//------------------------------// // Call to Arms // Story: Humans Assemble! // by Mistershield //------------------------------// Chapter 65- Call to Arms “Any sign of Phoenix?” Cherilee asked. The teacher’s chest moved up and down, panting for sweet air. Appleloosa was by no means a large city or even a town- But there were a lot of events in the rodeo still going on. Also, there was a lot of open terrain, a changeling could have dragged a prisoner outside the town limits. “Nothing. Everypony *huff* and the creatures I asked *huff* hasn’t seen him,” Little also panted for breath. “But then again, no one outside the rodeo has been competing in events, eating, or trying to take things easy...” “The situation is most dire. Call Rainbow before she tire,” Zecora raised her head up to join the others. Everyone picked up their heads to look at the rainbow blur that flew around town quickly. “Seriously, how long has she been on it? I’m tired just looking at her...” Cheerilee frowned, now that she caught her breath. “I don’t think Dash would listen to us. If zis was Ralf missing, do you think you could stop?” Blue Spy asked. The fuschia earth pony frowned, but then looked away from the sky. They had all been searching so far, and agreed to meet outside the jail. Sheriff Silverstar had to go back to the Rodeo, leaving Lyra and Sephiroth to watch over the hornless changelings. “I hate to say this...” Toph spoke up, crossed both arms on her chest. “But I don't think Phoenix is still in town.” The teen had her head lowered a bit to look at the ground. “What makes you say that? And just where did Phoenix went?” They all picked up their heads as the rodeo humans returned. It was the voice of Vash, leading the way for Ralf and Braeburn. It looks like someone had hosed him down, he had no mud on his clothes. But he was still wet. “Is the round over? And sorry, but we didn’t get to tell you...” Little lowered her head to frown. “Tell them Toph.” “While the second round was going on, Rainbow Dash got attacked. I’m not sure what happened, but I think Phoenix did something to sacrifice himself to let Dash live...” Toph picked up her head, but her eyes were closed halfway. “What makes you say that?” Vash asked, lifting an eyebrow. He was not sure, but this place had magic, so, who knows what was possible. Ralf lowered his eyelids, his hands turning into fists. Cheerilee hurried over to Ralf, moving her head to rub against her side. “We’ve been looking for the one changeling that got away- He’s the one that stabbed Dash. But I think he changed into a bird or something and took off. I can’t feel his vibrations or heartbearts. The same goes for Phoenix...” Toph continued to explain. “I remember you told me you had that ability. So either the changeling changed into a bird and took off with Phoenix while the commotion was going on... Or he’s gone from this realm.” Vash frowned. This was not good. If that changeling got away, they could warn the others and this town and other humans would be in trouble. “Is that why Dash is just zooming up there?” Lyra poked her head through a window, her eyes on the sky. “Lyra? How long have you been listening?” “Long enough. Hey Rainbow Dash!” Lyra cried out to the sky. “Huh? Oh! The other guys! Great!” Rainbow Dash stopped for a second, turning to look down at the ground. Her mouth opened and closed, taking in gulps of air to keep up with her rapid flying. She flew down a second, her eyes twitching left and right. “No sign of Phoenix yet?! Well, we got the others, let’s look!” “Dash,” Spy stepped up to the pegasus and raised his left hand up to her. “If you have not spotted Phoenix or ze changeling, they are long gone. I tried to follow footprints, but with so many creatures around- Especially around the rodeo- It’s impossible to track.” “Don’t tell me you guys are just giving up! Phoenix never would!” Rainbow Landed on the ground, looking at the other Equestrians. “Just because you have your partners-” Slap! “Silence yourself! How dare you!” Spy admonished her, taking his hand back after slapping her. “Do you think you are the only one suffering?!?” The others had their mouths open, but for various reasons. Lyra was pissed that Dash would accuse them of not caring. Zecora was surprised by her partner’s outburst. Ralf had both eyes closed, petting Cheerilee. “But-” Rainbow Dash managed to blurt out, feeling the sting on her face. Even with gloves, that hand hurt. “Spy’s right, Dash... I may not know Phoenix as much as you, but I liked him too. We can’t panic now. Knowing how fast you were going...” Vash stopped himself, wondering just how fast that pegasus could fly. “If you haven’t seen them by now, there’s no chance any of us can find them.” “But what if they’re hiding?!?” Dash picked up her head, her eyes already watering. The last few minutes she had been flying, her mind had been distracted by keeping a sharp lookout. She didn’t want to admit that it was her fault Phoenix was gone. “Zere’s a chance of that...” Spy moved a hand up to his chin. “But I doubt it. The changelings know we can uncover their powers. Also, with the Rodeo- We can’t afford to lead the town into an uproar.” “Spy’s right,” Cheerilee added. “The spectators were upset enough when the changelings were unveiled. We have to be smart about this, Rainbow.” “But... But...” Rainbow Dash shut both her eyes, landing on the ground to rest her wings. Tears begun to fall from her eyes. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t headbutt the changeling.” “You did this?!?” Ralf opened his eyes, his fists now raised up. “Even most humans know to leave the prisoners alone!” “I’m sorry...” Dash whispered. Lyra hopped out of the window to move over to Dash and hug her. “This will do us no good. Spy, should we contact the others?” Sephiroth poked his head out of the window. “It seems that the role of leader will be placed on you for now.” “I suppose,” Spy sighed. He did have a brand and the octophone. “Maybe one of them has a spell that can help. But before that, Toph and Dash- Tell the others what happened.” ____________________________________ “Rumble!” “Big Bro?” The little pegasus colt perked up both ears, turning his head to the sky. Thunderlane, his older brother, was racing down to the ground from the air. While Rumble was a light shade of gray with a gray mane, the older pegasus was a dark gray with white mane. “You alright?!” Thunderlane landed on the ground, moving both hooves out to wrap around his bro and hold him up to his chest. “When I heard about the humans...” “Knock it off, bro!” Rumble blushed, his head down a bit to try to fight off his brother’s hugs with his small hooves. Great, first Kuki and now his bro. “I’m fine!” He took a second to look around, wondering if anypony else was looking at him at this embarrassing moment. It looks like the other classmates were also in similar situations. Little fillies and colts were getting hugged by overprotective parents. “Wait, are you crying?” “Are you okay? Were the humans scary?” Thunderlane had his big eyes in tears to look down. “Did they hurt you? Wait...Did those humans touch you?! Show Big Bro where they touched you!” “Bro!” Rumble’s eyes went wide, looking at Thunderlane. “I only got hugs! Calm down! Nothing bad happened!” “But that one human that ate babies-” “Stop that!” Rumble shut both his eyes, trying to fight off the squeezing hold of his older brother. “Oh thank Celestia you’re safe!” “Did you anger the humans like the Crusaders?” “You are coming home right now!” “As soon as I get the chance, we are moving out of this dragon accident prone town!” “Please, everypony calm down!” Mayor Mare raised both of her front hooves up to the crowd gathering. She frowned, the various parents and older siblings of the school ponies were relieved, but causing much of an uproar. “Why should we? Did you see the power these humans have?!” Thunderlane picked up his head from Rumble to look at the Mayor. “What if they went out of control!” “Now, everypony stop yer belly achin’!” Applejack cried out, frowning. She was using anger at both the townsfolk and at the Dovah to fuel her voice. “Did you forget how they been helping the town so far?!” “Your partner’s a thief! Is that true?!” A voice spoke out. “It’s true... Ah think. So what?” Applejack frowned. “He’s still all the things Twilight said at the party.” “But Applejack! What about the paper?” Both Rumble and Thunderlane turned to look at the new voice speaking. It was Carrot Top.. “Have you read the whole article?! This Otacon helped the changelings! Dan burned our hospital! Even slander against our Princesses!” “Now Ah won’t know about that! But ya’ll know Princess Celestia has more sense than that!” Applejack frowned at them all. Still, there was so much to process herself. But she forced this back for now. “Now where’d ya get that newspaper?” “A human child and Scootaloo were passing these out at the new hospital construction site...” ___________________________________ “Back off!” Wally shouted, holding his bubble gum launcher up with both hands grasped around the weapon. “None of the KND are on that cruddy list!” “You expect us to just let you guys get away with this? Scootaloo, we all thought you learned your lesson about spreading gossip!” Doctor Stables frowned, looking down at the two. Many of the adult ponies that had been working on the hospital had stopped, turning to look at the commotion. So many of the ponies had run off, and only now were they reading the newspaper article. “Humans... Are-” “Worse than changelings?” “An assassin with our Princess Luna?!” “You mean its the humans fault we have to build a new hospital?!” “A human tried to kill you, Doc?” Murmurs and other voices started to spring out amongst the crowd. Angry voices and frowns started to form on the multi colored faces of the workers. Wally was really starting to wonder if telling others about the paper was a good idea again. “Listen, I think you should come along with-” “Dynamic Entry! “Get your damn dirty hooves off them!” Ash arrived at the hospital construction site, legs stretched out to conect against the face of the pony that had moved out towards Wally. The adult stood up slowly, looking down at Dr. Stables. “You just have to go do the responsible thing, and look where it got you.” “Number 4!” Kuki rushed over to wally, holding her radio up. “I found Number 4, Number 1!” “Kuki? What’s going on?” Wally and Scootaloo turned to look at their backup. “Where’s Rumble?” “Kids, get going!” Ash looked back over his shoulder to look at them all. “Go meet up with Sokka and the others.” “But what about you?” “Number 4! Get Number 3 and go!” “Number 1? What’s going on?” The blond kid frowned a bit. “Hey, what was that for! You hurt the doc-” “Shut it.” Ash moved both arms to dust himself to look back ahead of himself. “Look, you can read that paper and whatever, and you get to complain, and whine,” He rolled his eyes. “Like you’re entitled to. I believe in the freedom of speech. But if a single one of you lays a hoof on the kids...” He reached out to grab his metal hand and remove it from his wrist and toss it to the ground. “I’ll take ya on with just one hand.” “But you killed-” “I gave a goddam dragon an uppercut! You think some ponies scare me?” He moved to take out his chainsaw to slip it where he was missing his hand. “Bring it!” “Number 4, it looks like we’re getting our answers. But it seems the ponies are turning a bit hostile. We rendez-vous later. Number 3 knows where.” “We got it, sir. Just take your kids and go. But leave Scootaloo,” A new pony stepped up. It was Noteworthy, a blue earth pony. He had volunteered to pitch in and help build the hospital, but at the moment the actual laborer ponies started to gather around the doc. Things were going to turn ugly very fast. “Wally?” Scootaloo lowered her eyebrows a second, turning to look at her partner. That explained why Rumble was left behind. “I-” “She stays. I’m not getting accused of kidnapping,” Ash added. “You’d better go...” Scootaloo said to lower her head. Wally frowned, looking from Kuki and then to Ash. It wasn’t fair! The KND were not mentioned on that list. He raised both eyebrows though, when Scootaloo gave him her scooter. “For luck.” “... I get it.” Wally took the scooter and turned away. Crud. The only pony or kid that knew what he was going through. “Kuki, get in the wagon.” Number 3 did as she was told, moving to get the other papers out of the wagon. “The others are already on their way, but we all left our partners behind too.” The radio spoke. “For what it’s worth sir, thank you. You did stand up to the dragon single handedly...” Noteworthy moved down to pick up Ash’s metal hand to hand it back. “If this mess ever clears up, I’m buying drinks for the workers...” Ash nodded. He took his hand back and took off, leading the kids towards the mountain far away. He was going to miss these guys. Sure, he hated the food, but these guys worked alongside him for the last few days to rebuild the hospital. He didn’t look back though, leaving most of the workers to look back at the best damn lumberjack Ponyville has ever seen. ___________________________________ There was a lot of green. Green grass on hills and the ground where there was no paths. Green bushes that were trimmed and kept looking nice to adorn the area. Trees full of healthy leaves added green above eye level. Sokka frowned, not used to so much green. One would think that after living in Ponyville a few days, anyone would get used to the foliage. Sokka himself had camped out in lots of forests and jungles after traveling with Aang. Unfortunately, when running and your adrenaline’s pumping in your blood- Things tend to blur and make it hard to remember to leave markers to keep yourself from getting lost. He hoped Dovahkiin and Ash were doing ok. So far, there had been no one else on the path. This was the same direction Team Espionage had taken when they left Ponyville on their mission. At least he could see the mountain, so he wasn’t completely lost. With any luck, Otacon and his team would be using the same road. Sokka’s chest moved up and down, puffing for air as he carried extra gear than he was used to. He had the elven sword Dovahkiin made for him, and he managed to carry the maps in Mayor Mare’s saddle bag on his left shoulder. Sokka debated using the octo-phone to contact the others, but his uncooperative brain was also being bogged down by the implications of the newspaper. Why could he read Equestrian script? Did Celestia have anything to do with Nate’s poisoning? Were the other humans more evil that the newspaper presented them to be? And, if the facts were real, who managed to get all of these things? He couldn’t recall the humans sharing that much from the others. How much time before the check in anyway? “Sokka!” “Hoagie?” Sokka blinked, turning to look at the children. Number 1, 3 and 5 walked in tandem. Behind them, Dovahkiin and Merchant followed. “I’m glad you’re all ok!” “Believe me, news spreads fast in Ponyville,” Merchant huffed a second. Junebug had hurried after him, refusing to be left behind. He chuckled, seeing how she had grown a backbone. First, she had been hesitant about adventure, now she was running head first into it. “We managed to find these kids spreading the papers in the train station.” “You what?!” Sokka moved his hands to the side of his shaved head, a bit shocked. “You wrote this?” “Well, no- Actually the colts and fillies did the writing. According to them, a robed fellow gave them the article.” Nigel moved a hand to rub his chin. “We had to leave the others behind after the news.” “I had no idea the ponies could act like real adult jerks... Then again, we did knock out poor Time Turner,” Hoagie added. “Oh you guys are in so much trouble!” Sokka frowned, lowering his hands to look between the kids. “Hold it, Sokka. The kids had a reason. But I think we should all wait until we are all together to explain,” Dovahkiin moved to step ahead of the children. “Fine...” Sokka moved his hand to rub both eyes. “At least you're all okay.” “Team Ponyville?” “Was that...” Sokka opened his eyes and turned to look over at Team Espionage. “Twilight? “What are you guys doing here? It’s almost time for the check in.” “Look, a lot happen. Gather in so I can fill you in.” ________________________________________ “Alright. It’s time for the check in. Do you know what to do, Mr. Samurai?” Distant Star presented the octo-phone back to Jack. “Yes. Well, at least after you explained the plan to me. And yes, you do have a point.” The white robed human slipped the phone on. “Alright, this is Team Canterlot. I am issuing an order.” ******************************************************** “Jack? An order?” Sokka and Otacon raised their eyebrows, turning to look at the others gathered around. Samus once again broadcasting the message for the others to hear. **************************************************** “But comrade, Phoenix is still missing!” Spy turned to look at the rest of Team Appleloosa. **************************************************** “We have no choice. There is much to discuss, and all gathered at my side, in person, would be better.” Team Canterlot, including Snape and the Doctor were all standing in the gardens around Jack. Lots of room there. ************************************************* “Since when do we let others give orders!” Dan shouted. “And what’s this about Phoenix missing? And this crisis Sokka mentioned?” Fluttershy moved to hug Soma. The others waited patiently for Dan to take command. **************************************************** “Since you erred in your command, Dan. A smart maneuver at this point would be to rally all of our sources. Till this point, we have all been mislead.” “Mistake? I don’t make mistakes! What kind of mistake?!” Dan shouted from his end. “Dan, calm yourself. It was an error, but one of ignorance. The perfect plan to strike back against the changelings would be a single team. Instead of splitting us up-” Jack took a second to look back at Distant and nod. “Would be to make one team. Twilight Sparkle is the only unicorn other than the princesses with the magic power to cast Dispel and Detect Magic properly. A power user such as Soma for emergencies, Dovahkiin for healing and long range combat, and Samus. With her ship and rapid transport, we could have all visited each town in less than a day. Twilight would have used her magic, then the others could have captured the changelings.” ***************************************************** “Oh wow...” Twilight’s eyes opened wide to look over at Samus. Her ship could carry a few people- And considering how fast she reported it could move... “He got a point,” Snake turned to look over at Samus. ************************************************ “Well, damnit! Are you telling me we lost Phoenix for nothing?!?” Spy shouted. The others in his team backed off a bit, noticing Spy’s outrage. Rainbow Dash raised her ears. Was this not her fault? ********************************************* “I...” Dan’s mouth was a bit open. Was this all his fault? “I guess this makes sense. Fine. Samus... Start collecting everyone. Can you collect us all? No problems with power usage?” ********************************************* “No, my ship had plenty of power. But it’s a meant for single transport, so I can’t have too many passengers at once.” Samus spoke back through her own communications equipment. “Where do we meet?” *********************************************** “Canterlot. No one say anything, we must all be ready to face the truth of our actions. Jack out.” _____________________________________ Roger Smith and the other Darksigns turned to look around in the new location. Once more, they were inside a cavern. Sombra’s dark magic fog vanished slowly, showing off the changelings collected in the room. Gilgamesh blinked once, then frowned. Again, another cavern. “Hmm... Interesting creatures,” Wesker spoke out first, looking over at the lower ranked insects. He then turned to look at King Aurelius and Queen Chrysalis. “My my...” “You are all so cute!” Kefka shouted. He immediately rushed over to one of the changelings to squeeze it in a hug. “Can I keep one?” “No, you sick clown,” Vegeta said. Luthor frowned at the clown, agreeing with the prince. “Humans?” Queen stood up from her throne, eyes opened wide. This was her first time meeting them. As the reports mentioned, they were indeed ape-like. “King, Queen. Forgive my intrusion, but we could not stay in Canterlot. I present to you, my champions.” Chapter proofreaded by LyonAzakura. Bonus: “Oh, but I’d like to be a tree,” Fluttershy closed both her eyes to smile. Soma tilted his head to the side, blinking once. He turned his left hand out to snap his fingers, making a tree sprout from the ground in seconds to give out fruit. “Really?” Applejack frowned. “One snap of his fingers and a tree grows with fruit, and we earth ponies have to do all that work!” “Oh, but Soma isn’t showing-” Fluttershy stopped a second to look at Soma once more. This time, he leaned forward and opened his mouth wide to send a giant tongue out to grab one of his fruit to eat. “How uncouth,” Rarity frowned. “Just like frog.” “Yeah, but just imagine if he decide to use that tongue to please his mare,” Rainbow Dash elbowed Rarity. “I personally find this amazing. Soma’s powers are so amazingly diverse!” Twilight Sparkle went down the list of powers the soul hunter had at his control. “Do you have anything that can alter your status or appearance?” “Well, other than the transformations powers? I do have a few that boost my powers...” The Element of Acceptance took a second to cross both arms on his chest. “Oh! I do have one soul that boost’s my luck with a physical display!” Soma shut both eyes to lower both arms at his side to lift his shoulders up. “Flying Humanoid!” Two large white wings sprouted from his back to spread out a bit over his head. They were ethereal, glowing with power as Soma opened both eyes to smile. “Its like looking at a real angel,” Sephiroth commented. *POOMF* “What was that?” Twilight opened both her eyes to look back at the sound. Both of Fluttershy’s wings flared out straight over her form as she stared. Pumping blood engorged her wings, almost making them visibly pump. The pegasus stared at Soma with her eyes wide, mouth opened a bit to drool. “Soma! Go limp!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Go wha-” The teen was tackled by the yellow pegasus begun to drag him away. “Help me!” “Stay out of my shed!” Fluttershy turned around to look at her friends and begun to laugh.