//------------------------------// // Burning Night (Part 2) // Story: Ultimatum // by OmniscientTurtle //------------------------------// Stormcrasher sat in that small electronic filled room, thinking. An eerie silence had taken hold of the scene, leaving only the mismatched sound of leaf under hoof to fill the room. The machine would occasionally interrupt with a whirr or crackle now and then. Stormcrasher wasn’t much of a thinker; he’d be the first to admit that to anypony, but the last words that had struck a chord with something. Important; how the hay was he important? He wasn’t even sure if he qualified as an actual soldier, and yet the chief and this Polearm fellow were treating him just like that. And Polearm’s eerie premonition. Those were the kind of things you’d see in movies, or you’d hear your mother say to tell you to be careful when you went out with your friends. In the case of the latter, that usually meant nothing. Then again, the situation he was in was more like the former, where saying those lines basically meant something bad was going to happen. He wasn’t scared, though. Not, at, all. The darkness in that room seemed to grow with every passing minute; whether this was a result of him becoming more tired or what, he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure whether it was morning or night; what he did know was that he should’ve been asleep at that moment. The idea was becoming more alluring; it would be the first time sleeping on his new job. “Why else would they put you there and not here with the rest of us?” Those words. They wouldn’t vacate his head, no matter how much he pleaded or begged, and they always seemed to resurface at the oddest of times. What the hay did he mean by that anyway? That they thought he was important? It was a downright lie, and he knew it. They viewed him as nothing more than a desk monkey who was good for nothing more than making sure a machine did what it was supposed to. So what had made Polearm so different? In relation to the other stallions on that mission, the differences between them were small. It might’ve seemed stereotypical, but Stormcrasher could tell from just his voice. He was a paragon brute, complete with a deep voice that made mares swoon and little stallions like him green with envy. He hadn’t met this guy in person, but the vision his imagination was conjuring was that of a large beefy stallion, complete with the weapon of his namesake. This same stallion had broken the long bout of silence, merely to chat with him. The first idea that came to him was that it had been out of boredom, and that Polearm had just viewed him as a way to pass the time. After all, what other purpose could a guy like Polearm have with a little guy like him? But then, why had Polearm been so friendly? He had to have known of the chief’s animosity to talking, yet he’d done it anyway. He’d risked getting yelled at, simply to console him. And perhaps that was the biggest mystery. In the aftermath of a scolding by the chief, he’d immediately gone to his side, chatting with him to get his mind off of it. Stormcrasher’s image of this stallion would have only added to the ridicule, as he was sure at least one of the others there had done. But Polearm had even gone so far as to talk about his family, a very personal subject for anypony, and had then proceeded to attempt to change his views on his position, saying he was ‘important’. Was he telling the truth? He shook the thoughts out of his head. If only he had a good book to keep his mind off these thoughts. He sighed, reclining back in his chair. As he laid his head back into the cushion of the chair, something with the machine caught his attention. The volume of the machine had suddenly increased, and the clear tone had turned into a garbled mess of sonance. Curious, Stormcrasher pressed the button that would get him in touch with the chief, the one who would have answers to this sudden mystery. “Equest 1, come in.” It took a few seconds for the chief to respond. “Copy, Stormcrasher.” “What’s going on over there?” “There’s a tower of smoke coming from what we believe to be the target destination. We’ll arrive in less than two minutes. Stay on stand by.” The stallion felt a chill run up along his spine. Towers of smoke didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Curiosity motivating him, the stallion did what he was told and flipped the switch that would keep the relays of all the members on. He could now tell they were shouting orders at each other, the most prominent of that being the chief’s voice. To keep a closer tab on the situation, he grabbed a pair of wireless headphones, switching another lever to change the signal to them. Their hoofsteps became much more hurried. He could hear leaves rustle under their hooves as they ran to whatever it was out there. He inched closer to the speakers, as if it would hurry the time and get him his news faster. All at once, the noises stopped. “My god…” the chief spoke, softer than the rookie had imagined he could. “What’s happening?” Stormcrasher yelled again. The chief spoke up immediately, but it wasn’t directed at him. “You two, set up a barrier to contain what’s left of the it. Make sure it doesn’t spread. You three, get some rainclouds and put out what’s left. Polearm, you come with me to search for survivors. Regroup in the square at twenty one hundred hours. Move, move, move!” Stormcrasher couldn’t take it any longer. He switched relays to Polearm. When he did, he heard hurried breaths. “Polearm, do you read!” He was afraid he would be ignored again, until the familiar voice came on. “Copy that.” “What’s the situation over there?” “The village. It’s been burnt to the ground!” At that moment, Stormcrasher’s fear fell over him. He didn’t want to believe it. He really didn’t want to believe that those were the words he’d just heard. It couldn’t have been right; no, it must’ve been the machine or something. It was old, it could easily mistranslate a word or two. Reason had other plans for him. What Polearm had said made perfect sense with the hysteria that the unit had exhibited before. The tower of smoke now had a viable source. There was no denying it. He didn’t want to believe it, but he had no choice. “Stay on the line! We might need more men if we can’t handle this.” Stormcrasher swallowed hard, fear eating away at him from the inside. Hundreds of questions materialized in his mind, none of which he knew could be answered until the unit actually went in and investigated. He thought it would never happen, but for once, he wanted to be out there where the action was, if only to get his answers. “You’ve got an important job…” The words flashed through his mind at just the right time. Now wasn’t the time for him to wonder what he could be doing. He had a job he had to do here. Studying it carefully, he examined the various buttons and levers of the machine, making sure it would record everything that they said from now on. This was an important event, after all, and he was the one in charge of eventually relaying it all to HQ. After checking the machine, he tuned in, sat straight, and waited. ----- An hour passed, seeming much longer to Stormcrasher than it should have; apprehension had a way of doing that. It had gotten progressively faster as time had gone on, as the treatment of the crisis had become more fluent. The two unicorns had quickly and efficiently kept the fire from moving outside of the village, before moving to aid the three pegasi on putting out what was left. They’d worked like a well-oiled machine, not individually, but as a unit. The same could not be said for the two earth ponies of the squadron. The chief and Polearm had had no luck in locating any survivors, much to their dismay. Still, he had to give them credit. They’d remained vigilant, not giving up despite the growing number of burned down houses that they’d entered, only to return empty hooved. Even so, Stormcrasher had expected at least a few survivors to turn up. They’d searched every house, every store, yet nopony had turned up. Nopony alive, at least. The squad members had gathered back in the square, now safe from any fire. Stormcrasher still monitored the situation, if only in sound. “How’d it turn out?” one of the ones he didn’t know by name asked. Polearm and the chief let the question disappear on his lips, answering only with silence. “Oh, I see…” The chief cleared his throat before resuming. “In any case, good work, everypony. Now that the fire has been contained, I want you all to…” The sound came from nowhere. It was the most horrible thing Stormcrasher could ever fathom. It was a deafening roar, ear-piercing even after being muted by radio waves. Stormcrasher tore his headphones off in lieu of becoming deaf. From what he could make out, it was like that of a dragon, but much deeper and savage. It was loud enough to cut into the inner workings of the machine, releasing a high-pitched noise that cut through the control room. After a few moments, the sound faded, and the voices of the stallions once again took over. However, they were not like they’d been before. The machine now cut out bits and pieces of their speech, and the speech itself was much more garbled. “*whirrrrr* what…*whirrrr* that !*fzzz*” The machine before him started to sputter and crackle, delaying their words. Yet, he could tell there was something off about their tones, even through the machine. The cold sweat from before crept back, crawling underneath his skin like a icy snake. “ It’s coming *zzzzzzz* get aw-!*zzzzzz*” Only now, he heard a new sound. Destruction, the noises of stone and wood breaking under a mighty force, a juggernaut. “It’s useless, retr…” The machine emulated sound, of that he was certain. It copied sound, and that was all he had to work with. So the sounds that followed were all his imagination had. “Aaa, Aaaugh, AAAAAAUGH!!! *crrrrkllllleee*” His eyes widened. “SOMEPONY, HELP M- *bzzzzzz*” The thumping in his chest threatened to break through his breastplate. “No, no, no, no, NO- *whirrrrrr“ His pupils shrank in fear of that which they could not see. “Aaaauuugghh!!! No, get awa- *thisshig rrerk*” His entire body shook. That horrible roar. And the machine became silent. ----- “No! No no no no no no!” He pressed every button he could, forgetting about what each one actually did. “There’s gotta be somepony there. Somepony, anypony, do you copy?!” He waited. He waited forever, for some glimmer of hope that he so desperately wanted to appear. He would give anything, anything at all for a single sound from that machine that would put an end to this nightmare. But the machine remained silent. Silence. That was all that existed. Even when he threw himself forward, tears streaming out of his eyes, it felt silent. What he muttered, near silent. Even his thoughts were silent. “No… this was a checkup… this wasn’t supposed to happen. It was just a checkup…” The tears he’d been suppressing broke through the dam, flowing onto the table. “It was just a checkup…” His form remained in that position, not moving, for an indiscernible amount of time, repeating that single statement. “*whirrrrr* Stormcrasher… *whirrrrrrr*” A voice? “ *whiirrrrrriiiiiiiii* Stormcrasher, do you copy? *whiiirrk*” A voice! It was soft, but he wasn’t dreaming, at least he hoped he wasn’t. They weren’t dead, and it was familiar. “Polearm! Is that you?” “Yeah, it’s…” The sound of fervent coughing filled the speaker. “… me.” “What happened to the rest of the unit?” he asked hurriedly, his mouth not able to keep up with the sudden influx of thoughts. “What happened to the chief?” “The chief’s dead. I’m the only one left.” Those weren’t the words he wanted to hear. “A-are you sure?! No-none of them survived?” “Yeah, and…” The stallion on the other end cried in pain, sending Stormcrasher cringing back in a pseudo-mirror of the feeling. “Shit… I’m not gonna last much longer,” he continued, much weaker than before. His last words took a few moments to register with Stormcrasher. “Wha… What do you mean you’re not gonna last much longer? What happened?” “I don’t… COUGH!… know. I managed to get away from that thing, but I’ve got a huge piece of wood in my chest.” “I-I can help! I’ll send backup, they’ll…” “There’s no time for that,” he shouted. “They’d never make it in time. “Then you have to get out of there! I don’t care what you do, just get as far away from that village as you can!” He heard a soft chuckle. “Is that an order?” “Stop joking around! C’mon, I know you can do it! You’re gonna come home, and, and, a-and see your kid!” “If only that were true,” he said, voice weakening by the second. “No, you’re gonna make it back! What about your family?! You can’t just…” “Kid… my wife knew about this when I joined. She knew there was a chance I wouldn’t come home one day.” He grunted. “I was prepared for this day when I signed up. I don’t regret anything, except that I won’t get to see my foal grow up.” Stormcrasher was on the verge of tears, his last hope quickly deteriorating before his ears. “No… NO! I won’t let you talk like that! You’re gonna make it back, okay? Just stay with me!” “There’s no time for that! If you don’t want my death to be in vain, you need to tell General Vulcan exactly what I’m going to tell you. He’ll know what to do” “Polearm…” He wanted to cry out, like doing so would fix everything. Yet all he could muster was softness. “No…” “I’m gonna say these words once, and only once. You listening?!” Stormcrasher felt water well up in his eyes. “O-Ok, I’m listening…” “You need to tell him that-“ *whiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*