Chapter 4: A Rude Awakening
Stivers stood in mute shock. That horse is talking. And that one... his eyes shifting to the yellow horse, that one is weeping.
“I said drop your weapons!” The gold clad stallion bellowed a second time.
“Taylor, are you seeing this?” Stivers rubbed his eyes.
“Yah Stivers. I’m seeing this.” Taylor replied awkwardly.
“This is your last warning.” The horse whom Stivers presumed to be their leader was pawing at the ground, ready to charge.
Stivers looked to the advancing ponies, then back to Taylor. Their thoughts became parallel, fight or flight, and flight wasn’t an option. Taylor nodded, Stivers raised his gun, intent on taking down the white and gold wall that stood between him and freedom. He reached for the trigger, but his finger didn’t move.
Why can’t I move? He tried to turn his head, but the muscles wouldn’t stretch. What’s happening? None of his limbs were following his commands, frozen in place. Stivers’ heart started beating faster.
The orange equine moved forward, a look of worry on her face, “Twi’, you sure you got them?”
Oh Christ, he thought to himself. The orange horse’s wearing a fucking cowboy hat. What isn't possible right now?
“Of course AJ, I’ve stopped plenty of bigger things before.” the purple unicorn piped up, her horn aglow with lavender light.
Applejack edged closer still, along with the armoured guards. “We warned you,” the angry tones of the leader stated. “and now we are forced to disarm you.” AJ moved forward and gripped Stivers’ M1911 in her mouth carefully, trying not to set off the dangerous device as she removed it from his grasp.
Oh God, now what? Stivers heard a thump behind him, and soon felt the inertia of the ground rushing up to meet himself as well. He flexed his arms, then his neck. I can move again... What happened? He tried to stand, but a powerful hoof kept him in place.
“Stivers,” Taylor said through clenched teeth, no doubt in a similar predicament to himself. “how do we get out out of this one hmm?”
“Well, if this is real, I say we do what they want.” Stivers replied.
“Stivers! We can’t surrender!” The fear in Taylor’s voice was not heard, but felt. “They’ll torture us!”
“Taylor, we are outmanned, outgunned, and have injured. I am the senior officer here on the ground, and yo—” A timid voice cut him off.
“Um... do you have any... medical supplies?” The yellow pegasus had moved quickly from the unconscious bear to the partially subdued aggressors.
“Stivers,” Taylor’s body was shaking, his voice uneven. “where are we?”
“Taylor, stop resisting.” If we are walking out of this alive, we need a peaceful solution. Stivers didn’t know if he was suffering from a concussion, a particularly odd brand of insanity, or if he was facing stark raving reality, but until given evidence to the contrary, he was sticking to the third option for now. “That’s an order, Lieutenant.”
Taylor did as he was told, and took several deep breaths. While Taylor stared off blankly into space, Stivers did the most sensible thing he could think of. “We have medical supplies in the tent. Green bag, red cross.”
“Don’t trust them Miss Fluttershy. There could be more in the tent.” The leader of the group said, with as much hostility as he could muster, while still remaining calm.
“I have to. If I don’t, Joshua could die.”
Stivers did a double take, “Joshua? Who’s Joshua?”
The yellow pegusus answered him in her low tones as she made her way towards the tent. “Joshua is the poor bear who you almost killed!”
Stivers’ eyes closed to half lidded shock as his mouth opened in confusion. “You have got to be kidding me...” His whisper was quiet enough that he could barely hear himself.
One of the steel clad guards strode up to the canary mare and stopped her, a pleading look in its eyes. “Miss Fluttershy, don’t trust it.” Its inflection made it out to be female.
“What are you?” The purple unicorn asked. “I have never seen any documentation of your species... nor your weapons, nor that,” She pointed one of her hooves at one of the still functional Avenger bombers, “thing...”
Stivers’ eyes lit with realization. “What am I...? What are you? There's no way that the boys back home will believe us about this. Talking horses...”
The present company of technicolour ponies all looked taken aback as the orange horse offered a more helpful term. “Horse? Ah ain’t never been more insulted in all my life! We’re one-hundred percent ponies, mister! Now what in tarnation are you?” The southern drawl was prevalent and reminded him of Texas.
“Stop talking to the prisoners.” The gold plated stallion had a scowl that spoke more of his irritation than his voice. “Shadow, Crimson, bind them.”
Stivers noted the two approaching war ponies and crouched into a defensive position, arms raised. “Hey, I’ve been cooperative. No need for any handcuffs.”
One of the approaching horses, this one noticeably more black than his comrades, stopped and contorted his face in a question, “What’s a handcuff?”.
Stivers stared blankly at the approaching black stallion, who he assumed was Shadow. “The rope. You don’t need to bind me up or anything.” When the two stallions kept approaching, Stivers decided to think on his feet. “You need me to carry the stretcher.”
The same black pegasus halted again, slowing his partner's movements. “We can carry these two—” He was interrupted by the gold armored pony.
“We do not carry the prisoners. That just screams ‘stupid idea’. Keep your mouth shut Crimson.”
“No, I have an injured man. Taylor and I,” Stivers gestured to a still stunned Taylor, lying on the ground, “we can carry the stretcher so you don’t have to.”
“Captain?” Crimson had a questioning look on his face. “Maybe we should let them do it?”
The Captain of the group took a minute of thought while the orange mare’s irritation clearly grew. “Fine. But we will be watching yo—” A shrill scream came from inside the tent followed by a yellow blur.
Stivers grabbed for his gun, but Shadow reacted instantly to the movement, surging forward and bowling the human over. Stivers panicked, pushing his fist under the chin of his aggressor, forcing Shadow’s head up. Shadow raised a hoof, slamming it into Stivers’ chest. Stivers went with the impact, allowing the momentum to roll his opponent over to gain some leverage, but was swiftly tackled by the waiting Crimson, pinning him on his back.
Stivers was vaguely aware of the other guards closing around him, but his focus was fixed on trying to get his limbs unpinned by the sheer might of the two ponies above him. A dull moan caught his attention, bringing him away from the battle. Taylor.
Stivers noted the hemp loops being wrapped around his wrists, and a metal collar being applied to his neck. “Hey, get off of me!” As he heard the click of the collar, he turned his head to see Taylor facing a similar fate, and the little yellow pegasus they'd called Fluttershy hiding behind the scowling orange mare, a familiar green bag held between her lips.
The meek yellow pegasus peeked out from beyond the orange pony, her attention her ears perking as a high pitched feminine voice emanated from the pink one. “What’s wrong, Fluttershy?”
“There’s another one inside... I think it’s wounded. And crispy...”
The six coloured ponies looked amongst each other in confusion till the blue pegasus spoke up, “Crispy? Really? Why would it be Crispy?”
“His plane crashed... he was the only survivor.” Taylor said blankly. Stivers was glad that Taylor had finally come out of his shock.
Fluttershy jumped to Taylor with speed Stivers didn’t think was possible. “Oh the poor dear. I don’t know what I would do if any of my friends had died...” Her eyes were starting to water and her breath was catching.
Sorry guys, but I need to use you. Stivers quickly glanced over to the poorly hidden line of the dead.
“We’ve all lost friends.” Stivers made a show of pouting and to his surprise, a genuine tear came to his face. “We never got a chance to bury them.”
The yellow pony, clearly smitten with grief, moved off towards the bear, probably to go attempt to sterilize the wound. Why in the world would a pony care for a bear?
He continued to look at the line of his friends until he heard a soft murmur to his left. Looking over he saw Fluttershy looking at the collection of cadavers, tears in her eyes. He looked back again to the group of five ponies, noticing that they all suddenly had a similar look of sorrow stricken across their faces. So, they’re sympathetic...
Stivers looked back the yellow one again to see how far he could push her. He saw the pink pony beside her, two waterfalls cascading down her cheeks in arcs that shouldn’t have been possible.
Feeling a hoof on his back where his hands were tied, he felt his bonds being loosened, and then finally broken, with the golden Captain standing over him. “Go, bury them. We’ll keep watch.”
Stivers looked over at Taylor and saw that the elder Lieutenant's hands had been similarly freed. Their eyes met for a long moment, and both seemed to share the same sentiment; they had a chance, not to make things right again, but at least to make them orderly, as much as they could, and neither wanted to waste it. They moved together over to the tent, each pulling out one of the short-handled issue spades meant for digging foxholes. Or trenches. Or anything you wanted, really. It was a simple tool meant for moving earth, meant to be small and portable, so why did it weigh so much now when the task was still the same?
Stivers gripped the cold steel of the handle in one hand and sighed. "Come on. Let's get it done."
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How did I get myself into this mess?
Stivers observed the injured man whom he and Taylor were carrying. Thompson seemed to be doing fairly well for someone who was covered in third degree burns.
Gruebel and Gallivan had awoken while Stivers and Taylor were digging a mass grave for the other pilots, and were taken aback by the presence of the ‘Royal Guard of Canterlot’. Afterwards, the pink and the purple one, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle, began asking cascades of questions, ranging from “Do you like cupcakes?”, to :What is the capital of Neighssyria?” That question almost brought the entire convoy to a dead stop as Gruebel halted to stare at the pink pony in confusion saying, “How in the world would I know that?”
They continued on slowly, the group taking several moments to find a comfortable walking pace that balanced the smaller ponies speed with the longer strides of the humans. Taylor was at the head of the improvised stretcher they had cobbled together for Thompson, and Stivers saw him glance over at the yellow pegasus, named Fluttershy. "Um…how’s your friend?"
She emitted a small squeak and glanced around quickly, then seemed to realize he was talking to her. "Who?"
"The bear."
"Oh! Oh, he’s fine." She offered a tentative smile. "He was scratched across the head by that thing you used, and shaken up, but I’m very good with helping injured animals. He just needs rest, now." She turned her attention back to the path before them. "He’ll be okay, nopony would try to hurt a bear. Well, except for you, I mean." Her smile vanished, and she gave Taylor a stern glance. "That wasn’t very nice."
"Yeah…um, sorry about that." Stivers watched in mixed amusement and disbelief as the young lieutenant squirmed under the dressing-down he was receiving from a talking pony half his height. "He scared us pretty badly. I, uh, I’m glad he’ll be okay, though."
Golden Sword’s voice floated back toward them. "If you two would like to be alone for a bit, I can certainly arrange it. Because if you don’t shut up, I’ll leave both of you here."
Fluttershy and Taylor’s faces immediately turned almost identical shades of red, and Stivers wondered absently just how the pony was managing that feat when her features were covered in short yellow fur. Things like that were losing their capacity to surprise him at this point however, so he just kept his own mouth shut and continued walking. Considering the Captain’s standing orders to take them all into custody, it seemed an empty threat, and the yellow pony’s companions didn’t seem unduly alarmed, either.
After that, the Captain decided that no one was allowed to talk, making it a very boring trip through a very boring forest. Which all of the ponies seemed afraid of. “Why are you guys so afraid of a forest?”, Stivers asked in a low voice.
Before the Captain could silence Stivers, the orange pony, Applejack, spoke up. “T’aint natural, that’s why. All the clouds move on their own, and the plants can grow without help.” Stivers stared at Applejack with his mouth open.
We have definitely died. And this is definitely hell.
“Okay. Now that we’ve gotten the crazy out of the way, why are all so afraid of the forest?” Stivers asked again, much to Applejack’s chagrin.
“Applejack isn’t lying, darling.” Rarity, the white unicorn, muttered in fear.
“Can you all please shut your mouths?” Captain Sword grated, what little patience he had displayed to this point clearly gone. “It is hard enough concentrating on your safety while you are all talking and luring the monsters closer.”
Monsters? At that time, fate thought it would be a good time to have three corpses appear in the middle of the path. They all had the head of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and the wings of a bat.
Taylor stopped, forcing Stivers to stop as well, but Gallivan was the first to speak. “What are those things?” The four pilots faces ranged from horror to shock.
“Those are manticores. We killed them on our way to find you.” The Captain’s face was dead serious.
“How have you never heard of a manticore before? They’re all over the world!” Twilight stated in confusion.
“Damn...” Taylor trailed off as he stared at the odd beasts, ignoring the distraught mare’s question. The import of the captain’s words finally hit home, and he turned his gaze to the armor clad pegasus. “Wait...you knew about us?”
The Captain's eyes widened but a fraction. “Why does nopony ever listen when I tell them to stop talking?” He let out a long sigh, eliciting a chuckle from Stivers.
The rest of the trip through the forest was quiet, as everyone was lost in thought.
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The group made their way out of the forest as the sun was setting, nary a word said between them. Stivers used his practiced military eye to spot anything that could be relevant to their situation; a cottage, a lake, and a town. Everything seemed cheerier than usual. Where the hell are we?
Upon the road to the town was a bipedal purple lizard, breathing heavily as if running for some time. “Twilight! Urgent message from the princess!”
The lavender unicorn galloped forward, much to the disdain of the captain, and embraced the small reptile. “Where is it, Spike?”
“It’s... at the... library.” his laboured breathing forcing him to stutter. “The princesses said they wanted you there as soon as possible.”
Taylor looked back to Stivers, eyebrow raised. Stivers shrugged.
Captain Sword trotted towards Twilight. The guards, who encircled the now prisoners of war, forced them to move forward as well.
“Miss Sparkle, we will escort you and the Elements... and these things,” The Captain said, gesturing towards the humans, “to the library as well.”
“Captain, do you know what’s going on? You don’t seemed very perturbed by this whole situation.” Twilight’s voice betrayed her concern.
“It doesn’t concern you Miss Sparkle.” The captain kept his tone professionally neutral, with only a small scowl adorning his face.
That definitely caught Stivers’ attention. If they knew about us, how come we’ve never seen or heard about talking ponies before? I thought America knew everyone...
Pinkie bounced towards Twilight, oblivious to the guards who were trying to restrain her. “Maybe Princess Celestia sent you on this mission for a reason Twilight! Maybe she already knew about these talking apes but doesn’t want you to know too much?”
Rainbow Dash wasn’t far behind the pink mare. “Pinkie, that’s as crazy as playing a game of doubles with five ponies.”
How do they even play tennis?
“Yah Pinkie,” Twilight retorted, “That doesn’t make any sense. If Princess Celestia knew about something like this, she would have told me.”
The small lizard spoke up, irritation arose in his voice, “Twilight, c’mon! The Princesses are waiting!”
Twilight froze. “You mean they’re at the library? Spike! Why didn’t you tell us that? Come on Captain, we need to move!”
“Company, double time!” Captain Sword shouted, the war ponies moving faster now, pushing the humans along with them. Silence fell over the group as they resumed their journey towards Ponyville, broken only by the sounds of laboured breathing, and both boots and hooves making contact with the cobblestone road.
The guards were on edge as the group approached the little hamlet, eyes constantly flickering back and forth, searching for pedestrians that might get the wrong idea. When one such incident occurred, an aquamarine unicorn who was practically prancing about the circle of guards trying to get a better look, had been shushed away to a small unassuming house by Rainbow Dash.
As the group approached what appeared to be the town center, they came to a halt outside a giant tree. Stivers looked about, noticing very little through the pegasi blockade. The next moment, the five humans were being ushered towards a door built into the trunk of the tree.
The door was smaller than what the humans were used to, and Stivers knew he would have to duck. The warm air from the library flooded out to meet the soldiers as a purple glow enveloped the door, pushing it open. Gallivan entered first, moving off to the left, then followed by Taylor and Stivers, still carrying Thompson. Gruebel and the six colourful ponies came in after, their order unknown to Stivers as he straightened up in surprise, the wide open space of the library offering the pilots enough room to stand upright. His awareness of the space around him fled abruptly and Stivers stared in shock at the white being in front of him.
Much larger than the other ponies, the slender figure met his gaze evenly, a multi-coloured swirl of pastel mane and tail flowing steadily despite the lack of a breeze to stir the air. Immense wings were spread out to either side of her form, and she looked poised to launch into flight at any instant. Unlike the smaller pegasi in the room however, she bore a gleaming silver horn on her brow, light sparkling and corsucating around its length. The whole effect lent her with an air of dignity and authority, and Stivers felt like he'd just been called into his air group commander's office after screwing up royally on maneuvers.
Why do I have a feeling, like everything is about to go downhill?
"Come, sit down." The white alicorn’s eyes held each of them in turn for a moment. "We have much to discuss."
A/N: Hey all, GoldenArbiter here, I have some good news! Ty is sort of back again. He should be helping me write for the next little bit. Anyway, I conformed the story to some of the new rules and streamlined the characters, and well, I can't think of anything else.
I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait.
~GoldenAribiter