//------------------------------// // Nobody calls me Chapter 5 // Story: The Narrator // by Sythax //------------------------------// Being shrunk was another new experience for all of them. Celestia and the room around them grew to staggering proportions until they were lost in the mist that was rapidly surrounding them. Any other time they would have wondered why there was mist covering the floor of Princess Celestia's room. Unfortunately this was not any other time and their minds were preoccupied with other things. "Girls, is it just me or is the floor wet?" asked Twilight Sure enough the tiled floor had disappeared to be replaced with knee-deep water, its grey waves running past them. "Where the hay are we now?" asked Applejack "I don't know but the waves are rolling that way." Twilight said pointing into the mist "Wherever we are there must be a beach nearby." "How are you enjoying the story so far?" "It's...riveting to say the least." replied Rarity cautiously. Oh that's good! I was afraid the French Celestia was too much. I wonder where the cake went..." "Cake?" "Oh, never mind, your nearly at the beginning of Chapter 5!" "How many Chapters are there?" "Hmm? Oh I don't know!" "What do you mean you don't know?!" cried Applejack angrily "How do you not know how long your own novel is?" Don't worry there's not much more. Oh! Here we are!" The mist began to clear and the water level lowered, making way for thick wet sand. The three of them gasped at the sence before them. "The landing hadn't gone as well as planned. The enemy were just to entrenched, their machine guns making light work of the infantry running forwards." The beach was red with blood. Bodies littered the sand, horrific wounds from the bullets that were flying overhead. The three of them ran forward, jumping behind a large boulder nearby. Bullets pinged off the rock, spraying dust everywhere. "Major Sparkle had seen battles in her time but nothing compared to this." Twilight frowned, looking down at her new costume. She was clad in a green military outfit, heavy black boots and a green metal helmet. The helmet had a small hole in the front from which her horn protruded. A wooden rifle was strapped to her side, a pouch of bullets along side it. She looked across at the others. Their costumes had remained unchanged. Except for Mr Bubbles, had he always been that shade of blue? An explosion off to her right dismissed the thought from her mind. She looked towards the sea. Ponies in similar uniforms to her were charging forward from the water. Their rifles blazed as they discharged bullets ahead of them. Peeking over the top of the boulder she assessed the situation. Further up the beach were two concrete buildings, the sat low in the sand, their windows barely above ground. From each building a continuous flash emitted. These were obviously the machine guns The Narrator had been on about. They were laying waste to the soldiers, cutting them down like wheat. A scream to her front caused her to duck down again. A pony had fallen over nearby, his leg bleeding profusely. His grey coat was mottled with sea water and blood. He tried to move but screamed in pain, his eyes filling with tears. Something white streaked past her. It was Rarity, jumping over bodies and dodging bullets as she raced forwards. When she reached the wounded pony she enveloped him with a magical aura, heaving him onto her back. Soon she was charging back to the boulder, the injured stallion crying with every jolt of her legs. Carefully she placed him down, whispering quietly, he whimpered as she examined his leg. The bullet had missed any major blood vessels, he would live but it would cripple him for life. If he lived through the battle. "Gah! What is it with you girls and changing the story! Now I have to factor him into the ending!" "This is ridiculous!" cried Applejack "He doesn't even have any continuity to his attitude towards continuity!" "I heard that!" "Good!" "Alright here we go! The stallion looked at his savior, his eyes swimming in her beauty. If he was to die this day, he would not care as long as he had this angel by his side." The stallion's eyes drooped as smiled at Rarity, leaning in for a kiss. Rarity backed up, pushing him away. Applejack giggled, only to stop after a angry look from Rarity. Twilight pulled her eyes away from the love struck stallion. "What are we going to do?" yelled Twilight over the sound of gun-fire. "Major Sparkle knew that the cavalry couldn't help while the machine guns were still firing. She had to take them out fast" Twilight looked up unamused. Why she looked up she didn't know. She honestly didn't have any idea where The Narrator was observing the story from. Still she hoped he got the gist of her facial expression. "How in the hay are we supposed to get close enough to take those things out?" asked Applejack "Um, Twilight dear,I don't think we need to." said Rarity, still holding the stallion at bay. A rumbling permeated the air, something big was coming. The clouds above them parted to reveal a huge flaming ball of metal, its teardrop shaped body torn in several places and one of its wings had been ripped off. Despite its poor condition they could still read the text on the side. What they read both confused and relieved them. "There she was. The finest ship in the fleet." The three of them watched as the ESA Luna plummeted to the ground, its flaming wreck colliding with the concrete bunkers. With a earth-shattering crash the bunkers and the ships were consumed in flames. "Ya know what?" said Applejack as they emerged from behind the boulder. "I'm not even surprised." "With their defensive bunkers gone the enemy forces advanced, ready to fight off the attacking force." Twilight peered past the smoking remains of the bunkers. There was no one there. Just more beach and some grassy hills. She spotted movement, someone was on top of that hill. And another. Soon the entire stretch of hills was swarmed with grey-glad ponies, their rifles trained on the small number of troops that still stood on the beach. "What the enemy didn't realise was that their foes were not alone. With the machine guns gone the cavalry had come at last." And true to his word a cloud of dust rose from the beach to their right. An army of ponies were charging forward, ready to intercept the enemies reinforcements. There was something strange about there uniform. It didn't seem...right in this type of story. As the cavalry got closer they saw that each of the ponies was clad in a metal breastplate and helmet. The helmets supported a colourful fan of red feathers that waved as they charged. They also didn't have guns but swords, thick steel blades clamped in their mouths. At their head was a pink earth mare who was getting way to into the story. "Pinkie Pie?" Despite the distance between them and the thundering of hooves she somehow heard them. With a smile she peeled off from the galloping ponies who continued up the beach towards the hills. "Hi guys! What are you doing here?" she asked as she approached, obviously not concerned with the number of bodies she was stepping around. "We would asked you the same question." "With their reinforcements here Major Twilight could rest, it had been a long day and she was oh so tired..." Twilight felt her body sag as a wave of exhaustion hit her. She sat down roughly on the sand and gasped as pain speared through her. She placed a hoof to her mid-section and brought it up to her face. The purple fur was smothered in blood. "Well...darn." said Twilight weakly as she collapsed backwards. The others rushed forward, lifting her head up. "Twi? Twi, speak to me gal." said Applejack "I always did hate war stories" she gasped, Applejack smiled at her friend. She coughed loudly, blood leaking from her mouth. The others just watched. Even the entranced stallion stopped staring at Rarity for a minute. Mr Bubbles unwrapped himself from Applejack, landing with a wet thud next to Twilight. He began to stroke her face as he made an odd strangling sound that could have been crying. Twilight's vision began to fade, her friend's faces becoming distant. With a final, restless sigh she breathed no more.