//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Broken Star // Story: Darkened Skies // by BrokenStar54 //------------------------------// I open my eyes to find debris around. I sit up and take a look around me. I see green leaves and brown stalks around the area. But that would mean… I’m on the ground. The dreaded battle ground that stretches across Equestria. The staging grounds of a battle between ponies and an unknown enemy, foreign to our land. I stand up with a newfound fear and alertness, and take a look at my surroundings. A dense forest, covered in scraps of metal and fire, blazing throughout the trees. I hear the underbrush to my right rustle and I tense up, if anything alien finds me, I’ll be dead in a matter of seconds. Even worse is being captured. Nopony has ever come back after meeting the enemy face to face. The rustling gets louder, I prepare for attack when… A certain light blue stallion emerges from the overgrowth, covered in blood from multiple cuts across his body. “Soarin!” He lets out a weak groan, and falls head first into the earth. I rush over and put him across my back. “Easy there, we need to get you some help.” I look around to find an easy way out of the crash. I spot an opening in the trees but decide it’s too risky to go out into the open. An abrupt explosion behind me dismisses that thought and I walk out of the clearing, only to find out I didn’t escape unscathed. A slight limp hindered my progress. I check myself and find my back hoof has a piece of glass stuck in the bend. I reach to pull it out, causing blood to come out of a few other scrapes I have. Once I pull out the glass, grimacing from pain all through the process, I fling it into the forest. After that, I continue walking. Nearly out of the trees, I trip on a root. I try to recover, but I lose my balance and fall, right out of the tree line- and find a camp in the distance. Wonderful, not only am I dazed and injured, but I came across a military force. I try to drag Soarin further away from the crash, but I seemed to have lost my strength. “Stay right where you are,” a feminine voice called out. “Great,” I mumbled under my breath. I turned around and met a purple unicorn with a dark blue mane, “now what?” The pony trotted up to me and stared at me like I was something on the bottom of her hoof. “Who are you?” she asked with hard venom. “I’m Broken Star,” I explained, “a pilot aboard the Titan. Well, I was a pilot, until we got shot down by some unknown attacker. May I ask who you are?” “No you may not. Come with me.” She turned and walked off, but I hesitated. “Waiting for an invitation?” I shook my head. “Then move it.” Without further delay, I picked up Soarin and followed the mysterious mare. When we arrived in the camp, I got a few wary looks. It was a bit unnerving; I didn’t like being the center of attention. We walked into a big tent in the middle of the camp, and I wasn’t impressed. The inside was empty except for a small table in the middle of the room. The purple mare put me on one side and sat down on the other. Soarin was put in the corner of the tent. “So you are a crewpony of the airship Titan?” asked the purple one, “Was that the name of the one that crashed?” “Yes, a tragedy that we lost our home.” “Home?” “Yes, we lived up in the sky, away from all the danger of the ground.” “I don’t blame you; things have been taking a turn for the worse here.” “How so?” “Lots of casualties, captured soldiers, and camps like this one have been bombed out by the enemy. This war is not going in our favor.” “Anyway I can help?” “Don’t get your hopes up. Our commanding officer still has to see you.” As she said that, a white stallion walks through the flaps of the tent. He held himself with a high sense of authority; you could easily tell that he was in charge despite the magnificent blue armour he wore, which gleamed with a shine so bright, I winced and shielded my eyes. “So you’re the one I have been hearing about.” He said with a semi-rough tone, “Tell me about how you came to be in my camp.” I told him about the Titan, what caused us to crash, and how I was found. He didn’t stop me until I was done with my tale. “So what you’re saying is that you don’t know who caused you to crash?” I nodded in agreement. “Well I’ll help you find out about this anonymous force, but I can’t guarantee that they will show their true colors.” “Thanks for your help. But what about Soarin?” “Who?” I pointed into the corner. “Ah, I shall give him the best care we have.” He stepped outside the tent and asked for a medic. Afterwards, two brown stallions with white robes came in and took Soarin away. I nodded my thanks and asked, “What about me?” “You will join my platoon and fight; seeing as you won’t be in the air anytime soon.” “When do I start?” “Right now.” We walked through a set of double doors, and I was instantly overwhelmed with a vast view of a large city set within the ground. The ground was laden with debris, craters, and various covers. As I looked across the field, I saw a group of ponies making their way through a set of buildings. “What is this place?” I asked with wonderment. “The Yard, it’s where we train our soldiers to fight in close quarter situations. Your group should be here shortly. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable in the meantime?” I walked over to the door and stood over to one side, and waited. I didn’t have to stay there for too long before the door opened to reveal a group of ponies. At the head was a yellow pegasus; fully encased in light metallic blue armour. Her wings were silver at the edges, gleaming in the sunlight. She stood with a pose of high self-esteem. “Are you my new recruit?” she asked with a hint of frustration. “Yes he is,” said the white stallion, standing off to the side, “and you shall treat him like the rest of your group.” “Yes sir! Come this way, rookie.” I stepped in with the group, looking out of place as the ponies around me had body armour when I was as bare as a new born colt. We walked down into the pit and took positions around a table, laden with multiple weapons and equipment. “Today,” explained the armoured pegasus, “we will be doing a realistic battle scenario,” a collective gasp ran throughout the crowd. “What about the new guy? He doesn’t have any body armour, he’ll be torn to pieces!" cried out a voice. “Oh well,” said the pegasus, “he will just have to make do. Now grab your gear, we head out in a few minutes!" "Yes ma'am!" I look over at the table and look at the weapon of choice. It was a bulky piece of plate armour and headpiece, both coloured in a deep blue. On the helmet there was a tube of metal surrounded by white painted metal plates, with a small canister glowing a faint yellow, giving the cannon a sci-fi look of sorts. "Remember that your weapon shoots exactly where your head is pointed" I put on the device with a little but of trouble, however I managed to get it on without damaging anything on me or the gun. "Now everypony line up!" As I was joining everypony else in the formation, I realized that I probably got myself into more than I could handle.