//------------------------------//
// Cut Down to Size (Chapter-3) 
// Story: Birds of Prey 
// by Beta-17 
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     My attention was drawn to the sound of birds outside of the stone building. I began to wonder what time it was. I slid my goggles over my eyes to check the clock on the heads up display. When I looked through the lenses there was no clock or any HUD at all for that matter. The only thing that was vaguely visible was red text that flashed across the center of my vision that read, Incapacitated. So, my head gear seems to have run out of power. Which means the last live feed that linked my squad’s HUDs marked me as dead. Hell, if it weren’t for the terrible pain from that electric orb I would have thought that I was. I began to head toward the door of the throne room. The leather under armor made a satisfying squeak as I trotted. The metal parts of the outer armor lightly clinked and tinkled when some part of the metal hit another metal part. I had gotten my strength back but that didn’t mean all of the pain had gone.

Outside of the building it was clearly day, but very foggy. I must admit the moist air was quite soothing to my recently deep fried lungs. I almost think they were literally cooked a little; every time I exhaled I got a strange taste in my mouth. It was delicious. Who knew lungs tasted like fresh cooked fries? Oh, wait that was lunch from earlier. Anyway, it was strange to see the area around the old castle not in a siege. It was actually really quiet, clam, relaxing almost. After taking in the pleasantly quiet atmosphere, I located an old wooden bridge. Okay, wait, what? This was a site of major importance. I don’t mean like some crappy tourist trap, I’m talking about the Royal Sisters’ castle. A place where one would expect to find a grand stone canyon crossing bridge; why the hell is the only way across the canyon to the castle a shitty rickety wood plank bridge? Who the hell approved this? What corners do you have to cut to end up with this crap? Needless to say, I decided not to use the rotten bridge and just flew across the open trench. I once again touched down on the other end of the abyss, and I do not remember there being a forest here. If I didn’t have an objective before I had one now. Find out what the hell happened and get a fresh charge in my flight goggles. But for now I’ll just stick with finding out what happened. 

For most of my time wondering through the woods, I thought to myself that perhaps the apocalypse had unfolded. Maybe the Elements caused a catastrophic series of disasters killing both royal sisters and in turn ending all of pony life. Good theory but it was dark out before I got shot by six magic rocks, and it was day now. Meaning someone was still keeping up with the day and night cycles, thus debunking my theory. I stopped suddenly upon catching a glimpse of a blue plant sitting low to the ground. Normally when confronted with a strange plant of interest I would consult the HUD in my flight goggles, but while these plants where indeed strange, I knew them well. Poison Joke, no laughing matter, this stuff would screw you over by the next day. While I was stopped I asked myself a question. I was walking along a dirt trail, but where the hell was I actually going. I had been walking for a good hour with no definitive destination. So I resolved to flying up, a higher vantage point would undoubtedly reveal a town. I could also put my new theory of time travel to the test, perhaps con an unsuspecting unicorn into charging my goggles and grab a bite to eat. I flew a few hundred meters into the air, and sure enough there was a windmill clear in the distance. I decided I did not want to get turned around in the woods and flew the rest of the way to the town. I admit I was showboating a little bit. Nobody was watching but it had been a while since I had gone full speed, so I pulled my goggles over my eyes to do the only thing they could do at this point; shield my eyes from the rushing wind. 

I climbed to a higher altitude to have the gravitational speed assist. I didn’t know for sure because my altimeter was busted, but if I were to guess, I would say I was hovering around one thousand meters. I snapped my wings shut to gain speed, I plummeted head first straight down to earth. I could hear the wind rushing past my ears, whistling through the narrow gaps between the metal of my armor. A smile crept over my face, I love this part. My wings burst open, whipping me up to a steady altitude. The blades that ran along the outsides of my wings screamed as they sliced through the air, leaving a wind slip trail in their wake. The leaves of the trees below me whipped violently in my back draft as I passed, a few of the trees sat high enough for my wings to slice through one or two of the treetops. I laughed as I gained speed; it had been forever since I was able to fly like this without being hunted. I caught sight of a river up ahead and suddenly flipped my wings up to turn my forward momentum into a gravity slowed deceleration. As much as I loved flying fast, I was parched and where better to get a drink than a calm little creek in the woods.

I slowed my decent to the ground and landed with a subtle flutter of the wings. A few animals nearby ran off into the woods, startled by my sudden appearance. Heh, not the first time I scared the crap out of something by jumping out from nowhere. I had the thought that the water might not be fit to drink, but I just saw another five animals here at minimum, why not? I took all of my head gear off and went in, literally went into the water, like neck deep. Head completely submerged. The cool water felt amazing; I pulled my head up taking a deep breath so I could continue on my way. I cleared my throat and was about to get on my way again, when a peculiar rustling sound emanated from a bush only a few meters away. I figured it was just a rabbit, or a squirrel but I humored my superstitious side.

“Hello? Anybody there, perhaps a big scary monster wanting to nibble my giblets? Or just a cute little bunny bun bun? I was half mocking myself and at the same time legitimately asking a question. 

I heard something that sounded like an inward sigh then what ever was hiding in the bushes ran off in another direction. I still don’t know what it was but by the sound it made while fleeing it must have been the size of a large dog. And that right there is when I realized I was not the thing it ran from. Behind me was one of the many heads of a hydra. Well, shit. I gave a quick backwards buck with both mind legs to get it off of my tail, giving me enough time to grab my goggles and take to the hydra free skies. What I wasn’t expecting was it to be smart enough to swipe the air with its tail. The blunt scaled appendage broadsided me, sending me straight into a tree trunk. 

“GAH, shit! That hurt” I managed to spit through grunts of pain. I wasn’t sure but I think my wing may be broken. I can’t feel it, and can barely move it. I rolled out of the way before the hydra could take another swing at me. I gritted my teeth as I pulled the strap on my wing tighter so the metal outer layer could act as a splint. It was definitely stiffer. By then the hydra had figured out where I had ran off to and once again began to attack. My adrenalin was pumping and i summoned strength I didn’t know I had and took to the air again. I might not be able to kill this thing, but I could sure as hell scare it off. And no way was I going to let this thing beat me. The pain coming from my broken wing was numbed by the adrenalin in my veins. Most of the strain that would have been on my wings was instead placed on the metal braces that ran the length of my wings but I knew I couldn’t stay airborne for too long. I flapped my wings in an irregular pattern, doing my best to not hurt the wing more than it already was. But the beast took another swipe at me. I was lucky to escape a second blow. I was finally able to get to a decent altitude when I ran my dive bomb maneuver. My right wing was lined up with the neck of the middle head, hydras where notorious for the nasty habit of growing new heads from a decapitation but I was trying to scare it off, not kill it. My left wing began to hurt more and more as I sped up. Finally the blade on my right wing made contact. The razor sharp edge cut a clean gash through the beast’s thick neck, I was expecting the head to come off but this would do. The two heads that could screamed in pain and the hydra turned tail and ran.

“YEAH! Take that you overgrown gecko!” I shouted punching the air in victory before falling to the ground with a thud that knocked the wind out of me. My wing went from feeling like I had a bruise to feeling like the bone was splintered and twisted in such a way it was cutting muscle. I lie on the ground for a few minutes gasping for air, listening to the sound of my own wheezing, my heart beating in my ears, and the sounds of the fading thuds of the hydra running away. I began to get tunnel vision I was blacking out again for the second time in the same damn day or however the hell long it’s been and I was not okay with it. I took a series of sharp shallow breaths forcing air into my lungs to feed my deprived brain. In my haze I swear I heard the sound a shriek, like somepony just witnessed what happened. 

With the air painfully finding its way back where I needed it I clambered back to my hooves and once again resumed my trek toward the town. Luckily I had already closed most of the distance a few minutes before. I was actually relived to see that the river ran straight up alongside the town itself. I found myself at the foot of a bridge that would lead me straight to my destination, but I couldn’t take the step forward. I looked down into the water and saw why. I was wearing Shadow bolt armor, not the normal kind either. I was dressed in Shadow bolt field general armor, which was coated in both blood from a Solar Imperial and a hydra. By the looks of the town it was a province under the ruler ship of the Solar Empire, and here I stand. A Shadow bolt of the Lunar Republic dressed head to hoof in armor and blood; I look like a bucking maniac. The way I see it I have only one option, remove the armor, and stash it; wash myself clean of the gore that covered me and walk in like nopony knows my face. Which is true to a point but I would be pushing it. But I have no choice, not with this broken wing and no medic.