a bit. “I only want Narendra.” Discord shook his head.
“You see chaos as evil.” Discord said. Ryan huffed. “But who’s the real demon?” Discord left through the roof, leaving a fuming Ryan.
He made his way back to the front seat. “What was that about, man?” Harris asked. Ryan gave a dismissive wave.
“Just forget it.” Harris looked at his friend with concern, then chose to respect his wishes.
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About an hour later, Harris drove up on some little village. It was small, but looked pretty well kept and fairly modern. There were solar panels, some satellite dishes, and other systems. Ryan looked out the window. “Must’ve been visited by the Peace Corps or something.” he commented. Harris only gave a curt nod. He stopped the car.
In the last hour, Ryan and Harris had decided that they would make a pit stop at the next sign of civilization. Everyone has to use the bathroom at some point.
The two boys stepped out of their vehicle and looked around. The villagers had gathered around quickly, looking at their visitors suspiciously. One approached. “คุณเป็นใคร?” he asked. Ryan looked at Harris. Rolling his eyes, Harris decided to be the one to speak.
“Sorry, but we don’t understand.” he said. Discord flashed in from nowhere. Harris had difficulty controlling his reaction. But the villagers noticed when he tensed up.
“He’s asking, ‘Who are you?’.” Now, Harris looked back at Ryan. He stepped forward.
“We are aliens from Mars, come here to extract your pancreases for our calculators.” Harris’ jaw dropped, but the man did not react. “Well, we can’t talk to them.” Ryan turned to look at Harris. “If they understood us, they would have reacted.” Harris was about to argue when Ryan stepped forward to the man. He started making motions of removing his pants, squatting, and made a face. Harris face palmed.
When he removed his hand, he saw that Ryan was already being led away to a small hut. The man ushered him inside, and Ryan bowed to him, entering and closing the door. As Harris approached, the man ushered him inside too. “I’ll take this one, you take that one.” Ryan said to Harris without turning. Harris looked around. There were two makeshift stalls, made of wooden rods and sheets. Harris went behind one. There was a chair with the bottom cut out, and under it, a pipe at a downward angle with a hole.
“Must be for catching stuff.” Harris thought. He removed his pants and sat.
“Harris, after this, when we head north, we’ll need to make stops for food and water.” Ryan announced. It took Harris by surprise.
“Dude, don’t break the unspoken rules.” he said jokingly. Ryan was not in a joking mood.
“Seriously.” he said. “We may have to ration our supplies until we get more, if we aren’t careful.” There was a pause. “I’m thinking ahead, Harris. Not on the head.” Harris grinned slightly, despite himself. He heard Ryan pull his pants up. Harris finished soon after and exited his little curtained area.
Ryan was looking intently out the door. “Harris... we got problems.” Ryan said.
Harris stepped forward and looked outside. Out there was the first car that Ryan thought he had taken out. “I thought you dealt with them.” he said. Ryan shook his head slowly.
“Guess not.” Ryan tried for his pistol; no dice. “There’s other ways around that.” he whispered.
“What?” Harris asked.
“Now’s as good a time as any for this.” Ryan said. He stood there, staring out the doorway.
The two men from the car were inspecting the stolen van. One was on the other side and couldn’t see Ryan’s area, but the other was looking right at them. Ryan waited. The guy seemed to be looking around. “A good time for what?” Harris asked. The man on the other side of the van yelled something, and Ryan’s guy turned around and went to the back door of the van.
“This.”
When the guy turned his back, Ryan rushed forward, leaving a very abashed Harris in his wake. He ran as silently as he could toward the guy at the back of the van. When Ryan was halfway there, he opened the door and looked inside. He wouldn’t be there long. “Now or never.” he thought. He ran right up behind the border patrol agent and kneed him in the tailbone. As he started to yell out, Ryan brought the van door back around, slamming it on the man’s head, sandwiching it between the two doors. He fell to the ground like a sack of stones. Ryan stepped into the van, using his fallen foe’s head as a step.
His buddy must have heard the scream and ran around the van. When he saw his friend on the ground, he pulled out a pistol and looked around frantically. “จะมีใคร!?” he yelled. He pointed the pistol all around, terrifying the villagers. “ฉันหมายความว่าคุณไม่มีอันตรายใด ๆ !” he yelled. “ที่ทำอย่างนี้?” he had a questioning tone. Some of the villagers pointed at the van and screamed something. The border man pointed his gun at the door. “ออกมา!” he yelled. When nothing happened, he ran up and opened the door.
Not the best idea. He found himself meeting a beautiful fire extinguisher face to face. Ryan hadn’t had enough room to hit him hard, so the man just fell back onto the ground. Ryan hopped out of the van and advanced. The man tried to pull up his weapon, but it was knocked away by the half-empty extinguisher.
Ryan slammed the extinguisher down on his opponent’s head, generating a splitting whack upon contact. The man didn’t get back up. Ryan observed him. He had a massive wound on his head. The edge of the extinguisher had acted as a wedge, actually bashing the skull slightly open. It wasn’t enough to see inside, but the blood coming from the wound was a clear indication of a severe wound. Ryan stood there, observing the damage he had caused.
Harris came running up. “Ryan!” he yelled out panicked. Ryan didn’t respond. “Ryan!!” he yelled louder. Ryan looked over. “You alright?” he asked. Ryan nodded.
“I am. He’s sure as hell not.” He pointed at the man on the ground. Harris gasped.
“You... you actually...” He couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Let’s go.” Ryan said. Harris just followed, for fear of what could happen if he didn’t.
“And just what the HELL do you think you’re doing?” a voice asked. The boys didn’t stop walking, didn’t turn around.
“Leaving. We got what we needed. No reason to stay.” Ryan responded. Discord flew up in front of him, steam coming from his ears.
“I told you that I have a set of rules!” he yelled. Harris nearly fell; Ryan didn’t move. “I told you that I wouldn’t tolerate you breaking those rules.” Ryan stepped past him.
“I only know one of your ‘rules’. And besides, you don’t know he was innocent.” Ryan kicked aside the dead body and the unconscious body, leaving them on the side of the road. “I had to get rid of them.” he said. There was little or no remorse in his voice.
“But there was no reason to KILL them!” Discord yelled. “Why would you do that?” he asked. Ryan turned to face him as he got into the van.
“Because,” he said. “What fun is there in making sense?” He got back into the van, leaving a distressed Discord in his wake.
“He can’t mean that...” Discord said. “He can’t.” Harris walked up behind him and went over to the van.
“He didn’t.” he said to Discord. Discord looked at him with hope. “He definitely didn’t.” Harris entered the van, and the two boys drove off.