Chapter 13: The First Encounter
Horizon, October 15th, 07:00
Jonathan Conway woke to the sound of his chamber door opening. “Morning there partner.” He recognized the muffled male voice that greeted him.
“Hey, Arin–” he cut himself off with a groan as he pushed himself forward, he had slept with his back against the wall all night. He twisted his neck and cracked it. “What brings you in here?” John rubbed the back of his sore neck and looked at his brother, who was dressed in a blue quarantine suit and appeared to be holding some kind of envelope in his right hand.
“Oh nothing much,” Arin smiled and took a seat on the cot right beside John. “Just wanted to see what kind of trouble my older brother got himself into this time.” He leaned back, matching his sibling’s pose. “Speaking of which, what the hell happened anyways?”
John snorted and stretched out his back, he sighed and shook his head. “Something embarrassing that’s what.” He looked at Arin, who seemed unimpressed by his answer. “It was like something out of a goddamn freak show.” He looked to the inch thick glass that kept him and the psychotic in the other room away from each other. “One moment things were fine, then the next... fuck I can hardly recall.” John scratched the back of his head, trying to look back at the recent events. “All I can remember was a bright, green light, and this horrid ringing sound. I felt like I was going to vomit... and then, I came back to Hassel shining a light in my eye and asking if I was experiencing any symptoms.”
Arin looked at John with a raised eyebrow, “Symptoms?”
John met his brother’s gaze. “The Sleeper Virus.”
Arin’s eyes widened with horror and confusion. “Wa-wait a second, John, that can’t be ri–”
“I know, Arin, I know it’s crazy, and no I wasn’t experiencing any sort of symptoms.”
Arin let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. “Okay then, what did Hassel say?”
John shook his head and smirked. “Like I fucking know, the man hardly makes any sense to me. Shit, I bet his lackeys in white can barely make sense of him. He started rambling on about how whatever that thing projected out of its goddamn head shared resemblances to the virus, took one look at me, and after that I was carted away.”
Arin leaned over and smiled at John. “Well.” He looked him over from head to toe. “You don’t look infected to me, so at least we have that going for us.”
John glanced over at the room across from him again, he raised an eyebrow, the crazed man from last night was nowhere to be found.. “Say,” He said to his brother, not taking his eyes off the room. “What happened to screwloose?” He pointed to the empty room.
“Lt. Shaun Bell?” Arin followed his brother’s stare. “He was released just two hours ago at oh five hundred, the coats ran a couple of tests on him and said he was clean as a whistle.”
“Bullshit,” John got up from his spot, his legs had grown stiff and he needed to loosen them. “That crazy fucker woke me up last night!”
"So what, John? Not everyone can sleep like a baby like you c–”
“No, you don't understand, that psycho was sobbing like a child and saying that he could hear some fucking voice or some shit!”
“John the coats said he was–”
“Fucking look!” John went over to the window and planted his finger on a red splotch. “The blood stain he left last night is still there!” He then turned back to Arin,who had followed him, and was now scrutinizing the dried blood. “That man isn’t stable; he shouldn’t be roaming around the ship!”
Arin raised his hands in a calming gesture. “Alright, alright, I believe you. I’ll leave a note for Hassel explaining everything and I’ll make sure the supervisor checks the tape.”
John let out a breath of relief. “Thanks, Arin.”
“So... how did that blood stain get there anyways?”
John glanced back at it. “The guy had a headache I guess and decided to take care of it by smashing his head against the glass… repeatedly.”
Arin pursed his lips. “Oookay then, gimme a second here.” Arin brought a hand up side of his helmet and switched something on. “Dr. Joyce? Yeah this is Sgt. Conway. I noticed something odd with Lt. Bell’s quarantine room.” He nodded his head. “Yeah I know. There appears to blood on one of the containment walls. Officer Conway said it was caused by him having a fit the night prior. Do you know anything about that?” He fell silent for a few moments. “Alright, I’ll make sure a few of my mates get on it when I’m done.”
“What she say?” John asked.
“She mentioned that Shaun might have been experiencing the final passing of his infection. However, she agreed that he’ll need a few more check ups before he’ll be fully released.”
John nodded his head and looked back at his brother. He once again took notice of the small envelope still in Arin's hands. He leaned himself against the glass and pointed at it. “What’s that you got there?”
“Oh, this.” Arin held up the envelope, John nodded. “This is something I was meant to give to you before we launched into orbit to escape the apocalypse.” He handed it over to John. “If Hassel saw me bring it in here, he’d probably chew me out or something about contaminations and shit.”
“Maybe,” John said he slid his thumb under the flap and tore it open. He pulled his hand back and held it below the envelope as he tipped it, allowing a small handful of photographs to fall into his palm. All of a sudden, he couldn’t breathe.
“H-h-how di-did you–” He closed his mouth and looked at Arin with wide eyes, he was smiling back at him.
“I remembered a week before launch that you mentioned you didn’t have enough time to grab any pictures of them; that you were evacuated too quickly. Well, it just so happens that Facebook wasn’t as useless as I thought it was.” He laughed.
John dropped the brown envelope and held the three pictures in his hands as he shambled; almost zombie-like back to his cot. He held the first photo up, ‘Disney World’, he thought ‘2017, one year before Archangel’s appearance’. The image was of him, Stacey, and his daughter Amy, the three of them were standing on main street with the castle behind them. The memory was so clear to him, mostly due to the fact that Arin had broken his phone, after having taken that very same picture. Thankfully, he was right about Facebook being useful when it came to backing up his photos.
John flipped through the rest of the images. The second being his family trip to London, England back in 2008, and the final being taken in 2012 with him stepping off the plane and returning home from working in D.C. for the past three months.
“I apologize if the pictures are a bit faded.” He chuckled. “They were in my back pocket for like the past twelve thousand years or so.”
“N-no, they’re fine...” John said, his voice monotone, his thoughts completely focused on the images before him. He felt speechless, quite frankly seeing his wife and child again, even just pictures of them, nearly brought him to tears. He had forgotten how empty he’d felt when he’d left them, his mind had been so focused on his own survival and work that he’d felt like an empty husk. The only person aboard that had actually brought out his true emotions was his brother, the only family he had left.
“Where’d you get them?”
“Well if you want the specifics,” Arin said, “I printed them back in Fort Kentley, right before we boarded the trucks and headed to the Lazarus launch facility. I wanted to give them to you before I got onto the Omega and launched into orbit, but with all the chaos going on I couldn’t get them to you.”
John sniffed and lowered the images down onto his lap, with his right arm propped on his knee he rested his chin on his knuckles, peering off into the nonexistent distance. After a few minutes of comfortable silence he blinked and looked at Arin, which allowed him to see a few stray tears making their way down John’s cheeks. “Thank you,” Was all he said, and gently stashed the photos in his right pocket.
“Hey.” Arin reached forward and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t mention it.”
A hiss sounded from their right as the chamber door opened. “Pardon me, gentlemen.” Jonathon’s doctor, Alyssa Joyce, came into the room dressed in a similar protective suit as Arin along with two other men. One of the men John could easily identify as a soldier by the long AK rifle he held in both hands, and the bulge in his suit created by the kevlar vest he wore beneath it. The other man stood behind Alyssa with a metal cart. John assumed him to be Alyssa’s assistant. On said cart was a various amount of medical items, tourniquets, bandages, cotton balls, and what looked to be hundreds of needles.
John swallowed hard when his eyes landed on the needles. “So.. heh... what’cha doin there Doc? Prepping for surgery?”
The assistant rolled the cart into the center of the room, a couple feet away from John and his brother. Alyssa went over to the cart and picked up a needle, she held it up to the light for inspection. “You could say that...” She looked at John. “What?” She smiled at the horrified look on his face. “I’m just teasing you, no there will be no surgery. Just a couple of blood samples that is all.”
John bit his bottom lip. ‘Now that I think about it, surgery might’ve been a better option.’ He always hated giving blood. No, he hated anything that involved any sort of needle being jammed into his arm.. “O-okay then. Why?”
Alyssa nodded while absentmindedly inspecting the needle. She placed it back onto the cart and looked to her assistant, whispered something into his ear and looked back to John. “Well you want to get out of here don’t you?”
“Yeah I guess. But why do I need to give blood?”
Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Mr. Conway, if you’ll just let me do my job. I’ll explain everything to you while I set everything up, now please straighten yourself out.”
John raised an eyebrow at Arin. He shrugged. “Did you know anything about this?” He asked.
Arin smirked. “To be honest.” He shook his head head towards the man wielding the assault rifle. “I’m here for the same reason he is, I just wanted to talk to you while the good doctor got ready.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” John hissed.
Arin chuckled and said, “John, you and I both know that would have been stupid of me. Now go on, do as she says.”
John sat back down on the cot and watched as the doctor’s assistant pushed the cart towards the berth. The assistant then stepped back from the cart and stood in front of John. “Mr. Conway,” The man said, If you could hold out your left arm it’d be much appreciated.” John did as he was told. “Now please hold still while I apply the tourniquet.” The man turned around after retrieving a thick bandage from the cart and tied it tightly slightly above his elbow. “Make a fist please.”
John eyed Alyssa. “Aren’t you supposed to be the one doing all of this?” He asked.
The doctor motioned her head towards her assistant. “Marko here specifically asked if he could be the one to take the sample. So take it up with him.”
“Do not worry sir,” Marko said moving John’s arm so that the bottom faced upward. He then began to trace up it, looking for the vein. “I have done this numerous of times.” Marko tapped his finger on a spot a few inches above John’s joint, and then turned to the cart to grab a small bottle of disinfectant.
“I still don’t think having an assistant rather than an actual doctor take my blood is going to change my opinion much on this.” John glared at Alyssa, she was standing by Arin in the center of the room with a small smile.
“It’s not like he’s going to be performing brain surgery on you, John.” Arin said, “He’s just taking your blood.”
“Yeah, and a lot of things can go wrong with just taking–” John was cut off by a small prick in his arm. Looking down he noticed the assistant holding a small syringe that was already filling with his own blood. He watched wide eyed as the assistant pulled out the full vial of blood and began to gently swish around a few times before placing it in a holder. “A-are you done?”
“Nope.” The man looked at him and smiled. “We need at least three more.”
John gulped.
:[-]:
Horizon, October 15th, 11:00
For the first time in a little over twenty four hours, Jonathan Conway took his first steps out of the infirmary. After his… ordeal, the horrid blood tests confirmed the (quite obvious in his opinion) fact that he wasn’t infected, and the man was allowed free passage once again around the interior of the ship. Relatively at least; he would be under constant surveillance for the next seventy two hours.
“Hey,” Arin said, his new ‘bodyguard’, “at least they aren’t keeping you locked up in that dingy medbay, right?”
John sighed. “Trust me Arin, if what you say is true, the only reason they’re letting me out in the first place is because the admiral needs me to oversee the upcoming mission.” He looked at his brother as the duo began to walk towards the central elevator. “If the lab coats always got what they wanted, I’d probably be in some fucking incubator right now.”
Arin frowned. “Do we even have those onboard?”
John sighed. “Like hell if I know.”
The two of them stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the call button. “Well man, there’s nothing to worry about, alright?” Arin said, “And besides, I’m good at keeping myself invisible.” He smiled to himself.
“Yeah,” John agreed as the elevator door opened, the two stepped in. “Half of our childhood I never really got a good look at you.”
Arin frowned. “Wait... the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
John just grinned as the doors closed in front of them and began to descend into the ship.
:[-]:
Horizon, October 15th, 11:10
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ll be heading on possibly one of the most crucial operations since the starting of this project.” Admiral Watson was standing in the center of the control room right beside the holo-globe. In front of him were twelve soldiers, each divided into two groups. On the right was the squad led by Commander William Keshiner, whereas on the left was led by one of Earth’s finest: Master Sergeant Peter Van Thorne, who was more formally known as “Kong”.
Kong was a rather small man, he had thin limbs, yet his strength could match those of a gorilla. Or so the men who had faced him in an arm wrestling match would say. His eyes were blue and sharp, along with his aim, and his hair stopped just below his ears in curly blond waves. Funny enough, Kong’s height could have him be mistaken for a young teenager, though it has been said that despite his stature he could match the speed of the old olympic runner Usain Bolt.
Back straight, Kong and the other eleven men were outfitted with enough gear that’d make a SEAL team wary of their presence. Which was probably why the rest of the crew was giving them their due space, with the exception of Watson, who was currently staring into Kong’s eyes in a cold, calculating challenge. “The twelve of you, along with a few other important assets, will be heading to what we believe is the natives’ capital settlement.” The hologlobe spun around to reveal a red dot near the center of Japan. “As for you, Baghdad.” Watson looked to William and his squad. “Your job is simple, keep your mouths shut and make sure nothing happens to the VIPs while the meeting with the equine hierarchy is in progress. Delta team.” Watson glared at Kong and his men. “Your job is also simple, stay quiet and make sure the equines stay clear of the Condors. Am I clear?”
“Sir yes sir!”
“Excellent,” Watson said, “Officer Conway here,” he gestured towards John and Arin as the two men walked in from the hallway, “Will be watching your backs via the spare drone and your helmet cams. If anything shows up on radar he’ll relay the information to you before the proverbial shit hits the fan.” Watson gave John a stern look as the two walked up beside him. “Is that correct, Central?”
“Affirmative, sir.” John nodded before saluting the admiral.
Watson gave John’s back a light smack. “Good, then that means I’ll leave everything up to you. good luck” he said before stepping behind John and taking his leave.
With watson walking towards the door, John turned around and retrieved a remote from the table behind him. “Listen up everyone, I will try to make this brief. As Watson might have already said, you’ll be escorting four VIPs today.” John aimed the remote towards the television behind the men and the screen flickered to life, showing off an I.D. portrait of Angela Greene. “The primary VIP is Ms. Angela Greene, our top diplomat. Guard her with your lives, boys and girls. If we lose her, we’ll have no clue on how our relationship with these creatures will turn out. Next.” The screen transitioned to another I.D. of a woman. “Ms. Angela Weaver, Horizon’s top chairman, will be tagging along as the council’s representative. Quite frankly, if something were to happen to her, it won’t be a big loss.” A few soldiers chuckled at this. “Second to last!” The screen changed and showed a large, nerdy looking individual. “We have Doug Miller, he’ll tag along and represent our research division. If there’s any chance he’ll also be there to grab whatever samples and notes he can find in order to further our understanding of these beings. So. Guard him with your life. Now finally.” The screen revealed a lanky looking man with glasses. “We have our second top VIP, Bryan Hunsinger. He will serve as our translator. Ladies and gentlemen I don’t think I need to emphasize how important this man is. If shit does go down we need this man as alive as possible, he’s the only one so far who has been able to understand the equines’ language. Now. Do we have any questions?”
Instantly a hand shot up. “Yes, Kong?”
“Why do we need to bring, Ms. Suit with us? It’s not like we’re going to a zoo, hell she’ll be nothing but dead weight!”
John sighed “I told you Kong.” He scratched the back of his neck. “She’ll be representing the council. Not only that, she too will be taking notes on equine behavior. Anything else–ah, yes, what is it Mint?” John pointed towards a tall pale man in the back behind Kong.
“What about our weapons, are there any restrictions on what we can take?”
John smirked. “Excellent question. Yes, and no. For Delta team, no. You’ll be outdoors guarding the LZ, so feel free to use whatever you want to. However, Baghdad will be guarding the VIPs with concealed small arms. Remember, we’re trying to make a good impression, we don’t want the equines thinking that we’re going to take the place.”
“So you want us to guard them with just our nine millimeters?” William asked.
“Not entirely, just anything you can keep out of the equines’ line of sight. Handguns, SMGs, etcetera. Anymore questions?” No one said anything. “Alright then, you’ll be heading down to the armory to grab any remaining gear that you’ll need. I’ll be expecting you locked and loaded in Hangar B by 11:30. When you’re ready, the operation will be underway. Dismissed!”
:[-]:
October 15th 11:40
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.” William raised an ear at the sound of DeSilva’s sarcastic voice. “This morning’s flight is expected to last about forty minutes. However, ten of those minutes will be spent out of comms range, but do not worry. HQ will have that all sorted out in a matter of time.” The ship shuddered as the doors slid shut, and the engines whistled as they came to life. William felt a brief sense of weightlessness when the locks on the elevator that carried the VTOL released, allowing the ship to descend into the lowest deck.
The Condor jolted when the elevator came to a grinding halt. “God dammit!” Will overheard Doug Miller. “When are those engineers going to oil those damn gears?!” Will looked at the angry, overweight man who was glaring upwards at the ceiling of the craft. “I swear, one of these days this thing’s going to snap right in half and send us right to our grave.”
Michael, who sat beside William chuckled. “Man, I’m having a huge sense of deja vu right now.”
A redhead girl named Stacey, the one marine that sat directly across from Michael sighed. “That’s probably because this isn’t the first time we’ve heard Dr. Miller say that.”
“I know that.” Michael replied, “It’s just that it’s strange to hear him say it again, especially–”
“For Christ sake, does it matter?” William interrupted.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our flight will be under way momentarily. T minus sixty seconds.”
Michael shot a quick glance at William then returned to his conversation with Stacey about deja-whatever. William looked around the cabin and at the other three soldiers, who were a couple of corporals and a tech sergeant Watson assigned to him. He didn’t know the corporals’ names, nor their faces, although he had seen the tech sergeant around a few times. The three men were strapped in, their heads hanging back as they tried to catch up on some sleep they probably missed.
William wished that he could join them, however, these past couple of nights he had been plagued with nightmares from years past. William yawned and unstrapped himself from his seat. “Whoa, Commander.” Michael stuck a hand out to him as he got up. “What’cha think you’re doin’? Don’t you see we’re about to take off?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Will held tightly onto the ceiling handle. “I’m just going up to the cockpit that’s all.” Carefully he began to move his way past the seated marine and over to the door separating the cockpit from the rest of the ship.
Will stopped in front of the door and pressed the call button. “DeSilva, it’s me. Open up, will ya!”
A click sounded from the door and it slid open. Stepping inside Will saw the Ukrainian pilot sipping his soda from a red aluminum can. “How can I help you, sir?” DeSilva asked as he smacked his lips and placed the can in the cup holder beside him, Will took the seat next to him.
“I just need to get away from my squad for now that’s all,” Will said as he strapped himself in.
DeSilva laughed. “Really now? Well then, let me help you.” He pressed a button, shutting the door behind them.
“Al Capone, this is Central, how copy over?”
“Hold on for a second, William.” DeSilva flipped the switch on the side of his headphones and he spoke into the built-in mic. “This is Al Capone, I’m reading you loud and clear, Central. The bird is locked and ready when you are. Over.”
“Roger that, Al Capone, proceed with caution. We’ve got reports of small unidentified objects flying within the air space. Over.”
“Will do.” DeSilva flipped a switch and took hold of the cyclic, gently pulling back on it. William could feel the shaking of the craft intensify as it slowly began to lift off the surface of the elevator. Past the windshield, Will saw a white horizontal crack form in the side of the ship as the outer door began to open. “Alright, Commander.” DeSilva looked at him. “Hold onto your butt.”
Will felt a slight jerk as the ship flew past the opened door, climbing rapidly once they cleared the opening. Within seconds they were already hundreds of feet above ground, giving them a bird's eye view of the camp below. Will could see dozens of tents and the dots of other crew members moving about the perimeter steadily growing smaller as they ascended. Most of them seemed busy with clearing out the remaining debris, while a handful had already dragged out the construction gear and were beginning to deconstruct the ship’s engines.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?”
“Excuse me?” Will took his eyes off the ground and looked at DeSilva.
“Flying, being able to see the ground from here, it’s beautiful,” DeSilva said while keeping his eyes focused on what was ahead of him.
“I don’t know if you could say that,” William disagreed, “After twelve thousand years... I think I’m a bit tired of flying.”
DeSilva laughed. “When you put it like that, friend, I cannot blame you. Say...” DeSilva punched a few buttons on the console and a pleasant female voice filtered through the headset.
“Autopilot engaged, ETA: 42 minutes.”
He then reached forward and pressed a button that looked almost like a CD ejector, and sure enough, it was. He pulled out a small burnt CD and placed it aside. “What kind of man are you?” He pulled out a large CD case. “Sinatra, or Martin?”
William raised an eyebrow. “Do you have Fly Me to the Moon?”
DeSilva looked at William as if he was an idiot. “Why wouldn’t I have it?”
“I dunno, maybe by some sma–”
“But it’s like one of his most popular songs–”
“Alright! Fuck, just put him in then!”
DeSilva chuckled and took out his Frank Sinatra CD and stuck it into the player. After he found the correct track the two men sat back in a brief silence and watched as the Condor flew over the small equine settlement. Down below, both of them could see dozens of equines stumbling out into the streets watching wide-eyed as the metal machine streaked across the sky.
The cockpit filled with the sound of Sinatra’s voice and band. “Say,” Will called over the song’s chorus, “where’s Delta team and the other VIPs?” Will leaned his head to the right seeing if he could possibly spot the second ship they were supposedly in.
“They are right behind us in the second bird.” DeSilva loosely bobbed his head to the music. “Just a couple hundred meters back though, you can’t see them from up here.”
Will pulled his head back from the window and looked at the pilot. “Alright then–the fuck!” Out from the corner of his eye a dark figure zipped past the ship.
“Oh shit!” DeSilva veered the ship a little to the left. “You saw that too?”
“Like hell I did, the fuck was that?” Again another streak flew by, this time right above the cockpit.
“It’s probably some type of bird,” DeSilva said trying to keep the ship align. He turned his headset on and held the mic to his mouth. “Central, this is Al Capone, I’ve spotted several unidentified objects flying within close proximity of us.”
“Ro.... Th.... skj....” Static and gibberish poured out of the radio.
DeSilva cursed and flipped off his headset. “What’s wrong?” William asked focusing his attention on their right flank.
“We’re entering the goddamn deadzone, won’t be another ten minutes ‘till we have comms again.” He sighed. “For now I guess we just hang tight and make sure that whatever these things are–”
“Holy... shit,” Will interrupted, his jaw was nearly striking the floor. Out along the right side of the dropship were six winged equines gliding alongside them, going at a speed in which Will thought was impossible for a flesh and blood creature.
“What do you see?” DeSilva looked over, his vision blocked by William’s body.
“It’s the natives,” He said quietly, unable to take his eyes off of the impossible creatures. Each one was wearing a set of golden armor, their coats were a pure white, their plumes, tails, and eyes all a dark shade of blue. The looks on their faces hard and almost expressionless.
“The natives?” DeSilva went back to looking ahead. “How the fu.. what? They can fly? How?”
“They have wings, that’s how. But’s that’s not the question you should be asking.”
“What are they doing?”
“Yes.” William nodded. “That’s a good question. As for an answer? I don’t know.” The light from the sun reflected off of a cloud above, making William squint as he leaned in for a closer examination. “It almost looks as if they’re escorting us,” He said.
“Or making sure we aren’t doing anything stupid.”
Will nodded again in agreement. “That too.” He heard a pop of a tab behind him, glancing over his shoulder he saw DeSilva drinking his pop nervously. “Hey,” Will said sternly, DeSilva looked at him. “Hand me one, will ya?”
DeSilva reached under his seat and handed Will a red can of cola. He took it and popped it open, sipping from it he gazed out the window. “I don’t see anything suspicious happening. Like I said, they're probably just escorting us.”
“Wait a second,” DeSilva asked, suddenly realising something. “How the Hell are they even keeping up with us?” He looked at the dashboard. “We’re nearly going five hundred kilometers an hour!”
Will snorted and sipped his drink. “Like I know.”
“I’m surprised,” DeSilva said, “at how well you’re taking this.”
William cackled and laid back in his seat. “This whole mission has been filled with weird shit. Heck, the last twelve thousand years is unequaled by any other event. First the Archangel shows up, then we suddenly have the zombie apocalypse on our hands, NASA just so happened to be building a gigantic colony ship which was supposed to save the human race. Which also just so happened to be the same ship I was going to be spending the next couple thousand years on in cryosleep until we stumble upon some new habitable rock in the sky.” He cleared his throat and straightened himself out. “Trust me, if you were with me and my squad before doomsday, you’d have seen some weird-ass shit.”
DeSilva glanced at William strangely and looked back on ahead. For a few moments they sat in silence. “Could you name one?” DeSilva asked generally curious.
Will took a deep breath and shrugged. “Well, I had my handgun get turned into a rattlesnake once.”
DeSilva laughed out loud, but stopped shortly after when he noticed William looking at him expressionless. “Wait, you’re fucking serious?”
“Yeah.” He said, “Archangel’s attack on Camp Sherman, ring any bells?”
DeSilva nearly choked on his drink. “Oh shit, you’re right! Fuck, you were there?!”
“That’s how the armory got flooded with venomous snakes,” Will said. He raised his hand and spaced his index finger a centimeter away from his thumb. “I came this close to nearly popping the fucker in the head, and next thing you know I’m holding a rattlesnake!” Will faced himself forward and turned his head to the right and focused back on their escorts. The equines looked to be flying with ease; as if they had no trouble with the speed they were going. “You know, sometimes I wonder if I could’ve finished it all there,” Will said quietly.
“Excuse me?”
Will drank the last of his cola and set the can aside. “Back in Sherman, if I had been a little faster, could I have ended it all, y’know? A swift pull of the trigger and bam! You know what I’m saying?”
“I doubt it man,” DeSilva said, “From all the stories I’ve heard from everyone aboard, the destruction and chaos I’ve seen when flying to all those LZs, there’s no way in Hell a single nine millimeter could’ve brought that thing down.”
“Maybe you’re right, but still... it’s something to think about I guess.”
“Something that’d get you killed, that’s what that is.”
A tinny voice sputtered through DeSilva’s headset. “Al Capone, this is Central, how copy, over?”
“Finally.” DeSilva switched the music off and put his headset back on. “I’m reading you five by five, over.”
“Excellent, what’s happening up there? Over.”
“So far everything is a-okay, over.”
A brief wave of static erupted from the radio before a new voice came through. A much deeper voice than Will would have expected. “Well I be damned, the radio’s working,” The voice said sarcastically.
“Good afternoon, Lil-John, nice to hear you ain’t sleeping behind the wheel,” DeSilva replied.
“Ha!” The voice cackled, the man sounded old; William assumed he was the other Condor pilot. "And it’s nice that I can actually hear you instead of that damned music, Al Capone! And I see ya made some friends. Pretty amazing that they can keep up to your ship at your speed”
“Speaking of which,” John spoke up, “When did they arrive, Al Capone?”
“Approximately, seven minutes ago, over.”
“Roger that, have their actions showed any suspicion? Over.”
“Not as of yet; escorts appear to be docile, over.”
“Roger that, estimated time till you reach your destination?”
He paused, glancing at the dash. “ETA: fifteen minutes over,” Both pilot said simultaneously.
“Wait, what?” Will exclaimed. “damn, that went by quicker than I thought.” he looked over at DeSilva. “Wake me up when we land alright?” DeSilva nodded and gave him a thumbs up, Will patted his shoulder and got comfortable in his seat. Closing his eyes, he drifted off.
:[-]:
“Commander! Commander, please! Help me!”
“Nathan! Nathan, where are you?”
“Commander, ple–graaah!”
“Nathan! Nathan, where are you... shit... NATHAN!”
“William... darling, are you there?”
“L-Laura? Sweetie, is that you?”
“Will, I-I can’t see you... Will, why can’t I see you?”
“Laura, stay calm. I’m coming!”
“Leave them, Commander.’’
“Will! I can’t breathe! William, please it’s crushing me!”
“LAURA!”
“It’s either your wife and child or the entirety of the human race.”
“William, I love you!”
“Laura, for Christ sake don’t go!”
“Choose now, Commander, because what happens now will change the fate of humanity.”
:[-]:
“Hey, man you alright?” A voice filtered through William’s thoughts. Along with something gently shaking him as his hazy consciousness grabbed ahold of reality.
“Ah!” William woke in his seat with a startled cry, his left hand firmly gripping the hilt of his knife just above his breast pocket.
“Jesus Christ, Commander!” DeSilva quickly ripped his hand back in order to avoid William. He looked at him wide eyed and asked, “Bad dream, huh?”
Will took a few deep breaths in order to calm himself. “Yeah,” He replied in a quiet and hoarse voice. “I guess you could say that.” He wiped the freshly formed sweat off his forehead and turned his attention out the window, the escorts still in perfect formation around the ship. William frowned a little and straightened himself out, leaning a bit more towards the window. Looking down he noticed the ground had changed, instead of a sea of endless trees there were now a few scattered houses mixed in with plots of farmland along rolling meadows. Looking directly forward Will had taken note of a massive mountain he recalled from the drone’s footage Nelson Grimes had shown him in the medbay. On said mountain was a massive, Victorian style castle, a large city sprawling out below it, all hanging impossibly off the mountainside.
“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” DeSilva chuckled at the sight of William’s thoughtful expression. “Central already marked the location in which we’ll be dropping you guys off. You see that massive lawn in front of the castle?” DeSilva pointed towards a large, grassy field barely visible behind the castle’s wall. “That’s where your team will be let off. After that, if things go as expected they should allow you inside. However, if you want my personal opinion, I think that’s a pretty big if.”
Will sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “As long as our escorts are okay with us stopping there, I think we’ll do just fine.”
DeSilva nodded his head in agreement and switched on the radio. “Al Capone to Lil-John, come in, over?”
“Alcapone, this is Lil-John, over.”
“I’ll be slowing down in just a second for landing, be ready, over.”
“Roger that, over and out.”
DeSilva switched off the headset and looked at Will. “Alright, Commander this is the part in which I kick you out. Go back and tell your men to get ready. I’ll give you the green light once we land.”
Will nodded. “Alright, and DeSilva? Thanks. It’s been awhile since I was just able to chat with someone that didn’t just suck up to my ass.”
DeSilva smirked. “Get the fuck out of my cockpit.” He chuckled as he pressed the button to open the door.
William unbuckled himself and went out the cockpit door. Upon entering the cabin he saw that nearly everyone was fast asleep. He cleared his throat and took on a commanding tone. “Alright, bitches!” He slammed the bottom of his fist against the metal wall, a loud obnoxious bang reverberated throughout the ship's cabin. “Get your shit together, we land in sixty! Come on, hustle!” William was awarded a wave of dissatisfied groans as the soldiers forced themselves awake. “I said get a move on!”
Will shuffled over to the storage compartment below his empty seat and retrieved his respirator and gun. The gun in particular wasn’t the infantry issued AK-12, but it was a custom designed submachine gun that the user could fold in half and conceal in his bag or anywhere that would be out of sight. William took the gun by the strap and flung it across his shoulders, next he began to attach the respirator to his tyvek suit. Once he pulled the mask over his face and strapped it on he turned around, and was met with the ready, yet still slightly groggy look of his comrades; now sealed behind their protective gear.
The ship lurched slightly back as DeSilva slowed the Condor for landing. “Remember,” William said to his squadmates, his voice taking a warning tone, “we’re here to make a GOOD first impression, so be on your best behavior. You will remain silent this entire operation, and if I hear a single peep from any of your mouths without a damn good reason, so help me God! You will be shitting prints of my shoe till Christmas! Matter of fact if I hear you breathe! I’ll make sure that you wished you died on this very planet twelve thousand years ago! Do you hear me?!”
A muffled “Sir yes sir!” filled the cabin.
The floor shook as the ship touched down. “Houston, we’ve landed.” DeSilva said through the intercom over the noise of various harnesses clicking open, “Ladies and gentlemen I’ll give you ten seconds to check your respirators, once that’s done I’m opening the doors.”
Will checked himself one last time and faced the closed doors, his crew right behind him. Suddenly, a loud buzz flooded the cabin as the green light in the top right corner began to flash, followed by a massive thud as the numerous seals disengaged. William felt a whoosh of air blow past him as the pressure in the cabin equalised. Like a hot knife through butter, a white ray of light illuminated the darkness within the craft. Slowly, the door began to slide to the left, creating a large enough opening to allow more light in, which blinded the crew and allowed for a wave of new noises to enter.
The first thing William’s were the voices, which was unlike anything he’d ever heard before. It wasn’t just one voice either, instead there were dozens maybe even hundreds of loud voices that were compiled together into one massive chorus. A complete and utter cacophony of gibberish that reminded him of his tour in Korea.
William raised his hand and shielded himself from the bright light, he looked over his shoulder and smiled at his squadmates. “Come on you apes, let’s get a move on!”
:[-]:
Castle front lawn, October 15th, 12:10 P.M.
Ten minutes before the humans’ arrival.
Celestia sat calmly in the courtyard on a soft red pillow. With her magic she levitated a small cup of water to her lips and sipped from it gently, she then placed the cup aside and picked up the book she was reading. Further Unto Dusk the cover said, Celestia smiled and turned the page.
A flash of light came from her right. “Your highness!” Captain Kebler shouted to Celestia after appearing from a teleportation spell.
Celestia marked her page and stood up from her spot. “What is it, Kebler?”
The captain stopped in front of her and caught his breath. “I have received word of two unidentified objects flying from the alien landing site.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Is there word on where they might be heading?”
Kebler took a deep breath. “Last I heard they were heading right for Canterlot. Lieutenant Lighting ordered his men to follow shortly behind the crafts in case anything is to happen.”
Celestia shook her head and brought her cup over and sipped from it. “Like that’s going to do much,” she murmured.
“Excuse me, Princess?”
“Nothing, Kebler, I’ll handle things as they are. Attend to my sister and make sure everything is ready.”
Kebler bowed respectfully. “As you wish.” With that, a swift flash of light came and the captain was gone.
Celestia turned to the nearest guard. “You there, guard. Please summon Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
:[-]:
Canterlot Castle, October 15th, 12:15 p.m.
Twilight Sparkle woke with a start at the sound of somepony knocking on her bedroom door. Looking at the drool on her desk, she had realized that she’d fallen asleep during her late night study session. Normally she would have mentally reprimanded herself, but with an actual alien encyclopedia right in front of her, she just could not blame herself.
When Celestia had allowed her time to go and read it for herself. The mare had not fallen asleep until early sunrise that morning, and the thing is, she hadn’t even yet scratched the surface of the book! There was at least three thousand pages bound between the perfect covers and she had only gotten through the first five hundred! In most nights if she had a book so large she could read most of it in just half a night, no matter the language it was written in... Even with her spell, it was just…. so bizarre!
The words and phrases, a lot of them didn’t make any sense to her. But not only was it the language that slowed her down, the amount of information in that book was almost overwhelming for her at times. When Luna came and visited her that night she showed her something that nearly made her faint when she realised what it was.
The maps in the back. Though there was a slight difference in some areas, they were exactly the same as Equis. All the way to the exact mountain; they were the same! But how? That was the question Twilight kept asking herself, how do these “humans” know our planet from front to back so easily when they aren’t even from here?
Or.
What if they were? Another question she had thought of, but then that begs the question, why did they come from the sky? What if they were native to Equis, and they developed some type of machinery that could allow them to travel into space. But then, why would they even go?
Another knock alerted Twilight and she forced herself from her thoughts. “S-sorry, I was still waking up!”
“Your highness,” A deep raspy voice said from behind the door, “Princess Celestia is requesting that you report to the castle lawn immediately.”
“Any reason on why right this second?” Twilight asked as she stepped off the chair and fixed her mane with her magic.
“All she told me is that they’re coming.” The voice responded.
For a brief second Twilight was struck with confusion.
“So in return I gave them a map of Equestria with directions leading to Canterlot. If things go accordingly and they were able to read my markings correctly, they should be arriving here sometime tomorrow.”
Twilight’s eyes widened at the memory and realization. “The aliens are coming,” She whispered.
:[-]:
Twilight quickly slid her way about the castle, doing her best not to run headlong or bump into into any of the bustling staff in the halls as she practically drifted around the corners. Everywhere about the castle waiters, waitresses, gardeners, and anypony else who could help; rushed about the castle in a last ditch effort to clean up the already pristine palace.
“Excuse me, pardon me–” Twilight yelped when a waitress came around the corner levitating a plate of goods within her magic.
“Hey watch it!” The waiter quickly recoiled back keeping the plate close to her so that Twilight wouldn’t accidentally knock it over as she galloped by.
“Sorry!” Twilight yelled over her shoulder before dodging to the left to avoid yet another platter full of food. Looking past the waitress Twilight saw an onslaught of castle staff members in her wake. She bit her bottom lip out of irritation. “Ugh, there’s no way I’m gonna get there in time!” She huffed and looked out the nearby window. A smile came to Twilight’s lips. “Unless...” She thought as she stretched her wings.
:[-]:
Canterlot Castle, October 15th, 12:27
Three minutes before the human’s arrival.
“Wh-hoa!” Twilight’s hooves landed harshly onto the cobblestone walkway, causing her to stumble for a few feet before regaining her balance. Twilight shook her head and looked around herself, trying to get her bearings. To her sides were two large rows of roses and an evergreen tree that grew in manicured lines. Ahead of her the path continued on to the front of the castle and behind her the path was blocked by a stone wall. Faintly, as she gradually regained her breath, she became aware of a bell ringing in the distance.
But alongside the bell Twilight could hear something else, it sounded like a chopping noise similar to the sound a sword makes when it quickly slices the air. However, this noise was consistent and rapid while growing gradually in volume until it became a steady roar. It must be them! Twilight thought as she began to gallop her way towards the castle’s front lawn.
The sound was growing increasingly louder the further she neared the corner. When Twilight rounded it and entered the castle front lawn, she nearly plowed right through a wall of guards before she realised they were even there. Due to her attention fully captured by the two large metal contraptions hovering above the castle lawn. Seemingly held aloft by four large metal propellers attached to pylons on each corner of the ship that spun through the air faster than the eye could see. The pylons produced thunderous WHUMPS mixed in with a high pitched keening that came from within the craft. The yard was full of guards and castle staff who watched with awe as the two suspended vessels slowly descended towards the grass. As they neared the ground the belly of the wondrous machines opened and three large wheels revealed themselves, which absorbed the weight of the vehicles as they touched the ground.
Twilight pushed her way through the guards, politely apologizing while she did so. Finally reaching the front, she saw Celestia and two of her personal guards standing roughly a few yards away from the vessels. “Princess!” Twilight called out, she galloped over to her previous mentor. “Is it them, the humans?” She asked.
Celestia looked over at Twilight, her face stern at first but quickly warmed up at the sight of her. “Yes Twilight, it’s them; and I see you learned their name as well? ” She smiled and returned her attention to the craft. “That’s fantastic.” She said.
The first craft to land seemingly stood frozen for a few seconds before the “whumps” coming from its blades started to decrease in frequency and volume as well as the keening that she supposed must of been coming from the machine’s engines that powered such fantastic pieces of machinery.
The rotating blades slowed their motions before coming to a complete stop, then a deep clang sounded from the craft as its sides pulled themselves open on their own; revealing the interior. Twilight could hardly see a thing inside it. Though with the enormous sounds coming from the craft’s propulsive systems, she could hear something that sounded like a shout coming from within, maybe an order?
She saw movement, something stepped out of the craft, a large rounded figure covered from head to .. hooves? No. They were feet. It was wearing blue clothing with the exception of a black and orange mask circling its head. The way the light reflected off the blue outfits, almost made it seem as if it was made from some kind of reflective material similar to glass. Behind it came six other figures, that wore what looked to be heavy black and green gear around their bodies with masks that were completely black.
The second craft opened and another group of aliens stepped out onto the grass. Unlike the first blue alien Twilight had seen, these two creatures wore grey suits with bags wrapped around their shoulders, another creature in a completely white garment followed up behind them. After that another six, similar to the group that had disembarked from the first craft, although unlike their counterparts, they seemed to be carrying several black, complex looking objects with an open tube in the front leading to an intricately built; but still blocky handle that the creatures used to carry them in their minotaur like limbs. Twilight had started to assume the larger ones were soldiers of some kind.
Twilight looked up to Celestia and whispered, “Princess, what should we do?”
“For now,” Celestia replied, “we wait until they appear to be ready.”
The four aliens in colored suits gathered closely together in a roughly square pattern, gesturing to each other in some form of communication while the twelve black and green soldier looking ones formed a loose perimeter around the craft and their colored comrades.
The four huddled aliens broke apart from one another and looked towards the two princesses. The white one came forth, the blue following behind it, and the two greys behind the blue. Two of the green soldiers motioned looked at the four of them and nodded. They must be some kind of authority figure? Twilight thought, The colored ones being the highest in rank?
The four aliens stopped a couple feet away from them. One of the greys dropped its bag on the ground and began to root though it. I wonder what it’s looking for? Twilight thought as she leaned for a closer look, I guess I'll find out soon enough. Twilight glanced sideways at celestia and tried to judge her expression, stoic and patient as ever. Although she thought she could see a hint of a grimace mixed in with vague curiosity. She returned her gaze to the humans only to find that the grey one had pulled out some sort of white, glossy board from the bag and was continuing to look for something else. A few more seconds passed and the human finally pulled out what looked to be a thin white and black object which it wrapped its fingers around tightly. It then turned and gave both items to the white human.
Celestia seemed interested in what was happening, and so was Twilight. The white creature nodded and took both of the items and held pulled the top piece off of the thin item. It then held the whiteboard in front of its face and looked to have started running the thin tip along its surface as if it was writing something. Occasionally It’d stop for a second and look to the others before returning to writing, only to once again stop, wipe its hand across the board and start again. After about a minute it seemed happy with what it was doing and turned the board around so that it faced the ponies.
Celestia and Twilight’s jaws nearly struck the ground.
On the board, written as plain as day was:
Hello,
we come in peace.
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I'm just about to go to bed and bam new chapter...
then it turns out to be a false alarm and just as I'm about to go to bed BAM actual update...
...
5967164 I won't let you sleep.
TTFE
Twilight and Celestia: i.imgur.com/M5OAldj.png
You thought it was just a false alarm?
Surprise Motherfucker.
5967461
Couldn't help but remember this.
'we come in peace... shoot to kill, shoot too kill, shoot to kill....'
5967487 The first bit really was a mistake xD. I was in the middle of re formatting all the text so it wouldn't be one massive wall, however I accidentally clicked publish instead of edit when I went to go eat.
another good chapter can't 'wait for what happens next.
So the sleeper virus isn't 100% deadly, or what is basically dead.
5967577 That is a very good assumption.
5786627 It saddens me that you are the only one that has notice that (so I know of)
Celestia is supposed to be capitalized.
5967653
Don't be sad, I noticed it too
Fuck you and your cliffhangers!
5967650 Although no natural disease has a 100% fatality rate, their is a lot of reasons to believe the Sleeper virus is magical in origin so I did suspect it was. I'm not sure how long that guy was locked up, but they have only been on the planet for a couple days at most. Given his symptoms and the severity of the disease their is no way the man would of been released so soon without previous documented survivors. These people can't be that incompetent... can they?
That isn't to say the Sleeper virus doesn't have other unknown symptoms.
5967723
images.sodahead.com/polls/0/0/4/0/6/6/4/4/7/1031845151_crying_man.gif
I'm sorry.
5967728
The readers so far do not know entirely how the "Sleeper Virus" works. That is to say if it even is a virus.
i.warosu.org/data/vr/img/0022/53/1424770816378.png
Also if you check back in the story it has been a little over 72 hours for the "psychotic man." For John however most disease symptoms don't really take effect until after twenty four hours, which is why he was caged up. The crazy man though wasn't exposed to the "sleeper virus" his suit was only torn open. Though he did experience some sort of "symptom" which will be covered more later, as of now the lab coats assume he's clean because–
But we all know what happened afterwards. The voices in his head and all, John doesn't believe that could've been the final phases of whatever that was.
In other words, you maybe onto something with it not being anything biological, but instead more along the lines of being magical
I have no idea what I'm rambling on about. I just got bored and kept on typing, I could've kept this to a few sentences but instead said. "Meh, what the Hell."
5967763 I know quite abit about biology, and nothing about the Sleeper virus seems possible for a real disease. I didn't say anything about it before because it was so obviously magical in nature to me.
I thought they at some point they confirmed the Sleeper virus was present in the environment, so how was a suit breach not exposure to the Sleeper virus? Although you have given me no details about the Sleeper virus I do assume the humans would know something about it at this point, the usual symptoms and course of the disease at least.
And I agree with John, one douse not go from smashing their head against a wall to 'fine' over a single night.
5967811
Well if the Virus is magical in nature as it seemed to spawn the DracoEqui then it wouldn't work like the normal disease now would it? Heck they said the captured Unicorn's magic showed similarities to the virus, maybe Equestrian magic is actually a benevolent variation of the virus itself? I'd expect magic induced mutation would be much more frequent, rapid and radical. With the sleeper virus infecting all of earth it would make sense that eventually life would evolve to survive relatively unscathed by the virus, resisting the more destructive and chaotic strains, leaving only the more beneficial and harmless strains to propagate. Even the lack of other Draconequises(I assume there where more than him) could be a result, with Discord only surviving because he was first, the rest dying off when antigens that destroyed the harmful strains evolved. Dark Magic and Chaos Magic could be the descendants of the harmful strains while Love Magic and the Magic of Friendship are descended from strains that became symbiotic. The Alignment and nature of Equis' life could also be a function of which strains their ancestors where infected with.
Discord... 5 bucks he shows up during the peace talks. Any takers? Any?
5968224 I hope not, that's just so... cliche, I want to say.
5968388 Anything to spread more chaos, you know.
5968224 10$ says humans freak out and attack!
5968454 No bet.
5967763 I'm guessing its just the same, or similar, effect that he had the the main six when he 'discorded' them and turned them all grey.
5968032
You see, it appears that magic is an "outside of context problem" for humans. They are so used to assuming it non-existant they don't even think about it. Sleeper Virus might actually be a curse, but since modern humanity is not familiar with curses they try to explain it using concepts they are familiar with.
My theory is that humanity by large is incompatible with magic due to some sort of defense mechanism, blocking it out even by existing. An individual human is alright, but when they come in billions... So as humans multiplied and spread all over the Earth, they were pressing the ambient magic back, especially from densely populated areas. And one day magic bursted back out in form of superpowered Chaotic Evil creature. When most of humans died, and the irrelevant handful left the Earth, it left the place with a high magical background - either it was released by humanity's disappearance, or it was being spreaded by Discord. This, in turn, influenced newly developing lifeforms, who became capable of actually using magic for their own purposes, rahter than actively supressing it.
Sorry, I am a bit out of loop.
Can some give tl;dr of what is the sleeper virus?
5968840 It was a disease caused by Archangel which essentially put you into a zombie-like state, reducing you to your base primal instincts and making you extremely violent and irrational. Basically the cause of a zombie apocalypse and what caused the metaphorical end of the world.
TL;DR it's pretty much a zombie infection.
5968224 Hah, not taking you up on that one; Anyone who was around before the rewrite knows that shit is gonna go dooooown xD
5968689 I thought that Archangel brought the curse with him, uplifting the ponies after he ran out of toys (humans) and spreading magic in the process.
Hm. Now there's a thought.
-Archangel comes to earth.
-Spreads the curse to kill the native intelligent population.
-Uplifts random sturdy native non-intelligent creature to terraform the now pretty much war-ravaged planet.
Could the Hearths Warming Eve tale been a nuclear winter?
5968224 If Discord shows up I wouldn't put it past the humans to immediately fire at him. Discord deserves it after all. I also think once Celestia learns that Discord was partly, if not directly, responsible for billions of humans dying, and destroying a planet wide culture, she will want him back in stone. Reformed or not, I can't imagine genocide getting a slap on the wrist. Even if he didn't cause it directly, he could have saved the humans instead of helping along their destruction.
John and Arin.
If that's not a reference, I don't know what is.
5968923
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Aw Lordy...
FUCK YOU AND YOUR CLIFFHANGERS!!! I JUST WANT TO SEE FIRST CONTACT GODDAMMIT!!!!!!!
Overall, great chapter.
5969590 It does seem pretty plausible now when in context, doesn't it?
just a thought.
5968897 ssshhh! shhh! We don't talk about that here.
5969607 First contact already happened. Hell, the chapter is named first contact
.
In specifics this is the first actual peace talk about to go down.
5969335 There's actually tons of subtle references in this story, that one just happened to be unintentional. But now I can't stop laughing.
5969590
Made my day.
5969619 I have one problem with this. The humans launched all their nuclear missiles gest before or after they left, killing all life and irradiating the planet. In order for that theory to be correct humans and ponies would had to have been on the surface at the same time, yet neither know about the other. Also the disaster happened quickly, not sure how quickly but it could at most of only been a few years. That is not enough time for the ponies to of developed a culture, has indicated by the story.
5970301 True, true... Götterdämmerung, I can't seem to find any good potential durations on nuclear winters and if it'd start a new ice age or not.
So just to clarify, are the VTOLs V-22 Ospreys or are they some other VTOL craft?
5969985 ok, yeah, but still, you freaking cut us off. Screw you.
5970601 They are make believe crafts inspired by the V22-Osprey. Their full name is V24-Condor, it's a craft designed to transport the Horizon crew via orbit to the planet below, but can also work as your typical transport ship. The idea was not only sparked by the Osprey but also the Skyranger from XCOM img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121025051007/xcom/images/thumb/0/0e/Concept_-_SkyRanger2.jpg/185px-Concept_-_SkyRanger2.jpg
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Enjoying the story very much :)
Two quick questions:
How exactly do these things look to the humans? Does everything seem cartoony to realistic humans, or are these hyper-realistic horsies?
Also, how in god's name does Discord not know about the humans yet?
5971633
Well. You see, I never really thought of how they'd look to the humans because I didn't think it'd contribute to the plot. I know that for certain, now in the previous chapter they were described as having big eyes, being short, etc. etc. But seeing as they aren't in a cartoon, you can either look at it how you want it to.
Either you can go with mlp style, humans would resemble the Equestria Girls art style a bit. Or you could go with real life, and try to imagine what these things would look like if they were real. Like I said that's up to the reader to decide.
Now for your second question. We haven't been introduced to Discord yet, so we have no clue if he knows or not. Matter of fact, maybe he does and just doesn't care, or he's on vacation, possibly he's playing chess. It's Discord he could be doing or caring less about anything.
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5971662 i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/654/632/553.30650
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NUUUU STAHP PLZ
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That's better, I guess. But I don't wanna see cute hu-mane soldiers.
I like the rewrite so far! Hope thought that things won't go sour with the speed of light. And since there is 300 humans left ( atm we know of ) any serious conflict could spill their end.
As for Discord and humans meatting. Well that be an ouch moment. And likely one of the most critical one too.
I wonder how long it will take unfilled all the hazmat gear could be removed.
Another thing. How the sun and moon movement be handled. Natural or the princesses actually doing it like in the show.
That made me think of the Forward unto dawnstatic.planetminecraft.com/files/resource_media/screenshot/1239/halo-4-campaign-forward-unto-dawn_3682560.jpg rip ship