The battered ship limped through the darkness as it inched ever closer to the lush green and blue planet ahead of it. Inside the vessel, three haggard males worked on various tasks. Lights flickered randomly in the ship and several wires hung limply from the walls, some of which sparked with life in conjunction with the flickering lights. Other wires were connected together in various haphazard fashions. The scent of burnt electronics lingered in the air, and a slight haziness spread across the ceiling. Dust and grime lined most of the less touched surfaces.
Their little ship had suffered the wrath of the SSC Quasar when it exploded in space. The explosion had shoved them, and a massive debris field, through the spatial anomaly. It had also damaged the maneuvering and propulsion systems, causing them to go offline.
It had taken them a few weeks of salvaging and doing repairs to their small vessel before they were able to follow after the Captain's escape ship. With a lot of luck, they had stocked themselves full of supplies for up to three years for a four-man crew, and until recently, had a container full of air tanks, filters, and scrubbers dragging behind them. Unfortunately, they lost a crew member early in the voyage due to electrocution while working on repairs.
They had also tethered two other escape ships filled with scrap and parts they had collected from the debris field behind their ship with detachable cables. They were too damaged to be habitable, but the crew hoped that the auto- landing systems might still work well enough that they could be useful on the ground. The two trailing ships were already programmed to land within half a mile of their own ship.
"Sir, we are nearing the location of the last known transmission from the other ships. It would appear they have landed on the planet below."
A bald man with a somewhat trimmed beard made his way towards the front, followed by a thin male with his brown hair spiked in all directions, grease smeared upon his face and clothes.
"Scan for signs of them and detach the tethering cables," the bald male said in a cracked voice.
"Got it, Flint," a young male with long, blond hair responded, as he started interacting with several controls in front of him. "Seems like I might’ve found the beacon from the Captain's ship. No, nevermind, it's just the computer's black box. Attempting to establish a link to determine the location and status."
A knock shook the ship, the sound emanating from the rear, quickly followed by the smell of fresh smoke. Scrambling, the two men ran to the back of the ship.
"Mark, keep trying to establish the link," Flint called over his shoulder.
More shocks reverberated throughout the ship, and the power eventually went out. Shouts and the exhaust of a fire extinguisher could be heard. Several minutes later, the power blinked back on, followed by grumbles of a half-serious argument from Mark’s two crewmates. Mark tuned out his friends, used to how the Commander and Petty Officer argued about the ship’s condition and maintenance constantly.
With the computers now booted back up, Mark began initiating the link again, just as a power surge blew out some relays in the walls. A console off to his side started coming to life, and he reached over to wipe the dust off the display. Mark’s heart skipped a beat, and his eyes widened in alarm.
"Umm, Sir, we have a problem," Mark calmly yelled to the back of the ship.
"In a minute," Flint called back.
Mark tried to hold his emotions in check, but failed. "Get your fucking ass up here now!" he shouted.
He winced as he heard the clanking sound of a tool being thrown to the floor, followed by the stomping of feet approaching the front of the ship.
"Don't take that tone with me! I am still your supe—"
"Can it," Mark said, not even looking at Flint. Instead, his hand pointed to the console he was staring at.
Flint expected that some new, random, small malfunction had made his subordinate cry wolf about a ‘problem’ again. He was not, however, expecting this. His eye started twitching and his heart started thumping loudly in his chest.
"I want you to stop it, anyway you can," Flint said, somewhat shakily.
Mark's fingers danced over different input controls. With a huff, he crawled under the console and started rearranging several of the computer's module chips. After crawling back out and messing with the controls some more, Mark slammed a fist onto the main terminal's screen.
"The computer is... malfunctioning. I’m totally locked out and it's not accepting any input— not even your command card."
The grease-covered man, now cloaked in perspiration and the stench of smoke, casually chewed on a nutrient bar as he approached. "So what's got your panties in a bunch?" he asked with a slow drawl.
"That does, Mitch," Mark said as he pointed to the console again.
Mitch's droopy-eyed, calm expression didn't change. He only sat down in a chair and continued eating. He even went so far as to prop up his feet on a little table. Flint, on the other hand, had recovered from his stupor and appeared to be turning his brain back on.
"How long before we'll be in low orbit and ready to make landing preparations?" Flint asked.
"Like, 20 minutes tops, and there’ll be no time for preparations. I don't have full flight control. We’re going in and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. A controlled crash into the snowy north is the best you’ll get from this ship now," Mark replied.
Flint looked to Mitch and the two started arguing again. The small explosion and fire had severed control to the only engine thruster that still fully worked, along with half of the right wing's flight control surfaces. Flint brought his palm up to his forehead with an audible slap, and released a long, loud sigh. A sharp clunk followed, as his boot smashed into the wall, slightly bending a metal panel.
"Mitch, is there anything you can do at all to get the engine thruster reconnected and online in time, even partially?" Flint asked in a steady voice that was belied by the shaking of his hands.
"Nope."
"Shit… Prepare to jettison the cargo after we breach the plasma zone," Flint said.
"Why don't we just jettison it now?" Mark asked.
Time seemed to slow as the ship fell into silence, both men turning to Mark as if he had grown a second head. A grin of white teeth shone in contrast to Mitch’s dirty face. Without blinking, an arm slowly rose from Flint’s side towards Mark. Flint's wrist flicked suddenly, and time returned to normal as Mark's head pushed forward, a dull smacking sound breaking the silence.
"How stupid can you be? This close to the atmosphere? I would rather take my chances trying to land with the cargo still in this barely held together hunk of junk. No, we’ll shove it out the cargo bay ramp… hopefully the parachutes work," Flint answered sternly while motioning for Mitch to follow him to the cargo bay.
------------------------------
A large, red and white checkered blanket lay spread out upon a well-maintained beach. On it rested Twilight and a few of her friends, along with a basket placed in the middle. Several dishes fanned out from the basket, though the plates were now mostly empty.
A book lay out before Twilight, the pages slowly turning as if caused by the small breeze that flowed over the area on occasion. Across from her sat Fluttershy, who at the moment was busy making a salad for her pet bunny. To the side, but still easily within conversation length, her friend Rarity relaxed in a beach chair under an umbrella.
Below them, the rest of their friends frolicked in the small lake. Rainbow Dash and Applejack seemed to be playing some game that involved running on a spinning log. Pinkie, on the other hoof, was splashing around with a few fillies.
Spike had gotten hold of a pair of red shorts, and had a red whistle hanging from a white lanyard around his neck. Twilight had no idea where he got the small life preserver he held in his clawed hand. She rolled her eyes as Spike passed in front of Rarity while he flexed his small arms, trying to look like was he nonchalantly passing by… again.
They were taking a break before they went to watch Rings. It had only taken them a few hours of watching her at her home to realize that she was in fact a new sapient race, and not just an intelligent pet.
Twilight sprawled out across her side of the blanket, lost in thought as she pondered the situation. She knew Rings was frightened of ponies, but couldn't understand why she didn't try to communicate with them in the hospital. All Rings ever seemed to do was yell at them like a scared animal, which was one of the reasons they’d thought she was a trained pet.
The back of Twilight's mind tingled with the knowledge that part of why they still thought that was because of the incident with Pinkie Pie. She had gone to visit Rings for the purpose of testing to see if she was sapient or a pet that day, but everything had fallen apart. Unfortunately, Twilight had not had time to go back before Rings ran away.
Twilight recalled what Rainbow Dash said she had seen inside Rings’ metal home. The speedy pegasus had flown in to look while Rings was away digging holes in the ground once. Twilight hoped the daily gifts and their being nearby, but not coming up to her or her camp, were helping to gain Rings’ trust. A smile played upon the mare’s face as she thought of how this slow approach seemed to be working… at least, she hoped it was. If it was indeed successful, she could learn more about the new race.
Spike tried to make another suave strut past Rarity, but his attempt failed as he let out a mighty belch of flames, nearly scorching the mare. As Rarity picked up her sunglasses and collected herself, a scroll formed from the dying fire, and was quickly plucked from the air by Twilight’s magic.
A shadow blotted out the sun for a moment, causing them all to look to the skies. Two Royal Guard chariots passed overhead, both being pulled by four pegasi with one pegasus trailing behind. While Twilight read the scroll, she saw her friends return from the pond in her peripheral vision.
"Girls, I need to get to the library. Seems like I have a meeting with the Royal Guard," Twilight said.
The mares offered to accompany her, and they quickly cleaned up, offering the leftover confectionaries to a few of the parents on the beach to give to their kids later.
Upon reaching town, they noticed that one of the chariots was parked next to the town hall, its former occupants now roaming the town. The other chariot rested in the shade of the library, its occupants formed up in ranks. Twilight noticed there were five of each type of guard, but the two grey unicorns with slightly different armor stuck out.
As Twilight approached the formation, an earth pony standing in front of the rest called them to attention and saluted. Twilight, in turn, nodded, and the guard dropped his salute, standing at attention with the rest.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, we are ready to carry out our orders at your command. If you would wait inside, you will be briefed on the situation shortly."
Twilight and the girls acknowledged him, then went inside to wait. The letter did not tell her why the guards had been dispatched to Ponyville, but that did not stop the mares from speculating. They sat on cushions around the cozy, book-lined room while engaged in idle chit-chat. Spike, having made them drinks and placing a snack-filled tray on the center table with the horsehead statue, pulled up his own cushion near Rarity. It was not long after that the door burst in. A rush of wind flowed through the entryway, ruffling some of the mares' manes, much to the dismay of one.
"Shiny!" Twilight exclaimed as she rushed towards her brother in a blur.
Shining Armor nuzzled his sister while giving her a big hug. "Long time no see, Twily," he responded.
As they broke their embrace, Twilight blushed at Rainbow's teasing of her filly-like show of affection. Just as Twilight started speaking, she was interrupted by her brother.
"Sorry, Twily, but we have matters to discuss pertaining to a certain… individual. I know you know where Rings is, and I need you to tell me, or lead me to her," Shining Armor said.
"Can I ask why? And why all the guards? Especially the two arch-battlemages?" Twilight asked.
"Ah, yes. Some are for protection of the town, while the others are going with us to apprehend her," Shining answered, levitating a parchment over to Twilight.
Twilight's hind legs fell out from under her as she glanced over the contents on the paper. It had a picture of Rings with her hair falling about her face, most likely taken when she was just waking up. A slight frown crossed Rings' lips as she used a hand to hook some of her mane behind an ear. Underneath was a short description with a rather long list. Twilight tried to speak, but her mouth only moved.
"Well? What does it say?" Rainbow asked impatiently.
When Twilight didn't respond, Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder and asked, "Are you alright, sugarcube?"
Twilight shook her head to the side, then sniffled slightly and blinked the tears from her eyes as she cleared her throat and began reading the wanted poster aloud with a somewhat crackly voice.
Twilight had to fight back the bile that tried to creep up her throat. The others in the room fared no better. Fluttershy had fainted, and Rainbow Dash worked to put her back on the cushion. Rarity had a tear dripping down her cheek as she fanned herself. Applejack just had a blank stare, much like Twilight. Pinkie Pie, her near-constant smile gone, snatched the parchment from Twilight and tore it up.
Pinkie then stomped towards Shining Armor and jammed an accusatory hoof in front of his face. "Why are you being so mean to her? That paper lies! Sure, she punched me… but I know it was my fault. And I still have to make it up to her. She’s really nice and I know it! Rings would never do what you said she did and I wo—"
Pinkie was cut off by a purple aura around her muzzle, and dragged away from the Captain. "Pinkie, I don't know what to believe, but I won't let you accuse my brother of anything. To get this… list, there had to have been an investigation, and somehow she ended up as a suspect," Twilight said, trying to rein in her own fighting emotions and thoughts.
Pinkie nodded. She looked around at the others before a giant smile crossed her face. "Oh, I have to go. I have more cakes to make!" The rest of whatever she said faded out as she rushed from the room, confetti fluttering down from the ceiling. Spike groaned as he opened the closet and pulled out a broom and dust pan.
While the mares conversed, a pegasus came in with a scroll and passed it to Shining Armor before departing. Shining facehoofed and asked Twilight if he could use her desk for a moment. After a few minutes, he asked Spike to send the scroll he just wrapped up. While waiting for a response, he tried answering the questions his sister and her friends put forth as best he could.
Spike was returning with some crackers and cheese when he let out a large belch, almost dropping the tray, but he saved it due to years of practice. He set the tray down and rubbed his throat as he looked at the larger-than-average delivery.
Twilight rolled out the scroll bundle, and swiped one off the top. It was mostly the same wanted poster, but had a few more pieces of information and crimes attached to the end of the list. Her brother took the rest of the posters and passed them to a guard just outside the door.
“Hey! What’s the meaning of this?” Applejack asked with anger in her voice.
“Huh?” Shining responded.
Applejack stomped over to him and shook the new wanted poster in front of his face, pointing at the new crimes. “Why’s she being charged with theft from mah orchard? An’ trespassing? I never pressed charges against her! An’ Ah know mah brother wouldn’t, neither.”
“Yeah, what she said! And Pinkie wouldn’t press charges for a little punch!” Rainbow shouted from above Shining Armor.
“We demand an explanation, my good sir,” Rarity said, stepping forward.
Shining Armor felt his ears fold down as he backed away from the angry mares. He threw up a shield spell and poked his head out the door. A few moments later, he stood talking with the pegasus from earlier.
Shining dropped the shield spell and cleared his throat. “Ahem. Now then, ladies. Along with her apprehension, we were also ordered to find out any crimes Rings may have committed in Ponyville and update the warrant accordingly. The charges are being filed on your behalf by the Crown. If you wish to dispute, add, or retract any that pertain to you or your property, you will have the opportunity to do so at her trial in Canterlot. However, after her capture, you can also request them to be dropped through your local magistrate as long as it is before her trial begins.”
“Ah want them removed NOW!” Applejack shouted.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Applejack, but my hooves are tied on this.”
Applejack kicked the floor and returned to her cushion, still fuming. Rainbow flew back to hers, but kept a stink eye on Shining. Twilight was still sitting in a daze, processing the information she had heard.
Shining nudged his sister to break her internal thoughts. “We need to find her. As much as you and your friends don’t want to believe it, she is our top suspect, and highly linked to the crimes.”
"I'll show you where she is," his sister dejectedly said, as a tear rolled down her cheek and splashed on the wooden floor.
------------------------------
Fresh and clean from a bath in the river, Cassie rummaged through her locker, trying to figure out what to wear with her limited selection. She finally decided to dress up a little today, and to help the wear on her other clothes she usually wore. For her undergarments, she went with the royal blue set with a slight amount of lace on the waistband of the panties, and both the panties and bra had a small pink bow in the center.
The dress she chose was a simple, lightweight, maroon summer dress, tied with a white diamond-patterned waist-belt. The sleeveless dress fell to just a smidge past mid-thigh. The front was cut in a shallow semi-circle fashion so it exposed her neck and upper chest, but stopped just before the beginning of her small cleavage. In the back, it dipped down enough to show just the upper portions of her shoulder blades.
Cassie liked the dress, but rarely had the opportunity to wear it. It had been a gift given to her by her mother on her last birthday on Earth, a few months before the mission launch. Cassie reached up to her neck, and a frown marred her face as she remembered her necklace had been lost.
Though the necklace was just plain silver and the gemstone it contained wasn’t valuable, she still missed it greatly. It had been given to her by her grandmother when she entered college. It held a cracked, roundish, marble-sized rose quartz gem, which was one of the first gemstones she had ever found and had spurred her interest in geology.
While Cassie had a little makeup available, she decided to skip that, and instead spent time fixing her hair some. She ran her fingers through the silky feeling of her long hair as she brushed the tangles out. With the hair now laying flat, Cassie made a small braid from the front to the back on each side of her head, linking them in the back to form a small circlet. She then took the hair trailing down her back and put that into a simple braided ponytail.
Cassie took a few steps back so she could see all of herself in the small mirror located above the sink. A smile danced upon her face as the edges of her dress flared up slightly from the small twirl she performed.
It was a short-lived smile. Cassie's feelings were conflicted. She felt happy, yet sad and unsure. She knew she should be spending her time working on the ship, setting traps for food, attempting fishing, coming up with a plan to get over her fears enough to interact with the ponies, and basically anything other than trying to look pretty for no other reason than to do it. Unfortunately, the other side of her brain was telling her to have some fun and relax a little.
One side of her lip rose in a crooked grin. She decided to let the playful side of her brain win the argument, and would not let the recent events stop her from just relaxing for the day.
Not letting the lack of proper footwear for her attire get her down, Cassie strode across her small camp with a slight bounce in her step. Reaching her destination, she stopped and did another twirl.
"Hi, everyone. How do you like my outfit?" she asked. After a slight pause, she smiled and continued, "I knew that you would. I like it, too."
Cassie started telling her buried friends about the recent happenings, and what she had learned since her arrival. She even went so far as to act like they were asking questions for her to answer. A fierce blush and sheepish smile came to her face as a quick gust of wind swept past her. She quickly smoothed her dress back down and looked around to see if anyone saw. The blush quickly faded and the smile turned to a frown as she remembered where she was.
With her thoughts recollected, Cassie peered down at the graves. She bent down to put back some of the rocks that had rolled into the now settled dirt. She made a quick mental note to get some more dirt to re-level them out, then wiped her hands together to knock the little bit of dirt they had accumulated off.
Cassie next walked over to her table near the fire pit and poured herself a glass of water. The glass of water fell to the ground and its contents soaked into the soil as an alarm from the ship caused Cassie to jump. She set the glass back on the table before she ran to the ship with a worried brow.
It wasn’t the bleeping sound of the proximity sensor Cassie had been waiting for. This was a deeper warning signal with a one-second pause between the blaring sound. Upon entering the ship, she immediately knew something was off. Instead of the usual few lights being on, a red strip was lit up around the walls just before the ceiling, though some of the lights were broken.
Making her way to the front of the ship, a display she had thought to be broken was turned on. Cassie was interrupted before she could clear the junk laying on top of it off to see what was displayed.
The feminine voice of the computer could be heard as the alarm stopped. "Verify identity."
Cassie huffed before she replied, "Lieutenant Cassandra Elizabeth Campbell. Executive Officer Transport Escape Ship Four, Geological Survey Team Division Officer, Campbell 7-9-2-2-Sierra."
"Identity verified. Welcome back, Lieutenant."
"What do you mean, ‘welcome back’? I've been here for a few days. Ahh, god dammit! Don't tell me the computer core is damaged or memory chips are broken," Cassie nearly screamed as she pulled slightly at her hair.
The regular lights flickered to life, mixing with the reds. A few sparks shot from under the piloting console. Cassie mumbled under her breath and turned to leave, not wanting to deal with the ship at the moment.
"Protocol D initializing."
She stopped in her tracks as she reached the door and hung her head in defeat. "Computer, what are you initializing?"
"Unable to comply."
Cassie's eye started twitching and her face gained a slight red hue. She had been fighting with the computer a lot while trying to repair it lately. She stormed to the front of the ship, not wanting to deal with whatever the computer was trying to run.
She pushed the junk off the newly activated display and was confronted with the end of a loading bar. The red bar soon disappeared and changed to the word 'Protocol' in large, red font, with the letter 'D' taking up the remaining two-thirds of the screen. After several seconds of failed interaction with the controls, Cassie banged on the display. She cursed at the computer, her face flushed in anger that it was locking her out.
The computer didn’t care, as it continued running whatever it had just loaded. The feminine voice then came over the speakers, the screen synchronizing with it. "Systems verification in progress.
Dual-Phasic Energy Rifle… Online.
Ion Particle Cannon… Systems Failure.
Internal Sentry Energy Gun… Online.
Targeting Systems… Damaged.
Primary Communications… Systems Failure.
Secondary Communications… Systems Failure.
Primary Command Communications… Systems Failure… Switching to Secondary.
Secondary Command Communications… Damaged.
Secondary Weapons… Online.
Rerouting Main Engine Power to Weapons… Systems Failure… Switching to Battery Backup.
Systems Verification Complete… Systems Are Severely Damaged.
Ship Status… Grounded. Maintenance Priority Alpha-Two.
Weapon Deployment Activating.
Warning… Hatch Jam.
Warning… Dual-Phasic Energy Rifle… Offline.
Internal Sentry Gun… Deployed… Anti-Personnel rounds loaded.
Secondary Weapons… Activated.
Weapon Deployment Activated.
Protocol D has been Initialized.”
Before Cassie had a chance to comprehend what was happening, the bleeping of the proximity alarm went off. Giving the computer console a swift kick, she walked under the sentry gun and made her way out of the ship.
In the distance, Cassie saw Sparks and the others. She was determined not to let the computer running some random program keep her down. Cassie decided that when Sparks brought whatever gift it was today, she was going to close the gap to about 25 yards, instead of staying in her camp until they left. She didn’t trust them fully to allow them right near her, but she felt they wouldn’t hurt her.
Cassie was partway across her campsite when she saw several ponies in gold armor come up behind Sparks. She could see Sparks point and nod in her direction as more armored ponies arrived. Cassie's heart froze as she watched the armored ponies form up in ranks.
Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her legs felt weak. Slowly, Cassie backed up into the ship. She quickly grabbed Ashley's energy pistol once she entered the ship and set it to stun mode. She then heard a male voice with commanding tones.
Cautiously, Cassie stuck her head out. Sparks and her friends were nowhere to be seen, but a large, white male unicorn stood where the gift was usually given. On the front of its armor was a gem that looked like the mark on Sparks' rump.
"Q iu Odejejc Wnikn, Qodhowb kab hyv Zwgit Ocizl. Nejco, ukq wna qjzan izzmab. Lhawoa oqnnajzan dsoqstizzm," the pony said in its strange language.
"I have no idea who you are or what you want, but go away!" Cassie shouted back.
Cassie started pulling her head back into the ship when she felt a tingling sensation around her. A magenta glow surrounded her and started pulling her out of the ship. Cassie panicked and fought against it with all her might. It was a losing battle at first, but the aura was not as forceful as the time in the hospital, and she was slowly able to pull herself out of it.
As soon as it started, the feeling was gone and Cassie stumbled, reaching out with her arm to grab the side of the ship before she fell into the dirt. Cassie turned to stare at the unicorn, her blue eyes trying their hardest to bore a hole right through him.
I knew it. I just knew it! Sparks and those others tried to lull me into a sense of false security so they could spring this trap to get me. Scheming, vile ponies!
A sneer marred her face and spittle flew from her mouth as she yelled, "Screw you and your anti-gravity thing!"
Cassie saw the unicorn's horn start glowing. Before he could try to get her again, she shot. The first ball of energy whizzed past his body. The unicorn took a step back, but was unable to react fast enough as the next ball of yellow light impacted his side. Immediately, the unicorn dropped in a heap.
Angry shouts could be heard from the other armored ponies. Cassie saw several of the pegasi take to the sky. Her hands started shaking and her breathing increased. A startled cry left her throat as she watched a green ball of energy impact the ground mere inches away.
In her distraction, she barely saw a pegasus swooping down at her with a spear held in its fetlock. With a quick move to the side, the pegasus missed, but was still able to graze her back with the butt of its spear hard enough to cause her to wince.
Cassie felt a push and the tingling sensation again, but only localized on her side. Looking out towards the line of ponies, she saw a few more colored balls of energy flying her direction. She was able to dodge all but one. The final one hit her in the leg and caused her to stumble to one knee. Again, the tingling sensation ran through her body.
Her eyes widened and a crooked grin tugged at her lips when Cassie realized what the sensation was. It felt like a stun weapon with the setting too low to be more than just annoying. The sound of hooves pounding on the dirt brought Cassie back from her musing. She watched in horror as three of the normal ponies charged at a full gallop towards her little camp.
She pulled up her weapon and shot. The adrenaline of the fight and the fear of the horses trying to get her caused Cassie’s aim to be way off its mark. After many frantic shots, she managed to hit two of the three, but the third jumped over the little wall of her campsite. Cassie quickly switched the pistol to its highest stun setting with a press of a button. The pony's victory was short-lived, as it lost consciousness right after it landed from a well-timed shot.
Cassie laughed in defiance when another of the energy balls from the unicorns hit her. Looking to the sky, she saw two of the pegasi coming in for an attack. Wildly shooting in the air caused one to veer off. Unfortunately for the other pegasus, Cassie was able to land a shot right in its face. The pegasus hit the ground at full speed on its side, with a sickening crunch that made Cassie shudder.
Cassie looked at the other approaching ponies. There were more of the normal ones, and the two she first shot were up and back with their friends. A quick scan around the area caused Cassie to smile as she set the pistol to the kill setting in beam mode.
Aiming at a few trees on the upper edge of the canyon wall, Cassie pressed and held the trigger down. The red beam lanced through the trees. Splintering timber echoed through the canyon. The sound of leaves rustling in the wind followed. The ponies on that side of the canyon jumped back as the fallen trees landed with a thump on the ground, narrowing the path the non-flying ponies had to take to reach her.
Cassie set the pistol back to stun and single-shot. Taking aim at another unicorn, she fired. Her eyebrow lifted in confusion when the shot just bounced off some purple bubble. She fired again, only to see the same effect, but this time a crack formed.
A wicked grin crept onto her face, and a short laugh filled the air around her. Cassie changed the weapon setting to beam mode and fired again. This time, the shield broke and the gray unicorn behind it fell to the ground with a scream. Cassie's next shot hit a smaller white unicorn that was standing next to it.
The ponies all backed up. Two of the pegasi had reclaimed their fallen friend from inside her campsite, and the pegasus with a clearly broken wing had been floated back. Cassie tipped her table over and ducked behind it while she planned her next move.
------------------------------
"Get the two wounded back to the medic," Shining Armor ordered.
"Sir, why don't you just trap her in a shield?" one of the guards asked.
"I’d love to, but whatever she used on me has disrupted my magic. Looks like a good old earth pony takedown with pegasus support will be how we capture her."
Shining had the remaining three unicorns keep Rings pinned down while he conferred with the earth ponies on the plan of attack.
"Hey! Bright Rain, c’mere," a unicorn called.
"What do you want, Candlewax?" Bright Rain asked curtly.
"I need you to create a distraction. I have an idea to help keep it down," Candlewax said with a toothy smile.
"I think I can come up with something," Bright Rain said.
Candlewax watched as the pegasus flew in towards the creature, expertly dodging the balls of light that streaked towards him, like a dance in the sky. With the distraction in place, Candlewax galloped off to the far side, intent on surprising the creature. A couple minutes later, he emerged from the scant trees, perfectly in position for his plan.
Candlewax braced his legs as he started charging his horn. He gritted his teeth as he pushed more and more magic into the spell, causing the lime green glow around his horn to become overly bright, with a second lighter green glow on the outer edges. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he panted from the exertion.
Another pegasus flew up next to Candlewax. "Stop! What are you doing?!" the pegasus frantically asked.
"Stopping criminal scum," Candlewax deadpanned.
With those words, Candlewax released the spell. With all his energy spent, he collapsed to the ground.
Bright Rain saw the spell fire at the last second and halted in mid flight, giving Rings all the time needed to shoot him. Bright Rain fell from the sky, his face still holding a look of stupor in the direction of the incoming magic attack.
The assembled ponies looked on in horror as the massive spell raced towards Rings. They saw the look of terror on Rings’ face as she turned to see it just before it slammed into the right side of her head. A pain-filled scream caused the ponies closest to flatten their ears.
They watched as Rings careened through the air sideways for several feet until she hit the ground with a grunt, all the air leaving her lungs. The medic instantly barreled past the other guards on his way to Rings’ unconscious body. As the medic jumped the campsite wall, he could see blood trickling from the sprawled-out female's mouth.
Shining Armor knocked a guard over as he galloped at full speed towards Candlewax. Fire raged in his eyes as he forcibly pulled the still-weakened pony to his hooves.
"What in the hell is wrong with you?! What part of ‘do not injure her while capturing her’ did you not understand?!" Shining roared, mere inches from the stallion's face.
"I did what needed to be done," Candlewax replied flatly.
Shining shook the stallion to try and snap some sense into him. "No, you didn't, you foal. Do you know how powerful that spell was? MR-3 or not, that kind of blast can cause damage well past knocking somepony out."
With a sigh, Shining dropped Candlewax to the ground, lest he did something he might regret to the stallion. Before Shining could say anything more, Meteorite, one of the arch-battlemages, appeared in a crackling teleport. The air felt alive with lightning around the fuming mage. Even though Shining was still the Captain of the Guard, he backed up, not willing to step in between the two.
Candlewax's eyes went white as his irises shrunk to pin pricks. His tail went between his legs and his ears splayed back as he looked upon the fiery red eyes of the mare. Without a word, Meteorite slammed her hoof into the cowering stallion's horn with a flash of light. A cracking sound mixed with a scream caused all the other unicorns in the area to flinch, as Candlewax's eyes rolled into the back of his head. Just as fast as she had appeared, the mage then disappeared.
Shining Armor gave a quick look to the unconscious Candlewax before he trotted over to the medic. The unicorn he left behind now had a slight crack in his horn. Nothing too major, and it would heal soon. However, he might as well have had it cut off, for at the base of the horn rested a restrictor ring of the highest grade.
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Gale and the Claw brothers had watched the scene below. They had been ordered to get to the creature’s location and collect as much data as possible before the ponies arrived. Unfortunately, the ponies had moved faster than expected, and they arrived too late. With the primary mission scrapped, they had switched to the backup. Observe, but not interfere.
The Claw brothers both received a cuff to the head from Gale as they discussed how pitiful the guards were and that it would have been easy to just glide down and decapitate the creature before it knew what hit it.
"Silence, imbeciles. I don't know how father puts up with you two. What’s covert about killing the target you’re supposed to be spying on?" Gale quizzed, not expecting an answer.
In the aftermath of the engagement, they had watched the creature get carted away to a chariot on a stretcher, with bandages around its head. They also took note of the injured pegasus with its side and wing in a splint, also being moved to the chariot that the creature was in.
"Did you see that magic shooting weapon it had, Left?" Right Claw asked.
"I sure did, brother. Now that's tech we griffons could use. I see why the ambassador wants information on this creature so badly now," Left Claw responded.
Gale's quill tore a hole through the parchment she was writing on as she jumped from the sudden ear-splitting noises. Down below, a pony writhed in pain just outside of the entrance to the metal cave. Blood poured from its shoulder. Several ponies ran to its side to try and stop the bleeding as the medic ran up with his horn already glowing.
The griffons watched as a unicorn formed a shield around itself and started creeping towards the entrance. As soon as the unicorn took one step into the door, a rapid series of cracking pops reverberated from the cave. The unicorn's shield instantly shattered as it jumped to the side, but too late. Pieces of keratin and blood burst into the air like a firework as the unicorn's hind hoof shattered into pieces, and small clumps of dirt sprayed up from new holes in the ground where the unicorn had just been. The griffons collectively winced from the screams of the newly injured pony.
Over the screaming, they watched Shining Armor instantly erect a barrier around the entrance to the cave. The griffons ducked behind the edge of the clouds they sat upon as one of the arch-battlemages looked in their direction before she cast a new shield so Shining Armor could focus on more important matters.
"Well, crap. I think we’ve been spotted," Right said with his eyebrows pinched in worry.
"Ignore it. As long as we’re not interfering, they won’t bother us either," Gale calmly stated. "You know, we could always make them think we’re up to… other activities up here," Gale said, with exaggerated waggling of her eyebrows.
Gale couldn’t help but fall to the side laughing as the two brothers squirmed. She sat back up and used a claw to smooth out some of her feathers.
"Aww, still scared of daddy, I see," Gale said sheepishly with a fake blush.
"Damned right we are!" the brothers said in unison.
Gale's beak split into a smile when she heard one of them mumble 'and you' under his breath.
The griffons continued watching as the guard captain gave orders to his troops. All but one earth pony, two pegasi, and two unicorns left. The griffons watched as one of the pegasi and the earth pony started inspecting the campsite, while the other three kept the shield up and guarded the entrance.
Gale realized their chance to investigate was totally lost at this point. She ordered the brothers back to the embassy to report what happened, gave them her current notes, and told them to inform her father she would return shortly.