//------------------------------// // 29: The Bastards // Story: The Jolly Rogers // by lockheed //------------------------------// ~~~~~ 20:45 Hours May 1, 1987 Canterlot Castle ~~~~~ Looking back outside at the paratroopers I felt my heart sink. Crouching down to be face to face with Thunderstreak, I grabbed her hoof. “Thunderstreak, you know I love you right?” “Of course. But I don’t think this is the time to do a state of the relationship check.” She said as she glanced out past the balcony. “I need you to do me a favor. It’s the most important thing I can ask of you right now. I need you to get out of here. Go down to the garage and have Lyra get you the hell out of here. Understood?” I asked as I looked into her blue eyes. “And what about you?” She replied with tears in her eyes. “You stay here and fight just so you can be captured or killed?” “I swore an oath to protect this country. Even if it means giving my life to do so. Now,” standing back up I looked down at her “get out of here. In our vows we said we’d obey each other. Well now I’m asking you to do as I say.” She nodded before turning and galloping down the main flight of stairs. Turning around I saw Austin and Soarin standing by a table. Nodding my head I clicked my tongue as I looked down at the floor. Reaching in my inside pocket I pulled out my M1911 and looked back up. “Alright, boys. Let’s get to work.” Cocking the pistol I walked down the grand staircase towards the palace armory. The sound of the hob nails in my boot heels echoed off the walls of the empty corridor and ahead I could hear two voices speaking German. Suddenly two men in SS uniforms came around the corner with MP 40s in their hands. Raising my pistol I squeezed the trigger just as they noticed me. The first shot hit the one to the left in the chest and I fired at the second one before he had time to fire. He dropped to the floor and I continued towards them. Stopping next to the bodies I crouched down before placing my pistol back in my pocket and taking their submachine guns. “James,” Turning around I saw Austin and Soarin standing behind me holding machine guns “we found these in the guard armory upstairs. Will they do?” Standing up, I grabbed the Thompson from Austin and looked it over. “You grab more clips?” “Of course.” Handing the gun back to him I looked down at the gun Soarin had grabbed. “Hoofheld thirty caliber. Good choice.” I said as I looked at the gun and the ammo belts he had across his back. “Now, “ holding the German’s MP 40s in each hand I gave a small nod “let’s go down swinging.” Turning around I began to jog down the corridor that lead to the armory under the War Department. Ahead of me I saw the large, bronze colored doors to the armory. Smiling to myself I heard Austin and Soarin stop behind me. “James?” Stopping, I turned around and was met with fourteen enemy machine guns aimed at us. Looking at all the enemy troops I realized there was no way of getting out alive if I fired. Thankfully though, we had our own ace up our sleeve. Setting the MP 40s down I looked at Soarin who appeared to have the same thought as me. Nodding to Soarin he began to crouch down. “Austin, fire!” Dropping to the floor I heard the sound of machine gun fire which ceased a few seconds later. Looking up I saw fourteen dead griffins and Austin lying on the floor. Getting up I walked over towards him and I saw him weakly smiling up at me. “Wanna see a light show?” Grabbing Soarin’s leg, I dragged him up and we backed away to a safe distance. We watched as Austin let out a deep breath before he suddenly burst into flames. Looking on I watched as he turned to ash. Pulling back my left sleeve I looked at my watch. A moment later a shape began to form in the ash and Austin sat up gasping for breath. Once he caught his breath he smiled at us before looking down. “Am I naked?” “Doesn’t bother me.” Soarin said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “There’s a time and a place.” I said before either could continue that conversation. Austin ran his tongue along his teeth and let out a small “hmm”. “New teeth. I don’t like them.” He said as he stood up. Removing my jacket I handed it to him. “What’s this for?” “You don’t need to be running around with that out. Just, cover up please.” I told him as I walked past him to the armory doors. Taking out my key for the armory I opened the door and walked inside. Freezing on the spot I looked down the barrel of a Karabiner 98K. Looking past the muzzle of the rifle I saw a griffin in a Luftwaffe enlisted uniform. Behind him there was a large hole in the wall of the armory where it had been smashed in. “General Jones, you are now in the custody of the Imperial Griffin Air Force. Place your hands on top of your head.” Raising my hands I made to look like I was obeying. As my hands got to the same level as the barrel of the rifle I grabbed it and pushed the gun away from me. Lunging at the griffin I forced him to the floor but he retaliated by slashing across my chest with his talons. Screaming out in pain I felt him shove me off him before pinning me to the floor. Looking up at the griffin over me I brought my right knee up into his gut before rolling to pin him under me again. As he started to thrash about I took my thumb and jammed it into his left eye, causing him to let out an ear shattering scream of anguish. Feeling his eyeball being crushed I removed my thumb and reached for the knife on my boot. Grabbing my knife I brought it up before driving it down and into his forehead, silencing the screaming griffin. Taking a moment to catch my breath I stood up and looked around at the weapons in the armory. Grabbing a few hand grenades and some more ammunition for my pistol I walked back out into the corridor. I saw Austin had tied my jacket around his waist and was now standing ready with the Thompson. I gave them both two grenades and then made my way a safe distance down before pulling the pin on one of my grenades. From the other side of the armory came shouting in German and I threw the grenade down the corridor into the armory. Ducking around the corner I braced myself for what was to come. The grenade went off, and with it, so did everything else in the armory. A cloud of smoke and debris rolled down the corridor and I began running the opposite direction. Meeting up with Austin and Soarin I led the way down a staff stairwell and into the hidden worker’s passageways. “These passages lead to every part of the castle. And if the enemy is using the main corridors to make their way through the palace, then these worker’s passages are our best chance to get out and into the fight.” I said as we turned right and began our walk down another of the small hallways. The white paint seemed to reflect the light from the small electric lights overhead. The drone of another wave of aircraft came from overhead and the lights flickered as explosions came from the city. A few seconds later we stopped in front of a white door at the end of the passage. “Well boys, you ready?” They nodded and I flung the door open. Running outside I crouched and made my way over to a small stone wall. Waving my hand for Austin and Soarin to make their way over I peeked over the wall. Down below us the city was quickly being overrun by griffin troops and I could see the airstrip on the far side of the city being bombed to pieces. “Son of a bitch. That was our best chance of getting back at ‘em. And our best chance of getting out of here alive.” I said as I sat down and leaned back against the wall. “What about the highway?” Soarin asked. “If we can get a halftrack, a tank, even just a Jeep with a machine gun; we can fight our way to the highway and get to Ponyville to regroup.” “He’s right.” Austin said as he looked over the wall again before sitting down next to me. “Emergency protocols dictate that in the event of an invasion force landing in the capitol the royal family, cabinet members, and general officers and staff are to be relocated to Ponyville.” “Have you seen the number of troops down there? We would need a tank to get through.” I told them in a defeated voice. As we sat there I heard steps to our left and raised my gun. I saw a brown earth pony stallion in the sight of my gun and I lowered the weapon. “First Sergeant Dusty Hooves, sir. Tenth Armored Division.” He said with a salute. Giving what could’ve been considered a salute I stood up and looked him over. “You a driver?” “Yes, sir.” Standing up I walked over to him. “Has the enemy captured your base yet?” “Yes, sir. But I was able to get my Sherman out.” He said with a small bit of pride as he waved a hoof towards a tank hidden under some branches in the palace gardens. Walking over to the tank, I smiled at Austin and Soarin. “Boys, I think I just found our way home.” ~~~~~ 04:00 Hours May 2, 1987 Griffin Occupied Canterlot ~~~~~ “Well boys, we tried.” I said as we were marched through the gates of a makeshift POW camp in Canterlot City Park. Around us griffins watched as captured troops finished erecting what could be described as a tent city. Several of the troops looked up at us as we entered the camp and I saw a number of them look down in defeat at the sight of me. The griffin that was holding a gun to us silently pointed us to a tent and turned to return to the gate. Walking over to the gigantic canvas tent we lifted the flap and saw two rows of fourteen cots. Some of the troops looked up at us and one began approaching us. “General Jones?” The tan stallion asked. “Yep. You are?” “Colonel Thunder Chaser of the 509th Bomb Group.” He said with a relaxed salute which I returned. “So Colonel, got any escape plans?” I asked in a hushed tone as I leaned towards him. “A couple. We’ve already figured out the guard for our area. He’s clumsy, overweight, and not exactly the brightest.” “We’ll call him Shultz.” I said with a smile as I walked forward towards an unclaimed cot. Lying down on the hard cot I closed my eyes to take a nap. And then the guard showed up. “Roll call, everybody! Roll call! Out, out, out, out, out!” Opening my eyes I saw an overweight griffin crammed into an overly tight uniform. His helmet was slightly askew and he had a rifle slung over his shoulder. He turned and made his way to the next tent as we all filed out and formed two rows of seven. He counted us as other guards counted the prisoners from other tents. After almost an hour we were dismissed back to our tents as the sun began to peak over the horizon. Walking into the tent I placed a hand on the Colonel’s shoulder. “Colonel, do you happen to know how to make a radio?” ~~~~~ 20:25 Hours May 2, 1987 Stalag Luft 23, Canterlot ~~~~~ Everyone in our tent crowded around the home made radio. Though it was a crudely built device made of parts smuggled in by other prisoners, we managed to get it tuned into the now griffin controlled Radio Canterlot. Outside, a noise got our attention and I hurriedly covered the radio with a wool blanket as another prisoner got out a deck of cards we’d been given by the guards. The flap to our tent lifted and the fat guard waddled his way over to us. “What are you doing?” He asked as he craned neck to see in the middle of our little group. “Playing cards.” I responded looking up at him while the other inmate shuffled the cards. “I’d ask if you’d like to join us but only bits is good in this game.” The stallion across from me dealt the cards as the guard gave a small “hmph” and made his way out of the tent. We uncovered the radio and reconnected a wire to turn on the radio. “Greetings everybody! This is number one enemy, Axis Aerith, of Radio Canterlot.” The female voice said. This was to be the first of the daily ‘Axis Aerith’ radio shows that troops would get laughs and joy from. Of course, we weren’t aware of this and unbeknownst to myself, we weren’t the only ones listening. ~~~~~ 20:35 Hours May 2, 1987 1237 N. Main St. Ponyville ~~~~~ Thunderstreak sat on the couch looking at the radio as Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder. In the kitchen, Celestia removed a kettle of tea from the stove and set it on a silver tray. Grabbing it with her magic she took the tray into the living room and set it on the coffee table. In the corner of the room the radio was tuned to Radio Canterlot. “And now, a very special tune for Colonel Thunderstreak from us here in Canterlot.” The voice from the radio said and a moment later Moonlight Serenade began to play. Thunderstreak, who had already been crying, launched the tray of tea at the radio in a fit of anger before falling back onto the couch. Placing her face in her hooves she let out a sob that rang through the room. Luna wrapped her forelegs around Thunderstreak while Celestia turned off the radio and set about cleaning up the tea and shattered cups. ~~~~~ 00:25 Hours May 3, 1987 Stalag Luft 23, Canterlot ~~~~~ We huddled around a map of the city drawn in the dirt floor and looked between the map and each other. A single match illuminated the map as Colonel Thunder Chaser came over next to me. “Alright, everypony here?” The colonel asked. Everyone nodded and the colonel and I each grabbed sticks we’d found outside. “Let the briefing begin. Boys, tonight we escape Canterlot.” “Sir,” A yellow earth pony raised his hoof. “how will we escape with so many griffins in the city?” “Because we have a secret member we’ve recruited. George, will you come in here please?” The colonel said in a loud whisper and a moment later the fat griffin guard made his way inside. “Our guard George has agreed to help us out of the city in exchange for asylum in Equestria. Now, there’s a few things that need taken care of first. George, did you manage to get a truck for transport?” “I did. The commandant bought the fake transfer papers so he thinks you’re getting flown to Stalag Luft Three. And I’ve got the papers here for the other one.” George replied as he laid his rifle on one of the cots. “Good. Now, General Jones, will you explain stage two?” Colonel Thunder Chaser asked to which I nodded. “There are camps all across Canterlot. Most of them are dedicated to holding civilians. Among those civilians is a pegasus stallion who was under the protection of the government. He’s one of a few ponies who possesses what we codenamed ‘the Gift’. We had brought him in from his cloud house outside Ponyville to do some research, see if we could possibly give his abilities to other ponies. The griffins found some unburned documents on him in the war department and are planning on having him flown to the Griffin Empire to perform their own research on him. This means they’re going to dissect him like a middle school science project. No offence.” I said as I turned to George. “None taken.” “Now, he is listed as a top priority for immediate rescue and evacuation. The rest are unfortunately listed as collateral damage in the eyes of the general staff.” “Collateral damage? That’s my family you’re talking about!” A grey pegasus almost shouted before being silenced by the other prisoners. “You think I don’t know that? Look, if I could rescue everypony in this city, I would. I don’t like the thought of leaving anyone here as much as any of you. But we have to think about Equestria. We all swore an oath. Now I’m willing to abide mine. And if any of you break yours, I’ll personally see to it that you’re shot for treason or desertion. Now, our target is codenamed ‘Fire Bolt’. He’s black with a blue muzzle and a blue and black mane and tail. Shouldn’t be hard to find. George, is the truck ready to go?” “Yes sir. It is warmed up and awaiting you for transport.” George replied with a salute. I saluted back and looked down at the map. “Now, we’re here,” I pointed to the central park on the map before pointing to an area near the castle. “the other camp is here. We have to get dangerously close to the enemy headquarters. That’s why George here found us a solution.” George produced a folded SS major’s uniform and a blond wig. “Uh, sir?” The same yellow earth pony from before raised his hoof again as he looked at the SS uniform. “That’s a human uniform.” “Yep. George killed a human SS officer for us just for this.” I told them as I began to take off my uniform and put on the SS uniform. Buttoning up the jacket I smiled to myself. “Bit snug in the chest but not too bad.” I said as I pulled up the black riding pants. Slipping on the boots, the wig, and the peaked cap I smiled to myself and gave a slow spin for the others in the tent. “Not bad, huh? Say colonel, did you ever decide on a name for us tonight?” “Yeah. We’re calling ourselves the Bastards.” He replied. “Alright. Come on Bastards. To the truck.” I said as I walked towards the flap for the tent. Stepping out into the warm spring night, I walked over to the back of the waiting truck and undid the latches on the tailgate. Lowering the gate, I stood by as all the ponies in the tent climbed in. Once everypony was inside I closed the gate and made my way up to the passenger side of the cab. Opening the door I climbed in and sat on the canvas seat. George climbed in, his stomach almost against the steering wheel, and shifted the truck into drive. We approached the camp gate which was opened by the operator with a wave to George as we drove by. Now driving on the trail that turned into one of the many streets in Canterlot, I breathed a small sigh of relief at our escape from camp. Looking in the side mirror at the barbed wire fence behind us I smiled to myself but let it drop when I remembered what was ahead of us. Up ahead we could see the lights from the next camp. George slowed the truck a couple blocks before the camp and turned towards the gate. The gate for the second camp swung open and George drove us in. Tensing up, I saw the building being used for the camp commandant. The truck screeched to a halt and I swung the door open. Stepping down, I grabbed the fake transfer papers from George and walked towards the camp office. The two guards by the door snapped to attention before one opened the door for me. Walking into the building I saw the light for the commandant’s office was still on. Knocking on the door I heard a groan from the griffin inside. “Come in!” The griffin called from the other side of the door. Grabbing the handle, I opened the door and saw the griffin’s eyes go wide at the sight of me. He stood up and snapped to attention, his talons forming the familiar Nazi salute. I raised my right hand and he relaxed slightly. “Lieutenant, I am here to pick up a prisoner of yours for transport.” I said with my best German accent as I handed him the fake papers. He looked them over before nodding. “Everything seems to be in order. I’ll have one of the guards get him for you.” “Oh, that von’t be necessary. Vhat tent is he in?” “Number twelve.” The commandant replied as he handed me back the papers. Saluting him again, I made my way outside and looked around the camp. About twenty yards away, a tent with the number twelve painted on it caught my attention. Walking over to it I opened the flap and saw all the occupants in their beds. Quietly stepping inside, I removed the SS cap and began to walk down the middle of the camp, looking for the pegasus we had come for. I finally saw the blue in his mane and quietly made my way over by his cot. Crouching down next to him, I began to rouse him from his sleep. “Hey,” I whispered as I gently nudged him in the shoulder with my hand. “I need you to wake up.” His eyes barely got open before he glanced at me. His eyes shot open at the SS collar tabs. Quickly placing my hand over his mouth I began to explain myself. “I’m Commanding General James Jones of the Royal Equestrian Air Force. I have a truck waiting outside that will get you out of here and back home.” Removing my hand I saw his wings were missing some feathers. “They removed your primary flight feathers like all the other pegasi. They’ll grow back but it’ll be awhile. Look, they think I’m here to transfer you to the Griffin Empire so just act a bit nervous and don’t think about the fact they’ll shoot us if they figure us out.” Grabbing his shoulder I gave him a small smile. “No pressure.” Standing up, I placed the cap back on my head and took a few steps back as he rolled off his cot. He reached under his pillow and produced a book which he then tucked under his wing for safekeeping. Letting him lead the way, I made sure to keep a hand on the pistol on my hip. To this day I still don’t know how they didn’t catch on sooner. As I ‘marched’ the pegasus to the truck, I made sure to keep an eye on the guards. When we reached the truck I breathed a sigh of relief as I lowered the tailgate and the other ‘prisoners’ helped him into the truck. “By the way, never did catch your actual name.” “Harts Fire.” He replied as he took a seat in the back of the truck. Slamming the gate shut I climbed back into the passenger seat and looked over at George. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” I said as I removed the cap. George put the truck in drive, made a U-turn, and drove out the camp gates. As we drove through the occupied city, I made sure to keep my eyes peeled for anything that would threaten the mission. Like he had read my mind, George spoke up from the driver’s seat. “I’m sure we’ll make it, sir.” “And if we need to hide or fight while in the city?” I asked as I looked over at him. “We can find a basement or something.” “You know the problem with that though, George? Fighting in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you're fighting in a fucking basement.” I replied as I crossed my arms and looked back at the road ahead of us. The truck bounced as we drove through the cobblestone streets of Canterlot. “Now, there’s going to be troops patrolling around the edge of the occupied zone. So we need to find an area they’re not going to be at during this time of night.” “The old trading trail on the southwest side of the city. No griffins go there because they’ve heard there’s timber wolfs in the woods around it. It’s just wide enough to accommodate a truck.” “Then we go there.” ~~~~~ 01:50 Hours May 3, 1987 Greenridge Forest ~~~~~ We all stood next to the truck and looked in the direction of Canterlot. Undoing the buttons on the black SS jacket, I took it off and threw it to the side of the road. Leaning my head back against the side of the truck I let out a sigh and looked at the stars above us. Looking down again, I looked over at Harts Fire who had his face in his book. “Harts?” He looked up from his book at me as his eyes adjusted from looking at the pages. “I know you’re probably tired but just to ensure that everything is fine, I need you to test your wings” “I thought they removed some of his feathers?” Someone asked to which I held up a hand before pointing to Harts as he walked a few yards away. He took a deep before his wings shot upward and fire shot into the sky. Everyone looked on in a mix of awe and terror as blue flames came from his wingtips and turned into red/orange bolts of fire that rose into the sky. He quickly folded his wings which caused the flames to be extinguished. As he turned around I saw the others still staring at him. He quietly trotted over and picked up his book and turned to the page he had left off with. “Maybe we should go ahead and get going again before they figure out we escaped. I’m sure that could be seen in Canterlot.” I said as I opened the passenger door of the truck. Setting my right foot up on the step, I looked back at Austin who was climbing into the back of the truck. Looking down at my boot for a moment I sighed and climbed into the cab. George climbed in on the other side and started up the truck. He had stripped himself of his uniform the moment he had left the truck and it now sat between us folded on the seat. As we started going down the road I noticed George glancing over at me. “Something on your mind?” “Yeah, what was that back there?” “That, George, was Harts Fire. He’s one of only a few non-unicorns in the world who has abilities like that. And even unicorns have difficulty controlling things like fire.” “So, he can shoot bolts of fire from his wingtips?” “Yeah. There’s a mare we had on file who can manipulate stone with a wave of her hoof. We think they’re either what’s left of an almost extinct type of pony or the next evolutionary step in ponykind. And even though just one of them could wipe out entire divisions of troops without breaking a sweat, we’ve found that they’re all pacifists. They’ll only fight if they feel it’s absolutely necessary so we can’t exactly recruit them to fight for us. We do want to study them though. If we can figure out how they have their abilities then we might be able to give them to others. Those who will fight for us. Honestly I’d rather have them fighting on the front lines than any kind of tank or plane.” I said as I remembered the SS cap on my head and removed it. Tossing it out the window, I laid my head back against the rear of the cab and watched the beams from the headlights dance across the dirt road with every bump. Looking up at the moon in the sky I began to whistle Moonlight Serenade quietly to myself. Then from the back I heard a chorus of whistles join in. Looking through the small window between the cab and the back of the truck, I saw Austin and Soarin dancing as the ponies on the benches in the back whistled along. Turning back around towards the front, I laid back and closed my eyes. ~~~~~ 03:05 Hours May 3, 1987 1237 N. Main St. Ponyville, Equestria ~~~~~ “Jimmy.” Austin poked me in the shoulder and in my still half asleep state I turned in my seat and adjusted my head to get comfortable again. “Jimmy, get up.” Ignoring him, I relaxed again and tried to resume my sleep. It was then that a hand grabbed me by the back of my shirt collar and dragged me out of the seat. Falling through the air, I hit the ground with a grunt and laid there. Shrugging my shoulders I rolled over onto my side and placed my hands under my head. Austin sighed and grabbed me by my shoulders and lifted me up. I suddenly felt a stinging in my cheek as at the same moment a smack noise sounded through the air. My eyes shot open and I looked at Austin in surprise. “Did you just slap me awake?” “Uh, maybe?” He said with hesitation at answering. “If you did then I will fucking punch you into paralysis.” I said as I slowly got up. Removing my tie, I slowly walked towards the front door of my home and tossed the black tie onto the yard as I undid the top button of my shirt. Opening the door as quietly as I could I stopped halfway through and turned around. Waving for Austin to come to me, he hurried over and placed a hand on the door frame. “Yeah?” “Bring Harts Fire over here.” He walked over to the back of the truck and I saw him talking to the stallion that was hidden behind the cover over the back of the truck. Harts Fire climbed out of the truck and made his way up the path to the door. “Harts-I can call you Harts, right?” He nodded his head as I smiled a small bit. “Since you can’t fly for a little bit and we won’t be able to get your cloud house to ground level until tomorrow; how about you spend the night? We have a guest room and I won’t take no for an answer.” “I suppose it would be rude to decline such an offer from someone like yourself. Especially if I can’t reach my house.” He replied with a smirk at the last part. Stepping aside I let him enter the house before quietly showing him to the guest room. Opening the door I told him to make himself at home. After a few minutes showing him where the lower level bathroom was, I bid him goodnight and made my way upstairs. Quietly opening the bedroom door, I walked over to the bed and gently sat down on my side. Ignoring Thunderstreak’s snoring I laid down and rolled over to face towards her. Her side gently rose and fell with her breathing/snoring and her chest fur was ruffled from whatever she was dreaming about. Scooting closer to her I felt her fore hooves suddenly shoot out and grab me, my head being pressed against her soft fur. As she held me there I noticed her snoring had stopped and instead I heard her sniffle. “Don’t you ever worry me like that again, James. I thought I’d lost you.” She said as her voice cracked. “If I lost you, I don’t know what I’d do.” “Every thought and every dream I had since the other night has been about getting back to you.” “I love you, James.” Thunderstreak said as she pulled me even closer than she already had. “I love you too, honey." I replied as I wrapped my arms around her and felt my eyes start to water. "I love you too.”