46: The Minor Fall
“Stupid animal.”
The boy is about 13 years old, and he is big. He is a base brat and bully at the local school. His dad is a Drill Sargent and he is more than willing to throw his weight around. Especially if it is against smaller kids.
Pulling his leg back he lines up to punt Feather. Caught by surprise, all Feather can do is drop down curling up. She is older than him, but his size makes him intimidating to her small form.
“Try it and you’ll pull back a stump.” Cloudy shouts, she is standing like she is ready to charge, horn lowered and scowling.
“What is this? A collection of ponies? Come on, I put my sister’s into the microwave.” He says, laughing.
“I don’t think you understand, we are not toys, we are not animals. We are real, and we are magical. And we stand together.” Candy says.
“Feather was tortured by religious fanatics. Do you think we would not fight to keep you from hurting her?” Cloudy asks.
“I’ve beaten up kids bigger than you without a problem.” He says, turning to the twins.
“And even if we get beaten up, you’ll still have to answer to my mom and dad.” Feather says, standing up slowly.
“Aww, little baby ponies gonna run home and tell their mommy? Scared tattle tails?”
“No, we’re ponies, we are a herd, and there is no dishonor in telling our herd. Our mom’s a force of nature. We have magic, but she can take on a tank without help. She’s a Ranger, so powerful that the army has chosen to let her continue to serve as a Ranger, even though she’s female, and a pony.” Candy says firmly.
“Oh blah blah blah, then run home, tell you mommy, and next time I see you, you’ll get it worse.” He says, moving to kick Feather again.
“I don’t need to run home.” Turning sideways, Cloudy lifts the lid of her saddle bag so he can see her cellphone, on speaker mode. “I already called for help.”
Cipher appears in full uniform, standing over Feather. Her horn glowing as she snorts and scuffs a hoof. A few seconds later, Ballad appears, standing in front of the twins.
“Don’t move, don’t even think of running. I’m more than strong enough to lift you up with magic alone.”
The MP car pulls around the corner and hits the brakes.
“I have it all recorded.” Cipher says as the MP’s get out of the car.
“Good girls, and good boy. You kept him talking long enough for us to get here. He also did a great job of incriminating himself.”
Candy nods, “sometimes you don’t need to fight to win. Just having friends to call can save ponies and people from getting hurt.”
*** Pearl Harbor ***
You never really understand just how big a supercarrier is until you see one. You can hear about it being 1100 feet long, or 250 feet wide but what does that mean? Take your average 100 story skyscraper, say the Empire State Building. Lay it on its side… and sail that into port.
The two carriers have been split up to different docks, one is being unloaded to go into dry-dock, the second is simply resupplying. It is a rare day when two carriers put to port at once. What makes this even rarer, one was carrying 60 refugee ponies.
I sit on the roadway as they begin bringing the stretchers down first. The marine security detail keeps close watch on them, but that is was understandable, given it is a warship. The majority of them are being taken to what they navy describes as an outdoor staging area. The idea is to quarantine them, provide medical aid, process them, and then decide what to do with them.
Looking up I see the two Navy pegasi. Waving, I try to get their attention without luck. It takes Blaze flying up and bringing them down before we can talk.
Landing in front of me, I give them both a salute.
“Captain Richie, Fire Streak.”
“Captain Tonelli, High Winds.” The mare says as she droops a bit, her tail instantly moving between her legs.
“I’m Corporal Twilight Velvet, this is Corporal Blaze.” I say cheerfully.
“Don’t you use your human names?” Fire asks, looking confused.
“Why would I? I was a pony first, after all.”
“Velvet? From the informational video?” Wind asks, looking up.
I cringe, “Yeah those came out so strange. Welcome to Ponydom.”
“Hey, compared to ‘STD’s and You’, it could have been worse.” Fire laughs.
Wind whines a bit, trying to clamp her tail down harder, “Don’t talk about things like that please.”
“Mind him, he’s just having one of those days.” Fire says teasingly.
Looking at Wind I shake my head. “Males sometimes. Its okay Wind, I have some tea that will help, and trust me I know what you’re going through.”
“Right, how could you.” Wind huffs.
Blaze lands beside me, “That’s easy. Guys, meet Corporal Wally Christian. He’s gone through more than most, and the army’s updated her file, and still wants her serving in the Rangers.”
Blushing a bit, I hip check Blaze. “You’re not the first and you won’t be the last. Trust me, it could have been worse.”
“How?” She huffs.
“Well the curse returns you to the moment when the curse was cast. I already ran into one pony that was in her last week of pregnancy when she was cursed.” Blaze said. “Picture you changing and finding yourself, essentially 9 months pregnant.”
“The problem though is, we're pilots and the navy doesn’t have use for pilot that can’t fly.”
“Army and Air force have use for pegasi though.” I say and hop on to the back of the last truck, “Come on we’ll talk on the way to the holding area.”
Blaze, Wind, and Fire hop into the back and sit with me as well as the Rangers. Starting up the truck lurches as it starts down the road. Heading not just off base, but out of town, the truck ambles along.
“Army has me playing drone at times, since it’s often illegal to operate drones inside the USA. Strapping a camera onto a pegasus though doesn’t count as a drone.” Blaze says, chuckling.
“But we’re fighter pilots.” Wind protests.
“Bah, fighter pilots, Blaze killed an F-22 in a dogfight.” I say, giggling.
“Don’t remind me, I’m still expecting to see my pay check get docked for that. You owe us 47 million in repairs.” Blaze shudders.
“How?” Fire asks, blinking.
“Umm, I dropped a large piece of shock resistant metal and ceramic into its air intake.”
“Ouch, that can make a big mess of things.” Fire laughs.
“Yeah. Air force is also keeping their ponies flying. There’s a lot that us ponies can do in service. If the Navy is dropping your contract hook up with Captain Fleetfoot, she’s a Wonderbolt that works for the Air Force.” I smile.
The truck pulls to a stop on a dirt road, looking at Blaze, I blink, “I thought we were going with the ponies to the processing area?”
“I did too.” Blaze says.
Hopping out the back of the truck, I walk around, then slowly sit down, unable to keep standing.
An outer wire fence topped with barbed wire and encircles the entire holding area. 4 Metal guard towers have been erected at each of the corners as well as 1 near the gate. A second fence some 10 feet in allows the security detail of SP’s to patrol and access the guard towers. A series of large D shaped frames have been set up inside the second fence. They looked like parts of pre-fab hangars that the military uses to build at airfields around the world.
These frames were being used to support a massive chicken wire or mesh wire ceiling. This completely closes off the inner camp area. The only reason for this is to prevent any pegasi from flying in, or out. The inner camp area is primarily made up of rows of tents, some are little more than sun shelters, having no walls. There is a single mess tent, a single medical tent, again with open sides that is full of sick and injured ponies already.
There is no power for the tents, no running water, no toilet facilities even. Water is provided from a single tanker truck that ran a hose to a single tap at the edge of the fence. A single extension cord from a generator runs though the fence and into the medical tent.
Outside the perimeter is the command trailer, a 40x8 trailer with its own power, air conditioning, and bathroom. A second trailer is set up for the security personnel to use, with showers and beds. Power lines also head over to the towers for their spot lights. The guards also have access to their own mess. Though, right now, several are sitting off duty eating pizza that has been delivered.
Blaze, Fire and Wind, follow suit, sitting down in shock. They are not even being held in a standard I.C.E. facility. Signs around the fence label it as a quarantine zone, do not approach within fifty feet of the fence.
“There’s a mare with newborns in there.” Blaze says softly.
“That’s Passionate, the 2 babies changed around the same time as her. We think they are Pound and Carrot Cake. They can’t talk right now. Their mouths can’t seem to form the words properly. They have trouble walking and such. Apparently Passionate figured out a spell, so she could feed them. Sort of a desperate measures thing I guess.” Fire says and shakes his head.
“How… how long…” I just can’t speak right now. I’ve seen holding camps like this in Africa, in Syria, in Afghanistan, but not here. Not within the borders of the United States.
“LT Fisher.” A LT calls out heading up to the Rangers. “I’m Lt. Harris with the SP’s here. I.C.E. had us set up this facility pretty quick but it should do the job.”
The LT looks across the area, “How long are we keeping them like this?”
“I.C.E. wants them in quarantine for a minimum of 2 weeks, but would prefer them for a month here.” He says, looking at the cage. “I think we can hold out a month.”
“But can they? How come there aren’t any bathroom facilities for them?”
“Only thing we can get is porta potties and they can’t really use those.”
Standing up I start to walk towards the gate when the SP officer stops me. “Sorry, we can’t let you go in. If you do you’ll need to stay in there the entire quarantine time.”
“We were told to question them though.” I say, looking up.
“The human specialists can handle that. In the meantime if you wish to observe we have camera’s set up for the interviews.”
“I... No.” Turning my head away I look down. I am angry, I am hurt. I am also on probation, one good energy blast would level the gate, but it wouldn’t do any good.
“Lt, I’m going to grab a bunny suit and go talk with some of them, see what help they need.” Henry stands up and heads for the support truck.
Looking at Henry, Eric shakes his head and stands up too. “I’ll help.”
“LT, do you mind if Blaze and I go back to Pearl, I want to use one of the video coms to place a call.”
“Not a problem.” The LT says, looking stern, “Sanchez, Jay, you two drive them and make sure they stay safe.”
I open my mouth to protest, then close it, seeing the look on the LT’s face.
Lifting my cell camera to take a picture, the SP officer stops me. “Sorry I.C.E. has asked that no photos be taken. They do not want to compromise the location.”
Looking at the officer I do my best to hide my emotions. He is following orders, he is doing his job. “Yes sir.” I say firmly.
“Watch your hornshine, Corporal.” Looking up, I force myself to calm down and make my horn go dark.
Quietly I nod and get into the truck. A few moments later Blaze and the other two pegasi join me.
“No pictures? While I understand the concept, it just sends shivers down my spine. Reminds me of some of the camps in Somalia, no pictures, because they didn’t want the public to see what was happening.” Blaze said.
I just nod slowly, “I’m calling the General, and since there isn’t much we can do maybe he can pull some strings.”
*** The Unicorn ***
She moves quietly though the brush, she is being extra careful today, not wanting to get caught. She has her armor on, for a change. She just wants to feel safe, but she knew it isn’t really needed. Its darker colors though, would help with camouflage.
As she gets near the work camp, she hears growling and yipping. Stopping, she looks over, the vixen is making a lot of noise. She sighs, she doesn’t like it. She doesn’t want attention drawn to her.
Moving up a bit she sees the fox, forepaws on the tree, barking up at something. Curiously, she moves around a bit till what has the fox upset comes into sight. A trail camera is camouflaged and covering one of the approaches to the work camp.
With a nasty snort, the fox runs over to another tree and yips up at it a few times. The fox is triggering the cameras with its movements, but if it hadn’t. She knew she would have walked right into their line of view.
Many of these have GPS trackers on them, some broadcast wirelessly back, so she can’t go through the forest like normal. Falling back she looked either way on the motorway. As normal there is no traffic to be seen, so she crosses and drops down into the ditch on the other side.
The motorway itself is raised and the forest is on higher ground than the farm land. To prevent the roads from washing out, there are drainage pipes along the way. Luckily there is one just across the motorway from the work camp.
The range is really far for her so all she can do is little things. Simple things like, taking out the tires on the lorry. She was able to do some damage, at least, before following the ditch back to the castle.
Tommy is waiting for her at the door and follows her down the tunnel. “So how did it go?”
“They have put out trail cameras, it’s getting harder.” Beth says with a sigh.
Helping her take off her armor, Tommy smiles, “On the flip side, we’ve delayed it long enough. People are starting to ask questions.”
“Really?” This is the first good news Beth has had.
“A lot of people are starting to ask, why is it needed? The news has taken notice too.”
Bouncing around like a filly, Beth just beams, “Yes yes yes yes yes.”
“I have dinner for you.” He says, laying down some takeout.
“Ohhh. Thank you.” Beth is starved, she’s really surprised how hungry she gets after using magic.
“Still having those dreams?” Tommy asks, watching her.
“Not as often. I keep remembering guards trying to get me through a secret passage. I don’t know why though. Or where I was. Heck, for that matter I don’t know if it’s real or just my mind playing tricks on me over a movie.” Shaking her head Beth sighs sadly.
“Movie?”
“Trust me I’m not going to break into song, but I keep thing of the October Revolution, Anastasia being spirited out the secret passage by her guards.” Shaking her head, she giggles softly.
“What?”
“Ok, I am going to break into song… because it… well...” Standing up she starts singing, looking around the room. “Dancing bears, painted wings, things I almost remember. And a song, sung to me, once upon a December.”
“Someone holds me safe and warm, ponies prance through a silver storm…” Closing her eyes, she shakes her head vigorously. Looking at Tommy, she sighs, “Yeah that’s about how I feel.”
“White unicorns can’t dance.” Tommy says, then falls on his side, laughing.
“Oh you!” Charging over, she thumps him playfully a few times with her foreleg.
Curling up protectively Tommy just laughs, “Help I’m being mauled by an evil horny horse.”
“Yeh, I know I’m not some cartoon character like Anastasia so we can probably disregard those dreams.” Beth says, giggling.
*** The Lion ***
“You really think some cartoon pony is causing all these problems?”
“Yes, though how we deal with it that is the question.”
“They have stopped our work on this project for over 2 weeks now. Cost us nearly a million pounds in repairs. Thank gosh insurance, and the government, is paying the bill.”
“The current problem, though, is public opinion. It looks like people are starting to picket the site.”
“If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Chuckling softly, “hmm, a white unicorn, I have some friends actually over at another company. Maybe we can talk them into chasing her down, see if she wants a job as a mascot.”
“Which company?”
“Red Bull. Just something about Red Bull chasing a white unicorn.”
“I don’t get it.”
*** CMC EC ***
Feather squirms a bit in her seat, looking around the ice cream shop. True to her word, the manager has actually set up a special side booth for the CMC’s with a raised bench. The three of them sit, still annoyed with the human bully.
“Well we can’t sit here all day.” Feather says.
“I swear, for a moment there you sounded like Apple Bloom.” Candy says, with a giggle.
“Ah did not.” Feather protests, though now she’s trying to sound like Bloom.
“She’s right though, it’s just not fair to the company, and we don’t have the money to buy snacks all day long.” Cloudy says, with a sigh.
“And it’s too closed in at the apartment, we just get in everyponys way there.” Feather says.
“Well the CMC’s had their club house.” Candy mentions off hoovedly, before taking a sip of his shake.
“Oh good idea. We could build a club house.” Cloudy says, perking, “Lots of woods around here I’m sure we could get permission.”
“So what do we need, permission first of course, a location, building supplies, probably a wagon or two for hauling the supplies.” Feather says, smiling, “We can do this!”
“Cutiemark Crusader Construction Contractors are a go!” They call out as they all high hoof above the table.
Two Rangers from the 82ed Airborne look at the kids charging out, and put their helmets on, just to be safe.
Feather ran out and made a beeline for Sugarberry at the HQ. Slowing she cools herself off, fanning her wings a bit so she isn’t out of breath and walks in.
“Aunty Sugarberry.” Feather sits down.
“Oh Celestia, Feather, I heard what happened, are you ok?”
“Yep, downside of a 2nd childhood, have to go through bullies again. Or would this be our 3rd try at childhood? First try cursed, second run at it, then yeah, this would be our 3rd try.” Taking a deep breath she shakes her head, “We’ve decided we need to build ourselves a club house. A safe place on base, where we can go just to rest, talk, so we aren’t underfoot or hoof all the time, aren’t stuck in the apartment, and such.”
“Not a bad idea.” Sugarberry said. “Whatcha need?”
“A location and zoning permissions first.” Feather giggles.
“I’ll find out for you.”
Nodding she runs out and met up with the twins. They had come through on the transport side, both are pulling garden wagons. Little green wagons with big wheels, they have a rope harness over their shoulders tied to the handle behind them.
“Look what we got at a yard sale. They were only going to sell one but we talked them into selling both.” Cloudy smiles brightly.
“He’s getting to good at playing innocent little girl.” Candy says, giggling.
“I say, if you have the parts, use them… but use them wisely, with great cuteness comes great responsibility.”
Feather groaned and facehoofed, shaking her head.
“Candy, you have to face it, you’re a guy now. Even if you went through the mirror and came back you’d still be a guy. It’s not just confusing if you keep saying you’re a girl or Cloudy’s a guy… It could be hurtful to Velvet or other ponies who shifted too.”
“Sorry, I’ll try and watch that.” Candy says.
“So where do we get our wood?” Feather asks, sitting down.
“Oh that’s easy, base supply.” Candy responds and turns, starting to trot and pulling his wagon.
Cloudy just looks at him in disbelief before following. “Really? You’re serious? You’re going to try and get it from base supply?”
Heading up to the quartermasters headquarters, the twins back out of their harnesses and Feather follows Candy inside.
“Excuse me?” Candy pipes up, looking up at the desk clerk.
Looking down the clerk blinks a few times in disbelief, “Wow, I knew we had them around here, but I didn’t know they made them in pocket sizes.”
“Yeah, we really got the… short end… of the stick… we turned into 6 year olds.” Holding his leg out Candy chuckles, “now we have to wait years before we are big enough to see over the table again.”
“So what unit are you with?”
“Oh were not actually with the military. We’re military dependents now, members of the 75th Rangers have adopted us. As well as Sugarberry over at the SOC Head Quarters, we’re not here for official gear.”
“Eh, whatcha looking for?”
“Shipping pallets, you know, those big wooden pallets that you guys receive all your bulk gear on. I’m wondering if we can salvage and break down any of the damaged ones. You know, the ones you guys throw out?”
“Hang on,” Grabbing a pen and paper, he starts writing down some things, “Here you go, most of the broken pallets end up stored there till they are disposed of.”
“Thanks.” He trots out looking at Feather and Cloudy’s shocked faces.
“How?” Feather says, blinking.
“When I worked as a storm chaser, all the gear was shipped in on wooden pallets, while mostly they are reused, if any of the wood breaks, the entire pallet is discarded. We should be able to get more than a few boards per.”
Looking at Feather, Candy giggles, “He’s got a brain under that pink mane.”
*** Velvet ***
I paced back and forth, tail thrashing. Honestly, I forgot I am on video display. My horn is glowing brightly, I’m just that mad. “General, I understand the concept of quarantine. What I.C.E. has created here though is an internment camp. This looks like something out of Nazi Germany!” I growl.
“Velvet, relax a bit, inhale breath out.” Blaze says. He has his wings spread, shielding Fire and Wind who he had backed into a corner away from me.
Glancing up, I turn off my horn, “Sorry, they have babies in there. Honestly I don’t expect a lot of them to survive the quarantine.”
“Babies?” The general says, looking confused.
“Yeah, apparently Discord didn’t limit his curse. What scares me though, terrifies me, is the statement, no pictures.” I shake my head.
“They don’t want the location compromised,” Blaze calls out. “The problem is, it reminds me of the refugee camps in Africa, where the warlords didn’t want pictures taken of them. They didn’t want records of how many people were in the camps because they intended to slaughter them all.”
“In this case, they are in charge here, so their orders have to stand.” The General says, looking at me.
“I know, but I also know at the same time, some of the greatest atrocities of man have been carried out under the call, 'I was just following orders'.” Taking a deep breath, I look up at the screen. “General, with your permission, I’d like to see if we can make contact with any local ponies. There are likely ponies that changed here on Hawaii. I’d like to see if they can arrange humanitarian aid for these ponies.”
“Remember the uniform code.” The General says sternly.
“I know sir, we won’t go to the press we won’t speak out against or take a political stance, that’s not our job. We won’t share classified information. Instead I’d like to simply see if we can get local support to help them. Sixty ponies, no bathrooms, a single tap for water, while the guards sit outside with pizza.”
“I understand corporal, as long as you act within the uniform code, everything should be fine.”
I head out of the room and look at the three pegasi, “Ok boys, you heard him. If it’s ok with you sir’s, I’d like you two and Blaze to go flying, have some fun. Play around in the sky. Look for other ponies, but I think if you’re playing you might just attract pegasi to you.”
Wind blinked, looking at me curiously, “Play?”
“Ponies play. We are social, we sing, we play games, stuff that brings us together. So by playing, it might attract them to join.” I smile gently, “It is part of who we are.”
“Umm… What about the human civilians seeing us?”
“Well first, we aren’t trying to hide from them, come on. I go to IHOP all the time. At the same time however, even at just a few hundred feet up most humans won’t recognize what you are. You’ll probably be mistaken for kites, birds or such. However pegasi eyesight is so much better. As you might have noticed, you’ll be able to spot ponies on the ground and pegasi will be able to spot you with ease.”
The two look at each other, blinking, “Unicorn logic, no arguing there.”
“I’ll see if Cipher can be tasked to find local ponies.” I say, smiling.
Fire laughed, “Do we salute a corporal?”
Chuckling Blaze shook his head, “She was an EUP reservist in Equestria, and even then, the royal guard sometimes deferred to her. Unicorns have that way with ponies I think.”
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YOU GOT COVERART! :D
So, you found Pound and Pumpkin Cake, the foals of Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cup Cake?
Actually, the quarantine camp sounds more like something out of American history, not German. Same era, of course.
Too much cuteness! I'm about to die of d'awwww overload.
yep a grate chapter.
the us better watch it's collective back side keeping pony's in a internment camp like that dates back to WW2 I hade one friend who's father spent time in the LA camp he refused to talk about it till the day he passed.
the CMC:EC have learned the full power of dawww every one better watch as nothing is safe now.
the unicorn is getting the job dun but at what cost she is getting to well known.
Love the cover art.
Harts Fire
*puts up a helmet as well*
Do they intend to use power tools? Should we ready the shelters?
6113762 Backhoe, crane, chainsaw, different types of saw, drills, high power nail gun. Nothing big.
Maybe a cement truck.
Come on, how much trouble could the CMC EC's get into with a cement truck..
6113789
Oh, ok. I'll ask for a full evacuation of the base, town and the 100km area then.
The song is Once Upon A December. The October Revolution may have been in November (which I guess is why you've misremembered it) but the song in the movie is definitely December.
6116648
Fixed that, surprised alkarasu didn't catch that either.
Yeh October revolution day is in November lol I had the revolution page up when i was typing the song and November stuck in my mind.
6116705 Actually I did, but I thought that was deliberate.
I sense trouble brewing....
media.ideaanddesignworks.com/idw/covers/L/the_last_unicorn/LastUnicorn-06-11-12.jpg
Pallets! Ponies make for good kids. We were rotten growing up, I'm pretty sure most of our neighborhood's tree houses were built with materials stolen from construction sites, although some of the kids' parents might have contributed legit plywood and 2x4s while I wasn't paying attention.
Mission parameters set. Let's go Harmony!