Chapter Eleven
The time spent outside had been plenty to allow me to think about the new magic I’d been exposed to. I had more questions than answers, and since my guards had refused to answer any questions on the subject, I’d decided that an experiment or two would be in order. As these guards would probably be expecting me to try something, I opted to wait until the night group rotated in.
We’d taken a different route back to the cell block. It seemed less complex than going out, but I wasn’t sure I would remember it perfectly in reverse, should I get the opportunity. Approaching the cells, I saw that Stormfront and the other guard were back, which meant that Tovey would be as well.
“Where have you guys been?” Stormfront asked as we got close.
“Outside,” Steel answered.
“Bet that was fun,” The pegasus deadpanned.
“Loads,” The unicorn replied in the same manner.
Steel and Heartmender stopped at my cell, waiting for me to go in. I chose to ignore the open cell, and moved to walk past.
“And where do you think you’re going, Corporal?” Steel asked, blocking my path.
“Checking on Tovey.” My cell was the first in the group and Tovey had been put in the next one down.
“He’s fine. Get in your cell,” The other unicorn guard said.
“You expect me to believe you, even after he assaulted your captain?”
“Both princesses have said there will be no retaliation for that,” Steel said, not budging.
“I was told, by a princess, that I’d be treated fairly, and look what happened with Cobalt and Prism.”
Steel opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted.
“Corporal, I’m fine.” The private had come to the front of his cell, and I could just see him from my angle.
Ignoring Steel, I turned my attention to Tovey. “You sure? You looked a little rattled last night.”
He gave a small, humorless laugh. “You’re one to talk. I saw you tear out of that room. What the hell was that all about?”
“It’s not important,” I said, waving a hand dismissively, “so I’ll tell you later… maybe.”
“If you two are just going to talk, you can do it from your cell.” The edge in Steel’s voice made it clear he was about ready to just toss me into my cell.
I sighed in annoyance. “Alright, shit! I’m just trying to do my job.” Despite how I felt about Tovey, since I held the higher rank, I was responsible for him while we were here. Taking a couple steps back, I slid into my cell, and the door slammed closed.
“Corporal.”
I moved to the corner closest to Tovey’s cell as the guards all assumed their positions. “Yeah, Tovey?” I leaned up against the wall and folded my arms.
“Did they threaten you too?”
“Oh yeah.”
“And you’re not worried?”
Yeah, a little, but you don’t need to know that. “Nope.”
I heard him shuffle around. “Why not? How can you be sure they won’t carry out their threats?”
“If these ponies were going to do anything, they’d have done it already. Besides, from what I’ve seen, they don’t seem like the types to resort to that kind of thing.” As long as none of the guys out there give them a reason to. Of course, I had no way of knowing if that were true or not. I was just trying to help Tovey stay positive.
The private sighed. “If you says so, Corporal. You’ve been here longer.”
“We’ll get through this, Tovey. Just don’t let them get to you, and you’ll be fine.“ I pushed off the wall, then thought of something. “Tovey, any good news from outside?”
“No, sorry.”
“Damn.” Guess they still haven’t got the Gate working. And the techs said they knew how it worked. “Well, try to get some sleep. Can’t imagine you got much last night.
“Yeah… I’ll try.”
Unless the Equestrians did something crazy, like abusing my phobia, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have a problem resisting them, since I’d gone this long. I was more worried about Tovey. Based on what I’d seen of him so far, I had to wonder if he would be able to stand it as well.
Four days went by since Tovey had joined me in captivity, and aside from settling into a daily routine, nothing really happened. One, or both of us, would be taken for interrogation by the Princess. If we both went, one would get a princess at random. It was decided that we’d get to spend time outside after interrogations were over, and the time spent outside varied from day to day.
The music thing was a bust. Turns out that participation in a song was voluntary, and the magic only encouraged one to participate. The guards simply had to ignore me during the couple tests I tried. That meant that the magic wouldn’t benefit me, other than being a nice way to relax.
Something I hadn’t expected was how Tovey handled being in this situation. Surprisingly, he adjusted pretty quickly, getting over his uncertainty in a couple days. I guess I didn’t give him enough credit, because he was resisting all the ponies’ attempts to get information as well as I was. Still, despite our efforts, I knew it was only a matter of time before the Equestrians simply found where we’d been hiding. Till that happened, I took a little comfort knowing that I was being as frustrating as possible.
“God, this is boring. Even going outside has lost it’s appeal.”
“If you’re so tired of this, just tell the Princess what she wants,” Steel suggested.
“Fuck. That. How about you guys give us something more engaging to do instead?”
“Outside isn’t good enough for you anymore?”
“Well, since you bring us to the same place every time, it’s kinda gotten old.”
The unicorn shrugged. “This is what you get, so make the best of it or keep being bored.”
Today’s interrogations were over, and Tovey, myself, and our guards had been outside for the better part of the day. I’d spent the initial time running the obstacle course. It wasn’t hard to figure out. While some parts might have been challenging for ponies, for a human they weren’t a problem.
After wearing myself out, I’d planted myself under the tree to recover. I’d been there for about an hour, and was feeling like a go on the track. With that in mind, I got to my feet and started stretching. As far as exercise went, running was my favorite thing to do.
“You’re going again? Why?” Tovey asked from where he was lying in the shade.
“Running this time, and why not? Got nothing better to do. You gonna join me?”
He huffed. “If I don’t have to, then hell no.”
“Lazy fuck.”
Tovey just ignored me as I finished my stretches and started towards the track, Heartmender and Stormfront following.
I looked over to Heartmender as we walked. “You gonna run?”
“Nah. I get plenty of that before the shift.”
“What about you?” I asked Stormfront.
“No.” Before I could make a comment about laziness, he continued. “I will fly, though.”
That kinda surprised me. This wasn’t the first time I’d asked them, but Stormfront’s response was the closest thing to a “yes” I’d gotten so far.
When I got to the track, I pulled off my uniform top and hat, and tossed them on the ground. Rolling my shoulders, I started off.
The track itself wasn’t very large, about a quarter-mile loop, if I had to guess. Normally, the two guards who kept an eye on me would sit in the middle, probably so they were the same distance from me no matter where I was while I ran. This time, Heartmender sat where I’d tossed my stuff, no doubt because Stormfront was shadowing me. Settling into my groove, I focused on my pace and breathing. I didn’t know how far I’d go today, since running in combat boots sucks ass, but I was determined to go at least two miles.
Not even halfway to my goal, something caught my eye. When I looked over, I saw a group of guards approaching Heartmender. Even from the other side of the track, I could see Heartmender stand and salute, indicating that whoever was in charge of this group was an officer.
“What’s going on?” I asked between breaths, and motioned to the new arrivals.
Stormfront, flying next to me about six feet off the ground, shook his head. “I don’t know.”
The guard Heartmender had saluted, an earth pony, pointed in my direction with a hoof. Great. It always means something shitty is about to happen when someone does that.
As Stormfront and I came back around to where we’d started, the pegasus shot ahead, then stopped and faced me, flying backwards.
“Don’t try anything, Corporal.”
I responded by waving him away. There was no way I was going to be able to outrun him, or any of the other pegasi that had shown up. Plus I wasn’t in the mood to deal with a pissed off flock of guards.
With a powerful flap of his wings, Stormfront shot upwards into a loop, then glided over to Heartmender. I’m not gonna lie, seeing pegasi do things like that always made me a little jealous.
Whatever was going on, I was sure I’d find out whether I wanted to or not, so I refocused back on running. As I closed on the collection of ponies, my two guards walked towards me.
“Time to stop, Corporal,” Heartmender said, raising his voice so I’d hear him.
I didn’t slow, much less stop. Nah, fuck that. I’ve still got a mile to go. As I passed the two, I flipped them the bird.
“Damn it, Corporal!”
Glancing back I saw both of them starting to give chase, Stormfront taking to the air. Smiling, I looked forward again... and ran straight into a glowing green wall. I rebounded of the wall, which definitely hadn’t been there before, and fell onto my back, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened. As I lay there, I heard a chorus of laughter coming from the direction of the group of guards.
“That’s what you get, Duran. You should’ve just stopped.” Stormfront said, landing next to me.
“Fuck you,” I said, sitting up and trying to catch my breath. The wall had vanished, and as the group of guards, who were still laughing, were most likely responsible, I turned my attention to them. “And fuck you too!”
“You okay, Corporal?” Heartmender asked as he stopped beside Stormfront. His tone indicated obligation, rather than concern.
“Other than having my run so rudely interrupted, I’m fine.”
“Shoulda just stopped,” The unicorn said, echoing Stormfront’s earlier statement.
“Why? The fuck’s going on?”
“What’s going on, human, is that we’re running the obstacle course.” An earth pony, probably the one in charge, had walked over and was standing a few meters away. His amusement slowly faded, replaced with a glare, that he directed at me.
This guy reminds me of Cobalt… great. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself to my feet. “Okay, so you need the course. What’s that got to do with me?”
“We’re leaving,” Heartmender answered.
I looked down at him. “What? Why?”
“Because,” The earth pony answered, “you’re a distraction, and I’m not going to share the area with the likes of you.”
What an ass. Folding my arms, I smirked. “Some guards you are, distracted by one guy running around. Maybe you should focus more on focus, rather than physical training.”
The guard snorted. “Says the human who ran into a wall.”
My smirk turned to a glare as his group laughed again, throwing out additional jeers as well. “That wasn’t there before, so fuck you and fuck your magic. You guys wouldn’t be so tough without it.”
“Excuses,” The earth pony said, waving a hoof dismissively. “You’re no match for any member of the Guard, even without our magic.”
“Bitch, please. I’ve already kicked one guard’s ass.”
The guard laughed “That’s not how I heard it. You nearly died.”
A muscle in my left shoulder gave an involuntary spasm as memories of that night flashed through my head. “Laugh it up, fuzzball. Cobalt needed Prism’s help to even have a chance.” If he hadn’t had the help, I’m certain the fight would have been a lot different, if it happened at all. “I kicked his ass, and I bet I could kick yours too.” I punctuated the statement by pointing at him.
Stormfront must have had enough of my arguing, because he stepped forward. “Corporal, shut up.” To the other guard he said, “We’ll get out of your mane now, Lieutenant Scythe.”
Exhaling sharply, I did a right-face and went to retrieve my stuff. I really wanted to smash that guy’s face in, just to prove him wrong. Grabbing my top, I put it on, then picked up my hat.
“Let’s go, Corporal.”
Turning, I followed my guards back to where Tovey and the others were.
Behind me, I head Scythe say, “Yeah, go on, you deformed minotaur.”
“Eat a dick, you fucking dirtbag,” I retorted, putting my hat on.
Both Heartmender and Stormfront stopped and looked back at me with wide eyes. Stopping was well, I was about to ask what their problem was, when I heard something behind me. Turning, I saw a furious Scythe charging me. Before I could ready myself for whatever it was he had planned, he leapt at me with a wordless shout. I tried to fall backward, to lessen the force of his impact, or drop beneath him, but I didn’t react in time. Scythe used his momentum and mass to drive both forehooves into my chest as I landed on my back. I felt something pop in my back, and heard several faint cracks in my chest as I hit the ground. FUCK! Pain exploded in my chest, and the air was forced from my lungs. Looking upward, all I could do was watch as Scythe reared up with another shout, his face contorted with rage. Before he could bring his hooves back down, he was encompassed in an amber glow, and yanked over my head. His armor clattered as he hit the ground out of my sight. My left hand shot to my chest, while my right dug into the grass. Every gasp for air only served to increase the pain, causing me to close my eyes and clench my teeth.
I heard the rattling of armor again, accompanied by Heartmender shouting, “Lieutenant, that’s enough!” A moment later, I heard his horn ignite. I was currently in no shape, and too preoccupied, to try and get away, even as my phobia screamed at me to do so.
“Let me go, Sergeant!”
“Can’t do that, Sir. Stormfront, check Duran.”
“Right.” I heard the pegasus move next to me, then felt a hoof on my shoulder. “Corporal, how bad you hurt?”
I was starting to breath normally, but every time I inhaled, the pain I was already feeling spiked. “Ribs,” was all I got out to answer the question.
I heard the guard sigh. “Heart, he’s gonna need you.”
“Little busy.”
“Hey! I need a medic!” Stormfront shouted, likely addressing Scythe’s guards.
“Buck that. You heard what he said to the Lieutenant. Let him suffer,” was the response the sergeant got.
I had no clue what it was about the last thing I’d said that had sparked Scythe’s reaction. Someone was going to have to explain that to me.
“For Celestia’s sake, just do your job!”
“Just let me at the human, and we won’t have to worry about it!” Fuck you, bitch!
“Enough, Scythe!” Lieutenant Steel’s voice came across calm and in control. “Sergeant, see to the Corporal, I’ll handle Scythe.” The sound of another unicorn using magic punctuated the end of the order.
“Yes, Sir.” A moment later, I heard Heartmender next to me. “Try to hold still, Corporal.”
When I heard his horn ignite, I inhaled sharply, then immediately gasped in pain, kicking my heels against the ground. Just like the first time Heartmender had examined me, I felt a weird static-y feeling build. Moments later, it dissipated.
“Buck.” Oh, fuck. Hearing a medic say something like that while examining you was never a good thing. “This is too much for me to handle. We need to get him to the infirmary.”
“Let’s go.”
When Heartmender’s horn ignited this time, I instinctively tried to roll away, which only served to make the pain worse.
“Damnit Corporal, don’t move!”
I’m not doing it intentionally! I felt myself leave the ground, and when I finally opened my eyes and looked around, I saw I was floating over the grass, surrounded by an amber glow. My heart began pounding harder, and I started squirming, despite Heartmender’s previous order not to.
“Hold still!”
“If he can’t hold still, sedate him, Heart.”
I looked over to the unicorn, wide eyed, as I was lowered back to the ground. Heartmender’s face scrunched up as he concentrated, his horn glowing brighter. As I tried to push myself away with my legs, there was a flash, and I was out.
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Wow, the guy really doesn't have a break.
I think this is the first glimpse I have of how this conflict could have started. Ponies appear to have a superiority complex, and I bet some of them reacted negatively to a comment made in ignorance (like dirtbag) and started a diplomatic incident.
Funny, normally you'd think humans would have done that. Might have still been the case, but they aren't doing the best job of keeping discipline.
6200349 Maybe he shouldn't antagonize his captors so much. Not to say that he deserved that, but still.
why are humans mad of glass in this story?
6200609
They're not made of glass. Why don't you try getting kicked by a horse.
6200695 well there not horses
I don't know why I expect it when I read this kind of stories, but I always wonder what the rest of the world is thinking about what happens there between the USA and Equestria. I mean, you would expect a NATO response, UN stepping in and what not.
Another thing: I know that, at least in the German Army, they do actually a live action exercise of how it is to be a prisoner. Of course, they don't over do it, but they let them feel the despair of not having your life under control anymore. Everyone in the German military goes through that when he or she goes to a foreign country, from the soldier to the office workers and even reporters. I could PM you if you want, if you want to know what they actually do.
But here is what I want to know: Don't they do that in the US military? I mean, no offence, but that sounds like, send them and it will be fine. Somehow.
Gonna guess 'dirtbag' is a racial slur for earth ponies.
Bad coincidence.
This means he gets more ham, right?
Humans in this universally appear to have zero balls, zero brains and a species-wide case of vroliks syndrome. The only disadvantage the ponies seem to have is that their military appears to have zero discipline, zero self-control, and vast amounts of psychotic rage waiting to be released at the slightest provocation.
I know that the general consensus is that ponies are stronger than humans but... they aren't. They really, really aren't. If you're thinking of how strong horses are, they're actually really fucking weak as far as the strength versus size ratio goes. The only thing that makes them strong is their size, and ponies don't have that advantage. Four or five ponies would need to dogpile a human to bring one down.
This story is extraordinarily unsatisfying because every single character introduced so far is a dumb shit. The main character is a massive puss who despite his debilitating condition of glass bones, paper skin, and atrophied muscle, still can't manage to keep his dumbass mouth shut!
Really the only happy ending I see for this story is if the human nations just say "fuck it" and nuke Equestria, with the human prisoners still in it preferably. Clearly there's nothing worth saving.
6200884
To be honest, in my time in the military all we ever had, regarding being captured, were briefings on what is expected of you. I never had an actual exercise depicting what being a prisoner could be like. Of course, that isn't saying that kind of training doesn't happen.
6200820
Forgot about ponies being small
I feel dumb now.
Great story, great chapter!!
(Like always)
6200349 You're wrong.
He have a break. Lots of breaks. In his chest.
lol The egos were out in this one. :P
6200884 They do a lot of that for special forces guys, but your regular run of the mill guys just get a basic dollar tour of it all.
6201269
It's always satisfying to read psychotic comments like these. It reminds me of why "ponies are superior" stories get written in the first place. I mean, look at you. You don't like it, and what is your first suggestion of fixing it? Murder them all. And then people wonder why some anti-human authors on this site have such a massive following. It's quite funny in its irony.
6201279
Of course, some may get a better training. But still, where is the NATO? A war against Equestria is something the NATO would responding to.
6201590
Well, that sucks for everyone who isn't SpecOps.
6203152 Kind of, yeah. The special guys are "supposedly" the only ones that are high risk for capture. Apparently Jessica Lynch didn't learn that one when her supply convoy was attacked though.
Really it boils down to:
-escape if you are able
-remember where you are/whats going on because it can be important later
-resist, just don't be a dumbass about it. Repeating name, rank, serial, is probably going to get you shot. Playing the lowly defac (kitchen) guy that doesn't know wtf is going on has it's merit at times.
-don't break and start blabbing your mouth.
6203152 Unless NATO is involved somehow
6203220
If so, then I wonder in what way. Except they are not because the USA said, "Nah, we don't need help, we have this under control." Because they may don't want to let the other nations know that they did something they shouldn't have.
Not to mark the USA as evil, but the war had to start somehow and I don't see how Celestia could have started it. But I'm ready to be surprised.
I'm guessing calling an Earthpony 'Dirtbag' is essentially like calling an African American the 'N' word or a Muggleborn a Mudblood?
Aaaaaand another dishonorable discharge, coming right up. Was that guard seriously going to kill him because of a word? Even if it was their equivalent of the n-word, that's some serious anger management issues right there. Duran brings out the worst in ponies, doesn't he?
Given how an unarmed prisoner has been beaten half to death with no or only verbal provocation on two separate occasions in the span of a few weeks, I find Celestia's claim that murder is practically unheard of in Equestria questionable. I'm supposed to believe ponies never lose their temper like this and kill someone in a bar fight or some such? Really? Ponies seem to be just as violent and hot tempered as humans. Unless ponies are xenophobic as hell and only get like this with outsiders, I guess, but that'd be even worse.
Don't think they're going to let Duran out of his cell much anymore, least another guard decides third time's the charm. Can't wait to see how Celestia's going to explain away this one.
6200609 Because we usually see how strong our best are when we should be noting just how fucked the average soldier or human would be in such a situation.
Gettig off with cracked ribs is a pretty light injury compared to what it should have been. It takes 150 lbs/in^2 to break a rib bone, The average pony would weigh between 200-400 pounds ==>Source<== now for reaper I'm going to go with the heavier side of the weight spectrum, So I'd say around 350 pounds. Now if we go with him rushing at say 45 Miles an hour, that would be he would have around 791 pounds of force behind his hit even with five or six inches to spread out the damage the hooves should have managed to sever the spine and shatter the ribs into the lungs collapsing them. Ultimately he is very lucky to b alive right now, an action hero would have easily shrugged off the hit like it was nothing but he's had yearsof muscle training, most people lik to sit around and rest after a long day at work.
I'm curious as the how large the equestrians are, if they are anything like their canon counterparts then I recall Admiral Biscuit and Temporary Permanent calculating that their weight should be between 106 - 152 pounds.
This is a great story, and a great chapter.
But man I would like to see some retribution. All Im seeing is humans being pathetic and stupid. I wanna see him kick some ass for once, not just get his ass handed to the infirmary again and again.
But is still great to read
6206795 nobody likes an story about a overpowered main character, same as nobody likes one about the main character being a punching bag
6206795
I know this is a late response, but you do realize that the two humans in this story are POWs, right? POWs don't kick ass and take names - they're generally at the complete mercy of their captors.
Which is fortunate because the Equestrians, for the most part, are treating the two resident humans pretty well, and have even been very accommodating. I think most any human nation would have locked up Tovey and lost the key, but no, he gets his exercise time as well. Hell, Duran is allowed a lot of liberty.
6203208 as someone who has been through SERE training, you are spot on. Happy to have read this comment. Ditto on the rank repeating thing.
6201279 what was your job/branch? Theres the code of conduct regarding pow status. Its very good Tovey didnt kill that pony, otherwise, the Equestrians would have free reign to do what they wanted ( ie, a trial that wouldnt be in a kangaroo court for example ). Suggest you look it up, very informative.
6201279
To be honest I went through S.E.R.E Survival school and Advanced S.E.R.E and if you wrote this based on those courses it would be a very dry read. Basically the way the ponies are playing it would just make a human trained in those courses very weary and less likely to talk.
You know, I'm getting really, REALLY tired of everybody and their fucking mother beating the shit out this guy. And I am sorry but Luna kicking him is bullshit.
You know something I just thought about...
God help any pony that ends up being interrogated by those sickos at the CIA
I feel like scythe is gay