Chapter 4: Revelations and Evacuations
"Everybody brace yourselves!" The driver shouted. My suspicions were confirmed. We were under attack. Why did everything happen to us? The radio squawked out another message. "Will do," The driver replied. "Grab on to something, people! This is gonna get rough!" Up ahead, I saw that the river split into two directions. Half of the convoy went left, and our half went right. The short soldier grabbed onto his machine gun and aimed it at the skies. The glittering shapes began to get bigger as they descended. Pinkish bolts flew down from above, creating large splashes when they hit the water. The driver swerved around each one. My stomach tightened. The oatmeal that was fed to us that morning was now threatening to return. The woman behind us was screaming at the top of her lungs.
"FIRE!" The driver ordered. The gunner fired his gun into the air. The ponies swerved around the bullets. I could now see that the opposing forces were clearly Pegasi, and in the center of the group was a carriage containing Unicorns who were firing down magic bolts onto the convoy. The machine gunner, seeing this, concentrated fire on the carriage. A bolt landed in the water right behind us, launching the boat into the air. I clenched the seat rest, yelling in fear and surprise. The gunner and the screaming woman were flung off of the boat and into the river. One of the Pegasi flew back, probably to convert the two victims. We were now defenseless. Some of the unicorns now concentrated fire on the other boats, who were now firing on the squad as well. One of the boats was hit by a bolt of magic. Its broken pieces and occupants flew into the air, landing in the river with a splash. THWOK! I flinched as something hit the seat rest. I examined the object. It was a small dart, filled with a purple fluid. They were shooting serum at us! THWOK THWOK THWOK! More darts landed on the boat. "Watch for the darts, don't let them hit you!" Joey shouted. I looked up at the ponies. The Pegasi had strange black crossbow type weapons, which were loaded with the conversion darts.
FFT! "Ow!" The man who had lost his wife cried out in pain. I looked back at him. A dart had found its mark and had lodged in his shoulder. He looked at it, then up at me in a panic. He clutched at it, trying to pull it out. Then suddenly, he locked up. He fell off of his seat and writhed and twisted on the deck of the boat, screaming as if he was on fire. His fingers became shorter, and then vanished, blue fur sprouted all over his body, his hair turned green and started to grow. The man's face changed, becoming longer, his limbs rearranged themselves. All through this process, he screamed and screamed. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the cries of pain and agony. The boat lurched all around. It was like a scene from a child's nightmare. A gunshot permeated the screams. They stopped and devolved into a gurgle. I opened my eyes. The driver was trying to stow a small handgun as she focused on driving and dodging the projectiles being shot our way. The former man now earth pony colt lay on the deck, motionless. Blood stained his aqua fur as it dribbled from a bullet hole in his neck. We would surely be overwhelmed and converted as well.
"Jack, get your gun!" I could barely hear Sally over the screams, shouts and rushing water. I dropped to the deck to avoid another barrage of darts. I crawled along the side of the boat, careful to avoid the corpse of the dead colt which was now starting to slide around the row of seats that he had formerly sat in. Reaching the luggage, I found my suitcase on top. I opened the zipper of the front outside pocket and pulled out Mom's gun. I undid one of the straps on the luggage pile and returned to my seat. I secured myself in a safe spot using the strap, attaching it to a hook on the side of the seat, and loaded a speed re-loader of bullets into the revolver. I took aim and fired one shot at the skies.
My aim was true. I guess Dad's outings to the shooting range were really starting to pay off now. One of the Pegasi went down into a spiral, a trail of blood falling from his wing behind him. He crashed down on another boat. I saw the occupants shove his body into the water, leaving him behind. I shot another three rounds into the carriage. A Pegasus landed on the boat deck. Another landed on the other side of me. Both held dart guns. Before they could steady themselves, I fired. The one I had shot at fell overboard, sent backwards by the force of the bullet. I turned around to dispatch the other. As I fired, however, the boat was launched into the air again and my shot went wide. When I tried to fire again, the hammer of the revolver clicked. I was out of ammo. The pony steadied himself first and was poised to fire. I struggled to undo the strap to try and get away, but he cried out in agony. Ralph had snuck around us to his backpack and grabbed his chef's knife that he had pilfered from the diner. This knife was now plunged through the Pegasus' neck. He uttered a quiet groan and tumbled to the deck.
"Thanks kiddo!" I said as I grabbed another speed re-loader. I opened the wheel of the revolver, ejecting the spent cartridges. I plunged the fresh bullets into the wheel and closed up the gun again. I was once again ready to fire. This time, I focused on the two ponies that were pulling the airborne carriage. They were heavily armored. I didn't know if it could stop a .357 bullet, but I aimed for the head just to be sure. My first bullet went a bit off, only glancing the side of the armor. It caused the Pegasi I had hit to veer slightly. I waited until he was steady once more, and then took another shot. It went lower than I had expected, but punched through the armor. He went down, taking the carriage with him. It hit the water with a splash This caused the rest of the Pegasi to retreat. Some carried other ponies with them, that were either wounded guards, or converted humans.
The driver pulled up to the partially submerged carriage. The remaining Pegasus who was still alive was wrestling to get out of his harness, but he was only succeeding in exhausting himself. He looked up at us with fearful, pleading eyes. The driver coldly let him drown, as he undeniably would. She looked into the window of the carriage. Seven discombobulated Unicorns were lying in the water. Some were actually dead, while others were just dazed.
"Hey Mister!" she called to me. "You stirred up hell back there. You wanna do the honors?"
I shook my head. "No, I need to conserve ammo." I reasoned. "You lost the gunner man back there, you should do it." Without a word, the driver fired a few shots into the carriage. The greenish river water was now tinted red. The driver got back behind the wheel and we drove off down the river, unmolested, leaving the drowning Pegasus to his fate.
We had caught up with the rest of the convoy. Other parts had taken some pretty big hits. We even lost a few boats completely.
"Dang, Mr. Crest," Ralph complimented me. "You can be a real sharpshooter when you need to be. Wish we had you in the HLF earlier! Where did you learn to shoot like that?"
"Practice." I answered simply. "My dad made me put in a lot of time at the shooting range. Now I guess I can appreciate why."
"Thank you Jack," Sally said. "You saved us."
"You should thank Mom and Dad, Sally," I replied. "If it weren't for them, I never would be able to do anything like that." Stowing Mom's gun in my suitcase once more I took a few deep breaths as I calmed my nerves.
I was a bit distracted. Those screams. The sight of the man writhing on the ground as he metamorphosed into one of them, his screams, would be forever embedded into my memory. I couldn't get the sight out of my head, or the screams. How could they do this... to people? Surely people wouldn't go into the bureaus if they knew that this painful process would be repeated on them. Would they? Were people sedated? What would people do if they knew this was what really happened.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, tiger!" I looked up. It was the driver. "We're here." She looked at me funny. "You okay, pal? Did you doze off or something?"
"I guess so." It was strange. Dozing off is not likely, for even without Equestrians shooting at us, the air boat was rather tumultuous. I guess I just spaced out again. I've been doing that more often, now. It makes me kind of worried. There I was, doing it again! Come on Jack, pull yourself together. I got up, and with the help of the driver, exited the boat. Sally, Joey and Ralph were already unloaded.
"Hurry up now, Mr. Crest," Joey called out. Another man sat on a large pile of crates next to them. He was in an army uniform, and held some kind of gun in his hand. It was a bluish gun with an orange front end, with two orange pipes going back over the gun. A trio of rectangular objects were situated on a rotation device near the back. He gave the gun to the driver as she prepared to leave. She gestured towards us.
"Go down the tunnel until you reach the warehouse at the end." The driver instructed. "There are folks down there who will take care of you and get you to the colony ships, okay?"
We nodded, and then set down the dim path. It looks like it was at some point a drainage tunnel. A damp, musty smell hung in the air, as flickering lights that swung gently with the draft were hung up every few feet. Each step resulted in a loud, hollow echo.
"I think this leads to an abandoned factory of some kind," Sally observed. A loud rattling came from down the tunnel. "Hold on, what's that?" She asked. We looked ahead. A small group of workers were pushing carts with crates on them in a single file line. We moved to the side of the tunnel to let them progress. As one of the carts passed me, I noticed something written on the boxes.
PROPERTY OF SCIENCE DIVISION 1188
[CHARGED TAU LEPTON LAUNCHER]
HANDLE WITH CARE
DO NOT DISTURB CONTAINER EXCESSIVELY
I could see inside the top box, as the lid was slightly askew. Inside was the strange weapon from before. The three rectangular objects were each nestled in their own foam spaces, as was the gun itself.
"Did you see that crazy looking gun?" I asked as we walked down the tunnel.
"I've never seen a gun like that before." Sally added. "And with our Dad, I would have never thought that was possible."
"I think they're New Age Weapons." Joey explained. "From what I hear, Dr. Chesterfield is trying to push the high tech weaponry to being standard issue, with all of the violence between Humans and Equestrians lately."
"I bet they're putting those guns on the air boats to help defend." I reasoned. "Well, no use musing about it now, we need to focus." We were nearing the end of the musty tunnel. A light shined at the end.
"New arrivals," a voice echoed down the hall. "Keep moving forward with your hands visible. No sudden movements." We looked at each other, and put our hands in front of us. We stepped out of the tunnel into a wide room. The tunnel came out into a depression in the floor, probably where water used to flow. Some other civilians were in the room, being processed by HLF and Army soldiers. A soldier stood to the side of our tunnel, a Tau Launcher in his hands, and a flashlight on his helmet. He patted us down briefly for any concealed weapons.
"I apologize for the scare." He said. "With those damm PER hippies running around, we have to tighten things up."
"Understandable." Joey said. "Er, do you know if this base has a way to contact Dr. Chesterfield?"
"Why do you need to know that?" The soldier asked. "Make it quick, don't want to hold up anyone who might be coming up the pipe."
"I worked with... uh, I mean, my father, Dr. Hoppner worked closely with him," Joey explained. I noticed that he made a slight slip up in his words, but I dismissed it. "I want to update Dr. Chesterfield on his findings, seeing that my father cannot do so himself." Joey finished.
The soldier took out a radio. "Get Captain Forest down here, we have a possible Zero Nine down here, over." he said Turning to us, he pointed to a ladder on the wall. "Go up the ladder and keep to the right. There will be a station where you can take your belongings. "I've asked the captain to check your story, and what will happen to you is up to him. Move along now." He waved us away. I climbed up the ladder first. Another soldier pointed us to the right.
"This way for baggage collection." he announced. Around the corner, suitcases were placed single file on a series of long tables. It didn't take long to find our three bags were right next to each other. As we took them down off of the table, a group of three soldiers approached us. The man in the center wore a red beret.
"Don't worry, I will handle this." Joey said.
"You are the possible Zero Nine?" the beret wearing soldier said to Joey.
"That is correct, Captain." Joey responded.
"Do you have ID?" The captain asked. He held out his hand. Joey took out a blue badge and handed it to the captain. The man's eyes widened. There was something that he was not expecting. "I see." he finally stated. "We will get you a link with Dr. Chesterfield at once. He will be pleased to see you. As for you three," he now addressed the rest of us. "You will continue through the process as usual. You saw nothing here, understand?"
"No, Captain, they will come with us." Joey said. The captain's eyes bugged out of his head.
"What? Do you have any idea of how much a liability that is?"
"I know, and I am confident that these people will keep secret what we need them to." Joey explained. "Besides, they deserve to know the truth, for they have protected me well." Truth? What truth? What didn't we know? And why is Joey trying to give orders to a man who could have us shot right then and there? Furthermore, why was the captain taking those orders?
"Indeed." The captain sighed in defeat. "The four of you will follow me. Don't dally." He stepped through a door to the left of us, and we drafted close behind him. The other two soldiers remained in the hall as the door closed behind us.
We were taken to a dark room. The only light came from a row of computer consoles that lined one wall of the room. A large monitor was in the center of the wall.
"Remove your cover, informant." The captain said.
"Informant?" I said to Joey. "Informant for what? When did you plan on telling us."
"I was worried about revealing myself to you." Joey responded. "You might not trust me after you know the truth. However, I hope I can make it up by saying I had complete confidence in all of you the entire time." Joey's body began to glow. I scrunched my eyes shut. The light made my head ache. At last the glow faded. In Joey's place was a mint green pony. Her mane was green and white, and she had soft golden eyes. Her flank mark was a lyre
"Mother-" I heard Ralph mutter behind me.
"Okay, okay, okay." I put my hands up. "Would someone kindly tell me what the hell is going on here?" I raised my voice.
"Mr. Crest, please calm down." the pony said. "My name is Lyra Heratstrings, manager of Equestrian-Human affairs.
"Okay, I know that. Why are you here?"
"In addition to that," Lyra continued. "I am an informant to Dr. Chesterfield. I've been helping him from inside the barrier, giving him information on what Princess Celestia's intentions are. Princess Luna is also secretly providing support for you, like me. However, Celestia manages to keep her motives hidden, even from Luna and I."
"Lyra," a technician approached us. "Dr. Chesterfield is on comms. You should speak to him at once."
"Yes, of course." Lyra went over to the giant screen. "And Jack," She added. I looked up at the pony. Her golden eyes sparkled "Thank you so much for helping me. I am sure Dr. Chesterfield would be willing to thank you as well."
On the monitor, the bearded face of Dr. Chesterfield swam into view. "Impossible!" he said. He took off his glasses and squinted at Lyra. "I can't believe you got here without getting caught. How did you do it." He raised his hands and looked away. "Oh no, tell me later. Please relay what you have learned."
The captain stepped in front of us, blocking my view. "I must ask you to leave for this. This is classified information." He escorted us out of the room. "Wait here until otherwise directed." he instructed. With a turn of his heel, he went back into the room and shut the door.
"Well, that was unexpected." I remarked simply.
"I can't believe we were helping a damm pony!" Ralph was very upset. It was clear he harbored ill will towards all ponies. Even the ones who were actually trying to help us. "She's played us all for fools."
"It makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Sally said. "Your best friend could be a pony in disguise, and you would never know."
"I don't think they worry about that here." I said. "Looks like they have a way to tell if someone is actually a pony. I'm sure there are also restrictions on which unicorns can be disguised, otherwise, we would hear about this all of the time."
"Maybe they don't want us to find out." Ralph suggested. We quieted down after that.
After a few minutes of waiting, the captain opened the door. "Dr. Chesterfield wants to speak with you three." I raised my eyebrow.
"Better not keep him waiting, guys." I said. "Lead the way, sir." We went back into the room. Dr. Chesterfield was still on the screen. Lyra sat in a chair next to the monitor. She sat upright, like a human, which I found odd.
"So you are the ones responsible for escorting my agent back to safety." Dr. Chesterfield asked.
"Yes sir," I said. "Although we didn't know it fully. It's an honor to speak to you, Doctor."
"Oh no, the honor is mine, sir." Dr. Chesterfield rebutted. "Lyra tells me you had to go through quite a lot. However, the events that occurred to you just so happen to confirm a theory of mine."
"It is clear that the Equestrians are striking first against the humans." Lyra explained. "In most skirmishes between humans and Equestrians, the latter is often the aggressors in the situation."
"So what does this mean." Sally asked.
"It means that the Equestrians are becoming openly violent to us, doesn't it?" Ralph presented his theory.
"That is correct." Dr. Chesterfield confirmed our suspicions. "We have noticed that this increase in violence occurred as soon as I gave the announcement that we would be utilizing the Extra-Terrestrial Colonization Initiative. It seems that Princess Celestia is actively trying to stop us from leaving Earth. We have caught several of her spies attempting to sabotage the evacuation procedures and space programs. Lyra has brought evidence to support this."
"Yes." Lyra said. "However, there is good news. The Evacuation Zones are close to capacity. The colony fleet may leave earlier than expected."
"That is good news." Ralph said. "The sooner we can get away from these dammed ponies, the better. No offense, Lyra."
"None taken."
"There is one last thing I want to tell you before I must send you on your way." Dr. Chesterfield mentioned. "Due to the efforts you three have taken to save my informant, oh, one moment." Dr. Chesterfield turned to the side and typed something into a keyboard off-screen. "Yes, I have booked you a suite in the Renaissance Hotel. We use the hotels to house people while they wait for Evacuation Day." That was a bit strange. We were being rewarded for something we didn't know we were doing in the first place. Finally, things were going our way for once! "Everything you need will be provided until Evacuation Day. And, as I have no need of Lyra's services anymore, she may come with you if she wishes, and you will allow it."
"You know what, guys?" Ralph stated. "I don't mind her tagging along. You can hang out with us, Lyra."
"Cool, thank you so much!" Lyra smiled and trotted over to stand beside me. I slid my hand through her mane. She giggled.
"Then it is settled." Dr. Chesterfield nodded. "You will be taken to the suite at once, and by express travel. Captain Forest will escort you down to the matter transmitter at once. Your luggage will be right behind you. Chesterfield out." The screen went black. I looked at Lyra.
"What did he mean by 'matter transmitter?'" I asked.
"I think it's a kind of teleporter that doesn't rely on magic." she responded with a small shrug. "I didn't know they were in use yet."
"Wonder what else they haven't told us." Ralph remarked snidely.
The captain with the beret stood behind us. "Folks, just follow me." He instructed, a bit kinder now that he knew that Dr. Chesterfield trusted us. He led us out of the dark room to another door down the hall. He opened the door and ushered us inside.
A large platform, able to hold at least ten people was raised above the floor. Over it, a large Tesla coil hung by cables snaked around the platform. On one wall, a tinted window hid the operators behind it and reflected my disheveled appearance back at me. Did I really look like that by now? My face was dirty and had sustained two bruises. My pants were caked with dry mud, and I had bug bites all over my arms. I look like some kind of hobo or something. I looked back at the teleporter.
"Impressive." I said as we marveled at the device.
"Step on the platform, stand still, and we'll get you through in one piece." the captain said. We climbed the steps onto the platform. The machine began to make a loud whirr. Lights began to flash. I closed my eyes. I could hear the captain shout something i couldn't understand. I opened my eyes for a moment. I saw him raise his hand. The lights forced me to screw my eyes shut once more.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..." I heard the captain count down from ten. I felt Sally's hand in my right, and Lyra's hoof in my left.
"...Five, four..." The whirring got louder and louder. The captain's voice was barely audible over the roar of the machine.
"...Three two one." I opened my eyes just in time to see the captain bring his arm down to his side, signaling the operators behind the glass to activate the machine.
And the world was shrouded in white.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- The_Machinist · 3.2k words · 41 24 · 1.5k views
- Corporal Lyra · 681 words · 69 28 · 2.2k views
- Dragonlover553 · 4k words · 52 26 · 2.8k views
- BronyofMeddlers · 9k words · 12 15 · 874 views
- SirAroun · 9.1k words · 91 13 · 4.5k views
- Shadow Walker · 51k words · 38 16 · 1.8k views
- no sh*t sherlock · 13k words · 96 16 · 3.2k views
- cellum95 · 3.6k words · 34 4 · 2.4k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.129 seconds
Total duration
1,092 users online
1,806,742 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
are they going to get switched spices and or gender because they were holding hands in the teleporter.
4060177 Hmm... interesting, but no. No species swapping for Jack and his pals. That's why they're running from the bureaus.
4060184 ok good
won't celestia try to chase the ship down?
You do realize this story has taken a lot from the game Half-Life. Not story wise of course but Tau-Cannons, Airboats, old Cold War Bunkers, Teleporters. The fact that you combined all of these together into one story is why I can't help but feel like this is something out of Half-Life.
4065020 That is actually not intended, believe it or not. I didn't realize all of the similarities (besides the Tau Cannon, that was taken from Half Life intentionally).
I'm sorry for saying this, but i don't think unicorn magic would rally damage air boats or throw them into the air.
4931776
*shrugs* believe what you will, but last I checked, I don't support that mindset in any of the stories I've written. Furthermore, there is no one individual who leads the TCB group(s). We're simply a group of folks who enjoy a particular concept. But hey, I suppose it's fun to generalize
Put in a chapter
I knew it sounded too much like half life 2 with the air boats and stuff, and the tau cannon confirmed it lol. Been playing through black mesa, they're doing some really good things there. Great story though, please update if you can.
4932450 don't feed me that crap, your group is basically a subtle aattempt at genocide. At best some get away with few good stories iin this group but the rest is an inevitable genocide of humanity or ponies.
4083000 what part of "magic" don't you understand?
4430314 "magic" nuff said.
6963904 What part of "looking at canon" don't you understand?
6976647 show me an instance where a unicorn has failed to throw an airship with magic
6977017 There has been no evidence proving that any Unicorn besides twilight is magically strong enough to do so.
6977492 *Trixie? wait... no not her, she had a =n amulet. so, maybe Sombra? he's a unicorn
6978016 Still hasn't been shown by either of those characters.
6978626 you're denying that he can?
6984294 Well, maybe Sombra could.
Still doesn't make him a threat to any industrial force.
4065020
Airboats are just a natural consequence of the terrain. Cold war bunkers & teleporters are hardly exclusive to Half-life.