The cigar shaped C-130 Hercules transport aircraft did not take the 82nd and the five ponies straight to the target area. Instead it landed in Atlanta to the south before letting Alexia’s herd and two squads of the 82nd transfer over to insertion helicopters. While their stay in the city was brief, the herd noticed Atlanta was a city under siege by a foe that did not form set battle lines. From the window of their Black Hawk helicopter, the ponies saw the northern half of the city was dark save for several fires and the occasional muzzle flash. If the military arm of the Mions had any anti-air capabilities, they didn’t reveal themselves as the four transports along with two escort Viper helicopter gunships made their way to northwest to the abandoned town of Rome.
The skies beyond the outer reaches of Atlanta were heavily overcast and rain fell from the dense black clouds as if an ocean sat above the land with countless holes letting it drain out. Alexia’s herd mentally prepared themselves to go back into the field while Alexia studied the tome’s civilian pages for a gentle warmth spell to combat the winter rain without having the dramatic temperature shift as the one she used back in the Sahara. Snake and his two closest friends made final checks on each other’s gear , as did the rest of the two squads of paratroopers currently sitting in the other pair of Black Hawk helicopters. The squadron sliced through the rain high above the south side of highway 411.
While the armed forces lost control of the land, the American war machine still retained control of the skies. This allowed the convoy to travel without fighter escort as the gunships were better suited to handle any sort of ground based anti-air.
Aside from the pilots, two crewmen sat with the ponies in the passenger compartment, one manned the rotary cannon mounted on the right bay door while the other sat behind the pilots and was facing the four ponies. His expression was dour as he had not seen many ponies join the military in the fighting, but was pleased by the herd’s presence, thinking they were a sign of things to come.
The equines were lucky Thompson came through for them and had a dozen sets of equipment ready for them at the Atlanta international airport which had been tailored for various weather conditions. That included the bitter cold rain that currently blew in from the open bay door of the helicopter. Normally the door would be closed, but the convoy was pressing into enemy held territory, and if they were fired upon, the gunner wanted to be able to respond instantly.
Like all the others, Tune’s inclement weather gear completely covered her form from hoof to the base of her head, save for her wings. The two winged ponies’ gear had a pair of semi hard plastic wing slits that kept their feathered appendages dry when not in use, provided they were not turned sideways or flipped upside down. The shoulder section was the only soft plastic there so they could flap their wings without difficulty, barring the rain. The four equines clothing did not cover their tails that had been left exposed. The equipment came with a sling where the tail could be secured along the right side of the pony’s barrel but this proved too much of an impediment for normal walking or running so it went unused.
Instead their tails and the tops of their manes were coated with hydrophobic grey wax that would keep the normally bright colors of Alexia’s azure, Loki’s pink, and Anderson’s two toned crimson hair from giving them away. Conrad’s steel colored hair made the wax unnecessary. However with the fresh utility harnesses also came fresh perception scramblers so the only real purpose the wax served was to keep the rain from waterlogging the hair overmuch and allowed the ponies to minimize their mana usage.
Unlike the 82nd airborne, the four agents didn’t wear body armor and were bereft of any helmets that would be worn once they departed the helicopter. They did however have a pair of night vision goggles within their satchels along with ear and throat mounted short range radios. Even though it was a late Georgia morning, they wanted to be ready for extended time in the field.
It was the most clothing any of them had worn in years and it bothered them immensely. Loki was not above voicing her irritation over the herd’s comm channel. “Oh man, my fur’s all jacked up on my back and I can’t fix it with these damn galoshes on my hooves.”
Crimson did her best to acclimate to the heavy clothing but shared in Loki’s woe. “You’ll be thankful to have it once we leave the chopper. I don’t like the idea of slogging around in January rain without protection.”
Loki groaned, but said nothing. Alexia was doing her best to keep the mission as the sole focus in her mind. You can’t protect them if you’re distracted. Keep calm and press on to the College.
The dense forests of northern Georgia were broken sporadically by the various pit stops along the interstate highway. There were the occasional spots of cleared forests where future development had been planned, but all of that was now abandoned and nature was all too ready to reclaim lost territory. Tune noticed as she looked out of the window that the area was very hilly, a common terrain feature this close to the Appalachian Mountains. It brought up memories of Trinity. The silver mare’s mind couldn’t help but wander to the human helicopter crew. The man sitting behind the pilots and the woman manning the side mounted weapon were only mildly thrown off balance by the ponies’ presence, although it was barely perceivable under their helmets and visors. It was barely detectable from under those visors, but Tune felt that the crew cautiously welcomed the prospect of fighting alongside their equine allies.
It may take a few generations, but we’ll be united as Terrans eventually. Earth will probably remain split up between nations, but at least between our two species we’ll have unity. A slight itch in her feathers reminded her of her wings. I may actually get to be the only person to see such social change from beginning to end in my lifetime. It was a faint spark, but her potentially ageless existence seemed a little less empty.
The trio of helicopters landed on the southern outskirts of Rome near an abandoned gas station. The surrounding area was adorned with more trees and grass than anything else. Aside for the gas station, tall evergreens lined very closely along the highway to give the once busy thoroughfare the impression of being directly cut through a forest. Crimson noted a large cemetery on top of a hill to the right of the highway further into Rome and felt it wasn’t the best thing to see first of a town.
The highway which served as the convoy’s landing zone had cars scattered all over the place and not all of them were in one piece, but enough were out of the way so landing wasn’t difficult. Although the fires had long since burned away, Alexia could see at least five cars had been destroyed by more than just small arms fire. Several vehicles looked as if a great beast and torn some of the cars and semi-trucks in half before the remains were charred by fire. Others were crushed by retreating tanks as being the only real evidence of the National Guard’s presence, save for the numerous gouges in the road. The military had not given the town up easily and both sides paid dearly during the battle. Whatever bodies the conflict had left behind were absent, making the herd’s alpha wonder why the Mions bothered to move them.
The ponies piled out of the droning helicopters with the two squads of the 82nd taking both point and rear guard of the landing zone until the Black Hawks departed . The Vipers lingered momentarily to scan the landscape for hostiles before falling back to protect the Black Hawks.
The gas station was on a slight rise above the intersection that allowed traffic to skirt along the fringe of Rome if they wished to avoid the congestion of the road going straight through town. As his squad leader gave his orders to take up defensive positions, Snake scanned the tree line and browned tall grass fields for movement. The rain and dark overcast made the midday sun less than helpful. Thanks to not having to actually paradrop in, Buttercup was able to bring her favorite FGM-172 SRAW anti-armor rocket launcher, an AA-12 combat shotgun, ammunition for both, and little else. It was up to the other members of the twelve man squad to carry her survival gear as the woman couldn’t carry anything else and remain highly mobile.
Two men wearing woodland camouflage approached from the gas station. Alexia and Conrad eyed them cautiously, but the pair was expected and after a quick round of identifying themselves to the rearguard paratroopers, they were let through.
After clearing the line of soldiers, the two FBI agents headed straight for the herd with the one in front zeroing in on the alicorn who was barely taller than the rest of the ponies. The experienced federal agent still picked up on the difference even through the rain. “Special Agent Alexia Tune,” came a somewhat chiding voice she had not heard in years. “It seems you’ve done rather well for yourself.”
Neither earth mare had met Carter, but Alexia and Conrad were not too keen to work with the man. Being comfortable in her role as alpha, Alexia spoke for the herd and the three other ponies unquestionably shared her distaste for the man. “A bit here and there. How ‘bout we get this started before any of us forget our professionalism.”
“There’s no need for ill will between us Agent. We all have our role to play in the American machine.”
Conrad stepped forward to be side by side with Tune, but remained a few inches behind her. “There’s doing your job, and then there’s being a prick about it.”
Crimson decided now would a good time to intervene. “Speaking of job, how about we listen to Alex and get it over and done with eh?”
Silence fell over the conversation as both winged ponies scowled at the man. His partner decided to break the ice. “Hey, if the mission goes off well I’ll buy a round of drinks. What do ya say?”
Loki found it was a perfect excuse to cool their heads. “Great idea. Why don’t you start by telling us what to expect and what route to take?”
Both parties backed off a bit except for Loki and Carter’s partner. The surrounding paratroopers were more focused on keeping their eyes on the perimeter rather than watch the two intelligence agencies butt heads, yet they silently wished to get out of the open.
When Carter didn’t stop him, his partner pointed at the station. “We can take shelter from the rain in there and provide what we know of the surrounding area.”
Loki turned to Alexia for her alpha to give the order. Despite not caring to be in Carter’s presence, the silver mare felt his partner was at least cordial and decided to do the same; if only for the sake of the mission. “Lead the way.” She clicked her radio to communicate with the two squads of paratroopers. “Baker, Golf, we’re moving in the gas station. Keep an overwatch of the surrounding area and get comfortable. We might be here for a bit.”
Squad leaders Badgers and Smithers sent their acknowledgements and had their men settle in around the station as the two sergeants walked in to join the intelligence agents. The fuel tanks had been ignited during the evacuation and the resultant crater in the ground where the pumps used to stand was deep enough for a small pond to start forming from the rain. The building was in a horrid state as well, but the rear half still had a moderately sturdy roof over it. As the ponies walked inside the back storeroom they saw a lantern illuminating a few maps and a silent generator for the nearby laptop.
Even with their fur and protective clothing, the mares felt the cold weather trying to bite its way through to sap their body heat. The quartet was glad to have a temporary respite against the rain.
Carter reached the desk with the laptop while his partner pulled the maps to a few stacks of old soda bottles for an impromptu table. The two squad leaders were not far behind. Sergeant Huck Badgers and Sergeant Betty Smithers who led Buttercup’s squad.
Before his partner could begin, Carter rested his palms on the back of the metal folding chair next to the laptop and faced Alexia. “I’m sure you already know standard protocol when dealing with field agents in ceded lands.”
Tune wasn’t too happy about Carter keeping his snide tone, but she knew what he was referring to. “Yes, give me a moment.”
As the FBI agents adopted a slight impatient disposition, and the two NCOs watching the exits, Alexia withdrew a few pieces of chalk from a small pocket. Within a minute she drew up a divination array and scanned the surrounding area in a two mile radius. “Everyone’s clean and there are no Mions within the immediate area.”
Carter’s partner didn’t show it, but he was always relieved to hear he remained clean of the plague. He cleared his throat and offered his hand to Alexia. “Now that the formality’s out of the way, I’m Agent Mulder. You’ve met Carter,” he said diplomatically.
As the ponies and two paratroopers curtly introduced themselves, Loki could barely contain herself from asking him a question that was burning in her mind. Mulder? Are you serious?
Carter tapped a finger over the southern fringes of town. “This area’s mostly forest with a few houses here and there as you can see from the map. Our main concern is the unknown number of sentry patrols in the area.”
“They keep changing the number of sentries in the area on an almost daily basis,” Mulder added tiredly. “There’s no way we can get a group this large through the woods without getting spotted.”
“What kind of sentries are we talking about here?” Smithers inquired.
Carter scowled deeply at the memory of them. “Some of the more conventional ones you might be used to, fireteam with small arms. That sort of thing. There are also roving bands of the mindless zealots that prowl the woods. They leave the local fauna alone, but they go insane at the sight of a human.”
Mulder crossed his arms in similar dower tones. “The worst by far though, are the Sirens. Every one of them we’ve come across has been female.” The man refused to call them women. “They sing a psychic litany that burrows into your mind. It compels anyone who hears it to surrender to the cult by way of revealing themselves to be captured. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, or pony, the song snares everyone if you listen for too long. We lost three agents that way in just the past five months to that.”
“Can’t we just take them out from a distance?” Badger’s asked. “I have a sniper in my team that can handle it.”
Mulder shook his head. “It might work if the song worked like actual sound, but you can’t tell where the song is coming from, only that a Siren is nearby when you can start hearing it and where you’re being compelled to move towards.”
“As for taking them out, I advise against it,” Carter added dryly. “We’ve killed a few ourselves and it always ends up bad. Just before they die, Sirens let out an extremely painful psychic scream that’ll knock you on your ass and give you a mean bitch of a headache.”
“Not to mention the scream will bring every zealot within five miles straight to your location,” Mulder commented. “We’ve tried shots to the brain, but Sirens must have some redundancies because they’ll still let off a death knell.”
Alexia didn’t like the prospect of running into one of them. “What about the town itself? Can we go through there?”
“That’s actually our best bet,” Mulder replied with a less dower expression. “The cult is highly active in the downtown area, but interior patrols are at a minimum. We can slip by the work crews without them even realizing we’re there. Aside from the handful of ponies we’ve seen in the area, the work crews are highly focused on their work and won’t react to us if we don’t make our presence too obvious to them. What we do know is that there are more ‘conventional’ guards stationed in Berry College itself so slipping through downtown will be easy if we don’t raise any alarms. Outside of Berry, the main areas of activity are centered around the police headquarters, Darlington High School, and the country club by the river.”
Carter leaned over the laminated map and pressed a finger on a fork in the river. “It’s the Police HQ that’s going to give us the most problems. Going through the center of town is the quietest way to pass through, but the HQ presides over the two bridges along our route.”
“Then let’s not do it quietly,” Smithers interjected. “Command said they can spare one airstrike for us. We recon the area, call in the strike, and while the opfor is scrambling for cover we make our escape across the far bridge.”
Tune scanned the chart that had been made two years ago and had dry erase updates on it in various colors. “We’re on the far southeastern side of Rome and Berry is on the northern most edge. Why couldn’t we have flown in from the north and bypass the town entirely?”
“I can answer that,” Badgers perked up. “The Air Force cleaned up a corridor for us to drop in from Atlanta, but if you go ten miles north of Rome the only thing that’ll be flying out there are the Wild Weasels and Surface to Air Missiles. This was the quickest and safest way here. Plus we don’t want a direct insertion to cause the imps to purge their computer mainframe.”
Tune scrunched her snout in contemplation before dropping the matter. “Then let’s make sure we come up with a good plan of action.”
The group wordlessly agreed and after outlining the path they would take, along with alternative paths and various contingency plans, the group headed north along the right side of the highway.
The freezing rain cut everyone to the bone, making the act of keeping a sharp eye out for wandering Mions difficult. As they crept towards a clover in the highway, Crimson made her way over to walk next to Mulder. “What are the Mions doing here anyway?”
The field agent was unsettled by the question as the paratroopers preform a sweep of the next section of road. “I’m not sure what purpose it serves, but they’re erasing every trace of the town.”
Smithers motioned for silence as a group of cultists in a trio of large orange dump trucks full of debris appeared further up the road. The agents and soldiers did their best to ignore the cold and dove into the water clogged ditch on the side of the road to go unseen by the drivers as more trucks drove by from the western fringe of Rome. The ponies were worse off than the humans thanks to the water reaching up to their necks as they crouched low in the flooded ditch. The two earth mares remained dry thanks to the excellent quality of their clothing, but Conrad and Alexia suffered far more as water slipped inside their clothing from their open wing slits.
It got so bad that Alexia decided to cut into her mana and drained the ground underneath her to both Conrad and herself. She didn’t want to use too much, only enough to keep them from suffering hypothermia.
Once the convoy of trucks left, the group started moving forward again. Conrad wordlessly thanked Alexia as her magic started to dry both winged ponies starting from the barrel and down to their hooves. Carter directed them off the main boulevard and onto East Second Street where a half demolished YMCA sat in ruins. A few workers were visible as they broke the building down brick by brick and carted it all into waiting trucks. Not even the plumbing was left behind as the underground pipes were being uprooted for transport while a small collection of earth ponies moved the soil with their magic to fill the gaps back in.
The YMCA was not the only building suffering such a bizarre fate. Over half of the houses had been removed with most others lying in heaps of rubble. The group could only tell where some houses used to stand because the positions of the older and younger trees. All of the history, all of the architecture, civilization, and any trace of human existence of the old southern town was being deleted from the face of the Earth until even the memory of Rome would vanish. Crimson shuddered at the realization. Others have tried to erase their enemies from history, but the victors have always wanted to make their own history. Now, it looks as if the cult doesn’t want any human history to exist. How many Romes are there? This can’t be the first town to be removed like this.
Were it not for the YMCA being much lower than the street, the workers might have spotted the paratroopers as they made their way past a still intact liquor store and onto a bridge that spanned the Etowah River. It was painfully obvious that the store had been looted some time ago as the door hung off its hinges and was open to the elements.
When the surrounding area was not only clear of Mions, but also void of buildings, Mulder spoke to the pale yellow mare at his side. “As far as we know, they’ve kept the essentials intact, the main waterline, power, and the roads, and bridges are all still there for the time being. But all the commercial areas, the empty homes, not even religious sites are being left untouched. The cult is erasing the town from existence.”
It was one thing for her to realize that truth herself, but to hear another come to the same conclusion drove it home. “They’re being very methodical about it,” Crimson had to half shout to be heard over the rain.
Mulder wiped his eyes to try and see more clearly. “That’s why there’s no point in airstrikes. The cultists are already destroying everything on their own. If we sent a bombing run on the police HQ or the college, we may kill a few, but we’d only be doing them a favor in the end.”
“Except for us to use as a distraction,” Crimson commented.
“True enough.”
The whole area in front of them was a freshly planted forest that had every side road unearthed and replaced with sod. Only the main thoroughfare between the bridge they just crossed and the one that spanned the western side of the Oostanaula River still remained. Were it not for the old maps the two federal agents had back in the gas station, Alexia would have thought the place was a national park.
The alicorn was flabbergasted by the evidence before her. This makes no sense at all. Why conquer a place only to give it all over to nature? If the Koridost are coming to colonize the planet, then shouldn’t the Mions be building infrastructure for the coming colonists? Or at the very least clear the forests so it’s easier to build a colony?
The semi loose woods and hilly terrain masked the squads’ movements up until they got within a hundred yards from the second bridge. Unlike the first one, this bridge was guarded by several red skinned cultists and two pegasi were perched on top of the supports watching the river with an umbrella keeping the equines dry.
The sight of the two ponies made Alexia’s blood boil. They can’t all have been lied to like Buraddi was. Not that I could try revealing myself in the middle of the enemy camp.
Smithers lined her squad up along the trees and called for the group to bunker down so the workers by the side of the river would be unable to see them in the deluge. There were few streetlights still intact. The dense cloud cover coupled with the downpour made the occupying cultists turn the lights on so there was better illumination as the historic buildings of Broad Street were picked apart and removed at a steady pace. While the bridges themselves had little in terms of actual guards, there were well over a hundred workers who were predominantly Mions. Nevertheless, a few scattered dashes of color marked the presence of over a dozen ponies.
If there were any complaints about the rain, none were audible to the soldiers barely a football field’s length away. Off in the distance an open air stadium was visible, thanks to the elevation of the squads’ position and the lack of anything over ten feet tall between them. It also made the still intact police department clearly visible.
Smithers let Badgers stay with the men to keep watch while she met with the intelligence agents to work up a plan. The six of them were on the highest ridge along the eastern flank. “We’re not getting through there without a fight,” she said in with a hiss as she got close enough to speak.
“No, we’re not,” Carter agreed. “It looks like we’ll need that distraction after all. And I don’t think a singular airstrike is going to cut it.”
Alexia nodded in agreement. “We should save that for the College if the research lab is still operating.”
“I concur,” Smithers added before addressing Alexia. “It’s my job to ensure you can enter the College to find, what you need to find.” The sergeant knew the ponies’ objective was classified, she only knew where they needed to go. “I’ll have both squads lay siege to the station while my sniper clears the bridge of its guards. As soon as its clear, you should bolt across.”
Mulder recalled the map and terrain layout. “Should work. A smaller group will be able to slip into the north unnoticed.”
Alexia didn’t like having little intelligence of the surrounding area and the numbers of the cultists. “How are you going to exfiltrate?”
“The Black Hawks are on standby a few miles outside of town. We bust up the red skinned imps for as long as we can to give you time to make it to the objective. After we’ve overstayed our welcome, we bug out in the choppers. I’ll leave two riflemen to escort you.”
Tune glanced at the throng of Mions and hostile equines. “The six of us should be fine on our own, and you’ll need every rifle at your side to make this work.”
Smithers would have none of it. “With all due respect ma’am, my men can handle a few dozen imps. I won’t see you go without an escort.” Smithers didn’t want to say it aloud, but she was not about to let the princess die if she could help it. The woman felt it was rather obscene to have a major political figure being used as a field agent, especially with the success the princess made out of Trinity. The NCO firmly believed Alexia’s place was in political office where she could do far more good than potentially getting killed in battle, but it was out of her control. What was within her power, was to make sure the alicorn lived to return to that civilian life. We need a successful administrator in a position of administrating. There are plenty of soldiers who could be doing this operation instead.
“I’ll stay here then,” Mulder volunteered. “If the dust off doesn’t go smoothly you’ll need someone who can guide you back out of town.”
The silver mare shared a glance with her mates before facing Smithers. “I’ll side with your tactical expertise. I only ask that you stay alive sergeant. We need living soldiers, not dead heroes.”
The sergeant gave a curt nod of redoubled respect. “I tell my boys that every time we go in the field.”
The group split up after Smithers gave Mulder something better than his service pistol and everyone took position. Buttercup kissed her rocket launcher lovingly and took aim at the large fuel depot that sat to the west of the police headquarters where the government plaza used to stand. Badgers make sure everyone was in position before giving the heavy weapon’s specialist the order to make the first shot.
With a toothy feral smile upon her lips, Buttercup depressed the trigger and the rocket streaked unwaveringly on target. The resulting explosion of well over two thousand barrels of fuel lined across the river produced a rolling fireball that shattered every window that remained in the police building and was a beacon of trouble for every Mion and hostile pony for miles.
Those few pegasi that had been flying around the depot were blown away and most of the workers were flattened by the concussion wave. The 82nd stormed out of the newly planted forest and laid waste to Mions and ponies alike. The few intelligent Mion supervisors presiding over the workers managed to return fire with a handful of pistols along with a few unicorns and their magic, but none of the workers stayed to fight. The worker Mions were of low intelligence and fled the terrifying assault. Some jumped into the freezing rapid river, others scattered in all directions. The few pony workers were more successful in their flight from the sudden threat. No one was prepared for a direct assault.
Badgers’ squad waded through what few cultists stood and fought back after the explosion and swept the cultists from the entire bank of the river from one bridge to the other. Smithers led her men to the police HQ and wiped out all the local logistics managers in charge of the Mion efforts in destroying Rome. The paratroopers were on the attack, and it was what they were best at.
As the 82nd enacted their part of the operation, Alexia followed Carter past the western bridge that sat on the fork in the river. The group ran along the eastern bank of the south flowing river while every cultists’ attention was fixed on the firefight. Loewy and Snake had volunteered to be the intelligence agents’ escorts and the two soldiers, one FBI, and four CIA agents ran into the northern section of the city proper where many buildings still stood in whatever condition they were left in during the evacuation.
As Carter led them along the abandoned streets towards their destination, Tune felt the familiar soothing song of Reed’s congregation in the back of her mind. Even through the exertion of galloping through the relentless rain, keeping her footing from slipping on the wet grass or pavement and keeping an eye out for any hostiles that might spot them, the alicorn’s worshipers were heard.
Yet due to her current surroundings and the warning she received in the gas station, Alexia thought it meant that a Siren was nearby. She used her magic to click the radio to the group’s chosen frequency. “Siren nearby!”
Carter couldn’t hear anything from his position a few meters behind her, but didn’t want to risk one of them being pulled away by the nigh irresistible psychic song. He spied a half demolished pet shop on the other side of the street and pointed Snake, who was directly behind him, towards it. “We need to make for cover and try to determine its location.”
As one, the group piled inside the building after Loewy kicked the door open and swept the lobby along with Snake to make sure no surprises waited for them. The entire grooming, kennel, and store rooms’ walls were blasted open to the elements from a long ago disaster.
The front lobby had several dog and cat toys lying in overturned stands, making footing slightly difficult. Carter moved by the shattered north window to scan the path ahead of them. Even if the rain wasn’t there, the road forward was up a moderately steep incline and there were still a few mostly intact buildings that made seeing very far from the pet shop difficult.
As everyone nestled themselves against various walls or countertops, the federal agent gave his best advice to counter a Siren’s attack. “If you stay focused on your self identity and the mission at hand, the Siren’s influence will be too diluted to affect seven people.”
A trace of fear shot through the group’s eyes as they nodded in adherence. Carter crouched below a broken window surrounded by mildew stained animal themed wallpaper. He tried to block out the pitter-patter of the heavy rain, the breathing of those around him, and the distant staccato of gunfire to see if he could hear the telltale signature of a Siren. After twenty seconds of searching, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
He scanned the dim lit room for the silver alicorn. “Are you absolutely sure you heard a Siren?”
Alexia didn’t like his slight accusatory tone. “I still do, but its very faint. I can barely hear it over the rain.”
The FBI agent frowned at the certainty in her voice. He didn’t care for her, but doubted the CIA would keep her as a field agent if she was panicky. I can’t believe someone with the power she wields would crack at the threat of a Siren.
Loewy spoke out from his position by the front door, which barely hung in pieces to its hinges. “Think that horn of yours might be acting like an antenna and picking one up early?”
Loki agreed quickly. “You said that spike of yours is directly connected to your brain. Maybe you’re more sensitive to them.”
The silver mare was about to discount such claims but it fell flat in her mouth. “I’m not exactly familiar with psychic attacks. But I did see psychic abilities in action before, just not ones like this.” She didn’t want to elaborate that it was from Garrdoth in Africa because it was classified information.
Snake listened in while huffing in disbelief about the while situation. Three years ago if someone told me I’d be hanging out with magical talking ponies and fighting psychic red scaled imps I’d have laughed him out of the building.
Carter wasn’t interested in how she could hear it, only that she was. “Can you tell where it’s coming from? It should be compelling you to move towards the Siren.”
Tune tried to focus on the pleasing sound. Its almost like— She tried to describe the noise, but it was just barely audible at all. The only thing she could tell was that it was pleasant to listen to. She focused on it intently, trying to both find a way to put it into words and so she had an excuse to take enjoyment out of listening.
“Alex?” Crimson asked while jostling Alexia to get her to return to the present.
The silver alicorn snapped back to the present, letting the addicting song of her followers fall to the back of her mind. “S-sorry, I can’t tell where it wants me to go.”
Carter was about to declare she was calling wolf when he heard a Siren’s song as well. It was something he heard dozens of times before, and a cold pit of terror formed within at the seductive melody. One song jumped to three, then six, until over a dozen songs were pounding in everyone’s heads, calling to them to go towards the north, to Berry’s direction. Carter yelled to be heard over the mental noise. “Don’t listen to them. Stay where you are!”
Hands and hooves jammed into their respective owner’s ears to no avail. Due to the sheer number of them, the songs were maddening instead of alluring. It didn’t help that the singers were also partially insane from having only a tenuous connection to the Link.
A large pack of fifteen Sirens was being transported in three different pickup trucks; the Mion drivers were deaf to the songs. Loewy, Loki, and Conrad took the worst of the mental attack and were losing their fight against the compulsion and started to drift towards the east facing door. Snake grabbed Loewy by his backpack and pulled him back inside while Alexia and Crimson did the same for their mates.
Loewy was losing his ludicty in the chorus and struggled on the floor as Snake drug him by his feet deeper into the store. “Let me go! I have to save Vicky!”
Snake met his hysterical eyes with confusion. “What are you talking about? Vicky’s not here Loewy!” Snake shouted back as he used his actions to distract himself from the Sirens.
Loki saw a young boy, no older than nine years old, waving to her from out in the rain right as the first truck of Sirens drove by. He had dirt caking his tattered blue and white striped polo shirt and his khaki shorts were badly ripped. Blood ran down from his broken nose and bruises covered his face.
“Gwyn!? Gwyn is that really you?” The green mare’s eyes were as big as dinner plates and tried desperately to reach the phantom. Crimson tried to hook a hoof onto a nearby overturned stack of shelving, but the green pony was manic to reach the boy.
Crimson saw her mother standing outside on the road, but the phantom was blurry and fading in and out; making it easier for the pale yellow mare to ignore it. It did however allow Crimson to know what the green pony was seeing. “Snap out of it Loki! Gwyn isn’t real.”
Loki turned to Crimson with frightened eyes and a quivering lip. “He’s right there, can’t you see him!?” She turned back to see the boy turning away from her and walking to the other side of the street. “Gwyn come back! It’s me Freya!”
Crimson took a few kicks to the barrel and one to the neck, but she kept a strong grip on Loki’s hind legs to keep her from bolting outside. “He’s not there Loki!”
"Yes he is!" The green mare tried to buck Crimson off to try and save the boy yet the pale yellow mare had wised up and managed to deflect the kicks away from her while maintaining her grip. The yellow mare briefly scanned the room for help only to see Alexia using both muscle and spell to keep Conrad pinned while Carter and Snake were struggling to pull Loewy’s weapons away while also trying to grapple him to the ground.
Loki was screaming trying to get Anderson off of her only to stop dead in her tracks as the third truck roared by and hit the phantom, seemingly taking Gwyn with it. “No! Not again! Not again!” she screamed out with old pain cutting her anew.
The green mare stopped struggling as the Sirens’ distance grew and made their psychic assault too weak to reform the phantom. Conrad and Loewy both were left in emotionally vulnerable states as the others tried to recover from the ordeal.
Tune saw the distraught paratrooper was recovering his wits and shouted from her position across the room to get their attention. “Snake, Carter, get eyes on the outside, make sure we didn’t attract any unwanted guests.” The trooper obeyed without hesitation while Carter only did so begrudgingly because it was a prudent command.
The azure crowned alicorn had noticed something was off when the Sirens hit them. The vision I had didn’t seem like it was part of the other noise I heard. She chased away her introspective to refocus on her mate. “Conrad, speak to me.”
The stallion in question shifted his eyes around angrily. “Where is he?! I’m going to kill that bastard!”
Tune flipped the stallion around in her magic to make him look at her. “Easy. Easy. It wasn’t real. Whoever it is, isn’t there.”
Alexia’s face and soothing tone eased his fury back down. Once she knew he was going to be fine, she spoke again. “Let me check on Loki and Loewy okay?”
“Ye-yeah.” He slumped to his haunches while cradling his head to try and dull a massive migraine that followed the vision. The headache was shared by all seven of them, but Carter was able to shake it off a little better than the others.
The federal agent’s grip on his pistol was so tight his weapon’s grip pattern was imprinted on his hand. “I don’t get it. It’s always been just a compulsion before, a song most of the time, but never a projection like that.”
Snake gritted his teeth at the memory of seeing his dead mother seeming to call out to him. “Damn imps are truly from hell. Command never told any of us these guys had this kind of psychic power.”
Right as Alexia was about to investigate Loki, a cold pit of despair hung in her gut like a lead weight. “The others. Those Sirens are headed straight for the rest of the Eighty Second!” Everyone in the room heard her, and feared she was right.
“They’ll never know what hit them,” Loewy thought aloud.
Alexia bolted over to Loki who was carrying a stronger radio on her back and pulled the shaking green mare’s headset off and putting it on herself. Crimson took the hint and adjusted the frequency to the command channel. “Baker one, Baker one this is Zeta, come in.”
The faint sound of her worshipers faded away as she repeated the transmission. The distant echo of gunfire was still detectable above the torrential downpour. An uncomfortably long wait and a second repeat elapsed before Smithers answered. “This is Baker. Are you at the objective Zeta?”
Alexia didn’t have time to waste on words. “Nearly. You have a large group of Sirens inbound on your location in three pickup trucks from the northwest. They’ll compromise your position if they get too close.”
Smithers knew that meant the Sirens could only come in from either of the two bridges. “I’ll get it locked down. The locals are putting on more of a show than we expected. I can give you ten minutes before I call for evac.”
A screaming rocket and exploding bricks punctuated the intensity of the firefight along with the constant chatter of small arms. “Copy that Baker. Those Sirens are priority targets. Over and out.”
Tune could only hope that the warning was enough. She used her magic to take Loki’s headset off and put her own back on. “Loki, are you fit to move?”
The green mare’s gaze never left where Gwyn’s ghost had been smashed by the truck. Her ears were flat and barely audible whimpering could be heard. “Yeah. I’m good.”
The alicorn knew better than to pry. It was well known that Loki despised talking about her past, and it didn’t take Alexia much to suspect that Loki had seen a ghost from that past. She rubbed the top of the green pony’s neck to let her know she was loved while Alexia faced Carter. “We need to move. Smithers won’t be able to stay much longer.”
Carter pushed the image of his dead wife out of his mind and nodded curtly. “We should get off the main road, can you fly us over a stream?”
The silver and azure mare smirked. “I can do one better. Lead the way.”
Crimson helped Conrad get back on his hooves while Snake made sure Loewy recovered from the painful vision. Alexia sat on her haunches used her forelegs to pull Loki to her hooves. The herd alpha used her kinesis to replace the headset upon her mate’s ears while continuing to rub her mane. “You’re going to be okay green bean. Whatever you saw wasn’t actually there.” She wanted to hug the strained mare, but restrained herself in the presence of the humans.
The federal agent scanned outside the pet store to the north. Upon seeing nothing but dilapidated buildings and falling rain, he turned back to his party. “The coast is clear, let’s go!”
With a bare trace of a nod, Loki signaled she was able to keep going and the group crept from building to building as they wound their way to the last bridge between them and the college. There were a few Mions and ponies racing to the firefight, but none of them saw the seven operatives slinking their way to the college.
Unlike the first two bridges, the last one between them and Berry was barely seventy feet long, but it was still busy as more Mions and a handful of ponies raced across to join the counterattack on the paratroopers to the south.
The cold rain bit each of them as the humans and ponies huddled in the nearby brush tangled ditch. Thanks to the nearby stream being several feet lower than the runoff ditch, the rain water wasn’t enough to get more than the soles of their shoes wet.
Snake didn’t like the condition of the bridge and nudged Alexia to speak to her. “Traffic’s way too high to cross and the riverbank is too steep to try and ford it further on down as far as I can see.”
True enough, no matter where Alexia looked, the small stream looked to be in the early stages of forming a ravine. It may take a few hundred years, but it’ll get there. “Then I’ll have to teleport us across.”
“Won’t the flash give us away?” Crimson fretted.
“Teleportation?” All three men queried.
“All I can do is try and find a place where the second flash won’t be too obvious.”
Carter was more dubious than the two paratroopers. “What do you mean teleportation?”
Loewy ignored his mental fatigue from the Siren’s assault at the prospect of it. “Whoa, you mean like Star Trek teleportation? Hell yea!”
Rumbling on the road halted the hushed conversation as a stolen M1 Abrams tank grumbled down the road while five Mions in full combat gear sat on top as the vehicle transported them to the firefight. A lance of terror ran through Alexia’s mind at the thought of the tank’s presence. “When did the Army get here?”
Snake pressed himself as low to the ground as possible. “Not possible, else we wouldn’t have flown in from Atlanta. Damn imps stole one.”
Conrad grew even more worried as he saw Tune’s horn start to glow as she gathered mana to cripple the tank. “No, Alex stop!”
With her horn still aglow she turned to face him. “I can’t just let that tank hit them! It’ll rip them to shreds.”
Snake chuckled darkly. “Have more faith in the Eighty Second then that little lady. Even if Buttercup already wasted all of her rockets, the Vipers will blow that thing to hell.”
His words fell flat as three more Abrams came in from the direction of Berry College. He fully expected the gunships could destroy them, but feared there might not be anyone left to save by the time they were called in. Carter was the most pragmatic of them all and focused on the silver pony. “Look, Smithers and her team are doing their job, so we can do ours. If you have the means of getting us across the bridge then do so.”
Gritting her teeth at being unable to help, Alexia beckoned everyone to scrunch in close to her. “This won’t be pleasant for you first timers,” Crimson remarked with a smirk in Carter’s direction.
The densely packed evergreen trees made a direct visualization of the ground beyond the bridge impossible and Alexia didn’t want to risk a massive mana feedback if she planted her teleport around a too densely forested spot or too high above the ground as to cause injury. Her answer came in the form of a billboard promoting the local Harbin Clinic. The group flashed a brilliant azure from the side of the road and was deposited on the thin ledge of the billboard’s walk away. Conrad was too far off to the side and fell off, but his pegasi instincts kicked in the moment he started to fall and flared his wings to level out.
Loewy nearly fell off the edge and wrapped his arms around one of the protruding lamp posts that had not been turned on in months. “Jesus H. Christ! I just was fucking teleported! Eat your heart out Scotty.”
Snake was glad he didn’t have a full stomach because it was doing flips at the moment while Carter was doing his damnedest to keep from giving Crimson the satisfaction of seeing him squirm. The nonhorned ponies were mostly used to it by now and only took a spare moment to recover their wits.
Crimson was not a fan of high places, and the billboard was just high enough to count as one. She tried to mask her borderline acrophobia with a logical suggestion. “We should really get down from here asap.”
Loewy used his training to reign in his shock back under control. “Right, Snake get the ladder.”
Pulling out a hammer from his kit, the combat engineer popped the folded ladder from its up-locked position and it slid down to ground level. Thus allowing all three men to descend while the winged ponies flew their earth brethren to the bottom.
Carter scanned the area, and was not too happy when some of the vehicles on the road were coming to a halt near the billboard, only the dense rain and tall unkempt grass concealed the team. “The flash was seen, since there are no more rivers between us and the objective we can get away from the road until we’re closer to the college.”
The others wordlessly agreed and thanked the dense underbrush which allowed them to slip past the few Mions who saw the flashes.
As the minutes rolled by, the sounds of battle to the south were all but lost in the rain. Aside for Carter, everyone hoped that the distraction wasn’t paid in too much blood. Loki was afraid to switch her radio to the squad channel. The last thing she wanted to hear were the screams and cries of the friends she had found on the Bush dying to buy them time to reach the college unhindered. Stay alive guys.
Buttercup was both pleased and pissed. A state she rarely deviated from while in the field of battle. With her last rocket she crippled the turret of the first Abrams that had entered the skirmish. She slung her launcher on her back and gripped her favorite shotgun that had been resting next to a shattered brick and mortar wall. A couple of her rockets sent two trucks worth of Sirens to a fiery death. The third however managed to evade target lock and even now, the Sirens were still ripping into her squadmates’ minds.
The paratroopers had only suffered two casualties in the fight to take the police headquarters. Mion and pony alike were ill suited to handle the brutal efficiency of the 82nd. But the cult took unconventional warfare to a whole new level. Five paratroopers had been lured out of cover by the Sirens’ songs.
Buttercup saw her vision in the form of her life partner Madeline. The dark haired olive skinned phantom looked as if it was too badly injured to walk and was lying next to a pile of burnt out oil drums begging for her lover to rescue her. Even though every ounce of logic within her told Buttercup that her wife was in Manhattan, the Sirens’ influence was not so easily repulsed.
The trooper next to her fired his rifle at a trio of unicorns firing bolts of acidic magic back at them. He nailed one in the horn, another in the side of the mare’s neck, but took a full on blast to his left arm for his efforts. The magic splashed upon impact and covered his torso and face with green sweltering acid that corroded his flesh.
Buttercup pulled him back behind the blown out window, but he was dead by the time she got a good look at the damage. The mana relented a few seconds after impact, but the man’s face was gone along with the first few of centimeters of his neck and arm.
“Damn magic.”
A cultist armed only with a pair boney serrated spines jutting out of his forearms and maddening fervor charged her ground floor position of the headquarters. Buttercup was more than happy to pulp his chest with buckshot from her treasured AA-12 automatic shotgun. Right as she was about to do just that, Madeline flashed before her eyes and made the trooper hesitate. The Mion capitalized on that and rushed forward with both spines angling for her throat.
Thanks to the zealot’s bad aim he actually struck the center of her chest, what would have been a mortal wound to the heart was stopped by her body armor. The blow snapped Buttercup out of her vision enduced stupor. With a savage growl she kicked the assailant off and put three shells of buckshot in the man’s torso and head.
The floor above her shattered from a tank shell blowing a machine gun crew to pieces. The second tank was smart enough to stay on the far side of the bridge and shell the police building from afar. Buttercup ran further into the hallway as the ceiling tried to collapse on top of her. Her shotgun slid out from her grip as she fell to the dirt covered tile floor, clearing the falling debris scant inches from being flattened. “Can’t believe I’m going to die for a bunch of spooks with fur.”
She scrambled forward and retrieved her weapon before climbing to her feet. Smithers’ voice crackled on the woman’s helmet. “Get to the roof, evac’ll be here in two minutes. Briers, Farley, Cover the main stairs, everyone else fall back to the roof.”
Finally. Buttercup ran into two more troopers with one slung limply over the other’s shoulder on their way up the twisting wide stairs. Without thinking twice Buttercup slid in behind them to cover their back and pepper a pegasus bearing down on them along with two more spine wielding zealots. Unlike the more intelligent Mions who stayed behind cover with firearms of their own, there were countless deranged zealots pouring in from the remains of the country club to the west and the commercial zone to the east. That didn’t include those who were transported from Berry College by truck. Buttercup’s AA-12 coughed three times to put down twice as many zealots thanks to the shot spread.
“You want to bring knives to a shotgun fight!?” she roared with a predatory glint in her eyes. More frothing zealots poured into the central lobby, and each one was put down by Buttercup’s shotgun as she slowly backpedaled up the stairs. Four other paratroopers filed in from the first floor offices and the armory, each of them adding their firepower to the wave of bodies that was only there to eat up the troopers’ ammunition so the real Mions and ponies could sweep the disarmed soldiers afterwards. There were countless bodies to throw at that soldiers’ shrinking line, and ammunition was dwindling just as fast.
Buttercup ascended the first flight of stairs, firing all the while. Briers stood at her side, firing his carbine at the handful of firearm wielding Mions that started to creep in behind the fodder. The cult didn’t have a military industry to produce weapons and ammunition. The infrastructure to support it simply wasn’t there. Whatever they stole from stockpiles and stores were only given to the ponies that could use them and the intelligent Mions. The fodder however, was unending as they arrived en masse from all directions.
“BC! Get up here!!”
Buttercup glanced behind her to see Briers leaning around the bend in the stairs urging her to climb up. Seeing that there were no more survivors on the first or second floor she knew it was time to leave. A Mion was too close for comfort and she brought her weapon to bear, but the AA-12 clicked dry as the zealot trying to knife her lunged for her leg. Using her better elevation thanks to the stairs, she delivered a kick that smashed the zealot’s face in and sent him careening into three more behind him. A few of the smarter Mions used the opening to fire upon her and scored a few hits on her torso and arms and helmet. Fortunately her Kevlar proved too strong for the pistol fire and the hits only pissed her off even more.
Briers picked off the shooters, but not before a fourth Mion took aim with a fallen paratrooper’s rifle and fired a three round burst at the brawler who was in the middle of kicking another zealot in the side of the head. A bullet punched through the gap between her armor at her chest and thigh, the next smashed through her left kidney while the third grazed her leg.
Buttercup cursed a number of things as she fell at the top of the steps. Briers bit down on the pin of his last grenade and tossed it lightly to land on the bottom of the stairs while pulling his wounded squadmate out of the line of fire and behind the concrete pillar that separated the flights of stairs. “You’re not dying on me that easy BC.”
Buttercup only managed to hiss in agony as he hefted her on his shoulders following the loud crump of his grenade buying them a few seconds.
Smithers’ voice shouted in Briers’ earpiece. “Briers, Farley, get to the roof! Veers, Fang, cover their asses. Evac is in thirty.”
Briers carried Buttercup’s bleeding form up three flights of stairs and met Mires and Fang half way up as the two soldiers kept the zealots and the odd pegasus at bay. Buttercup heard the sound of four helicopters closing in while rockets from the Vipers destroyed one Abrams and sent the other scurrying behind a hill for cover. The side mounted autocannons of the Black Hawks raked the ground to discourage any ground bound retaliation. At least from the ponies, the intelligent Mions however did not fear death and kept firing at the four helicopters, drawing the attention of the two Vipers.
Briers and Buttercup boarded the first Black Hawk along with five other survivors. The second helicopter touched down shortly after the first took to the air again to provide cover for them. The third Abrams scooted out from behind the hill and fired an explosive round at the stationary helicopter right as the last of the 82nd boarded.
The shot punched through the tail and detonated in the middle of the passenger section killing everyone onboard. Seeking revenge on its fallen protectee, one of the Vipers climbed in the air to rob the tank of its cover and fired a barrage of rockets at the Abrams. Yet vengeance was denied as the tank used an old motel for impromptu cover.
The pilot wasn’t so easily evaded and circled around to get a clear line of sight on the target. The tank commander hefted a stinger and waited for the Viper to come around to attack. The pilot however, was no fool and already had his flares at the ready and was prepared to avoid a dumb fired rocket. The tank commander never got a chance to fire at all as the Viper shot first and obliterated the tank with a volley of rockets.
With his revenge satisfied, the Viper tore after the remaining Black Hawk to protect its last charge.
The Eighty Second’s medic tended to Buttercup’s wounds while aboard the helicopter. The heavy weapons expert hadn’t seen the other Black Hawk go down, but she could see the pained looks on her squadmates that very few of them survived. All of them had suffered not just physical injury, nor mental ones from the loss of their brethren, but also at the hands of the Sirens who nearly broke the minds of the few survivors. She glanced at Smithers who was doing a good job at keeping a strong front, but Buttercup knew the NCO was hurting just as much as the rest of them.
That had damned well better be worth the cost.
The distraction worked as intended and Alexia’s group did not encounter a single hostile along the way as they all raced to join the firefight to the south. Alexia heard that pleasant sound pop in again and it didn’t leave again until all seven of them crouched on the far side of the road where Berry College’s main entrance presided.
From their position behind a long wooden fence that belonged to the abandoned ranch behind them, there was practically no sign that there was a college at all except for the sign clearly marking the two lane road, which had both lanes divided by a grassy median, as the entrance. Similar wooden fences enclosed the ranch. Those fences were little more than a post with three long brown wooden beams that was more for aesthetics than to actually deter human passage. The grasslands between the highway servicing the college and the campus itself was not overgrown thanks to the large herd of cows that huddled together on the left side of the entry road so as to keep warm during the storm.
Like many older styled southern estates, the campus itself was not visible from the highway thanks to both the long service road and the dense woods that sat beyond the pastureland. There was a newly cut dirt road between the edge of the woods and the ground level highway so road traffic could bypass the lengthy service road.
Carter was at the front of the pack as he led them behind the fence of a ranch directly across the highway from Berry College. He turned around to study everyone’s faces. They don’t look it, but first time getting hit by a Siren is never easy. “We should take a six minute breather. Get whatever images or aftereffects of the visions out of your system.”
Snake wasn’t too happy about that and growled angrily at the federal agent. Both men were panting at the dead run from the billboard, but had the endurance to keep going for another twenty miles if need be. “My buddies dying back there to give us time to infiltrate the college and you want us to just dick around?”
Carter met his challenge and stepped up to be nose to nose with the soldier. Rain fell over his face and over his eyes, but he did not blink no matter how much it stung him. “We just got hit by something new, and I’ve had agents crack from just hearing the Sirens once. We stay for six minutes to make sure there’s nothing broken upstairs.”
Snake didn’t want to rest. He didn’t want to take a load off, and most certainly didn’t want to waste the time his brothers-in-arms were dying to give them. He was inches from acting on that when Loewy clapped a restraining hand on his shoulder.
Loewy looked ill, and not just from the sprinting. “I feel you man, you know I do. But if those bitches put a time bomb in our heads I’d rather explode here, rather than me going crazy at a bad time.”
Snake was still resistant to the idea of twiddling his thumbs. “I don’t see what six minutes is going to do for that sort of thing, if a mental time bomb is even there.” His scowl deepened at the prospect of cracking under something he had no defense against.
Conrad strode up to the arguing trio. “We need the time to observe the entrance anyway. There’s a good two hundred yards of open field between here and the tree line on the far side. It may be clear of hostiles at the moment, but we need at least some time to make sure it’ll stay that way.”
That got Snake to calm down enough to compromise. “Four minutes. Then we go.”
Carter didn’t like it. Standard procedure after surviving a Siren was to return to base camp and let the afflicted recover from the intense mental strain. That normally took several hours. Dumb bastard needs to learn patience.
With the decision made to take a short break, Alexia nodded quietly to her mates and they spread out to take advantage of the respite next to the fence that ran parallel to the highway. The pale yellow pony rested next to a tree that grew adjacent to the fence so she could have some reprieve from the relentless downpour of chilling rain. She didn’t want to get mud on her clothes so she opted to lean against a fence post while her mates did the same nearby. The mare eyed the elaborate, yet low to the ground, red brick sign displaying the college’s name.
“You know,” she said mostly to Loki who was trying her best to ignore the darkened pink strands of hair hanging over her face. The grey wax was irritating the earth pony’s eyes and she raised a muddy boot to wipe the strains away, but the idea of having mud on her face was less appealing so she attempted to clear her vision with a fetlock. “I almost went to Berry before I found out it wasn’t the best place for pre-med. But when did a liberal arts college change to having a genetics lab?”
Conrad was only half listening from his perch on top of the fence. A rusting tractor between him and the road allowed him to rest there without worrying about being spotted. The pegasus’s elevation was barely three feet off the ground, but it made him feel better regardless. “Maybe they wanted to branch out. Gather a wider student body or something.”
Anderson’s left ear flicked in contemplation. “Either that, or the Mions took the place over before they overran the town.”
Not participating in the conversation, Loki glanced at the humans. The two paratroopers were silently leaning against a tree. Snake was trying to ignore the memory of the Sirens’ vision of his girlfriend back home as he scanned the highway and service roads into the college. Carter stood alone, as he made sure no hostiles were bunkered in the ranch behind them. He ignored the freezing rain as he used a personal technique of his to recover from the Sirens’ influence.
It was a form of mental discipline that he had not shared with anyone, mostly out of the belief that others could not possibly replicate it.
The green mare didn’t pay attention to Crimson and Conrad’s conversation as the normally jovial mare tried to repair the damage the Sirens inflicted by ripping open an old wound that had never truly healed.
Gwyn. You may not recognize me anymore, but I’m still me in a way. I try to help realize your dream of making others happy. That’s what you wanted out of life wasn’t it? Make others smile? A few tears were lost in the rain as she remembered the only blood relative that loved her back. I know I let your—your… She couldn’t bear to say the word and decided it was best to leave it unsaid. —twist that in the past.
Memories of the torment she inflicted on Conrad and various people she wronged before and after growing fur. She never thought what she did was wrong at the time, and that her prank victims were being overly sensitive. Loki’s time with Alexia and the herd slowly altered her view on the world, and her past actions. But I’m doing it correct now though, right? Her ears fell flat and she masked her renewed grief as just hanging her head to rest so Crimson and Conrad would leave her be. Who am I kidding. If I wanted others to laugh I should have been a comedian, not a hacker or a spook.
Freya is dead, long before she grew fur and a tail. She died when that bastard killed you back in San Fran. But. Maybe as Loki, I can bring some smiles to those who need it most. It took three people giving me a chance to be loved again to do it though.
I can’t stand before a crowd and make them laugh like I know you could—would have. But maybe I can keep that fire of laughter in mage’s heart. She’ll be our legacy Gwyn. I’ll pass your laughter into her so it can make her smile through the ages.
Loki’s ears perked up and she turned to look at the silver mare in question who looked as if she was dozing while leaning against a tree trunk. A trace of a smile curled the silver mare’s lips. I might have a foal or two of my own one day, but Alex’s smile will be my real legacy. Our legacy.
Alexia was feeling somewhat proud of herself. While she was still somewhat winded from the exertion of fending off the Sirens’ attack, the seven person teleport, and the subsequent dead sprint from the billboard to the old ranch, Tune was a little excited. Whatever this—melody? That I keep hearing must be some kind of innate alicorn resistance to mental manipulation. I must have picked up on the incoming Sirens early and that’s when this sound started up again.
The silver mare had seen a vision of her father, who she had been closest to back when she was human. But unlike some of the others, she could tell right away that it really wasn’t him. Sure his sudden forgiveness of my decision to stay in the herd sounded nice, but his voice was tinny, his image was a little blurry, and I simply had no compulsion to believe that was really him in the slightest. Doesn’t make it any less creepy that those red skinned loonies were able to pull out such intimate memories, but I was still able to resist it easily thanks to that sound.
The azure crowned alicorn couldn’t explain why, but she adamantly believed the sound of her worshipers kept her from succumbing to the psychic attack. If she knew the actual source of that pleasing melody that started to fade away from her perception, she would be far less inclined to block out the world and enjoy listening to the sonnet play in her mind.
Once it had disappeared completely, Alexia opened her eyes to see Carter and the two soldiers were checking their gear while Loewy bit off one last bite of a candy bar for some quick calories before stuffing it away as well. Twilight said my body will keep changing over the next few centuries or so until I look like a silver and azure version of Celestia, and that’s just the cosmetic changes. She glanced down at her forelegs which were completely concealed behind her waterproof clothing and boots.
Nevertheless, she could still imagine seeing her silver fur beneath it. Perhaps this noise is just part of those changes. Maybe my brain is developing something new and this sound is a side effect. Not to mention its… really comforting to listen to. She had to forcibly push the memory aside to focus on the present. Either way, if it keeps me protected from psychic attacks like that, then I need to learn how to control it so it doesn’t keep going off and on like this.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the princess trotted over to her mates. “I hope you all have recovered enough from the Sirens.”
“Well enough,” Loki replied flatly as she tried to rekindle her usual mirth with fair success.
“I’m fine,” Conrad declared evenly now that his aggression was abating, “although I wish my old man had actually been there so I can return the favor I still owe him.”
Crimson stretched like a cat, but was careful to keep her footing on the wet grass. “I’m not going to let imaginary phantoms stop me from doing my job. Lead the way Alex.”
As much as she was accustomed to doing just that, she had to give that honor to the local expert, Carter. The federal agent in question assumed Tune had her fellow equines squared away and took one final sweep of the surrounding grasslands to make sure the coast was clear. “We make for the trees on the right side of the paved service road.” He turned to Alexia. “Don’t teleport again. We got lucky last time, but I don’t want that flash giving us away.”
She frowned, but agreed with his reasoning. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Without further preamble, Carter jumped the fence and started sprinting at a grueling pace. The rest followed shortly thereafter. None of them knew what they might find beyond those woods. Be it information on the plague, a possible cure, or new horrors. The only real concern dancing in everyone’s minds was the same statement just with different wording, ‘this had better be worth it’.