August 29, 2015
There’s a song about walking in Memphis and feeling blue. I couldn’t think of anything for staying in a hotel room in Nashville, but hey, it’s the same state.
Luna had been in a funk pretty much the whole time since the disaster that was Louisville. Losing her magic and Tirek gaining power weighed heavy on all our minds. Maybe also the destruction of several buildings, though I later heard no civilians had been caught in the crossfire.
We’d managed to get Luna to do a few things to take her mind off it. The Parthenon in Nashville, a replica of the real one in Athens, was a great one. Luna, and maybe ponies in general, seemed to enjoy traditional art. Moreover, a lot of the mythology in the two worlds overlapped.
That entertained her for about an hour. Then she went back to moping. Though, to be fair, there wasn’t much else I could think of for her to do.
Her ability to cast spells was gone, along with her flight. She didn’t mention any earth pony-equivalent magic, but I guessed that maybe her slim body had lost some strength. She said that previously-cast spells, like her incognito one, were still in effect.
And, as it turned out, she could still detect magic. When Tirek popped up again, Luna was on her hooves instantly. Lifting a hoof to consult the compass strung around her neck, she declared, “East!”
We went. At Knoxville, we departed the interstate on Luna’s direction. Maria frowned as she looked at the atlas. “Surely we’re not headed for Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg?”
“Finding Tirek in a tourist trap town would be bad,” I agreed. “Too many people around. But...maybe he’s at Dollywood?”
Maria gave me a smile for effort, but didn’t laugh. Finding him there would also be pretty bad, for various reasons.
Fortunately, we went on through there and entered the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Shortly thereafter, Luna announced, “We are close.”
My driving got a little more cautious on the narrow two-lane roads. Luna pointed out a few directions. The road dead-ended at a parking lot for a campsite.
With Luna’s urging, we pushed into the woods on foot. There wasn’t a trail. Fortunately, that greatly reduced the likelihood that we would encounter anyone, so we went loaded with everything.
After walking for maybe a quarter of a mile, Luna’s steps grew shorter and more careful. We crested a ridgeline and the three of us immediately dropped behind a convenient outcrop of rock. Tirek and Celestia were down below, visible through the trees in a shallow valley ahead of us.
We all took careful peeps over the rock to assess the situation. I guessed the distance at three hundred yards or maybe a little more. It was hard to tell with the trees.
Tirek looked about the size of a truck. I suppose two alicorns’ worth of magic would do that. Celestia was bedraggled, but still mobile, though he kept her on a short chain.
Behind the rock, we had a whispered conversation. Luna said, “You must shoot him.”
She’d been watching TV and understood some of the capabilities of firearms. I looked at my 5.56 weapon, Tirek’s hulking form, and back at her. “It would just piss him off.”
“What do you suggest instead?”
Well, maybe a tank, but that wasn’t on the table. “I can try.”
Looking at the situation again, I might attempt a lucky headshot. Maybe I would even get a few rounds off before Tirek squashed us all like bugs.
However, “Celestia’s right there.”
“Are you not confident in your abilities?” Luna asked.
“I’m nearsighted, shooting a carbine with iron sights. I’m just saying that I’m uncomfortable having her so close.”
Luna hesitated, but then said, “I trust you.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
The rock was not smooth, but I managed to find a place to rest. My heart was hammering, and breathing exercises didn’t seem to help. Fortunately, Tirek stood still as I squeezed the trigger.
My shot felt right, though I didn’t have time to assess it because Tirek reacted violently. With a roar, the magic orb between his horns lit up brighter than a disco ball. I ducked down behind the rock.
A red laser of magic swept past the hilltop, slicing off trees. One of them started to fall right towards us. Maria and I got out of the way. Luna didn’t.
There was a flash from down the hill and sudden silence. Maria chanced a look. “They’re gone.”
We both turned to Luna. The tree across the middle of her back was about eight inches in diameter. Her breathing was ragged, but her ribcage looked all right. Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain.
Maria and I grabbed the tree. As big as it was, I guessed it might have been a thousand pounds. We didn’t move it much.
Luna groaned and shifted her forelegs. With our help, she managed to jack up her upper body, forming a ramp of her back. We gradually slid the tree off.
Equines naturally get up front end first, while bovines get up rear end first, so I guess we were lucky Luna wasn’t a magic cow.
Sitting on her rump, Luna was breathing hard and still wincing in pain. There was a bare patch on her back where the rough bark had skimmed off some hair. Maria put tentative hands on her neck. “Is anything broken? Where does it hurt?”
“From the shoulders back,” Luna replied.
Maria gently felt along her body. “How’s the pain? What level?”
“I will live.” Luna started to stand, but her tail was still caught. Using the butt of the rifle, we dug it out.
“Walk for me,” said Maria. Luna complied, slowly turning in a circle. She limped on a hind leg.
“You cracked a hoof. Maybe the way you stepped combined with the crushing weight did it,” said Maria. “Though with a crushing weight, I’m surprised a cracked hoof is all that happened.”
“There are perks to immortality.”
“Hang on,” I said, “If a tree landed on you and all that happened was damage wear items like hair and hooves, did you tell me to take the shot because you thought Celestia was bulletproof?”
“That may have been a factor,” Luna admitted.
Maria decided that Luna, as she said, would live. Tirek was gone again, so we turned back for the car. Maria pulled out the medical bag she had brought along and had Luna lie in the car, elevating her injured hoof into traction with one of my belts.
“I’m going to check out the area,” I said. Maria nodded to me and I went back into the trees.
It was easy to find the place again. The trees being cut off was a good indication. I walked down the hill, still a little jumpy but more confident than before. I didn’t think Tirek was still around or that he had left anything behind, but there was no telling.
Surprisingly, he had left something: a few drops of blood. I was briefly pleased with myself, before remembering that I had basically tried to assassinate him on Luna’s order. Well, I think we can argue that we didn’t have any other options. Not that it was that simple of course, but-
I really hate arguing ethics.
I spotted Tirek’s distinctive hoofprints. He seemed to have been there for a while. Circling the area, I couldn’t seem to find where he had come from. Perhaps he had teleported in, as well as out.
But why? There didn’t seem to be anything here. Was he waiting for someone? Was it us? Did he bait us here?
Assuming someone would come to check out the fallen trees, I kicked dirt over the blood and headed back to the car.
I told them what I had found. Maria had worked quickly, and had Luna testing the fix. Luna looked contemplative as she walked. “I wonder if he was testing me. He has my magic, but perhaps wanted to see if I could still track him.”
“Well, it looks like he’s still leading us around,” I observed.
Luna nodded, looking down as she walked. Clop, clop, clop, clank. Maria had a spare horseshoe in her bag, and had installed it to keep the cracked hoof together.
“So where do we go from here?” I asked aloud, grabbing the atlas and opening it. “If we’re going to continue this easterly trend, maybe Charlotte, North Carolina.”
Maria looked up. “I hope you aren’t using this as an excuse to take Luna to a NASCAR track.”
My wife knows me too well.
Alicorns are bulletproof? Headcanon accepted!
And if he's nearsighted, why would he not put a scope or at least a red dot on the rifle? Poor planning.
6367574 Also carrying it around in a car where it could get broken or knocked off center. And those are expensive.
With how big Tirek's gotten, I am thinking it's time to go get a bigger gun. Amusingly, you are actually in the same state as Barrett's headquarters so you could probably swing by there to pick up some serious firepower. The 5.56 may just piss him off, but a .50 BMG should be more than up to the task.
Charlotte North Carolina? I thought there was something odd about that car I passed on the way home from work... They are going to have a heck of a time getting thru the preseason game traffic between the Panther's and the Patriots tonight...
6369362
Or, you know, an RPG. That could work.
6371579 You cannot get those or their ammunition legally without a shit ton of paperwork and investigations which they do not have time for. A .50 caliber rifle on the other hand is no different from any other rifle in the eyes of the law, and he is fairly close to one of the few places that manufacture them so it would not be hard to swing by there to pick one up. Hence the big .50 is actually a practical solution under the circumstances.
Also, the RPG-7 is not the most accurate or subtle thing so you cannot really surprise him with it like you can with a supersonic rifle round fired from a couple hundred yards.
6371750 RPG rounds are faster than movies depict.
6371766 True, but they still have shit for accuracy. You cannot count on it outside 100 yards and really want to be significantly closer than that which is a problem when you are lugging around a bulky weapon like that. You also have to take into account issues like backblast, the counter intuitive flight behavior of the round, and soviet quality control which add even more limitations to its use without training which I highly doubt you have.
The big .50 on the other hand is no different from an ordinary rifle, and Barrett even makes a fire control computer for it which will take all the guesswork out of the process. It is also far more accurate than anything you could possibly need with the ability to effectively engage targets past 1000 yards so your engagement range is limited only by your ability to locate your target and shoot.
6371808 Shooting a rifle - any rifle - past 1000 yards is no picnic, either.
6371869 Yeah, that is why the limitation is you, not the weapon. The fire control computer helps, but that kind of precision takes a lot of skill.
Even so, the combination of the gun and fire control computer probably would have been enough to let you land a fatal hit in your last meeting (being able to go for the body is a huge help on its own) so it is definitely worth looking into making the upgrade since you are in the area.
6371750
Yeah, but you'd still kill him...
... Hopefully...
6371990 You cannot kill anyone with a weapon you cannot get or hit a target with.
6371878 I'll have Sandy mention it in the next chapter, but fitting a Barrett and an alicorn in a Fiat might be a bit much.
6372155 That's a very fair concern. They are wonderful guns and perfectly suited to the task at hand, but they are not exactly little things. Even the short barreled version is four feet long, and the full length model is closer to five. The bullpup XM500 only cuts that down to 46 inches so you are not really any better off if you manage to get your hands on that, and all of this is neglecting whatever bulk the case will add.
Still, if you can get 50 or so inches of front to back clearance in the combined trunk and back seat you should be able to make the short one work, and 60 inches would probably give you room for the full length model. You could just shove it up against the side of the car and Luna will not lose too much room.
Spare horseshoe... I'm assuming it was nailed onto the hoof?