//------------------------------// // Chapter 43: Coming back // Story: New Beginnings // by Black Alicorn //------------------------------// IMPORTANT NOTE! Due to me finally realizing how much of an idiot I was a couple years ago, there are some changes to be made to Wolf. First of all, his age is knocked up from 15 to 19. Age of his abduction is knocked up to 8 yrs of age. Age of first deployment is knocked up to 12. This is being done because: Seriously, what the HELL was I thinking? 15 yr old? Yeah, great age choice on my part. Not that 19 is much better, but it's more tolerable. And now I'll stop my pretty much useless rant and let you get to the story. Enjoy! 3 & 1/2 weeks later... The events during the Grand Galloping Gala put everyone on edge. Princess Celestia the most. She knew something was coming to threaten Equestria once more, she just didn't know what. And that was almost as scary as knowing. Almost... During Twilight's coronation, Wolf was away, patrolling Equestria's northern borders by personal request of Princess Celestia just 13 days earlier. And now he was pulling up in front of the library. Wolf jumped out of the drivers side of an Armored Minotaur. He walked back to the trunk, opened it, and pulled out two olive green duffel bags. Using his chin, he closed the trunk. Carrying the heavy bags, he walked over to the library, set one down, and tried to open the door. It was locked. He started knocking. "Twilight! Open up!" No response from within. No problem, she must not have heard him. So he started knocking again. When no one answered the third time, he knew something was wrong. He set the other bag down, opened it and pulled out an M-72. He leaned against the side of the door, and with one swift motion kicked the door down. He rushed in, clearing the main room. He vaulted over the table, then clearing the kitchen and the rest of the ground floor. A few minutes later, he had cleared the whole library. It was practically empty. Dust had collected on most of the books. A slight creak behind him. He waited for a split second, the turned around instantly, crosshairs centered right between the eyes of the intruder. He hesitated to pull the trigger, which saved the life of Shining Armor. "Well, I guess you did come back..." He muttered, not wanting to move another muscle in fear of provoking him. "Shining Armor...Damn. I missed my chance. I could have just pulled the trigger and said you snuck up on me. Oh well...too late now." He slung the rifle over his shoulder, awaiting an explanation. "Well, I'm listening. What's going on, where's Twilight?" Shining Armor saw his chance to screw with Wolf, and he took it. "The Princess is taking care of royal business in Canterlot." "I said Twilight you idiot." Wolf sighed while facepalming... "That's who I'm talking about." Shining Armor retorted. "Excuse me?" "You heard me. Twilight's the new Princess." "When did this happen?!" Wolf's shock was evident. "About a week after you left." Wolf muttered a thanks, exited the building, walked over to the Minotaur, opened the drivers door and got in. He nearly ran over Shining Armor, either by accident or on purpose. Probably the latter. Wolf sped off in the direction of the Red Dawn's crash site intent on claiming something within. Question's were in plentiful supply. How did it happen? Where? And more importantly, why? What was Princess Celestia's hidden agenda? He doubted very seriously that she did it out of the kindness of her heart. Nightmare Moon's reappearance, along with the fact that Celestia was unable to stop her had surely weakened her politically, but enough for her to give up the throne? Before he knew it, Wolf was at his beloved warship. The Red Dawn. The pinnacle of human war engineering. His home away from home. And without knowing if he was going to be able to get to Twilight, it would become his home once more. He really wouldn't want it to be again, but if he had no choice... "Major. You never visit me anymore...Just because I'm an AI doesn't mean I don't have feelings you know..." Wolf knew that if he said anything wrong, he'd get into a long argument which he would eventually lose, either getting drenched by the ships fire-fighting systems, or whatever else Sam could cook up with the ship's systems. So he just muttered 'Sorry' a few times. Sam was disappointed. It had been awhile since her last chance to drench Wolf, and that was a much needed release for her. "Sam prep GA 3-9 for takeoff immediately." "Going somewhere sir? "Yeah. I have some business to take care of..." "Is the extremely lonely and helpful AI permitted to know?" "I'll fill you in later Sam, just get my bird sky-worthy please." "Right away sir..." Good, that was taken care of. Sam was busy, so she wouldn't bother him with anything else for now. "Sir?" Shit. "Yes Sam..?" he asked while sighing. "Should I load the guns as well?" Boy if Sam didn't know how to make a good question at the wrong time. Should he load the guns? He wasn't expecting trouble, but he would hate to be caught in a bad situation with no guns. On the other hand, if he was shot down (unlikely, but he still liked to prepare for that contingency), the ammo would probably go to waste. Along with a perfectly good Guardian Angel... "Load 'em." "Gladly sir." Wolf weaved quickly through the metal corridors of his ship. He was heading towards one of Red Dawn's hangars. His ride was waiting there. He got there much quicker than he thought he would. This ship seemed so big at times, but now that he had gotten used to open areas, the cramped quarters of the ship seemed to close in and try to crush him, along with the memories within them. Some good... All that Wolf could see in front of him was Tiger's well toned ass bouncing up and down on his... Some bad... Wolf could only watch while his first mate's head exploded in a burst of blood and brain matter as the spike from the Spinar rifle blew it to bits... Wolf's smile at the first memory was replaced with a cringe as the second overtook it, despite Wolf's efforts for it not to. The hangar door stood in his path, denying him access. "Stupid door, I know just how to beat you..." Wolf thought he could hear Sam asking why he was talking to himself, but he chose to ignore it as he punched in the access code on the security panel. The heavy door opened with a hiss of air. Wolf stepped inside. Before him stood the once proud war machines of the Human race. Tanks, jeeps, helicopters, fighters, bombers, gunships...It was all here. But Wolf was looking for one specific thing. He found it. What looked like nothing more than a large tarp with a pipe sticking out of it. Wolf walked over to it, took a firm grip, and with one swift motion ripped it away. The gleaming silver armor of the Guardian Angel transport nearly blinded him. He placed a hand in front of his face to shield his unprepared eyes. After they were sufficiently adjusted to the light, Wolf looked at it again. It truly was a thing of beauty. The 4 barrels protruding from the nose, the finely crafted rotor blades, right down to the insignia right beside the canopy. The original insignia was always an angel with a shield in one hand, a sword in the other. On this one however, courtesy of it's pilot, the original angel was rubbed out and replaced by a snarling wolf with wings and a halo. They belonged to the 13th Guardian Angel squadron, but due to their position serving under humanity's greatest warrior, they saw it fitting to christen it with a new name. Thus, the Howling Wolves were born. They were some of the best pilots humanity had to offer...Before they died of course. Wolf pulled the canopy release lever and it cracked open slowly at first, but gradually gained speed before reaching the apex of it's height. If all went according to plan, this would be a casual flight, no enemy air power, no bad weather conditions. So no need to wear his armor then. "Fuel levels optimal, all systems well in the green. Ready for takeoff." Wolf pressed the ignition, and the engine came to life with a whir. The whir slowly evolved into whipping air as the rotor's gained speed. Once the RPM's where within the required limits, Wolf moved the yoke and the Guardian Angel lifted off effortlessly. "I'll be back later Sam." "Looking forward to it sir." And with a smile on his face once more, Wolf set off towards the beautiful capital of Equestria. Canterlot. 24 minutes later, Canterlot. VIP Airship landing pads. Steady Aim was leaning leisurely on the back of his seat, waiting for something to happen. He was bored. Bored out of his mind. He was hoping for some action, especially after the Nightmare Moon incident, but nothing happened, so his initial enthusiasm had wore thin. His partner on the other hoof, Sharp Eye, couldn't be happier. He was perfectly content seeing empty skies for as long as possible. They were the crew of one of Canterlot's MBC's. Requested by Princess Celestia herself, the Magic Blast Cannon was the fruit of the labors of some of the most powerful Unicorns in Equestria. These had been mothballed because of a long age of peace for Equestria. Nevertheless, training of gun crews never ceased, and production had resumed following the events of the last Grand Galloping Gala. The castle itself was the first to receive a dozen of these weapons. Canterlot's VIP Airship pads were the next, receiving three of the cannons. Steady Aim and Sharp Eye manned the first cannon. If anything was coming by the landing pads, they'd be the first to know. While the MBC's weren't designed for it, they were fully capable of bringing down a fairly large airship, as long as the hit was well placed. With three of them together however, shot placement wasn't really that important. There were few things in Equestria's skies that could shake off three hits from a MBC. "I'm bored..." Steady Aim lazily said. "Suck it up." Sharp Eye replied. Steady Aim was the gunner of the massive weapon. Sharp Eye was his spotter. Sharp eye was the more focused of the two. He had to be. A spotter for one of Equestria's largest (and only) guns had to be able to pick out targets that were miles away, and convey their positions accurately enough so that Steady Aim could blow it out of the sky. Steady Aim wasn't nearly as focused on his duties. How could he be? Nothing ever happened. He never got to do what he was trained to do. "Contact!" Sharp Eye yelled. "Yeah right Sharp. That's the ninth time you've pulled that. I know better by now. Nothing ever happens around here." "Seriously, we've got an unidentified contact out here!" Steady Aim lifted himself up and turned to Sharp Eye, who was peering through a spyglass. "If you're making this up again I swear to Celestia I'll-" Then he saw it, clear as day. A silver airship of unknown design, moving towards the landing pads very quickly. Steady aim sprang into action, jumping into his seat and training the sights on the UFO. "Range?" He asked. "3240 yards. Closing fast." Sharp Eye replied. "Altitude?" "I'd say 3400 legs. Dropping gradually. I'd say 30 legs per second." "Got it. Targeting..." Steady Aim led his target, keeping the sight a fair distance in front of it, but never losing sight of it. The moment of truth. He was about to pull the trigger, but hesitated. He couldn't understand it. He'd waited for this for so long, and now when he got the chance he couldn't do it? After a battle within himself, he finally made his decision. He pulled the trigger. Three beams of violet light ejected from three positions on the gun barrel's axis, joining in the center and building up a charge. Within a second, a bright flash of violet energy streaked through the sky towards the unknown craft. Wolf could see the capital clear as day. It was even better looking in the daylight. His eyes darted around the castle. He had pretty much scanned the whole city before seeing the landing pads. He slowly began to descend. He would finally speak to Twilight after 2 weeks. Only she was royalty now. What would he say? What would he do? His attention elsewhere, he didn't see the bright violet streak coming towards him... An explosion rocked the castle. Twilight Sparkle jumped as the shockwave shook her from her seat. She trotted over to the window to see what was going on. From there, she could only see a small airship spinning out of control, spewing black smoke and orange flames as it spiraled down to the ground. Something seemed familiar about it though...She had seen it before somewhere. Then it hit her. "Oh no..." Was all she said before she burst out of her chambers, in full gallop towards the nearest balcony. End chapter 43.