//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: The Rift starts to close. // Story: Five years of Ice, A thousand years of Flame // by Lucky424 //------------------------------// "....ma'am, we have eyes on. We have him." The two snipers were on a ridge overlooking the forest. The had seen a male human running amongst the trees, a pistol in his hands. The private kept track of him whilst the lieutenant watched the clearing where they first saw him. He was about to turn away, but movement at the tree line caught his eye. A white pony emerged, wearing a golden helmet and saddle. Twenty more appeared, matching the first. They had to be soldiers. He then saw glowing around their heads, and zoomed in. They had horns, meaning that there were unicorns here as well. Another shape moved from the trees, larger than the others, and with wings. He decided it looked female, and watched it's mouth open and close, before the soldiers turned and looked around. He clicked his radio again. "Uh, ma'am? These ponies can talk." There was a burst of static and the admirals image appeared on his HUD. "What do you mean?" "I just watched one give orders out. I think... they are hunting him." "You are to make sure he is safe. Do not fire unless you have no other choice, and only to injure. We do not know what they are capable of. Is that clear?" "Yes ma'am." She disappeared from the screen and he went back to watching the ponies, tracking as they followed the path the human had taken. After half an hour the ponies had caught up, surrounding him. The large blue female walked up to him, and he slumped to his knees in defeat. The lieutenant clicked his radio again. "Ma'am they have got him! I'm uplinking you to my vid, so you can give us orders." He hit a button on his scope so that they could see. "Do we have a shoot order?" "...." "Ma'am?" The large pony moved closer. "...take the shot." "Yes ma'am." He pulled the rifle closer to his shoulder, took a few breaths, and pulled the trigger. "Shot taken." Back at the temporary camp, every human was watching the screen, hoping that he would get out safe, and somehow back to them. I took a chance to rest, leaning against a tree and breathing heavily. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? The sound of rustling drew my attention, and I snapped the pistol up. A Lunar guard emerged, and we just stood there staring at each other. More rustling and another thirty guards appeared, surrounding me. There was no way I could beat them all. A shadow in the back moved closer, revealing itself to be Luna. She slowly trotted towards me and I fell to my knees, dropping the pistol. "Fine, you win. I won't run any more!" "I never wanted you to in the first place, I only wanted to speak with you." She had her gaze to the ground just in front of me. "Yeah, well... here I am. What do you want to speak about?" Before she could answer I heard a loud boom followed by a high pitched whistle. Seconds later Luna fell to the floor screaming. There was a bullet wound on her left side, so I check her right, and found nothing. A quick check revealed no exit holes, so I placed my hand over the wound. "Hang in there Luna, it'll be okay." I turned to the nearest guard. "You, get back to the castle and get some unicorns out here to teleport her back! And have one bring box thirty seven from my old room." He nodded once and took off, the others spreading out and covering us. I felt a hoof stroke my cheek weakly, and turned back to see Luna smiling up at me. "Y-y-you still c-c-care?" I grabbed the hoof with my other hand and squeezed gently. "I never stopped. Just lie still, help is coming." Some flashes in front of me signalled the arrival of the unicorns. One of them was carrying a padlocked black crate. I then saw Luna's horn faintly glowing, and felt a tingle across my body. I looked at my hands to see them coated in a blue aura, the rest of me the same. She smiled once and then fell unconscious. "Er, ma'am, I think we just made a big mistake." Every soldier stood still watching the screens, watching as he made sure the large pony was all right. There were flashes as more ponies arrived, and he was now coated in an aura of blue . He was given a black crate as they gathered the large one up and flashed away, the ones with wings flying away. He bent down and opened the case, starting to pull a strange black vest. Once he had donned it, he bent down and pulled out a long black object. Standing, he slipped it's sling over his shoulder, and then seemed to tense up. After five minutes of standing there, he started moving, but differently to before.The gathered troops heard the roaring without need of the cameras. That forest was ten miles away. The admirals voice came over the radio. "Get out of there, now!" The screen changed from a rifle scope to a helmet cam as they turned and ran. They kept going, not slowing once. The telemetry from their ship showed they had seven miles to go, and parallel screen showed a thermal scan. He was almost upon them. The helmet cam stopped and the lieutenant turned to help the rookie who had tripped over a tree root, and they went to carry on, but it was too late. He had caught them. A wave of whispered horror went through the camp as they saw him up close. Every breath was punctuated with a growl as he strode forwards. The two soldiers pulled out their sidearms and fired, emptying the clips into him. He just stood there and took it. They thought he was done, but then his wounds closed over and he roared at them. In the command centre, the admiral looked on with shock. "No...how can he be alive?" They watched as he walked forward, right up to the rookie, and turned towards the lieutenant. Without any warning, he whipped his arm up, striking the rookie in the face with his rifle and sending him flying. He then turned to the lieutenant and took a few steps, but stopped when a flash off light went off to the right of the camera. Another large pony, white this time, with both wings and a horn, trotted in between them. It was close enough that the helmet mic could pick up her voice, and though they couldn't understand it, it sounded motherly and experienced. "Ehto pola, theram goport, Alec?" She had said his name, did that mean he could unders... "Tumbrew figsam trichum Luna!" "Yongrey, himtop armlip rowcom." More flashes went off and a few more ponies arrived, all of them with horns. "Selim, grot jamtop humfog." Three of them walked over to the slumped rookie and disappeared in a flash. The large one motioned with a hoof to the the lieutenant. "Tre ko yot." He started to back away as some of them approached him, but the view went to the ground as something pushed the lieutenant forward. He whipped round to show their target, who was growling lightly. "Lim stro dre gim wrom, hmm?" "Alec, yot hrim po. Yi selim hig gro wuz." He stepped back and nodded, but not before titling his head in curiosity. His hand came up and covered the camera, and there was burst of static. When then screen came back he was walking away, and they could see the lieutenants terrified face. Three more had surrounded him, and he too disappeared in a flash. The camera was twisted around as he inspected it, and brought the lens to his face, growling into it. "Ro kei ut jogkim?" He looked to the side and nodded, then dropped the camera. The last thing the screen showed was the underside of his boot, and then it went dark. The thermal image showed flaring as the others left, leaving just two others behind. The came close together and then another flare signalled their disappearance. The thermal image showed nothing. One voice amongst the crowd shouted what they we all thinking. "What the fuck just happened?" The lieutenant followed as two of the soldier ponies took the private, who was draped across their backs, out of the room they had arrived in. He noticed that the way was lined with them, all watching him with stone faces and piercing blue eyes. They entered a white door, and he noticed a red cross on the window, so knew they at least had a hospital. He glanced down a side corridor and saw different guards, with serpent like eyes, and rows of sharp teeth. They glared at him as he walked by, making him nervous. There was a flash from the side of him and the large white pony appeared by his side, matching his pace. 'Hello.' "Who just said that?" 'I did. I am in your mind. Do not panic, it is purely a means of communication, I am not reading it." "Ooookay. So, what's going to happen?" 'You and your friend are going be given medical treatment. Once you are back to full health, you will be tried for your crime.' "Crime? What crime?" 'Attacking Equestrian royalty.' With the the pony turned away, heading down the side corridor with the strange guards. He stopped walking, realising that he may not be going home after all. "Truko!" A hand was pushed on his shoulder, and he saw their target out of the corner of his eye. He still had his rifle, and his right hand was resting on top of his pistol. "Truko!" This time he added a pointing finger, so he started moving again. Once through the next doors he was left with his comrade, some doctors, and whole host of guards. One motioned to a chair and he nodded, taking a seat whilst the doctors tended to the rookie. Celestia looked up from Luna's sleeping form as the door slammed open, Alec standing there with a scowl on his face. Without a word he walked past her, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "Alec?" He gave a low growl before speaking. "Not now. Later." She nodded and motioned to the guards in the room to follow, but stopped just outside the door. Placing her ear against the crack, she listened to him continue. "Hey Luna, been a while. You, uh, look pretty good, all things considered. I just want to say I'm sorry. If I hadn't been trying to avoid everyone you wouldn't be here right now." She chanced cracking the door open a little, just enough to see through. He had moved position, now sitting behind Luna and running a hand through her mane whilst resting her head in his lap. "I don't know what's going to happen now more have arrived, and brought soldiers with them, but I promise you this. I will never let them touch you again." He bent down and kissed her forehead, then left her to rest. Celestia didn't have time to move as the door was pulled open. "Celestia." "...yes?" "We're you listening?" "...maybe. Do you really think they were trying to attack her?" "No, something doesn't fit, the puzzle pieces aren't all out in play yet. I think we should wait for them to show their next hand." "And what about you and Luna?" "We'll get through this, I know we will. I'm going to get something to eat, then some rest. I gotta be ready. If anyone does see them coming, allow them to reach the castle, but trap them inside. It'll force them to act, and then we'll know their intentions." "How?" "Easy, if they surrender, then they weren't trying to kill Luna. If they fight, then they were. Only time will tell." Team one slowly moved through the shadows, heading towards the castle at the top of the city. They had guessed local time was around two thirty in the morning. Team two would be doing the same on the other side. Sending twenty soldiers to rescue two others sounded a little excessive, but they didn't know what to expect. They reached the eastern wall, seeing the gate open and a single guard next to it. It seemed disinterested, absent mindedly scraping it's hoof on the floor. The i/c waved back, and swept his arm out left. One of the other troops nodded, and slid up next to the wall. He slowly eased his way along it, until he was behind the pony. He leapt forward and placed an arm around the neck, the other over it's muzzle. Another soldier ran up and stuck the syringe in, then also held the pony still. It's wings shot out and started to flap out of sync, before it slumped to the floor, tongue hanging out. A quick check showed it was still breathing. They pulled the limp body in to the shadows, and then stacked up around the gate. The i/c gave a nod, and they charged through, emerging into a garden. Once clear he pulled out his data pad, looking at the highlighted path from the orbital picture. Their route took them through a maze, so a little help was welcomed. They slid in one by one, five metres apart, and sticking to the hedges. They neared the first corner and crept around, holding position. It was then that the i/c noted he now only had eight men instead of nine. He stuck his head back around the corner and saw nothing save a rifle on the ground. He held up his fist to hold position, and carefully eased his way back around. There was a shout from the head of the column, and he spun back to see seven men with their guns aimed the hedge. He heard three small coughs from a silenced weapon and then nothing. There was something in here with them, and it knew where they were. Abandoning all stealth, they ran down the path. One by one the troops vanished, until there was only him and another. They were about to emerge in to the centre, and as the i/c went to signal to move, he saw two glowing gold orbs behind the other one. Before he could say anything the trooper was pulled through the hedge, followed by a flash of light. The i/c was really panicking now, and ran to the centre, standing on a stone table. He figured that as long as he stayed away from the edges, he'd be safe. He calmed his beating heart and looked for any signs of...whatever it was, but saw nothing, dropping his rifle. His eyes were darting to every shadow, expecting to see it, but stopped when he heard soft growling to his side. With a slow turn of his head, he saw the glowing orbs next to him, and tried to raise his rifle, but it was being held firm. The air around the orbs wavered, revealing an armoured human. It's other hand came up and lifted him up by his combat vest, then threw him to the dirt. The i/c brought his pistol up as he knelt, and was about to fire when the other human leapt at him, knocking him back towards the ground. There was a flash of light and he hit concrete, giving out a groan. The weight that was on top of him had disappeared, so he sat up. He was in a well lit... cave, but there were bars in the way. It was then he noticed the rest of the cells, all having one human each. In the middle of the floor was a pile of their weapons. He indistinctly reached for his, but found them missing. There was a flash of light to his left as the cell diagonally opposite gained an occupant. It was his equal from team two. Another flash in the centre and two beings appeared. One was the human, the other a strange mismatch of creatures. The door opened and some of the pony guards trotted in. After a hushed conversation, they lifted the weapons with some sort of invisible tech, and took them out of the room. The two in the centre pounded fists together, and the strange one left in a flash of light. The human removed it's helmet, revealing their initial target. He looked around at the troops, giving small growls every now and then. Once he had done a pass of all cells, he walked over to the door. He then spoke in that strange language. "Tymin kegtru. Litreg jopre tri." A procession of ponies entered, none of them guards. They looked more like servants. Each one had a horn that was glowing, a tray floating beside them in the same colour as their auras. They each took a cell and placed the trays on the floor, lifting the lids to reveal steaming meals. There was a scream from one of the cells opposite, where on of the troops had grabbed the pony, his arm around it's neck. The mare, for it looked female, was breathing heavily. "G-g-gop thi! Gop thi!" "You let us go, I'll let her go." The free human slowly moved closer, speaking to the pony. "Trighon, trighon. T frak dri hu, gru hos..." He had moved nearer, and with speed that is unnatural for a human, leapt forward and impacted his hand on the troop's chest, who was thrown back against the cell wall. He bent down and helped the mare to her hooves, moving her away from the bars. He kicked the tray over, the food spilling on the dirty floor. Every other trooper had all ready got their food, so the ponies left. He gave one last growl and left the room. The message was clear, misbehave and they would be punished. Luna winced as the doctor placed a new dressing on her chest, wrapping the bandage around her back. He tied it off and checked her vitals, recording them down on her charts. He gave a nod and left the room. Luna turned her head to the window, watching the few clouds drift by. She looked to the door as she heard a hushed conversation, and then a raised voice. It wasn't what was said, but who by, that made her heart jump for joy. "I was perfectly clear! Fried daisies and haycakes! Go back and try again, or I'm going to ram my foot up your arse!" "Fine! Fired daisies and haycakes coming up, your highness." The sound of hoofsteps moving away came through the door. "Smart ass." She tried to get out of bed, but pain flared in her chest and she felt herself briefly falling, squeezing her eyes shut for the pain that never arrived. She could hear a heart beating, and opened her eyes to see a set of beige arms holding her steady. "And what do you think you are doing out of bed?" She was pushed back up into a sitting position, back against the head board. Alec sat down and cupped her fore hooves with his hands, staring at the floor. "Thank you... for everything." "Don't thank me for any of it Luna, I don't deserve it. Once I'm certain that they're gone, I'll be leaving. I don't want to hurt you again, and the only way to ensure that is to be as far away as possible." Luna had heard enough, and even though her chest hurt, she pulled her hooves away. He didn't look up, nodding once and preparing to stand. This was her chance. She lifted his head up by the chin and placed her forehoof on his cheek... then whipped it back and slapped him. He didn't turn his head back from where it had ended. "You think that I'd go through all this just for you to walk away again? You have truly learnt nothing about me, have you?" "I've learnt enough. Enough to know that I don't deserve you, and never have. Which is why I'll be leaving. Hurt us both now, so that if we do meet again, it doesn't hurt then." He stood up and walked to the door, trying to pull it open. It was then he noticed the door was tinted slightly blue. "Luna..." "You may leave if that is your wish, but first you will hear what I have to say. These last two months have been hay for me. We have lost ten castle chefs, ten! And all because of me and my anger. That night, out on the clouds, you were going to say something to me. Something important, I could see it in your eyes. Does that still hold true now?" His hand dropped from the door handle, balling into fists at his sides. He slowly exhaled, and relaxed, still not turning around. "...yes, it does. But you deserve better." She cut the magic to the door, but still he remained, and she realized he was waiting for her to continue. Instead she focused her magic, let it wrap around his body, and lifted him back over to the bed, dropping him into a sitting position next to her. Before he had a chance to move, she pressed against his side, holding him there with a nuzzle to his chin. "Then the unpleasantries are out of the way, and we can begin to clean this mess away. Alec, you say that you don't deserve me, and that may be true..." He turned his head away, staring at nothing in particular on the wall. "...but that doesn't matter if you are the one... that I want, does it? Alec, please... look at me?" A slight twitch, almost imperceptible, as his head turned a little. And then he carried on, finally letting her see his eyes. They were bloodshot and slightly puffy, and Luna understood why her sheets were wet when she awoke that day. He seemed to be entranced by her now, having lost the ability to look else where as he leaned closed. He hesitated for a moment, and chose to instead rest his head on Luna's. She shifted slightly, making his drop down to a pre planned position, bringing his lips to hers. His arms slowly came up and wrapped round her, careful to avoid her wound. After a few moments Luna pulled away with a slight gasp. She looked up to his eyes with a smile. "Mmm, I've missed that taste... I could never get enough." Alec smiled, and started to press closer, until a pony clearing their throat snapped their heads towards the door. "That may be your, majesty, but until I sign you off, I don't want you doing anything more strenuous than that, understood? And that goes for you as well!" They both nodded and flopped back against the headrest, smiling.