“ALL ABOARD!” a shadowy figure called just outside the train. “ALL ABOARD!”
Standing to the train’s side, there were two shadowy figures, one a mare and the other a large stallion. It seemed that they were talking to each other. The mare appeared to be looking towards the ground, while the stallion was looking down toward her.
“I-I wish you didn’t have to leave now…” the mare said meekly, “It’s so close to the summer sun festival, even the princess will be here this year…”
“I don’t want to leave either,” the stallion replied, “but my little brother finally got done with his training, and our unit has been tasked with some difficult missions and they need us more than ever on the boarders.”
“Oh, I-I know, I just wish that you could stay a little longer, at least until the festival was over…” the mare spoke very softly, “C-can you promise me that you will come back? I-if that’s not too much to ask.”
“You know as a solider in her royal majesty’s special forces division I can’t make promises like that.” the stallion said his tone became sad, he knew that’s not what she wanted to hear.
“W-well, can you promise me anything, a-anything at all?” she asked it looked as if she started crying as she stared up at the stallion.
The stallion whipped away the mare’s tears, “You know I hate to see you cry,” he said pulling her head towards his already lowered head, “I can only promise you two things; I will love you for the rest of my life,” he drew her face closer to his own, “and I will never forget you…”
With a loud gasp for air a large grey pegasus woke up from what felt like a dream. He was breathing heavily, sweat-drenched and disoriented. He looked around to get a bearing of his location, but that was the problem, he had no idea where in Equestria he was. As he sat there and thought; a terrifying realization came to him, not only did he not have any idea where he was, but he had no idea who he was either. He looked around for clues to tell him anything, but all he found was a unicorn, the same size as him and an earth pony that was noticeably larger than them both.
Who the hell are these guys, he thought to himself, they looked similar, perhaps brothers? It was then he realized that he forgot to check the one thing all ponies have to help identify them, he looked back at his flank, where he saw two crossed Greatswords, he was a soldier pony of sorts he assumed. He went over to check to other ponies’ marks they two were similar to his, except the unicorn’s was crossed battleaxes and the earth pony’s was crossed warhammers, were they all related?
The pegasus continued to search his small tent, looking for any and all evidence that could lead to the discovery of his identity, he found three sets of armor, they looked studier and better fitted than standard military issue. Was he special forces? The more things he found the more questions were raised about where he was, what he did and most importantly who he was. As he continued his search he found something that he thought would answer everything, (a very well used journal by the looks of it) but as he opened the pages his questions just grew in number. All the pages of the journal were blank, even though it looked like it was used for what seemed like months, not a page had any signs of ink. What the buck is going on? he thought to himself.
It was then that the other two ponies in the tent began to start rustling around. The pegasus looked behind himself as he saw two just as equally confused ponies staring at him. An awkward silence like no other awkward silence in Equestrian history fell over the three ponies, all blankly staring at one another for what seemed like hours until they all spoke simultaneously.
“Who the hell are you guys?”
“That seemed to answer ALL my questions…” The unicorn jeered, rolling his eyes.
“I think we’re all looking for the same answers, unicorn.” the pegasus said, “If we all work together we might find something that could shed some light on the particular situation at hand.”
The earth pony only nodded in agreement with the pegasus as he began to look through their tent for anything relevant to the task at hand.
“Well,” the unicorn began, “it seems I really don’t have anything better to do right now.”
“The two of you can keep searching in here,” the pegasus said, “I’ll check the outside to see if there is anything to help me pinpoint exactly where the hell we are in Equestria.”
“Oh, yes sir!” the unicorn stated, saluting sarcastically, while the earth pony only nodded again then the two continued their search.
The pegasus stepped outside of the tent to see what it was like out there. He was not surprised to see more tents, since military units always set up camp in groups, but the landscape was quite odd. It looked quite barren; not a tree in sight nor a blade of grass on the ground, just rock and dried clay. The badlands, it was the only place he could think of that had such terrain. He continued his investigation of the encampment, trying to find anything that would shed some light on which he and his counterparts were.
Near the middle of the tents he saw a standard fluttering slightly in the cool breeze, he brought the flag down to examine it better, ‘Equestrian Spec Ops Unit 1025, hell on hooves’ it said in large letters and in smaller print on the bottom it said ‘stomping out the problems’. He and his counterparts could have been prisoners, but the lack of restraints made that unlikely, it was more likely that they were in this special forces unit, not just some of the best Equestria had to offer, but THE best Equestria had to offer, that explained them being in the badlands at least, but still nothing that give him any evidence to find his own or his tent mate’s identities.
It was then he heard a stirring amidst tents. He quickly set the flag back up and rushed for any feasible cover. Spotting a large bolder not far from the camp, he sprinted towards it as quietly as he could. As he hid behind the large rock he heard the sound of other ponies getting up and getting out of their quarters. It seemed strange to him hiding from his own unit, but if he had no idea who he was he could assume that they had no idea who he was either. They might even treat him as a hostile threat. He stayed there for what seemed like hours as the other ponies started their daily routine, shaking out the sleep, normal hygiene procedures and so on. He tried from time to time to catch a glance of how many were out of their tents but from what he could see, which wasn’t much, he saw about twelve of them, he knew that there were at least five more somewhere (considering units like this had anywhere from seventeen to twenty five members), but where?.
A loud noise erupted from the camp, as if a brawl had just broken out. The pegasus looked from behind his cover to see several ponies being thrown in the air. Several unicorns were shooting magic towards the direction of the tent, from which he had come out of a short while earlier,
“They’ve been discovered.” He said to himself watching in awe as the ponies from the other tents tried to detain his two counterparts.
He was very surprised that his tent mates were holding off this particular unit of the Equestrian military so well. But alas, with greater numbers and tactics, they were eventually subdued. The pegasus looked on in guilt as his tent mates were dragged into the center of the camp, bound by strong chains and even stronger magic.
He knew he had to get them out of there, but how, he was just one pony against twelve highly trained, very lethal, undefeated members of the Equestrian military. He had to come up with a strategy, one that had to go down without a hitch, or his fate would be the same as the other two and he didn’t like that idea. After a short time the tense atmosphere of the camp had settled down just enough to make his move. It was still dark out, which was a little strange, but it was what the pegasus needed to get his comrades out of the camp. He executed his plan, stealthily making his way back to the camp, darting between tents.
Once he had finally reached the other two, he saw that they were under the watch of an earth pony and a unicorn. The unicorn was magically binding them; if he could take him out first then maybe his comrades could break free from their other bonds so they could make a hasty escape. The pegasus moved with silent precision, edging ever closer to the large unicorn, his hooves didn’t even make a sound as he moved across the rocky ground. Then in an instant he was there and with a quick and expertly placed strike, the unicorn fell limp to the ground, the earth pony was taken out merely seconds after the unicorn hit the ground. The pegasus’s counterparts quickly freed themselves before making their way to their liberator.
“Are you two alright?” the pegasus asked, the two were silent just staring at him, “ok, now we ca-”
WHACK! The unicorn’s hoof met the pegasus’s face with a force that nearly made him black out. “What the BUCK is wrong with you?” the unicorn said silently, but in an angered tone, “You left us behind wings, you didn’t even try to warn us about other ponies out here.”
“I didn’t have much time to warn you,” growled the pegasus, whipping the blood from his lip, “and I’m sorry for that, but now we have to get the hell out of here before they notice that I freed the two of you and we all get caught…”
The earth pony just nodded in agreement with the pegasus, the unicorn, though still furious with the pegasus knew he was right, they had to get out of there and fast.
“alright then,” the unicorn grunted, “what’s YOUR almighty plan of escape?”
“We go same way I came from to get you two,” the pegasus replied, pointing at his trail, “but we have to move fast and quiet if we don’t want to be caught.”
The three ponies began to make their way back through the pegasus’s former trail, moving with surprising stealth for how fast they were going. All seemed like that they were going to made their escape, but right at the edge of the camp, they ran into a small very weak looking unicorn, a brief silence fell on the two parties, then with no warning the frail unicorn began to raise the alarm. With a quick, swift swing of the pegasus’s hoof the outcry for help was silenced, but it was too late, the other ponies from the camp came rushing towards the sound of the small unicorn’s cry for help.
“Well this is just great,” the unicorn said extending his hooves into the air, “what do we do now, oh fearless leader?” his condescending glance was met with the pegasus’s most hardened look.
The pegasus looked to his counterparts, and then he looked to the other ponies. “We improvise…” he said reading himself for the fight.
The scene was similar to the one that took place nearly an hour ago, but this time it was three against nine. The two opposing forces took their positions, each not knowing full well what they could do to one another; a small calm came across the camp as they readied themselves. Then with a bolt of magic, from one of the unicorns on the three’s opposing side began their fight. The three quickly evaded the attack and shortly after, all hell broke loose. Each of the three took on their respective type, four against the earth pony, three against the pegasus and two stood against the unicorn. With a true warrior’s skill the pegasus lead his three opponents in aerial combat, speeding and maneuvering through the air and between the high rocks, the earth pony matched the already impressive strength of his four adversaries, returning every blow with one of his own the very ground cracking under his thunderous hooves, the unicorn had summoned two battleaxes to fight against the other unicorn’s magic, attacking and blocking his enemies spells with almost little effort.
“When I woke up today, I was not expecting such a warm welcome from total strangers!” the unicorn’s voice rang over the sound of the combat.
“Focus on the task at hand, unicorn!” the pegasus barked at him, the other pegasi following closely behind. “We are far from this conflict being over!”
Minutes seemed like hours as the fight continued, and the three were gaining the upper hand. With powerful swings of his hooves the earth pony had sent two of his enemies flying through the air, the pegasus had gotten one of his chasers to crash into a large bolder and the two unicorns were now straining to match their counterparts attacks. With seemingly unbound strength, the earth pony reared up and with a loin-like roar sent his hooves crashing towards the ground. The land underneath him began to crumble and shatter towards his last two opponents, and with a loud cry they were thrown into the air with rocky debris all around them. They hit the ground, unconscious. The unicorn had dispatched of one of his competitors and the other was nearly spent himself, but with a powerful swing from the earth pony’s hoof, however, he was unable to continue.
“Hey big guy!” the unicorn yelled at the earth pony very agitated, “I had that one!” A small smile came across the earth pony’s face as he made his way past the disgruntled unicorn.
Now with only two opponents left, it was up to the pegasus to end the conflict. With a tight maneuver and a quick jab of his hoof, the pegasus dispatched one, then only one remained, the only one that actually kept up with the pegasus from the start. His opponent’s tenacity actually made the pegasus admire him a little, even with his entire unit down for the count he still tried to stop him, but with a blind hoof to the jaw the admiration went away, replaced by rage.
He quickly grabbed his opponent by his mane and pulled him close enough to strike. With true and unrestrained anger he proceeded to punch his foe’s face relentlessly, his hooves caused blood to spray from his enemy’s muzzle as he descended furiously towards the ground. By the time all the furry had left the pegasus, his foe was bleeding profusely, but unlike the other enemies, he was still conscious, be it barely.
“What’s your name, pegasus?” the pegasus asked his bloody counterpart, still holding him by his mane.
“C-Comet… my name is Comet…” he said between rough, bloody coughing. “Who the buck are you?” he asked looking at the pegasus with his blackened eyes.
“That’s what we have been trying to find out, Comet,” the pegasus responded, releasing Comet from his grip, Comet fell to the ground with a thud, “now, you’ll help us find out who the hell the three of us are and then you’ll let us go,” he said looming over the bloodied stallion “and we’ll cause no further harm, do we have an agreement?”
“Sounds like I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Comet snorted giving a small smirk towards his better.
“Good,” the pegasus said smiling back, “ok, we have already searched this area, we shou-”
A large rock collided with the back of the pegasus’s head and before the other two could react they were met by the same fate. A large fully armored unicorn stepped into view along with four other ponies.
“Comet…” he began looking to the bloodied pegasus then toward the three now unconscious ponies. “What the HELL happened while I was gone?”
Comet stood as fast as he could on his shaky legs and rendered a proper salute to the armored unicorn, “Commander Garrison,” he began, “we got our flanks kicked, sir, by these three.”
“Are you telling me that twelve of the best trained, most battle hardened ponies in all Equestria, got completely routed by three complete unknowns that just happened to appear out of nowhere?” Commander Garrison said staring at Comet in utter disbelief.
“Yes, sir,” Comet replied, “at first there were only two, they put up a fight but we took them down relatively quick,” he paused to take a breath, “but then that pegasus showed up and Cannon Fodder, Tower Shield and Roadmap weren’t there… Sir, I have no idea who they are, but, they are the best damn fighters I‘ve ever seen.”
“I see…” Commander Garrison said rubbing his chin surveying the battle’s aftermath. “Did they have names Comet?” His eyes shot over towards the bloodied and bruised pegasus. “Did they tell you who they were?”
“That’s what they were trying to find out, sir,” Comet responded, looking down at the three, slightly ashamed. “They have no idea who they are either, we attacked them and they were just trying to find out who they are.”
“Well, I’m sure that we can find that out in the Canterlot black ops files,” Commander Garrison said, looking at the three ponies again, “well the ones that aren’t completely black inked, that is…”