//------------------------------//
// Bad Omen 
// Story: Friendly AC-130 Inbound 
// by Azriel 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 5: Bad Omen


        Chaos silently listened as Celestia regaled him with tales of important landmarks within the castle gardens as they walked. Chaos’ attention was caught by Celestia stopping before a seemingly ancient marble sculpture. It obviously depicted royalty if the scepter and crown didn’t give it away. 

        “This is one of my favorite statues in the garden. This is a sculpture of one of the descendants from an ancient Royal family that came to Equestria. Princess Ruby Platinum was the last of the main branch of her royal line. She did a great deal of work cementing relations between the three tribes of ponies after the Windigos finally disappeared. The Hearth’s Warming story unrealistically romanticizes how quickly all three tribes were able to set aside their differences. If the myths surrounding her life are to be believed, then she’s something akin to a tragic heroine. Rumor has it she loved a commoner, that alone would have been scandalous in her day. But he was also said to have been an Earth Pony.”

        While he found the story fascinating, Chaos certainly felt he was missing a lot of context. However, not wanting to spoil Celestia’s enthusiasm he urged her to continue.

        “Knowing what the potential ramifications could be, Princess Ruby set aside her own personal desires for the betterment of pony kind. She was said to have been a great beauty as well, she could have had her pick of suitors, yet she never married or had children. I, myself, like to believe her love for her mystery stallion would never allow her to take another.”

        “I take it she was something of a mentor to you, Princess?” Chaos said.

        Chaos didn’t know what he said, but it was the first time he had seen Celestia frown since they’d gotten to Canterlot.

        “Unfortunately no… She died almost a century before I came to power. However, I think that only makes me admire her more, she was one of the first ponies to envision a truly unified Equestria. One where the three tribes didn’t simply tolerate each other, but where they lived, laughed and loved together. She was truly a mare ahead of her time, though I never knew her, I hope I’ve made her proud.” Celestia chuckled daintily before she threw in a pondering thought, "perhaps she's a personal hero of mine because I never got to meet her."

        Chaos didn’t know what to say to that, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence as Celestia once again lead him and Co on. Celestia only broke the silence to point out other monuments.

However, his attention wavered as he looked beyond the hedge maze that now mostly hid the gunship, his gunship. A thousand doubts flooded through his mind about the moves he had made. What would his superiors think? How would his mentor, Heavy Metal, have handled things? What if he had just signed his crew, as well as himself, up for torture and imprisonment and the end to wherever this road led?

        These thoughts and more swirled around his head as he stared at the gray tail of the aircraft, reminiscent of a giant shark fin rising above a sea of green. It stuck out like a sore thumb, an artificial conglomeration of sheet metal, steel, and paint dominating the natural world around it. A chill raced down his spine as the plane's name crossed his mind, as well as his predicament. Superstitious nonsense, it’s just a name, nothing more. Besides she’s seen me through plenty of missions.

        His thoughts were derailed as he felt something hard make a light rap on his arm, only to turn and discover it was Celestia’s hoof. Snapping back to reality he realized he’d almost walked off the dirt path they’d been following. 

        “Sorry Princess Celestia, I guess I got lost in thought there.”

She simply smiled before motioning with her head for him to follow. When they had started walking again, Celestia spared only a single glance back in the direction of the statue Chaos had almost walked up to. It may have been roped off now, but she made a mental note to move Discord’s statue to a more secure location while her human guests were here.

        “So Major, a bit for your thoughts?” Celestia said.

        “That’s an oddly similar saying to one we have back on Earth. As for what I’m thinking...I don’t know; I’m just wondering whether I’ve made a good decision since I got here. Sure according to regulation I know I couldn’t run once you found us. It’s just...I guess I’m just apprehensive about this whole...” Chaos waved his hands in small circles, “thing.” Celestia just hummed quietly before falling into a short contemplation as they walked.

        “I… think I understand Major, but I assure you I will do all in my power to safeguard your charges. I know that probably doesn't do much to allay your fears, but in time I hope you’ll come to trust me and my little ponies. After today’s events, a friendship with a new species might do wonders to quell any creeping elements of xenophobia in my citizens.”

        A silence lingered in the air as Chaos kicked up a bit more dust from the dirt path than was necessary before responding.

        “I’ll just have to take your word for it, won't I?”

        “I suppose, for now, trusting the good in each other is all that either of us can do.”





        Story sat a few inches away from Papa, the rhythmic beat of a heart monitor singing in the background. The pain had finally overtaken the adrenaline and the only way they had quieted Papa was by forcibly inserting a wooden stick in his mouth layered in cloth and fastened to the back of his neck. To say that he was uneasy with restraints being placed on one of his few comrades on an alien world was an understatement. Story tried to ignore the restraints as he studied the soft floral pattern of the medical gown that replaced the olive drab colors of Papa's multi-camo uniform. Story was at least grateful that the gown covered his upper thigh… and other areas.

        “Story, was it?” asked the unicorn sitting across the bed studying his comrade's chart. As an affirmation Story only nodded his head.

        “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

        “Sure thing, umm, Doc?”

        “Name’s Bedside Manner. Anyways, do you know if the patient has any allergies, magical or otherwise?”

        “Umm, I don’t know… actually, wait a sec.” Story rummaged through the bag next to the chair Chaos had told him to grab. After unzipping the top of the book bag and rummaging through several different layers of paperwork he finally stumbled on the red mobility folders. Finding Papa’s, he picked the only thing he needed out of it before replacing the folder in the bag, making sure the name matched up he then passed it to the doctor.

        “There you go Doc, it's his medical folder.” 

To that, the stallion raised an eyebrow before grabbing it in his magic and unceremoniously tearing the seal off of the brown envelope. The doctor flipped through several pages before clearing his throat.

        “I can’t read any of this,” Doctor Manner said.

        “Did that spell whatcha-ma-bob not work on our writing?” Story said.

        “Ah so you're under a translation spell, that would make sense. And sadly no, that’s not how that type of spell works.”

        “Want me to read it for you?”

 Bedside Manner seemed to think on the question for a second before shaking his head.

        “No, just read through it and tell me anything that seems important to know. While you do that I’m going to draw some blood and run a few tests.” The envelope was quickly returned to Story so Bedside could set upon other tasks.

        “Sure thing Doc.” Story replied, only to find the Doctor was no longer paying attention to him as Bedside prepared a needle.

        



        “And the mural to your right is a depiction of me and my sister's defeat of Discord.”

        Chaos gave it a glance along with a low whistle to feign approval, to be honest, he didn’t really get why all these murals seemed to be triumphs over figurative villains. Although the mural in front of him was rather impressive, a creature, he could only assume was this “Discord.” Was seated upon an elevated throne. His extended paws covered in strings played puppeteer to ponies and fractured pieces of land. The darker color schemes of the mural certainly added to the foreboding atmosphere it was meant to portray. The mural next to it showed Celestia, and who he could assume was her sister sending a rainbow at this Discord fellow, with a ring that emanated from the two restoring the land in front of it to normal. 

While Chaos was busy scrutinizing the window panes, Co was taking everything he heard from Celestia at face value. And with half of the room being dedicated to defeating world-shaking villains, Co was finding himself increasingly nervous about being on this world.

        “Psst, Major,” Co whispered.

        “Yeah, Co?” Chaos returned in his own hushed tone.

        “Do you... Do you think our plane's munitions could take down Discord? What about the...” Whatever Co was about to say was ended with a sharp elbow to the ribs from Chaos. Letting out a low hiss, Co shot a questioning look to him. The only response was a pointed finger that danced between the heads of each of the ponies in front of them. After a few seconds Co got the idea. 

The conversation and the tour had gotten deathly quiet as they all silently walked forward, but it wasn’t the silence only broken by footfalls and hooves that was the obvious reason for Chaos’ reaction. Instead, it was the ears of the pony guards, as well as Celestia; a few of the less subtle guards had their ears fully tilted to the humans behind them. The others, along with Celestia, seemed to be struggling to resist eavesdropping, but from the twitching in their ears, it was easy to puzzle out they too had been listening.

        Digging his phone out of his pocket, Chaos turned it on silent before typing out a quick message in the notes app.

        

Don’t discuss the aircraft. I’ll fill them in later as the situation demands.



        



        Struggle stood rigid and indecisive about his next move in the center of the gun deck. His head slightly pounded with every course of blood in his veins and hot saliva pooled in his mouth, only further adding to his new queasiness. He made up his mind and went for his bag on the ramp. Unzipping the top, he shifted through a few layers of his packed clothes to stare at the packaged bottle underneath. For a split second, he thought about opening it to get to the liquor inside before dismissing the idea and instead closed up the pouch after retrieving a white powder wrapped up in a paper sleeve from a smashed blue box.

        Unfolding the paper carefully, he dumped its contents into his mouth before cringing at the potent flavor as he chased it with water from his Camelback straw. 

        ‘Hopefully those Goody’s can exorcise that headache long enough for me to get something done.’

        “What are you doing?” 

The voice from behind Struggle nearly sent him flying out of his skin, making him devolve into a coughing fit as he whirled around on the voice. Standing behind him on the ramp were two of those pony guards. 

“Woah, didn’t mean to startle you.”

 Struggle wanted to throttle the two ponies in front of him while he hacked up a lung, after a few more moments the coughing subsided enough to where he could speak.

        “What am I doing? The more important question is what do you think you're doing?” 

The two guards simply exchanged a glance before returning their attention to Struggle. “Guarding you of course.”

        “And I’m guarding the aircraft, something that doesn’t involve allowing unauthorized personnel to wander onto it whenever they feel like.”

        “That sounds reasonable; we can help with that.” Struggle restrained the urge to scream, but before he could get a word in, the guard on the left that had been talking continued.

        “By the way, my name’s Silver Shield, and my quiet partner that you disarmed earlier is Crescent Sentry.” 

The introduction elicited an eye roll from Struggle. “Nice to meet you; I’m Struggle.” He responded in his most sarcastic, saccharine voice. 

Before he could continue, Crescent decided to break her silence. “So what was that substance you just...ingested?”

        “Medicine.” His statement saw both equines throw a foreleg over their mouths.

        “You don’t have some strange alien illness do you?” 

Struggle really thought about telling them he did, just to get them out of his hair, but decided causing a panic wasn’t in his best interest. “It was just a painkiller, for my headache.” Struggle said causing them both to drop their forelegs before showing varying degrees of embarrassment. “Look, now that we’ve gotten this meet and greet out of the way, I really need both of you to exit the aircraft. I don’t want to imagine how bad my headache will be if Chaos finds out I couldn’t even keep unauthorized personnel out of the plane for thirty minutes.”

        “We’re just following orders. We can’t exactly keep a good eye on you from out there.” 

        ‘Apparently conflicting orders is all this day needed to make it better.’ Struggle just stood there rubbing his temples in an attempt to quell the raging dragon in his skull. “Are you open to a compromise?” Struggle said, causing Silver to cock an eyebrow.

        “Depends on what it is.”

        “So... last thing I need is you guys following me around right this second. You see that ramp I’m assuming you came in through?” To their nod, he continued, “One of you post out back there, and the other post at the other entrance out front of the left side of the aircraft. That way you know I can’t get out of the aircraft without you seeing me leave, even if you can’t see me while I’m working. Before you ask what the compromise is, once I’m done I’m going to lock up those entrances and join you outside. You get to keep an eye on me, and I know no one can slip into the aircraft. So do we have a deal?” There were, of course, other ways to get out of the aircraft, but Struggle didn’t find it necessary to clue them in on that. They both seemed to mull it over before whispering to each other and nodding.

        “You have yourself a deal, Mr. Struggle,” Crescent said.

        “Just Struggle.”

        “Right, you have yourself a deal, Mr. Just Struggle.”

        ...You know what, just roll with it.





        
        “...and these will be your accommodations in the meantime. I hope they're to your liking,” finished Celestia.

        Chaos, taking the pause as an invitation, decided to open the double doors. The sun, cascading into the room from the large floor-to-ceiling windows opposite the entrance, practically blinded him with the light that reflected off the polished white marble flooring. Taking a few tentative steps inside of the room, Chaos and Co couldn’t help but be blown away by the sheer decadence of their new sleeping quarters. The room’s décor was largely purple with gold trim, adding a sense of majesty to it.

        A crystal chandelier hung from the incredibly tall ceilings, and a large circular bed seemed to be set into the floor, only rising above it by a few inches. From what Chaos could tell the bedding seemed to be silk. If he had a harem, he could imagine a good deal of them fitting onto the large, posh bed. A sofa was pushed up against the wall on his right and looked big enough to sleep another of their number.

        “So, it looks like we’ll be bunking together,” Chaos said after turning to Celestia.

        “That’s a bit forward, don’t you think Major? I mean we did just meet,” Celestia said with a sly smile.

        After a brief moment of confusion, Chaos paled at what he had said.

        “No, I ugh, I’m so sorry Princess. I didn’t mean for you to think I was insinuating that you and I…”Chaos stammered before being cut off by Celestia.

        “Relax Major, part of being friends is knowing when to poke fun at one another. I knew what you meant, I was just using the opportunity to make a joke at your expense. Anyways, you won't need to be sleeping with anyone, at least, that isn’t of your own prerogative.”

        Deciding to just glance over most of the conversation lest his face get any redder he decided to respond.

        “Why’s that?”

“Because you haven’t even seen the adjacent room.”

        “Oh?”

        “There are two smaller beds in there and another couch. Beyond that is a lounge, if I’m not mistaken about the layout of the rooms in this wing.”

        “You're not wrong, your Highness. Besides the bath joined to this room, there is also a smaller bath connected to the adjacent one,” responded a guard off hoof.

        “Well, I know it’s not much, Major, but I hope in the interim that this room shall suffice. At least until some vacancies clear up from all the guests we’re housing for the Royal wedding.”

        “I couldn’t ask for more, thank you, Princess.” Celestia was about to respond before a scroll manifested from seemingly nowhere.

        “Ah, it seems things are ready to commence. I hate to leave so suddenly, but as a presiding official, I’d hate to be late. Before I go though, there are a few things I need to cover. While I’m gone I’d ask that you limit yourselves to this room. I won't tell you that you can’t leave, but you would be doing me a favor by keeping your presence to a minimum for now.”

        “I think we can agree to that, what about Story and Struggle though?”

        “I’ll send a guard along to ask them to do the same.”

        “Alright, what else?”

        “When I get back I’d like a meeting with you, Major, as well as with my sister.”

        “Well, I’ve come this far. Besides, who am I to refuse a Royal audience?”

        “Glad to hear it,” Celestia beamed before promptly leaving.

        After closing the doors, Chaos turned to Co.

        “Best get some sleep, Co, you’re getting next shift to relieve Struggle when Celestia gets back.”





        Struggle had managed to get through sealing up the aircraft. Luckily things weren’t as bad as he would have initially guessed. He’d checked and rechecked the plane, but all he’d had to really rack his brain on was figuring out fancy ways of saying huge gouge in the side of the aircraft, and depleted booster reservoir, so he could write it up in the forms. Luckily in surveying the damage he only found a few hydraulic lines that were completely cut through, which meant a competent welder and some sheet metal could get them back in business on that front. As for the engine, well that would have to be Story’s project.

        As it stood though, Struggle couldn’t figure which was in worse shape: him or the aircraft, as he once again purged another round of bile from his stomach into the shrubbery near the bench he had been resting on a few seconds prior. One of the guard ponies rubbed his back in an attempt to make him feel better.

        “You sure we don’t need to go get a doctor?” Silver Shield asked for what must have been the tenth time.

        “Yes, I’m f-,” he was interrupted as a dry heave found his lips, “fine. I’m sure I’ll get a replacement soon enough and then I can go lie down.”

        In the distance, Struggle heard a bunch of cheering.

        “Sounds like the wedding is wrapping up,” Silver remarked, eliciting a sigh from Crescent.

        “Too bad, you know... I was supposed to be on that detail,” Crescent said wistfully.

        “What, no way! How’d you manage to get the detail of the century?” 

        “I did a few favors for Shining Armor a couple years back when he was a Lieutenant. Good stallion, never forgets the little ponies.” 

Having seen the last of his breakfast Struggle stood back up, before making his way back to the bench and his M-4 he’d grabbed out of the weapon box of the aircraft.

        “You good now?” Silver asked.

        “How many times do I have to tell you I’m fine?”

        “Sheesh, he’s just trying to be friendly. Are all you humans so snippy?” asked Crescent.

        “Only the ones who hate repeating themselves.” In the distance Struggle heard a loud boom, sending him skyrocketing out of the bench with his M-4. “The Tartarus was that!” he screamed before a tidal wave of colors seemed to be spreading across the sky. 

        “Oh, awesome! I heard that filly from the best young fliers competition would be here to perform a sonic rainboom, but I didn’t believe it. What was her name again?” asked Silver.

        “Rainbow Dash. Honestly, Silver, you think you’d remember an Element of Harmony.”

        “Can you guys stop speaking in gibberish and tell me what in the world that is!” Struggle exclaimed.

        “It’s a sonic rainboom; no need to worry. Just enjoy it.”

        The next few moments were spent watching the rainboom fade away into the horizon before the silence was broken.

        “Oh, before I forget. Do you humans name your airships like ponies do?” Silver asked.

        “Of all the questions you could ask, that's what you want to ask an alien?” which only elicited a nod from him. Struggle just shrugged before responding.

        “It’s Bad Omen.”

        “Wait,” Silver said, as he used a hoof to scratch under his helm, “Is it a bad omen to name it, it's named Bad Omen, or is it a bad omen to give strangers its name?”

        “No, the plane's name is Bad Omen.” 

To that, both guards turned to each other before laughing.

"Just admit it, you guys couldn't think of a cooler name could you?” Silver remarked.

        Not even a full day and I think I’m over this place.