The Disappearances of Neighagra Part 2
2120 Hours – A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
The rain was hitting hard and between the vast forest and rocky terrain the group had gotten lost in the “training” situation. Phoenix Squad had just won their second round of the tournament and no it was time for some down time and regular training exercises. In the current situation they were trying to reach the destination point that their superiors had set them towards.
They had been traveling for hours in the weather, and when they had started it was still daytime but now it was pitch black. The rain was slamming against them and streaks of lighting could be seen in the distance. Outside their night time visor, that was their only source of lights that was significant. If not for the noise cancelling abilities of the helmet, Ember would have been driven crazy- without it hearing the squad even on their comms would be difficult.
Phoenix Squad began to walk upwards on a rocky path with the forest now below them. They were at the foot of a large cliff that had many passages on its face.
“Ember- you want to fly?” Elisa spoke over the comms in a nonchalant way.
Ember stopped for a moment and looked back towards her friend in disbelief, “Are you crazy?”
Elisa shrugged, “No, just bored. Really- REALLY bored.”
“It should only take us a few more hours to get there,” Ember said turning away and continuing her briskly walk. O’Brian ran up to her side and spoke directly to her helmet.
“Not going to lie, not seeing the point in this training exercise Ember, if they wanted us to you know, walk miles on end, we could do that back at the academy,” he told her.
Ember continued to look forward, “They probably want us to get the full experience. While we do have drop ships, we also can’t drop in at any point. Sometimes walking is the name of the game.”
“Well it’s not a very productive game,” O’Brian deadpanned.
Ember smiled, “Drew,” she spoke over the comms. “Mind playing some music? You got some don’t you?”
She couldn’t see it from behind his visor but the tech expert grinned, “Yeah, I got some music.”
Some Rock and Roll music began to blare over the comms. Typically if this was happening the squad leader would scold the soldier, but this was an order and there wasn’t anything better to listen to. Neither was there any other trainees or soldiers who volunteers for them to fight, no instead they continued to walk endlessly through the landscapes without any conflict outside fighting the sense of boredom.
With no sense of urgency even Ember was starting to get tired. They had been awfully vague with the objective and while she had theories it didn’t make her feel any better. What was the point of a training session when their own command was hiding things from them? There wasn’t if Ember was being truthfully honest but she was hoping there would be some resolution to this.
Suddenly the ground began to shake and everyone got alerted. Suddenly Tina called out as large rocks began to rumble down towards them at an accelerated speed. The squad having no choice high tailed backwards, however as Ember ran forward a large rock ricocheted on another rock and shot just ahead of her. It impacted the ground and sent a shockwave that sent her flying.
She heard Elisa’s voice just before blacking out from impacting another rock.
Ember awoke sometime later on a grassy ground, she felt fine for the most part but as soon as she got up she realized her helmet was damaged and she couldn’t see much. “Fuck… This isn’t good…” she spoke solemnly to herself as she continued to look at her armor. Some of the systems were working but she attempted to bring up the
communications but oddly enough found them to being jammed rather than being broken.
Jammed? Is this part of the training session… No it couldn’t be… Could it? She thought to herself as she looked upwards from where the rockslide had brought her. It was clear she hadn’t rode it down or even she would be dead as she saw the entirety of the rockslide, now mixed also with mud, was a bit away and where she was there was very little.
The rain was the same as it had been before and with her helmet mostly out of commissioned it was getting even harder to see and worse of all, she could only hear was the rain, not even her own thoughts. Sighing realizing the terrain back up to her squad was blocked off from the rock slide she turned towards the direction of the objective. As it was the only part of the helmet still working properly.
As she walked through the forest she just then realized she had lost her assault rifle and pistol. Checking for her CUBE, she sighed in relief as it was still attached to her. Taking it off and activating it she quickly took out an SMG, the same one that Drew had used before, the SUB-42. She also took a flare, ignoring her E2D, Emergency Distress Device, as the jamming was still in effect and would be blocked. It was something they were hoping to have working past jammers in the near the future.
Just then as she activated her flare, in hope to get someone to spot her, a light from above shined upon her blinding her and the flare. Her eyes quickly adjusted and realized it was a drop ship above, she smiled, she would be rescued…
However her face turned grim when upon further inspection the insignia on the drop ship wasn’t of the UA but in fact the insignia of the Te-rendii, a faction currently at war with the UA. She didn’t have time to question as the drop ships guns aimed towards her and her honed training instincts kicked in and she began to run. The bullets from the gun began to rip apart the ground and foliage around her as she kept changing up her movements to dodge the rain of bullets.
But this all came to abrupt ending when she got the end of her path that being at the edge of a cliff. With no time to think she leapt off the ledge and continued to free fall. At first the drop ship didn’t follow, not sure if she was Angel or not but as soon as she activated her wings with the added momentum the drop ship came right back to stalk her.
Moving her wings she was able to just dodge the bullets but they were slowly catching up with her movements. With the rain being so heavy it was hard to see ahead of her, only what the light shined on from the enemy drop ship.
This wasn’t a training exercise, her life was once again in serious danger but this time it wasn’t Mother Nature.
Lowing closer to the ground she made a quick decision, not a smart one but the best she could act upon. She deactivated her wings and in an instant went from flying to free falling through the tall trees. The drop ship halted its attack not able to enter the thicket but she knew it wouldn’t stop it for long. Quickly activating her wings at the last possible second she slowed her fall and landed into a tumble on the ground floor into a tree.
As she got back up the first thing she noticed was that the rain in this area was less. The higher the trees and the much thicker brush above was stopping a good chunk but it was still hard to see and it was loud.
The planet was under attack by Te-rendii forces and she needed to get out…
***************************
PRESENT TIME
In the cave Fiery took this as his first chance to show them his fire ability. Creating a small flame that illuminated the cave he gained praise from Wish and Raven who hadn’t seen it before. Ember just stayed silent and just stayed on high alert. “Amazing, a fire created by an Earth Pony- never have I would have thought possible!” Wish spoke as they continued to walk his eyes focused however on the fire.
Raven watched the fire in awe, “And you said something gave you these powers?”
Fiery nodded, “Yeah, I don’t know what exactly did but something did.”
“I wonder what that could have been..,” Wish wondered and then turned his head towards Ember. “Got any idea?”
Ember just shook her head, “It’s unclear what it could have been but it happened at the opportune moment.”
“That’s oddly suspicious, and you really have no idea what it was?” Wish said once more turning his focus back to Fiery.
“Sorry… I tried to look but whatever thing did it to me froze me up… It was a very painful experience. But I got through it, so there’s that,” Fiery said.
Wish smiled, “Well remember once we find our enemies we will no doubt have to engage them. Hope you’re ready for that.”
Fiery looked down towards the floor, “Yeah… I hope so…”
They continued to travel through the cave with the light from Fiery’s magic being the only thing that made anything even visible outside Ember with her visor but that was just for her. As they wondered she began to question if this was the right way to go. It had been just over an hour and yet they had come across nothing. Wish was starting to get annoyed but Raven kept him focus even if he wanted things to just get over with.
Things turned for the better once they spotted a light into the distance. The group quickly hastened and Fiery put out his fire as they got closer. As they got closer to the light they spotted some crates and barrels and decided to hide behind them. Raven looked out into the large open area that they entered into it. Lots of machines and structures cover the room and she noticed the mole people hanging about. However she noticed a lack of ponies in cages or any sort.
“No ponies in cages but a lot of moles in there,” Raven whispered to the group.
Fiery sighed, “Once again, underground with moles… Perfect…”
Wish raised a valid point, “But wait, if they have this huge facility. Why didn’t they have guards posted up…?”
It was just then as if on cue the ground around them rumbled and they jumped out of the way as a mole jumped up from the ground and slashed. Ember reacted first and fired her assault rifle at the mole and riddled them with bullet holes. However that was just the first of many as more moles began to jump out towards the intruders. Forcing their hand, the group rushed into the open area instead of the tight cave.
Raven sighed briefly when they engaged in combat and their cloaks seemed to come off quite quickly, it wasn’t that they wanted to keep them but they were in the way in the middle of the fight. She noted that they would need to either come back or pick them up if they survived or else just get more for the next mission. If there was another mission… There was always the chance that there wasn’t going to be another.
Wish brought his magic to his horn and sent a green blast of energy at a mole but this wasn’t like what typically a unicorn would shoot out. As soon as it hit two moles next to each other they began to feel immense pain as the magic began to rip through their body damaging them heavily. He continued to use this spell at rapid pace against the enemies. He spotted Raven as she put claws on her hoofs and with ease moved around the moles stabbing them repeatedly.
Two moles surrounded her, as they launched themselves forward at her she simply flew upwards and let them clash with each other. Turning back down, she flew back at the two dazed moles and stabbed them with her claws in their heads. Raven continued to simply fly around and striking the moles and escaping when she felt she was about to be overwhelmed. However she was caught off guard when a mole shot outward from the wall and slammed right into her sending her crashing into the ground.
Fiery taking this chance ran towards where she landed, once there he brought out his fire shot out a crescent flame into the mole that had hit her. It landed and the mole flew backwards and he slammed into the wall. Fiery looked down towards Raven with an adrenaline rush going, “You okay?”
She began to stand up and nodded, “Yeah, don’t worry about me.”
Fiery didn’t say more and just turned towards more moles. He found the ground shaking and quickly moved out of the way but used his magic to place a huge flame on the spot where the mole was coming up. As soon as the mole exited the ground he was swallowed up by a large flame. The stallion looked away from the burning mole and realized he had been holding his breath. He wasn’t used to it, not fully yet. It was still taking the life of someone, even if that someone is an enemy that is trying to kill you themselves.
Fiery stood on his back hoofs and sent out two fire waves at incoming moles. However he failed to notice a mole that was about to fall right on top of him. The pony spotted the shadow and turned but it was too late. But then suddenly Ember launched herself at the mole and slammed into the ground and as she landed fired it with her assault rifle. “Fiery, you got to pay attention to your surroundings!” she yelled out to him and the pony just silently agreed with her.
Wish ran toward a crate and jumped on top of it as moles began to rush at him. Despite the situation being quite dire the green stallion’s expression wasn’t showing it as he smirked as he dodged the larger creatures. Leaping onto higher ground he quickly shot a small spell onto the ground and it began to illuminate green. A mole ran towards him and landed on this spot, when it did the mole was suddenly wrapped around with ropes of magic that began to cut into his skin.
Charging up another magic spell, Wish moved away and then sent the spell straight into the ground. The ground erupted as moles arrived and began to slam against them and crush it. But one slashed through the ground with his large claws and leapt toward Wish who simply used a small spell that zapped the mole and sent him into the air. “These moles think they can take us on? It’s quite funny honestly…” Wish spoke to himself but didn’t notice it was in ear shot of Raven who just rolled her eyes and muttered about how it was such a cliché line.
Raven was fighting well enough but noticed a mechanized suit heading towards her and the mare flew up into the air and out of range. The enemy suit sent a claw at her to try and grab her in the air but missed just barely. “Ember!” she yelled out to the Angel who simply saw her situation and knew what she had to do. Quickly taking out her shotgun she planned to deal with the suit the same way she had done in the previous encounter.
It being distracted by the flying Pegasi, Ember found it easy to get behind the suit and fired at the energy pack which erupted into flames and exploded stopping the suit all together. Not as climatic as her first encounter but then again she didn’t have aid. Another suit however rushed Ember and the Angel had no time to dodge as she was sent into the remains of the previous suit. Just as the mole was about to slam it’s drills down upon her a green beam of magic shot out and caused the suit to be sent back a bit. Wish landed next to Ember and she thanked him as she got away from the ruins of the other suit.
Working together Ember began to fire at the suit to draw its attention. The suit now operational again rushed towards Ember and she was able to dodged out of the way of this time. However as this happened his back was exposed and Wish, having seen what Ember did before, shot his magic towards the energy pack and it began to go berserk. “Good job!” Ember called out as she moved away from the suit as it exploded.
For the most part the moles seemed to be pretty simple minded and weren’t tactical geniuses and so the group was finding it easy to kill them. Even Fiery who was still honing his fire magic was getting some kills it but not as successive as everyone else as he was still finding it hard with each kill, to get through his head that his mind that the enemies he attacked weren’t going to get back up. In time he would get used to it, as they all do.
Fiery aimed up at an attacker and charged his fire and just before they landed sent out a large fire ball that exploded upon impact and sent the burning mole into the ceiling and broke the stone with the immense force and the corpse stayed. Fiery looked around and realized that it had been the final kill and the room was silent. However he flinched when he heard one more shot fired and turned to see Ember with her gun pointing at a mole. “Room cleared,” Ember spoke with no emotion and turned her focus on her team members. “They know we’re here now, I think we should get moving.”
Wish nodded but decided to ask one question, “Those weapons you use… They’re amazing. They’re just like the prototypes the Griffons are working on but way more advanced than anything of theirs.”
“Yeah, my civilization has been using them for hundreds of years,” she explained.
Raven yelled out to the group interrupting the conversation, “Hey! I found a way further into the cave.” She informed them as she flew and pointed her hoof towards a wooden gate at the corner of the room.
They began to walk towards it but she stopped when she realized that Fiery was following, looking back she saw him just standing there staring at the charred corpse on the floor. With the battle over and the adrenaline slowing down he was starting to take it in and his stomach was starting to turn inside. Ember walked over to him and tried to speak with him but her voice was reaching to him. It was just like what happened to her…
***************************
2300 Hours
Ember moved through the dense tall forest trying to find someone who was on her side. As she moved it was then that she realized that if she was to engage them she only had her SMG with stun rounds, one’s that may not even affect them. As she recalled the Te-rendii forces also have some sort of armor similar to her own.
It was worse than when she had to crouch as she saw lights coming just ahead and voices, “Spread out! We got an Angel around here- find them!” one of them spoke out. The group of enemy soldiers began to spread out and look in the brush, they would no doubt yell out if one of them saw her.
Her first thought was to just sneak by all of them; however she was realizing it may not be viable. There were many of them, maybe a bit too many. Flying was out of the question as she would be spotted within seconds even with all of the rain; no doubt the drop ship was still flying about.
Then another thought came up… What about her squad? She hadn’t heard from them since the incident, had they engaged the Te-rendii forces or had they been picked up by our own forces? Things were in the shitter right now and this wasn’t getting worse. FUBAR was most accurate in this situation.
Slowly she moved through the vegetation, away from the soldiers. Typically one might just go the other way but the soldiers were in the way of getting to her original destination which was without a doubt the best place to get to in a situation like this as there would be others there to help her. Going the opposite way could lead to disaster as it would be easy to lose her way on this planet.
Before she realized it, one of the soldiers was nearly upon her and she needed to act fast or risk exposure. Her breathing was getting faster; did she need to kill him? No, could she just knock him out? Her mind was in confliction of what to do. It seemed simple, just knock him out with her Angel strength but for some reason she was honestly contemplating killing him. She’s a soldier, she would need to eventually, and it’s just a fact of being a soldier.
Ember pulled the knife off her chest armor, and moved in towards the lone enemy who wondered here. She moved around the bushes and got to behind him and stood up and grabbed the person, they struggled but the Angel’s strength stopped most movement. With her hand on his mouth they couldn’t yell out for aid as she took the knife and prepared.
Time seemed to stay still; this was something she needed to do. It would be something in the years to come that she would need to do. Her stomach would stop turning inside, she would stop feeling light headed, and her focus would never be stilled. She clenched her teeth together and stabbed the enemy’s head through the visor which shattered upon impact and went right into his left eye. It didn’t take long for all moment from the enemy to cease and she let go and the body feel to the ground.
Her breathing had gotten faster, and it was just as she expected, she began to feel all of the emotions and sickness from having taken a life. It wasn’t the same as taking the life of an insect where they aren’t fully sentient, it’s another to take a life of someone that has feelings, long memories, and will be known and remembered by others. It… Wasn’t the same…
She crouched and hid in the vegetation once more and looked towards the body and in turn looked towards their rifle on the floor. Ember leaned towards it and grabbed it and pulled it in. Her own SMG wouldn’t be very useful in a fight but if she needs to use this… It wasn’t even a choice; she would have to use it. Quickly taking off any more ammo off of the body that she could, knowing that they didn’t have Ambadium that the United Alliance used for all of their own guns.
Once she was sure she had all of the ammo she could find she moved further into the enemy’s grasp. Slowly, almost to a crawl she moved with utter silence through the groups of soldiers who hadn’t seen to find their dead friend yet. But there was nothing she could do, she couldn’t move the body or else she was in risk of being exposed as she moved it. The situation wasn’t in her favor, not one bit. Angels at time were known to take out groups of soldiers on their own but that was still far and few between and Ember wasn’t sure she was one of them.
Although if she was being fair to herself, this was the first time she was literally up against real enemies by herself. It wasn’t how she thought this was going to be when she imagined it back in camp, she imagined her first kill would be in combat with her squad where they would all share the pain and get past it together. Not alone in a dire situation.
“We got a body here! Damn it!” one of the soldiers cried out.
Shit.
She began to move faster with less finesse and more noise. It wasn’t exactly smart but they were now moving faster and they knew she was around her. Ember wanted to sit there and contemplate if killing the soldier and not just leaving him alone was a good idea but there was no going back anymore she made her choice.
Suddenly a bullet flew past her and hit the tree, “I found them!” Ember turned around and with her stolen rifle fired at the soldier who had missed and the bullet pierced through their helmet as they had no shielding compared to her, everyone in the United Alliance had shielding technology. Sometimes there would be debates that the United Alliance was getting too powerful with their military technology but she didn’t care much, a bias from being in the military.
However she noticed that compared to the first kill, the second didn’t have as much of a punch, and she didn’t feel as bad. But there was still a lingering feeling. Breaking into a sprint she moved through the trees dodging bullets or the shield taking the hits. Turning around she fired and hit another soldier but she wasn’t able to confirm if it was a kill. She slowed down as she spotted more coming at her. Ember looked around and made a quick move to and jumped and used her wings briefly to get herself in the tall tree.
Bullets continued to fire as she leapt to another tree and barely grabbed hold. However there was less fire upon her but it wasn’t going to hold long. Pulling out her knife she breathed in deeply and breathed out as she jumped out, summoned her wings, and then let them go once she got optimal distance and fell through the air and landed on top of an enemy and stabbed them in the face. Before their friend could react she pulled out the knife from their skull and threw the knife with such strength that it pierced his friend’s head as well.
Picking her rifle back up and even some ammo she once more had to move into cover as another barrage of bullets fired down at her from just ahead. However once in cover she actually had to smirk, she was actually doing it. Surviving against the odds, almost like the heroes in books or movies. But she couldn’t let her ego get bigger but she couldn’t deny that there wasn’t a bit of a thrill to the whole thing, there was something about the fighting where your life was at risk that wasn’t like training sessions.
Firing out of cover she nailed another kill and then another. The pain of killing was gone, there was no stomach turning or anything she was feeling great actually. Ember fired upon a Te-rendii who got too close and she kicked them away. However they weren’t dead yet and Ember knelt down and once again stabbed them until they moved no more.
They tried to surround her but it didn’t work, she out smarted them and got out of any blockage. It was starting to become a slaughter as she moved around the soldiers, slashing and shooting until she was the only one who remained in the darkness and rain. Part of her wanted to keep fighting, but she looked in the direction of her objective and with a slower pace began to make her way there. She couldn’t see any more evidence of any more Te-rendii forces in the area, but the drop ship could still be around. She stopped when she saw a large open area of dirt and stone just ahead. Looking around there wasn’t any other way she could do without exposing herself in the open, although she very much doubted that the soldiers she killed hadn’t called back to the leader of this operation.
Running out into the open was a huge mistake, as soon as she moved out she was suddenly sent flying by a wave of water that suddenly appeared and slammed into her. Skipping across the ground she tried to regain her posture and stand to see her foe, without even seeing them it was obvious who she was dealing with. A Te-rendii mage, clearly water but she couldn’t determine a second element yet. Another strike of water fired upon her and she moved out of the way and then saw the Mage standing in armor on the other side of the open area.
Their second element became soon apparent when the ground shook and she had to move out of the way as the ground opened up and tried to grab her. Running forward trying to reduce the distance she also fired upon the mage who summoned a large earth slab to protect her and the bullets couldn’t penetrate the thick surface. The mage then sent out the slab toward Ember who moved out of the way only barely, but had no time to fire as a large thick slice of water slammed onto the ground and even broke the stone floor.
Water a mage used wasn’t the same as regular water; it was stronger, even more ferocious. To the point where if one honed it enough they could even slice a person in half. However the mage currently in front of Ember was not of that level. Ember wasn’t able to escape the water and was slammed into the floor by it and it was enough force that even with her armor and Angel’s natural magic defense that she was starting to coughs up blood.
That was the sad fact, Angels flaunt their natural magic resistance but it wasn’t absolute, and it wasn’t difficult to push past it and kill the Angel with magic.
Ember got herself back up and jumped out of the way of a large rock that the Mage summoned. The Mage placed their hand upon the ground and rock pillars shot up from the ground, a skilled mage to be able to actually control natural elements. Although they weren’t seemingly able to control the rain, which was a bit more difficult since it was constantly moving compared to the Earth which is still, for the most part anyway.
Ember continued the run, not stopping and rolling when another slash of water went towards her. However she was getting closer and closer to the Mage who started to move a bit away but was making her onslaught of attacks slower than before. Getting closer to the Mage, the mage stomped with their foot and the ground around them began to twist and turn. However that didn’t stop Ember as she jumped onto the earth and jumped up and with her wings got right above the mage. Firing her gun down towards the mage they began to cast earth to stop the bullets. They were successful but Ember still landed next to the mage.
Instead of firing Ember ran and tackled the Mage and with her strength grabbed the mage and slammed them right into the rock the Mage had summoned and then pulled them back and slammed again until their face was a bloody mess and barely recognized able. Ember stood there, the fight over and her victorious. She looked down upon the mage corpse, and then took off her helmet as she coughed up more blood that scattered across the ground but was then mixed with the rain.
Ember fell to the ground on her knees and just stared up into the rain, when suddenly a light shined upon her like earlier and saw the same drop ship from earlier. She tried to move but her body just wasn’t responding, she was too tired now and had used all of her strength. The last thing she saw before passing out was the drop ship exploding….
***************************
PRESENT TIME
“Fiery, come on, we need to move, we can’t just stay here,” she said as she shook him and eventually he came to.
He tilted his head towards her, “Oh… Sorry, I just was…” he said as he looked across the field of bodies. “I-I don’t know.”
Ember was sympathetic and looked where he looked. She crouched to get to his level and spoke, “Fiery, this is the reality of things. Killing is never easy but you get used to it. Remember what I trained you and you will keep living. Just keep moving forward.”
Wish and Raven just watched from afar at the two. They could tell what was going on with Fiery, it wasn’t new and it was something everyone in this field had to go through. “Poor kid…” Wish murmured.
“He isn’t that young,” Raven retorted back.
“In experience he is,” Wish said. “His fire powers are amazing but it was easy to tell that he wasn’t used to fighting, that it was something he was just getting into very recently. It will be hard for him but I think he will turn out well in the end. Fiery showing these signs is just proof that he is a pony, it’s natural.”
Raven smiled, “Wow, didn’t expect to hear something like that from you.”
Wish frowned, “Hey, I can be sort of deep when I want to… It’s just not that often.”
Fiery and Ember together walked back to Raven and Wish and they set towards the wooden gate, Ember tried to open the gate but it was locked, so she made quick work of it and just kicked it down. Looking through the gate they saw the cave continued to go further down and it was time to walk again but this time they would be on the watch in case of any ambush.
As they walked Raven decided to make some small talk, “Good job Ember, first time seeing you in combat, I’m impressed.”
“Thank you,” Ember said but decided to elaborate. “I will admit though it was interesting. I’m so used to working in a squad, fighting enemies similar to myself. A level a tactics to the fight. But back there? That was hectic, sure we worked together but it kind of seemed that it was a bit reckless.”
Raven recounted the fight that they had just had and had to agree but, “That is indeed true, however against the moles I can’t say there is much we can do. They can pop out of anywhere and so whatever you plan against them will just be stomped. Best to improvise.”
“Well improvising isn’t always the best,” Ember stressed.
“Get used to it,” Raven spoke with a matter of fact. “It’s kind of a stick of the Night Corps. Let’s just say we aren’t known much for our strategies.”
Ember frowned, “You say get used to that…”
“I understand you’ve been in the military for…” she spoke hoping for Ember to fill it in.
“9 years, since I was Seventeen.”
“…But this isn’t like yours, at least I can assume that as much. So get used to it, because things aren’t changing.”
Ember frowned but didn’t say anything further, just silently disagreeing, but Raven’s higher up in the chain of command so she wasn’t in line to disagree or disobey. Being reckless and improvising could get your men killed, and she didn’t want that to happen, not again. She tried to stop it, and it didn’t stop it, however she wasn’t going to throw away all that she learned with her squad over the years…
Raven walked up ahead and Wish stayed back and walked side by side with Ember and spoke softly, “Don’t worry about her. She isn’t one to keep following orders, a lot has happened to her.”
“Hm…” was all Ember let out and didn’t ask any questions. A dark past… It wasn’t surprising for a black ops group like this but she still didn’t like it influencing their decisions… Although she was guilty of this, it wasn’t something she liked to admit but she was having a hard time stopping but she herself was acting more aggressive in combat than she has in more recent years…
The group continued down the tunnel until once again they could see a light ahead and the group hurried up and stepped into the light. They entered a large room with no ceiling looking up into the sky, water falls all around them and a large island in the center with water around it from the falls. The island in the center went upwards and that’s when the group spotted it… A very large wooden ship being hung up by a dock that was on the highest point on the island which wasn’t anything that they expected.
The boat also had strange metal engines on the side of them, similar to what you would see on a jet or plane. It also had no clear place for Pegasi to lead it through the sky, in fact outside the engines on the sides it seemed like any ordinary boat.
“Is that an Airship?” Wish questioned as they continued to stare.
“Are those common?” Ember asked.
“Common? None have ever been created; sure we have Pegasi who direct carriages, but never a full ship… The amount of Pegasi you would need…” Wish trailed off as he looked around and turned and saw a bunch of cages. He ran over to them and the group followed, they were full of ponies. But…
They were all dead, each of them were dead and more so they seemed to be drained, their bodies skinny to an unnatural point. Raven ran over to one of the bodies, “Damn it…” She identified the body as the agent that they had sent originally and her tone and demeanor changed. “What the Tartarus happened here!?”
Ember looked over at Fiery who looked to be trying to see if he could find Starry Portrait in the bodies but seemed to have no avail which was a bit hopeful. The Angel turned her head and looked towards the ship, “I think we should go up there.”
Wish looked away from the bodies and looked at the ship as well, “Yeah… Think it might be a trap?”
Raven pushed past Wish, “I don’t care, let’s find out what the fuck happened!” She ran past them and the group followed her behind. They walked over a small bridge and entered the island and yet while they saw machines from the moles, they still didn’t see any moles. To get to the dock above they began to walk up a path that lead upwards to the dock above.
Raven was still ahead of the group and was the first to reach the top and get to the dock. Seeing no one still she didn’t stop and continued and ran up a ramp onto the boat. “Raven hold up!” Ember yelled out.
They followed Raven and got onto the boat which had a sway to it despite not being in water, showing that it wasn’t stuck in place. Ember finally caught up to Raven and grabbed a hold of her to stop her but she continued to struggle, “Let me go!”
“Calm down! Do you want to get yourself killed!?” Ember yelled at her.
Raven’s eyes opened wide and she began to stop moving. “Raven… I don’t know what happened, but you can’t let your emotions run so wild… And I should know.”
“What?” Raven spoke. “What do you know?” her voice lower but still full of anger.
“Because before I came here… My squad was all killed… Right in front of me… Friends and someone I loved…” she spoke, it was hard, she hadn’t told anyone since she arrived as to what happened just before. “It’s hard; it’s not easy surprising your emotions. But you need to.”
Fiery smiled at that, not at what happened to her but that she was calming her down, “Ember… I got to admit. You’re almost like an older sister.”
Ember’s face actually flushed red at that, “What? I didn’t mean to come off as that.”
“I’m serious, you’ve helped me and really your words have reached me… I am still struggling but your words give me hope that I can overcome,” Fiery said.
Ember let Raven down and the mare walked forward to make some space. “I didn’t know,” she spoke to Ember as she turned her head.
“Well naturally how could you?”
Raven looked then towards Fiery, “Heh… Look at me, elder member of the Night Corps breaking down in the front of new members.”
“Oh stop this show… Please, it’s getting quite old you know?” a new voice spoke to the group.
They all looked towards the direction of the voice and saw near the helm a white colored mare with a green, red, and lime long colored mane and blue eyes. “Oh I’m sorry, did I draw your attention. Oh dear me…”
Fiery noticed her cutie mark, a couple of stars with a paint brush across them. “Starry Portrait!” he spoke. “Rocky has been looking for you, what are you doing here?”
“Rocky? Oh… yeah him. If you survive this tell him I’m dead or something. Kind of forgot about him, too busy with work.”
“With work..?” Wish spoke. “Are you saying you work with these… moles?”
“No… More so that they work for me, and I in turn work for him.”
“Him?” Ember spoke. Him, she implied a leader. Just who..? Suddenly the ship shook and Ember saw that the ship was moving away from the dock. “The ship it’s-,” and despite being let go the ship continued to stay afloat in midair. Around the ship what appeared to be small blue lights began to shoot out of the metal engines and the ship flew up towards the exit in the ceiling.
“Now it’s time to continue the game,” Starry spoke.