Previous Chapters
Close
Chapter 12,226 words
Chapter 21,413 words
Chapter 31,341 words

Chapter 3

Sandy Lines was tired and bored, but more the latter than the former. As he leaned against his spear, he bemoaned his posting into the middle of nowhere. The border between Equestria and Ioðinn Fólkheim never saw any sort of violence. Just because drug runners sometimes used this desert road didn't mean it deserved to have an entire guard post. He sighed, but straightened up when he saw a senior officer approach. However, he noticed it was his friend, and relaxed. Sandy said, "Unless you're hear to tell me that orders for my transfer to Las Pegasus have come in, I don't want to hear it."

The older pegasus chuckled before responding, "I'm afraid those haven't come in yet. But I'm sure they will eventually." He paused while he adjusted his standard issue Border Protection grey helm, before continuing, "Hey, since this is my last day before retirement, I was wondering if-"

He was cut off when Sandy shoved his hoof into his mouth before looking around fearfully. The older guard was about to show him his displeasure, when Sandy nervously said, "Are you crazy? You never say outloud that you're close to retirement! Haven't you ever heard of retirony?"

After Sandy removed his hoof, the older pegasus just chuckled, his prior anger forgotten. "Come on, you know that's a load of manure. I mean look at us." With this command he made a grandiose gesture to their surroundings, or rather the lack thereof. Besides their guardhouse where the rest of their unit was inside, there was nothing around but prairie for miles. He pointed up, the the clear sky broken only by a single bird, flying high above them.

Sandy sighed, before saying, "I don't know, it just doesn't seem like a good idea to-THERE'S A HUGE SPIDER ON YOU!" He leapt back in fright, as his friend looked over his shoulder, where there was indeed a large white spider. He jumped forward while trying to swat it off, and Sandy fell over backwards in fright. Unfortunately for him, once he was on his back he noticed another spider was on his right hind leg. He let out a scream of terror to match his partner's stream of curses, both of which were suddenly cut off by twin explosions.

Far above the two guards, and the crater that used to house their post, Deidara and his local pony contact, a purple pony with a grape cutie mark, were flying on one of his clay birds. Deidara's smirk turned into a grin when he saw her face: she was open mouthed in awe at his display of his art. Laughing, he said, "I told you I wouldn't be needing any of your papers, yeah. I have my own way of getting into places that I'm not wanted."

"Sir! Another post has been hit!" This solemn news was delivered by a Royal Guard whom had just galloped into the War Room.

One of the older ponies turned in his seat at the table of officers and asked, "Which one?"

"Sir! The outpost outside of Dodge City has been completely destroyed!"

"Dammit!" Both the courier and the officer looked over at the cause of the outburst, their Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor. He looked up from the map he had been studying to say, "We've lost every post from Ponyville to Ioðinn Fólkheim!" After his short outburst he sat back down, and closed his eyes for a moment while taking controlled breaths. After a short moment he opened his eyes and said, "Look, what do we know about this motherbucker?"

After waiting a moment but not receiving a response, he turned slightly and said to an aide behind him, "Well?"

The aide's eyes widened upon realizing he was being addressed, before rushing forwards, dropping several of the papers he had been clutching. After another moment of gathering his papers, he spread them on the table. Everyone in the room leaned forward to see what they could, and were glad to see several pictures of the terrorist carving a path of destruction through their homes.

Smirking up at them was the picture of some one armed gorilla with mange issues. He was standing next to a purple pony on the back of some sort of avian, and in true tough guy fashion, there was an explosion behind him. As they all looked at the first available picture of their enemy, the aide said, "We know that this thing attacks with remote controlled explosives, that seem to emanate from a mouth on his palm. So far he has hit five posts, and one border checkpoint. These attacks have all been instant, with no possible attempt for a counter attack. He also appears to have taken a hostage, but his motives are unknown. He is currently heading northwest from Dodge City, apparently heading for Canterlot. Unfortunately, that is all we know."

One of the officers seated around the table, a large earth pony stallion, asked, "Wait, if this thing is so deadly, then how did we get this picture?"

"This photo and several others were taken by one of Princess Luna's Shadowbolts who happenned to be vacationing in Dodge City, hence the camera. She judged that she would be unable to take down the target on her own, and that getting intel on it would be her highest priority."

"Dammit." Again the room looked to Shining Armor, to see how he would lead them in this situation. He said, "Get the Crimson Tide down from Pony-yang right now. Since he's an airborne combatant, we need those elite flyers to bolster the Wonderbolts."

"But sir, what about the Shadowbolts?"

"You know as well as I do that they aren't suited to direct combat against a monster of this calibre. Have them continue gathering intel, while we mobilize." He stood up, and made eye contact with everyone in the room before saying, "Gentlecolts, this thing cannot reach Canterlot. Whatever happens, this is not to bother the Princesses. Sure, they could take this thing out in their sleep, but we swore to protect this land. And what kind of protectors have to constantly run back to their mommies? No, we'll take this thing down before it reaches a population center." As he looked around the room, his confidence quickly spread from one individual to another. If this thing tried to attack Canterlot, it would be over quickly. They stood up, ready to fight the monster at their door.

In the woods on the edge of Ponyville, a huge white bird landed. A figure in a black cloak with red clouds jumped off of it, then waited while it's considerably less agile companion clambered down a wing. The person raised it's single arm, and tipped the straw hat it was wearing, revealing it's face and long blonde hair. He looked at his airsick companion before chuckling and saying, "You might want to get away from here. Things might get a little rough, yeah."

He laughed when he saw her look of fear, before she quickly turned and fled as fast as her four legs could carry her. He returned his straw hat to its original position, before turning away from his bird. He looked over, and between the trees, he could see that he was on a hill overlooking a picturesque village. He reflected on how many would describe the scene in front of him as pretty, with the beatiful landscape populated by adorable little horses. Then he grinned at the thought of showing them his art. Laughing, he began walking towards the town.

Author's Note:

Sorry for a short chapter, and also sorry for it being light on Deidara. I just felt that this was a good place to put a break, as the next part is better told while being separate from this boring exposition.

1,974 views

127

Previous Chapters