Gods Don't Bleed
On My Honor
Chapter 15: Into the Storm
Written By: Honored Service
Edited By: Duncan Zundel and The Spirit of Harmony
“That’s the third one,” I said with a sigh, sitting down on the crumbled remains of a store front. Tune, Covert, and Night Rose slowly regrouped around me after we finished searching the third village we had found.
Each of the towns were exactly the same: completely and utterly destroyed, with no survivors. The remains of the ponies that had lived there...they were just that, remains. Partially eaten and shredded.
“Sir, I think that we should head back. We are ill-prepared to deal with this many Timber Wolves. We should regroup and come up with a better plan. Perhaps an Alpha Plan?”
“Absolutely not.” I stood up and marched over to Tune. I pointed a finger at his face, which was a camera mounted on the side of his .50cal and M240b weapon mount. I quickly lowered my finger, but continued to glare at him.
“Don’t bring that up again. Especially in front of her.” I jabbed a finger back at Night Rose who was listening in with rapt attention.
“What’s an Alpha Plan?” Night Rose said flapping her leathery wings. "Is that a weapon?”
I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “No. But I’ll explain once we get back to the castle. We need to deliver our report to the Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. And then we need to talk to all the princesses at once. We are going to need everyone in on this before I even mention any plans.”
“Then we better get moving.” Covert tapped me on the shoulder and motioned towards the lowering sun, “It will be dark within two hours. We need to find a suitable place to camp or we will be left out in the dark tundra.” He smiled at the last part. “The shadows would be nice, though”
“Too bad some of us aren’t shadow monster that can literally vanish into the dark. Some of us have to worry about the army of Timber Wolves and the Ophiotaurus running around.” I rolled my eyes and set off down the dirt path connecting the villages to one another. “Come on y’all. We've got to at least make it back to Icyberg for the night.”
We set out, trudging through the dying light. I kept watch over the shadows, fearing what hellish beings resided there, waiting for darkness to settle over the tundra.
*
“Sister, did you get the message from Honored?” Princess Luna stared at the scroll as she entered her sister’s private study.
“Yes, Luna. And I must say that, for Honored, it is very… mature.”
“Celestia, I don’t think this is a time for joking. Did you really read it? I mean, a sizable group of Timber Wolves is a problem in itself, but then these Ophiotaurus are working along side them? This is something that is terrible to even think about.” Luna placed the scroll down and looked at Celestia. “We need to go to the Crystal Castle. Honored called for a meeting of the leaders and it must be serious. His letter contained no jokes.”
“No jokes?” Celestia picked up the letter that had been sent to Luna and to her surprise it was empty of his normal humor. Nothing of the sort. “This… I hate to say it… but this is actually serious.”
“Shall we go?” Luna looked to the window and the dimming sky beyond it.
“We have no choice. Honored told me once about his Alpha plans, plans that he had put into place if anything extremely dangerous like the changelings or Nightmare's Shadows attacked again.”
“You mean...Honored made plans for more wars?” Luna asked with shocked curiosity.
“No, these would not be wars. They wouldn't have the chance of becoming wars.” Celestia said as she readied her teleportation spell, “These would be slaughters.”
*
“And that’s all we found. No survivors, other than the small pack of Timber Wolves and one Ophiotaurus.” I hung my head as I finished recalling the events of the last two days of patrolling the frozen tundra of the Crystal Empire.
The four alicorns standing in front of me stood in silence, save for the muffled sobs of Princess Cadence, who was understandably outraged at the atrocities committed to her subjects. The alicorns looked at one another before turning back to me. Princess Celestia moved forward and placed a wing behind my back before gently prodding me towards an adjacent room from the throne room. I followed the group into the room that looked similar to the war room in Canterlot. A large table with a map of the Crystal Empire and the surrounding areas stood in the middle of the room.
“Honored, tell us about the Alpha Plans in more detail.” Celestia said while the other alicorns gathered around the table.
I sighed and looked to the faces around me. Celestia's face showed a strong leader that had weathered this sort of news before. Luna’s was etched in anger and pain, one longing for revenge. Cadence’s face was covered in tears and sorrow, a leader experiencing this pain for the first time. And Twilight’s face was plastered with confusion and curiosity behind the actions.
“After the Shadows and Nightmare had been defeated, during the time I spent in my room dealing with my existential crisis, I developed hundreds of plans that revolved around the defending of Equestria from unseen forces that could slaughter and kill the innocent.” I looked up and pulled a black notebook from the inside of my coat and laid it on the table.
“This notebook has every way that I would destroy Equestria. Everyway that I know would work and every way to stop it.” I frowned and then laid a hand on the notebook. “I thought like the enemy, I thought like an enemy of your nation.”
I looked at the faces of the princesses. Each one looked at horror at me as I talked.
“I know this seems terrible of me, and it is, but I had to think of ways to stop anything after I was… gone.” Pausing, I looked back up, “When I'm dead and gone, I want to make sure that you, as the leaders, have an idea on how to think and act like a warrior. A true human warrior that has trained for these things.”
Every pony recoiled at that and stared at shock at me. I gave them a grim smile. “I’m not going to be around forever, the last human will die princesses, and this notebook insured that even after I was gone, I would be able to help y’all defend your land from evil. Because even when I’m gone, I’m still going to be looking after you ponies.” I saw a brief smile creep onto Luna’s face, but swiftly disappear as she saw me looking at her.
"Now, don't worry, I spent days coming up with badass names for these plans so that y'all don't have to," I said with a cocky smirk, trying to bring a little humor to the dark situation.
Nobody started rolling on the floor, but at least they didn't seem as bleak.
“Now, this incident, creatures that are attacking ponies falls under the Winter Strike plans. But, these attacks have been directed, so it moves into the category of Alpha plans.” I flipped the notebook open to a page with Alpha scrawled across the top. “Alpha meaning there is a leader behind the attacks, and Winter Strike referring to the main forces, wild Timber Wolves.”
“How can you tell they are directed?” Twilight looked at me and then at the three red X’s on the map showing the location of the attacked villages. “They could just be random attacks done by the wolves against the expanding ponies.”
“True.” I said while then drawing a line along the path of the attacks. “But this attack pattern perfectly severs the supply chain from the Crystal Empire to the surrounding tundra.” I pointed at the line, “The villages were all the base of a cavern supply line that ran deeper into the tundra and plains beyond. Think about it like this,” I pointed at the castle on the map, the largest point on the map, “This is the head. And this line here,” I pointed at the section of attacks at the beginning of the tundra, “Is a swift cut to the neck of a living creature crippling it instantaneously.”
Princess Cadence sobbed at me and then laid her head on the table. Shining Armor entered the room in a panic and ran to his wife before holding her in his forehooves. “I’m sorry, Honey, I had to attend to a matter with the guard. An infiltrator, a changeling, was captured.”
I immediately made note of that before continuing. “Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, your kingdom has been decimated. This calls for Alpha Plan Winter Strike.”
“And what,” Princess Cadence pushed herself up from Armor’s grasp and looked at me with a fire in her eyes, “Does that mean?”
“It means you do the only thing the enemy expects you not to do.” I said with a smile.
“And what’s that?” Shining Armor said looking angry, “Attack?”
“Nope.” I said leaning forward and opening my notebook, “Nothing but sit back and watch the show.”
*
“This is… this is…” Luna mumbled as she stared at me slack jawed.
“It’s brilliant.” Twilight said, looking up at her incredulous brother. “Think about it, in any situation like this, you would beef up defenses and then send out troops to respond to the attacks, thus acknowledging the threat.” She tapped a hoof at the notebook, “But it's also utterly insane. The last thing that any attacker would expect.”
I smiled and crossed my arms across my chest. “I’m just gifted with war.”
I then snapped my notebook shut and tucked it away, “Now, before I go into the finer details of the plan, Shining, can you please bring in the captured changeling?”
“What?” He looked at me like a horn had just sprouted from my forehead.
“Please?” I asked, smiling, “It’s important to this operation.”
“O-okay...” Shining Armor walked to the door and spoke to the guard outside of it in a hushed whisper.
“Now, while that happens,” I turned back to the Princesses, “Winter Strike will work in crippling the enemy force, finding out their plans, and bringing light to this dark matter. But for it to work I need complete cooperation from you four.” I received four nods in return.
“First, we need to know the general location where these Timber Wolves are coming from. I don’t know where or how we can find this out, but we need to know. Without it, the strike team, AKA me, will be stabbing in the dark, wasting time.” I gestured to the map, waving my hand around at the unmarked northern tundra and Everfree forest.
“I suppose we could try a scrying spell, focusing on large concentration of moving taiga fauna...” Twilight thought aloud until she noticed us all looking at her. “What? It might work.”
“Perfect.” I smiled and gave her a thumbs up. “Twilight is on Enemy Headquarters Location Duty. Luna and Celestia, you are to assist Princess Cadence in controlling the spread of this news. It needs to appear that the attacks are just terrible outbreaks of Timber Wolves that are trying to expand from the Everfree. If the populace finds out that the attacks are coordinated and planned, then panic could set in, and us doing nothing will backfire in our face if that happens.”
Cadence looked at me in horror. “You want me to lie? You dare tell the families and friends of the slaughtered ponies that this was all just… an accident?”
I turned to Cadence and gave her an empathetic look. She had never seen true evil or death. She had never witnessed the truly terrifying hellstrom of death and destruction as it plagued a nation, not even the one currently attempting to work on her own.
“Every war has victims. These were the first. If you tell them that they are facing a direct threat capable of controlling feral Timber Wolves, Ophiotaurus, and who knows what else, the general public is going to be terrified to the point of mass panic. You will have more victims than you can count. You won’t be able to control ponies fleeing the area. You'll just get them killed.”
“Prince Shining Armor,” A nervous looking crystal guard said, poking his head into the room, “We have the captured spy.”
“Good. Bring him in, and then secure the room.” Shining Armor said stepping up to the guard and opening the door.
I watched as the changeling was lead into the room and placed facing away from the war table. The guard left and I heard the door lock ominously after being shut.
“Well, that was spooky.” I said, walking around the table so that I was now standing behind the shackled and chained changeling. “I have a few questions I would like to ask you, ‘spy’” I said with a smile.
“I’ll tell you nothing, pony.” The changeling had a deep voice that almost sounded like it had a slight European, almost Russian, accent to it. “You can ask all you want but… I… will… aeyt!”
The changeling’s voice tapered down to a whisper as he turned to face me. It looked at me, trembling in its shackles clinging together sounded out through the whole room.
“Its… you. The… the Breytchar.” The changeling closed its eyes and began speaking to itself in a strange language that consisted of chirps and squeaks. I turned from the mumbling Changeling and shrugged my shoulders at the ponies staring at me.
“Um...pardon?” I reached out and tapped the bug pony on its shoulder. It shrieked and cringed under my touch but looked up to me.
“What is this...Breytchar?” I asked kneeling down to the changeling’s height.
“It means… well...it is hard to translate, Breytchar.” The changeling was quaking as it spoke. I rolled my eyes and then laid a hand on its back.
“Listen, if I was going to kill you, I would have done it long ago. So, calm down, taken a deep breath, and talk.” I gave him a small smile and stood up.
The changeling took a deep breath and closed its eyes before looking back to me and swallowing.
“It means 'King of Demons'.”
“Huh. I like it.” I grinned at Celestia and the other princesses, but only was met with annoyed looks.
"Right.” I looked back down to the shapeshifting bug-thingy trembling before me, “Why is that?”
“You killed us. All of us. You nearly destroyed our entire race. We… when we attacked the ponies for the second time, we did so under a new Queen, who promised us change. And you… the Breytchar brought us into a slaughter.” The changeling sniffed and turned away from me as much as his chains would allow. “The few of us that survived the war retreated to the deserts and tundra of the west and north. We tried to survive but others are making it hard. That’s why I came here. I tried to survive in the city under a disguise, because it would be easier than dealing with the others.”
"So the Timber Wolves are also forcing the changelings out and into pony lands?" I asked the chained insect-like pony. He gave me a single nod in return, still showing some hesitation towards me. Well, I didn't exactly expect him to warm up to me immediately.
"Not only are ponies targets, but probably any creature before whomever is controlling the wolves." I turned away from the princesses and looked out the one-way window. "Alpha Plan Winter Strike may need a few tweaks, but I believe we can find out vital information quickly." I opened my notebook and glanced over a page mumbling to myself. I slammed the cover shut and slipped it back into my pocket as Luna tried to peek over my shoulder.
"Twilight, two things: One, how long will it take for you to pinpoint the largest concentration of wolves in the northern-most section of the Everfree? And two, leave my Codex of Plans alone." I turned my attention to the bookish alicorn who was busy trying to levitate my notebook out of my duster.
"Oh!" She squeaked and blushed, but then straightened up. "Well, if I start now, it shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes," She said confidently.
"Then, let's get that shit rolling, shall we?" I gave her a smile as she gave a determined nod and trotted towards the door. But when she tried to open it, the door remained locked.
"Oh, come on Shining, unlock the door. One changeling is in a room with four alicorns, the captain of the guard, and, let’s not forget the one person who almost single-handedly destroyed their army and queen. I think we'll be okay." Shining Armor snorted and rolled his eyes before his horn glowed and the door swung open, allowing Twilight to continue on her mission.
"Please," the changeling’s voice was quiet as the door was closed behind Twilight, "Just finish me quickly, Breytchar so that I may stop worrying about my end and let it happen."
"Oh, shut up about that, will you?!" I spun around at the bug, “I won’t kill you and my war with the changelings is long over. I have no quarrel with them or you. So I won’t be killing anymore, unless I'm given a legitimate reason."
“But Honored!” Celestia objected.
“No. They attacked, I defended. I will not go and pursue a crippled race because of something Nightmare made them do.” I gave her a knowing look of understanding where she was coming from. “I will not trust them, at least not yet, but I will not kill them.”
Celestia stood staring at me in disbelief.
"You...aren't going to end me?" The chained changeling asked.
I slapped a hand to my face. “I hadn’t planned on it, no. In fact, I want you to help me,” I said, walking to the changeling and aiming my gauntlet at the chains around his legs. With a quick blast, the locks ruptured, the chains tumbling to the ground as the changeling continued to stare at me with an open mouth.
“You just said you didn’t trust them!” Shining Armor yelled, jumping forward and pulling a spear from the wall, aiming it at the now-free bug pony.
“There’s an old saying where I come from,” I said while turning from the war table and walking to the changeling.
“Keep your friends close,” I squatted down to the pony and held my hand out to him, “And your enemies closer.”
“Honored, I cannot allow you to do this!” Celestia said, slamming a hoof down for emphasis.
“There is another saying, that I think fits much better here.” I looked down at the changeling who was busy studying my hand.
"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'" I crossed my arms and looked to the bug. “Do you want your land back? Your homes?”
“More than anything in the world, Breytchar!” The Changeling gave a nod and a determined glare at me.
“Then I’m going to need your help, and the help of the changelings,” I told him.
I stood up and walked to the table, changeling in tow. “You are now my liaison to the changelings. You are my voice to them.”
“I… I can’t believe that I’m working with the Breytchar.”
“Speaking of that,” I turned and extended my right hand again, “My name is Honored Service.”
The Changeling looked at my hand like it was a snake and then looked up to me. He slowly placed his holey chitin hoof in my hand and gave it a strong shake, “Brex Grath.”
*
"He's finally done it."
"Done...what, exactly?"
“I think that he has finally gone truly insane,” Celestia said as she paced in front of her sister.
Luna couldn’t believe her sister. Admittedly, his book on ways to overthrow the empire and kill all four alicorns in different ways had been...extreme, put simply. But honestly, it was done with the best of intentions and in the few pages she had seen, she now knew how to change a few guard patterns to make everything safer. Just from three pages! Mad or not, he truly had a tactical mind when it came to these sorts of things.
“Well, he has done crazier things before,” Luna pointed out and then made a sweeping gesture with her hoof. “I’m sure that shadow you didn’t trust is here too.”
“Nope. Totally not here. Nuup. Not me. Nopenopenope,” A mischievous (and slightly startled) voice said before a window opened and a flash of blackness shaped as a bird (an owl, from the looks of it) flew off into the night.
“Case in point. He has made a friend, albeit an odd one, and a bearer of an Element of Sanctuary out of a previous enemy. Give this one a chance.” Luna smiled and gave her sister a reassuring pat on the back.
“You’re probably right, Lulu. I just keep forgetting that he’s so...different.”
*
“Oh, oh, do me!” I clapped and laughed as Brex stood onto his hind legs and morphed into a perfect copy of me. Long tailed duster and everything else I was currently wearing. It was weird, seeing myself from the front, rather than reversed, like in a mirror
“I’m the hero this nation needs.” My voice was perfect as he then gave me a thumbs up and a smile.
“Okay, now Luna.” I watched as a perfect Luna copy stared at me.
“Hey, lover boy,” She batted her eyes at me and swung her hips around.
“That’s actually creepy, Brex. You’re a dude,” I shuddered as he morphed back into his normal state.
He gave me a questioning glance before walking over to the window overlooking the crystal city below.
“Actually, we are neither male nor female. We can chose to be either. I simply chose this form as a male because the job I was assigned was better suited for a male.”
“And what job was that?” I asked while feeding another round into a magazine for my newly acquired M4 rifle.
“Breeder.” He turned and walked back to me. “With such a small population, we had to assign portions of the remaining changelings to work solely on breeding and caring for young since such a small population was left.”
I rolled my eyes and loaded another round with a click, “Say it again, see if that stops me from destroying your species. I already said I’m sorry.” I shrugged and put the full magazine into an extra mag pouch on my armored chest rig. “There's not much more I can do.”
“How can you be so...apathetic about killing?” Brex asked as he looked over the weapons on the table before me.
“It's...hmm...well, think of it like your breeding job,” I said while picking up my M4 rifle with the underslung out of date M203 launcher beneath it.
“Put simply, you fuck all day long, right? After a while, doesn’t it lose its fun? That's because it’s your job. Anyone you tell that that’s your job would either think you have the best job in the world or the worst, but to you, it’s nothing but normal.” I quickly slipped a long black cylinder onto the end of the barrel and gave a few quick twists. “Me? I’m just doing my job. And I have to live with the choices. Worrying doesn't make the death go away.”
Brex stared at me until he began to slowly nod. “It is disturbing that you can compare sex and killing as the same.”
“Well, where I come from, we say that love and war go hand in hand,” I grumbled at him as I checked the holo sight mounted atop the rifle. Everything was set up well on the rifle, so I moved to the side arms and the other rifle I would bring with me on the mission.
“Now, are you going to be able to do what I need you to?”
“Yes,” Brex turned and sat in front of the table. “I will go back to the city and find my fellow changelings. We will register with the princess and she will be made aware of all of our aliases within the pony society.” He sighed and then swallowed nervously. “Will she keep her promise? Or we all just going to be rounded up and shipped away?”
I stood up and walked around the weapon covered table, “You have my word that it wont happen. I just need them, the princesses, to trust you and this is the only way. Once you are finished here, meet me at the point I showed you.”
I brought out the small map again and pointed to the spot near the northernmost point of the Everfree forest. “I’ll need you and whomever you can get to meet me there to help in case things get bad.”
“You think it will?” Brex asked looking up from the map and at me.
I picked up my old combat shotgun and racked the pump back, all badass-like.
“Oh, you can count on it, Brexter.”
*
“So that’s it?” Celestia said as I sat back in my chair and kicked my boots up on the war table. “That’s the whole friggin' Winter Strike plan?”
“Yup.” I kicked my legs up and onto the war table.
“One more time. Please.” Luna had her head faced down on the table groaning in exhaustion at me.
“Okay, while everyone is busy here stopping the news from spreading and keeping everyone from panicking, I will head into the forest where the highest concentration of Timber Wolves are, and fuck them up. This way it seems that the Crystal Empire isn’t reacting the threat, but rather just me, acting on behalf of the Equestrian Empire to the South. The Crystal Empire doesn’t know what to think of these attacks, so supposedly, they're just getting some help.”
“That’s the genius plan, Honored?” Luna sat up and gave me a look with a her bloodshot eyes. “To just do this by yourself?”
“No no no no...yes.” I sat up and stood to my feet and walked around the table till I was beside Luna. I draped an arm around her and pulled her to my side, waving my hand in a large gesture.
“Luna, one day you’ll see that wars can be easily won by destroying the enemy from the shadows in violent and terrifying hit and run tactics. I call them, 'Honored and Run' tactics.”
“You are so full of yourself," Tune said while gliding into the room on his wheels. Princess Cadence followed behind the robot with a sigh.
“That I am, Tune.” I turned to him and gave the robot-warrior-iPod-thingy a nod. His gun track gave nod back before rolling beside the Princess. “Cadence, I’m leaving you Tune to act as a bodyguard. Tune, is Stand Bold here?”
“Yes, sir. He is waiting with Shining Armor down by the lower ports.” Tune rolled forward to his position with Princess Cadence. Shining was a good bodyguard, but something about a .50cal, a M240B, a Mark 19, and heavy anti-air missiles brings a little more protection to the table.
“Great. I’ll see ya when I get back, Tune.” I nodded as he turned away and began rolling down the sparkling hallway. “Oh, and Tune?”
“Yes, sir?”
“No rap music. Remember what happened to Rarity?”
“Of course, sir.”
I'm almost entirely sure he couldn't, but for a moment, I could've sworn I saw a shudder run through him.
I walked by myself the rest of the way towards the outer airship docks. I checked my kit over again as I walked. My M4 equipped with suppressor, M203, and holo sight was hanging by a tactical sling at my side. My long range weapon, the ol’ M40A3 sniper rifle was slung to my back. It was a newer variant with black tactical fiberglass stock that was stronger than the older wood one. I added burlap wrapping to the barrel and stock for camouflage in the forest. Around my thighs and waist were an extensive collection of side arms. Four different handguns rested in their holsters. Two revolvers and two semiautomatics. The final piece of my weapon kit was the combat shotgun with shortened barrel and a folding stock with a saddle for five extra shells. This was attached with a special strap horizontally along the back of my waist. My two Glock’s were resting under each arm rather than in their normal double holster.
I was ready for romp in the woods.
But not for what happened next.
“There ya are, ya great big stupid human!”
ZEEEW
THWACK
I was tackled by a tan-and-red flash as soon as I opened the door to the outer docking area.
“Sweet Mother Mercenary, calm down, Stand Bold!” I shouted before pushing the over-excited pegasus off of my chest. “Thanks for coming.”
“Are we not doing phrasing anymore?” he joked before hovering up to my height and slugging me in the shoulder. “That’s for all the stupid recruits you’ve been sending me at the guard training camp!” He flapped away from me towards one of the covered docking areas. “You know, you'd think that with all the recruits wanting to be on the class three airships, I'd get the pick of the pack, but I get this lot.”
I was a creature that wasn’t very easily shocked at this point. I had fought two armies and won. Killed nearly every mythological beast I could think of. Slept with a nation’s ruler...that was a very big thing for the ponies. And on top of that I had recently stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of military equipment before leaping into a portal that brought me back to Equestria.
But I was surprised now.
Celestia had been busy with the new airships.
Fast Skies had been the first ever armored and armed airship in the entire nation of Equestria. A class three airship. Speed, armor, and firepower, all three levels of airships. I was speechless as I stared at what had happened to her.
In front of me were two lines of guards wearing blue jumpsuits that looked perfect to that of what men and women aboard an aircraft carrier would wear. They stood at attention as their captain, Sergeant Stand Bold, an Element of Sanctuary, marched between them towards the nastiest, most badass, unbelievable weapon platform I had ever seen. Sorry Tune, you just got one-upped.
Fast Skies had been re-equipped and it was abso-freaking-lutely stunning. There didn't seem to be a balloon anymore, just armor all the way up.
I raised a hand, but Stand Bold cut me off, “There is still a balloon, but we use enchantments and talismans to provide the draft with a lighter-than-air ability.” I dropped my hand and continued to worship the massive warship.
Cannon barrels pointed out of every side of the ship, giving it a 360 degree area of fire. “Wait,” I said pointing at a strange contraption sticking out of the front of the ship, “What is that?”
“Oh that beauty?” Stand Bold smiled and flapped his wings, sending himself up and towards the three long stacked barrels in a triangle. “This is actually something you helped create. We used the idea of your weapons and adapted them to a larger platform.” He rubbed a hoof along the barrel. “This is the Longbow. It’s a magical gem firing cannon. You load magically powered gems the size of hoofballs into the barrels, one for each barrel, and then aim and fire. The barrels rotate around so we can get off three rounds before it needs to be reloaded” He smiled and then flew back down to my level. “It was Storm Drive’s idea. It was pretty good.”
“Thank you, sir!” The nearest uniformed pegasus said while still staring straight ahead.
“Shut up!” Stand Bold barked at him with a smile. “And yet you can’t get it down to the size of a hoofheld weapon.”
“Sir, how would we even pull the trigger mechanism for it? Our hooves can’t fit in the grip.” The gunner turned and gestured to my hands, “He can use the Claw but-“
“Drive, that’s enough. That is a prototype.” Stand Bold said while turning towards the open ramp leading into the belly of the airship.
“I like prototypes. Storm Drive, walk and talk,” I said as the pegasus in a blue jumpsuit snapped forward and moved to my side. He had a buzzed brown and tan mane with a dark blue coat underneath the jumpsuit. Because of his clothing I couldn’t see his cutie mark but I was sure it had something to do with storms.
“So what’s the Claw?”
“Well after I developed the longbow cannon system, I tried making a smaller portable version that could fire magically enchanted rounds, but the problem is how to use it. Griffins would have no problem with their talons and you would be able to, but we ponies can’t handle it, seeing as we don't have individual digits.” Storm Drive spoke with the enthusiasm that only an inventor could.
“What about unicorns? They could hold it in their magic.” I pointed out as we entered the ship. It was still the same ship on the inside, wires and cables hanging from the walls and ceilings, but it had more armor plating on the sides. The organized chaos that every military vessel has onboard.
“We tried that. The only problem is that for some reason, whenever it is fired, it creates an NMP, a Negative Magical Pulse, that causes any magic near it to stop functioning. Thus the weapon is fired and then the recoil pushes it out of the user’s aurora field,” Storm Drive said with a frown as he led us down another dimly lit corridor towards a sealed door with a sign that said ‘Weapon Testing’ on it. He approached the door and opened it with a hiss. “In here.”
“That’s the Claw.” He raised a hoof and pointed at the strangest thing I had ever seen. It was mix of an old fashion flintlock musket and a futuristic looking ray gun. The stock and butt on the weapon were made of wood, but the barrel was jet black metal and had a split muzzle. The trigger was open, with no trigger guard, and the firing mechanism was that of an old musket, but rather than flint held inside, it had a glowing red gem locked in its place. Along the barrel were small vents that had glowing blue light emerging from it, bathing the barrel in light blue arcane light.
“So, what does it do?” I asked while walking up to the weapon and placing my gauntlet against its wooden stock.
“Well, a spark gem,” Storm Drive held up a small blue gem the size of a pea, “Is placed within the charging chamber.” He reached up and flicked a small lever in front of the trigger and the barrel swung down. So not only was it an old musket, it was a combination of a rifle, musket, and shotgun. “The spark is placed here.” He put the glowing blue gem into the slot and snapped the barrel closed. “Then the arming spell is pulled back.” He pulled the hammer with the glowing red gem back till it clicked. “And it’s ready to go. Just pull the firing mechanism and the two spells connecting starts off a reaction, and the energy exits the only way it has to go.” He gestured with his hoof to the end of the barrel, “out.”
“May I?” I looked at Storm and then to Stand Bold, who had stayed oddly quiet the entire time, not concerning himself with the deadly prototype that Storm and I were messing with.
“I’d be insulted if you didn’t, Lieutenant.” Storm Drive picked the weapon up and handed it to me. I gripped it heavily, expecting it to weigh a ton, but it was surprisingly light.
“Yeah it’s also got a lot of other enchantments on it. One for weight, one for recoil compensation, and there is even one for a short sword.”
“Wait, what?” I quickly held the magical rifle shotgun thing away from my body.
“Give a good thrust forward.”
“Boom phrasing.” Stand Bold said from across the room as he looked at a scroll.
I shrugged my shoulders and stepped forward, thrusting the rifle forwards as if it had a bayonet on it. A soft whish-ing sound filled the air as a glowing blue blade appeared on the front of the rifle beneath the barrel. As I pulled the rifle back from the imaginary foe, the blue glowing blade vanished. “This is amazing.” I then turned to Storm Drive, “But does it work?”
“Well, we always found that it worked better when it didn’t go flying through the air after being fired.” He looked over his shoulder where there was a huge dent imprinted into the metal bulkhead. I gave whistle and then looked towards the pegasus. I had a thought.
"Have you thought of using it as a propulsion system yet? I mean, if it can leave a dent that big, it's gotta have some power behind it, no?"
"No, I-I hadn't. That's brilliant, I'll definitely look into it!" Storm pulled out a journal and pencil and jotted down a few notes.
“Now, where can I shoot it?” I smiled as he pointed towards a training dummy in the shape of a square with red circles on it. I lifted the weapon up to my shoulder and took aim down the barrel. There were no sights on the weapon. I rolled my eyes and tried to keep the barrel as straight as possible as I depressed the simple trigger.
The hammer swung down and red sparks leapt from the striking spell gem.
SHHCRAK
A bolt of blue lighting flew out of the barrel and into the straw square target. The target exploded into burning hay and cloth. As the smell of ozone filled the air. I felt small sparks leaping off the weapon and onto my hands and arms as I stared at the destroyed target.
I slowly placed the weapon down and then turned to face Storm Drive with a blank stare on my face. I reached down into one of my pockets on my pants and removed a sack filled with two hundred bits. I shoved the bag of money at the pegasus.
"Take it. Just shut up and take my money."
“Alright, alright, you can keep the lightning cannon.” Storm Drive stared at me with disbelief in his eyes. I opened my arms to give him a hug. “No, really it’s okay,” He said, stepping back from me.
“It's amazing.” I said while picking up the weapon and snagging a bag full of gem sparks. “But, change the name from Claw and lightning cannon to spell rifle.” I gave him a nod. “And also, try to make a smaller one that is only a foot long.”
“Come on, Honored, we got to get this pile of rubbish moving if we want to keep up with the mission time.” I nodded to Stand Bold who walked out of the testing room. I gave another thanks to Storm Drive before leaving him working on another weapon. I slung the weapon around my other shoulder so that it was resting on my back beside the other two rifles. Having this many weapons on my back did make it fairly difficult to move. I might have to leave one behind.
Yeah, like that was going to happen. Ha!
“Okay, Honored, we are preparing for our flight over the forest.” Stand Bold said to me as we walked down the corridor towards the bridge of the airship. “Princess Twilight sent us the coordinates to the highest concentration of Timber Wolves in the Everfree Forest.” We entered the bridge that was abuzz with activity.
Ponies shuffled everywhere, checking measurements on multiple old-fashioned consoles using different gauges and level meters.
“So, what, are you just going to let me fly out on a chariot or something?” I asked looking at a map spread out on a small table to the rear of the bridge.
“Not exactly.” Stand Bold said with a frown. “Honored, these attacks… I’ve been told about them. I want you to go in there and destroy those wolves. I want you to make sure that these attacks stop. Kill them. All of them. Please.” I gave my friend a crisp salute and a wicked grin.
“Oh, you can fucking count on that. There won’t be one left alive when I’m done in there.”
“I look forward to hearing about it. And here, take this,” he tossed me a small tube, “It's a flare tube. Pretty simple, just pull the top up and pump some magic in. That's to signal to us if anything goes wrong.”
“I won't need it, but thanks.” I said, placing the magical flare into another one of chest rig pockets.
Stand Bold then smiled at me. “Remember HADS?”
“The death trap drop pods I designed?” I smirked and thought back to entering the battlefield in the ODST knock off pods. “Yeah what about them.” The smile stretching across the pegasus’ face. “You didn’t.”
“I had some of the stallions take a look at them. They were truly a jump ahead in technology, but with a little tweaking we adapted one of them to better suit your needs for this drop.” Stand Bold smiled and then turned towards a jumpsuit wearing guard. “Oi, Rains! Take the LT here to the drop bay.”
“Roger that Sergeant!” The guard turned to me and snapped to attention. “Lieutenant, if you could please follow me.”
“You can relax soldier.” I smiled at the earth pony guard. 'Uh, that's strange', I thought to myself, what was an earth pony doing on an airship? She seemed...familiar...
I followed the pony out of the bridge and down a corridor lit with the dim red lights. We stepped into the dark room that was filled with drop tubes. Except there were changes to my system. These HADS were stacked five-high over eight different tubes. Four on each side, allowing the ship to drop forty soldiers in one run. That was impressive. The ponies sure now how to adapt to my methods, I’ll give them that.
“So, Rains, is it?” I asked turning to the pony beside me, “Or should I say...Night Rose!?” I put my hands on my hips and pulled an accusative face as I watched the earth pony Rains shimmer and was replaced by a Night Guard mare in slim shiny black armor.
“Nice to see you too, Melodramatic Service,” Night Rose said with a droll look as she stepped around me and stood beside the tube closes to me. “And here I was, thinking that you would be happy to have a friendly face with you.”
“Friendly?” I guffawed. “And I thought this was my mission. Winter Strike. My plan, my operation, see where I'm going with this?.”
“Yes, but I’m still your handler,” she said while stepping into the current pod that was readied in the drop tube, “And I am always watching your every movement.” The door on the drop pod slammed shut and a hiss of pressure filled the air. A gem on the side blinked red, then green.
I rolled my eyes and sighed before lazily shlumping into the pod next to Night Rose's. I punched the lock switch and watched as the door slammed closed and sealed me within the drop pod’s interior.
"And she calls me melodramatic! Pshaw."
I took a look around at the pod.
“Looks the same.” I mumbled.
A red gem lit up over my head. “Huh. That’s new.”
The gem flicked green and the pod gave a shudder. Then the sensation of weightlessness filled my gut as the pod was sent hurtling from the belly of the airship and towards the ground at a dizzying speed. I smiled as the rush of adrenaline flooded my body while the pod continued towards the earth.
CLUNK
SSHHWOOF
The triple overlapped parachute opened, the fabric billowing out and catching in the wind, jerking the pod in the air, slowing its descent to a slightly slower drop speed.
FWWWOOOOOSH
The pod jerked quickly up as the bottom reverse-thruster gems exploded, slowing the drop pod even more. Next would be the impact into the-
CRASH
SNAPSNAP
CRRRRRUNK
-ground. I waited patiently for the door to fly open, but it never came.
“What the hell?” I wondered, I was prepping my gauntlet to blast the door with open when the pod gave another jerk. Slowly, the pod began to spin counterclockwise.
“What the- oh god I’m gonna be sick.” I held my hand to my mouth, trying to remember the spell I made to stop my diaphragm from heaving as the pod continued to spin. The pod started humming.
Then just as suddenly as the spinning began, it stopped and the door to the pod blew off and sunlight poured into the pod. I stumbled out of the pod and collapsed onto the ground. “Ohgod why did it spin?” I asked the still spinning open sky above me.
Wait. Waitwaitwait.
Open sky? I thought I landed in a freaking forest?!?
As everything slowly returned to normal, I slowly realized what had happened. The gem mounted on the side of the pod was imbued with an anti-gravity spell (or something like that. I don't know, I'm not a wizard) that activated after the pod stopped falling. It then fired a simple light spell concentrated into a powerful beam, like a laser, and literally sliced a massive clearing through the Everfree. Now I had the perfect extraction zone when it came time to be evacuated from the forest.
“Glad to see that you can hold your food down, human.” Night Rose's voice sounded out near me as she emerged from her own pod. “Ready to find the wolves?”
“I’m ready to kill ‘em all.” I said while picking myself from the forest floor. “Let’s go, Rose.” I brushed my pants off. I grabbed my hat off the floor of the pod, plopped it on top of my head and began setting off into the dark forest.
“Yeah yeah yeah, you’re super scary and all that. This'll be easy. It’s just a bunch of sticks and sap,” She mumbled under her breath, cursing us to bad luck.
I grunted and narrowed my eyes at the back of her head. Why couldn't Luna have come with me? Or Brex? Okay, maybe not Brex. Instead, I get stuck with Miss Bitchy Babysitter. I unslung my M4 and slowly followed behind the bat pony through the malicious forest.
*
“What if it doesn’t work? What if he gets captured or hurt or killed?” Twilight was staring at the map before her going over all the scenarios. All the outcomes. Every possibility that could arise while Honored was away in the forest. She had developed a spell that would track the Timber Wolves and pinpoint their highest concentration.
“My dearest Twilight, you must have faith.” Princess Celestia smiled and gave her former student a reassuring hug. “Your spell will find all the wolves that have been causing problems. I know you will.” Twilight looked up and gave a determined nod to the princess.
“You are casting spells to look for the others, though,right?” The deep accented voice from across the room asked. Brex looked around the scroll he was writing on. “You ponies keep speaking of the Timber Wolves, yes, but what about the others?”
Celestia felt her blood run cold as she stared at her former enemy. Timed slowed to a crawl as her brain processed the information she just heard.
“Others?” Twilight spoke up first, not understanding what was just said.
“Yes, the others.” Brex slowly lowered the scroll to the table and looked at the princesses with an astonished face. “Do you think that only the Timberwolves have been attacking? We could have handled the attacks if it was just the Timberwolves, but we were overrun by all manner of creatures.” The changeling rose to his hooves and stepped around the table. “My dear new pony friends, all the creatures of the Everfree attacked our homes. My hive was attacked by manticores, ophiotaurus, timberwolves, cockatrices, crocodiles, feral Diamond Dogs, chimeras, adolescent dragons, rouge griffons, and even a hydra.”
Celestia mind had ceased to function. Every dangerous, evil, terrible creature of the Everfree was attacking and being led by some unknown enemy. Nearly the entire populace of the forest was made up of those creatures, and they were being consciously directed.
And even worse, she had just allowed her best defense to go into the forest alone, believing he was only facing Timber Wolves, when he could likely be facing down an army of nightmarish creatures.
Celestia quickly grabbed a blood-red gem off the table. It was enchanted with the unique signature of Honored’s magic, giving her a direct line to communicate with the human across vast distances. She charged the spell and opened the channel between herself and the human.
The room was silent as everyone gathered in the room listened as the spell connected. “Honored? Honored, are you there?” Celestia spoke as clearly as she could trying to not alert the human to his dangerous situation.
“How is the progress, everyone?” Luna asked as she walked into the room, shattering the silence just as the gem came to life with a roar of noise.
“CELESTIA! I’M SUR-"
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
SHHHCRAKCRAK
POW
SPSH SPSH SPSH SPSH
BANG BANG
“CELESTIA IT’S NOT JUST WOLVES!” A loud roar cut Honored off as a scream was heard through the noise. “HANG IN THERE ROSE!” Honored screamed as loud explosions and growls filled the air.
The sound of snapping twigs and heavy breathing filled the room as everyone leaned in. Luna’s eyes were filled with tears as she pressed herself up against the table.
Honored’s normally playful and lively voice came out in ragged short breaths as he barked into the gem. “Everyone listening to this, the entire Everfree is attacking. All the creatures you can think of. All of them.” The sound of pained sobbing was heard over the breaking of branches and breathing. “Don't stop pushing, Rose. Be thankful it was just a minor gash.”
“Celestia, we are headed back to the original drop point. This mission was a success, we know what we are up against now. Everything.”
Luna tears were soaking the map by now. She was listening to her friend and special somepony being chased by an entire forest of nightmares and she could do nothing to help him. She longed to be able to glide to the forest and provide aid to the brave human, but she was stuck in the castle, unable to do anything but listen. By the time she would've reached the forest, it would be too late.
“Honored, we are sending all that we can to your position.” Celestia took a deep breath knowing, that even sending everything she had would be futile. By the time they got there, the Everfree would have overwhelmed the two. She was merely providing comforting words to a dying friend.
“Thanks, I appreciate the su-“ The spell channel suddenly went dead and Luna collapsed in shock against the ground.
No.
The human had endured much worse and came out on top. She had to help. He had to survive.
“Luna, go now and get this message to the Righteous Dawn, Swift Night, and Harmony. Get all those airships to LZ Lima for support. Tell them to push the engines past failure if they need to. Get there.” Celestia commanded her sister with the authority she always found in time of crisis. Luna quickly nodded and sprinted from the room towards the message center.
“Princesses.” Celestia and Twilight turned to face the changeling as he approached the war table cautiously. “You may not trust me, and you have every right not to, but please, allow me to help, yes?” Brex looked at the map and at the dark red gem that was placed where LZ Lima would be. “I may be able to get there faster than the airships.”
“How?” Celestia asked angrily. “The airships are clearly designed to-“
“Princess,” Twilight cut in, giving her mentor an unsure glance, “The changeling species can use their unique magic to propel themselves at an intense velocity to shatter rock and shield spells, much like they did during the first Canterlot invasion.”
Celestia looked to the changeling who nodded and gave her a smile with his toothy mouth. “Please. I can gather a few hive guards that are hidden within the city and we can rush to the Breytchar’s aid. The Breytchar is in desperate need of help. We changelings can get revenge on the Breytchar by aiding him.” He nodded and looked up, “This is what the Brey- I mean, Honored meant by needing our help. He thought something would go wrong.”
Brex stared at Celestia till she gave a quick nod and turned around to face the open window looking out onto the tundra beyond the city. “Hurry Brex. Save Honored and Night Rose, and you will have earned my full trust.”
“It will be done then.” Brex turned and with a buzz of his insect wings vanished from the room.
“Twilight… I hope he is okay.” Celestia hung her head. She felt so many emotions rushing through her. Luna had found a special somepony, but now, because of a hasty decision, she had sent him into certain death.
“Princess, he will be okay.” Twilight laid a wing on her mentor’s back. It was like the portal to Earth all over again.
“This is Honored Service we are talking about here.”
*
“Holy shit.” I slowly lowered my rifle as I stood atop of the rock in a small clearing near where the pods had landed. In front of me, I faced down row after row of Timber Wolves, manticores, and a few rogue griffins that were giving me a terrible stink eye. But none of them had moved in over a minute.
One of the griffins slowly lifted into the air in a blinding light. I turned my head as light got even brighter. As the light faded I turned back and aimed the rifle at the griffin that was slowly walking towards me. Its eyes were bright green and had wisps of purple flowing from the corners.
“What are you that dares stand against the purest army this world has seen?” The griffin’s voice sounded like thousands of voices all screaming together at one. Night Rose who was curled up behind me on the boulder clamped her forelegs over her eyes as the griffin spoke.
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!” I yelled back, still panting from my run through the forest, being chased by everything it could possibly come up with. I kept the M4 pointed straight ahead at the griffin’s head. “I am that righteous man! Who the fuck are you?”
“I am the cleansing flood that will wipe the wrongness from this world and restore the order it was meant to be.”
“That’s nice. So listen up, chucklefuck. No, you aren’t. I’m here to stop your ass and liquefy you.” I flicked the safety off the rifle and began to line up the shot.
“You dare speak against-“
SPSH
The muffled cough of the M4 sent one round through the griffin’s beak and out the back of its skull, the body crumbling to the ground in a pool of blood.
“Fuck this.” I swiveled around and dropped to my knee as I sighted in on the next target.
The M4 spat out hot lead into the heads and bodies of the rushing Timber Wolves. I kept the fire on them until the magazine went dry. I quickly swapped out the magazines and switched to the Claw. I pulled the hammer back and took aim at the nearing wolf.
SHHHCRACK
A blaze of lightning leapt forward and connected with the wolf. The magical electricity then moved on to the next wolf and then to the one behind that one, and so on. Soon I had a chain of nearly ten wolves all set ablaze by blue magical fire and lightning. Slowly, the creatures that had surrounded the boulder began to retreat, none of them daring to move any closer. I smirked and slowly reached over my head and pulled the M40A3 off my back before bringing it into my shoulder.
“Not far enough.” I racked the bolt and then sighted in on another rogue griffin with a battle axe towards the rear of the clearing.
BANG
*
Night Rose slowly cracked an eye open. The voice that had boomed in her head had made her feel like it was going to explode from the inside. She was confused as to where she was until she saw the human crouched in front of her with his weapon clasped within his hands. He pulled a part of the rifle back, then her eardrums exploded into a long drawn out ringing from the sheer volume of the noise it produced. The human pulled the weapon back again and a small shiny object fell to the rock and bounced off the surface. A second shot exploded again. Night Rose just watched the falling casing scatter around the rock where the two were holding position.
Night Rose turned her head to watch as a wave of creatures rushed forward towards the boulder they were atop. Timber Wolves, manticores and rogue griffins mixed in. She thought she even saw a chimera, too. The human, Honored, stood up and jumped down off the boulder onto the head of Timber Wolf with a crunch before turning and slamming the stock of his weapon into another’s neck, sending it flying backwards. He fired the rifle from the hip and blasted a clean hole through the chest of a leaping manticore.
“WHOOO!” He pumped a fist into the air before loading another round, “Hey Rose did ya’ see that no scope?” Night Rose just continued to stare at the human who shrugged, rolling his eyes and turning back to his task at hand.
Night Rose stared in awe as the human delivered death to the creatures of the Everfree with almost effortless efficiency. Even though he was surrounded from every direction by wild animals, he fought on with some kind of magical rage that swept through the enemies. She watched in terrified awe as Honored jammed the barrel of the rifle through an open wound in the chest of a griffin and used the griffin’s body as shield against a manticore’s stinger before blasting through the body and into the manticore’s head.
“Honored, we’re surrounded!” Night Rose finally spoke as she felt her senses coming back to her. She rose on shaking legs before glimpsing at the human who had strapped the rifle and pulled out two smaller weapons, clasping one in each hand.
“Then they have nowhere to go.” He gave a wicked smile before dashing forward and slamming his shoulder into a Timber Wolf and bashing it across its head with the end of the pistol. The sharp, quick retorts of the pistol went off and each bang signaled another fallen enemy.
“Honored, duck!” Night Rose joined into the fray as she dove forward from the boulder and slammed her hind legs into the skull of a griffon that was approaching behind the human. She spun into the air and then rocketed herself forward and slammed her fore hooves into the same griffon. She landed behind the human and reached under her wings and drew forth two long blades that clamped down onto her hooves. She took off into the sky and then began diving and dodging her way between any enemies that came near Honored’s undefended backside.
“Thanks,” Honored said before pointing a weapon down and blowing a hole into a griffon.
Both warriors turned and stared as the remaining Timber Wolves and manticores fled off into the forest, tails and stingers alike held between their legs. “Come on Night, let’s get to drop pods before more things show up. You're still in no condition to fight.”
“Honored?” Night Rose looked up at the human as he opened a side on his weapon and six shiny metal cylinders fell from the weapon and landed amongst the blood and bodies in the small clearing. “What…what makes you do this? You have a special somepony and plenty of bits. You could settle down in the castle and be set for the rest of your life. Why? Why do...this?”
“You know, Rose,” Honored began pulling out .44 rounds and feeding them into the open cylinders in the magnum, “I ask that myself every time I pull the trigger or swing a blade. Because if I don’t, then someone else might not.” The pistol’s camber swung closed with a metallic ‘click’ before being holstered on the human’s thigh.
"It helps that I was literally made to do this."
The two walked in silence as the dark forest around them seemed like it was trying to swallow them both up in its unforgiving depths.
“Listen, Night Rose,” Honored pulled the Night Guard to a stop, “Take this flare and fly overhead to the drop pod landing area. Fire it into the sky, so that Sergeant Bold can go ahead and prepare his troops.”
“For what?” Night Rose asked as she carefully tucked the flare behind her wing. We continued walking, her blades making soft scratching sounds against sticks and vines on the forest floor.
A massive roar ripped through the forest, shaking the very forest floor itself. The enormous roar was followed by the sounds of hundreds of other similar terrifying roars and screams.
“For that. GO, NOW!” Honored screamed while spinning around, jumping sideways as a tree landed right where the two had been walking seconds before. Night Rose took to the sky and looked back to see the human landing into a roll and coming up squaring off against a fully grown hydra at least four stories tall.
Night Rose began flying back towards the human who was now standing against a hydra and other creatures that slowly filed out behind the hydra. “NO ROSE, GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” She stopped, and with pain etched on her face took off from the human and towards the clearing in the distance.
“Looks like it’s just me and you, scaly.” Honored glared at the hydra, “And all your friends.” The Timber Wolves growled while pawing at the ground while a few griffons pointed swords and crossbows at his chest. “Aww, man, no fair!"
*
The hydra roared and lumbered towards me. I backed up as the rest of the frightening creatures surged forward and everything came at me all at once. I looked at them, the hundreds of creatures charging at me. I looked down at my hands. Both of them were empty.
The rifles on my back felt like they weighed a ton, the pistols on my waist and thighs seemed to be made of lead, and Bad Bertha refused to be drawn from her sheath.
Fuck.
I felt a massive presence encompassing my mind, literally invading my mind.
"Why do you stand against this? Can you not see the unimaginable raw power that bears down upon you now? I will have my war and I will have my victory over this land. Then the next. And the next. And the one after that. You are just one, puny creature to stand against such a means."
My head was splitting at the seams as the voice echoed into my mind, all the while the enemy animals seemed to move at a crawl towards me. Time slowing down as I still struggled to draw a weapon. Any weapon.
"Just let me take you. Stop fighting it. Join this cause and maybe you’ll live to stand amongst the true victors."
I struggled to regain control of my body. It felt like… No…No, it couldn’t be.
It felt like whenever Nightmare had control of my body. I could only watch as my limbs moved of their own accord, completely ignoring any and all of my commands.
"Nightmare…you want a real nightmare? Very well, I'll give you one!"
I leapt forward and began fighting like a demon out of hell. My weapons burned hot as I poured hot death from their barrels and into the creatures of the Everfree. My bowie knife was slick with blood from every animal as I ripped through the ranks of helpless animals.
I spun around and stopped as another griffon with glowing green eyes and black fog melting form it’s eyes plunged a talon into my chest. I felt something begin crawling its way through my body and into my head.
My vision swam as everything turned black and I found myself holstering my pistol and knife. I reached up and grabbed ahold of the hydra’s lowered and head and was pulled up to rest on top of its tallest head. I overlooked the forest and the creatures gathered beneath me.
“Attack.” I commanded, in a voice not quite my own, and watched as the forest released every animal from its depths towards the Crystal Kingdom.
A large red airship covered in cannons and armor approached me and my army. I raised my hand and felt dark magic beginning to form within it. I aimed my gauntlet at the airship and released a massive spell and watched in joy as a black shiny crystal the size of a chariot sliced through the air and smashed through the front of the ship and punched its way out the back. Fast Skies seemed to hang in the air for a moment before it hurtled to the ground and impacted with a massive explosion.
I smiled at the flaming wreckage. The hydra I was riding atop of turned and began marching towards the far off sparkling city. I reached behind me and drew my new spell rifle and let my newfound dark magic flow through it, turning the light blue glow coming from the barrel, into a black smoke that constantly poured forth. My duster and gold armor molded into a black and red cape hanging off of my new armor that was solid black and had curved metal spikes protruding off of it at random angles.
“Time to take my rightful place of power.”
"Ha."
I slammed my gauntlet into my face, stars shooting into my vision. I looked up as the hydra and other creatures got closer to me. “I don’t fucking think so.” I ran forward, my magic pooling into the open palm of my gauntlet and my knife being drawn in the other. I leapt into the air and came down with a burst of magic in front of the army, magic blasting forth from my drop and sending the first few ranks rearing backwards.
I came up in a sprint and lunged forward, diving my blade in and out of the recovering wolves and griffons. The hydra still lumbered towards me, its four heads watching my every movement. I jumped back as a bolt from a crossbow whistled by my head and plunged into a Timberwolf's side.
I yelled out as another bolt found its way into my thigh. I gripped the end of the wooden bolt and snapped it off. I screamed like a banshee, jumping forward and driving my knife into the offending griffon’s skull. I reached behind me and pulled my combat shotgun from its horizontal holster along my waist and leveled it at a Chimera that pounced at me.
BOOM
The goat head vanished into a mist of red, pink, and black while I reached up and gripped the pump and racked it back, still gripping the knife. I swung the weapon around and fired it again into an oncoming wave of Timberwolves.
My knife slashed and the weapon spewed balls of lead into the waves of enemies coming from every direction.
Nothing fights harder than a caged animal with nowhere left to go.
*
Night Rose watched as the bright red ball of fire soared above the trees and floated over the clearing. She took off after it and hovered in the air as she watched the airship that was standing far off into the distance begin its slow approach. It would be over the pickup zone in only fifteen minutes, but to her, that might as well have been a lifetime.
Night Rose looked up to the red flare and then back towards where she had come from. Her place was beside the human. Sure, he was immature, brutish, rude, and all-around ridiculous, but it was her job to be there and watch him.
And to get his ass out of trouble, if need be.
She bolted towards the sound of gun fire. The airship was inbound, she need to get Honored back to the drop pods anyway.
*
Honored coughed, painting the ground with a mist of his saliva and blood as he reached out a shaking hand towards his pistol that had fallen. He gripped the slightly smoking revolver and aimed it at the leaping wolf. With a blast, the wolf tumbled backwards, but the chamber cycled onto an empty chamber and a griffon delivered a kick that sent the warrior sprawling onto the ground.
Honored rolled to the side just as a sword was planted into the ground right where he had previously been. He holstered the revolver and drew his knife, deflecting a stab to the side and rearing his legs up, kicking the griffon in the stomach. The griffon fell to the front of the human. The rouge griffon had time to look up and into the barrel of the human’s weapon before everything went dark with a BANG.
The Equestrian Honor Guard slowly stood to his feet. His hair covered in blood, his Stetson lost somewhere on the body-littered forest. At least a hundred Timber Wolf, griffon, and chimera bodies covered the surrounding arena.
Honored was slowly getting beaten farther and farther from the drop pods.
A steady stream of blood leaked out of the human’s right thigh and left arm, while a dried patch of blood covered one side of his head from being hilt-slammed. His chest was covered in blood, a mix of his many enemies and his own, leaking from the wound in his chest.
Honored stood facing down another hundred enemies and the hydra, who had just been ever getting closer but still refusing to attack the human.
“What are you waiting for?!” Honored screamed at the enclosing enemies. “Just finish it then!”
A wolf leapt at him, but was knocked to the side afist made of pure blood red magic. “I'm right here! Come get me!” he ended with cough, as blood erupted from his mouth as a griffon slammed into him from behind. Honored tumbled to the ground, his knife and pistol flying from his grasp.
He scrambled forward on his belly and grabbed the pistol, flipping around and firing three consecutive shots into the griffon’s chest. He rolled to the left to avoid the still-flying body and scooped up the knife.
Honored turned, weapons at the ready, to find himself staring at the stubby leg of the hydra.
The human flew through the air and smashed into a tree, sliding to the ground with a sickening crunch.
*
Night Rose stared in disbelief as the battle-scarred human flew over a hundred feet and slammed into a tree, a loud snap filling her ears as his body sunk to the ground. The remaining creatures surged forward to claim their kill.
*
“NOW YA’ CUNTS! FIRE EVERYTHING!”
Every weapon on the starboard side of the Fast Skies opened fire on the mass of creatures moving in the middle of the forest.
“STORM DRIVE, READY THE LONGBOW!” Stand Bold screamed into the intercom.
The pegasus slammed a hoof down onto a lever and the massive three-barreled cannon dropped its angle to almost ninety degrees. “READY SERGEANT!” He shouted back.
“FIRE THAT BEAST YA’ DUMB ASS!” Stand Bold ordered as he watched the barrel spin into the first load.
BOOOOOOM
The barrels spun once.
BOOOOOOM
And again.
BOOOOOOM
Everyone wonders what the fist of an angry god or goddess would look like.
The crew of Fast Skies knew.
*
I cracked open my eyes to see a barrage of explosive cannonballs rip into the approaching creatures. Chunks of flesh and trees rained all over me as I covered my head with a shaking arm.
The hydra quickened its pace towards me, waddling on stubby legs and roaring as it prepared to finish me off.
I watched at the long tri-barreled cannon suddenly dropped its angle and aimed directly at the hydra.
“Hit ‘em.” I whispered.
BOOOOOOM
I watched one glowing blue round slam through the hydra’s leftmost head and into the ground.
BOOOOOM
Another glowing round slammed through the hydra’s back and out its front, spilling guts and gore all over the ground before me.
BOOOOOM
The final round punched through the hydra dead center between the middle heads and into its middle.
The beast's remaining heads simply stared, fixated at something off to the distance that only it could see. It leaned to the side and slumped down, before another wave of gore flowed through its massive wound. It collapsed into the pool of its own filth, stuck in its thousand-yard stare.
I sighed as more glowing green rounds impacted all over the battlefield. I wondered how many more creatures were still alive that they would continue to fire.
“HERE!” I heard a strange accent-filled scream. “BREX IS HERE!”
“My… by the Everling.” My eyes landed on Brex as he approached me. “Honored… can you hear me?”
“Yeah-“ I coughed up and red filled my vision as pain flooded my body.
“No moving, human.” Brex spun around and began chirping and squeaking in his native language. I watched as a chariot landed near me and white unicorn wearing a blue jumpsuit ran towards me.
I felt something begin to sooth me and something being jabbed into my arm. Then, nothing as blackness filled my eyes and the sound of Brex chirping was the last thing I heard.
The smell of blood and pine was the last thing I remembered.
*
Luna watched as the airship hovered over the air docks to the side of the Crystal Castle. A chariot being pulled by two changelings flew towards the ground. She caught a glimpse of a brown duster flapping inside of the chariot where a unicorn medic stood pumping magic into a body beneath a sheet that may have once been white, but now was covered in blood and grass stains.
Luna sobbed heavily and leapt after the chariot as it headed for the hospital.
*
“Celestia,” Cadence walked into the war room with Shining Armor and Tune close behind her, “What’s the news from Honored?” She asked, “Good things, I hope.”
Celestia just hung her head and stared at the map in the same state of shock she had been in for the last two hours. She picked her head up to speak, but Luna burst into the room.
“Everyone needs to hurry quickly. They’re losing him.”
*
“What's happening?” Celestia stood in the operating room where unicorn doctors struggled to keep Honored clinging to life.
“It… we… it’s just that, with his body’s natural resistance to magic, we are having trouble keeping him alive.” The doctor looked down. “We just can’t keep him going for much longer. This could be it. He sustained such blood loss, and with him being a human… we have no blood to give him. We don’t know what will happen to him.” The doctor looked around, “if we put pony blood into him, his body might fight it and just reject it.”
Celestia stared at the strong and cocky human. Here on the operating table, inches away from death he looked so frail, so weak.
Brex spoke up, "I could take his shape and replicate his blood. Would that work?"
The doctor shook his head, "No, that won't do. His body resists foreign magic, and your transformation is a form of magic."
“I’m afraid that there is nothing we can do.” The doctor dropped his head and turned to the table.
“Use mine.”
Everypony present turned to Luna as she stepped forward. “Alicron blood is different. It isn’t like any blood on the planet. Set up a transfusion. I will give him my blood. It’s the only hope we have.”
“Luna,” Celestia looked at her younger sister, “this may not work.”
"Alicorn blood has been shown to take the form of the host's blood, naturally, without magic. Remember the time Philomena was dying, all those years ago, and you gave her your blood? Now it's my turn. It’s at least worth trying.” Luna said firmly before pushing past her and into the operating room where she sat beside the dying human.
The doctor placed a large needle into Luna’s foreleg and connected it to Honored’s arm before sending magic into the middle pump. Dark blood from Luna slowly began to flow forward through the tube and into the human’s still form.
“Now we wait.” Celestia whispered to herself as Luna gently laid her head across the chest of the human warrior.
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Hot diggity DAYUMMM that was AWESOME
Now, we all know he won't die, right? I mean, we wouldn't have a story if he did. I do wonder what the side affects will be though.
Wonderful chapter!! Moar! :D
Can't wait for more!!
This chapter was so worth the wait.
I think I found a song for Honored
4892755 A rap song? his song would be metal or something with lots of bass
Nice cliff hanger ;D
Worth every second of the wait, I didn't like this iteration or the series at first, but God am I glad that I kept going.
4892414
I'm guessing either
A.) Immortality (maybe)
B.) God magic power (Likely)
C.) Not a goddamn thing but just save his life (Most likely)
It's been so fucking long......but you know what?
FUCKING WORTH IT
4893167 I think it was more the lyrics then the genre
4893400 Yea the lyrics could be
4892414 All will be revealed in due time.
4893451 I was personally listening to Skullkruncher13's new revisited version of Reclaimer. It's a halo song, but I found that the chorus fit Honored very well
NO! I'm hoping for wings as a side effect.
This chapter was not worth the wait. I mean really? I call bullshit. The Mary Sue device is glaringly obvious. I know he's supposed to be your little fantasy and all, but alicron blood? Also, yes, you did spell it that way :P
4894224 I think of danger line by avenged sevenfold
I get your plan encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSPk3_vIibHoVSDI5S8s4v6d_b40VXCm_rutFHNi3R6jfR0KxZs
4894274
Abuse me first, then treat me right,
i mean, ill take a beer... yeah a beer.
4895424
Sorry it wasn't to your liking. It started off as myself, but i mean, come on, i wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place. Duh! And thanks for pointing that out, fixed.
4896873
Yeah I understand. It started off so well, but that ending just reminds me of all the times a dude gets beat to shit and predictably returns in some way. You could've perhaps gone the route of near-miss and PTSD, but Luna's blood? That's stepping over the metaphorical line. See, even if this only happens once (unlike DoaMM's several re-runs) it's been done in many other stories. I can't even count how many. See my problem? I addictively read and now I can't stand shit anymore. Oh no....
I'm becoming.......
a critic
x4.fjcdn.com/comments/OH+GOD+NO+to+both.+And+fisto+gave+my++_43532a56c1b2a317cd19ab50e808e7c1.png
either that or an asshole
I have read the entire series in three days and I can say two things... one I LOVE the story and two MOAR!
thank you that will be all.
Haha, i remember these:
quickmeme.com/img/3a/3abdd781729916ff5dc791b52467c8c2a3970a3bd85c626e844719e809dfab41.jpg
and this:
quickmeme.com/img/4a/4a4e2ac4b32ccd5bcfa157c0cbabea6cf64aa14e44226061c688b205188a0fe4.jpg
Forgot this:
quickmeme.com/img/2b/2b19b93fafa239ce0ff7adc687ee3cc399b69f61a1b9a5fe9f6de47db4f64cad.jpg
4895424 My bad, for the spelling error.
4898690
??? What are -you- replying to -me- for?
Only problem with this chapter?
Luna Ex Machina.
Aside from that, love it.
I was waiting for this...
MOTHERFUCKER WAS IT WORTH IT! :D
Though even I am 50/50 about that Luna's blood-thing, but it doesn't really matter, I'll happily see what the result will be.
And btw, Honored has always been that strange kind of Gary Sue. The kind that is enjoyable, and not utterly overpowered... uh... by "utterly" I mean like "universally fucking uber", but still tho...
Now, we just gotta wait for the next one (I swear, you better fucking deliver stuff faster, I'm PUMPED)
4899544 I'm the editor, silly! Plus, having someone point out a spelling error is like telling the janitor he missed a spot. Now, I'm not exactly cleaning up a mess, but the analogy still works, sorta.
4902077
Ah, well then.
In my opinion it was very worth the wait. Sure the alicorn blood thing is dodgy, but this is a universe of talking cartoon ponies after all. Very well writen spare a few spelling mistakes, but an overall very good chapter (^-^ )
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG)
4893167
would this work?
4911524 I could already tell from the intro that this would be a good theme for him but iwas trying for a song for the battle lol oh well
Aaaaand done.
ETA on next?
Also, I love this series.
Godspeed Comrade.
URA!
You get the idea
The Mary sue and Gary Stu complains...I have one thing to say...you can't expect someone to be badass without being gary stu or mary sue....and the deus ex machina shit? what? it's not exactly easy to think of something new when pretty much everything is though of and as for me, that luna blood thing is actually fiting...
Edit: And he is not even the correct definition of Gary Stu...I just looked up the term.
Am I not the only one who saw the Pulp Fiction reference?
5106505 I'd hope not!
Great story, but i can't stop wondering what happened on the date between Honor & Luna.
Are you gonna write it in a separate clop story?.
It's been over two months, Honored. Can I expect a new chapter anytime soon, or should I abandon ship?
As always, Godspeed Comrade.
Ura.
5207173 Maybe he is dead!
What if he explode...and then explode again?
5207173 The humble editor is finally back online, meaning the new chapter should be finished in a week, give or take a day or two.
My favourite verse from one of my favourite movies. Ezekiel 25:17