• Published 15th Mar 2015
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Millennia: Beginning - Thunderblast



Star Shooter is your average pegasus. He does everything everypony else does. There is just one thing that stands him out from the crowd; he is a Marine.

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34. The Beginning

I squirmed aggressively in the snow on my chest beneath the larger figure who I quickly recognized to be a large bird of some type the moment its talons locked around my hooves to spread apart like a cross. The more I shifted about, however, the tighter the talons clamped around my arms and the claws beginning to gently dig into them with just the cloth of my uniform shielding the skin, not that I expected it to last much longer.

Rose ear-piercingly screamed, having jumped back and was just standing back up on all fours. I glanced back, just barely catching the shadowed shape of a feline leg. It was a griffon! A large, one at that and was growling deeply down onto me, and it had me in a death grip in which under my own strength I wouldn't be able to escape. The only limbs I could move about still were my wings, which were utterly useless in this situation, and my hind legs which I could just barely kick upwards.

Once again the weapon I held was knocked away and miraculously fell out of reach of the creature. The tan mare ran up to it and yanked it up out of the snow. Rose panted heavily and then ran towards the assailant, raising the rifle and beginning to hit the butt end of it on the griffon's head. It yelped and took one talon off, allowing for me to rear my elbow up and ram it into its beak.

The blow combined with the hits Rose got on it forced the griffon to let go of my other hoof. Quickly I jumped upwards and threw my head backwards to headbutt the griffon but just barely managing to. I slipped myself out from underneath it as it sat backwards, swinging a talon and smacking the rifle out of Rose's hoof and shoving her away slightly and leaving her with a long, shallow scrape on her cheek. He didn't focus on attacking Rose and kept his eyesight locked onto me.

I fell into a defensive stance and prepared for the griffon to lunge. A stare down occurred before so, until the brown-feathered griffon opened its wings and let out a terrifying screech and charged at me, his razor-sharp claws opened. I fell backwards to dodge the attack and scarcely avoided being stabbed by the griffon's talons.

The griffon flew just inches over me and landed a few feet away, whipping himself around as I jumped up to my hooves and glared the griffon down. This time I had somewhat of an advantage and leaped forward, body smashing against the larger creature and knocking him backwards. The attack shocked me as much as the griffon seeing a feeble pony such as myself finding the ability to throw the bigger, more stocky griffon onto his back though not able to pin him like he did me.

Now the one on top, my hoof reeled back and sprung forward, crashing directly into the griffon's beak to stun him momentarily. The griffon raised a claw and swung it through the air in hopes of striking me off into the snow off to the side but missed by a hair or two. I lurched to the side and drove my other hoof into him, bashing into the griffon's lower neck, although I imagined the hit to have been lesser due to his thick feathery coat.

The griffon in retaliation reared his hinds and sprung them up, kicking me off of him completely and sending me flying back towards the wall. Out of reflex, my wings flew open and prevented me from slamming into the concrete but not from coming down onto the ground. I grunted upon impact but was right back up within a second, as was the griffon whom pushed himself up. He was bleeding from his beak slightly due to the many hits both me and Rose gave him, though he didn't appear ready to give up just yet. It was a fight to the death.

While the enemy regained his attack posture, I turned to Rose who cowered behind some shrubs. I panted softly and pointed off to the side. "Go, get somepony else. I'll keep him back," I returned my attention to the griffon who now stood in place with a light tremble in his stance. Surely the punches I threw would have weakened him enough for me to handle.

"W-what about you?" Rose squeaked in fear, peeking over the shrubs and shaking like a leaf.

"I'll be fine. Just go! Get anypony you can!" I ordered, this time not looking at the mare and instead keeping my gaze focused on the griffon.

The poor frightened mare galloped off to do what I told, although it would very well be over a minute before somepony could come to my aid. My eyes narrowed on the griffon, watching him brace to attack or be attacked. Seconds after, he jumped forward and took me by surprise. I took the full force of his momentum and fell backwards, the griffon landing atop me but rolling off uncontrollably and landing in the snow just above me. I wheezed, turning over and pushing myself up.

Suddenly, his talon locked tight around my neck and cut off any way of me breathing. I gasped for air, but none entered my lungs. I gasped more and winced, being gradually lifted off of the ground. I grabbed onto the griffon's wrist cuff with both hooves and struggled to pull it off only for nothing to happen. The longer I couldn't breathe, the quicker I felt myself weakening and close to passing out completely. The griffon chuckled rather darkly and squeezed my neck tighter. If it physically could with my coat color, it would be a lighter but dark shade of blue.

Soon everything started to black out and any noise became muffled, with the only thing I could hear was the sound of my fast-pumping heart within my chest. Slowly my hooves dropped away from the griffon's arm as I felt myself going limp. Now the griffon could decide whether to let me live or not. At that moment I hoped and prayed Rose was on her way with somepony else. At least another Marine would have had better luck stopping the griffon than I did.

As quickly as the world faded and the only thing visible was darkness, I felt my body fall to the ground and fresh air rush back into my lungs. My eyes shot open, pupils downsized to the size of pinpricks as I wheezed and coughed, relieved to be able to breathe again. I even felt the cringe worthy feeling of blood rushing up to my head as I regained consciousness. I weakly pushed myself up after a couple of moments of catching my breath and caught eye of the griffon being knocked to the ground by a fellow Marine, who hit the griffon with the butt end of his rifle and pushed him against the wall.

Rose galloped up while the Marine kept his rifle aimed towards the griffon. He raised his talons and sat up with his back to the wall, beak still bleeding as well as a bloodied talon. He trembled and glared at the Marine, though thankfully didn't resist any further. Rose grabbed me in a hug, once again stealing the breath from my lungs except she didn't squeeze my neck this time. I looped my hooves around her and gently embraced the mare, her nuzzling against my neck and tears grazing against my coat.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm fine," I gently patted her back and kept holding her while Rose sobbed into me. I reached up and stroked her mane to calm her.

"You could have died, you idiot..." She sobbed and squeezed me tighter. "I-I could have shot him for you."

"You don't know how to use a gun..." I protested.

"I don't care..." Rose sniffled and pulled her face away from my now-soaked neck, eyes glassy with tears. "I'm just glad y-you're okay."

"Because you got somepony right in the nick of time," I smiled softly, rubbing at the faint ring mark the talon left on my throat. "Now..."

I turned and walked up towards the griffon. I rested a hoof on the Marine's shoulder, signalling for him to lower his scoped rifle. I glared daggers at the injured griffon and reached my hoof to the side, Rose handing my unmodified weapon over. I took it and held it in one hoof, then with both hooves aimed towards the griffon who trembled further now.

"Open your wings," I ordered, keeping the barrel of the gun pointing at the griffon. "Now!"

The griffon's head sunk into his neck the moment I shouted and he trembled harder, slowly complying and opening his wings out to full length. I aimed towards his left wing and shot one bullet into it. The griffon yipped out loud, and before he could shut the other, I shot the other wing, leaving them bleeding.

Next, I hung the gun back around my neck with the strap and turned to the Marine to my side. "Do you have cuffs on you?"

The pony nodded and took some from his belt pocket. "Cuff him?"

"Yes, please," I returned my attention to the injured griffon who now tended to his bullet-wounded, bloodied wings. The Marine trotted up and forced the griffon to give him his talons, then locked the hoofcuffs on. "Let's get him inside for interrogation."

***

"You caught a griffon that attacked you, I heard?" Snow Storm sipped a cup of piping hot coffee afterwards while we sat in a small lunch room within one of the base's offices.

I nodded in response, relaxed into the chair and rubbing my temple gently with a hoof to ease a small headache left from the near-death experience. I too had a cup of coffee sitting on the table in front of me. "Yes."

"What was it like?"

"I don't want to talk about it... Not now at least."

"It's alright, I understand. Are you feeling alright? Do you need to see a medic?" Snow asked out of concern, a brow raised while he eyed me.

"I just have a headache, that's all," I kept rubbing my temple, then moved my hoof to my forehead to rest my head against it and shut my eyes. Some aspirin would have been great right about now.

Finishing up speaking to a sailor in the room, Rose walked over with a cup of water and took a seat. Both me and Snow changed our focus to her. She was noticeably shaken from the incident and only stared down at the cup with both hooves on it gently.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Rose," I said softly.

The tan mare's head snapped upwards to look at me. She delicately smiled. "Don't worry about me, Star. I have seen much worse in my day."

"Are you feeling okay, Miss Shine?" Snow checked. He was pretty caring for anypony, especially civilians.

"I've never felt better," Rose kept her gentle smile, even when she looked back down at her cup and took a little sip of water. "I do have a small question, Star."

"Name it."

"Why shoot his wings and not him directly?" She asked.

"I did it so he couldn't fly away. It's a well known procedure even in hunting. At least with a wound to the stomach per se, he could retaliate and make it out of custody. But the best part is, rather than a body, we have a captive. We can get him to talk."

"Oh. That explains that then," Rose smiled again. "I am just relieved you're safe."

"Because of you, Rose," I weakly smiled back. "If you would have been a minute later, I would have been a dead blue lump on the ground."

She kept her small smile and scooted her chair closer to mine. She then gently shifted her cup about, allowing the water to gently circle around in it. "I just hope now that you can trust me enough to fix things between us, even if we go back to just being neighbors."

I shrugged gently. "I don't see why not. It will have to wait until things settle, however. If that's okay of course."

Rose bobbed her head in a nod. "I suppose that will work. I now know just how stressful this is, especially right n—"

The door swung open, the Marine standing beside the door moving to the side to avoid being hit as a maroon unicorn with black squared trotted inside, pieces of paper levitated in a sky blue aura.

"Lieutenant, sir—Star?"

"Javelin?"

Javelin blinked twice. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Ditto," I turned to Snow. "Is he a part of your platoon?"

Snow nodded. "That's correct. Javelin here is my coms officer."

"I work with coordinating air and sea evacs as well as other times of need, say backup is needed. I know, it's a small world," he then turned to the lieutenant. "Sir, I have some new information. May I speak with you in private?"

"If it's about the Constitution, corporal, I would prefer it be said here while we are in private," Snow stated in a stoic tone.

Javelin blinked once more, focus shifting between Rose, then back to Snow. "Yes, sir," he set the pieces of paper neatly down on the table in front of the lieutenant.

"Now, what is this, corporal?" The white pegasus sat forward in his chair, setting his cup on the table and exchanging it for the paperwork.

Javelin took a seat in the final open chair, sitting beside Snow and scooting in. "We now have reason to believe there will be a major attack in an eastern Equestrian city within the next couple of weeks."

At that moment, everybody's heart sank. Snow froze and glanced over to the maroon unicorn. "Which city?"

"Baltimare."

"And this is confirmed?"

"Not yet. But the probability is... somewhere around eighty-five percent. Maybe ninety at most," he exhaled deeply as he stopped. "As a result, high command is ordering all Marines deploy to Baltimare at once. The Navy will stay in Manehattan but patrols will be increased. We're being sent out as well."

"High command said this?" Snow looked back at the paper.

"No one else," Javelin sighed quietly. "We're told to gather our gear and weapons tonight and ship out tomorrow. The railroad is setting up a mobile command station for us to use as well as transport us with."

"Now hang on a minute," I sat forward. The others turned their attention to me. "This doesn't seem right. Where does it say Baltimare will get hit?"

"Right here," Snow turned the report around. I gently took it from his hoof and examined it.

Recent threats and a sudden drop in rate of crime within the Baltimare Metropolitan Area, as well as suspicious shipments to and from the city suggests a possible attack by the militia, The Great Gryphon Constitution as they refer to themselves, may take place within city limits. Princess Luna in agreement with Princess Celestia have determined that deployment of up to 2,500 Lunar Marines is necessary in this situation. Evacuations may be ordered as well in the event of the city becoming a war zone.

My eyes moved back up to the lieutenant and the corporal. "But where is the proof? Nothing there said anything truly pointing towards an attack. All it is is..." I waved my hoof. "Coincidental effect."

"Then where do you stand on this, Star?" Javelin tilted his head slightly.

"Snow, didn't you say before that a strange email was sent originating from Manehattan?" I asked, pressing my hoof on the table.

Snow nodded. "I did, why?"

"Who's to say they aren't still going to attack Manehattan? How do we know that... this... isn't some sort of elaborate plan. A diversion. That's it! It's a diversion to get half of the city's defense away. Why else would a griffon attack me here? The Navy couldn't handle a large-scale attack, nor the city's police department," I stood up. "Sweet Celestia, we need to tell somepony."

"Now calm down, Star," Snow motioned for me to take a seat. I did so slowly and uneasily. "If that were the case then my team would have been on it by now."

"But lieutenant," Rose jumped in. "This group has been known in past times to have outsmarted any military operations formed to foil them. Star might be on to something. I believe we should take his thoughts into consideration and at least be prepared in the event that he is right."

"And if he isn't?" Snow leaned forward, crossing his hooves on the table. "If we hold back and he turns out to be wrong and they do go after Baltimare, it won't be just me put on death row for abandoning high command's orders," he then sighed. "It's too risky either way you put it."

Gradually I eased back into my seat. "I fear myself being wrong and right."

The room went silent from that moment on. Nopony said a word.

"Hey wait a minute, Star," Javelin turned to me. "Did you say you were attacked by a griffon?"

***

The four of us were escorted into the basement where some prison cells were situated. Down there was primarily vacant aside from the jail guard who, for the moment, was on his lunch break. The sailor leading us stopped before a locked cell near the end of the hall. I walked up alongside the others and stared into the block, spotting the griffon stripped of the little armor he had on. His wings were bandaged, and part of his feathers were stained a dark red from when his beak was bleeding. The on-base medics sure did work fast.

"This is him," I said to Javelin. "This is the bastard."

Javelin looked over the griffon. "Wow..." he muttered under his own breath.

Snow put his hoof on the cell door and grinned at the griffon. "How is this cell treating you, huh?"

The griffon simply looked at him, then let out the coldest of chuckles. "It is quite luxurious, I must say. Definitely better than my former home of Detrot," he answered with a slight Bitish accent.

"With that accent, you're not even close to being from there. Why don't you sit and we have a little talk, hm?" Snow said. "That's not a suggestion. It's an order."

The griffon sat in silence for about a minute, eyeing the white pegasus carefully before moping over and plopping himself down on his haunches opposite of the door from us. "What do you wish to talk about?"

"Everything. Who you are, what you are to the Constitution, and what they're plotting," Javelin jumped in.

"Ah, yes, the Constitution," he chuckled once more. "They do not miss me. I was no one important to them. But I am afraid a lot of their intentions are kept from even me."

"Then at least tell us who you are," Snow sat down on the floor.

"My name is Crius. I am just a soldier, rest assured. The Northern kingdoms are where I originate. Before the Constitution, I spent much of my time doing work and trying to make a living. Four jobs, just barely making enough money to eat and have a comfortable place to sleep. That, however, changed," his tone changed dramatically and sounded more grim.

"My griffon twin, Aius, was more of a troublemaker from our school days on. He always wreaked havoc in little ways, until that one day. That one day six years ago. He set off dynamite in the very market I worked to pull a prank on me, on the busiest day of the week. He placed it beside a tank of a highly flammable fluid when no one was looking. The next thing I knew, the whole shop was blown to pieces, as were many others around us. Twenty-three griffons killed in the explosion, and about thirty more injured or severely injured.

"Of course, with Aius looking exactly like me, I was taken into custody and given two options of how to fulfill my sentence. Either be executed, or exiled. I chose exile. A couple of months later, I was loaded onto a military airship bound for Equestria where I was to be placed in a criminal reformation home. Again, my twin struck.

"He was slowly growing stronger. A whole shipment of dynamite aboard the aircraft that could be triggered with the littlest of turbulence. That day was not the littlest of turbulence. A massive snowstorm was blowing through the region and hampered efforts to avoid it. Then, kaboom. The whole airship exploded. I just happened to be furthest away from where the dynamite was located down below in the cargo hold.

"I was falling. Too stunned from the explosion to slow my descent and regain altitude. I ended up falling into a large pile of snow just north of what you ponies now call the Crystal Empire, long before it reappeared. Eventually I was picked up by some ponies and griffons I believed to be the Equestrian Royal Guard from what I have heard about them.

"But then I realized, griffons were not allowed to be a part of the guard. They took me in, kept me warm, fed me, gave me a place to sleep. They introduced themselves as The Great Gryphon Constitution. They vowed to train me, to help me become stronger, for them and the rest of my race. They knew who I was. They knew who my twin brother was. They promised to aid me in getting revenge.

"Because after I was deported, Aius later became a high-ranking military member. No one knew he was really behind all of the attacks. From then on, he changed. Although then, he convinced the whole of the Northern Kingdoms that I was the top-wanted criminal of the nation. It was then that I determined revenge against my twin would not be enough, but the whole country would.

"Then, when Equestria became involved, our works spread against it as well. That is why we find what we are doing necessary, lieutenant. We are doing this to rid the planet of corruption within the world's superpowers, with Equestria on top of our list," Crius finished, sitting back.

Me, Rose, and Javelin exchanged looks, Snow kept staring at the brown-feathered griffon. "So, this is more of a revolution? To unite and overturn the monarchy?"

"It is not that. A revolution would be if we united the citizens of Equestria to fight for our cause. As I've said, we wish to rid the world of scum. This includes the population," Crius laughed. "Not you or your fancy military can do a thing about it."

Snow's hoof slipped through the steel bars and grabbed onto the griffon's neck, tugging him closer. "Tell us where you are going to strike, damn it!"

Crius recoiled back, reaching up and yanking Snow's hoof off of his neck with ease. "You tell me. You should already be well aware by now."

"Baltimare..." Javelin said.

Crius simply looked at Javelin. He didn't nod. He didn't shake his head. He just stared.

"Run and hide while you can. We will find and kill each and every one of you until there is no one left to fight for your precious country," Crius grinned weakly, then stood up and went back over to the small dirty bed in the far corner of the cell.

Snow Storm slowly stood back up and turned to both me and Javelin.

"Both of you, get your weapons and gear ready. We'll be going to Baltimare tomorrow."

He then trotted back down the hallway towards the staircase. Me and Javelin exchanged looks, then followed him. Rose, however, stayed behind. She looked at Crius, who was grinning evilly again. She shuddered and trotted after.

***

That evening, I stood in the bathroom of my dorm, brushing my teeth before bed. Tomorrow would be a long day. I took some water in my mouth and gurgled it, then spit into the sink to get the foamy toothpaste completely out. I washed off my toothbrush afterwards and trotted back out into the bedroom to finish packing. On my bed sat an AR-15, multiple magazines of ammunition, a combat knife within its belt-attachable sheathe, some body armor, a new uniform, an all-black helmet, as well as a mask for cold-weather use.

It was everything I needed to pack, and any more would be brought along and be available to grab once the command is set up in Baltimare. Just then, the door unlocked and in walked an exhausted Nightpath. He let out a sigh the moment the door closed behind him and he removed the cover from his head. "Hey, Star—"

He immediately paused the second his eyes caught onto the massive load of combat gear on my bed. I froze and looked at him, halfway in the process of packing my bag. Gradually, Night walked closer, looking over everything. "What is this...?"

I set my bag down on my bed and turned to face him. "I don't know if you have heard, but every Marine is being deployed to Baltimare. There's a high chance that some sort of attack by a Griffonian-based militia will take place. That's why we're being sent there."

Night eyed me carefully, ears slightly pinned back as he did so. "What else?"

I remained silent for a couple of moments. I then returned to packing. "I'm staying put."

"Star, you're abandoning orders?"

"For this time, yes, I am."

"Why so?"

"Because, Night," I glanced back at him. "I don't think there will be anything that will happen in Baltimare. I believe it will all happen here."

"In Manehattan? Why do you think that?"

"Duh, it's a bigger city. A larger population packed into a tight area only means more civilian causalities and deaths. Not to mention, sending the military to Baltimare just increases their chances of success. I mean, the Navy is staying here but they won't have the stallionpower to handle this. If the Constitution is truly as big as it sounds, Manehattan could be lost within hours," I rambled on as I packed quicker.

"Wait, wait, hold on. The Constitution?" Night's head tilted with confusion.

Soon I realized I was talking too much without an explanation. I once again set my seabag down and made eye contact with the taller brown stallion again. "They call themselves the Great Gryphon Constitution. Their mission has been and will be to quote-unquote destroy evil in the world. By evil, they consider the monarchy of the Griffon Empire, Equestria, as well as the whole population of Equestria to be a part of it. They want to kill us all off."

"That can't happen, can it? I mean... even without the military, there will be ponies that won't go down without a fight, correct?"

"It would be futile, but yes," I sighed softly.

Night's ears further fell backwards and his head dipped. "Star, you can't stay here by yourself."

I stared at him for a full minute, then nodded gently in response. "I suggest you head out and get stocked up. The surplus store will only be open for so long tonight."

Night kept his gaze locked onto mine for a full minute, then he nodded slowly. "O... okay. I will," he turned back towards the door gradually. "I'll be back in a bit," then was out the door.

I realized this was slowly turning into a situation similar to that of the one we had just before our last deployment. I began to ponder how Night would handle it this time. Then my thoughts shifted to Silver and Solar. They hadn't seen combat yet.

This was going to be awful.

***

I woke around a quarter until eight the next morning. Strangely enough, I slept good. For once, I hadn't tossed and turned like normal when put under stress. I gently pushed the covers off of my lower half and let out a deep breath after I had sat up straight. Nightpath had already been out of bed and was in the shower, meaning once again I'd have the cold shower. Not that it mattered much to me anymore. I'd let him off this time. After all, he was going to go. Not me.

Upon him getting out, he dried himself off and let me in right after where I hopped in. Much to my surprise, the water was still very warm. He mustn't have been in for that long. Either way, my mood was not one to be changed.

I spent much of the time after the shower helping Night finish up packing. Not much was left and made it rather quick before the both of us got dressed. Shortly after, we took our bags and were out the door. Possibly for the last time. The vibes between us both were very much new. It was eerie.

But yet that wasn't the strangest part. What was, is by the time we stepped hoof in the open, the only ponies to be seen were sailors. Not a single marine as far as the eye could see.

"Shit, Night..." I peered around the base with concern. "Where are they?"

Night, also worried and bewildered, galloped up to a sailor walking by. "Excuse me, sir, where is everypony?"

The sailor glanced upwards at him, somewhat startled by the significantly larger stallion appearing beside him. "The Marines have already shipped out to Baltimare, I'm afraid. They did around five o'clock morning."

"So... we're the only ones left?"

"I wouldn't say that..." I said from off to the side, a gentle, relieved smile creeping onto my muzzle as I caught three familiar faces approaching, side by side to each other. I trotted up to the group. "How come you guys—except you Anchorage—are still here?"

"We didn't see you in the squadron and decided to wait. This meant missing the train," Silver Edge shrugged.

"Sergeant Hardstaff told us to wait behind for you guys, so we did," Solar smiled gently.

"I hope you have a good reason for staying here," Anchorage said with a slight glare directed towards me.

I nodded to him. As I opened my maw to explain, a jolt followed by the distant pops of explosions made the six of us stumble, and everypony else on base to look towards the city. Smoke was beginning to rise towards the lower parts of Manehattan, the fireballs billowing upwards with glass on some of the buildings shattering. A collective gasp formed between us as we watched in absolute horror.

Then it hit me. We needed to go in there. Manehattan needed a line of defense. My look of shock turned into a look of determination.

"Get ready, you guys. We're going into the city."

This was it. The war for Manehattan had begun.