The Mission
A blur of colourful dots obscured the summer sky as the parasprites took flight. Squealing in fear, they looped through the air and fluttered desperately for the safety in the Everfree Forest canopy.
What had startled was still causing a ruckus. Brute Force was still screaming in pain as he squirmed; uprooting the forest’s ferny carpet and kicking up dirt.
“Argh! It hurts! Pony down! Pony down!” the guardspony screamed, and despite that he was still rolling on his side and kicking his legs as if trying to run. “Oh, sweet Celestia, the pain! The agony! It hurts so bad!”
“Brute, stop kicking!” Private Mercury tried circling around Brute Force’s back so she wouldn't be bucked in the shins. He wasn’t exactly the strongest stallion in the guard, but Brute Force did have quite a kick.
Steel Block did the same, circling his screaming friend with worry in his eyes.
All three ponies were equally bedraggled. They had mud staining their armour and the under-fatigues. There were bits of twigs and ferns hanging from the nooks in their dirt-glazed armour.
Looking up they saw clods of dirt, moss and rocks form a series of miniature rock-slides down the slope they had just tumbled down. High above them were the deceptive bushels of undergrowth they had moved through while searching the Everfree Forest for their mission objective. All three earth-ponies had tumbled head over hooves a good dozen or so metres.
Mercury and Steel Block had landed without incident. Brute Force – quite obviously – wasn’t so lucky.
The privates still on their hooves standing over their screaming friend watched as a tall figure slid down in a much more controlled fashion than the privates had descended the slope. With a thud, Who the human landed and ran closer; skidding to a halt once more when he realised he didn’t want to be kicked in the shins by Brute Force.
“What happened!?” the human demanded in a tone reserved for figures in authority. He was clearly taking his new duties very seriously. “Report!”
“We fell!” Mercury pointed the hill Who had slid down gracefully. “Brute’s hurt bad, sarge!” she added, remembering to call the mission’s leader by his new rank.
It had taken some time for ponies to get used to Who being a full-blown member of the Royal Guard. Now they had to get used to his position as a sergeant. Heck, the transition has been so quick and sudden some of them still accidentally called him by ‘corporal.’
Looking down, Who reached up and pulled off his helmet, clipping the armour to one of the anchor-points on his utility belt. Trying to kneel down beside Brute Force to see what the matter was, the sword hanging on his hip rattled in the sheath. Hung diagonally across the back of his golden armoured vest was a tube, the bottom end capped and several long sticks sticking out the top. They were like crossbow bolts, but not quite. Steel tipped with nasty looking barbs – like crossbow bolts they were fletched with stabilising fins with notched ‘swallow-tails.’ But at the same time they were far too long to be bolts. Ponies had heard Sergeant Who call them ‘arrows,’ which he used pretty exclusively; fired from the curved wood and rope contraption he called a ‘bow’ hanging from his shoulder.
Leaning back so he wouldn’t be kicked in the chest, Who tried calming Brute Force down. “Private! Let me look!”
High above them a unicorn stuck his head through the bushes just before the drop-off. “Sir, the medic is on his way!” the unicorn from Archer Company’s squad called down to them.
“Tell them to hurry!” Mercury cried on the verge of tears before looking down to Brute like he was her favourite puppy with a broken leg. “Hang on Brute Force! The doc is on the way!”
“Sir, I didn’t hear a break on our way down.” Steel Block rumbled calmly. “It may just be a sprain.”
“Either way we gotta stop him thrashing around ‘fore he makes it worse.” Who suggested. “Privates, hold him down. I want to take a look.”
Turning his head, Steel Block nudged Mercury in the shoulder. Sniffing loudly, the mare nodded, indicating she could do this. Without hesitation, the duo leapt onto their friend. Their combined weight held him pinned to the ground as their forehooves grabbed him by the legs. They struggled for a moment, but soon enough Brute Force wasn’t kicking anymore.
The private was however screaming even louder. “You’re killing me! You’re killing me! I’m gonna be sick, it hurts so bad!”
“Suck it up!” Who cried as he grabbed the foreleg Brute Force was complaining about.
Trying not to rip his leg off with the way Brute was struggling, the sergeant looked up and down the leg. He flexed the joint, eliciting more squeals and struggling from the stallion. There was obviously something wrong with his ankle joint, but no play in the bones as far as he could feel. Clearly nothing was broken, fractured at worst perhaps.
Then he ran his fingers through the chink in the armour behind the fetlocks that allowed the pony to move his leg freely. There he felt something hard and rough.
“Wait a sec, what’s this?” the human mumbled as he held something between his fingers. Something lodged in the pony.
“Waaaaaaaaah!!!” Brute Force bawled like an infant, salty waterfalls arching out of his eyes and pooling around his head. “Stop! Don’t touch it!”
“Can’t we give him a sedative or something!?” Mercury cried distressed.
“There’s no time for sedatives!” Steel Block rumbled.
“There’s always time for sedatives!” Brute Force begged to differ.
Who said nothing has his face screwed up into a focused expression. Working his elbow into it, he squeezed his fingers together and pulled. With a sharp yank it came free, and Brute Force let out a fresh wail. This one sounding like that of a filly instead of that of an injured stallion. Oh, how disappointed Staff Sergeant Buckshot would be in him.
“Oh, no! My leg! You pulled out my vital leg things! I’ll never walk again!”
Who just growled, punching the stallion in the exposed section of ribs between his heavy armour plates. “Private, calm down! It was a splinter! Settle down!”
Listening to Brute Force breathing hard and whimpering, Steel Block gave a confused frown. “It was a what?”
“It was a WHAT!?” Mercury exclaimed louder. “You got me worried and worked up over a WHAT!?”
“It was a splinter.” Who sighed holding it up. It was a sizeable thorn, held between the human’s index finger and thumb. A good centimetre long and curved slightly into a perfect point, it might be described as a talon on first glance. But since it hadn’t even shed any blood, the thorn was still just a splinter.
“O-oh…” Brute Force looked at it a little sheepishly. “So I’ll be okay?”
“I have some bad news, private. You’re gonna live long enough to settle down with a mare and produce offspring. A concept that terrifies us all, I’m sure.” Sergeant Who shook his head as he stood before tossing the pathetic shard of wood away.
“But you’re not a doctor, Who!” Brute cried. If he was going to put his health on the line he wanted a second opinion!
The sergeant just sighed – irritably this time. “… cute.” With a roll of his eyes he turned and walked away.
As the human left, still lain on his side Brute Force looked up to his friends. “Was it something I said?”
Mercury didn’t say anything. Gaping widely for a moment, she just gritted her teeth angrily before trotting off after the sergeant. Steel Block in the meantime moved around Brute Force with a heavy sigh.
“A splinter.” He shook his head before helping the private up. “Brute Force, you degenerate.”
“It was a really big one.” Brute mumbled sheepishly as the larger stallion moved to also follow Who.
The human sergeant unencumbered his bow, and with the weapon gripped in one hand he looked up the sheer drop-off to see two unicorns stick their heads through the bushes above.
“Sir!?” one of the unicorns cried looking the four figures below over. “I have the medic prepared for descent! Is everything alright?”
“Stand down, corporal.” Who cried back up to them. “False alarm!”
Inspecting the drop off, the unicorns quickly figured the human and the three earth-ponies wouldn’t be able to scramble back up to regroup with the rest of the mission group. “Sir, should we gather the ascension gear?”
Who shook his head, though he gave a small grin. At least his new corporal remembered his training and wasn’t letting the ‘first-mission-jitters’ go to his head. “Negative, corporal. Mission objective remains the same. Take the rest of the squad and link up with the pegasi squad from Rapid Company. Keep moving north to where the target was last sighted. We’ll follow this ridge ‘till we can find somewhere to climb up.”
“Sir, I really think-…” the young corporal began, but Who was shaking his head.
“There’s no time to follow standard operating procedure to the letter, corporal.” Who said keeping a level tone. “If you don’t keep up the search now the target may wander deeper into the Everfree Forest. If he wanders into manticore hunting-grounds our job gets harder. Allons-y, corporal.”
A fraction of a pause, enough for Who to notice hesitation in the corporal’s eyes. But recomposing himself, the young corporal nodded. “Aye, sir!”
The unicorns’ heads disappeared back into the thicket and Who heard the corporal rally the squad to keep moving. He had no doubt in his mind the corporal merely wanted to keep the sergeant close. This was the young unicorn’s first mission after all. Who remembered his own first mission as a corporal. He should have, it had only been three weeks ago. Who had learned quickly. He was sure this corporal would learn quickly too.
Turning, Who reached back and pulled one of the arrows from his quiver. Resting it over the side of his bow, he clicked the notch in the tail against the string, keeping the bow held in a relaxed position in front of him. At the same time he was assessing Brute Force as he and his fellow shield bearers gathered themselves. Shrugging the heavy ‘iron-wings’ onto their shoulders, the earth-ponies prepared to move.
“Ready?”
Steel Block was the first to nod as he gave the shield on Brute Force’s side a solid head-butt. The metal clang filled the air, but Brute was unmoved.
“Solid as stone walls, sir.” The heavy stallion rumbled.
Brute Force chuckled at that. “Stone walls… Stonewall Company… hehe. Jackass.”
“Rich coming from you, cry-baby.” Mercury scowled, not quite forgiving her friend for his overreaction earlier.
Who rolled his eyes as he moved out. “I’ll take point. Stay close, privates.”
It wasn’t exactly SOP to let an NCO take the lead, but before any of them could complain the sergeant was moving out. While he wasn’t a sprinter like earth-ponies, and couldn’t cover as much ground as pegasi could in flight, the human was still agile and quick on his feet. Because he had a longer stride and a pair of hands, the human could often cover rough ground terrain faster than most ponies.
The heavily armoured earth-ponies had to canter just to keep up with the sergeant. As they moved though, their progress through the Everfree Forest was not silent. Their heavy hoof-falls thudded loudly as they passed through the glistening rays of sunshine filtering through the patchy canopy. Their armour jingled, as did their iron-wings.
And to add to that, they had to talk over it all.
“Don’t you think it’s strange?” Mercury suddenly asked.
Steel Block glanced sideways at her. “What?”
“Not what! Who!” Mercury immediately clarified fearing another ‘Who-related’ confusion session coming on. “The human being in charge? It’s like some kind of conspiracy, I tell you. How can somepony go from a cadet to sergeant little under two months, then jump straight to leading an operation! It doesn’t make any sense.”
Steel Block huffed as if the answer to that question was too easy and not worth answering. But answer he did anyway. “The guy just works his butt off. I heard he gives out his shore leave to other ponies with families in his company so he can spend more time working and studying. He was supposed to be taking a vacation in fact, but instead he applied for an officer’s course. This mission is preliminary assessment.”
Scoffing, Brute Force shook his head. “That makes altogether way too much sense. I heard the captain just likes him.”
“Horse-crud!” Mercury snapped.
“Okay, Merc. You seem obsessed with sarge enough to bring this up. What’s your theory?” Brute Force asked in a smarty-pants tone.
“I think he’s seeing with the captain’s sister, and she’s so love-struck she’s putting in a good word for him to her brother.” Mercury expounded as if it were simplicity itself.
That made the stallion chuckle. “That could do it. What do you think, Blocky?”
“I think she sounds jealous.” Steel Block grinned broadly, nudging Mercury.
She didn’t pay him any mind, staring at the human ahead of them. He had slowed to a walk and was swivelling his gaze from side to side as the steep incline to their side shallowed out. He was obviously looking for a point for them to climb up and regroup with the rest of the mission. Though Mercury wouldn’t know that. She was too busy checking out his ‘flanks,’ of whatever the who-man equivalent was.
“Jealous ain’t the word I woulda used.” Mercury mumbled with a faint grin, eliciting a ‘Huh?’ from the stallions at her side.
Holding up a fist, Who halted their march, then beckoned the ponies over. “Here.” he pointed at a rocky section as he tucked away his bow and arrow. “We can climb up here. C’mon.”
Once again the sergeant was moving faster than the shield bearers. On all fours he clambered up the rocks that formed like a craggy stairway up the steep incline. Within moments he reached the top and poked his head over the ridge to look left and right. Satisfied the coast was clear he scrambled over the summit and turned around the beckon the earth-ponies up.
One at a time they clambered up towards the sergeant where Who helped them up over the ridge. Before long they were catching their breath on higher ground while Who determined a northerly direction. Peering through the canopy he located Canterlot in the mountains in a direction he knew was east. From there he calculated a northerly trajectory and drew his bow and first arrow once more.
“C’mon, privates. Keep movi-…” the sergeant was about to tell them to keep moving when something rustled nearby.
The bushes were shaking from side to side as a heavy hoof-falls met their ears. The earth-ponies angled their iron-wings towards the bushes, ready to block a charge. Who immediately stepped behind them, drawing back his bow-string and aiming along the arrow. His fingertips flexed, ready to let the string go and let an arrow fly at the disturbance…
He quickly tightened his grip on the string when he saw what burst from the bushes.
The unicorns from Archer Company were as bedraggled as the earth-ponies. Mud trailed up their legs and flanking armour where they’d sprinted across mucky terrain. There were bits of foliage caught between their armour plates, and all of them were completely out of breath.
At the sight of Who and the three ponies, the unicorns halted their run, heaving heavily as they tried to catch their breath.
But even as the unicorns slid to a halt the thunderous racket of running hooves didn’t mute. They were being chased by something. And whatever it was, judging by the slowly increasing volume it was getting closer.
The corporal was paler than he usually was and was panting desperately for breath. Like his fellows, the unloaded crossbow hung across his back where he hadn’t bothered to reload yet. There was something distinct in his eyes. A distinct look of fear. And Sergeant Who knew exactly why that was.
The sergeant had set out from Ponyville with eight unicorns that morning. Now he counted four.
“Report!” Who barked un-tensing his bow and kneeling in front of the corporal so they were at eye-level.
“I-I-I…” the corporal was on the verge of nervous breakdown. The guardsponies under his command were in a similar state, shocked and confused; and they had no idea what they had to do next.
“Crystal Shine!” Who called to the corporal. “I need you to tell me what happened! Now report, soldier!”
Corporal Crystal Shine gaped, his mouth working, but at first there were no sounds. Then a croak as the faint thuds of pursuing hoof-beats grew louder. The earth-pony shield bearers formed up to the unicorns’ sides, ready to receive a charging line.
“Corporal!”
Crystal Shine’s terrified expression shifted as his lips moved to allow a single word to escape his mouth: “… changelings!”
The single word croaked from the unicorn was startling. Even Sergeant Who wasn’t expecting that one.
“Changelings? This far into Equestria?” Steel Block rumbled.
“A baker’s dozen.” Corporal Crystal Shine managed to force out looking defensively to the shield-bearer. “Ah’ know what ah’ saw. A scoutin’ party. Ambushed us. Knocked out privates-…” Who held up a hand to stop the unicorn there.
“They’re fine. We’ll worry about collecting them later. Sol Guard, on stag!” he ordered with a terse bark.
The Royal Guard managed to line up to receive an assault. The pursuing hoof-falls were louder now, joined with the rustling of branches and leaves as the incoming changelings grew nearer. Under the din were several clicks as the unicorns unencumbered their crossbows and loaded up.
“These weirdo love-junkies don’t take another step into Equestria!” Who called to the guardsponies under his command. “Am I understood?”
The seven ponies replied at the same time. “Sir, yes sir!”
The bushes rustled like before, and in an explosion of foliage they leapt from cover, landing before the readied Royal Guard.
They were like the illegitimate offspring of ponies and insects. Part beetle, part pony, they were covered in a midnight black exo-skeleton layered over a thick hide protecting their vital internal life-juices. All changelings followed basic alicorn principles, with a pair of delicate buggy-wings and a horn perched on their foreheads – a curved number quite akin to that of a rhinoceros. Granted they couldn’t do much more than magically alter their appearance and produce scorching stun-blasts, but it was enough that they could fly and shoot magic.
Not only that, their hooves were home to sharp, hooked claws of chitin and they had massive fangs to boot. Their pale, solid blue eyes only served to add to the intimidating effect.
“Well what do we have here?” one changeling – seemingly the leader – hissed. He was large – for a changeling anyway. This bruiser had extra layers of chitin layered over his already hardened exo-skeleton with the edges ending in barbs and spikes. “Some Royal Guard out for a walk in the woods, eh?”
The changelings let out some growls and laughs, pacing up and down the Sol Guard line. A few took an intimidating step forward, trying to elicit a response from the cornered Royal Guard. They didn’t flinch. Not even the scared corporal. They stared right back at the changelings with icy resolve.
Backed up against the drop off, the Sol Guard didn’t have anything else they could do. Who’s aim snapped between the thirteen insectoids, his fingers burning to let an arrow fly. Steel Block dug his ironclad hooves deeper into the soil prepared to stave off an assault. Brute Force and Mercury looked ready to charge.
Regardless, they were out-numbered and in a crappy position. All the changelings had to do was charge with a magical shield-wall and shove the Royal Guard over the edge. And when the armoured ponies and their human compadre finally hit the ground below they’d be caught in a shooting gallery. The changelings would likely just stand on the high ground and rain stun-blasts down at them.
“We’re in trouble, sarge!” Steel Block growled imagining the same tactical assessment in his head.
Who shook his head. “We’re not in trouble. Not yet. Because we have a phrase.” – The unicorn archers perked up their ears when they heard their sergeant speak – “An ancient, time-tempered phrase. An old saying from my home world;” – smirks spread across unicorn faces as they readied their stance, smiling defiantly at the changelings outnumbering them – “A phrase of great power and wisdom and consolation to the soul in time of need.”
Mercury smiled hearing this. “What is it?” she asked curiously, desperately wanting to know before she was blasted by the changelings.
The answer came with a combined bellow from the unicorns as the squad from Archer Company let out their war-cry: “ALLONS-Y!”
And without hesitation, they charged. The changelings were frozen in shock, and could only watch as four unicorns and a human ran right at them; screaming for blood. Four bolts and an arrow sliced through the air between them and slammed into the changelings with a crack of steel meeting their hardened black hide. The ammunition bounded off their faces, but still the changelings who were hit took a staggered step back, breaking their line. And taking advantage, Archer Company was upon them. Crossbow stocks swung around and smashed into other changelings. Who swung his bow around, bashing the hardened limbs into one before wrapping the string around the throat of another changeling, strangulating the creature.
In the meantime, the earth-ponies were stunned. Mercury looked to her left at Brute Force. His mouth was agape and his eyes were wide. She then turned her head to Steel Block. He looked back at her and gave a shrug.
Shrugging as well, Private Mercury threw herself after Sergeant Who, her voice joined by her friends’ in a mighty: “WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”
… not exactly the usual Stonewall Company war-cry, but effective none the less.
Headfirst they ran right into the changeling forces. Brute Force whipped around, sliding across the dirt on his flank before landing on his hooves in range and bucking a pair of changelings in the face with one well-placed kick. Mercury charged faster than the other two, sprinting headlong into another changeling straight up nailing him into a tree. The force of the blow caused the bark to shatter and nearly topple the evergreen. Steel Block ran in shield-first. Two changelings bounced off his iron-wing, a third rearing back. The mighty stallion angled his shield downward a little and scooped the rearing changeling up against the surface of the steel plate.
Before the changeling could even think of taking flight to escape, Steel Block pivoted forward and crushed the changeling into a bramble bush. Stepping back he saw the changeling lay on his back among a pool of squished blackberries with a pained expression, parasprites buzzing confusedly around his head.
Whipping around, Steel Block saw the sergeant was pulling a changeling off Mercury’s back before pinning the insect pony so the mare could buck it in the face. In the meantime however, the changeling commander was charging up behind them, his horn aimed directly at them, glowing with mucus-green energy.
Gritting his jaw, Steel Block kicked off, throwing clods of earth up in his wake as he charged at the changeling’s side. Leaping forward he angled his body to soar shield first directly into the bruiser. They made contact with a great clang-g-g; before tumbling to the ground and rolling head over heels.
Rolling over as his shield was torn from his side, Steel Block landed on his iron hooves and slid to a halt. The changeling slowly climbed to his hooves and hissed at the shield-bearer. Flexing a crick out of his neck, Steel Block heard his joints pop as he cropped at the dirt with his forehoof. The changeling did the same as they stared each other down.
“I beat down dozens of guardsfillies like you in Canterlot the last time we were in town.” The changeling shot venomously, lowering his head in preparation of a charge. “Why don’t you show me those sissy Canterlot moves again!?” and with that the bruiser leapt forward, mouth agape as if wanting to bite through the earth-pony’s armour.
At that very moment however time seemed to freeze. It halted as Steel Block assessed his foe and the situation. His mind was working in overdrive processing every detail in just a split second.
Comment at the Royal Guard efficacy intended to throw off concentration. This must not register on an emotional level. He heard his own thoughts rumble in his head as he assessed the attacking changeling. Incoming attack; overconfident but decisive. His advantage; wings, natural armour and horn. My advantage; training. Odds? Stacked in my favour.
Time screamed back into motion as the changeling fluttered his wings and flew right at Steel Block. Lowering his head, the stallion returned the charge, rearing back and leaping headlong into the changeling commander.
First, disengage attack. The private thought.
A moment later there was a distinct crack as Steel Block’s vision shuddered. The bruiser’s face smacked headlong into the armoured plates over Steel Block’s forehead. If the changeling had pupils he would have gone cross-eyed. Drops of phlegm and shattered teeth sprayed into the air. The changeling’s trajectory changed in an instant, and the bruiser landed hard on his back, over a hundred kilos of stallion and armour on top.
Clip wings.
An ironclad hoof slammed down on the bruiser’s wings with a crunch, practically breaking them off; rendering them useless for any endeavours in the near future.
Break beak.
Steel Block’s head swung down and his forehead made contact with the changeling’s head again. This time, as the bruiser’s head was cratered into the dirt, Steel Block’s strike didn’t hit the exposed face, but some of the layers of natural armour that softened the blow. At the same time the changeling’s all fours hooked upwards and pushed the heavy stallion off, throwing Steel to one side.
Scrambling to his hooves, he heard his thoughts rumble in his head once more, the green glow of the changeling’s magic reflecting in Steel Block’s eyes. Careful of the horn.
Ducking to one side he could feel the searing heat of a magical blast through the plates of his helmet. Scrambling closer he threw his shoulder into the changeling’s before he could charge the next shot, causing the bruiser to stumble.
Persuade him that use of magic is inappropriate.
Steel’s armoured hoof swung around in a wide arc, clipping into the exposed side of the bruiser’s face. More broken teeth and spit splattered the forest floor. At the same time however, all the strenuous activity was taking its toll. Steel Block was heavier, carrying a lot more armour than the changeling commander. It took him more effort to move, and all this fighting was causing his lungs to burn.
Fatigue setting in. he reasoned calmly. Even the odds.
Swinging around, Steel Block quickly aimed before cocking back both rear legs and bucking the bruiser hard in the ribs. Air exploded out of the changeling’s mouth as he stumbled sideways. But Steel Block didn’t relent.
Finish with a tackle.
Charging in, he scooped his head low and worked his way under the changeling. Lifting the bruiser clean into the air, Steel Block pushed off and jumped. Together, with the changeling on his back, the duo soared for a moment, rotating slowly in a neat spiral. Finally they came back down to earth. The changeling first, cratered into the dirt causing the very foundations of Equestria to rattle the vibrations were felt in the earth by all, with a force enough to lift up the carpets of moss covering the forest floor. Then the crushing weight of the shield-bearer landed on top.
Hostile down.
Rolling off the changeling, Steel Block moved to walk away from the finished bruiser. But before he left, he cocked his rear leg, smirking back at the semi-conscious changeling.
“How do you like these Canterlot moves, ugly?” he quipped before lashing out.
CRACK!
That was one changeling who wouldn’t be bothering anypony for a while.
Looking up, Steel Block was just in time to see Sergeant Who finish kicking a changeling in the face, causing the insectoid-pony to crumple. At the same time the human was swinging his bow around, slamming one of the solid limbs into the face of a second changeling.
As the changeling whirled around, Who dropped his bow and leapt onto the creature’s back. The changeling dropped to the floor with who crippling one of the ears in one hand, horn in the other. Without hesitation he bashed the changeling’s face into the ground and held his head up again.
The changeling went googly-eyed, not quite knowing which way was up, so Who slammed his face down again. This time when the changeling’s head was held up, his eyes were shut completely, mouth hanging open a little, allowing the sergeant to abandon the unconscious changeling.
Hooking his foot under his bow, he flicked it up into the air, catching it while drawing an arrow with his free hand. Who loaded as he whipped around, tensing the bowstring back before firing after just a fleeting moment to aim. The arrow sliced through the air, right through a set of changeling wings as the final creature lunged itself at Brute Force.
Clipped, the changeling slammed into the ground face-first, sliding to a halt with a mouth full of mud. Blinking away the stars orbiting his head, the changeling looked up only to see a heavy iron-wing come plummeting down at his face.
When everything went dark for the last changeling, Sergeant Who loaded his bow again and backed up to where the ponies were regrouping, surrounded by unconscious changeling bodies.
“How many did you get?” the sergeant asked over his shoulder to Private Brute Force. He wanted a contact report from each of them so they could be sure they got all the bad-guys.
Brute shrugged casually. “Oh... ‘bout forty-nine.”
Who frowned. “... private, there were only thirteen of them.”
“So yeah, I got seventy two. You guys got the rest.” – Brute paused to add – “That makes about thirteen...”
Shaking his head, Who looked at Steel Block and Mercury. “Can he even count to ten?”
Both of them shrugged.
As the tension in the air slowly eased with all the changelings laying down, the sound of wings caught their attention. The Sol Guard looked up to see eight figures breach the forest canopy. The Pegasus squad from Rapid Company landed roughly, sliding to a halt on their hooves before the sergeant.
The leading mare quickly straightened up and gave a brief salute.
“We heard the commotion and dashed to regroup, sir.” The mare reported. “Sorry we’re late.”
“Nothing to worry about.” Sergeant Who replied indicating the unconscious changelings. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”
The pegasus nodded her head with a smile. “Hope the wind’s not knocked out of you yet, sir. We have eyes on the target, one click north-west from here. He won’t be going anywhere though. He’s stuck in a tree, sir.”
Who couldn’t help grin at that. Finally something was going in their favour. Turning his head he addressed the unicorns and earth-ponies. “You heard the lady! Tree climbing time! Let’s move, Sol Guard!”
“Tree climbing? Seriously?” Brute Force complained as the Sol Guard shrugged off their bruises and caught their next wind; charging into the woods after the pegasi leading the way. “Aw, horseapples.”
~~~
Under the summer sun, Ponyville was a postcard kind of town more than ever. Clean streets. Polite, pleasant ponies trotting around. The sun glinting on the golden thatch rooftops. It had been the town from which Sergeant Who and his guardsponies had set out that morning. They had been clean, polished and rested.
Coming up to lunch-time they returned with the mission objective cradled in Who’s arms… and they looked worse for wear. Fatigued. Caked in dirt. Scuffed. Bruised… the list went on.
Still, Who marched unwavering to where a small filly sat crying; literally bawling her eyes out. The tiny grayish-violet unicorn hardly relented, even as the sergeant cast his shadow over her. Opening her eyes, waterfalls of tears flowed down her cheeks even as the human knelt to show her what he’d found in the Everfree Forest.
With glistening eyes, Dinky Doo cried out with surprise as a small kitten poked his head out between Who’s hands. “MITTENS!” she cried happily holding out her forearms.
Stood beside the filly was a young unicorn mare watching as Mittens leapt from the sergeant’s grasp and nearly tackled Dinky Doo with happiness. The young mare was the civilian who had issued the original alert about Mittens getting lost in the Everfree Forest. She had been there to brief the Royal Guard when they arrived for the search and rescue mission. And even then she’d been immediately recognisable; Captain Shining Armour’s younger sister and Princess Celestia’s personal student was pretty hard to miss. Miss Twilight Sparkle was smiling as broadly as the filly was re-united with her darling cat.
Standing quite a bit back from the happy re-unification so they wouldn’t catch diabetes from the adorableness; Privates Mercury, Brute Force and Steel Block were trying to pull the twigs and caked mud from their shields and armour. If Staff Sergeant Buckshot saw them return in such a state he’d have a field-day.
While pulling caked dirt from her iron-wing, Mercury watched Who tousle the filly’s golden mane with one hand – the mare sighed as she watched. “He’s such a sweetheart.” She breathed out dreamily.
Looking up from what he was doing, Brute Force looked past her head. “What?”
“I said he’s such a lame-ass.” Mercury repeated in a duller tone
Brute frowned. “Oh... right. ‘Cuz I swore I could have heard you say he was-...”
“I didn’t say anything.” Private Mercury quickly snapped defensively.
“... riiiiiiight.” Brute Force nodded unconvinced.
Leaving them to it, Steel Block averted his gaze to the royal carriages standing along the edge of the Everfree Forest. Re-enforcements from Canterlot were helping the injured unicorns the changelings had taken out onto one of the carriages for immediate transport to the Canterlot Medical Centre. Just a precaution really. Changeling stun-blasts hurt like nothing else Steel Block could compare it to, but they were non-lethal.
Speaking of the changelings, they too were being loaded up on a carriage. Only this one was less comfortable and had iron bars on the windows. One of the changelings stuck his head out between the bars looking quite sad. They’d simmer down in the dungeons for a day or so feeding off the love of rats before Princess Celestia returned them to the changeling lands. Possibly a sign of good faith to improve relations with the changelings. For whatever good it might do.
Finally there were a few Pegasus drawn chariots ready for loading up the non-flight ponies and the human sergeant. They’d be taken back to Canterlot for debriefing. No doubt Captain-slash-Prince Shining Armour would be eager to have a detailed recreation of the mission. He’d definitely want to know the status of Mittens the kitten. The changelings were just a minor detail, mind you.
Hefting his iron-wing back onto the mount on his shoulder, Steel Block gave the shield a light shake to ensure it was secure before lifting his gaze to Sergeant Who.
He had completed the drop-off of the mission objective and was walking back to them when a lavender streak caught up to his side. Stopping, Sergeant Who turned to face Twilight Sparkle as she said something to catch his attention. Steel Block watched the unicorn and the human speak animatedly for a moment before Miss Sparkle smiled broadly. She held up a hoof as if wanting to shake his hand in thanks.
Stepping back however, Who snapped into a pristine salute. Looking a little sheepish, the unicorn tried to return the gesture; though failed miserably. Mercury’s original assessment about those two seeing each other with a romantic interest was clearly untrue. Turning sharply, the sergeant took his leave of Miss Sparkle and marched to where the three earth-ponies stood waiting.
“You fillies ready to be brought back to your company?” he called out as he approached.
“Not so fast, sir.” Steel Block chuckled with a broad smile. “I’m only just starting to enjoy all this field-work business.”
“I’ll admit getting out of Canterlot was nice.” Mercury agreed. “Nice to do so much running and fighting. Good for the heart. Good for the legs.”
“Freakin’ dangerous though.” Brute Force complained. “Seriously? We risked our lives for a kitten. I sustained serious injury… for a kitten!”
“It was a splinter!” Steel Block laughed.
“You saw the size of it!” Brute whined before looking to the sergeant for help. “Sarge, what was the point?”
Who frowned. “Point? We protect and serve. That is our job. It’s what we do, private.”
“Yeah, but it’s a kitten! Where’s the showers of thanks and praise? Where are the spoils of war? Where’s the reward?” Brute Force asked.
At that, Who let a grin tug at the corners of his mouth. Half turning, he pointed to Dinky Doo. “That filly was crying moments ago. Now she’s smiling.”
As the three earth-ponies watched Mittens happily chase Dinky Doo around in circles, Sergeant Who stepped past them with a shrug, adding:
“I’d say that’s reward enough.”