//------------------------------// // 13. Preparations // Story: Force of the Falcon // by Omega6047 //------------------------------// --Chapter 13-- Preparations Twilight yawed loudly as she started to wake up. Her body was barely able to move after what Falcon has put her through the previous day, and it’s not like she was interested in getting up anyways. Staying under covers, where it’s warm and cozy was far better alternative. Falcon wasn’t here to wake her up after all, and she had all the time she could wish for. She rubbed her face against the soft surface under her, dozing deeper into the land of dreams. Feeling like there was nothing that could make her turn back now, she pressed herself against a source of warmness under her, not bothering herself with what it could be. It simply felt too good to make her care. So good, that she was almost ready to ignore the feeling of having ropes wrapped around her hooves. Almost. She lightly tried to move one of her hooves around, only to find herself unable to move it in any way. Her head slowly turned to the side, and her tired eyes opened weakly, only to suddenly shoot wide open as she saw the scene she was in. Her hooves were tied up to long limbs covered in black body suit, and said limbs were tied to the bed’s frame. Twilight’s eyes traveled along those limbs, eventually reaching the face that she was rubbing herself against just a moment ago. Her eyes almost fell out and her face got so hot from the embarrassment it almost caught fire as she saw Shaw’s face mere centimeters from hers. He was thankfully still asleep, but that could have changed at any moment. She had to get out of his as soon as possible. She tried to get her hooves free, but the ropes held her in place. Her next thought was using magic to teleport herself out, but she quickly found herself unable to channel magic into her horn. W-what!? Why doesn’t it work!? Why am I even in this situation!? WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT!? She screamed in thought, releasing a growl. This however, was a mistake. Shaw’s body suddenly tensed up, us he started to wake up. Twilight’s face grew few shades redder as her heart rate increased. In panic, she tried to get the ropes off of her, only to fail miserably in her attempts that only sped up Shaw’s incoming awakening. “Twilight…” She heard his voice. Oh, sweet bucking Celestia’s ass, please let that be a dream! He had turned towards his just as red one. “W-why are we…” “I don’t know!” She yelled. “I woke up like that, please believe me! I’m not a pervert!” She was trying to keep her muzzle away from him, but because of her very limited range of movements, she was unable to do it and eventually their noses bumped into each other. “I-I’m sorry!” “Don’t apologize, try to think of a way to get out of here!” He yelled back, also trying to get his hands free. Neither of them knew that while they were trying to free themselves from this situation, a mysterious orb remained hidden in the corner of the room, observing everything in perfect detail… Falcon was standing at the train station, chuckling to himself as he smirked underneath his helmet. Some ponies were staring at him, but he paid them no mind, focusing more on the sight he was seeing on his helmet’s display. He was waiting for the train from Canterlot to arrive, and with the train Tracker was going to come here. He wasn’t even sure why is he so happy to know that another one of his brothers is awake, but just the thought of it was making him feel like he was suddenly becoming Pinkie Pie. Still, he didn’t feel like questioning that, and simply enjoyed the feeling. His brother wasn’t the only thing that he was waiting for though. After all, he’s ordered the commando to get some fighting manuals for him. Manuals that he was going to put in a good use, likely pissing off his new students. Today he was planning to go to the wrack of ‘Intrepid’ in order to scavenge whatever he could find. Hopefully something that would be able to get them back to the Republic space. However, even if they were to find a working ship in the hangar, he wasn’t about to leave this planet in its current state. He was first going to make sure he gets the military of Equestria to be at the very least capable of putting up a fight and training more soldiers without his help. This could prove itself to be a good thing for the Republic when the war is over, ponies have very reach culture and they could pass some of it to the rest of the galaxy. Not to mention their magic, that on its own has a huge potential in improving lives of many people in the galaxy. Not to mention that a base in a place where radars can’t reach would be more that a bit beneficial. The clone waited on the station for few more minutes before he spotted the train through macrobinoculars he’s borrowed from Shaw (it’s not like he needs them right now.) He turned off the display from his drone’s camera (but didn’t turn off the recorder) to stop chuckling and get a bit more serious. It took the train few more minutes before it stopped at the station and the door opened. Falcon was immediately greeted by a sight of the familiar looking conductor lying on the chair, unconscious. A moment later, Tracker appeared in sight. “Why, look who we got he-“ “Sir! Vector-83, reporting for duty, sir!” He said immediately after leaving the train. “It’s okay Tracker. You don’t have to call me like that when we’re not on a mission.” Falcon said with a sigh. He then spotted Princess Luna behind Tracker, as she was trying to wake the conductor up. ”Better tell me do you have what I asked for.” “I never fail assigned tasks, sir.” He passed him a brown bag. Falcon looked inside, and smiled a bit as he saw its contents. “Unless they involve being around other people.” Falcon noted as placed the bag over his shoulder. “That’s not what I was trained for, sir.” “Blast… will you ever drop the ‘sir’ thing when we meet in person? You seem less keen on using it when we’re talking through com-link.” Luna has finished explaining the conductor that he’s not in danger, as well as that aliens are not taking over Equestria and now walked over to Falcon and Tracker. “Welcome commander, is everything ready for us to go to the moon?” She asked while several ponies around them started to bow to her, to which she responded with lightly bowing herself. “Good morning, Princess.” He said to her, lightly nodding his head. “I still have to rally up the Elements. Shaw and Twilight are still in bed… last time I checked they were sleeping, about the rest I don’t know they don’t respond to my signals, I’ll have to go around and direct them to the meeting point. Equipment is ready though, Shaw just needs to set it up.” She nodded. “Let’s go. We’ll talk on the way.” All three moved out from the train station, still getting glazes from ponies around them. “How are you coping with all that Tracker?” Falcon asked. “I mean, you’re a sniper who just lost his eyes, that must have been quite a shock for you.” “I appreciate the concern, sir, but-“ “You can speak freely.” Commander cut him off. “Yes, of course… as I was saying, while this is an unexpected turn of events that will surely take some time to get used to, I assure you that it will not affect my efficiently in combat. Not once I’ll get used to it at least. I have to admit though, I feel like it could prove to be advantageous.” “That’s good to hear.” The tree house came into their view. “By the way, why didn’t you simply teleport yourself and Tracker here, Princess? It would be faster than riding in the train.” “It would, but if I did that in Canterlot or anywhere near it, my sister would immediately be able to sense it and track me down. Than it would just be a matter of time before she figured out that I’m meeting with you, and I’d rather keep that a secret. Now she thinks that I’m asleep, and won’t be bothering me. I made sure to teach her that waking me up is a bad idea long time ago…” She said, smiling at the memory of her sister staring at her with wide eyes as she yelled at her with the full power of Royal Voice while causing havoc in her room with magic, shooting lightning out of her hooves, throwing objects around, setting the floor in a controlled (mostly) fire and looking at her sister from above with eyes shining deep red. Celestia never dared to wake her up again. She doubted in her will to withstand the need to pee on the floor… To be fair though, Luna was in heat at that time, so her slight overreaction is mostly justified. “Alright we’re here.” Falcon said as they reached the library’s doorstep. “Where is ‘here’?” Tracker asked. “This is a place where me and Shaw were staying in so far, and that’s where we’re all going to gather. Shaw is still there with one of the natives that will be joining me and Luna on the trip to ‘Intrepid’. Sorry, but I don’t feel that you’re ready to go on a serious mission yet, I want you to first get used to those new eyes.” “I understand sir, I was hoping to practice shooting with my… new conditions.” Falcon nodded. “There’s a good spot for that near the Everfree forest, I’ll mark it on the map for you later. Now, I would like to ask you to get them to wake up, while me and Luna are going to bring the rest here. Wait here for us to come back.” “Yes, sir.” The commando gave him a salute before turning around and going into the library. Luna and Falcon were quick to turn back themselves, as they started to walk through Ponyville’s streets. “Is he always like that?” Luna asked. “Barely talking at all, sitting in a corner and thinking. He didn’t even bother himself with ponies running out of the wagon when he walked in.” “Yeah, sounds like him. He was never a social type.” Falcon answered. “We can discuss this further some other time, though. Let’s get the others here. Are you familiar with where they live?” Luna nodded. “Then you will go to Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, while I go to get Rarity and Pinkie Pie. You can fly and teleport, so it will be faster if you go to those who live outside of town.” “Agreed. We will meet back in the library.” And with that said, she flew high into the air, heading towards a flying cloud-house, where Rainbow Dash lived. Tracker walked upstairs after he walked into the library. He hadn’t bothered himself with looking around, after all it’s not like he could see much. He could hear two voices ringing through the building, but at first he couldn’t understand much of what was said. He recognized one of the voices as Shaw though. The technician always had a particular way of speaking, which made him sound smarted than he actually is. Not that Tracked didn’t consider him to have knowledge in his head, but when it came to planning things as things go, he fell short, and that was an ability that Tracker had a lot of appreciation for. He started to close in to the source of the voices, now able to recognize what was being said. “-try pulling it out, now.” A feminine voice said. Must be the native Falcon was talking about. Also, pulling what out? He then heard Shaw growl in frustration. “Eh, I can’t. It’s too tight.” He said. Tracker found himself with a very strange image crawling into his head, but he pushed it away, simply not believing it could be truth. “Horseapples… Alright, maybe I should try moving… push forward a bit.” Tracker suddenly started to walk faster “Thank you, now start moving in and out so that-“ The commando quickly climbed upstairs, cutting off whatever it was she had to say. He immediately froze in place at what was in front of him. A native female was lying on top of Shaw, who was clearly tied up to the bed. They had their faces very close the moment before Tracker run in, only to quickly turn them towards him. “T-Tracker! Come over here and-!” Shaw yelled but he was quickly cut off by the commando. “No! No, no, no. I’m not joining you two! In fact I was never even here.” And with that said, he jumped down, ignoring the stairs. “Tracker, wait! Come back here you idiot!” Princess Luna gracefully landed at the doorstep of Rainbow Dash’s house. The cloud under her slightly enveloped itself around her hooves as she walked over to the door that led inside. The Princess hadn’t bothered herself with knocking. She was aware of the fact that Rainbow was sleeping for a while now, dreaming that she’s the one bossing Falcon around. The happiness emitting out of her was almost enough to make Luna change her mind and let her sleep. But almost is never enough for her. Deciding to not go in quietly via teleportation, Luna kicked the door open with her rear hooves. She then quickly moved to Rainbow’s bedroom, where the pegasus still laid asleep. Luna kicked that door open as well, looking at young flyer’s peacefully sleeping body. Rainbow was lying on her back, not covered by the covers and with a large grin on her face. A grin that Luna was about to wash off of her face. “RAINBOW DASH!!!” She used her royal voice. This immediately made Rainbow snap out of her dream and fall back into reality. “Wha-what!? Who-!?” “What is the meaning of this!? So late into the day and you still lay in thy bed!? Immediately rise your lazy flank up, this is an order!” Rainbow quickly gathered herself up before she was even able to identify the Luna. This is actually kind of fun… Sugarcube corner was the closest place Falcon had to go to, being placed on the same street as the library (and it’s not like Ponyville is a big town in the first place). Still chuckling to himself as he watched Tracker’s visit in the library, Falcon opened the door to the bakery, lowering his head to not hit the ceiling like the last time. “O-oh, it’s you sir…” The overweight mare that was cleaning a table said. He could tell that she was still scared of him, likely because of the children upstairs. “H-how can I help you?” “I’m looking for Pinkie Pie. Is she here?” “I… I’m not sure. I’ve been looking for her all morning, but I only found her alligator lying in bed… I-Is that all?” Falcon didn’t answer, instead he slowly walked over to a big strawberry cake that was placed on one of the tables in the bakery. It was a truly impressive showing of skill and dedication to the work that the mare shaking next to him and her husband have put into it. Not that Falcon would actually eat it. He preferred to keep himself away from food like that. Suddenly, the clone commander pulled out his blaster pistol and pointed it at the cake. “Alright Pinkie, I’m not going to play hide and seek with you. You have ten seconds to show up before I’ll blast a hole in this cake. And four second already passed…” The mare nearly fainted. Luckily for her (and the cake), it wasn’t long before a voice rung from under the floor. “NO! Please spear the cake!” Pinkie suddenly jumped out from a trap door on the floor. “I’m begging you, don’t shoot!” Falcon stared at her for a moment, before he slowly pressed the trigger. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Pinkie screamed and jumped forward to take the hit in slow motion. *CLICK* She suddenly fell on the floor and quickly turned around, only to see Falcon still holding his weapon pointed at the cake, with his finger pressing the trigger. “Ups… I forgot to load it…” Meanwhile, Mrs. Cake was looking down the trap door. Wondering why she never knew about it… And why was it so dark down there? Apple trees. That is all that Luna could see around her as she flew over the orchard of Sweet Apple Acers. There were thousands upon thousands of them, each full of delicious looking fruits ready to harvest. She was impressed by the fact that this endless see of apples was where just two ponies (well, now three) not only worked, but also turned all competition in the country into dust. Now however, she had to find only one pony in this mess of trees. And it was hard. She could feel Applejack’s presence somewhere around here, but with so many trees around she couldn’t pinpoint where exactly. The elder mare in the farmhouse wasn’t helpful either, she only said something abound ‘her girl bein’ out buckin’ all them apples real good’ before she took a nap so deep, that not even Luna’s Royal Voice could wake her up (she did break few windows though). For few minutes she was flying around the orchard, looking for the orange farmer before finally deciding it is pointless to look for her in that pile of trees. She landed on the ground and sighed. Her eyes then slowly drifted towards an apple tree behind her. More precisely, to one particular apple. She licked her lips as she stared at the giant monster of an apple just hanging there for world to see. But the world wasn’t there to see it, so Luna took its place. She enveloped the apple in her magic and brought it close to her face. She wasted no time, and quickly opened her mouth to put that big, juicy apple in her watering mouth. She wanted to feel that juices in her mouth as she closed her lips around it, and then- “Stop it right there ya apple stealin’ scum!” Luna was suddenly pulled out of her little fantasy world and she threw the apple away with speed that would make Rainbow Dash jealous. “Oh, it’s you Princess. Sorry for the yelling, Ah thought ya were some of that buckers who were stealin’ mah apples. Ah swear that one day… one beautiful day Ah’m goin’ to make them pay…” To say that Falcon was glad that he took his armor was an understatement. He was also beyond grateful to the person that decided to put air filters in the clone’s helmets, as if it wasn’t for them, he wasn’t sure if he could make it into Rarity’s house. The shear amount of perfumes she had used on not only herself but also every bit of her house would be enough to keep a rancor away, and make most of untrained ponies that decided to step into her lair either run away or choke. Falcon opened the door, not bothering himself with knocking, as Rarity’s house doubled as a shop anyways. The unicorn wasn’t there to greet him as he expected her to. Instead he heard a childish voice from upstairs. “Gosh… you’re really stiff…” The high pitched voice suggested that it was a young filly, probably Rarity’s sister. He started to walk upstairs, silently placing his boots on the wooden floor. “Thank you for doing this Sweetie… I really need that after yesterday, and the spa is closed…” He heard Rarity say as he closed in to the opened door on the top floor. Rarity was lying on her bed with closed eyes as a little white furred filly with curly two-toned pink mane and tale was giving her sister an improvised massage. “Maybe you’ll even earn a cutie mark for this…” She added, seemingly making her sister put more effort into her moves. For a short while he was considering simply observing what was happening in front of him until they spotted him, but quickly pushed that thought away, deciding that he wanted to get everything done as fast as he could. “Sorry for interrupting ladies but-“ “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! MONSTER!!!” The filly suddenly screamed and quickly jumped under the bed. Rarity looked at the clone standing in the doorway. “No… I-I’m not getting up!” She screamed at him. “You already made me go through that torments yesterday, what else do you want now!? Every muscle in my body screams in pain right now!” “If you were working out before, it wouldn’t have been an issue. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself, and get over it. You just have to walk it off.” “N-No. I’m not moving!” He took off his helmet and looked at her. “Yes you are.” He simply stated in a calm, yet intimidating tone, slowly breaking the unicorn mare with his stare. “I shall repeat for the last time! Where is your mistress!?” Luna screamed at the small white bunny, using the Force -as she started to call it now- to pierce though the creature’s mind and force it to submit. However, not even her immense power was enough to make that little bunny do what she wants. All the Princess got in response was a light slap on the cheek from the bunny before it jumped away from her. Luna growled in frustration as she felt anger filling her body. “That’s it you little piece of junk! I’m done with dealing with you! It’s time to face DEATH!” Almost as if the bunny didn’t care, it jumped out from the cottage through the open door. Luna growled again as she run after it, increasing her speed through her anger. She immediately spotted the bunny standing on top of a rock, turned towards her and smiling deviously. Princess wasted no time, and released the full power of her anger in a form of lightning coming out of her hoof. In a blink of an eye, it hit the place where the bunny was standing, but didn’t hit him. The bunny was already gone when the lightning hit the rock, disintegrating it in a blink of an eye. Luna than quickly spotted the bunny few meters behind the burning ashes that used to be a rock a moment ago and fired a volley of beams from her horn, each targeting the bunny. Every time the beam would hit the place where bunny stood, it would quickly move away, and instead of a dead bunny, Luna would see a burning hole in the ground. She released a scream of fury as she saw the cursed bunny fly into the forest, immediately jumping into the air and flying after the little bustard. She quickly caught up to it, and dived down, with her body sparkling with electricity. The moment she hit the ground, a powerful shockwave spread around her as electricity fried the nearest trees and bushes around her. But not the bunny. She saw it poking it’s tongue at her before running away again. Now Luna was really angry. She ripped a tree from the ground and threw it at the bunny before continuing the chase. She dashed forward, slashing another tree in half with her just summoned sword. She was now in a clearing, with a river and a small hill in the middle. That was it. The bunny had nowhere to run! Immediately after she spotted the damn binny, Luna dived down at it, making the dirt fly around as her hooves smashed into the ground. She then quickly pinned the bunny down with one hoof. “Now, get ready to-!!!” “Princess Luna? What are you doing here?” Luna froze as she heard Fluttershy’s voice. She turned towards her, and then back to the ground. The bunny was gone, and as she turned back to Fluttershy, it was already standing on top of the yellow mare, with a smile on its face. “What do you mean ‘they’re busy’?” Rainbow asked confused. “I mean just that. They’re busy.” Tracker replied. Blue mare looked at him funny. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m going to them.” She flew upstairs, ignoring Tracker’s warning. She did actually have an idea as to what he meant by ‘busy’ but it’s not like these two nerds would even think about that. They would probably consider looking at each other’s notes to be intimate! She thought to herself as she landed on the floor and started to walk towards the steps that led to Twilight’s bedroom. Not that she couldn’t fly there, it’s just that there was that one time when Twilight had some stuff hanging from the ceiling and she got a bit stuck because some of them… She could still remember how it felt when Twilight was pulling that cursed pipe out of her- “Yes! That’s good. Now try going up.” Rainbow’s train of thoughts was interrupted when she head Twilight. Rainbow rolled her eyes. They’re probably doing some experiments again. She thought to herself as she reached the bedroom. “Alright guys, time to get up. We’re-“ Words left her as she saw the scene before her. Shaw had him mouth around Twilight’s horn, seemingly holding something with his teeth. This, along with the ropes that Rainbow could see around Shaw’s hands said more than Rainbow’s mind needed to know. And she showed it, when her wings suddenly shot up from her back. “R-Rainbow, come over here and-!” Twilight screamed, but was quickly cut off. Rainbow was quick to cast off the initial embarrassment and smirked. “Nah, I don’t think you guys need my help with anything right now. I’ll be waiting with the others downstairs, join us when you’re done.” She walked back where she came from. “Just don’t forget to wash yourselves off when you’re done!” “N-No, Rainbow wait! I swear it’s not what it looks like! I’m not a pervert!!!”