Chapter Thirty-Six: Nightmares Abroad
The sun began to rise.
A pulsing mass of energy continued to churn over Dobbins Air Reserve base, Atlanta, Georgia. Down below, conditions grew more and more tense as the escaping forces of the Liberation Alliance intermingled with the panicked population, as thousands fled from the building surge of energy erupting from the rogue anomaly.
Above the chaos below, a single man watched from the relative safety of the A.C.S.D. Array control tower.
"Mason, I'm telling you we are running out of time!"
"Try to stay calm, Dr. Harrison. I just disembarked from the Minnesota along with Admiral Graham. We aren't beaten yet. The situation is still manageable."
"With all due respect, Commander Stuart, you aren't looking at the same picture that I am! There are people fleeing the city in droves, and creatures from another dimension or something running alongside them! There's a massive amount of damage throughout this part of the city and I'm sure the looting has already begun-"
"Doctor. Breathe! We'll get through this! We're already working on a plan to collapse the portal as we speak."
"What about Captain Greene? He's still missing somewhere in that area. We can't just launch another strike with a man still-"
"Judging from the results of the missile strike, blowing it up outright isn't an option anyway. If anything, the energy mass has gotten larger."
"So- so what are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting you wait patiently while we come up with an plan."
"That's not good enough!"
"Then my suggestion is that you suggest a better option. Quickly."
"Okay, okay. Most of our equipment was burned out when Zero Base evacuated to our side, but if we can get any of the micro-radiation generators working, we might be able to use what's left of the array to at least slow the anomaly's growth."
"Slow it? So it is getting bigger?"
"Yes. And at this rate we won't be able to counteract its destructive force if we allow it to expand! Commander, this situation just got a lot more complicated."
"More than you think. I'm getting word back that there are several human survivors amongst the aliens that just came through."
"Survivors? From the lost forces? We assumed that anyone left out there during the mass energy event was gone. You saying people survived that?!"
"You tell me, you're a lot closer to the action than I am."
"Right. I'll have whoever we have left confirm that. They might be soldiers lost or captured during the earlier stages of the battle on the other side."
"Please do."
"And Greene?"
"We lost contact with his aircraft as it passed close to the anomaly, about twelve minutes ago. We have heard nothing since. We might have to assume the worst."
Harrison sighed. "We might."
"Try to hold on down there. If you can re-fire the array then at least we stand some kind of chance. We can't let those energy creatures come through again. We lost an AC-130 to those.. things."
"I'll do everything I can, commander."
"Thank you, doctor. Stuart out."
"Everything I can... That isn't much," Harrison thought.
"Captain Greene, this is Marc Harrison back at Dobbins. Please respond. We need your intel!"
No reply except for the crackling hiss of static.
"Well, worth a shot. Wherever you are, Greene, you better have some sort of plan."
The doctor looked down at his watch.
"Because I certainly don't."
*********************
"Looks like your plan failed, human. Or was there ever a plan to begin with?"
"I must admit, this chase you put me on was some of the best entertainment I have enjoyed in quite some time."
"Va..." Greene attempted to whisper.
"In fact, it is almost regretful I had to use the Sapphirites to end our little game. I would have enjoyed trading wits with the likes of you a few centuries. But alas, my time table has gotten away from me. The conquest of another world take priority."
"Van..." Greene mumbled.
"What are you trying so desperately to say, human?"
Captain Greene looked up from the marble floor.
"Vance."
Hircus' gleeful expression faded.
"So you know who I am. I must say, I was not sure you two were capable of finding that information. All a part of the game, I suppose."
Phalanx looked up at the dark king.
"Why are you doing this? Our world lies in ruin because of you. Thousands dead, millions subjugated under your unholy influence." "You-" The gryphon coughed "-you have what you wanted."
"What I wanted?"
Hircus narrowed his mismatched caprastian and lizard eyes.
"What I wanted was to get married, settle down with the love of my life. Perhaps have children. But as you are both well aware, that right to happiness, a normal life, was taken from me. So much was taken from me. So no, good praetor, I do not have what I want. But I will have retribution. I will end those responsible for my loss."
Greene shook his head.
"Then why invade my world? We had nothing to do with your loss."
Phalanx shot a cold look at the human captain.
"Just thought I'd ask. I'm still with you on this."
"Be silent, human. I invade your world because I have the power to do so. When I am done, there will be no more wars, no more killing or hatred or destruction. When I have finished, I will remake both halves of Earth in MY image."
Greene mustered a strained chuckle.
"And you still won't have Appleflower."
"Raaghh!!!"
Hircus grabbed the human pilot by the head and hurled him several feet back onto the floor. The circle of Sapphirites looked on in quiet reverence.
Phalanx shook his head. "Does that make you happy? Crushing those who cannot fight back? Being the same kind of abomination that destroyed your loved one?"
Hircus snarled.
"Does it make you proud to inflict the same fear she felt when they took her? Beat her? Left her to die in a cell?"
Hircus reared on two legs, roaring in the way only a enraged animal could.
"Do you think you can undermine me you lowly pigeon?! Death is too kind a gesture for you and your human friend! You have defiled my home long enough!"
Hircus stamped down with all his might, crumbling the floor and casting forth a massive blue shock wave of his dark energy.
Phalanx picked himself up, only to see Captain Greene staring back at him, eyes cold, blue, and soulless. The human pilot quietly rested on his side, as if clutching for some comfort that could not be found.
"What did you do to him?!" Phalanx questioned.
"The same I will do to each and every living soul, including you."
The dark king lifted a hoof, and that last thing Phalanx saw before the rising darkness was a ray of blue piercing light.
*****************
Micheal Kaiser inserted a magazine into his M1911 handgun, then immediately pressed the release and pulled it back out. After staring at it for a few seconds, he slid it back into the weapon. He then removed the magazine once again.
"Would you please stop doing that? You're going to bore a hole through that thing!" Lieutenant Reed quietly scolded him.
"I will, when the captain comes back."
"And if he doesn't? You gonna sit there doing that in a padded cell somewhere?"
"Yep, with a plastic gun."
"Mike..."
"I know, Gerri, he could be in pieces somewhere, but I'm not just going to accept that. As soon as they say we can go back up, I'll already be gone lookin' for him."
"Hey, you're not the only one worried."
She let out a long, hard sigh.
"You know Mike, after we stopped fighting the insurrection, we all thought we'd patrol over the states like heroes at a parade. No one knew this kind of thing would happen. It's not like you or any of us could have stopped this."
"Who cares. It did. Now you just have to deal with that."
"Hey, I'm on your side here. Just trying to keep up a little hope."
"Hope? Let me break it down for you. Greene went down in what's now ground zero, nothing we do seems to stop that black hole up there from eating our home town, an army of some crazy alien's mind-controlled legions is coming, and instead of having the dignity of dying in the cockpit of my aircraft like a man, I get to die with the rest of us of down here in this hell hole that the city of Atlanta calls a water treatment plant."
"We're not going to die here, Mike."
"Well communications are practically gone, we have no way out of the city, and the anomaly is almost here! You want to tell me what that looks like?!"
"Settle down, they can hear you..."
Gerri pointed over towards the huddled forms of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike, who clasped the small revolver he'd taken from Private Simms' bag, making sure to keep it just barely visible in a small sack.
Kaiser ran a finger though his military issued haircut.
"Well maybe they need to know. We're all mixed up in this mess together anyway."
"Mike, I need you to stay together for me here. Our lives might depend on it. If we do get orders to go back up, I don't want to have to tell our superiors that you've lost it. You get me?"
Kaiser sighed. "Yes. I get it. I get it."
Mike turned to see Spike walk up to the two of them, clearly wanting to ask something.
"There something, you need, kid?"
"Y-yes. The others were wondering if your Sergeant Mace found Lime Tree yet, w- we were just wondering, that's all. We haven't heard anything."
Gerri knelt down to the little dragon. "I promise you we'll find him, and we'll let you know when we do. It'll all be alright soon."
Spike lowered his head. "Don't do that."
Gerri looked puzzled. "Do what?"
Spike narrowed his eyes. "Lie to me like that. I'm not a kid anymore, well... not a little kid anyway. I have this now, and I'm going to keep Twilight and everypony else safe with it."
Lieutenant Reed almost jumped when she noticed the black revolver by the dragon's side.
"Where did you get that?!"
"I found it. Then I took down one of those freaks with it. Though I sorta don't remember that to much..."
"Oh. I see," Gerri answered, visibly surprised. "May I see it?"
"You're looking at it."
"No I mean-"
"I WON'T LET YOU TAKE IT!" Spike screamed, He was panting wildly now, his eyes seemed to gloss over and become much more reptilian in nature. His right arm flexed as if he was thinking about raising the gun.
Gerri held her arms out in a disarming gesture. "No, I just wanted to... Please try to calm-"
"Spike!"
The little dragon instantly settled down at the familiar tone of his caretaker and surrogate sister. Twilight slowly trotted up to them and lowered the dragon's arm.
"I'm sorry, he's just scared. He won't hurt anypony."
"Fine. I won't take it from him." Gerri looked over to a soldier polishing a knife in a quiet corner of the underground facility. "Dempsey, can you show him how to use that thing?"
The soldier nodded. "Sure thing, Reed." He lead the dragon away and began discussing the finer points of revolving firearms.
Twilight sighed. " I really am sorry about this. None of us are used to these kind of conditions."
Gerri turned to Kaiser, who simply turned away. She sighed, then looked back up at the violet unicorn.
"Neither are we."
********************
Sergeant Steven Mace dashed through the panic streets of downtown Atlanta, a few terrified citizens between him and a dark green earth pony stallion. Cars slid down the sidewalks. Small shops began to shed their ornaments.
"Lime Tree! Where are you going?! The base is back this way! We have to get out of here before the anomaly gets here!" The marine cried out at the mayor's assistant.
Lime Tree Hill galloped onward in silence, seemingly unaware of anything around him.
"I know you can hear me, man! Stop!"
It all started to make sense to the young marine.
"It's Hircus, isn't it?! You have to stop listening to him and turn around!"
Pushing himself to the limit, Mace managed to get close enough to the stallion to grab one of the belts on his saddle bags. Lime Tree froze, then turned around to face his pursuer. Mace quickly noticed that his eyes were not the glowing blue he'd seen in the frenzied faces of Hircus' indoctrinated armies.
"Snap out of it, Lime! You're going to get us both killed!"
"No. I have to do this."
"Wait, what? Why? That is you talking, right Hill?"
"Yes. I know what I'm doing. Someone is telling me to go. I know it's not Hircus. Someone needs my help."
"How could you possibly know that?" The sergeant yelled.
"I just know this is what I am supposed to do. I can't explain it any farther than that. By the way, someone wants to convey a message."
"What?" Mace coughed, short of breath from chasing the stallion.
"The nightmare speaks of Hircus' rise."
"What does that even mean?!"
"I don't know. I'll be going now, sergeant."
"I don't know what's wrong with you, but I can't just let you run off into that thing!"
Lime Tree nodded.
"I wish that were up to either of us."
A glowing pillar of orange and blue erupted from the approaching anomaly and quickly overtook the green stallion. In an instant, he was gone.
Mace picked himself back up, still reeling from the sudden shock.
"I hope he knows what he's talking about."
****************
Deep underground, but far from safety, Gerri Reed looked over to a disheartened Micheal Kaiser.
"I've been thinking about something."
"Plenty of that going around, I'm sure." Kaiser mumbled.
"Have you been having any... nightmares? Recently I mean. Like the last few days or so."
"Maybe. Why?"
"I don't know. Just passing the time. So have you?"
"As a matter of fact, I did."
Gerri rolled her eyes. "Well don't leave me hangin' here, what was it about?"
Kaiser coughed, then turned to his fellow pilot. "It was about me, back in Laos. When I got shot down, but it was... different."
"What do you mean?"
"They got me."
"What?"
"My gun jammed. They shot me dead."
"I'm guessing that didn't happen for real, right?" Gerri commented, only half jokingly. "You, uh, you don't talk about that mission much."
With a cold glint in his eyes that proved that his characteristic sense of humor was gone for the time being, Mike raised his hand and pointed his fingers like a gun.
"One chased me through the forest. He caught up to me, lowered his weapon."
He pretended to pull a trigger.
"I shot first. He died."
"I heard a lot more happened than that-"
"It's not important," Mike cut her off.
"Well, maybe it is. Because I had the same dream."
Mike appeared to be interested again.
"What do you mean?"
"Well it's sort of the same, but mainly different- I'll just tell you the story, okay?"
"Bullet points, Gerri. Not like the world's ending any time soon, right?"
"Right. Well before there even was a 'South-East Asian insurrection,' my squadron and I were ordered to deliver a small flight of fighter aircraft to an old U.S. base in Vietnam. All we were told was that they were reactivating the facilities there, but we were never told why. Anyway, everyone heard about the opening strike. A large salvo of fuel-air weapons that devastated the area near Xaysomboune. To make a long story short, one detonated in close proximity to my plane. I actually flew through the fireball. To this day, I still have no idea how I survived that. Chalk it up to someone watching over me, I guess."
"It's great that you didn't die there, but what does that have to do with my dream?" Mike questioned.
"I was getting to that... In my dream, one of the FAE bombs detonated at lot closer than just 'close proximity.' The blast melted my plane with me in it. Imagine how relived I was to wake up from that!"
"Hmm. Two dreams, both having to do with a pivotal moment in our careers that nearly killed us, but didn't."
"More than just a little odd, don't you think?"
Mike's face creased. "Yeah. Almost like someone's trying to demoralize us."
Gerri looked Mike in the eyes. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think so."
Gerri put her head in her hands. "We have to ask around. I'm willing to bet a lot of other people are having dreams like this."
Mike stood up.
"If they are, then we don't have much time left."
*******************
Deep within the Realm Sapphiron, Lime Tree struggled and squirmed, desperately trying to escape Hircus' grip. Beside him, Captain Greene and Praetor Phalanx floated motionless in a blue aura.
"A human, a griffin, and now a pony. Another addition to my collection. I must ask, though. Why would anyone willingly travel to my realm? What brought you here?"
"I know you aren't the only thing that lives here. Something, somepony else is here trying to stop you. Whatever it is, it brought me here."
Hircus' eye's widened, and he looked off into the distance. "After all this time... Still defiantly resisting me. Hmm, but why you, earth pony? What makes you special...? "
He turned back to his captives. "As much as I would like to carve out your memories and browse through them like a book, I must deal with the entities that facilitated your arrival. I won't be long."
With a wave of his hoofed arm, the three new arrivals to the Realm Sapphiron fell into an azure abyss.
Equestrian Catalog of Information Fact File #32: Shatter Shard Detonators.
It is a well-known fact the presence of magic has stifled the development of tangible weapons within the Kingdom of Equestria. However, recent designs have proven quite promising, few as positive as the Equestrian Shatter Shard Detonator. About the size of a small grapefruit, this thrown explosive device consists of a small pre-split blast geode encased in a shell of imperfect gems. One needs only to pull out the small tab of Equestrian silk that separates the two halves of the blast geode inside to arm the weapon. Because of their smaller size, the mini geodes only have a fuse time of approximately six to eight seconds, so it is important to run in the other direction after arming and throwing these surprisingly lethal weapons. Also, the weapons cannot be disarmed once primed, so there is no place for second guessing when using this weapon.
Upon detonation, the small blasts the geodes create send gem fragments in all directions, though this fragmentation has been known to be unpredictable. In the small number of trials that have been carried out with this experimental weapon, some close range targets managed to completely avoid injury, even well within the blast radius, while others have been unfortunate enough to receive the full extent of the weapon’s capabilities. In light of this, newer designs were sought, and have virtually eliminated this flaw. On another note, the same low velocity explosions created by blast geodes that make them such efficient demolitions explosives, also make for an interesting weapon to watch. Many have claimed to actually witness shards of glass-like gem shrapnel traveling through the air after they detonate, hence the name, Shatter Shard Detonators. Don’t let this fool you, however. The shards don’t need to be traveling very quickly to do massive damage to soft targets. You have been warned.
A/N
Yehaaw! Back on the horse! Um, no pun intended. In other news, the story's group, Heroes and Allies: The War Room, is now officially in service, starting with this chapter. So if you have questions, friendly suggestions, or just want to chat with me or my loyal crew, this is the place to do it. It's been fun. See you out there!
-Lynolius