//------------------------------// // Proof of Purchase // Story: That Others May Live // by CptBrony //------------------------------// Proof of Purchase The ride home was long, turbulent, and smelled like sweaty horse. Of course, it wasn’t a transport jet, and it was filled with hard-working equines. That didn’t help to make it any better, though. At the end of the ride, the men practically fell out of the flying carriage and onto the runway. The fresh air was incredible, with the taste of the mountains and altitude replacing the stench of horse sweat and blood from treating the wounded unicorn. Pegasi around them gave them confused looks, not understanding that the men had never been subjected to quite that before. “Oh, it’s good to be back,” Frost said. “Right,” Duke replied. He stood back up. “We should accompany the unicorn to the docs.” “Roger that,” Frost said. A Pararescueman’s mission doesn’t end until the patient is safely in the hands of highly trained doctors. The unicorn had had a rough ride, being so badly injured, but the men kept him alive with IVs and bandages to stop any bleeding. The hardest part was keeping him from falling into a sleep cycle. If that were to happen, the odds of him waking up were extremely low. The other guys on the carriage were really helpful, providing the men with knowledge of equine anatomy and medical facts. They turned back to the carriage and watched as the unicorn was pulled out on his medical gurney, making little noises every so often at what he thought were blurry masses of fur. When the stallions were next to the men, they simply nodded before handing him off to them, to which the men responded with just another set of nods. From there, they each took one side of the gurney and rushed the unicorn off the compact airstrip and over to a small casualty hospital that was made for just this reason. They made sure to tell the pegasi to have their gear brought to their room, and they would deal with it after that. Frost went ahead and opened the door and held it so that Duke could push the unicorn inside without knocking him around too much. The doctors here had been told to expect the men and had nurses waiting. When they saw the unicorn, they sprang into action and spirited him away, barely giving the men time to get in a word. “We need to share our medical report!” Frost said. “Tell it the doctors, we’re going to get this guy some blood!” one of the nurses yelled back. Duke looked to Frost and shrugged, then went off to find a doctor. Frost stayed in the lobby-area, watching the nurses go off in their hallway, just in case a doctor walked by. The whole complex was small, but everything was shrunk, so overall, it could still hold a significant number of casualties. They would never be comfortable, but being injured kind of made that a moot point. Duke had to squish up against the wall for ponies trying to pass by him, large and bulky with most of his equipment still on, and a lot of the ponies looked up at him strangely. He overheard a group of ponies talking and chuckling in a room to his right up ahead in the hallway and went to check it out. When he opened the door, he saw a group of ponies, several stallions and a couple of mares, sitting in what appeared to be lab coats or some such apparel. They all had stethoscopes on, too, and carried notepads in front pockets on their uniforms. Unexpectedly, only one was a unicorn. “Hey,” Duke said as he entered the room. “Which one of you is going to take the unicorn, the one we just brought in?” “That would be me,” a mare said. She was the unicorn of the group. “I will head down straight away.” She stood up and started toward the door. “Alright,” Duke said, stepping aside. “When we brought him out of there, we made our report. He has lacerations on his body that will need to be addressed soon, plus what we later observed to be two broken ribs, a compound fracture in his right foreleg, and a possible concussion, probably from falling.” “Thank you,” the doctor said as she left the room. Duke nodded as she left since there was nothing left to say. When she was out of sight, he turned back to the group of doctors before him. They were all staring at him like he should keep talking, but he had nothing else to say, so it was just creepy. He stuck his hands in his pockets and stood there for a minute, then decided he should get back to Frost. “I should really get going,” he said. No one lifted a hoof to say anything as he exited the room, only continued to stare. Duke went back down the hall to the front lobby, where he found Frost still waiting. Together, they left the hospital and walked down the runway to the farthest wall, where there was a door into the castle. The door was well-guarded, with two Earth Pony guards, both larger than either Duke or Frost, carrying broadswords and lances. “Stallions,” Duke said as they approached. “Good morning,” one said. They opened the door and let the men through. “Good morning to you, too,” Frost said. After they walked through and the doors shut, Frost said, “Is it really morning already? Man, we had a long night.” “We did,” Duke said. “And it isn’t over yet. We still have to report to Celestia, and probably Luna, put our gear in order, and clean ourselves up. Then, we can catch some Z’s and end our night.” “At the start of the morning? I bet maintainers don’t have to deal with that,” Frost said. “Not like we signed up because we liked the hours,” Duke replied. They randomly ambled through the halls, seeking the way to the princesses’ quarters. They were finally starting to feel the exhaustion from the night, with the adrenaline of the mission wearing off, and they had to ask a guard to lead them to one of the princesses. The guard happily led them through the halls, being careful to avoid certain areas labeled “authorized personnel only”. Eventually, they were brought to Princess Celestia’s chambers, where they were told to patiently wait outside the door. The guard left them there and went back to his post, which neither of the men understood, but they waited like they were told. Soon, though, the door opened up, and they took that as their cue to head on in. No one was inside the first section of the chambers, and the men couldn’t hear anyone anywhere else, so they went on through. The next room was the library, where they had met Celestia before, and there was a table with chairs. They had elected to stand last time, but this time, they were happy to take two of the seats at the table and wait. “So where is the princess?” Frost asked. “I don’t know, but I assume she was the one who let us in, so I say we wait here for her,” Duke replied. “What if she didn’t?” Frost asked. Duke thought about it for a moment. “That wouldn’t even make sense,” he said. “Unless someone else opened the door, which I doubt, Celestia invited us in. And who else could open the door?” “Luna, maybe, or some guard. Maybe that guard who left us outside?” Frost reasoned. Duke shook his head. “No, I don’t think a guard can just open the door whenever he wants. Only Luna would open the door other than Celestia, and I didn’t see, her, so-” Duke was interrupted by the sound of a door opening off to their side. The men looked in that direction and saw steam flowing out of a doorway and a figure moving in the steam. They watched the figure as it came out, and it turned out to be Celestia. She was all wet, presumably from a shower or bath, and her mane looked drenched and heavy. She was levitating a towel next to herself and had her eyes closed contentedly. When she walked out and opened her eyes, she saw the men, but didn’t look surprised. She smiled softly at them, slowly making her way over. The men stood from their seats and gave light bows. “Please, no need for that,” Celestia said. The men sat back down. “It is good to see you again.” “It’s good to be back,” Duke said. “I trust you want to hear the debrief?” “Ah, yes, very much so,” Celestia said. She moved the towel with her magic and, once she was adequately dry, sat down at the table with the men. Her mane was still wet, and most of the upper half of her body. “I trust it went well?” “It did,” Duke said. “We were able to provide emergency treatment and bring the unicorn back here for serious treatment. He’s back and I’m sure he’ll be able to go back onto the battlefield once he’s recovered.” “Ah, that’s good,” Celestia said. Before she went on, she flashed her horn and made a teaset appear on the table and poured herself some tea. “Would you care for some?” she asked. “No, thanks, we just need rest,” Duke replied. Celestia nodded and shrugged and slowly sipped at her tea. Frost leaned into Duke. “This is weird, boss,” he said. “I don’t like it. I feel awkward.” “I know what you mean,” Duke said. Celestia set her cup down. “And the two of you are fine? No troubles, didn’t hurt yourselves?” she asked. “No,” Duke replied. “We were able to do it without incident. We saw a trio of gryphons, one with a sword, but couldn’t tell if they were hostile, so we didn’t engage. Gotta conserve ammo, after all.” “Yes, I suppose you do,” Celestia said with an odd look. “Tell me, how does the ammo in you weapons work?” “I don’t know that we should tell you that,” Frost said. “I know the general gist,” Celestia said. “An explosion in a small, contained environment propels an object forward. But what of the specifics?” The men exchanged a look. If they told her what they knew about the ammunition they used, there were definite advantages and drawbacks. They could get her to generate more ammo for them, but they might also be giving her the secret to making weapons of her own. If they didn’t already have the weapons, it presented the very real possibility that they would be thrust into modern warfare without being prepared for it, and a lot of bad things could happen. “We still don’t think it’s such a good idea,” Duke said. Celestia took another sip of tea. “I understand,” she said. “But you must understand, I have no intention of using your weapons or making them. The last thing I want is a new, incredibly deadly form of weapons to fight wars with or against. I want peace, and these weapons would ruin the chances for that. But if you can be equipped, and keep knowledge of the weapons and ammo out of anyone else’s hooves, it would be incredibly useful to us.” “If somepony has to make the ammo, that secret already belongs to someone it shouldn’t,” Frost said. Celestia nodded understandingly. “I see your point, but must remind you that I have some of the most powerful magic in the world at my disposal,” Celestia said. “I can make sure your secrets are kept. And I promise you, I will not reveal any of them.” Duke sighed quietly. “And you can promise us, give us an absolute guarantee, that the ammunition recipes will NEVER be revealed?” Duke asked. Celestia nodded slowly. “Absolutely. Luna will oversee all production and be in charge of the program. You can meet with her and give her any of the information you need to share with her.” “Very well,” Duke said. “But this is going to be limited. I don’t want any stockpiling of ammo. We’ll ask for specific amounts, and we will receive those amounts. No extra, no less. And ammunition will never be made without our sayso.” “Very well,” Celestia said. She took the towel and dried her mane and face. “You will have priority control over the program. If it gets you what you need.” “Great,” Frost said. “So we’ll just run to you guys whenever we need stuff.” Celestia either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the veiled sarcasm in the statement. “Well, I am glad that all that is now settled,” Celestia said, standing up. “If you will excuse me, I must go visit my recon unicorn. You may feel free to head to your quarters and clean yourselves up. You’ve more than earned a rest.” “Thank you, princess,” Duke said with a bow. They exited her quarters and started for their own. They walked as quietly as possible through the halls to avoid waking anyone who might be sleeping in any of the rooms. It was still early in the morning; the sun was just coming into the sky as the men left the room; and most of the ponies would still be sleeping for at least a couple more hours. Amel was probably also asleep, so the men might end up having to put off their showers for a while until she was up. When they arrived at their room, Frost slowly cracked the door open and peeked inside. The fresh sunlight illuminated the room in a bright orange glow, reflecting off the polished marble flooring and walls. Frost could see Amel curled up on her bed, sleeping like a log. It looked adorable, but that adorable look would become one of severe grouchiness if she was awoken. The men snuck in and shut the door behind them. Right off, Duke saw all of their equipment, neatly stowed in the corner and waiting to be maintained. He walked over that way while Frost started to remove his personal gear and quietly set it on the ground next to his bed. “Boss, I don’t know if I like this,” Frost said. “You don’t?” Duke said. “Well, I happen to know that you don’t like this. And don’t worry; neither do I.” “To have to go to them for ammo, support, housing... they’re getting too much leverage over us.” Frost crossed his arms. “It’s a big risk we’re taking here.” “A necessary one, unfortunately,” Duke said as he started to remove his own gear at his pile. “If we want to get home at all, we’ll have to follow along. If we want to get home with OGA, we not only have to play by their rules, but bend some of our own.” “Rule-bending makes me uncomfortable,” Frost said. “Really?” Duke asked, raising an eyebrow at his partner. “Well, we took on Amel as our travel companion.” “Alright, maybe not that bothered,” Frost said with a frown. “But only when it benefits us without serious repercussions. This has trouble written all over it.” “Amel said that we can trust these ponies,” Duke said. “So that’s what we have to go off of if we want this to work out. Mutual trust.” “So our best bet is to make this as quick as possible, is what you mean,” Frost added. “Precisely,” Duke answered. Frost shook his head with a sigh. “I never thought I would end up in a situation like this,” he said. With his gear and most of his clothes off, he walked to the bathroom. “I’m taking my shower. I’ll close the door, but if she wakes up, you’ll be her target.” With that, Frost closed the bathroom door behind him and went about his business. “I’m not so sure that I’m her target, buddy,” Duke said with a glance at the sleeping mare. “So good luck to you.” Duke went back to taking care of his gear and, when he was done, moved on to take care of Frost’s for him, thinking about how they could find OGA faster and be out of this madhouse world before something catastrophic occurred.