Birds of Prey

by Beta-17

Lost in a Familiar Place (Chapter-2)

I watched as the ’Princess’ of the sun began to levitate what we all projected to be the fake Elements of harmony. If everything had gone according to plan, Theta Squadron would be carting the real elements back to base. Seeing the fake elements being raised to the General made me want to laugh. Celestia truly thought she could outsmart us; I however kept my urge to laugh suppressed. Making a noise now would blow our cover and ultimately lead the mission to failure. Nonetheless I suddenly got the peculiar feeling that something was wrong. I checked the two possible flanking routes behind my squad mates, but there was nopony there, except for the corpse of the Solar Imperial, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t going anywhere. Every one of my team mates where in their designated positions, ready to pounce when given the command to execute the final phase of the plan. Everything was working perfectly. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling something had gone wrong.

I brought my attention back to the scene playing out before me. The Elements being wielded by Celestia began to run through their firing cycle. That’s when the realization hit me like a runaway train; Theta Squad had failed their mission. They failed to capture the real Elements, and the rocks held by Celestia where the actual Elements of Harmony. If they were the fakes nothing would be happening. But they began to spin around the Solar Princess. General Nightmare Moon was frozen in place, dead center in the crosshairs. She had figured it out as well as I had, she was in trouble, and she knew it.

“Shit!” I shouted, stealth meant nothing anymore the plan was already compromised and if something wasn’t done immediately we could lose the General. Thinking on my hooves I reached back to the corpse of the Solar Imperial and took the shield from his lifeless hooves. My crouched position made catapulting myself over the fallen pillar effortless.

“Hawk wait stop! What the buck are you doing!?” The voice was unmistakable Iron Clad was doing what he does best, calling me out on my noble but utterly shitty ideas. I flew through the air placing myself directly in the line of fire. This gives a whole new meaning to taking one for the team. If I survive this I better get a bucking metal. In an attempt to prevent taking the brunt of the impact from the Elements I held the shield up to defend myself as well as the General. The last thing I remember seeing was the faces of my squad as they watched in horror, I was as good as dead. I expected it to hurt like hell, but I didn’t feel anything. Now that I think about it, I can’t feel anything. It came to my attention that my wings weren’t even moving. But in the same respect, my hooves weren’t on the ground. Everything was white; there was an immense expanse of absolute nothingness. I held my hooves in front of my face wondering if this was an environment, lack thereof. Or if I was just blind, how ironic is that? The ‘Eye opening power of the Elements of Harmony’ literally made me go blind. No, once again I was unsurprisingly wrong, however this time it was welcome falsehood. My hooves where clearly visible, steel shoes and all. I took a moment to inspect my forelegs. A few red specks where scattered on the metal that covered my front legs, blood from that Imperial no doubt. I looked around to see if anything had changed, it all remained the same. I made a click noise with my tongue to see if I could hear. Sure enough there was sound. If this is what death is like, this sucks; I mean, I don’t even have a banjo to pass the time.

I looked down at the shield, the words ‘Raise the Sun’ where carved into the wood. Heh, must have been a rookie. I let go of the shield and it, like myself began to float lazily about. This is when I was reminded of my amazingly short attention span. I tapped the edge of the shield and it began to spin. Amused, I repeatedly hit the shield to set it to spin faster and faster. I misdirected my hoof on one of the swings and sent the shield flying forward. What transpired next shocked me, all pun intended. The wooden apparatus was consumed by the whiteness with a powerful electric shock that rivaled the raw power of a lightning bolt. I don’t know what the hell I did but whatever it was made the entirety of the whiteness begin to buckle. The blinding white began to fade away, and the interior of a building became clear. The electric charge that had just consumed the wooden shield began to draw closer to me. It became clear that I was going to be hit by the electric storm surrounding the white sphere that I found myself in.

“Well shit, this is going to hurt. A lot…” I grumbled to myself. I swear I heard screaming for a moment, and the sound of a large wooden door slamming shut before the orb’s lightning finally hit me. The pain that the electric fire inflicted upon me cannot be explained in words, so allow me to use attempt to explain through metaphor. My eyes felt as if they were eggs in a frying pan burning so hot that the metal of the pan began to melt. While at the same time they felt as if they were being squished by a C clamp. The muscles in my legs expanded and contracted with such rapid succession that the friction made it feel as though there was flaming sand paper between every individual muscle. I had a headache that made it feel like my head feel as if it were an egg with a bird trying to escape the confines of my skull. When the pain finally subsided I found myself out of breath on the ground, smoke rolling off of my body. The smell of electric heat stung my nostrils, penetrating my already burning lungs. I was surprised that the feathers on my wings weren’t burnt off, or that I wasn’t a smoldering pile of ashes. My eyes lazily scanned the room.

I was still in the throne room of the Royal Sisters, but the place seemed completely and utterly abandoned. The surrounding forest had seemed to seep into the walls of the once grand structure. The place looked ancient, but how can that be? I was just here; the place wasn’t like this before. I found my hooves and struggled to keep from collapsing again. I took one shaky step forward and stopped when the sound of metal to metal contact stabbed my ears. I looked down to see an old shield. The wood was petrified and the golden ring around it was weathered but not rusty, you know because gold doesn’t rust. Was this the shield I was holding a few seconds ago? No, that’s impossible; this shield looks as if it had been sitting there for at least three hundred years. Sure enough the shield had the words ‘Raise the sun’ carved into the back. I wondered over to the fallen pillar I was crouched behind, a few yards away lay a skeleton. It sported a set of worn down golden armor. I checked the dog tags. The name was hard to make out through the heavy rust on the steel tag. Private Rain Chaser, Born: SY 85 (Solar Year 85) I checked the tag I had taken from the body earlier, Private Rain Chaser, Born: SY 85

“Right where I left you, but not how I left you. What the hell is going on here?”

Author's Note:

I said that I was getting a beta reader for my stories, and while this is true. I decided to give this chapter a twice over myself. Chapter 3 will most likely be viewed by the beta before going public.

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