The Pony Lisa

by Hi World

Chapter 5: I Didn't Put Those In My Bag

>Luna 1327 hours

Taking out the second Griffin hadn’t been as satisfying as taking down the first. The third even less. Something bothered her. These were Griffins; destroyers of Reach, dangerous warriors, yet her and her squad had just mowed the lawn with them. ‘Twas easy, too easy. Griffins were better than this. They also wore helmets.

Beams from flash lights kept scanning the black hanger in case there was more trouble. Most of the containers were now peppered with bullet holes. Fresh, red Griffin blood crawled on top of the old dry blood that had already been there when they arrived. Almost drowned out by the mysterious, terrible odour of what smelled like a mix of wet cat and rotting egg; the smell of heated weapons and burnt Griffin. Spent shell casings formed a carpet on the sticky red floor, her DMR casings standing out from the puny MA5D ones.

Trying to look heroic, Thunderlane had his left front hoof stood on one of the dead Griffins, like he was posing for a photo. It probably wasn’t even him who killed it. Jerk.

Unlike the Griffins who wore helmets, and sometimes soldier saddles, Ponies wore next to nothing in combat. The royal guards that Luna and her sister once commanded used to wear gold or silver armour. Neither she nor Celestia made those sorts of decisions in the UPSC though. Somepony else was in charge of all that stuff.

The recourses, not to mention the money, went towards the weapons, vehicles and star ships. All this meant was that Ponies were more vulnerable than the Griffins, especially since Griffin tech was more advanced.

Rumour had it; the Griffins had colonized a planet that had some of the finest materials in the universe, including technology that had been left behind by another race. None of this had been confirmed however. But this “Halo” thingy-majig was a weapon left behind by another race, so maybe that rumour was correct.

When it came to protection, Ponies were screwed. Luna and her sister wore decorative harnesses that symbolised who they were, light but strong, and could probably deflect a shot from a Griffin’s Carbine or two.
Big Mac wore a farm harness that had deflected many needle rounds. Much heavier, but thicker, and nothing he couldn’t handle.

Thinking of Needler rounds brought back the memory she had of being shot. ‘Twas her own fault. She had removed her harness to give to another Pony who she felt needed it more at the time, and was shot in the heart with a long, pink, glowing needle from a Needle Rifle. The earth Pony she was offering her harness to converted to a Unicorn with another deadly, pink needle. In Luna’s chest, the sizable, crystal needle had slipped in deep and literally penetrated her heart. Lying on her back, looking up at the Red Horse and some other ships, her vision blurred, just as a Falcon helicopter swooped down to…

Couldn’t remember the rest. Could only remember waking up in the Red Horse’s medical bay, surrounded by the familiar faces of Rarity and her sister.
Celestia giving her a huge, huge hug. “You made it! I knew you could do it!”
Rarity wiping her eyes with a tissue and sighing with relief.

Over time, her heart repaired itself, and with a big ugly scar concealed behind her harness, she was ready to get back out there.

One of her seventeen stars dwindled in her mind. Where in the universe is Bon Bon?
“A sound she heard that was most absurd,” Zecora rhymed to the worrying Lyra. “With the Griffin by the forklift floored, into the consuming darkness she explored.” With that, Zecora aimed a hoof down the hanger at a horizontally passing corridor, and then addressed Luna. “I am so sorry, oh Princess of the night. I was too caught up in the fire fight.”
Luna sighed, “Not your fault, Zecora. Bon Bon has only herself to blame.”

"Don't blame Bon Bon!" Lyra cried hysterically. "It's the Griffins' fault! They're the ones who took her! Grrrrr! When I get my hands - hooves, on those Griffins!-"
"Calm down, fair Lyra. I am sure she will-"
"-And it's your fault for dragging us here! You and your-"
"-Lyra! Thou dare accuseth thy Princess of the night of the disappearance of fair Bon Bon?!" Luna glowered angrily into Lyra.
The frantic Unicorn backed up against a container and swallowed before coming to her senses and exhaling.
"... I-I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to... It's not your fault. I don't know why I..."
"Keep your head, fair Lyra. I forgive you," kinda. "Thou art just a little worried. You need to stay calm."
Sniffling and nodding, Luna's star replied, "... Ok."

Right, time to dish out some orders.
On the radio that poked out of her saddle bag; “Rainbow Dash, you stay in thy Pelican.”
“I don’t think I need to be ordered to do that, Princess.”
Off the radio; “Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Thunderlane and Snowflake; you can all stay here and guardeth thy Pelican. And clean up those bodies thou art so fond of standing on.”
A blush and squee from the jerk Thunderlane as he got down off the Griffin.
A “Yeeeaaah!” from the dumb Snowflake.
“Uh, whatever,” from the insubordinate Vinyl Scratch.
And a “Yes Princess,” and bow from the lovely Octavia.
There’s a good Pony. Knows how to follow orders.

Derpy; “What about me?”
“Everypony else shall assist me in finding Bon Bon. Art thou ready?”
“But Luna? What about me?”
I just said.
“Thou art with me and everypony else, Derpy. Please listen to what is being said.”
“I was listening.” She really was.
“Ready?”
Everypony stated, “Ready!” as one.
Even Rainbow Dash’s voice came over the Pelican’s speakers.
Well I don’t know what you’re ready for. An eternal wait, perhaps?

The star in her mind that represented Bon Bon blinked, and the scar beneath her harness itched: Something truly bad is going to happen.
“Very well then, subjects. Let’s move!”
One by one, they left the hanger.

The emergency lighting was only on at the entrance to the hanger, which meant the flash lights on the rifles were their only means of vision.

Rarity trotted up beside Luna, “I do hope we find Bon Bon and get off this smelly old ship soon. There is something in the air that’s just going to wreak havoc on my mane.”
Ah, fussy Rarity. Always worried about her mane.
“Don’t get thou hopes up, fair Rarity-aha-aha,” coughing, very smelly old ship. “… We hath much to do.”
“Like what, Princess? Like finding out what’s going on here? I… don’t really think that’s worth getting this dirty about.”

Glancing at her, Luna noted she was drenched in Griffin blood. Rarity hated getting dirty. She hated it with a passion. Yet she was the one who was always covered in somepony else’s blood.

“Hm, I think that colour suits thou.” Luna joked sarcastically.
The Medic stared at her, gone out. "Come again?"
“It really brings out your eyes.”
"... You're joking aren't you?"
"Maybe."
"Well it's not funny! It's going to take me forever to get cleaned up. I do hope the stain isn't permanent."

Twilight was on point, and she came to a sudden halt.
“Oh my gosh! Look!”
They did, and everypony gasped. It was a hoof print in fresh blood, sliding down the wall on the right to join another, larger splattering of the stuff.

Hovering a hoof over it, Twilight informed, “It’s still warm. This must belong to Bon Bon.” A pause as she examined further. “There are even some pink and blue hairs over here. They must be from her mane.”
“Oh no!” Applejack piped up, “The Griffins must ‘a taken her!”
Lyra squeaked with dread. "Please be ok Bon Bon."
Rarity brought a hoof to her mouth.
Big Mac just stood there, hiding his emotions: We must continue.
Luna; “We must continue, fair subjects. Twilight, proceed.”

The purple Unicorn obeyed, and paced forward with caution, the flash light on her MA5D searching left and right.
“There are hoof prints leading to… well… let’s find out,” Twilight said.
There were indeed hoof prints, left in blood, trailing down the corridor. Caught in Twilight’s light, the bloody prints veered left into a doorway, water spilling out over a lip onto the corridor floor. Twilight peeked around the corner and took a step inside.

Splash!
“Woah! Looks like somepony left the tap on. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we were in the shower block.” The sound of a shower head left running confirmed Twilight’s statement. Luna followed Twilight into the showers, then Rarity, Big Mac, Fluttershy...

Derpy yelled from somewhere at the back, “Don’t drop the muffin guys!”
Luna almost pulled her muffin out of her saddle bag to throw it on the floor and stomp on it, just to rebel.
“Derpy! Keep your voice down or I shall push thou out thy next air-lock.”
Derpy squealed frightfully in response, “Please no!”
Rolling her eyes, Luna followed Twilight through the warm, ankle deep water.

Derpy tripped over the lip that tried to stop the water from spilling out into the corridor.
“Whoops. Careful there partner,” said Applejack with no emotion as she helped her back up.

All of a sudden, there was a slap of something wet against a wet surface, like a slab of raw meat on a table.
“Um… what was that noise?” Questioned Fluttershy, the fear in her adorable voice breaking through.
Luna shushed her. “Twilight?”
“I’m looking. I’m looking. I can’t see anything-”

A wet burble, close, almost like somepony was gargling whilst brushing their teeth. Then, the slapping sound again, and again, and again. Shining her flash light down, Luna witnessed a wave of blood come washing down around her hooves.
Cheerlie spoke for the first time in a while, “Uh-oh. This doesn’t look good.”
Excellent analysis. She was on rear, behind Pinkie Pie. That moist slapping grew louder, and Luna could hear a bit of crunching too.

Stopping again, Twilight looked at Luna, her ears flopped down and she bit her bottom lip as she motioned with her bright purple eyes at the green, tiled wall she was about to go around. Luna’s flash light revealed a bloody drag mark leading around the wall, and her stomach knotted itself. She signalled for Twilight to get behind her so she could take point for this part.

With Twilight between her and Rarity, she forced herself to wade through the bloody water around the wall.
“Bon Bon?”
They’d found her.

Bon Bon lay on her back in the water while an enormous Griffin stood next to her. Stood on her. No, stomped on her. Talons, spattered with blood, came down on what remained of Bon Bon’s upper midsection, crushing it into a scrappy mess with ribs protruding out in different directions. Flesh clung to the Griffin's fingers as it pounded her over and over. Luna’s heart raced, her eyes widened in horror, she wanted to scream “Fire!” but the word was stuck in her throat.
“Ff… fi… ” To heck with it.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled the trigger on her DMR, just as the Griffin transformed Bon Bon’s dead stare into mush.
Bang! Bang! Bang! She couldn’t stop firing, knew that three bullets would be enough, but she just couldn’t stop firing. Rarity’s Battle Rifle joined her DMR, and a few Assault Rifles too.
Click click: She’d used up the rest of her magazine.

“C… Cease fire!” She ordered, stuttering a little.
The Griffin was a sponge with the amount of holes that were now in it. It slouched against the wall, silent, still. Bon Bon’s corpse was barely recognisable as a Pony.
Lightning Dust saying, “I won’t come back.”

“Bon Bon! Nooo!” Cried Private Lyra in anguish.
Kudos to her for keeping relatively quiet up until now.

Luna didn't know much about Bon Bon and Lyra. She knew their names, what they looked like and what Pony species they were, but not much else. But the way Lyra was handling things told her one thing:
They were close.

Lyra rushed over to Bon Bon’s sizzling corpse, tears erupting from her eyes. Bon Bon was a mess. A real mess. Lyra couldn’t even look at her, just shielded her eyes with a hoof and sobbed while Applejack comforted her.
“Oh Bon Bon!”

Rarity’s cheeks bulged as she held in non-existent sick. Fleur De Lis did the same - no, wait. Fleur De Lis was actually sick. Well, that was weak.

Luna gazed into the bolognaise of innards that Bon Bon had become, blood swirling around her in the warm water.
As Zecora came to Fleur’s aid, Pinkie Pie splashed her way over to Luna’s side. “Oooooooo!”
“Art thou… impressed, Pinkie Pie?”

Before the pink one could reply, Lyra cried over them, loud. “I want to go home! I want to go ho-ho-ho-hooooome!”
Applejack tried her best to convince her otherwise, but truth be truth, Luna wanted to go home too.
“Now now Lyra. Don’t fret. I’m sure Bon Bon ‘d want you to continue on, like the good soldier you are.”

Luna looked back at what had been Bon Bon. She felt numb. She had lost her first star.

A pattering of hurried footsteps as a shadowy blur zoomed past the doorway and down the corridor.
“Zecora, what was that!?” Luna demanded.
“Griffins of few! Either three or two!”
“Were they armed?!”
“None that I could see, but I cannot guarantee.”

Bringing up her radio, Luna warned Octavia and the others back at the hanger. Dub step music, her least favourite music, could be heard clearly in the background as Octavia answered her.
“Fair Octavia. Thou hath two or three Griffins embarking on thy way. They may, or may not be armed.”
Octavia’s replies were conducted professionally, but hard to hear over that “music.”
“Understood Princess, we shall not let them near the Pelican…” Forgetting to turn off her radio, she then addressed Vinyl, Snowflake and Thunderlane, who could be heard having a whale of a time to that juvenile music. “Ponies! Griffins are heading our way! We need to-”
Vinyl burped at her. “Chillax Tavi, no Griffin can resist these beats!”
The radio finally clicked off.

Sighing, Luna got to work, using her magic to lift pieces of Bon Bon as she searched for her Pony tags. This activity never bothered her. To put your distaste over the needs of the dead was to be selfish, something Rarity needed to learn.

The derped one approached, “Oh yuck! What are you doing, Luna?! You’re not gonna find anything shiny in there.”
Ugh, Derpy was really getting on her nerves.
She gritted her teeth, “How about thou do something useful and giveth me some light!”
Confused, Derpy shone her flash light into Luna’s eyes.
“Argh! Shine thy light on Bon Bon!”
“But, you said… you… wanted the light.”
Luna growled. “Rarity!”
“Oh of course, Princess.” Rarity answered, making her way to Luna and Bon Bon.
At least some of my subjects have brains.

Behind Rarity, Derpy tried to make shadow puppets with her flash light, as did Pinkie Pie, who successfully made an Eagle… with one hoof.
How…? Never mind. Now that she could see more clearly, she resumed exploring the sloppy mess of Bon Bon.

The Griffin had stomped on her so hard, for so long, that its talon had gone straight through her spine and hit the floor. Bon Bon’s remains acted as a sort of “dam” around the hole, as there was barely any water there.

This really didn’t scan. Griffins were warriors, not monsters. Not one, or a billion dead Ponies registered as victory for them, they just moved on and hunted for more. They did not leave themselves vulnerable in enemy territory.
They did not run around with no weapons or equipment.
They did not pound Ponies into jelly.
They did not do this.

A glint of something shiny caught her eye.
What was Derpy talking about? Of course I’ll find something shiny!
A whip of telekinesis brought Bon Bon’s Pony tags up to her face. They were stained in a red liquid that didn’t really need mentioning, and one of the tags had folded over and been flattened.

What is that? Noticing something long and thin and green within the scrambled eggs of Bon Bon.
Her magic raised it up where she could get a gander. It looked like a giant spider’s leg; pointed at the end, oddly segmented, and a sickly green paste hung like snot from where it had been torn away from whatever it had been attached to. It wasn’t Griffin, and it sure as hay didn’t belong to Bon Bon, but whatever it was, it reeked. It really reeked. Must’ve been one of the sources contributing to the smell of the whole ship.

Luna was stood between it and everypony else. Wouldn’t want to frighten our subjects now would we?
She concealed the spider’s leg under a scrap of flesh.
“Thank you, fair Rarity.”
She turned and waded towards Lyra, who was now holding onto Applejack like a Philly to its mother.
Clearing her throat, she got the crying Unicorn’s attention, Bon Bon’s Pony tags jingling in front of her. Sniffling, Lyra took them with her own magic and dropped them into her saddle bag.
“Thanks,” she squeaked tearfully.
Luna bowed apologetically.

“Princess? The Griffins havn’t shown up yet,” Octavia’s voice crackled over the radio, dub step and partying still in the background.
Snowflake screamed down the radio, making Luna pull her head away.
“Will you Ponies listen to me!”
“Octavia, calm down! What art thy situation?”
“These Ponies just won’t listen to me.”
The Earth Pony was at her wits end, and Luna could make out the sound of a stifled cry - then a discordant scratch on the turn table, where ever they had found a turn table, ceased the dub step, and screams of terror came down the radio, followed by gunfire.
“Oh my gosh! What is that!?”
“Octavia! Speaketh to us!”
But Octavia was being too incoherent, panicking, screaming with the other three and firing her weapon.
“Kill it! Kill them too! Aaaaaaaa…!” A sloppy sound, then the radio cut off.
“Octavia...?” Luna was left even more numb. “… Octavia...?”

Author's Note:

Use Times New Roman and MediumDark background.
Bon Bon-voyage! Lolololol
Q the drums n' symbol!
Q the tumble weeds!
Q the one guy coughing!
Cos I'm on a roll ;) Same time next week y'all!