//------------------------------// // Cold War // Story: A New Field // by Battlefield3vet //------------------------------// "So you're soldiers?" asked a cream colored earth pony with a blue and pink mane. "Yes, we were. Then we came here, some things happened and we are seemingly in active duty again. Anyways, I would like to thank all of you for coming out and asking questions. I hope you now know a bit more about your human friends." I replied. We were standing in front of town hall where me and Bruce were answering questions from the citizens of Ponyville. It was the last thing on the agenda before we headed out for the Crystal Empire, or what was left of it. Pinkie finally got around to throwing our party, and it was amazing. There was delicious cake, punch(hard cider was available for the older ponies), even a DJ! I don't know how, but it was amazing. I guess there's a reason ponies say, "Ain't no party like a Pinkie Pie party!" "That took long enough." said Bruce. "Yeah, I agree. So we're heading out now?" I asked. "Yep, Rarity finally finished our arctic uniforms. We can leave as soon as we pick them up." replied Bruce. "We'll be taking the Humvee, right?" "It's got a full tank, we can make it there and back hopefully in less than a day. Maybe two depending on what the situation actually is." Bruce said. We picked up our new black and white digital patterned B.D.Us from Rarity, she did it all for free, she knew a surprisingly large amount about military Battle Dress Uniforms. "So Rarity said she enjoyed designing for us. Maybe we can get a bit more out of this?" "Come on, we'll pay her eventually. Everything is ready, we're just going to say our goodbyes and go scout an occupied empire." I told Bruce. We walked back to the library where everypony was waiting. We walked inside and were immediately assaulted with hugs. "Good luck!" called Applejack, "Don't get the uniforms dirty or I might have to charge you for them." I gave Rarity a look that said, 'Really?' She smiled awkwardly and sunk behind Fluttershy. "Bruce, do me a favor and come back in one piece. Grayson, keep an eye on him will ya?" Yelled Rainbow. "Yeah, 'cause if you don't, I won't be able to throw a 'Good job saving the Crystal Empire" party, and I really want to throw that one!!" Pinkie yelled in a voice that rationalizes the use of two exclamation points. She bounced around and was off being Pinkie Pie when Fluttershy poked my shoulder, "Please come back alive, I think most ponies have taken a liking to the two of you." She said. "I'll try my best, where's Twilight?" I asked. "Right here," came a voice from behind me. In her telekinetic grip was my M1911 and Five-seveN. "Do you need these?, they were on top of your bed." "Thanks Twi. I appreciate it." I holstered my handguns and leaned in close to the distraught lavender unicorn,"I'll find your brother, don't you worry." She looked up at me, "Thanks, I can't imagine what he's been through. Just please get him back safe." she replied. "No problem, We'll be back before you know it." I told everyone. They all yelled a collective "Goodbye, good luck!" Bruce and I entered the Humvee and began driving north. We had gotten a fair distance into the snow, about three quarters of the way there, when Bruce stopped. "What's up?" I asked. "We've spent half a tank getting this far." He replied. "So?" "It'll take us half a tank to get back to Ponyville from here. We have to walk the rest of the way." We got out and began walking through the barren tundra, following the train tracks, "See anything yet?" "Besides snow, snow and more goddamn snow? Not much." replied Bruce. "Hey! Just up ahead, there it is!" I exclaimed. "Yeah, the storm clouds in the middle of this blizzard are just there for no reason. Let's get in, find what we came here for and leave." Bruce replied with a touch of sarcasm towards the beginning of his statement. (Background Music Open in new tab.) We walked into the clouds and the blizzard stopped, replaced by dry lightning going off around a ruined city. The sky was a dark and ominous yellow, crows could be heard all around. Buildings were in ruin and in pieces. Bruce and I changed into ponies to take advantage of our smaller sizes as ponies. We headed straight for the castle. If Shining Armor and Cadance were still here, that's were they would be. "Over here, in this building!" Thunder whispered as a BTR-90 approached. We made it inside what appeared to be a spa as the vehicle passed, shaking the ground around it. "Look at this place, 50,000 ponies used to live in this city, now it's a ghost town. I've never seen anything like it." I looked around, the spa looked like it was once fairly popular. Couldn't have been cheap either. "If they're still here, they'd probably be in the castle. Probably guarded too. You got the C4 to cover our escape if necessary?" "Yeah, hope we don't have to use it." "I second that motion." I replied. My armament consisted of my M1911 suppressed, and my combat knife. I also carried my Five-seveN, but didn't intend to use it. Bruce carried his FNP-45(also suppressed) and enough C4 to level what was left of the empire. We stuck to the shadows to avoid the patrolling Hind helicopters. "It's coming this way!" whispered Thunder. The patrolling Helo was about to shine it's light on our position. I thought of my possible solutions and settled on a long shot. I closed my eyes and focused my energy to my horn. Channeling magic to hopefully cloak me and Thunderhead. Thankfully it worked. I opened my eyes and Thunder and I were nowhere to be found. The Hind passed right over us and I released the spell. Thunder slowly materialized into view and I followed suit. "Nice job, whatever it is you did." "Invisibility spell, just figured it out. Probably going to come in handy." I replied. "Yeah, we'd better hurry. We're falling behind the timeline." replied Thunder. He was right we were supposed to at least be in the castle searching for the high value individuals. We finally reached the castle, what was left of it, and walked right in. I cast the invisibility spell just to be safe. Good thing too, in the main entrance there were soldiers, griffons and humans. They were definitely Brevinski's mercenaries. My father was right. "Figures there would be mercs behind all of this." I whispered to Thunder. "Let's listen in, maybe we can learn something." he replied. We crawled closer to the group, still invisible, "So we finally get our shot at revenge." said the first griffon. "We're taking full advantage of it. These weapons rock! Have you seen how easily they tear through ponies?" said another, stroking his AKM. What he said disturbed me greatly, ponies had died? If so how many? "Well don't get too excited, Colonel Sombra is going to publicly execute the two ponies who were ruling the empire tommorow and broadcast the footage all over this land. After that, the Human-Griffon Coalition moves into Equestria." said one of the humans. "Aw yeah, more chances to take revenge on ponies, right?" "Yeah, General Bellicose wants ten dead ponies for every griffon lost in the war of Equestrian oppression." War of Equestrian oppression? That's what the griffons called the first Griffon-Pony war, even though they came close to victory. "Once Sombra has control over the empire again, HGC will use it as the forward operating base into Equestria. Nothing will deny us our revenge." I whispered to Thunder, "I've heard enough, let's go. We've got a few hours until the prisoners are executed. We'd better find them and hopefully be out of here by then." We looked around, still under the cover of my invisibility spell, until we found a tunnel leading to an unexplored area. "Any idea as to where that heads?" asked Thunder. "No, we'd better check it out just so we don't miss anything." I replied. We followed the tunnel out into what looked like a stadium. Only it was being used as the occupant's vehicle depot. The field was covered with BTRs, BMPs, T-72s and T-90s. Even Mi-24 Hind and AH-6 helicopters. Mobile anti-air vehicles were strewn about as well. Next to a 2K22 Tunguska SAM system I saw the Princess of the Crystal Empire sitting next to the Captain of the Royal Guard. They both looked pretty bad. Of course it is difficult to look good, even for a princess, when your tied and gagged while surrounded by armed guards constantly sneering at you. "I see 'em, over by the mobile AA gun." I whispered to Thunder. "Copy your last, how do we get them out of here?" he replied. "Hmm, good question. Plant C4 on the vehicles as a 'Plan B' if we need it. I'll go sneak up to make sure they're all right." I crawled over to the hostages, still invisible. Halfway there, a voice echoed through the stadium. "All units, report to HQ for the demonstration. Leave the prisoners where they are, they won't be going anywhere anytime soon." What did he mean by demonstration? Demonstration of Power? That would make sense, but what would be demonstrated? No matter, the patrols walked back up the tunnel leaving me and Thunder alone with our objectives and a vehicle depot rigged with C4. Perfect. Too perfect... I disengaged my cloaking spell and approached the prisoners, "H-hey, Who are you?" asked Shining Armor. His tone was slightly aggressive and he shifted to put himself in front of Cadance as best as he could. "I figured you wouldn't recognize me." I replied. Any aggression melted and he relaxed, recognizing the sound of my voice, "Grayson? Is that you?" he asked, dumbfounded at my presence. "Yeah it's me. By the way, the name's Shadowstorm." I replied. "Oh, nice. You're here to get us out, right?" "Yeah, your sister's worried sick about the both of you." At the mention of his sister, Shining Armor was once again nervous, "Is Twiliy alright?" I couldn't help but snicker at the nickname used by Twilight's older brother. For whatever reason, I just found it humorous. "Yes she's fine, a bit worried but safe with the rest of her friends in Ponyville. To my knowledge, the Crystal Empire was the only place that was invaded." "That's certainly a relief. Do you still want to talk or can we get going." I had lost track of how long we'd been talking and freed the prisoners as Thunder came up to me, "Explosives planted on the vehicles, we can leave whenever." "Who's this?" asked Cadance. Just then, I heard the sound of footsteps echoing throughout the tunnel leading to the field. "We'll have time for a formal introduction later, follow us and keep quiet. I've got and idea. It's a bit reckless, but stupid enough to where it might just work." I said. All four of us got down and we crawled with me leading, over towards the helicopters. "Thunder, get the detonator ready. We'll more than likely have to resort to 'Plan B'." I whispered as we all crept behind a stationary Hind. "We're going to 'borrow' an AH-6 and hit Plan B to cover our escape." "What?" Cadance and Shining whispered in unison. "Just follow me." I replied. "Where'd they go?" I turned back to see soldiers beginning to scout the area for the missing hostages. "Were going to have to pick up the pace, stay low and follow me." I said, climbing back to my hooves and walking in a crouched position. We reached the Littlebird helicopter, I opened the back doors and ushered Shining and Cadance inside. I shut the back door and climbed in the pilot seat. It wasn't my first time flying an AH-6, My grandfather made me learn how to fly helicopters, he was right when he told me it was a useful skill for any military activity. "Hold on tight to something, this might be a bit turbulent getting out." I advised. I started the engine and ascended as quick as I could. Not without attracting attention of course. The soldiers on the field had opened fire with their assault rifles. It didn't do much against the helo. I got nervous when I saw soldiers running to the AA vehicles, "Thunder, Plan B, do it now!" I exclaimed over the commotion. Thunder was sitting in the co-pilot seat up front and squeezed the remote with his hoof, somehow. The resulting explosion engulfed everything on the field, nothing was left, soldiers, vehicles, even the fueling tanks were engulfed and added their contents to the inferno. I nearly lost control of the helicopter, but managed to pull it together and flew us right out of the occupied empire, and back into the blizzard. Apart from not being able to see much, The flight was stable and I headed south towards Ponyville. A flash of bright light emanated from behind us. I turned to see a ball of energy giving out a huge shock wave, "An EMP?" I whispered to myself. The shock wave reached the Littlebird and short circuited everything. We were going down. I blacked out before we hit the ground. A short time later... I awoke inside the smoking helo. There was smoke everywhere and I was the only one in the vehicle. I looked around and saw Thunder helping Cadance away from the wreckage. I summoned the energy I had left and climbed out of the wreckage. I saw Shining Armor a short distance away laying face-first in the snow. I assumed he was flung out of the helo as it spun out of control. I ran over to him, "You're still in one piece, get up. Come on, we need to get moving before the search parties get here." I said. "I, can't move. I think I broke a leg." He uttered. I took a closer look and sure enough, his back left leg was bent in an unnatural position. "Hold on, I'll be right back." I ran back to the Littlebird crash site which was now on fire, and grabbed the First-Aid kit under the pilot seat. I grabbed a small broken tree branch and headed back to the injured pony. "First, I'm going to cast a painkilling spell, alright?" "Go ahead," He said between breaths. I tried to cast a spell, but couldn't seem to cast forth any magic. I couldn't even pick up the first-aid kit. "Hey, my magic's not working, can you use yours?" I asked. He closed his eyes and concentrated, but nothing. "I'm not working either, this is weird." he replied. "Alright, this next part is going to hurt a bit. I'm going to have to put the broken bone back in to place." I said. He grabbed the branch and bit down on it, he then closed his eyes and nodded his head. I moved the break back into place with a sickening 'snap'. I heard a muffled scream from the Guard Captain, but the stick did its job and kept it from bursting our eardrums. I took the branch, and used it in a splint with some bandages from the first-aid kit. "Sorry, but I needed to get that back into place so it would heal properly." Shining's breathing slowed, "Thanks, I'm feeling better already." He tried to get up but struggled when he put weight on his injured leg. I rushed over and caught him before he fell over again. He draped a foreleg around the back of my neck, "Thanks, for everything." I let out a small smile, "Anytime." We limped back to Cadance and Thunder. Shining sat down next to his wife and they embraced each other. I turned to Thunder, "Any injuries?" He shook his head, "Surprisingly no. You and I are fine, Cadance suffered only a few cuts. It looks like Shining got the worst with his broken leg." "Hmm. Well we better get moving, They're probably looking for us and I don't think they'll hesitate to kill us on sight." I announced to our party. (Background music) We set out in a southernly direction. A bit slower than I would've liked due to Shining Armor and his injury. But we were making progress nonetheless. The blizzard had let up slightly and we were making even better time thanks to the break in the weather. After walking far about an hour in the cold arctic sun, I saw a familiar shape in the distance. It was a brown box with black circles at the bottom. I signaled everpony to follow me towards the Humvee. "What's this?" asked Shining. "Transportation, we'll be back in a few hours as opposed to a few days." I replied.We loaded into the Humvee and Thunder started driving. "So, did you learn something about the griffons and humans working together?" I asked. "They call their alliance HGC, for Human-Griffon Coalition." replied Shining. "We heard, anything else?" asked Thunder. "Well, we heard that the griffons have a human advisor, we didn't find his name. Only that invading was his idea and he supplied the weapons." said Shining. Cadance was still pretty quiet, it was understandable, helicopter crashes tend to leave you shaken up for a little while. "Are these weapons supplied wholly by the griffon's new friends or are they producing their own as well?" asked Thunder. "The griffons love the new weapons and have been producing more of them here." answered the Guard Captain. "Figures, I don't know what's really going on but I'm pretty sure the griffons are blinded by the chance at revenge to see it." "See what?" asked Thunder. "The human's real intentions, whatever they may be. Humans don't naturally share things, especially military technology. They're giving the griffons everything." I said, trying to piece things together. Griffons are working with humans, humans gave griffons modern military technology. Griffons used human tech to wage a war against Equestria for payback from the first Pony-Griffon war. "Any idea as to what's happened to the ponies that didn't make it out of the empire in time?" "I heard the soldiers complain about being tired from long walks in the unforgiving weather. They would take prisoners out on marches over the tundra. Every time fewer and fewer ponies returned." replied Shining. This is starting to sound a lot like World War II. The nation starving for revenge, the leader promising it to them by blaming their problems on a race then exterminating it. "Doesn't this sound familiar?" I whispered to Thunder, he nodded indicating that he saw it too. We reached the outskirts of Ponyville as the sun was setting, but the snow hadn't let up. The blizzard still raged around the Humvee. I had heard something about the conditions of the Crystal Empire being reflected across Equestria. I guess there was a major snowstorm all over. We drove into town, our first stop being the hospital to get Shining Armor proper medical attention. "Thunder, go inside and tell them we need help." Thunder nodded and ran inside the hospital. I turned and looked back at our friends in the back, "Besides Shining Armor's leg, Is everything alright?" Cadance nodded, "I'm fine, just a bit fatigued. A little sleep and I'll be good as new." she said in a forced cheery tone. "Great, Shining will probably stay in the hospital for a while. Cadance, you'll probably be staying with me and Twilight at the library." A genuine smile flashed on Cadance's face at the mention of her husband's sister, "It's been a while since I've seen Twilight, I can't wait!" her expression and happiness seemed warm enough to melt the snow and frost surrounding the Humvee. "I'll probably have to wait until a while to see my sister, It's getting really late." said Shining Armor. Three ponies came out of the hospital, a doctor, a nurse and Thunder. "Nurse Redheart, get the patient inside and examine the wound." the doctor ordered. "It's just a broken leg that I put a basic bandage on." I said. "It looks like the bone was put back into place shortly after it was broken." the nurse stated. "You're welcome." I said with a smirk. Shining was carried into the hospital by the medical ponies into the hospital. Cadance was staring at her husband with a worrying expression. "Don't worry he's in good hooves now, let's get back to the library." I said as Thunder climbed back into the driver's seat of the Humvee. We drove the short distance to the library. I got out of the Humvee with Thunder and Cadance following suit. I walked up to the door, *knock knock knock*, "TWILIGHT?",*knock knock knock*, "TWILIGHT?," *knock knock knock*, "TWILIGHT?" The door opened to reveal the mare in question, standing in the doorway with a saddened expression on her face. She then recognized the pink alicorn and her expression was immediately replaced with one of joy and relief. "CADANCE!" exclaimed the now overjoyed lavender mare. The two mares briefly embraced each other than chanted, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The chant had a corresponding routine that consisted of jumping up and down, covering their eyes with their hooves and finally 'doing a little shake' of their backsides in the air. I didn't stare, can't say for certain about Thunder. "Hey Twilight, I told you I'd be back." I said. "You said you'd get my brother back safely, Where is he?" asked Twilight, her mood becoming more grim as she realized who wasn't in the library. "Don't worry, he's in the hospital with a broken leg, that's all." I said. "Broken leg?" said Twilight, her eyes shrinking to the size of pinpricks. "Yes, he did get the worst out of all of us, but it's late, we're all very tired. We'll visit him tommorow." reassured Cadance. I climbed up the stairs and crawled into bed. I heard Thunder say good night and saw him fly away from the window. "Mission accomplished, good work." I whispered to myself as I drifted of to sleep.