• Published 13th Feb 2015
  • 3,803 Views, 1,639 Comments

Five Score: A Velvet Nightfall - kitsy-chan



A small group of US Army Rangers are caught up in a web of corruption and dark deals, as the attempt to deal with 2 of their own, who have had their lives forever changed, by the Five Score curse

  • ...
20
 1,639
 3,803

PreviousChapters Next
68: A Ray of Hope.

“Well at least they aren’t shooting at us.” Private Hanson says quietly.

His Sargent smacks the back of his helmet, “Keep your eyes open.”

The 3rd Marine Division has been slowly working their way through the city. Fighting has shifted to door to door and house clearing. This is some of the hardest and worst type of fighting in the world. They will have to clear each building, one at a time.

There are still snipers, and small pockets of resistance scattered around. Each house, however, has its own risks. Be it family who pull weapons just to protect themselves, or booby traps left behind by pirates to cover their escape.

The fact that the enemy combatants are also not in uniform makes things a lot harder. All it takes to hide is to drop a weapon and pretend to be a civilian.

Hanson enters the house first, weapon at the ready. It’s a small place, typical of the accommodations or homes here. The TV has been left on, but there’s only static. Kneeling down Hanson provided cover as the rest of the squad enters, beginning its search.

Outside the sounds of RPK fire chatters away before being silenced by an explosion. Dust fills the room as the building shakes. Another explosion a few blocks down levels a building. Dust again fills the street just outside the door.

A moment later Fire Streaks slides upside down, skidding across the floor. Looking up he blinks a few times. “Oh hi there, talk about the not so friendly skies.”

“Umm Sarge… There’s a pony here.” Hanson says, strangely this is the first time he’s seen one close up.

“Fire Streak, 520th, umm is Sargent Malory here?” the pegasus asks, still laying on his back. Actually, he is kind of comfortable right now, first real rest he’s had in hours, no point in moving right away.

“HERE!” The Sargent says, coming up and looking down at the pony. “There’s a war goin’ on out there, are you just gonna lay there all day?”

“Lieutenant Fire Streak at your service,” He says, rolling over a bit to show the bars. “Two platoon on the next street needs your help. There’s some sort of short range jammer in the area that’s messing with coms. They flagged me down to run messages.”

“Yes sir, sorry sir. Rest all you want. Come on squad move out.” The Sarge says and makes for the door.

***

Henry moans softly and reaches up to rub his horn. He feels better, but still feels a little weak and tired. Looking around, he realizes he’s in one of the hospital beds.

“Good morning sleepyhead.” Nurse Harwell says as she unhooks some of the monitors. “You knocked yourself out for a good six hours.”

Fluffing his mane a bit by rubbing it with his hooves, Henry sighs, “Morning Tenderheart.”

“Oh please don’t. I prefer Harwell in human form. It’s less confusing, especially to humans.” She says, “My daughter calls me Tenderheart, and we pass it off as a pet name. Mommy Tenderheart.”

“How does your husband take all of this?” Henry asks as he sits up a bit to watch her work.

“He’s unsure of it, wouldn’t believe it if he hadn’t seen it for himself. Although he doesn’t mind my human form, that’s something else that took explaining to the neighbours.”

“You look different as a human?” Henry blinks, he hadn’t thought of that.

“Several changes, different eye color, slightly different build, he jokes around about his favorite change though.”

“What’s that?” Looking over, Henry grabs a glass and fills it with water before bringing it over to him magically.

“I went from a small B, to a large C.” The nurse says as she bends over, pulling out some towels from a storage bin.

Henry spits out the water and coughs a few times, trying hard not to laugh. Looking over at her, his mind instantly jumps to the time he met her in Equestria. The LT had played that prank on him about being the perfect height to see her… Blinking, looking at her bent over, he closes his eyes tightly and starts hitting the side of his head lightly with a hoof.

'Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, out… think of something different. Sugarberry, nice safe Sugarberry.' He thinks, keeping his eyes shut, he pictures her. Unfortunately it’s from the rear too. 'Brain, you are such a traitor.'

“Blue Lightning, Twilight Velvet, Rosewing, and Blue Lagoon have been checking up on you constantly.” The nurse says turning and putting the towels in the bathroom and tossing others into the laundry. “They are all worried about you.”

“Yeah, I bet. When Velvet passed out when she was overtaxing herself, it gave us such a scare.” Henry says.

“Well I have rounds to do, I’ll be back shortly to check up on you.” The nurse says as she heads out.

Henry takes a sip of his water then blinks. “Oh, come on.”

“Something wrong?” Rosewing says, walking in, swishing her tail side to side.

“Yes, I’m using my magic for things like getting water.” Henry says and huffs.

“And you think you should be using it for what? Healing only?” Rosewing asks.

Shaking his head, Henry looks at her, “I shouldn’t be using it for day to day stuff.”

Sitting down, Rosewing puts her forehoof on his side. “And if you were turned into a pegasus for a day, would you spend the entire time grounded?”

“That’s different.” Henry grouches.

“Nope, for a unicorn, their magic is a huge part of life. Just like flying is a huge part of the life of a pegasus. Without flight, a pegasus feels lost. Like they are worthless.” Rosewing says softly and pushes her face against Henry’s.

Gulping, Henry backs up a bit in the bed, “Umm, you were never worthless.”

“I know, but it’s how I felt. I was so scared and angry that I’d never fly again and you gave that gift back to me. It was and is my favorite part of being a pony. It’s the only thing I had when I changed really.” Rosewing says, backing up and sitting on the chair to look at him.

“What were you before the change?” Henry asks, inhaling deeply.

“Pilot on the JSD Kaga, 2nd Lieutenant in the JMSDF. I flew H-60’s in anti-submarine, anti-ship and search and rescue.” She says, “It was my life. Then on the destroyer, I turned into a pony. I thought my life was over 'till I started to fly.”

"Destroyer? Isn't the Kaga an aircraft carrier?" Henry said tilting his head.

"Umm, nope we call it a destroyer, since we technically aren't allowed aircraft carriers. Being able to leap off the flight deck and get into the air though." Rosewing sighed softly.

“Oh. Rainbow Blaze loves to fly. But he was never a pilot, he was airborne ranger, he preferred jumping out of planes.” Henry says, rolling onto his side facing Rosewing. With a deep inhale again Henry sighs, there is something about her that is just so inviting.

“I…don’t know what I can do to repay you for fixing my wing. I feel I need to do something though.” She says, and she leans forward, rubbing her face against his.

Gulping hard, Henry shakes his head, trying to clear it. “I um… I don’t need any special thanks.”

“Oh Celestia you must be starved. I’ll get you something.” Rosewing says, hopping off the chair and walks out quickly, her wings up and spread a bit.

Henry watched her go, her tail high and quivering. Giving him the occasional glimpse of her… “Argh… bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Think pure thoughts, think pure thoughts.” Henry says, hitting his head with his hoof.

*** 3rd Marine Division ***

“What’s up?” Private Hanson asks as he stops, looking at the rubble pile.

“IED. They took down the building on top of a pair of JLTV’s, we’re trying to dig them out.” Another private says, “We need some people to push forward on this street, we don’t want to get ambushed while working.

The Sarge looks over, “Okay boys, move forward, take up covering positions there and there.” He points.

“Sir, I’m just getting static over the coms. I don’t know what it is, but somethings causing signal interference.” A corporal calls out.

“Use hand signals only, stay in line of sight of each other.” The Sargent growls.

Private Hanson shoulders his weapon and starts climbing a ladder to a low rooftop. From there he can get a better watch of what’s going on. On the far end of the room, the squad sets up the machine-gun to cover two streets.

Fire Streak lands on the rooftop a few moments later. “Cold water and some MRE bars here.” The little pony drops off the aforementioned supplies, before hopping to the next roof.

“Why couldn’t we have had those in Afghanistan?” The Sargent says, chuckling. “They make great gofors.”

“But… I thought they’re ponies?” One of the corporals asks.

“And that’s why he wears a Mickey Mouse watch.” The Sargent says, shaking his head.

“Sarge?” Hanson calls out, “What’s that pony doing?”

Looking up the Sergeant sees what Hanson is curious about. A pegasus is flying in slow circles. She has a pair of saddle bags on with a pair of long antennas sticking out way in front of her that end in an array of different sizes and lengths. A pair of long whip antennas are also coming out of the saddle bags curving backwards above her. Finally, a long single mast antenna runs down her back and hangs behind her. She has headphones on as well as the pegasus flight suit and what looks like some kind of modified body armor, it looks like a heavy load, but she isn’t flying fast.

“I’d say signals intercept, she’s trying to find the jamming source.” The Sergeant says, shaking his head. “Never seen that done or that gear before, likely something they patched up for her on the carrier.”

*** CMC EC ***

“Bruce Wayne is Batman.”

“Oh come on, I haven’t seen it yet.” Candy says, looking at his sister sadly.

Feather blinks, “Really? You didn’t know Bruce was Batman? That’s like saying you didn’t know that the Titanic sinks at the end of the movie either.”

Candy blinks as he looks at Feather in shock. “I haven’t seen that movie either.”

“But… but… but…” Feather looks at Candy in shock.

Candy looks back at his hip, “Nope, no cutie mark for that either.”

“Wait,” Feather says, blinking, “You weren’t serious?”

“Candy can pull the straight colt lines like you wouldn’t believe.” Cloudy says.

Falling on her back, Feather exhales and sighs, “Phew, I was worried for a bit about the kind of ponies I was hanging with.”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Fanfic Writers?” Cloudy says, titling her head.

“What’s a fanfic?” Feather asks sitting up.

Candy giggles, “Not sure but Cipher writes them. Maybe we should check some of hers out for ideas.”

“Oh I found one she wrote about Velvet and Blaze.” Cloudy says, smiling at the computer.

Quickly all the CMC’s huddle around the computer.

“What’s NSFW mean?” Feather asks.

“It means Not Safe for Woona.” Cipher says as her face appears on the screen. “Sorry, my little ponies, but trust me on this. fanfics like this aren’t for you.”

Blinking the foals try to look innocent, “Come on Cipher, we’re twenty-five.”

“Being twenty-five years old as a human doesn’t mean you should read about this stuff. Especially you Feather. There are some stories that could hurt you badly.” Cipher says.

*** 3rd Marine Division ***

Fire dodges some small arms fire before hitting the roof in tumbling roll and ended up laying on his back looking up at the Sargent. “Oh, hey again.” He says brightly at the human.

“LT, if you don’t mind me saying, you seem to spend way too much time on your back.” The Sargent says, shaking his head. “Are you okay?”

“Oh fine, it’s safer down here right now. I didn’t want to slow down for a normal landing.” Fire says. “It’s sad to say when the ground pounders have it easy. Wind has been working with Signals Intercept, she has the enemy using a broadband jammer narrowed down to two possible houses one block over.”

“EASY!” The Sargent says sternly.

“Yeah, I’ve been flying hard for the last six hours, getting shot at almost the whole time.” Fire says. “And I’m supposed to be just a police officer now.” He lifts a hoof, twirling it. “Wonderbolts, woohoo.”

“Okay boys, you heard the officer. Since we have it so easy, let’s go for a walk and find that jammer.” The Sargent calls out.

*** Henry ***

Trotting in with her wings spread wide, Rosewing has one tray balanced on each wing. How she isn’t dropping anything is a mystery to Henry. Flicking her tail side to side excitedly, she has a huge smile on her face.

“Cupcakes, cookies, rice crispy squares, coffee, and donuts!” She chirps.

“Ugh, you didn’t have to.” Henry says, “I’m almost strong enough to get up again.”

“Yep,” carefully setting down the trays on the table, she turns to him and smiles, “but trust me, it’s the least I could do.”

“Food.” Henry says and sits up, smiling, “And way too much for me to eat, so you’re joining me.”

“But…” She sputters.

“Listen, if I eat alone, then it feels like your being a servant. If we eat together, we are equals.” Henry says with a firm nod.

Sitting herself down on the chair, Rosewing starts eating as well. Hospital food is one thing, but this is a ship. The ship’s mess was much better than most hospitals. Coffee, as well is, everywhere, so finding Henry some good coffee was pretty simple for her.

“Yep, it’s better than lime Jell-O.” Henry says with a laugh.

With a sigh, Rosewing leans down and rubs her face and cheek against Henry’s chest fluff. She nuzzles and cuddles up to his chest a little as he finishes eating.

Inhaling deeply, he gulps and shakes his head, trying to clear the fog. She’s just so cute, so inviting.

Putting a foreleg over her, he pulls her tighter to his chest. The closeness of her sparks something in him.

“Thank you so much, Henry.” Rosewing murmurs as she climbs into bed with him. Snuggling up, she finds herself nipping his shoulder gently.

Henry trembles a bit, not really certain what is going on…

“Okay, I think you two need a time out.” Nurse Harwell says as she walks in, causing them both to jump.

“Wh... what?” Henry blinks shaking his head, looking at the nurse.

The nurse smiles looking at the two and shakes her head, “Rosewing’s in heat.”

“I’m not an animal.” Rosewing growls, her wings extending a bit to cover Henry protectively.

The nurse laughs and shakes her head, “Nope, you’re a pony. Don’t worry you’ll get used to it.”

“How… do you know?” Henry asks.

Nurse Harwell touches the side of her nose, “Oh, even a human can smell it if they know what they are smelling. There’s other ways to tell, but you’re not used to being a pony yet, so you’re getting caught up in the instinct and smell Henry.” The nurse says, “Best you two stay apart for a bit.”

Henry shakes his head quickly, trying to clear the fog, and causing his ears to flop, “I really hate being a unicorn.”

Rosewing moves off of the bed, backing away from Henry, whimpering. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“Rose it’s not your fault, we didn’t know.” Henry starts as he sits up.

Rosewing turns and runs out of the room, crying. She continues screaming “I’m sorry,” through her tears as she runs.

Henry tries to get up, but his legs still feel like rubber and are not co-operating. Grumbling softly, Henry looks up at the ceiling. “I make an awful pony.”

The nurse sits on the chair on the other side of his bed. “Nope, sometimes I think it’s one of the reasons that males and females don’t hang out as much in the show. Although I could make a comment about Rarity being in heat and using that to manipulate males. Ugh.”

Henry blinks, looking up, “Yeah, but I’m still pretty bad at being a pony.”

“Nope, we all make mistakes from time to time. Humor is, your mistake had nothing to do with being a pony. That was 100% you being male.” Nurse Harwell says and ruffles his mane.

*** Somalia ***

The rebel forces have backed off from the valley. All eleven of the tanks they had are now in flaming ruins. Bodies litter the pass and the smell of death is heavy in the air. The vast majority of the dead were burned alive in the first few minutes.

They had ignored the warnings, the signs. It was labeled in several languages not to enter this valley, especially with weapons. The pass has often been used by rebels to attack into Kenya for slave raids. Poachers also used to enter this area.

But that all stopped about a month ago, there were no negotiations or talks. There was simply death.

The young Zebra looks up at the mare beside him, “Are you sure?”

“It’s our last hope, our last chance.” She says as she walks past the wreck of an old Russian tank.

“It’s not called Paradise Valley, it’s called the Blooded Pass for a reason.” The little one says nervously, looking around.

“We have nowhere else to escape to.”

*** 3rd Marine Division ***

“Sarge, there’s a trap door here.” Private Hanson calls out.

The door is partly covered by a floor mat, hidden from casual sight. Quickly moving over, corporal Higgs moves the mat and table off the door. It’s wood with metal hinges and a metal pull ring. They weren’t really trying to hide it except from casual observation, apparently.

Pulling open the door, Hanson looks down at a stairway leading to a basement. There isn’t any light, coming from the basement, but there is wiring visible on the wall.

“Ok Hanson, Higgs, you two are up. Or should I say down.” The Sarge chuckles.

Grumbling, Hanson breaks out his flashlight and begins shining the light down as he makes his way into the basement. He can hear humming sounds and as he pans his flashlight around, he takes note of the electronics.

“Sarge. This basement is huge, I think they have a server farm down here, also radio and satellite.” Hanson calls out.

Higgs follows and calls back up next, “They have broad spectrum GPS, Bluetooth, and even cell jammers going on down here. I think it’s to cover or prevent remote access, though.”

“Don’t touch anything, we’ll have the intel brats down here to pick it apart.” The Sarge calls out. “If it contains information we might be able to take down the entire network.”

“Sarge… We’ve got a problem.” Higgs calls out.

Hanson pans his light over to see what Higgs is talking about and lights up several barrels. “Oh hell.”

“This place is wired, and I think the timers started.” Higgs calls out. Wires run into the barrels from several different locations. A flashing timer is counting down fast.

“FALL BACK!” The Sarge yells out. “Everyone, get clear of the building!”

As he turns to run, Hanson hears a whimper. Blinking, he pans his light back and sees three ponies locked up in a cage, “Damn it, Higgs how much time?”

“Less than a minute, so move it!” Higgs says as he runs up the stairs.

Turning Hanson shoots the lock off the cage, before forcing the door open. “Move it move it,” he shouts and starts to push the ponies for the staircase.

Scared and confused, it takes a moment before the three realize and start to run. Hanson brings up the rear as fast as he can. He just clears the basement when the explosions rip through it. The force sends Hanson flying to the ground, pain filling his back, hip and leg.

“Damn it Hanson, you’re just looking for any excuse to lay down and rest.” The Sarge says, “Medic, man down!”

“I couldn’t leave them there to die, sorry Sarge.” Hanson says, slowly closing his eyes.

*** Velvet ***

“I’m a bad poneeeeee.” Rosewing bawls.

“No, you’re not.” I say softly, shaking my head.

Rosewing has her forelegs crossed on the table with her muzzle over them. She uses her wings to hide her head and eyes as she cries pitifully. Her whole body is trembling as she goes on, “But I tried to…”

“You’re in heat.” Lightning Blue says as she puts a wing over Rosewing’s back.

“But he smelled so good.” She cries.

“Pregnant mare here, you are in heat.” I say waving.

“And I wanted to thank him somehow…” She cries, “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Heat.” Blue Lagoon says.

“But…” She looks up, her eyes puffy and red.

“Look, trust me… the first heat is always the hardest. We don’t remember it from our past lives, don’t know how to deal with it.” I say, shaking my head. “All mares will go through it, well most will. The young ones get time to grow into it. We don’t realize it, and don’t realize what our bodies are doing.”

Nodding slowly, she sniffles. Blue Lagoon grabs some tissues with her magic and starts cleaning the tears.

“Henry’s also sort of dating a unicorn named Sugarberry… Sort of.”

“Sort of?” Blue Lagoon asks, looking at me.

“He’s not committed to her?” Lightning Blue asks, tilting her head.

I grab a coffee taking a sip, “No, that’s the strange thing. He’s totally committed to her. He doesn’t even look at human girls. The joke is, he doesn’t realize it. Honestly I don’t even want to bring it up.”

Rosewing sniffled, “Why? If he loves her.”

“He’s male. He’ll likely first go off on a ‘but she’s a unicorn and I’m human’, thing. Then try and force himself to go out with human girls to prove it’s not true. Then complain that it’s because of the cutie mark and his unicorn form has ruined his life.”

Blinking Blue Lagoon giggled. “That bad?”

I nod giggling too. “Yeah, he would. But at the same time if you don’t mention it to him he just relaxes and fits in. He thinks too much and gets in trouble because of that.”

Rosewing starts crying again, “And I made it worse. After all he did for us.”

“Rosewing, he probably feels worse about making you cry than anything.” I say as I float some snacks over to the table.

“Trust me, it’s lucky you found out about this now. You could have ended up pregnant like Velvet here if it had happened elsewhere.” Lightning Blue says.

“Yeah, so… hey wait… I was sleeping with the stallion before I got pregnant.” I say, blinking.

“Practice makes perfect.” Blue Lagoon says.

This actually starts all of us giggling. Even Rosewing is finally starting to calm down.

***

“BP’s 101 over 38! Pulse is 140.”

The Seahawk hits the deck of the USNS Comfort as the medical team runs for the door.

“IED Blast, concussion multiple lacerations, internal bleeding.”

“Operating room three is clear.”

Hoisting the body up onto the gurney they run him over to the elevator.

“He’s in pretty bad shape.” A nurse says, cutting off the clothing.

“Chances are he won’t make it through surgery. Load up another bag, have blood ready for transfusions this is going to take a lot.”

“Doctor…” The nurse calls out.

“I’m concerned with the back, we can worry about the leg next.”

“Doctor?” The nurse says again as they run with the body.

“Nurse, head in the game, priorities are life threatening injuries…” The doctor starts.

“DOCTOR!” The nurse yells.

Stopping for a second the doctor finally sees what the nurse is worried about. “Oh hell, someone see if Specialist Coralis is up.”

*** Henry ***

“You’re getting better.”

Henry shakes himself out, standing on all fours again. Looking down at his forelegs he huffs, “Yeah but still, there just isn’t enough fur dye in all of Equestria.”

Nurse Harwell laughs, “You know its hair and not fur right?”

“Whatever, it’s still pink.” Henry said and walks around a bit. His legs are feeling a lot stronger, sleep and food really did help.

Turning, the nurse starts cleaning the bed. “Well it could be worse, you could be pregnant.”

“Oh don’t even joke. Blaze ran into a pony that was like ten months pregnant when Discord cursed her. She turned back into a pregnant pony. And of course when Blaze found her, she was in labor.” Henry says, and picks up his coffee knocking the last of it back.

“Oh ouch, I guess she was just… foal… of it.” The nurse says, trying to look innocent.

Henry falls onto his side on the ground, kicking a foot, “The horror the horror!”

“Oh I miss her so much.” Nurse Harwell moans softly.

Henry stops and looks up, “Who?”

“Rose. Well, Lilly and Daisy too, but… Rose was a friend of mine. Her line ‘The horror, the horror’. Sometimes I watch the show just to remember my friends.” The nurse says sadly.

“You know, Velvet could probably turn you back into a pony for a few days.” Henry says.

Shaking her head, she starts putting clean sheets on the bed, “Maybe if I have some vacation time coming up, but I can’t do my job without hands.”

An orderly skids into the room, panting hard and looks around the room. “Henry, you’re needed, or wanted, I should say in Operating room three. They want you for a consult.”

“Coming.” Henry sighs.

“Henry remember, you are special but you’re not unique. There are other ponies around that will understand.” Nurse Harwell says softly.

Following the orderly Henry runs for the operating room. They opt for the elevator since Henry doesn’t want to risk stairs right now. Looking at the orderly Henry sighs.

“So what is it this time?”

“I’m not sure. We got three ponies in, plus one marine who was injured in an IED Blast.” He says.

Henry shakes his head, sighing,“Pretty bad?”

“I don’t know, but the nurse was pretty panicked and the doctor called for you right away.”

Walking out of the elevator Henry looks up. “Should I be wearing a mask and scrubs?”

Henry almost regrets opening his mouth. They don’t actually have any scrubs or such that fit him, but they do their best to cobble something together quickly. It was mostly a case of a scrubs taped close to the hooves, mane and tail nets, and of course, the mask.

Walking into the operating room, the doctor is working hard to stop the bleeding. Britney Spears song Toxic is playing through the operating room. ‘This was classic earth pop? Yeah right.’

“Okay, I’m here.” Henry said.

Looking over the Doctor shakes his head, “Check his hip tell me what you think?”

Henry blinks and shakes his head, walking over. Almost right away he sees what the doctor is going on about. On the hip is three cookies, one of them with a bite missing from it, kind of like Cookie Crumbles cutie mark, just in a different order.

Closing his eyes Henry lights his horn for a moment. “When was he born?”

“Records have him as twenty-five with his birthday a few months ago. They say he’s adopted through. His birth date may be a guess.” The nurse calls out.

“It’s real. He’s a real pony.”

PreviousChapters Next