Captain Breeze turned the wheel against the cross breeze, changing the direction of the propellers and keeping his ship steady. “How's that?” he shouted at Lieutenant Shadow Heart.
“It's good sir! I got a clear view and...” she said, but then trailed off, setting off alarm bells in Breeze's head. “Uh, Sir? You may want to see this.”
“Here, take the wheel,” Breeze said, hoofing it off to his helmsman. Sure, he could have let the stallion work the wheel from the beginning, but sometimes these things required a... master's touch. “What do we have, soldier?”
“See for yourself,” she said, offering him a telescope. Captain Breeze took the proffered instrument and focused it on the building. “fourth window from the left, third story.”
He immediately focused on the window in question, only to catch the sight of a green dragon being slapped clear across the room by a much larger gray dragon. “Any word from our infiltration teams yet?” he asked loudly.
“No sir, they're still having trouble locating an empty space to teleport into. Lieutenant Star Rage says that it's probably a jammer of some sort,” the radio operator reported.
“Figures. Despite the fact that he's using Diamond Dogs, he's still quite professional in everything else. This means he probably had little or no choice in his pick of lackeys, marking the dogs as mercenaries and nothing more,” Captain Breeze muttered as he continued to watch through the telescope. He then visibly flinched when the gray dragon stomped on the green dragon's leg. “Lieutenant Heart, you and your snipers take aim at the gray dragon. If he looks like he's going to end the green one's life, I want you to shoot to kill.”
“Yes sir!” she said, charging her horn as the other unicorns around her did the same.
“Corporal! Get Captain Nightfall on the line, tell him to be ready to breach,” Captain Breeze said, not taking his eye off of the scene unfolding in front of him.
However, as he listened to the corporal speak with Nightfall, he saw two dogs lug out a black chest from some previously unnoticed corner. The gray dragon then got up and approached the dogs, kicking the lid to the chest closed as soon as he had gotten close enough. Almost immediately, the chest began to glow, sending a thrill of fear down the airship captain's spine. “Uh oh...” he said, collapsing the telescope and hoofing it back to his lieutenant.
He then bolted over to where the radio operator was and wrenched the radio's receiver out of the corporal's hooves. “Nightfall, I'm not sure, but something big is about to happen. They've got some sort of glowing artifact, and it's building power. Permission to engage?”
“Negative, Breeze, they still have hostages,” he heard Nightfall respond. “We can't engage until Star Rage is able to get a lock.
“Sir, with all due respect, there may not be anything to engage if we wait,” Breeze said urgently. “If we don't act now, we-”
“Sir! They're gone!” Lieutenant Shadow Heart shouted, interrupting Breeze's rant.
Without another word, Breeze dashed back to where the snipers were and took back the telescope. “What happened?” he asked in a rush.
“The light just kept getting brighter and brighter, until the dragon and the dogs disappeared,” she said with a shake of her head.
Captain Breeze just sighed at that, but didn't return the telescope. “We lost them,” he said, stomping a rear hoof aggressively against the deck.
“Sir, report from Nightfall. He says that Star Rage was finally able to get a lock. Also, he wants to know what's happening up here,” the radio operator said.
“Tell Nightfall that the perpetrators got away. The building's most likely secure,” he said, focusing his sights on the remaining green dragon. “Also, tell him we have a key witness, maybe even a member of the gang, who got left behind.”
“Yes sir!”
“Sir, do you really think that that dragon had anything to do with this?” Shadow Heart asked dubiously.
“No Heart, but these days? With all the crazy that has been happening lately? I'm not taking any chances. Especially with an unknown such as this,” Captain Breeze said, then hoofed back the telescope. “Helmsman! Take us closer to the window, I want to be able to breach in five!”
“Yes sir!” the pony at the controls answered, turning the wheel while pulling a lever.
“I just hope he doesn't pull a runner like some of the others we've seen,” Captain Breeze said darkly.
“I don't understand, sir. His leg is broken, how would he be able to run anywhere?” Lieutenant Heart asked.
“Trust me, with the powers that some of these freaks have been showing, I wouldn't be surprised if he had been stabbed through the heart, yet still somehow managed to evade our forces,” Captain Breeze told her, not letting his eyes leave the prone dragon inside. “No, once we get inside, stay on your guard, and surround that thing as fast as you can. This may be our only chance to talk to one of these things without it going absolutely bat-dung crazy on us.”
“But sir, that looks like an ordinary teenage dragon, what makes you so sure it's one of them?” she asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
“Take a look again, Lieutenant. You see any wings on that one?” Breeze asked as the broken window got closer.
Heart opened her telescope again, taking a good, long look at the prone lizard. “Now that you mention it, shouldn't those have grown in by now? Also, it seems to be far too... delicate, to be even a female dragon.”
“Exactly, and after that run in with 'Pyro Pete', I'd rather take no chances than lose another fifty guys before he's able to get away,” Breeze said, shaking his head.
“By the way, sir, I know how the dragon got in, but what about the dogs? And what about that thing in there?” the lieutenant said as they came level with the building. “How did that get in?”
“Teleportation? Trained monkeys? Your guess is as good as mine. However, do you see that wreck down there?” Breeze said, pointing towards the mass of splintered wood and mangled cloth.
“Ah,” Heart said with a nod.
“Yeah, as soon as the dogs had gotten inside, they punctured the balloon and let it fall. We think they only meant for it to gently touch down, but it seems they made a miscalculation and let it fall too fast. The crash is what alerted us that something was amiss in the first place. Our second hint was when the dogs fired at a police officer when he tried to go in and check if everything was okay,” Breeze said with a shake of his head. “Poor guy got pinned to the wall. His partner legged it back to the station, who quickly called it in.”
“I didn't hear about that,” Shadow Heart said with a frown.
“Yeah, we were called in pretty fast, so I didn't really have the time to brief everyone,” Captain Breeze said as the gangplank was shoved out towards the broken window. “All you needed to know was a dragon and his dog henchmen had taken hostages, and needed to be dealt with."
She just nodded at that, then jumped up onto the gangplank. “Well, let's see what we can glean from our new friend, then, shall we?”
He just grinned at that. “I don't see why not,” he said, jumping up after her.
* * *
“Clear!” a corporal said, coming back from one of the rooms.
“Here too!” another one shouted.
“What on earth happened here?” Lieutenant Burst asked as she looked over all the broken cases.
“It looks like they were searching for something, lieutenant. Keep an eye out for survivors, victims, and clues as well. See what you can piece together here,” Nightfall said to his troops.
“Sir! We've found survivors! Over here!” Nightfall heard, causing him to scramble towards the sound.
The survivors turned out to be a stallion, a mare, and two hyperactive, freaked out foals. “And and and and and it took its knife and just stabbed him! Over and over again! I I I I I-” one of them was saying as he waved his hooves around in emphasis.
“Sir, we found them like this in the stallion's bathroom, already got a statement,” the sergeant told him.
“Get them out of here and get them some warm cocoa, its a cold night, and I'm sure they need some time to process what happened,” Nightfall said with a wave of his hoof. “Talk to me sergeant, what did they say?”
“Well, apparently the mutts and their dragon leader broke in, and started rounding everypony up, gathering them to the third floor. They think they were some of the last ones taken, since they didn't see anyone else as they were being taken upstairs,” the sergeant said as he kept pace with his captain.
“Well sergeant, this is the second floor. If they had been taken like everypony else, what kept them from ending up upstairs like everypony else?” Nightfall asked pointedly.
“Well, according to the mare, some sort of dragon pretending to be a monster attacked the mutts who were guarding them. Scared the crap out of them, and managed to convince the dogs to give their prisoners over to him so he could eat them,” the sergeant said with a shake of his head.
“When you say pretend, I know there has to be another part of this story,” he said as he made his way up the stairs.
“Yes sir. They say that the dragon was just saying that to trick the dogs into giving him their prisoners, to keep them out of harm's way when he attacked the mutts. He almost got all of them, but, and I quote: 'the dragon's tongue missed, pulling him out of cover and ruined his plan.' unquote,” the sergeant said, reading from his notepad. “Personally, I think they're just shell-shocked, and most of what they said was exaggeration.”
Nightfall was about to respond to that, but was interrupted by a loud, drawn out wail of despair. Not wanting to rush into a potential trap, he calmly cantered towards the source of the noise, encountering many of Captain Breeze's crew along the way. This, coupled with the fact that they were shepherding many of the hostages, lead Nightfall to believe that whatever the sound was, it was relatively safe to be around.
Nightfall rounded the corner, only to be confronted with a most unusual sight. There, sitting propped up against the wall while surrounded by wary members of Captain Breeze's crew, was a strange, lizard-like creature, bawling its eyes out. Its leg seemed to be broken, if the way it bent like that was any indication of that sort of thing, though that didn't seem to be the reason for its tears.
The uneducated could have easily make the mistake of thinking it was some kind of dragon, but Nightfall knew better. To be honest, the thing looked more like a cross between a bipedal monitor lizard and a chameleon, though neither of those species were especially known for wearing clothes. It was also covered from head to foot in blood, though most of it, if not all of it, seemed to be someone else's.
All of this, of course, immediately set Nightfall on edge. He remembered the reports, the various missions that had all gone afoul, and the strange creatures running amok with weird powers. The Princesses had been run ragged in trying to stop them all, and so far has only succeeded in eliminating a few, while capturing none.
“Is... is that what I think it is?” Nightfall asked, inching a little closer.
“I think so, sir. It was fighting with the gray dragon from earlier, but took a tumble and got itself wounded,” Captain Breeze said as he reentered the room. “If it is indeed one of these things that have been causing so much trouble lately, we may be able to get some useful information out of it.”
Nightfall slowly circled the thing, a thoughtful look on his face. “Why is it crying, though?”
“I don't know, sir. It hasn't responded to any of our attempts to talk to it, and hasn't moved from that spot since we arrived. I was initially going to clap it in irons, but have since thought better of it,” Captain Breeze said as he kept pace with Captain Nightfall. “According to the accounts of several of the hostages, we should be giving this thing a medal, not putting it in a cell.”
Nightfall nodded at this as he continued to inspect the strange creature, but stopped when he noticed the sword on the ground not four yards away from the it. “What have we here?” he asked, leaning down to examine the weapon.
The sword was intricately wrought, inlaid with some kind of serpent motif on the crosspiece and blade, and bore a hilt wrapped in a fine, green leather. For a pommel, the sword had a beautifully cut gem that seemed to shimmer and change its color depending on which direction Nightfall looked at it.
“I'd be careful, sir. Most equipment recovered from these things have had some form of theft prevention enchantments,” Captain Breeze cautioned. “Judging by its belt, it also has a dagger of some kind lying around, though by the shear amount of blood that covers the weapon, I'd say it prefers to use its spear over there.”
Captain Nightfall looked over to where Captain Breeze motioned, noticing the long, bladed weapon lying on the floor. As he got closer, however, the crying of the strange creature suddenly came to a stop, causing the captain to quickly turn back to the creature.
“Well, that's just about enough of that...” he muttered to himself, then sniffed noisily, as if trying to hold back more tears. He then perked up, noticing for the first time that he wasn't alone. “Oh, good! The authorities! Just who I was hoping to see!” he said in a false chipper tone.
“I am Captain Nightfall, of the Equestrian Royal Guard, may I have your name, sir?” Nightfall asked cautiously. The creature didn't seem emotionally stable, and after 'Pyro Pete', he'd rather not take his chances with one of these things.
“Oh, sure. I was going to use the whole 'names have power' shtick, but I'm just not feeling up to it,” the creature said, its voice still falsely chipper. “My name's Ammon.”
“Well, Ammon, do you know what happened here?” he asked, moving in a little closer.
“Oh, yeah, sure. But after I tell you everything, you gotta take me off to jail, okay? Give me your deepest, darkest cell, and never let me out,” Ammon said, shaking a single finger at Nightfall.
“Why is that?” Nightfall asked, tilting his head quizzically.
“Because,” Ammon said dramatically, holding his arms out for emphasis. “I'm a murderer.”
* * *
Well, I gave a full confession, told them where my murder weapons were, even had witnesses to corroborate my story, and all the cops decided to do was put me in a hospital.
I mean, sure, they gave me a few guards, but they didn't even chain me up. They even left my murder weapons in the same room with me, almost as if they trusted me.
“But you know better, right?” a female voice asked, disrupting my rapidly declining thought process. “You killed those people in cold blood. You had the ability to spare their lives, could have just turned them in, but instead, you went straight for the kill.”
I didn't turn my head to where the voice was coming from. Rather, I propped my head up against one of my hands with my elbow braced against the armrest of my wheelchair, choosing to instead gaze listlessly out at the rain-swept streets below. “Sounds about right,” I sighed pathetically.
“Well, I have a list of about fifty ponies here, as well as their foals, that would say otherwise,” the voice said, coming a little closer. “I can understand your pain at taking another's life. It is not an easy burden to bear.”
“And this is the part where you tell me that it was the only way to save those other people? Who gave me the right to make that choice? To become judge, jury, and executioner?” I asked, shaking my head in anger. “What if those dogs had friends? Families? Who am I to play god like that?”
“You didn't make that choice. Rather, they made that choice for you the instant they raised their paws against the innocent,” The voice said, settling down somewhere near my right. “If it had not been by your claw, then it would have been by my hoof, or my sister's.”
As she said this, an all too familiar voice echoed in the back of my head, making me reconsider my guilt. “But nothing. I don't care who it is, I'll run my spear through anyone that has the audacity to hurt children.”
I then turned and looked at the stranger, my sight clouded by tears as I looked into those big, purple eyes. “Does it ever get easier?” I asked.
“Always pray that it doesn't,” she said, turning her head to look out the window, her beautiful, Aurora Borealis of a mane fluttering in a wind I could not feel. “Killing should never be something that one takes lightly, but you must remember. To stay your sword is to invite death. Not just death for you, but death for those that you protect and defend.”
I just sniffled at that, then slapped my legs with my hands. “Well, I'm not getting any younger just sitting here and thinking about how much I suck, so why don't you just tell me why you're really here,” I asked, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. I was trying my best to put up a good face for my guest, but all her words really did was put perspective on this whole debacle. If I was ever going to get home, it was apparent that I was going to have to kill a lot more people.
Honestly, I didn't think my heart could take it.
“I need information,” she said, bringing me back to the present as she looked out the window at the rain-swept streets below. “Anything you know about the conflict sweeping my nation would be greatly appreciated.”
I just shook my head at that. “I'm sorry, lady, but you probably know more about what's happening than me. I only just got here, and the person who sent me deliberately told me as little as possible.”
“Wait, you were sent here? Why? For what purpose?” The white unicorn asked me in a rush, her head snapping to look at me with questioning, worried eyes.
“Huh, perhaps I do know a little more than you,” I said, raising an eye-ridge at her.
“I would think so. Most of those that have been causing trouble have either fought until the death, or have run the moment I or my sister made the scene. They seem to strike at random, and each has a goal that seems to be completely different from the others,” she said shaking her head. “The little I do know is that they all seem to think this is some sort of game, or contest, with the winner taking home some sort of spoil.”
“Well, you got the contest part right,” I said with a sigh. “I suppose I should start from the beginning. Though, as I've said before, the person that sent me here told me very little. On purpose.”
She just smiled at that. “Anything you can tell me would be appreciated,” she said again.
“Well, it all began back home. I was trying to make it to a hot date, when my ride broke down...”
* * *
Gorthok the Devourer looked down at the playing pieces, squinting an eye at the move The Lady just made. “Hey, that's cheating. You can't have your piece go and tell the neutrals about the game!”
The Lady just smiled at that, her piercing stare boring through the god of destruction. “I believe that the rules specifically state that our pieces are only bound by as much information that we give them. By giving my piece the bare bones of the situation, and not even telling him my objective, I believe I've set him free to act according to his own will.”
“Wait, you didn't even tell it why you sent it there?” Gorthok asked, a little flabbergasted at the boldness of The Lady's move. “How will it know what to do to complete your objective?”
“But therein lies the beauty of her plan, don't you see,” Fate said, thumping his walking stick against the floor. “The Lady isn't after control over this planet, she just wants to make sure you don't get it.”
Gorthok just grumbled at that, and folded his arms in disgust. “I still have control of the Circle, all that her tactics have done is delayed me for a few turns.”
“Ah, but there is where you are wrong, my dear fellow,” The Storm of Storms said with a grin. “I saw through your little maneuver, and stole the Circle right out from under you while your 'invincible' gray dragon was busy. Masterful move, by the way, M'lady.”
“Wait, you did what?” Gorthok shouted in disgust. “That means I'm going to have to start all over again!”
“Exactly, my dear boy,” Fate said jovially. “Don't think we weren't on to you. Having your minions summon you to the realm is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and by far the easiest to counter. Simply by trying that tactic, you're opening yourself up to be stopped by all sorts of heroes. Why, it's practically a law of causality, at this point.”
Gorthok just grumbled some more at that, then glared at Fate's smug looking face. “Okay, well, who's turn is it, then?” he asked, frustration clear in his voice.
“I believe it was mine,” The Queen of Shadows said, picking up the dice. “And I believe my next move will be... here.”
"Oh ho ho! Trying to take out the new player before he's able to get the wind back into his sails?” The Storm of Storms asked, raising an eyebrow with interest.
“I don't see why that kind of move would kill the new player,” Gorthok said with a grunt.
“That's because you don't think things through, Devourer,” The Queen of Shadows said with a sigh. “The new player has already shown that he will jump into the face of danger to protect the innocent. By moving there, while he's vulnerable, I have set a trap that he will invariably spring.”
The Lady just smiled at that, then shook her head. “Well, go ahead and roll, if you think you can topple my champion,” she said, her smile taking on a slightly predatory gleam.
“It would be my pleasure,” The Queen said as she tossed the dice.