//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: From Allies to Enemies: The Best Medicine for an Abrupt Invasion (FAtE) // by DaBeejees //------------------------------// After the initial surge of recruiting ended, the training of those recruits began, led by their respective Corps heads...with the exception of Col. Sparkle, who was replaced by 1st Lieutenant Lyra. Since my corps didn't have any recruits to train -- though we did have some new officers -- I had decided to do some research (the very same idea that I had proposed all the way back in Ponyville) and was joined by Chief Warrant Officers 5 Gilda and John -- the latter being the head of the new Research Division of my corps -- as well as Col. Sparkle, who had actually given me temporary superiority over her, since this research was for my corps. However, unlike my original idea, we were doing our research in the Canterlot Archives, as opposed to the Ponyville library. We had seemed to form our own little system: while Chief John and Col. Sparkle combed through the many bookshelves in the bowels of the library, Chief Gilda helped me look through the books they teleported over to us, where we were sitting at a large table while I used the information from the books to sketch out some possible battle formations and maneuvers, potential ways to exploit the enemies known and possible other weaknesses, as well as some basic sketches of weapon ideas. In fact, I was drawing like a madstallion! We continued this process in near-silence for a long while, before Col. Sparkle began browsing through a particular that was close enough to place Chief Gilda and I within earshot. "Chief Gilda?" "Yes Colonel?" "If you don't mind me pointing out, I've noticed that you seem to be...different from when you had visited Ponyville...You can go ahead and drop formalities for this, by the way." She pauses before adding, "Well, if that's okay by you, lieutenant, since you're my temporary superior." "Frankly, Colonel, I don't give a damn." I say, not looking up from my sketching. "Well, believe it or not, I had actually felt bad about everything that had happened." "Really?" "Yeah. Let's just say that when you're left to yourself for so long, you end up getting hit by thoughts and feelings that you would never have expected having." "Happens to me all the time." I still don't look up. "Yeah, you've always needed to get out more." "You should take your own advice, Colonel." Col. Sparkle hesitated. "Good point. Anyway, what exactly do you mean by that, Chief?" "Well, what I had determined was that I would have to change my personality so that I wouldn't be so...brash. And..." She paused. "...and somehow I managed to do it." Once again, I don't look up. "Again; happens to me all the time." Col. Sparkle seemed to try to call a bluff I wasn't giving. "How?" "You know how I act more mature around some ponies than others, and can change on a whim?" "Yeah..." "Good. Then I don't have to explain myself further." There was a good ten seconds of awkward silence before Chief John broke it with a half-shout from a farther-away bookshelf. "Seems legit, sir!" "I thought we were dropping formalities." "I had said that I didn't give a damn, not whether we were or weren't." "You're a sneaky son of a bitch, lieutenant!" "YES I AM! And I need to be, too." "I guess it's a good thing you are, th--" "SIR!" Chief John shouted from what sounded like much further into the library. "What is it, Chief?" "You...might want to take a look at this..." I looked up for the first time in the entire conversation. "Can you not teleport it?" "I...don't want to risk it." My eyes widened, mainly due to what I knew about Chief John. First, there was a reason why I had made him a Chief Warrant Officer 5 (like Gilda). Second, Chief John is extremely well-read, and would know if he had come across something big. Lastly, he is incredibly talented with magic, and is easily capable of safely teleporting even the most fragile of parchments; however, his judgement of when to use his magic is even greater than his skill with magic itself. Long story short, I knew without any doubt that he had come across something big. Something very big. "On my way, Chief!" "Should we join you, sir?" 'Absolutely. Knowing Chief John, he wouldn't do this unless it was something huge." * * * * * * * * * * "Chief...if there was a Warrant Officer rank above CW5 I would promote you to it right now..." I couldn't believe what was laying open on the table I was now sitting at. It was something that should no longer exist -- due to having supposedly been lost in a fire several eras ago, which lead to the famous legend about what possibly was in it -- but it was something that predated the start of the Princess' original dual-reign by at least several millenia! "Well, you could buy me dinner--" "Consider it done!" "I'll go get the Princess; she'll want to see this." "I'm surprised you haven't left already, Colonel, because you're only preaching to the choir at this point. But make sure you personally escort her here; that should suffice to clue her on the sheer magnitude of this find." * * * * * * * * * * "Please tell me you promoted him for this, lieutenant." "He's buying me dinner since I'm already a CW5, Princess. And besides, finding this is enough of a reward itself!" "Well, that truly depends on what it is, as we could be mistaken. But one thing's for certain: these pre-date even the Pre-Classical Era." "Your majesty, do you think you would be able to make a copy of this? Not that I don't trust you, Colonel..." "Well I don't trust me!" The Princess takes a deep breath. "I can, but even I will have to be extremely careful, especially due to it's age. If and when I can make a copy of it, then we can make more copies from that copy so we can experiment with some ways to make the writing more readable. But even then, it's likely going to be in an ancient language." "Fortunately, I'm familiar with quite a few..." "Really?" "Yeah...I guess that you could say that -- to use a word that Maj. Dash would -- I'm also...somewhat of an egghead...heh heh..." "Well, regardless, the copying process will take at least several hours, but considering the sheer number of military diagrams within, it should be worth the wait, pending a translation by you, lieutenant." "We'll take our leave so you can concentrate, Princess." "Thank you Col. Sparkle; I'll summon you all back when it's finished. Until then, you are all dismissed."