Act 2 Part 11 - Another One Down
Rarity was woken by the sound of a distant blaring alarm. Sleep had not come easily over the past couple of days she spent in the Insurrectionists’ captivity. Her time was spent under vigilant watch from at least two guards. Rarity could often hear CT’s angry voice as he yelled at his troops. Her only consolation was that his anger indicated they still hadn’t breached the temple. Still, she dreaded the time when CT would decide she was a liability and would deal with her the same way he did Eberle. Rarity had never felt more alone and afraid in her life.
As the distant alarms continued to go off, Rarity’s current set of guards were approached by Smith. After the Elite exchanged a few words with the human guards, one of them approached her with his rifle raised.
“Alright, on your feet. Now!” he ordered.
Rarity complied, but was unable to contain her curiosity. “What’s going on?”
“Get moving now and don’t say a word!”
Rarity was about to obey, when she glanced off in the direction of the minefield and remembered: that was the alarm that went off when she, Rainbow Dash and Caboose first arrived. Someone was here! Someone not part of CT’s group! Rarity was suddenly overcome by a desire to run. If she could just make it to the minefield…
“Stop her, Jones!”
Rarity suddenly felt herself be scooped up in a pair of armored arms. She struggled and squirmed with all of her might before something hit her in the back of the head painfully, and before Rarity knew it she was spiraling down into darkness.
As she rode along in the back of the Warthog, Twilight couldn’t help but worry about her latest conversation with Tex. Twilight really wanted to trust her, but her insight into the M.I.’s latest scheme gave her incredible unease. As they made ready to leave Blood Gulch, Twilight had expressed concern for her friends, and had suggested that their next objective should be to try and find them.
“You’re right,” Tex had replied. “Your friends will be crucial for the next part of my plan.”
That had piqued Twilight’s curiosity. “What do you mean?”
“In order to break into Command, I’m going to need someone to set off the alarm. Preferably a large enough group to really get their attention.”
Twilight’s curiosity was quickly replaced by apprehension as she stared disbelieving at the M.I. “Are my friends just bait to you?”
“They won’t have to keep Freelancer forces busy for long. Just until we get into Command’s inner facilities.” What worried Twilight the most was that Tex didn’t exactly say “no.”
Twilight was suddenly jolted from her thoughts as the Warthog abruptly stopped. She didn’t have to look hard to see the cause. The dirt road ahead of them was currently blocked by a squad of men in blue armor. The group of Blues were using a standard Warthog and a troop transport Warthog as cover while they exchanged gunfire with a group of Reds further up the road, also taking cover behind a few vehicles.
“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked nervously. The three ponies were seated in their own troop transport Warthog’s bed.
“Looks like we’ve come upon a Red and Blue skirmish!” Sarge exclaimed, hopping out of his seat in the shotgun position. “Lopez! Pass me my shotgun!”
Lopez leveled a steady glare from the driver’s seat. “Ya está sosteniendo la escopeta (You are already holding your shotgun).”
The small black transparent avatar of Tex appeared. “This doesn’t make sense: we’re nowhere near any simulation bases!”
“Who cares? The only thing that matters is a group of no good dirty Blues is blockin’ our path forward!” Sarge bellowed as he raised his shotgun dramatically. “It’s time fer murder! My raging boner will lead us straight to the enemy!”
Twilight gave her head a few disbelieving shakes. “Uh, what?”
“It’s like nature’s motion tracker!”
“Pero ya podemos ver al enemigo (But we can already see the enemy).” Lopez hopped out of the driver’s seat.
Twilight simply remained seated, still trying to process what Sarge had said. Just when she thought she’d heard it all, these people found new ways to surprise her. Beside her, poor Fluttershy’s yellow coat had gone pale. Even Sunny looked nonplussed, shifting in her armor uncomfortably.
Before Sarge was able to charge at the preoccupied Blues, one of them turned to crouch against their Warthog and spotted them. “Captain! The Reds are trying to flank us!”
Their leader, a soldier wearing blue armor with white detail turned around. “OH NO! OOOOOOOOOOOOUGH!” The man’s slightly goofy deep voice grew so loud and high-pitched that it distorted his helmet speakers.
Something about the Blue Captain’s voice struck Twilight as familiar. She felt like she had heard that panicked scream before. It hit her as soon as she saw the emblem of a red rose on his shoulder pads.
“Reynard?” Twilight asked as she and the other ponies climbed out of the back.
Sure enough, the Captain looked at her with slowly growing recognition. “Purple Horse?” Reynard crouched forward and threw his arms in the air. “HOLY SHIT!!!”
Twilight trotted over to Captain Reynard Vaez Jr. while his men continued exchanging fire with the squad of Reds. “What’s going on? Who are you fighting?”
Her question was answered when a bullet whizzed past Reynard’s head, causing the Blue Captain to duck.
“SUCK A DICK, REYNARD!” a loud voice with a Jersey accent called out from the Reds’ position.
“I WILL! JUST WATCH ME!” Reynard yelled back.
“Oh yeah… him,” Twilight said, recalling her last encounter with Captain Mike Mogar of Zanzibar’s Red Team. Something suddenly occurred to her. “Wait, didn’t Caboose kill him?”
“So, what are you doing here, Twilight?” Reynard asked, either not hearing her question or ignoring it.
“Not too much. Just preparing to assault Freelancer Command.” Twilight suddenly gasped and shoved both front hooves into her mouth.
Twilight fully expected Reynard to get angry, possibly even report them to his superiors at Command. Instead, what he said was, “That’s great! I hate those guys!”
“I’m sorry! I was only joking! I…” Twilight stopped. “Wait, really?”
“Yeah, fuckin’ douchebags kicked us out of our bases at Zanzibar. Said something about it becoming the scene of investigation in response to reported alien sightings.”
“Oh… y-you don’t say!” Twilight laughed awkwardly, realizing that the “alien” in question was most likely her.
“Yeah, it’s total bullshit! Just after we fought so hard to take control of the power plant!” Reynard sighed. “Anyway, we were heading for Command to be relocated when we bumped into Captain Mogar’s forces. Though, that was probably because they were also heading for Command.”
“Wait, if both of you know that Red and Blue are the same, why are you still fighting?”
Reynard shrugged. “I dunno... I mean, YOLO right?”
“Both your teams are heading to Command?” Tex asked, her avatar suddenly appearing between Twilight and Reynard.
“Sure thing, ghost lady!”
“Then maybe you can help us.”
Reynard thought about this for half a second before ordering his troops to stand down. Shortly, Mogar’s men did the same and in a few short minutes both teams were standing around Twilight and her group. Reynard looked at the two ponies standing beside Twilight.
“Who are they?” he asked.
“This is Sunny. She’s in the Equestrian Royal Guard,” Twilight gestured to the white mare in armor and she nodded. “And this is my friend Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy greeted Reynard the same way she greeted all new people: she hid behind her mane and squeaked nervously.
Reynard regarded Fluttershy briefly. “I don’t like her.”
“Pfft! You don’t know what you’re talking about! Fluttershy’s cool!” Mike Mogar put an arm around Fluttershy and gave her a friendly pat. Fluttershy smiled appreciatively, but her stiffness indicated she found the physical contact uncomfortable.
“Okay, so are you guys willing to help us break into Command?” Sunny asked.
Reynard shrugged. “Sure, what do we do?”
“After Command lets you in, we’ll send you a signal when we’re about to land, then you cause as much damage as possible!” Tex said. She looked over at Twilight and nodded. All at once Twilight knew what she was doing.
“Sounds an awful lot like the last plan we were involved with,” Reynard said, looking at Twilight.
“Yes, you’re basically our distraction, but either you have to do this or my friends do,” Twilight said. “I understand if you’d rather change your mind.”
“Hey!” Mogar raised a hand to Twilight. “Don’t worry. We’ll raise the ruckus!”
“Also, I’m pretty sure Command monitors all radio traffic,” Reynard said. “How are you going to contact us without them finding out?”
The group went quiet as everyone no doubt tried to come up with something.
“How about we blow up a satellite orbiting the planet with a nuke?” Sarge suggested.
“How would that help?” Twilight asked.
“You can’t deny: no one could miss a signal like that!”
“Let’s… stick with something involving a little less unnecessary destruction.”
“Our ship is capable of sending coded messages via text,” Tex mused. She looked at the Red and Blue Captains. “But you guys don’t have a datapad that can receive them, do you?”
Datapad… Twilight’s eyes shot wide open as the solution hit her like a whole jar of zap apple jam. “I have a datapad you guys can use! Here!”
Hoping to find the datapad Church had given her during her first night in Blood Gulch, Twilight opened her pocket dimension. Unfortunately, in her eagerness to do so, she forgot to keep everything else she had stored in there from pouring out of the parallel space as well. Among the datapad were several books, the radio headset that Simmons had made for her, the Elements of Harmony… and the hundreds and hundreds of cakes that Pinkie Pie had baked when she was still down in the dumps after O’Malley’s possession.
By some ill stroke of luck, Reynard was at ground zero of the sudden pastry barrage. “OH NO! NOOOO! NOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” he screamed as he was buried in hundreds of frosty white cakes. “I GOTTA GET OUT! GOTTA GET OUT! GOTTA GET OUT!”
Sure, being buried alive in cake probably wasn’t the most fun thing in the world, but it seemed to Twilight that Reynard was overreacting just a little. He was having a full on panic attack reminiscent of someone with PTSD. Yet, somehow the concept seemed familiar. It was at that point that Twilight remembered what Sarge had told Applejack after he returned to Ponyville with the Meta’s ship.
“Hit ‘em with a classic ‘pie bombing run!’ Haven’t pulled a maneuver like that since my days in the Pastry Wars of 2530!”
“Oh, Celestia. You weren’t joking...” Twilight said.
“His father was killed in a cake bombing run during that damn war,” Mogar helpfully explained.
Sarge nodded. “Damn cake lovers. Pie or die!”
As the group struggled to fish Reynard out of the cakes, no one noticed that one of his soldiers wasn’t like the others. Standing on the edge of the group, the hulking figure in blue armor and a domed helmet stood silently and waited.
Church, Donut, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all stood side by side as they looked at the burning wreckage of the Warthog they had driven out into the desert. On the plus side, they had made it to their destination: the half buried alien ruins were just behind them. Unfortunately, a minefield had been guarding them.
“Ugh, I told you to take three steps then turn right!” an aggravated voice accompanied by footsteps said behind the group.
The pair of humans and ponies turned around to see a man wearing brown armor with white detail approach them from the hulking command vehicle at the ruins’ edge. Church was slightly startled to see that the man was wearing an EOD helmet as opposed to the ODST helmets that were apparently regulation for Freelancer soldiers now. The EOD had the distinction of resembling a dark and serious face as opposed to an all-encompassing visor. Church recognized his voice as the one who had attempted to guide them safely through the minefield. Keyword “attempted.”
“In hindsight, using ‘steps’ as a unit of measurement when we were in a car didn’t seem like a smart move!” Donut said.
“But you turned left!” The man countered incredulously.
“Y’know, I’m pretty sure I had a good reason for letting you drive, Donut. But for the life of me I can’t remember what it was,” Church said.
“I believe you said you were tired of always drivin’, and Donut was the only other one who could actually reach the pedals,” Applejack answered very matter-of-factly.
“Oh yeah…”
“Hey, look on the bright side!” Pinkie exclaimed with a bounce. “At least flying through the air when the mines went off was super cool! I even got pictures!”
Before Church could protest, several instant-photos were shoved into his hands. Out of idle curiosity, Church looked down at them. There was one at the moment when the first mine went off, with Pinkie’s smiling face in the foreground. There was another of Applejack clinging to Church as they sailed through the air upside-down. There was also one of what appeared to be Pinkie throwing gang signs as she flew through the air (remarkable, considering her lack of fingers). And the last one was… Church standing exactly where he was now, looking at the pictures Pinkie had given him.
“Wait, how did…?” Church looked up to see Pinkie lower a camera from her face.
With a sigh, the man in the brown EOD armor looked up from his folded arms. “Okay. Are we done looking at pictures? Because there’s actually important shit to discuss!”
“Right, so are you in charge here?” Church asked.
“Yes. Call me CT!”
Donut gasped. “Hey, aren’t you that guy who arrived with those reinforcements?” CT was silent. “What happened? Did you guys get attacked?”
There was a slight hesitation before CT cleared his throat. “That’s right. Insurrectionists.” CT looked down and shook his head mournfully. “Damn bastards killed a lot of good men…”
Donut’s hand rose to his mouth. “Where’s Tucker and Eberle?”
CT sighed. “Sorry. I’m all that’s left to run the ship now…”
Donut suddenly became quiet and focused on the sand at his feet. Pinkie Pie was on him immediately, giving him a comforting hug around the waist. CT approached the glum pink soldier.
“Hey, it’s good to have you back, uh…”
“Donut.”
“Right, of course!” CT gave Donut’s shoulder a friendly pat before stepping away. “The rest of you are welcome to stay here of course. Just so long as you stay at the main camp! Can’t have you stumble across anything classified, now can we?”
Applejack swallowed and removed her hat, fidgeting with it nervously. “CT? You didn’t see any ponies like me around, did ya?”
CT leveled an unreadable glare at Applejack for a moment before answering. “Nope. You’d be the first one!”
Applejack looked up at CT and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. “Funny, ya don’ seem too shocked ‘bout it.”
The farm pony had a point, Church realized. Everyone else they had run into so far had been thoroughly thrown for a loop at the sight of the small, talking equines. CT didn’t seem phased at all.
CT cleared his throat a few times before answering. “Oh, well… let’s just say I’m used to working with… alien entities.”
On cue, a figure wearing purple armor approached the group from CT’s mobile command center. Church recognized it immediately as the same species of alien that had impregnated Tucker years ago. Church was thankful he wasn’t around to witness the actual conception. The alien they met in Zanzibar was one ugly motherfucker. Church guessed this one looked the same underneath the face concealing helmet it wore.
“Whoa nelly!” Applejack exclaimed, hiding behind Church to look up at the large alien. “What the hay is that?!”
CT chuckled. “That is Smith. He’s the leader of the Sangheili working with us to uncover these ruins.”
Smith honked in confirmation.
“Cool!” Pinkie exclaimed, taking a picture of the alien.
Applejack, on the other hand, was still cautiously seeking refuge behind Church. “Uhm… is it dangerous?”
“You don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. Kinda like big bees,” CT said before clearing his throat. “Now, why don’t you guys take a moment to replenish yourselves?”
CT pointed down into the ruins to an area between two pyramid-like structures and one that stretched behind them lengthwise. “If you head down there and to the left, you’ll find where we keep our food and water.”
“I am a mite peckish,” Applejack said as she found the courage to step out from behind Church’s legs.
“Donut, as one of Eberle’s top men, I’d like to take a moment to uh… brief you,” CT said. “In private.”
“Oooooh… I like the sound of where that’s going!” Donut exclaimed as he made to go with CT.
However, Applejack grabbed him and held him back. “Donut can speak with you after we’ve all had a bit of sustenance,” she said as she pulled him along down toward the ruins. “After all, it’s been a long journey!”
Applejack gave Church an urgent look and motioned with her head for them to get going. Together, the four of them walked down into the sandy ruins, leaving CT and Smith in front of the Elephant.
“Just remember: don’t go wandering!” CT called out as they left. “And don’t worry, we’ll take care of you!”
The food and water were exactly where CT said it would be. There were also several destroyed jeeps and other miscellaneous vehicle parts piled up against the far ruins’ wall. As he was technically not a living person, Church didn’t bother with any of the provisions. He just watched as Applejack and Donut filled themselves up. He couldn’t help but notice the way Applejack’s ears flicked as she constantly looked around.
“Is it just me, or do you seem extra paranoid right now?” Church asked, thinking about how she seemed eager to keep Donut away from CT moments before. “Because I think I saw some black helicopters earlier!”
Applejack ignored Church’s sarcasm. “I got a bad feelin’ about this CT fella, Church. He’s lyin’ to us!”
“Yeah, sure he is,” Church said impishly.
Applejack narrowed her eyes at Church.
“What? I’m agreeing with you!”
“Well ya could at least sound a little more convinced!”
Before Church could formulate a response, the loud whispering voice of Pinkie Pie turned his attention around behind him. Pinkie was down on the other end of the part of the ruins they were in, to the right of where they had entered.
“You guys! Come quick! I found something!” Pinkie whisper-yelled.
Exchanging a quick look, Church and the others ran over to where Pinkie was standing, careful that CT or his men didn’t spot them.
“Uh, Pinkie? You do realize the food an’ water is to the left, right?” Applejack asked when they reached her.
“I know! But I always like checking in the other direction first, in case there’s bonus stuff!” Pinkie exclaimed as she led them around a corner. “And look! I found a bonus Rarity!”
That wasn’t the first thing Church saw when he rounded the corner behind the alien ruins. Littered throughout the sand were the inert forms of many soldiers in gray and white armor, as well as a few Elites. Sure enough, a small white pony lay still among them, tightly bound by a steel cord, likely taken from one of the destroyed Warthogs. Church noted the amount of blood that surrounded the broken bodies of the soldiers around them as Applejack ran forward to untie her motionless friend.
“Hey Applejack, I don’t wanna alarm you or anything, but I think all of these guys are dead!” Church said.
Looking suddenly very worried, Applejack lowered an ear to Rarity’s chest and listened for a few seconds. “Well, Rarity’s still breathin’!” Applejack exclaimed, relieved.
Though she may have been alive, Rarity still looked no less worse for wear. Her usually well kept mane was dirty and frazzled, sticking out here and there. She had a few small cuts and bruises, as well as a notable bump on the back of her head. Much of her makeup was gone too; what little remained formed dark lines down her cheeks. Applejack grabbed her fashionista friend by the shoulders and started to gently shake her.
“Rarity? Rares! C’mon! Wake up! Rise an’ shine!” Applejack tried, shaking the unconscious unicorn to no avail.
Church carefully stepped over the other bodies and peeked around the far corner so he could see what their host was doing. CT was talking to Smith, along with a couple of other armored humans and Elites. They seemed as of yet unaware of what their guests were up to. Applejack meanwhile, continued in her futile attempts to wake Rarity.
“Consarn it, yer a heavier sleeper than Rainbow Dash!”
Donut took a step forward. “Step aside, Applejack. I’ve got this.”
Applejack obliged, and Donut knelt beside the white mare and whispered loudly. “Hey Rarity, guess what? Green and brown plaid is in right now!”
All at once Rarity gasped and sat into an upright position, eyes wide open as she started to retch. “Ew! Horrid!”
Rarity then remembered where she was and looked around to find the man in pink armor kneeling beside her. “Donut!” She leapt forward and hugged her pink (human) friend tightly. She then saw the pair of ponies over his shoulder. “Applejack! Pinkie Pie!”
Rarity released Donut, dove between them and embraced them both.
“Well, boy howdy to you too, Rares!”
After letting her friends hold her for a moment, Rarity stepped back and looked around fearfully. “Where’s CT?”
“Back at that mobile base talking to his alien buddies, why?” Church asked.
“He was super nice and let us stay at his camp for awhile!” Pinkie exclaimed with a smile.
Rarity’s eyes widened in horror as she looked back and forth between her friends. “No! Don’t trust CT, whatever you do! His people killed everyone who was working here! He…” Rarity glanced over at one of the dead bodies as her eyes started to glisten. “He killed Captain Eberle! Just shot her in cold blood right in front of…”
Rarity’s voice broke before she could finish, and Applejack rubbed her back comfortingly. It was a few seconds before she could compose herself and continue. “Rainbow Dash, Tucker, and Caboose managed to escape into the temple. CT and his forces have been trying everything to get in!”
“Okay, we need to figure out a plan!” Church said. “What do these people even want, anyway?”
“They’re trying to find a…” Rarity’s ears shot straight up as an idea came to her. “There’s a computer on that huge vehicle of theirs! It had information about the artifact they’re searching for! If we can find that information and somehow get it to the others in the temple...”
“Okay. Donut, Applejack and Pinkie, you three keep CT distracted,” Church ordered. “Rarity, show me this computer.”
So far, the day had been going pretty well for Simmons. He’d met with the 8th Pony Battalion at five in the morning and had wasted no time in beginning the training regimen Washington had prescribed. Simmons had started with teaching them the basic cover tactics that he had learned in training. The mares and stallions of the 8th had taken to the lessons like fish to water. It would seem that Washington and Celestia had chosen some of the most experienced battalions to receive this training first. This had the benefit of them being relatively quick to learn, and if Celestia was to be believed, time was of the essence.
As he watched the ponies under his tutelage continue running his drills through the obstacle course set up in the west castle garden, Simmons was filled with a sense of… right. Like everything was good with the world at that moment. Ever since he had joined Red Army, Simmons had always wanted to move up to a position of command.
It was around midday that Spike approached him. The little dragon was carrying a clipboard that he was studying with a perturbed expression on his face.
“Hey, Simmons? Can we talk real quick?” he asked.
Simmons turned away from the 8th as they continued running drills and looked down at Spike. “Sure. What’s up?”
Spike glanced down at his clipboard again, as if to make sure the data on the pages hadn’t changed while he wasn’t looking. “Well, the squads being trained by you and Washington have both made significant progress already. They’re probably ready to move on to the next exercise…”
Simmons’ relatively good mood turned around when he realized where this was going. He knew this day seemed to be going too well!
“Let me guess… Grif’s squad has been having problems?” Simmons asked in a low, bitter tone.
“Yeah… he’s not following the training regimen that Washington had written out,” Spike explained. “I tried talking to him, and then I got Washington to yell at him, but he’s not listening! So...”
“You were hoping I would talk to him?”
Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Well, you do know him the best out of all of us.”
“And I also hate him the most out of all of us. Funny how that works!” When Spike looked up at him imploringly, Simmons relented. “Fine, I’ll talk to him!”
After telling the 8th Battalion to take a break, Simmons followed Spike through Canterlot Castle until they reached the rear courtyard where Grif’s squad was meant to be training. All of the furniture that was usually out there for elite social gatherings had been removed in place of several crates of training equipment just like what Simmons’ squad had been given. However, the equipment was all lying off to the side, unused.
Grif sat on a big, fold out lawn chair that was just a little too small for him. He looked out onto the admittedly impressive view of the kingdom over the side of the mountain with a drink in his hand. The members of the 10th Pony Battalion were all around him. Two of the soldiers were massaging his neck and shoulders. Two more sat on either side of him, fanning him with large luxurious leaves (which seemed pretty useless for the purpose of cooling him off, considering his armor). One pony lay down at Grif’s feet and served as a footrest, while another massaged his thighs.
Confused and infuriated, Simmons stormed up to Grif. Hearing him coming, Grif turned his head to look at him. For some reason, Grif was wearing sunglasses on top of his visor.
“Wassup, Simmons?” he greeted, lifting his sunglasses up over the top of his helmet.
“Grif? What the fuck is all of this?” Simmons asked, gesturing to the battalion of fully armored ponies tending to him like spa workers.
“Uh, this is my training regimen?” Grif answered as if a child had asked him. “Speaking of which, what are you doing here, Simmons? I didn’t think you of all people would be slacking off on this job!”
With that backwards logic thrown out there, Simmons threw his arms up in frustration. “I’m not slacking off! I’m here to make sure you’re not slacking off!”
Grif merely spread his arms as he shifted in his lawn chair. “C’mon Simmons! Does this look like a guy slacking off?”
Simmons wasn’t sure if he was serious. “Yes,” so he decided to answer completely seriously.
“Well, looks can be deceiving! This is my training regimen!”
Simmons looked again at the armored ponies pampering Grif. “Uh-huh… so, how exactly does all of this count as training?”
Grif sat up, leaned in closer to Simmons and spoke quietly. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going for the ‘Mr. Miyagi’ approach. Later on, this is all gonna come back full circle and this squad will become total badasses without even realizing it!”
Simmons folded his arms skeptically. “Okay, how are you planning on applying this to combat?”
Grif sat perfectly still for a few seconds. “Well, I can’t tell you! It’ll ruin the surprise!”
“You have no idea, do you?”
“I’ll figure it out!” Grif leaned back in his lawn chair and put his sunglasses back on.
Having remained quiet this whole time, Spike stepped forward so he was standing right beside Grif’s lawn chair. “These ponies are counting on you to make them ready for a big fight, and this is how you’re helping them?”
“Hi, I’m Grif. Nice to meet you!”
“You are un-fucking-believable,” Simmons sighed with a shake of his head.
“That’s not true,” said Spike as he turned to leave. “I believe Grif’s a lazy, good-for-nothing bum!”
Grif pointed angrily at the baby dragon as he left. “Your mom’s a good-for-nothing bum!”
“Nice try! I don’t have a mom!” Spike yelled back.
“Wow. Nice comeback. Fucking got ‘em!” Simmons deadpanned before leaving.
“Uh, were you talking to me or to him?” Grif asked.
Simmons hesitated for a moment. “Eh. Both!”
Picking up the pace, Simmons caught up with Spike. The two of them remained silent until the rear courtyard was out of sight.
“Now what do we do?” Simmons asked.
“I guess there’s only one person left who can talk some sense into that guy…” Spike answered.
The diverse group of beings inside the ancient temple looked around in confusion as a distant alarm sounded. The fact that it was somewhat muffled by the temple’s walls indicated the sound was coming from outside.
“Blarg?” Joey looked up at the ceiling, the alien giving his mandibles a few anxious clicks.
“What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked, her tail flicking as she looked up at the surrounding walls.
636 Rambling Frequency hovered down in front of her, coughing a few times before speaking. “It would seem Reclaimers and Sangheili positioned outside are in an uproar. Perhaps new development has them panicked?”
“What kind of development?” Tucker asked, rising to a standing position.
“Why, arrival of additional Reclaimers and ponies, of course!”
Rainbow Dash was on the move immediately. “Our friends are out there!” She raced for the main entrance to the temple and started pawing at the door like a dog that wanted to be let out into the yard. “C’mon! We need to get out there and help them!”
“What? And risk our asses for theirs?” Tucker asked. He seemed about to follow up with a proclamation of “Fuuuuck that!” when the door started opening with the hollow sound of shifting stone.
Everyone looked over to see Caboose standing beside the glowing, holographic button beside the central pillar. “I pushed the button. Any argument you have is invalid!”
Tucker looked at his old comrade and wondered for a moment if there was some profound sense of wisdom behind his actions and words. Perhaps Caboose was - in his own way - trying to tell them all that thinking and planning could only get one so far. Maybe he was trying to say that sometimes, you just had to take action and think about the consequences later.
“Fuck it. This is probably the best opportunity we’ll get!” Tucker drew his Battle Rifle, checking his hip to make sure his energy sword was within reach before charging out into the blinding brightness of the sandy desert followed by the rest. Tucker suddenly had the distinct feeling that an assault rifle was pointed at the back of his head.
“Caboose! Make sure you shoot at the enemy this time!”
It was at that point that Tucker began to reconsider the apparent wisdom in Caboose’s prior action. Perhaps Caboose simply liked pushing buttons.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Donut, and (by all outward appearances) Church all stood in a row along one of the walls of the ruins as CT, Smith and half a dozen other humans and Elites all pointed weapons at them. The alarm that they started when one of CT’s soldiers caught them wandering too close to the temple’s entrance was still blaring in the background. CT made a show of rubbing the bridge of the “nose” on his helmet.
“You four are just… fucking awful at following directions. How do you even exist?” he asked.
Applejack gave him a smile. “Whatever do ya mean, Mr. CT? All we did was go to the left like ya done told us to,” she said in a sugary sweet voice. Too sweet to be sincere.
“Yes. I also told you to stay within the camp!”
“Hey! It’s not our fault you didn’t specify where ‘in the camp’ ends, and ‘not in the camp’ begins!” Pinkie exclaimed.
CT made several noises that could be best described as “aneurisming” before rounding on Donut.
“Hey, don’t get mad at me!” Donut said. “I’m part of the original dig team, remember? I have access to all parts of the ruins! It’s just like having backstage passes!” Donut followed this statement up with a “Teehee.”
CT just sighed and looked over at Church. “You’ve been awfully quiet. What’s your excuse?”
Church made no response. He only stood there, still as a statue.
“Hey! Buddy! I’m talking to you!”
Church continued to stare straight ahead, not even acknowledging anyone else’s existence. CT looked to the others for an answer, but they only stared back.
“Hello? Anyone home?” CT asked, waving his hands as he stepped in front of Church. “Ground Control to Major Asshole!”
When Church didn’t so much as flinch at CT, the man in brown let out a furious growl and gave Church a light shove. CT took a step back in surprise when the still cobalt figure slowly tipped over and fell to the sand with a muted thump. Despite that, Church made no sound and remained stiff as a board.
Donut gasped. “What have you done?! You’ve killed him!”
CT turned to glare at the other three. “Okay. What’s going on here?” He raised his Battle Rifle. “You were sent to infiltrate us, weren’t you?”
Applejack let out a nervous laugh. “No need to get paranoid, now!”
It was at that moment that a deep rumble shook the ruins around them. The sound of stone shifting against stone alerted everyone to the fact that the temple door was rising. The humans muttered nervously amongst themselves as the Elites let out a few cautious blargs.
“Shit! They’re opening the temple!” CT glared at the pair of ponies and human in pink armor. “Jones: You and the others to the temple with me! Smith: Take care of these idiots!”
CT and his human squad ran for the temple. Smith on the other hand looked between their three captives and CT’s retreating form. To the group’s surprise, the purple Elite lowered his needle weapon and barked orders to the other Elites. Two of them turned and made for the Elite camp while Smith stalked after CT and his team, leaving only one of the big aliens to take care of the three trespassers.
He never got the chance, as he was hit by a blast of blue magic that knocked him off his feet. Rarity was running toward the group in full gallop, horn glowing. Church’s ghostly figure was right with her. The Elite she had knocked over started to get up with a low growl, but Donut promptly put a round from his Battle Rifle into the alien.
“Hey Rarity!” Donut exclaimed, waving to the unicorn as if he hadn’t just casually murdered an alien. “So... did you guys find anything in the Elephant?”
“Sorta…” Church said as he centered his body and climbed to his feet.
“Where’d CT and the others go?” Rarity asked as she caught her breath.
“CT made a break fer the temple,” Applejack explained. “As fer the rest of the aliens… I don’ rightly know where they went!”
Rarity nodded. “Alright. Let’s go find Rainbow Dash, then!”
It was around midday when a cream colored unicorn mare with a white collar and glasses approached Grif at the center of his luxuries and woke him from his nap. Grif shortly found himself following the attendant through the castle. It figured they would go to her about this. It was just like the times Grif had stolen lunch money from kids at school and they would go and tell the principal.
Soon, Grif arrived in front of a set of tall iron doors painted purple with a pair of guards standing on either side. The horns of the two golden armored ponies glowed and the doors opened themselves to admit the man in orange.
“Her Highness will see you now,” said the aide that brought him, gesturing for Grif to enter.
Grif did so cautiously and looked around. He wasn’t in a throne room, or even in the office he had been in last night. He was in a large dining room. A large, finely carved wooden table occupied the center of the large chamber and stretched all the way across its length. A shiny gold chandelier hung from the ceiling in the center. Paintings of various ponies Grif assumed were important historical figures adorned the walls.
The only other occupant of the room was seated at the table, cutting into a large circular cake with white and pink frosting. Princess Celestia wasn’t sitting at the head of the table like Grif had been expecting, but on the left side down at the far end. Regardless, Grif entered fully prepared to take whatever verbal lashing she would come up with. Grif had faced the wrath of principals, police officers and Sarge with uncaring snark and sarcasm. If this pony Princess thought she could get to him by chewing him out, she had another thing coming! But oddly enough, when Celestia looked up at Grif she simply smiled affably at him.
“Hello, Grif. Would you like to join me?” she asked, nodding at the seat across the table from her. “I just finished lunch and was about to dig into dessert. Would you like me to cut you a slice?”
Grif wasn’t one to turn down free food, but he was a little hesitant to answer. “Uh, sure?”
The heavy man thumped across the red carpet as he walked around the table to sit across from the regal pony Princess. Celestia asked him how big of a slice he wanted, and when Grif gestured with his hands, she gave a friendly laugh and commented about how his appetite for cake must have been as big as hers, and that that was saying something.
Grif knew what she was doing as he watched her use that freaky glowy magic to set the slice of cake down on a plate and slide it across the table in front of him. She was just playing nice to make him let his guard down before she tore into him. Grif let her know he was on to her by glaring at her through his helmet as he took a piece of his cake in his fork and brought up to his mouth.
“Don’t you want to take your helmet off, first?” Celestia asked with a chuckle.
“Don’t have to,” Grif answered and pointed to the lower part of his helmet. “Helmet waste disposal. Makes eating way more efficient!”
Celestia giggled some more as Grif inserted the piece of cake in an opening beneath his helmet and started chewing. The two of them just sat there and ate their cake. Occasionally Celestia would strike up a conversation by talking about the goings on of the castle, or by asking Grif about his time in Equestria. Not once did the Princess broach the topic of Grif shirking his duties, yet every time she opened her mouth Grif tensed up in anticipation.
After a particularly tense companionable silence, Grif couldn’t take it anymore. “Oh, just get on with it already!”
Celestia seemed genuinely surprised by his outburst. “Get on with what?”
“I know you didn’t summon me so we could eat cake together and talk about the weather! You’re going to yell at me for not taking this whole ‘training’ thing seriously!”
Celestia gave him a concerned look. “Now why would I do that?”
“I dunno. Because you’re mad that I’m not holding up my end of the bargain?” For some reason, actually saying it himself felt a lot worse than hearing Celestia say it could have been.
Celestia shook her head and looked at him sympathetically. “No, Grif. I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed.”
Grif wasn’t sure why, but he felt more uneasy with Princess Celestia being disappointed with him than he would have been if she’d full on lost her temper. For some reason, the mild and calm pony Princess was more intimidating than all of the figures of authority who’d yelled at him throughout his life.
“It’s not just this one instance of indifference on your part that makes me sad, Grif,” Celestia continued. “I’ve spoken with your colleague Simmons. He’s told me all about the experiences you’ve shared over the years of your time on the Red Team.”
“Wait wait, all of our experiences? Because there are some things we swore never to speak about. What happens in the Warthog stays in the Warthog!”
Celestia simply continued, paying Grif’s outburst no mind. “From what I’ve gathered, every time you’ve been given opportunities to prove yourself, you’ve opted for apathy instead. You have great potential, so I must ask: Why?”
Grif shrugged. “I’unno.”
“See? Even in answering me now you continue to give the bare minimum. Isn’t there anything you strive for, or once strived for?”
Grif rubbed the back of his helmet. He was expecting to get chewed out, not have the way he lived his life put up for question.
“I… guess I wanted to open up my own taco stand back home in Hawaii…”
Celestia smiled brightly. “There you go! Even something as simple as that is still a good thing to work towards. Why did you want to open this taco stand?”
Grif sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know. I liked our community. I wanted to give something back. Make people happy, y’know?” Grif looked down and played with his thumbs. “But… then I learned that hard work and devotion can’t stop people from changing, so I figured: What’s the point?”
Celestia frowned. Grif hoped she wouldn’t ask for more details. He didn’t really feel like talking about her right now. Thankfully, the Princess didn’t press the matter.
“That isn’t true, and I think you know it. You have so much potential to do good. Both for me and for yourself. Why don’t you act on it?”
Grif was silent for a while. He wasn’t exactly sure why himself. He’d been avoiding work for as long as he could remember. Celestia saw potential in him, but he certainly didn’t.
“Can I ask you something?” Grif said, sitting upright in his chair. “What ‘potential’ do you see in me?” Grif gestured to himself. “I mean, look at me! I’m an overweight slob whose greatest ambition in life was opening a taco stand. How do you know there’s more to me than… this?”
Instead of answering right away, Celestia took another piece of cake on her fork and levitated the utensil in front of her face, idly studying the piece of pastry. “You know, it’s no secret amongst my ponies that I have a weakness for cake…” Celestia paused to put the piece she was studying in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed before she continued. “Why, knowledge of my love for cake is so widespread that ponies started holding contests to see who could bake the cake that would steal my heart.”
Celestia smiled, and in that moment she no longer looked like the unyielding, timeless ruler of Equestria, but an old mare looking back on fond memories. “You should have seen some of the cakes ponies brought me. Triple-decker cakes. Quintuple-decker cakes. Cakes so big they couldn’t even fit through the castle doors. One group of bakers even created a giant statue of me made of cake and frosting!”
“Whoa… seriously?” Grif asked.
Celestia nodded. “Unfortunately, it didn’t taste very good. It wasn’t the worst cake I’d ever had, but it certainly didn’t steal my heart.”
“Did any of them?”
Celestia nodded and that nostalgic smile returned. “There was one humble old stallion from a small town who brought me a simple chocolate cake with strawberry and cream filling. Nothing special. It wasn’t even as big as this one we’re eating now. Next to its competition, it actually looked kind of pitiful. But when I took my first bite…”
Celestia’s mouth watered a little. “The texture was perfect! The cake was so soft and moist and the icing added the perfect touch of flavor without being overpowering…” Suddenly remembering herself, Celestia levitated a napkin and wiped her face. “To this day, I have yet to taste a better cake!”
Grif shifted in his seat and folded his arms. “Well, this is fucking fascinating and all, but are you going somewhere with this, or…?”
“Appearances can be deceiving. Things that don’t look like much can often surprise you! Sometimes, the best cakes are also the simplest.”
Suddenly understanding the intended message, Grif nodded. Despite this, he couldn’t stop himself from making one sarcastic remark. “This may come as a huge shock to you, but… I’m not a cake!”
Celestia responded by putting a hoof to her chest in mock surprise. “No! You aren’t? Truly? Well, I guess I’ll have to change my dessert plans for tonight!”
Grif couldn’t help but laugh, genuinely appreciating someone who could match him in sarcastic combat. Celestia laughed with him, and after a while the two of them sat in companionable silence. After some time, Celestia stood. It was only then that Grif noticed they had both finished their respective slices of cake.
“Well, I need to get back to work,” Celestia said, and all at once Grif remembered why he was here. “If you still don’t want to help my troops, I can arrange to have you transported back to Ponyville. Or anywhere else in Equestria for if you want. I hear Baltimare is nice this time of year!”
The doors opened for the Princess to exit, but before she left, she looked over her shoulder to get one last word in. “But do think about it before you decide, okay?”
Tucker and his companions dove into the cover of a small stone structure as rifle fire rained down on them. He had been counting on the fact that CT would run straight for the open temple to find the ancient weapon that didn’t even exist. Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever the man thought he was going to find, he believed that Tucker and the others had already taken it. Now about a dozen men in white armor were flanking their position.
“Ugh, this is stupid!” Tucker groaned as more bullets flew overhead.
“Hey! I resent that!” Caboose said. Joey blarged in agreement.
“No, I mean this guy is willing to kill us for an ancient weapon that doesn’t even fucking exist!”
The shooting suddenly stopped, and the high-pitched sound of a helmet voice amplifier took over.
“ATTENTION ASSHOLES!” CT’s voice boomed. “WE KNOW YOU HAVE THE ARTIFACT! JUST HAND IT OVER PEACEFULLY AND NO ONE GETS HURT!”
“Get fucked, CT!” Tucker shouted back.
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash added. “We don’t have your stinkin’ artifact! There isn’t an artifact! That temple was emptier than Caboose’s head!”
“Ooh hoo, nice!” Tucker laughed, offering Rainbow his fist. She bumped it enthusiastically as Caboose sat there sullenly.
“NICE TRY! WE KNOW YOU’RE LYING!”
“You’re one to talk, CT!” Rainbow countered. The blue pegasus looked around and grumbled. If there was just a way to prove to CT what Rambling Frequency had told them…
“Wait, that’s it!” Rainbow exclaimed, her ears perking up. She looked over at the little Forerunner A.I. as it hovered in place between Joey and Caboose. “Hey Lightbulb! Why don’t you tell them there’s no weapon?”
636 bobbed in place and coughed a few times. “Oh. Yes! Of course!”
The Monitor floated out from the safety of the ruined structure and over to CT and his men. The line of soldiers lowered their weapons as they looked up at the A.I. in shock.
“Greetings. I am 636 Rambling Frequency. I am the Monitor of…”
“The artifact!” CT gasped. “Quick! Secure it, Jones!”
“On it!” The man beside CT said as he raised a small round device at 636. “Just so you know, my name’s not actually pronounced ‘Jones...’”
An impatient growl from CT caused Jones to drop the subject and carry on with his orders. The man fired a burst of electromagnetic energy at the Monitor and 636 went down in a coughing fit as sparks danced around him. CT stepped forward and picked up the offline Monitor.
Back in the cover of the ruins, Tucker and Rainbow Dash exchanged a glance. “I think we might have made a mistake!”
“Men, take care of them!” CT ordered as he turned and made a hasty retreat with the Monitor in his grasp.
The soldiers under CT’s command continued to fire on the four figures taking cover in the ruined structure. Tucker returned fire with his own Battle Rifle when he could - his energy sword not suited for the open desert - but it did little to deter the enemy forces. Just as he started to think it would take a miracle to get out of this situation, he heard the sound of alien vehicle engines.
The Prowler that the Elites’ Phantom had dropped when they first attacked came hovering over the dunes, the Elite in the gunner’s position firing plasma at CT’s troops as it barreled through their ranks. Tucker just watched in stunned silence as CT’s men turned their attention from his group to the Elites.
“Why are the bad guys fighting the bad aliens?” Caboose asked.
“Looks like the friendship between the Elites and the Insurrection wasn’t meant to last,” Tucker said.
He figured this would happen sooner or later. The two factions only needed each other until they found the artifact. After that, their goals were completely different. He then realized that the confusion had created a golden opportunity.
“You guys wait here!” Tucker said, standing up.
“Wait, where are you going?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“After CT!”
Tucker left the safety of the ruins and ran across the open battlefield as bullets and plasma flew around him. Rainbow looked after Tucker and considered going with him, but realized that anyone else might draw attention. Without the use of her wings, it was too dangerous. Besides, Tucker was the soldier, not her. Rainbow was stirred from her thoughts at the sound of footsteps as several figures joined their spot within the ruined structure.
“Hey Church!” Caboose greeted the man in cobalt with no lack of enthusiasm.
“Hey Dashie!” Pinkie grinned widely and waved at her friend.
“Pinks! Wassup?”
“RD?” Applejack looked at the pegasus’ side. “What happened to yer wing?”
Rainbow Dash grinned proudly. “Got shot. And I didn’t even cry!”
Thankfully, no one pointed out how oddly specific that statement was. Though, Rarity glowered.
“Did that ruffian CT do that to you?” she asked.
“Actually, it was Caboose.”
“Psh! Join the fuckin’ club!” Church scoffed.
“What in tarnation’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked, taking a glance at the battle outside.
“CT has the artifact and Tucker’s going after him!” Rainbow answered.
“Which way?” Rarity suddenly asked.
Rainbow pointed out the direction both humans went. “That way. Why do you…? Rarity wait!”
The fashionista galloped full speed across the battlefield, paying the clashing humans and Elites no mind.
Tucker finally caught up with CT at the main campsite beneath the stone arches. The brown Insurrectionist was standing over the fresh corpse of Smith, the purple Elite’s blue blood staining the sand. To Tucker’s alarm, CT was by the last working Warthog left. Rambling Frequency was not in CT’s hands, but was presumably still in his possession. Once he was close enough, Tucker drew his energy sword and CT turned to face him.
“Hate to break it to you CT, but that thing you grabbed? It’s not a weapon!” Tucker tried to explain in the vain hope that CT would see reason.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” CT said. “I’m not after a weapon!”
“Then what the fuck are you after?”
“Just the information on that Monitor you and those idiots so generously gave me!” CT raised his Battle Rifle at Tucker. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m in a hurry!”
Tucker was having none of that, and charged straight at CT, bisecting him with his energy sword before the man even had time to react. At least, that’s what should have happened. Instead, Tucker’s sword passed right through CT as if he wasn’t even there, the Insurrectionist Leader’s image flickered and disappeared.
“What the…? Oh, son of a…” Tucker only had enough time to realize that he’d attacked a hologram before the real CT appeared beside him and hit him hard with the butt of his rifle. Tucker collapsed to the sand, unconscious.
“Well Tucker, it’s been a pleasure!” CT said before turning to enter his Warthog.
CT stopped as soon as he found his path obstructed by a furiously glaring white unicorn. Her head was lowered so her horn was pointing at him as it glowed dangerously with magic. Little did CT know, Rarity wasn’t in fact charging up an attack spell, but instead carefully placing an object in the back of his Warthog with her telekinesis.
“Well, if it isn’t the protégé!” CT took a threatening step toward her.
This time, Rarity didn’t back down. “I don’t care if you don’t believe me, but I’m not who you think I am!” CT stopped, and Rarity hardened her glare. “Now, it’s my turn to ask you a question, CT! What is it about that ‘Monitor’ thing that’s so important you had to kill everyone here?”
CT gave her a curious look. “I had to kill everyone here because they were Project Freelancer’s lackeys!”
“And good people!” Rarity countered. “But you still didn’t answer my question: What do you want with the Monitor?”
“That Monitor has information that will lead me to another Forerunner site!” CT answered. “Perhaps you’ve been there? It is on your homeworld, after all!”
Rarity tilted her head. “What?”
CT took full advantage of the unicorn’s lowered guard and charged towards her. Rarity just barely had enough time to come to her senses and fire a blast of offensive magic at CT. Unfortunately, CT was counting on this and her attack passed harmlessly through another hologram. The real deal was close behind, but Rarity didn’t have enough time to conjure another spell and received an armored foot across the face, sending her sprawling to the sand out of the path to CT’s Warthog.
“Apparently, there’s some pretty damning evidence against Project Freelancer there,” CT continued as he raised his rifle at the dazed and disoriented unicorn. “But as the Princess’ star pupil, you already know all about that, don’t you?”
Rarity didn’t even have time to realize she was about to die until she heard the gunshot. She jumped and shut her eyes in anticipation of the terrible pain, but surprisingly there wasn’t any. Certain she was dead, Rarity kept her eyes resolutely closed, unwilling to accept the reality of the situation.
Fortunately, reality was far less grim than she thought. Had Rarity been more knowledgeable of human weapons, she would have recognized the sound of the gunshot that just went off as that of a sniper rifle, and not the Battle Rifle in CT’s hands. Rarity opened her eyes just in time to see CT climbing into the driver’s seat of the Warthog. Another loud bang rang out as a sniper round hit the side-view mirror beside CT.
“Fuck! C’mon!” Church’s voice echoed across the desert. “That’s bullshit, I was aiming right at him!”
Rarity turned around and saw the man in cobalt running towards her position, sniper rifle raised. With him was Caboose, Donut, Rainbow Dash and all of the others racing as fast as they could to stop CT. Unfortunately, they were too late. Kicking up sand, CT’s Warthog pulled out and shrunk rapidly into the distance. He had to cross the minefield to escape, but it proved to be of little detriment. Between the fact that CT knew its layout and that many of the mines had been detonated prior gave CT a relatively easy escape. By the time Church and the others reached Tucker and Rarity, CT’s Warthog was a spec in the distance.
“Ugh… what happened?” Tucker groaned as he was helped to his feet by Caboose.
“I fought all of the aliens and saved the day. You don’t have to thank me!” Caboose said.
“I’m going to go ahead and not believe a word of that.”
“Yeah, you would say that.”
“Uh, Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked as she helped Rarity to her hooves. “Did CT just get away with the Monitor?”
“I’m afraid so. But don’t worry, I can easily track him down!” Rarity answered.
“How?”
Rarity gave the pegasus a confident grin. “With the tracking enchantments on Spike’s ruby now sitting in the back of CT’s vehicle!”
Everyone smiled with a bit of relief. They were down, but they weren’t out yet!
“So… did that asshole just take off with our only ride out of here?” Church asked. The smiles all vanished.
Once again, Grif found himself looking at a formation of armored ponies as he stood out in the castle courtyard. The faces of the 10th Battalion were as stoic and unreadable as they had been when Grif first introduced himself that morning, only he sensed a lot more hostility in their looks now. Knowing he couldn’t stay silent forever, Grif took a breath before addressing them.
“Okay, people. Not gonna lie, we have a lot of ground to make up and not a lot of time to do so,” he said. “Fortunately, I’ve come up with a training exercise that should cover everything we need to cover about human military tactics.”
The idea had come to Grif as he reflected on his own life in the military, and then remembered something that Twilight had said back on the Mother of Invention. He glanced off to a pair of Equestrian flags he’d managed to find and mount on spears. Each flag depicted the same thing: a white winged unicorn and another dark blue one circling depictions of the sun and moon. The only difference between the two flags was the color of the backdrop: One was red, and another was blue.
“Everyone split into two teams!” Grif continued. “Red team will control the south courtyard, Blue will control this one! Your objective: Capture the other team’s flag!”
The ponies of 10th Battalion started gathering the red and blue cloaks Grif had gathered and placed by the flags.
“You’ll need to use cover and stealth to succeed. Oh yeah, and apparently, walking right up to the flag and asking to buy it works too!”
When both teams were ready, Grif started off the exercise. “Aaaand go!”
A cold shiver ran through Sarge’s entire body. “Huh… I jus’ got a really bad case of the heebie-jeebies! ‘S like Hell just froze over or something!”
“Es probablemente debido a que dejó de ser un idiota durante cinco segundos (It’s probably because you stopped being an idiot for a full five seconds),” Lopez grunted as he continued working on the ship’s ignition coil.
Ignoring them, Twilight entered the control room overlooking the hangar. It hadn’t been very long since they returned to the Freelancer Offsite Storage Facility, and Lopez was hard at work fixing the Pelican’s ignition coil. Unable to remain idle, Sunny and Tex left to search for any information that could be useful. It was shortly later that FILSS addressed Twilight over the facility’s P.A. system, saying that Tex wanted to see her in the control room.
At first, Twilight had considered declining, but she ultimately decided it was for the best that she went. The alternative was to continue sitting around the hangar with Fluttershy as they watched Lopez’s exasperated attempts to get Sarge to stop making uninformed suggestions.
Not only that, but their recent encounter with Reynard, Mogar and their respective teams was still fresh in Twilight’s mind. Those two had apparently been enemies for a long time, but now they were working together quite effectively. It made Twilight think about her own relationship with a certain M.I.
She found Sunny sitting in front of a computer terminal in front of the window overlooking the hangar, with Tex’s avatar floating beside her. The white walls of the room were brightly lit.
“Hey, come here,” Sunny said, beckoning Twilight with a wave of her hoof. “Tex and I found something you might want to hear.”
Twilight trotted up to the computer terminal Sunny was in front of while Tex turned to look at the screen.
“FILSS picked up a distress signal. It’s a couple of days old, and pretty weak, but…” Tex addressed the facility A.I. “Go ahead and play it, FILSS!”
“Acknowledged.”
With a few beeps and a burst of static, the transmission played. “Come in Command! Command, do you read?”
“Does that voice sound familiar?” Tex asked.
Twilight raised a hoof to her chin. “I don’t know. For some reason it makes me feel like I need a shower…”
The message continued. “This is a distress call. Mayday, and all that shit! Why isn’t anyone answering?”
“Wait, that’s Tucker!” Twilight suddenly realized. She’d almost forgotten about the promiscuous soldier from Blood Gulch’s Blue Team. Probably because she wanted to.
“We found it. It’s in the sand! Send help now!”
Twilight was about to comment when the recording continued. A second voice appeared that Twilight recognized much more instantly. “Tucker! Watch out!” The high pitched whine of a ship’s engines rose up and a loud explosion cut off the recording.
“That was Rarity! She’s in trouble!” Twilight exclaimed. “Also, whatever caused that explosion might be a threat to her too!”
“FILSS, can you trace the origin of that transmission?” Tex asked.
“Easily,” FILSS replied.
Tex looked at Twilight. “Then as soon as Lopez has the ship repaired, we’ll make that our next stop.”
Twilight looked at the dark M.I. with a feeling she couldn’t quite describe. Before, Tex’s only interest in finding her friends had been to use as a diversion. Now that Reynard and Mogar were filling that role, Tex had no reason to find the others. They didn’t have the same experience with this world that she did. Twilight didn’t kid herself: aside from their ability to wield the Elements, they were a liability. Yet here Tex was, putting her mission on hold to find them.
“Hey, Tex?” Twilight asked as Sunny began making her way out of the room. When she stopped and allowed Tex to look back at her, Twilight continued. “Look, I… I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the things we talked about…”
Twilight rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at Sunny; the subject of one such discussion. “I still don’t entirely agree with all of the decisions you’ve made, but I think I’ve been a little unreasonable with you at times as well. We can’t beat Project Freelancer if we’re fighting amongst ourselves, so... I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m going to trust you.”
“You don’t have to apologize to me, kid,” Tex said. “I get it. You’re scared. All of this stuff was hard enough for me and the other Freelancers, and we were the best of the best. You’re not even a soldier. I can’t imagine what this has been like for you.”
With a nod, the two made their peace. It was an uneasy truce at best, but it was still something.
Captain Albert Donovan raised a closed fist, signaling the troops under his command to hold position as he surveyed the ruined castle. Donovan wore gray ODST armor, identical to the other soldiers of Project Freelancer save for the blue detail on his helmet and shoulder pads. He searched for any signs of hostiles in the ruined castle, but spotted nothing. So with a single hand gesture, he ordered his troops forward into the ruin.
“Spread out,” Donovan ordered in a calm, cold voice. “Search every room down to the last tile. But be cautious...”
Donovan had been told to expect hidden passages and plenty of secret areas in this place, as well as traps. He had to admit, the ancient castle gave off some uneasy vibes. Even with the overgrown stone walls crumbled to make way for the moonlight (which itself seemed unnaturally bright) the castle and the twisted forest that surrounded it was oppressively dark. As a high-ranking agent of Project Freelancer though, Captain Donovan was undeterred by the feelings of unease this entire alien planet brought on.
Stepping forward into the main hall, Donovan raised a hand to the side of his helmet and opened a secure radio channel. “Come in, Command. This is Recovery Six.”
“This is Command. Go ahead, Recovery Six,” the woman on the other side answered in a dead monotone.
“We’ve reached Site Bravo and have started our search,” Donovan took another look around at the decaying walls, “I doubt we’ll find anything here.”
“Don’t assume anything, Recovery Six.”
Donovan signed out, switched off his radio and sighed. He suspected this search of the castle would take all night before they at last swept it completely. Their search seemed to be getting more desperate as Project Freelancer continued on empty handed. His partner, Captain Jane Osgoode - also known by the designation Recovery Nine - had reportedly cleaned out the old facility in the North and found nothing. Though, she had reported the existence of a crystal city nearby that apparently hadn’t been there before. But it was too heavily populated by the equine locals to launch an effective search without getting discovered.
From what he’d heard, the other search teams have been equally as fruitless. Still, he would follow through with the search regardless of how much of a waste of time he considered it, lest he bring down the wrath of his superior back at base camp. That Freelancer was difficult enough to get along with as it was.
“Sir! We have a contact over here!” one of his men suddenly yelled from one of the side rooms.
Donovan motioned for several of his men to follow him as he sprinted for the room the man yelled from. They ran through the open doorway and found themselves in what was once the castle library. What bookshelves were still standing were covered in dust, and held as many spider webs as they did books. A dusty wooden reading table occupied the center of the room, and sitting on a chair with their back turned to them was the “contact,” with the man who reported it aiming his rifle at the equine figure.
It was definitely one of the planet’s locals: a curious race of alien that resembled small horse-like creatures. From what Donovan heard, they came in many different colors, and the one in front of him was no exception. The pony had a tan coat and a mane and tail of vivid red and yellow, reminding Donovan of a wild flame. A symbol of a stylized sun with the same red and yellow colors adorned the pony’s flank.
The creature had a dusty old tome in front of it, and seemed to have been calmly reading before Donovan’s men found it. It seemed unaware of the soldiers’ presence at first, but then it finished whatever it was reading, closed the book and turned in the chair to face them. By all appearances it appeared to be female, and she glared at the soldiers with cold cyan eyes full of intelligence. Donovan noticed the horn on her head and tightened his grip on his Battle Rifle, remembering what he’d learned in briefings about the capabilities of this particular subspecies.
“Lost something, have you?” the unicorn asked in a cold dark voice that reminded Donovan a bit of his own. The gathered troops all raised and cocked their weapons as the pony hopped out of her chair and onto all fours.
“Who are you? A scout?” Donovan asked sharply.
The pony smiled. “Oh, nothing like that! I’m not even military. I’m more of a ‘free agent.’” She then put a hoof to her chin in mock contemplation. “Now, what’s a good word for that? Hmm…”
What could she be getting at? She couldn’t possibly know who they were!
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Why, waiting for you guys of course!” the pony said, idly inspecting a hoof. “Though, I’m a little disappointed. I was hoping to meet with the Commanding Officer!”
Donovan raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? And what exactly do you want from me?”
The unicorn looked at him with mild surprise before answering. “Whoa, don’t flatter yourself there! I want to see your Commanding Officer, not you!”
Now Captain Donovan was just puzzled. Surely she couldn’t mean him?
“Sir, if I may?” One of his higher-ranking underlings addressed him. “Were our orders not to eliminate any locals who encounter us?”
“To keep their government from finding out about us, yes,” Donovan stated, looking over at the unicorn mare, who simply stood there, staring patiently at them. “However, it would appear that this one has prior knowledge of us…”
Donovan considered the situation with the strange pony a bit longer, during which time the mare began impatiently tapping her hoof. “I’ll call Command.”
At this, the mare sighed and rolled her eyes. “Alright. If you won’t take me to your CO, I guess I’ll just bring your CO to me!”
The fiery unicorn’s horn started glowing and before Donovan could even react, a plume of fire shot forward and hit him square in the chest. Donovan was knocked off his feet and to his immediate alarm, the material beneath his breastplate was burning. Donovan frantically beat at the flames and he heard a familiar ringing play through his ears as his Recovery Beacon transmitted. Sure, he wasn’t a Freelancer Agent with his own A.I. and armor enhancement, but as a high ranking Recovery Agent he still had a beacon.
The response from Donovan’s troops was immediate, and they opened fire at the now hostile pony. She was one step ahead of them though, and disappeared in a flash of light immediately after casting her first spell. Donovan’s men ceased fire as soon as they realized their bullets were only hitting the table the pony had previously been sitting at. As the soldiers began scanning their immediate surroundings to find where the mare had disappeared to, Donovan rolled over and pushed himself up into a kneeling position. It was then that he saw his assailant standing calmly out the door in the front hall.
“There she is!” Donovan yelled, pointing out into the hall with one hand and clutching his burnt stomach with the other.
The soldiers turned around and made their way back out into the hall, but the hostile pony was already firing up her horn with another spell. The men in gray armor all raised their weapons only to see that they were glowing a vivid orange. The next moment, the soldiers all grunted in pain as they dropped their red hot weapons to the floor. The mare grinned at the now disarmed squad of soldiers.
“Oh, come on! There’s a dozen of you!” Donovan shouted. “A squad of trained soldiers should be able to take down one pony!”
Thoroughly emasculated, Donovan’s men charged forward, ready to take down the strange unicorn with their fists if that’s what it came down to. The unicorn didn’t let it come down to it, as she summoned a few fireballs around herself and launched them at the gray squad of soldiers in quick succession. After taking down the closest troops, the pony teleported away again, appearing in the center of the hall further down.
This time, the pony conjured up several icicles and sent them flying at the squad, felling a couple more of them. She followed up by summoning a much larger ball of flame above her head, but before she could hurl it at the remaining gray soldiers, the bang of a sniper rifle echoed through the castle as a thin line of smoke punctured the magical fire, dispersing it immediately. The shot came from the castle entrance. When Captain Donovan looked, he saw his superior standing there in his white armor, looking down the sights of a sniper rifle trained right on the pony.
“If you’ve ever wanted to know whether you can cast faster than a 114 millimeter anti-material round, now’s as good a time as any to find out!” Wyoming said in his stuffy British accent.
“You were the one who was always interested in comparing!” the pony retorted with a grin. “Males… some things are universal!”
Wyoming chuckled in response and oddly enough, the pony mare joined him. Wyoming lowered his sniper rifle and stepped into the castle proper, chuckling as he slung his weapon over his shoulder.
“It’s been too long, Wyoming!” the unicorn said, grinning mirthfully.
“Indeed, Sunset Shimmer. I’ve missed working with someone who appreciates my wit!”
Donovan looked on in confusion as Wyoming and this “Sunset Shimmer” approached each other amicably. How did this pony know his superior? At the sound of pained groans, Donovan, Sunset Shimmer and Wyoming all looked across the hall at Donovan’s men, who were all pulling themselves to their feet. They rubbed their various injuries as they approached Sunset Shimmer menacingly.
Wyoming looked over at Donovan. “You can tell your men to stand down, Captain. Lest you’d like to see them humiliated further?”
Donovan nodded and turned to face his troops, calling them off with a hand gesture. The gray armored soldiers turned away grumbling, carefully picking up their now significantly cooled down weapons to continue searching the castle. Captain Donovan decided to stick around in case Wyoming had new orders for him. That, and he didn’t trust the pony who was suddenly acting like his superior’s best friend.
Wyoming apparently wasn’t as concerned, as he reached up and removed his helmet, allowing Donovan a rare look at his superior’s face. Wyoming had a decently handsome face, its somewhat weathered features topped by a head of black hair that was starting to go gray. Adorning his lip was a great mustache of a similar hue.
“So, what are you doing in my neck of the woods?” Sunset Shimmer asked.
“Oh, you know. This. That. The other,” Wyoming said, tilting his head back and forth casually. “My current project is tracking down a ship carrying Freelancer assets that crashed on this planet some time ago.”
Donovan’s hand went to his rifle when he saw Sunset Shimmer’s horn start to glow again. But rather than launch another attack, she produced a brown envelope out of thin air.
“You mean the one that crashed near Dodge City?” she asked with a smile. “The Castle of the Two Sisters is pretty far away, don’t you think?”
She levitated it over to Wyoming, who removed the contents and looked them over.
“I took the liberty of conducting my own investigation at the crash site,” Sunset continued. “All of those ‘assets’ of yours are long gone. Either run off, or taken by something called ‘the Meta.’”
The papers in Wyoming’s hand suddenly disappeared, and Sunset Shimmer looked up at him with a conspiratory grin.
“But we both know why you’re really here, don’t we?”
Wyoming folded his arms. “Well, if you already know so much, perhaps you could tell us where to find what we’re looking for, eh?”
“Sorry. Can’t say I know where that is right now.” Sunset paced around Wyoming and Donovan as she looked away in thought. “I suppose there’s only one pony in all of Equestria who knows that, but I don’t think she’s going to be forthcoming with that information.”
Wyoming’s mustache flared as he grinned. Something told Donovan the man knew exactly who Sunset Shimmer was talking about.
“Had a change of heart, has she?” Wyoming chuckled. “I suppose the Director was right after all!”
“On that note, I was wondering if I could arrange to have a chat with him?”
Wyoming frowned. “The Director’s not had much time lately, I’m afraid. Not even for old friends, Sunset.”
Sunset Shimmer grinned up at Wyoming confidently. “I think he’ll want to hear what I have to say. Someone who can get information from a Princess has got to be worth his time!”
Wyoming grinned. “I get the feeling he won’t like whatever you’re planning to suggest!”
“Nope! But he’s a smart man. Once he realizes it’s the only way he’ll get what he wants, I’m sure he’ll see things my way!”
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the chapter names alone make me like this
Stand-off in the desert.
So Sunset Shimmer was involved with Project Freelancer, would explain why she's an M.I. expert.
I'm going to take a wild guess and bet that Sunset Shimmer was the student that C.T. was mistaking Rarity for and If the whole 'Twilight's an M.I.' theory is true, I could guest that she was involved in her creation. Though it would still leave the question of how it was done, who was the person or pony the M.I. was based on and is Twilight really the real one or an M.I. that thinks it's Twilight Sparkle.
Who knows.... just have to wait and see how the story progresses.
Metal Gear Solid 4 reference involving JD?
Ya'll looking forward to the conclusion of this act? I know I am.... gonna be AWESOME!
I guess this is part of that "the story ends where it began" trope? Started on Equus (or whatever you've been calling it, I forget the name), ends on Equus.
I notice Rarity hasn't thought this point isn't important enough to bring up with anybody... but then again I suppose nobody could blame her, she probably doesn't have a grasp on how important the Forerunners and what they left behind are to humans.
I don't believe we actually know, canonically to RvB, what the monitor was supposed to have that was so important. Caboose stuck Epsilon in there and that was that. I guess your headcanon was that whatever of value was already in there got wiped when that happened.
Not too surprising she knows Wyoming. We already know Celestia is familiar with members of the project, including Washington. Sunset clearly knows about MIs and turned Tex into one (or otherwise informed Tex she was one already).
Of course I assume all of this is just you setting up for a major cliffhanger for the end of Act 2.
BTW I recall you made a remark once that you hadn't seen EG. Now might be a good time to if you haven't, the sequel is a step up in quality and it's worth seeing... so might as well see the first one while you're at it, I would say!
Consider it research into Sunset Shimmer's character (she has a role in EG:RR).
5214987 HOLD IT! I heard of this Twilight M.I. thing for awhile now, so what is it basically? And how did it start up? By what her parents in a chapter or something?
How do you even exist?” heHe asked
1. Extra he.
How deep does this rabbit hole go I wonder? We can only wait and see
Another excellent chapter.^^
Good
5215805 Something like that. There are other hints like she's a priority target for Project Freelancer and for what purpose is unclear. Wyoming seemed to know who she was when he first laid eyes on her.
When the Meta first encountered her, he hesitated and the A.I. circled around her in confusion by her appearance.
Celestia has been very secretive, trying to keep Twilight from getting involved further than she already is. She obviously has a history with Project Freelancer and must be afraid of what would happen if Twilight found out the truth. Not even Luna know more than what her sister's keeping from her.
Tex must have an agenda for bringing Twilight and her friends to invade Command if she knows that Epsilon is still active.
For now these are all just rumors and speculations. I could guess that some answers will be made clear in the end of Act 2 when they find the Epsilon A.I..
cant wate for caraliona
Is it just me who hopes that the achievement hunters gets to equestria in this fic?
Also,
[youtube=sP63yM6VPpA]
5215754 I actually have since watched EG (funnily enough, around the time Rainbow Rocks came out). By a strange coincidence, Sunset Shimmer's voice ended up sounding pretty much exactly how I pictured it in my head! Still haven't seen the sequel, but I was surprised when people were actually saying good things about it. I'll definitely get around to watching it when it becomes more readily available online.
As for the Monitor, it's actually my hope that RvB eventually revisits it and reveals exactly why fakeCT wanted it so badly. Until then though, I'm sticking to my explanation in this story.
5215049 I actually hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it, sure!
5223540 It's a A.I of the Mane Six's Memory inside their Head.
5224184 That's Exactly What Jimmy kept Screaming...
First off, while I am glad that Celestia managed to get Grif to take his training slightly more seriously, does it still feel like that Grif is now going to start becoming a bit more like Geoff from Achievement Hunter?
Tia, do you have ANY IDEA what you just unleashed?
Now for my theory on Twilight's connection with Project Freelancer:
I think that shortly after Twilight (as a filly) passed her entrance exam and got her Cutie Mark, Celestia saw that Twilight had more magic than what any Unicorn filly should have. She soon learned about Project Freelancer and the Director told her that he could help her control it better. Celestia was probably thinking of how Twilight could be the key to getting her sister back from the darkness that claimed her, so she reluctantly agreed.
However, I believe that in this universe it is Twilight that takes place of the Engineer/Hugarok from RvB Season 10. The Director probably told her to "repair" Alpha's storage unit with her magic, but unknown to Twilight, she was collecting the fragmented parts from Alpha.
When Celestia found out about it, she immediately pulled the plug on what the Director was doing by taking Twilight away using the chaos from Tex's Break-In as a distraction as well as some assistance from Washington (Which could help explain his lack of appearance in Episode 19 of that season). After Twilight was back on Equestria, Celestia wiped Twilight's mind of any knowledge of Project Freelancer.
If that's the case, then Twilight might find out more than she wanted to know in either the next chapter or the next Act.
th01.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/064/6/8/sad_twilight_by_uxyd-d5x4lyl.png
That's just my guess.
Okay, first. I was away when this chapter came out, so I didn't comment around that time. Second, I've never saw a single episode of Achievement Hunter before the story first hiatus, so Reynard Vaez Jr. just went over my head, but now, my mind just blowed. Now, I want to see Vaez, Mogar, Patterson and Hayworth making a comeback
I freaking hate your CT, just a paranoid f
k that can't get his facts right. It's not about how she treated Rarity, but the fact that he refused to listen... Just hate when people do that, regardless of their stand.
Excellent chapter, can't wait for the next one.
That is a Fairy Tail reference, to Erza Scarlett, to be exact.
I've never heard a name like that before. Did you perchance mean Joe-Ennis?
I wish I had more to say than simply how perfectly you've captured the RvB style and masterfully inserted ponies into it.
My raging boner will lead us straight to the enemy!”
Pfft, hehehe.
“It’s like nature’s motion tracker!”
Oh dear god, haha!
Fluttershy’s yellow coat had gone pale. Even Sunny looked nonplussed
I am so glad that line is getting the attention it deserves.
[-]
“I pushed the button. Any argument you have is invalid!”
Wow. Caboose being infuriating, but for all the right reasons for once. I'm also surprised he knows the word 'invalid'.
Perhaps Caboose simply liked pushing buttons.
No no, he used 'invalid'. I didn't learn that word until all the way in late elementary. Again, impressive for Caboose.
[-]
Isn’t there anything you strive for, or once strived for?
So, like, the only thing he ever cared about? Hey, what about his sister? And what he said with those mice (bunnies?). Ooooh.
Unfortunate considering.
"I… guess I wanted to open up my own taco stand."
Oh. Nvm.
didn’t really feel like talking about her
Wait, I take that back!
[-]
"Once he realizes it’s the only way he’ll get what he wants, I’m sure he’ll see things my way!"
I don't trust her. And, more accurately, I have no reason to trust her.