Chapter XVI: Shining Gets The Boot
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0650 HOURS
CAPTAIN’S QUARTERS OF THE HMS ILLUSTRIOUS
NORTH SEA, OFF THE NORWEGIAN COASTLINE, BOUND FOR KARELIA
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If looks could kill, Shining Armor would have died on the spot a thousand times over. Not that he would have noticed: the death glare the Admiral was currently shooting his way was completely eclipsed by the purple visage playing over and over again in his head. Couldn’t be… he thought over and over again. She’s gone! She’s gone forever! That cunt killed her, she never would’ve spared her life…right?
Growing tired of the Prince’s vacant stare, the Admiral shook his head and folded his hands over his desk, covering the forty-second expense report he’d needed to sign that day, ignoring the cramp folding his hands like this had triggered in his wrist. “We both know why you’re here, your highness.”
Shining Armor didn’t respond, instead opting to keep mumbling to himself, rocking back and forth unsteadily in his chair. How was it possible? How could his sister be back!? How how how…how different was this other Equestria?
“Needless to say, your behavior since heading downstairs has been completely unacceptable, especially as a foreign dignitary,” the Admiral replied. He sighed, rolling his eyes. “If you must know, I always knew granting special status to officials from UN-administered disaster zones was a friggin’ mistake, though I always figured it’d be the Japanese who’d abuse it first. Nobody ever imagined one of you ponies would be the first to fuck it all up.”
Shining Armor finally met the Admiral’s gaze, his vacant, shell-shocked eyes locking with that piercing, hawk-like gaze.
“But now that the trigger’s been pulled, you should know the General Assembly’s already voted to revoke your special status,” the Admiral stood, circling his desk like a lioness stalking its prey, his eyes never leaving the little unicorn. “In addition, they’ll soon be voting to alter the guidelines for everyone else’s status. They’ll be wrapping the rest of your little ponies up in so much red tape they won’t be able to find their own ass-pictures without a form filled out in triplicate.”
Shining Armor met the Admiral’s gaze without a hint of hesitation, his muzzle remaining firmly shut.
“That being said, even this never should’ve happened. I should’ve personally thrown you out the moment your hoof first met that prisoner’s face. I should’ve booted your ass off my ship the moment your bird landed. But the past is in the past, all we can do is learn from it,” the Admiral shrugged, his arms folded across the front of his impeccably pressed uniform. “But I have learned from this little experiment, so if you ever set hoof on my ship again…”
Suddenly, he darted across the polished tile floor, closing the distance between himself and the pony royal and seizing his throat before Shining could even think to react. Their noses practically touching, the Admiral seized the unicorn’s throat in an iron grip not meant to harm, but certainly more than enough to show off the strength those wrinkled, calloused hands still possessed. His other hand reached around and grabbed some mane off the back of Shining’s head, again not tugging, not trying to hurt, but certainly demonstrating strength. The old man looked the young prince right in the eyes and hissed: “…I will personally crack your horn over my knee, throw you overboard, and laugh my ass off while the propellers drag you under; interspecies relations be goddamned. Is that clear?”
Finally, Shining snapped out of his fugue long enough to regard the Admiral with a funny little smile. At another time, he might have shrunk back in fear to see the truth in the Admiral’s eyes, to know this creature absolutely meant to carry out his threat with little care for the consequences. He might have made up something quick to try and placate this creature, anything to make him release his grip and back off. Instead, the only thing that passed through his mind was one word: Magnificent.
“Crystal clear, Admiral.”
The Admiral kept his grip and glare locked a while longer, then all at once released both, his hands still trembling with the anger burning through his guts. He turned away to hide the tremble. If Shining Armor had pointed it out, there would have been very little keeping the older man from lunging at him, grabbing his throat again, and squeezing until those sky-blue eyes rolled back to their whites. “Get the hell off my ship,” the Admiral grumbled.
With a curt little bow and without another word, Shining hopped off his chair and trotted out the door, his head held high. The Admiral sighed, his clasped hands relaxing. It was okay to let the image drop a little now, he knew. It’s not like he was putting on a show for someone important anymore.
He took a seat at his desk, opening one of the oak-paneled drawers on his right, gripping it in the same place where a set of little grooves had been worked into the wood by his fingers. He reached in and bought out a bottle of Hennessy and a pair of shot glasses, then thought better and put one of the glasses back. He filled his glass and threw it down his throat in a single gulp, not spilling a single drop on the front of that impeccable uniform. He repeated the action a couple more times, then unbuttoned his uniform and laid his cap on the desk in front of him. He filled the glass one more time, drained it halfway, and put his feet up on the desk just as another knock sounded.
“Come in,” he said with a small slur to his words as he raked his hands through his thinning hair one last time. The door creaked open, and in stepped the eight. Eight diplomats from the most powerful nations on the face of the planet. He had to suppress a smirk at that. Diplomats…
The group trudged in with their heads held high and the air of recently-sentenced convicts. It was obvious they knew they’d failed, knew how badly they’d fucked up, yet they held themselves with a certain air of pride, ready for any punishment lain upon them. In fact, in any other context, the Admiral himself would be ripping them a whole new set of assholes. He’d be screaming, pounding on the desk about the Geneva Convention, rambling on about the amount of shit they could get into if this ever got out, about the number of armed maniacs who would love to use this to stop running around in the woods shooting at cardboard cutouts with blue helmets and start shooting at the real deal.
But he said and did none of these things, instead opting to grin slovenly at the group and raise his glass, as if in toast. “Here’s to you,” he slurred. “For settin’ up the best show this boat’s seen in years!”
The group paused, eyeing each other in concern. This was most definitely not what they had been expecting. Yelling perhaps, pounding on the table perhaps, but not this.
Always the leader, Anton was the first to step forward. “Sir,” the Russian said to the Englishman. “I just want to apologize for the appalling way we’ve been acting, I…”
“Apologize?” The Admiral chuckled, shaking his head as if Anton had just told an off-color joke. “What for?”
Anton’s eyes widened, but he continued unabated. “W-we are aware that our actions – or lack thereof – led directly to the assault of two prisoners in direct violation of the protocols set forth by the Geneva Convention, and as such…”
“Son, I’m gonna stop you right there,” the Admiral said, raising his hand as he took another sip off his Cognac. Anton bristled, obviously not used to people calling him ‘son’ at his age (though the Admiral did look old enough to get away with it). The Admiral just smiled right back. “Barring the ongoing debate on whether or not the Convention applies to ponies, if I gave a single flyin’ fuck about it as far as the bitch is concerned, I would’ve already thrown you off my fuckin’ boat.”
The group stared, absolutely stunned by what they had just heard. “Sir,” David said, stepping up next to Anton. “With all due respect, what you just said violates a few dozen UN protocols, including one of the most highly…”
“Yankee, you might as well quit talkin’ there, I stopped listenin’ a while ago,” the Brit slurred. “Listen, the way I see it, it’s kinda like the legal system: stuff’s only illegal if ya get your arse caught. Besides, ask any lawyer and he’ll tell you that shit’s up for debate.”
The group continued staring. The Admiral noticed the way Anton glared at him, and felt a bit of pride pop up in his heart for the Russian, pride which he quickly crushed, getting soft would only doom him now. “You lot should really learn to relax!” He snickered. “After everything that bitch was probably gonna do, it only makes sense that we get a li’l payback.”
“But sir, we…”
“And if any a’ ya don’t agree, well, that’s okay,” the Admiral leaned back, the friendly, drunken smile vanishing off his lips. “You can just go to the Security Council with what you know, it’s pretty easy. A’ course, just like you can let loose with a few secrets, so can I. Like, say, a few points in somebody’s past that they aren’t supposed to talk about? Knowledge a’ which could violate the contracts they signed with the UN when they took this job?”
David’s eyes widened in sudden terror, as did the eyes of the rest of the group, with the exception of Anton, who just glared holes into the Admiral’s face. The older Englishman felt a bit of bile rise in his throat, not from the alcohol, but from what he was doing here. A man’s past was a man’s past as far as he was concerned. Barring some terrible crime or repeated history of fuck-ups, it should have no bearing on the present. But this was the card he had been given to play, and this was how he was going to play it.
“So,” he said, sitting forward, his elbows perched on the desk. One elbow slipped for a second, but he quickly replaced it. “If that’s all, I take it you’ll be gettin’ back to work?”
It was obvious in the Russian’s eyes that he wanted to do some desk pounding of his own. Maybe do it with the Admiral’s face. The old man always found it hard to read those vodka-swilling commie bastards. Instead, he watched the Russian take a deep breath, let it out through his nose, and shoot him a glare he could swear was killing the petunias in the glass vase on his desk. “Yes…sir…” he grumbled.
The old Brit nodded and leaned back in his chair again, swiveling it around to face away from the group as he grabbed the Cognac again. “Don’t forget t’close the door on yer way out,” he slurred as he listened to the shuffling footsteps walk out the room.
The door slammed after a bit of mumbling from the peanut gallery. The Admiral was still not alone, every battle instinct sharpened by decades devoted to the military life and dulled only slightly by the alcohol and the years he’d spent behind this desk told him that. Not wanting to give away how truly aware he was, the old man tried to push himself up, only to fall to a knee, twisting as he fell on his back.
The Latino man still stood there, regarding the old man with a look reeking of disgust and pity. Young man, if you only knew how aware I really was…if you knew I could snap your spine with my thumb right now if the urge took me… the old man grumbled internally. Smiling shakily up at the Brazilian, the Admiral slurred: “Yes?”
Rather suddenly, the Latino man’s features shifted from disgust to actual bashfulness, like a kid being asked to read a book report for the class. Now, that was interesting. He only ever got this reaction from full-grown adults when they were about to ask for something they weren’t absolutely sure they wanted, and didn’t even want to throw on a brave face for it. In this situation, at this time, in light of everything going on, just what could that possibly be?
“Well son, you went to all the trouble of staying behind, might as well spit it out,” the old Englishman rasped.
“I, sir, I…” the Latino rubbed the back of his head, then adapted a laid-back stance, leaning against the wall. “It’s nothing, really, not even worth your attention.”
“Son, there are three things in this life I value above all else: a good glass of Cognac, jolly ol’ England, and what little time I have left on this Earth. By babbling on, you are wasting two of those,” the Admiral said, allowing just a little bit of that old edge to reenter his voice as he held up the glass and swirled it in front of the Brazilian’s face.
The Latino sighed and stood away from the wall, meeting the Admiral’s eyes for the first time, still holding that aloof look, his shoulders slumped like a poor man begging on the streets of Rio. Nice try, the Admiral thought. But there’s only one play-actor in this room, and it ain’t you.
“Sir, it’s Prin…Target Alpha. She…uh…she requested to see Beta. I know we’re strict on visitation privileges…” or we’re supposed to be, his tone added. “…But I just don’t see much harm in…”
“Oh bleedin’ hell son, is that all?” The Admiral asked before breaking out into jovial laughter. “Come now, after the show you lot just put on, you think I’m gonna turn down the chance for a sequel?”
The Latino’s eyes practically bugged out of his skull. He had not been expecting this reaction. “Sir, I just wanted to shoot it up the chain of command, I didn’t think we should really…”
“Then whydja bring it to my attention?” The Admiral shrugged. “Maybe the purple one is looking for a spot of vengeance on the ol’ bitch herself, eh? Could be a good show!”
“S-sir, I…”
“Or maybe you’re not so good at following orders,” the Admiral said, that sober edge making an appearance in his voice again. “Just remember, young man, what I said earlier was meant for you. Or does that little caveat in your contract need to be activated so the Brazilians can replace you with someone who knows how to follow orders?”
The Latino’s eyes flared for the quickest moment, a fire igniting in them that honestly surprised the old man. Had this one pegged wrong, he thought. Thought he might just be a shy little biddy, but that fire…that’s no shy little biddy in there!
The flames were gone almost as quickly as they had appeared, and the Latino’s eyes sank to the floor again. “Yes sir, I understand, it will be done,” he said, allowing a quick bow before heading out the door.
“Don’t forget to close the door on your way out!” The Admiral called, raising his Cognac. The Latino paused on his way out, then gripped the door and slammed it into its frame until it rattled.
The Admiral raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Yep, definitely a fire in that one,” he muttered before setting the glass of Cognac back down. He ran his gloved hands through his thinning hair. It was ironic, really: he wanted that drink now more than ever, but now he needed to be stone-cold sober, when minutes ago he had to be a loutish drunkard!
Sighing, he reached for the black, rotary-dial telephone on the desk. Might as well get this over with. He dialed his number in and sat back, listening to the static on the other side.
After some static, there was a click, signaling him to start. He spoke clearly, enunciating every syllable as slowly as he could. “Uncle Kramer has a message for us newcomers.”
There were a few more clicks, and then a voice, distorted by the best encoding and electronic encryption on the planet, came on: “Report.”
“First round of experiments complete,” he said, still trying to speak clearly. “Results transmitting now.”
“Excellent. Status of round two?”
The Admiral paused, then reached over to his desktop, clicking through a few screens to find a constant video loop of the Russian and the Latino walking shoulder-to-shoulder in the hallway, grinning to themselves about some private joke as the Russian stuffed a handful of knick-knacks, bolts, and wires in his pocket. He breathed in, and then out again, his breath quivering. “Commencing shortly,” he said.
“Excellent. I take it the Prince was allowed to see the Princess?”
“He was. And the lavender one as well, even after his predicted assault.”
A cold, dry laugh cackled on the other end of the line. It took all of the Admiral’s strength not to slam the receiver down right then and there. “Unsurprising,” the voice whispered. “I must congratulate the Prince on his political skills. We knew he’d be able to outmaneuver them, of course, but this is something! Really something!”
Yeah, it was something alright. And if the old man had half the spine he pretended to have, he’d tell the voice just what he thought that something was.
“Is that all?” The speaker asked.
Again, the Admiral wanted to rant and rave, to scream, to call the voice on the other end of the line every name under the sun until his voice ran out and he was still trying to yell with a few, raspy squeaks. And again, he denied himself. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Another click, and then dial tone.
“And a good day to you, you pencil-pushin’ piece of shit,” the Admiral snarled as he replaced the phone in its cradle. With that done, he buttoned his shirt back up, replaced his cap on his head, poured himself another glass of Cognac, and leaned back as he tried to remember when, exactly, he’d signed a deal with the devil himself.
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And I was all set up to like the admiral.
Good set of chapters, looking forward to more
5074036 Thank you, I guess I got a little silly back there, huh?
5074037 Thanks!
Still dawdling over the inevitable "oh shit we got the wrong one" epiphany, hmmm?
Thumbs down.
Still enjoying this. Not sure why the chapters are so spread out if they are released at the same time though. They might as well be one big chapter or just released when they are finished rather than in chunks after a long time. Looking forward to more!
I'm still reserving judgement as to whether I like this or not. It's a lot less dark than The Other Side of the Spectrum, but as RealityCheck has noted...
you're dawdling. how long until these guys even START to realize they've got a different individual?
5074106
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/317/458/3e7.png
5074028
It's a pity none had the spine to break the news to the security council.
5074106
At this point the only one who might be able to point that out is Prince Armor. And even he only has part of the information. He doesn't seem to have done any more than just stand and stare at Twilight, so there was no Q&A concerning the status of the new Equestria. The Admiral has ulterior motivation and doesn't seem to be that inclined to do more than taunt the ponies in custody - should he even bother to go near them. The various diplomats are generally too concerned with their own problems surrounding Celestia to put any effort into actually communicating with her.
I feel this is surprisingly realistic because we're talking ordinary people who are hurt and scared, and being confronted by someone they know is a complete monster through and through. Many people in that kind of situation will have a certain callousness and blindness toward the perceived object of their ire.
Take Nazi Germany, for instance. (Yeah, yeah, I brought up Nazi's so I just lost the argument...) For years after the war pretty much nobody among the allied nations wanted to accept that there was anyone at all within the German power structure who was anything but complicit. It took quite a while before those involved in the assassination attempt of Hitler in 1944 were even acknowledged, much less accepted as Nazis who resisted what Hitler was doing.
Celestia's stuck in the same situation. Nobody wants to accept that she's anything but a monster, so they'll need a major kick to get their thoughts to rewire. Shining's there, but he did things in the absolute wrong way, so he's not going to get to finish when and where it matters. The rest haven't had this yet.
Now, if someone doesn't start asking questions after Twilight and Celestia meet - because that won't go at all like they're expecting - I think you'll be perfectly justified.
This is going kinda slow...
I don't understand why you didn't put these last three chapters (all released on the same day) into one large chapter.
I still cant help but feel that the reveal is being unnecessarily drawn out. Shining had the best chance to show them that Xenolestia's actions are not Celestia's with Twilight being alive & well, but I can get that with his emotional baggage he blew it. Are none of them even going to question why though? Are none of them aware of who Twilight is? If her & Celestia's reunion is as pleasant as we're all expecting it to be, then are they just going to dismiss it as her being brainwashed?
In short, what is it going to take to snap the Humans out of their fixed idea of her being evil? As far as I can make out, nothing that happens on that ship is going to change their minds. Something is going to have to come in from outside to shake things up.
5074106 Oh boo hoo, RC gonna give a thumbs down because a story that he isn't the writer of isn't going the way he wants it to... wake me up when something original happens.
5074362 - More so, I think there are multiple counter-forces working here. I think at least some faction of humans are hoping to throw this right back into the same scenario, with the destruction of Equestria, possibly with a side order of finishing off the surviving New Foals and the others.
I don't know if the truth can emerge at all, that this Equestria is as different from the previous one as can be. I still think this is heading for full on Bad Ending.
5074106 - Even if some of them can look past their predispositions and obvious bias (Diplomats my ass), I don't know if it will even matter. I fully expect at least some group of humans, be it those that sent this group of 8, or the ones in that clandestine conversation with the Admiral, wants this to go as badly as possible for various reasons.
5074043
A tad, yeah. This was much more believable and empathy inducing. On both sides.
On a related note, I think the chapter count is starting to mess with peoples' perception of time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it hasn't even been 48 hours yet, right?
16 is a lot of chapters for such a short amount of time in-universe.
You could probably consolidate a few chapters together and not affect the pacing and timeline at all.
5074362
something like a certain white genocidal maniac escaping from the most heavily guarded hole in Russia?
5074412 Oi! Play nice, now, kids! We're all bronies here!
And now the Admiral, a man of advanced age, is a super soldier secret agent beholden to shadowy forces.
WHAT.
I want to like this story, but things are getting worryingly convoluted. I'm not downvoting, but I'm glad I didn't upvote.
5074473 Oh please, making a phone call hardly counts as a super soldier.
5074480 Meh, super soldier was a pretty sizeable exaggeration, I admit; I regret that it distracted from the rest of my comment. But for the record it was referring to his physical manhandling of the Prince.
I note that you didn't find room to object to the rest of it.
5074498 Now now... Trolling comments are fine and such, but lets not use direct insults and vulgar language, okay?
5074498 Jesus H what did I just say!?
5074437 I'm sorry: I was being trolley without resorting to personal insults or colorful language... but I was still being a troll, and for that I apologize to both you and 5074106
Sorry, that "Admiral" is no sailor I know. No Navy man (or woman) with his salt would ever call a ship a "boat" unless it was a sub. Now get that faker off the flag bridge and find me the real Old Man!
5074106 Although I disagree with thumbing down for taking this long, I do agree that the entire reveal is being pointlessly drawn out to the point that it's kinda ridiculous. I thought with the triple update we would at least get to the start of it, but no.
5074106
Sperg alert.
>>>/out/
5074499 what? Old guys can still be strong
I will be honest, things are getting really stretched out. three chapters in and almost no progression in the story. All I saw was characters dealing with their baggage and Shining reaping what he sowed with his actions. that good and all but so far, that is all we are getting. When will this story pick up the pace?
5074586 Apology accepted, with gratitude!
5074607 Thank you for the apology, but c'mon! A site like fimfiction? This ain't 4chan!
5074933 Oh I wasn't saying it was, and I'm not saying that some very dark and interesting themes aren't addressed in many of the stories and threads here, but still, it's a website for stories about magical talking ponies. Sure, we got our dark places, but who doesn't?
5074957 No, YOU'RE the commie!
5074412
He does seem to be heading to Chatoyance country, doesn't he?
What I want to know is how long it's going to take for Celestia to meet up with a new-foal and be terrified and sickened beyond mortal comprehension.
Instead of studying like I should have been, I was instead procrastinating by reading this absolute gem of a story, what with it's interesting plot and great character depth. I blame you, dear author, for the cram session I must now endure.
Nevertheless, awesome story and all that jazz. Looking forward to reading more!
Is the delay before the reveal being stretched out? Yes.
Is it being stretched too much? Debatable.
Personally I like the development of the diplomats and honestly, this is not far off from how this would probably go, so am okay with it for now. That being said, this is realistic from the human' perspective. Celestia has worked the puzzle out. She doesn't have all the pieces, but she's got a damn good idea of what they'll be and for some reason she isn't pushing the fact that she's not the one to have attacked anyone. Admittedly the humans may be sceptical at first considering who's talking, but she hasn't tried very hard, has she?
5075468 Glad to hear it! Unless, of course, I wind up making you fail...in which case, my bad.
5075106 At this rate...update after next.
Well, isn't that just bloody nice?
So they're just assuming that canonlestia will turn out like her evil counterpart.
Understandable, I suppose. Still, pick up the pace boi!
Okay, not a fan of newest subplot, because things are already fairly convoluted.
On the other hand, I fully expect the 'other' to be a minion of Xenolestia, somehow, so it's not really 'new' in that regard if so, since she's clearly preparing to escape.
5075542 Oh don't worry, if it wasn't your story, it would've been Destiny, Netflix, or some other media outlet taking up my precious study time.
5074106
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5074428
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5074153
Oh look, RC's pissing people off again, would you kindly wake me up when something original happens
5075493
Well, for one, she's only had a couple very short visits that concerned themselves with other issues. (Namely the diplomats'.) The only other thing she could be doing is pleading her case to the cameras, but if she doesn't know about them then why would she?
Quote of the century!
5074480
I think its the 'I could kill a young man at my age with only my thumb, while buzzed, if I felt like it' bit that makes him super soldier-ish. Especially since he is so sure he could do it he would mentally note it so matter of factly.
5074276
The way things are going with the evil shadowy organization I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight ended up meeting Xenolestia
instead of her Celestia. Since they are a evil organization they would somehow get her onboard. 
Of course they've infiltrated everywhere. The whole ship is probably full of double agents! Though seriously, a bunch of countries are probably trying to get spies onboard.
With all that's been happening, I wonder what will happen if and when the humans realize that the targets they've captured are the exact opposite of what they thought they were dealing with. If anything, the planned meeting between Celestia and Twilight might help them see that.
Okay, I'm all for a slow reveal but this is getting ridiculous; sixteen chapters and we haven't gotten to the point where Canon Celestia and Canon Princess Twilight meet Earth-Shining Armor and Earth-Equestria.
And finally, Earth-Shining Armor gets some comeuppance for his asshole behavior!
Also, the Admiral seems to be involved in some dirty business. Maybe assassinations or conquering of Canon-Equestria? Or maybe he's a PER or HLF collaborator (unlikely given that he's a high-ranking naval officer).
5074732 The admiral and Shining both seem to agree that he could easily break the much younger military man in half. I had figured that implied a pretty extraordinary level of strength for a man decades past his prime, but maybe you are just depicting the prince as a physical weakling.
What orders did the Brazilian disobey? He just passed along a request to the Admiral.