To Avert a War

by Malozi


Chapter Five

Conner dodged another swipe from the wooden construct. So far this rescue mission wasn't going according to plan. First the portal generator given to them by their newfound allies malfunctions, then lands them in the middle of nowhere in some stupid forest filled with dangerous hungry animals. Conner didn't know why this planet was so strong in magic, it could possibly be the reason why the portal was inaccurate and why the rest of the squad was scattered now. But at least the two decoys, who had gone through the portal first, reported that they were in their correct place, so at least that was going well.
Conner could pay better attention to his surroundings, but he was used to having his entire squad to back him up and there were too many of these wooden constructs for him to take on alone. One moment he was standing and the next his face was in the dirt with a claw keeping his head pinned down.
The creatures known as timberwolves (though Conner was not aware of their names) proceeded to attempt to eat him but since his armor was made of metal, their wooden teeth had no effect for the most part, until they started to rip and tear at him to get his armor off.
Conner saw the mouth of a construct inching closer to his head, saliva somehow drooling out of its mouth. Which shouldn't be possible considering that it was made out of wood and that theoretically meant it had no saliva glands... right?
Just as he was sure that Conner had finally met his end, the creature exploded into splinters revealing a large man in battle armor wielding a war hammer. The remaining wolves didn't have time to contemplate attacking the newcomer since he quickly made the decision for them. Swinging his hammer once more he felled another two constructs with a single mighty blow that would have killed a man like Conner if he were on the receiving end of that attack without any defensive shield spells.
The remaining timberwolves decided that these mysterious creatures were obviously not prey and decided to make a hasty retreat. For some reason the last two wolves started to repair themselves with magic. The newcomer prepared to defend Conner but the wolves began to run away as soon as their legs started to reform. Conner stood up gingerly, relishing his freedom from certain death and also dizzy from the effects of the portal.
"Ugh." Conner managed to groan, touching the side of his head with his hand. "I've decided I hate using that portal machine," He groaned again. "I don't feel so good, not to mention my powers don't feel quite up to speed." He looked his rescuer in the eye. "How have you recovered so quickly?"
"Nice to see you too, Conner." The massive man replied. "Don't thank me. 'Oh, thanks for rescuing me Bruce!'" He said in an overly dramatic tone.
"Shut up, Bruce."
"Sorry, boss." Bruce responded.
Bruce was the team's heavy-hitter in every sense of meaning. He was heavily built with muscles building up his already bulky figure, and his even heavier magically enchanted armor gave him an even more intimidating look due to the dark color scheme of the armor which matched Conner's.
Conner's armor was colored dark for the future rescue attempt during the night, if it was actually required to bust out their teammate... wherever he was located on this world. But for now Conner's scattered squad needed to regroup before doing anything else. Conner turned back to Bruce, who was busy doing... whatever it was he normally did while idle. Conner looked at the splinters that had made up the wolf, unlike the others it had not started to reform. "Bruce, do you know why this wolf construct isn't reforming like the other two?"
"I had my hammer charged up with some magic so I'm sure that it must've done something to it to kill it permanently."
"I see." Conner said, pondering the situation. "Bruce, since you've recovered faster than I did from the effects of the portal can you tell me the current situation on the rest of our squad?"
Bruce's eyes glowed blue as he did what was asked of him. Though Conner was Bruce's leader, and Bruce was one of those altered humans, known as a meta-human, that went through additional intensive training to make sure he followed orders to the letter and wouldn't go rogue, Conner still liked to ASK Bruce to do things, not order him around as a drone as other commanders and squad leaders would.
"I've managed to establish mental contact with all our squad members except for Korpwin." Bruce responded; his eyes still glowing.
"You know he doesn't like being called that unless we're on a mission."
Bruce paused a moment before responding. "...But... we are on a mission." He said confusedly.
"When we're on a mission with him, not when we're rescuing him." Conner snapped. Though he appeared to be angry with Bruce, he was actually not. Conner's tendency to lose his temper or appear annoyed with his squadmates (particularly Bruce) was actually just his way of loosening the tension or to bring in what little humor he was capable of.
Bruce feigned being hurt emotionally, though Conner always suspected that Bruce was incapable of crying among other things. "Before this gets confusing, what should I tell the rest of the squad since you seem to be unable to contact them yourself?"
"Tell them to meet us here. Well," Conner said; looking around the forest. "Wherever 'here' is. Leave a tracking beacon for them to find us."
"Yes sir." Bruce said, immediately getting to work, and his eyes ceased glowing. "Permission to speak, sir?" He said; unpacking one of the tracking beacons he was carrying with him.
"Granted. You know you never have to ask me for permission to speak right, Bruce?"
"Sorry sir, I sometimes forget. The training they put me through kind of drilled it into me.... Don't think I'll ever get out of the habit of it." Bruce was always glad that he had a squad leader like Conner, mainly because he was so lenient with his subordinates and laidback with the rules. Some squad leaders only went by the rules, which could cause losses back on their planet. Maybe that was why Conner's squad was selected for this mission not just because Korpwin was a fellow teammate but also because Conner's squad was... adaptable.
"I know.... What were you going to ask me again?" Adaptable, and sometimes forgetful.
"Oh, right. I was going to ask why you couldn't leave a tracking beacon yourself."
Conner shrugged. "I went through the portal with all my equipment but I seemed to have lost all of it when the generator malfunctioned, aside from the sword I always keep with me. For the all the good it did me with those constructs anyway." Conner said, thinking back to how he had been so easily overwhelmed. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Well then you're lucky I found your stuff then!" A familiar voice said. Conner turned towards the sound, knowing instantly who the voice belonged to.
"Gerard!" He exclaimed. "Good to see you so soon!" Gerard emerged from the foliage carrying a backpack filled with items. Gerard was average in height, without all his armor on, he had selected light armor for this mission, one could see that he had dark hair with tanned skin from all the deployments he had been in.
"Yeah, and all of your stuff is heavier than Bruce."
"Hey!" Bruce responded.
"I'm not calling you fat Bruce, but you are heavy. I mean look at you." Gerard said, gesturing at Bruce's entire body. "You're like a walking mountain of muscle. I know you're a meta-human and all but sometimes I think they overdid it with you."
Bruce might've been incapable of feeling certain emotions, but insults and the ability to respond in anger to them was certainly not blocked out. Gerard tossed Conner's backpack to Conner, which he managed to catch. Conner was their squad leader but he preferred to let his teammates work out their problems with each other themselves. Plus, he knew how this particular situation was going to play out anyway.
Bruce calmly walked up to Gerard. Now, Gerard was certainly no weakling, he had the muscles to prove it, but he was simply a regular human. And when put next to someone like Bruce, a man who was literally twice his height and four times his size in total body mass and looked like he could take Gerard in one hand and squeeze him to death, Gerard looked utterly... puny... in comparison.
Bruce leaned in closer to Gerard until he was eye level with him and they both stared at each other for a moment until Bruce broke the silence. "Apologize. Now." Gerard moved in closer to Bruce's face and stared back at him right in the eye, fire glinting in his own eyes, a fire that could tell anyone that he was determined to see anything through to the end. Gerard opened his mouth, "Make me." He responded. Bruce's eyes narrowed in on his target. Then he moved faster than it looked possible for a man of his size to do, well any unmodified human that is, picked up Gerard and... burst out laughing.
Gerard started laughing as soon as Bruce did. He was set down on the earth shortly afterwards and Bruce patted his friend on the back. "It's good to see you again." Bruce said after he was done laughing.
"Likewise." Gerard responded. He walked over to Conner and sat next to him, who was looking out into the distance in no particular direction that seemed to be advantageous, in fact, Conner just seemed to be collecting his own thoughts. "So... how are your powers doing?" Gerard finally said to break the silence.
"I would say bad or good but I can't really tell since they seem to be... inactive. I'm not sure how to explain it since I came through the portal."
"Sucks." Both men had worked with each other for a long time, and they hardly needed to be straightforward with asking the other how the other was feeling or to continue with their thoughts on a current situation. Conner took Gerard's hint to continue his explanation of his dilemma.
"And it seems as though I was the only one affected like this instead of everyone else. Is that some kind of coincidence? I'm not sure. But I can oddly feel my powers starting to slowly return. Like a... memory from a long time ago that you really want to remember for whatever reason but the harder you try to remember the further away it gets. The kind of memory you just need to give time, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah... I do."
The two men just sat there in silence, neither feeling like bothering the other and reveling in the peace and quiet, something that was rare in their lives. That was, until another member of their squad joined them. Ailith... she was definitely no slouch in combat and a reliable companion, but she almost never kept quiet and didn't seem to understand the concept of keeping quiet unless in the middle of a mission. Something both Gerard and Conner could go into excruciating detail about all day about her mannerisms and how she was just... too full of energy.
Soon enough she was talking Bruce's ear off, giving Conner some time to ask Gerard something. "Gerard, do you know what the current status is on our two decoys?"
"They're doing surprisingly well. And yeah, they're decoys to keep attention off of us but in truth we're just here as backup to grab Korpwin if things don't go peacefully."
"That was unnecessary and useless information since I already knew that. I mean what's their current status as in what are they doing right this very second? Can you tell?"
"They haven't killed anyone yet," Very funny Gerard. Conner thought to himself. "But they seem to be starting diplomatic actions right now actually."

'It's a pony.'
'I know.'
'I don't think I can work with a pony.'
'We've been surrounded by them for the entirety of our time here and we talked with them without violence, I say we can work with them in negotiating peace.'
'You did all the talking. And those were regular ponies. The thing approaching us right now looks like a pegasus and a unicorn got together for-'
'Don't go there.'
'But-'
'Don't.'
The two humans, a male and a female, were sitting in a gazebo in the town called Ponyville. It was certainly peaceful, nothing like back on their home planet, where many people had to be on the watch or risk bodily harm. Many ponies had started to crowd around them, some pointing, others reporting and writing down about the event that surely must've been history in the making. Or that last part might've been wishful thinking on Mkrin's part. He had always wanted to be recorded in history and have some important role to play society. And if not for his own country, maybe for another, and maybe two at the same time, which he personally thought of as 'awesome' something that his sister disapproved of, viewing his views as fantasy and distracting to the situation at hand. This was odd considering that his sister was much more averse to working with ponies than he was.
Kilara was certainly not too pleased with her brother's fantasy coming true. But at least she was here with him to make sure he didn't let all that attention go to his head as she was sure that was probably happening right now. But she was still a little uncomfortable trying to talk with ponies, particularly the one approaching them right now. She simply wasn't prepared for something like this and was silently having a panic attack, along with constantly talking to herself mentally about different situations gone bad or good situations.
The pony that looked completely alien from the rest of the other ponies calmed walked up to the two siblings, flanked by guards, and sat down on the opposite side of the table that had been set there. "Greetings." The pony said. "I would like to introduce myself. My name is Princess Luna, Princess of the Night." Which explains why she looks like the night itself. Kilara thought. "I understand you sought an audience with us. I will admit that while I am the co-ruler of Equestria, I am waiting for my sister and both Princess Cadance and Twilight to arrive so that we may begin negotiations in earnest. However, in order to pass the time, I am willing to answer any questions until then and I also have some for you, as well."
Mkrin and Kilara both nodded at the same time. Luna responded with a smile. "Excellent! Now, I believe I have not learned your names yet so I would like to know them." Kilara reached out to her brother with her mind. 'You talk first.' Not revealing that she was scared of screwing up the meeting by talking first like she had with the last one trying to find Korpwin. It had resulted in accidentally starting a war between two countries.
Mkrin was not in the mood to argue with his sister, not even mentally, so he quickly obeyed her command, though he was pretty sure it was a request if he recalled the last time she had spoken first. But still, he wouldn't keep Princess Luna waiting for them to respond. "My name is Mkrin, and this is my sister, Kilara." Kilara bowed her head in respect to the princess. Mkrin continued. "I would like to get something out of the way first," He said, taking out a piece of paper and a writing utensil. "It's the spelling of our names, though I'm sure you'll have the most questions concerning mine." He said as he wrote down both of their names. He was quickly finished and slid the piece of paper towards the princess, who then proceeded to lift it off the table with magic. "Now, I'm not entirely sure if you can read it but I am using a spell that-" He didn't have time to finish his sentence when Luna interrupted him.
"What's with your name?" She said, completely confused with the spelling of Mkrin's name.
No one's reacted to my name that fast. He thought to himself. He decided to humor her by acting like he was confused to some extent. "What are you talking about?" He asked, having been through this before.
"Your name, it's spelled wrong."
That's new. "Wait, what? No it's not."
"Yes it is. You spelled it with an 'm.' There should be no 'm' in your name otherwise you would pronounce the 'm' along with the rest of your name."
"That's how it's pronounced. The 'm' is silent."
"But you said your name without the 'm' and said Krin instead."
"Yeah, that's how it's supposed to be pronounced, it's actually a common name and a common thing for males where I come from."
"This is common?"
"Yeah, I've been getting this problem when I first had to spell out my name to other foreign powers and whatnot when I first meet them, it's becoming a bit of a hassle-"
"Then why don't you just change your name if it's a hassle?"
Mkrin was almost slightly offended at this. It was unorthodox to change one's first birth name where he came from, almost a taboo, really. "We... don't really do that where I come from. It's pretty uncommon to do so. Don't you ever run into anyone," Anypony. Luna mentally corrected. "With names that have silent letters in them? Or anything like that or something? Or is that just not a thing on this world?"
Luna thought for a moment. "Not really." She responded. "At least, I've never met anypony," Anyone. Mkrin unintentionally mentally corrected. "With a name of that description. But I suppose there is a reason for that."
"And may I know what it is?"
"Well, I was trapped in the moon for a thousand years."
Mkrin paused a moment and looked at the pony, some part of his brain trying its absolute best to refuse to believe the sentence he just heard. "Excuse me, what?" He said quickly. "How did that happen?"
"It's a long story actually." Luna said. "I shall tell you the story until my fellow princesses arrive." She began the tale to the two humans.

"It's going pretty well in my opinion so far." Gerard said. Conner was indeed glad that no blood had been shed like the last time. By the gods that had been a failure of epic proportions. But he was also glad that the rest of his squad had managed to regroup while they had been waiting and that the vast majority of his powers had returned as well. The only thing he couldn't do at the moment was shapeshift but he was pretty sure he wouldn't need to if he could just use a camouflage spell to sneak by.
Conner took a quick assessment of his squad, there was himself, Bruce, Ailith, Gerard, the last three to arrive had been Nadri, Niarda, (both women, similar names, no relation) and Vjaren (also a woman.) Conner could tell that there would be problems with Vjaren's name since the first letter in her name was also silent like Mkrin's. The only one missing from the group was Korpwin. Conner walked up Vjaren and sat down next to her. "Any luck finding him?" He asked her. Vjaren was using a spell that would allow someone to detect someone on a planet or within a large radius by sensing their mental presence, life force, or any other kind of connection, special or otherwise, that the person might share with the person casting the spell. It was extremely difficult to keep using it for long but Vjaren seemed to have developed a strong tolerance to its effects making her one of the very best people to go to if someone needed tracking down.
"No, unfortunately not." She responded. Conner let out a sigh, he wasn't surprised anymore with how many planets they had checked looking for Korpwin.
Conner finally let out a growl of frustration. "Damn it! That's how many planets we've searched now? I lost count at eighty!"
"We've searched exactly six hundred sixty nine planets." Bruce said, having listened in on the conversation while still standing at attention.
"Shut up Bruce, you're not helping with this." Conner said, getting up quickly to face Bruce.
"Sorry boss."
Vjaren giggled a little, a little bit of humor was just what she needed now more than anything. Not finding Korpwin was starting to have a depressing effect on her mental state. I suppose it'll be time to head back home soon. Vjaren thought. "It might be time to head home soon, I'm afraid this planet is like all the-" She stopped talking suddenly when she sensed something, something she hadn't sensed in a long time.
"Huh? What is it?" Conner said, not taking his eyes off Bruce. "Vjaren, did you say something?" He looked down at her and noticed her eyes were wide open in shock and her mouth hung open a little. Conner knelt back down to look her in the eyes, suddenly worried for her. "Vjaren? Vjaren what is it?" He put a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently, trying to snap her out of her trance. Fortunately this worked and she focused her attention back on Conner. "Vjaren, did you sense something?" Conner asked now more relaxed.
Vjaren's eyes started to well up with tears, tears of joy. "Vjaren, what's wrong?" He couldn't tell that the tears were tears of joy.
"Nothing." She said, shaking her head and wiping away the tears. "But... I found him."
"Found him? Found who- wait... you don't mean...?"
Vjaren nodded, a smile on her face. "I'm sure of it. In fact, I've never been more sure of anything in my life." The rest of the squad had clustered around them by this point.
"Can you tell us where he is then!?" Ailith asked/shouted, eager to see Korpwin again.
"Yes, I can guide us to him right now."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go already!"
"Agreed," Conner said. "Come on then, we're moving out right now!"

While Conner's squad was moving out, Kilara and Mkrin were busy talking with the princesses, the other three having arrived very quickly. Well, Mkrin was doing all the talking, Kilara was just watching.
Until Conner started talking to her in her head. 'Kilara,' His voice mentally said. 'What are you and your brother doing?'
'Hey you got your powers back.'
'Focus.'
'Yeah, sorry, Mkrin is just talking with the princesses. Did something change? Is the mission a no-go?'
'Quite the opposite for once, Vjaren is certain that she found Korpwin.'
'Wait seriously?!'
'Yeah, we're heading in his direction now, turns out we're not that far from his location. In fact, we should be within his range of sight right about now- wait... uh oh.'
'What is it?'
'We might have a problem.'
'What is it?' She repeated.
'It looks like he's inside a castle. It's possible he's being held hostage, but we can't rule out the possibility that he's taking shelter there. Try to bring up the subject about Korpwin carefully if you can. And tell your brother to do it!'
'Fine, fine.' Kilara reestablished her mental connection with her brother and told him about the situation. He listened carefully while trying to keep his conversation with Princess Celestia going, trying to look like he was paying attention, which he wasn't or at least was having a hard time of it, and not make it look too obvious that he was talking with his sister. When Mkrin's sister finished the story, which thankfully didn't take long since Mkrin did not attempt to ask many questions, he took action quickly.
Kilara opened her mind to Conner again, telling him that Mkrin was doing what was asked of him.
'Excellent,' Conner responded. 'What's happening now?'
'Well, it appears that three of the princesses have met Korpwin before and they can confirm that he is being held at the castle for "his own safety." Typical political response. No confirmation on if he's a prisoner or not. I- wait what the...?'
'What's happening?'
'Princess Luna seems to be casting a spell. I don't know what for but-' Her voice cut off for a few moments. 'Conner? You still there? I lost-' Conner was suspicious and worried instantly. Something was interrupting their mental connection.

In the Everfree Forest there was a manticore, just like any other creature it was just living its life. But when a bright flash of light blinded it temporarily and a portal was now set in place no more than ten feet away from the manticore. The manticore was unaware of what the portal actually was and its brain turned its gears trying to provide as logical a explanation that its primitive brain could conjure up. Seconds after appearing, small creatures came through the portal. The manticore was immediately ready to defend its territory, but another creature larger than all the rest came through and soon the manticore was being attacked. It wasn't long until it was overwhelmed by the beasts and more and more poured through the portal and into Equestria.

'Luna-' The connection was cutting off randomly. 'Worry- can't- spell is-' The connection was cut off completely.
'Kilara? Kilara come in. Kilara!' No response, he couldn't sense either of the two siblings. Conner turned to his squad, who all seemed to sense his distress. "Everyone, I've lost contact with Kilara and her brother. Can any of you reach them?" Everyone shook their heads.
Nadri stepped forward. "Sir, do you know what's happening?" She asked.
"No, I have no idea what's going... on...." Conner stopped his sentence, slowly realizing that the sky was getting darker and that the moon was rising with unnatural speed. It wasn't long until it was high in the night sky, which had been daylight moments before. The rest of Conner's squad was stunned at the sudden change of atmosphere.
"What," Niarda started, "is with this planet...?" It was more of a rhetorical question or statement than anything else. But Conner felt the need to answer it anyway.
"I have no idea... but from the way that Kilara was trying to get in a few last words with me, I think that whoever this Princess Luna is... she's not on our side. Along with the other princesses." Conner, under other circumstances, would mount a rescue mission for the two siblings, but Korpwin was on this planet, and the entire reason that they were here in the first place searching for him. But right now, he had at least three problems. One was now freeing Korpwin since Conner was absolutely sure he was being held hostage against his will. The other was then finding out if Kilara and Mkrin were still alive, and get them off the planet, and recover their bodies if they were dead. And the last one....
Conner stood at his full height, seriousness in his voice to address his squad. "Alright you lot, our priority is free Korpwin, then see if we can recover Kilara and Mkrin dead or alive."
Vjaren interrupted his speech, killing the seriousness of the mood. "Can we stop calling Korpwin by that name? He doesn't like it and neither do I."
"Damn it Vjaren!" Conner burst out in actual anger, being extremely short on patience. "Don't interrupt me when I'm telling speeches like that! It kills the image and the mood I'm trying to build so you can all pay attention! But fine! We won't call him that anymore!" Conner straightened himself. "But anyways. That's pretty much the plan, we get everyone back home. Now let's go find John." Conner's squad saluted, they would've cheered but they knew that they now had to keep the element of surprise. "And one last thing." Conner said, trying to build up the mood again. "Due to the current situation, I have deemed Luna's actions as hostile and so...." Conner looked over his squad one last time. "I hereby declare her actions to be a declaration of war.... So... let's make this a quick war."