Birds of a Feather
Our base (Lovingly called "Home" by all who resided there.) had grown into a budding town. Right next to the Supply Center were the shelters, made from corrugated steel covering a skeleton of plywood built into a semicircle. Half of them still lay on the ground in pieces, but ponies not five minutes off of the Chinooks had volunteered to help with the construction.
She couldn't take it. All the... the staring. Whispering behind her back thinking she couldn't hear them. How she was the enemy. How they should just abandon her in the middle of the desert. Make her into one of those non-vegan MREs. That she was weak.
...No, that last one was her drill sergeant yelling at her.
She immediately shrunk smaller under the blanket.
Grizelda remembered the day when her name was called. The first time she had held a spear. The dummy that she missed. The rings she had to fly through. Oh, she could fly. Just not as well. She placed 42nd in her class of 43, and that was only because number 43 was missing a wing...
Oh gods... she could still hear the laughing as she tumbled down the rocky mountainside. Didn't even make it past the first course... Wait. Who's really laughing?
Right outside, a large group of foals playing their own little game of war. Little bases with sand for walls eventually turned into a complex system of trenches and barricades. Cardboard boxes were turned into tanks while some pegasi painted blue and black stripes on their wings to imitate the King Raptors. They played, they smiled, the laughed...
Even with her ears covered while inside the closet, Grizelda could still hear the sound of laughter. Not directed at her, but...
A hoof knocked on the door softly, "Oh won't you please come out?"
Outside, Grizelda could hear the bustling of medics tending to the injured. Nevertheless, it would draw too much attention to her.
"N-No... I'd rather stay here." she whispered, rivaling Fluttershy's voice in volume.
"But I talked with everypony... and human... and they promised not to stare or... or whisper... or..." she trailed off, trying to think of more reasons. But the griffon was adamant.
"I'll go out when they're all sleeping. I just want to be alone..." she paused for a response, and when there was none she murmured, "It doesn't matter what you do."
If the entire Barracks was dead silent, one might've barely heard the softest sigh comparable to the flap of a butterfly wing. The pegasus listened around. It was less than a second before Grizelda was proven right.
"Why isn't she in the Detention Center with the others?"
When the pony didn't answer, Grizelda shrunk smaller under the one of the many blankets inside the closet. Then the doorknob rattled, and light from the florescent lamps shone through the material like the light one sees when dying. She closed her eyes. This was it. She was going to be shredded up into-
There was a small thunk as Fluttershy joined the groffin under the itchy blanket and closed the door. The air was hot and humid, not helped by the climate of their current location.
A click of a button, and a flashlight illuminated the pair. The shadows cast on their faces made them look older than they actually were. Fluttershy awkwardly grinned as she tried to restart the conversation.
"I just want to be alone..." said Grizelda, quiet enough that even the shy pegasus had trouble hearing.
"Why?" the pegasus asked. Fluttershy already knew the answer, but had to hear it from the griffon herself.
"I'm not shy, if that's what you're wondering. It's just that wherever I go nothing ever changes. They hated me at basic and they hated me on patrols. Even when I got a desk job they still hated me." She shrunk even smaller. "I never asked for this..."
"What do you mean?"
The griffon paused until a spark ignited all of the emotions that had piled up inside. "They literally came down one night and dragged me out of my house when I didn't go outside after my name was called. Me and a few dozen others were forced to fly to the capital. It was nothing like I'd ever seen. Hundreds of THOUSANDS of griffons were being conscripted into the First Army of the Griffon Kingdom. The King made a speech. He went on and on about how we were going to fight for glory or some other BS that nobody really cared about. But when the dragons showed up," Grizelda shuddered at the memory, "he spoke like they were gods. They would train us into the most capable and strongest army the world has ever seen." She huffed in amusement. "Like that made any difference. First day. Trottingham. Small village. Small number of guards. Do you know what they did?"
"Um..." Grizelda interrupted before Fluttershy could answer.
"They sent US. Not the dragons. Not even the diamond dogs for a distraction. You know what our dragon CO did? He picked his nose, then pointed towards the town! That's it. We lost thirty, THIRTY, griffons against no more than eight stinkin' guards. Oh we won. No argument there. Same story for Vanhoover. Only this time we lost a dozen more. I'd like to think that they heard and prepared for us, but it's more likely that we got even more bad luck. Then Stalliongrad. Oh gods Stalliongrad..." Grizelda closed her eyes and rubbed her arms to comfort herself from the cold memory, "We lost a grand total of four hundred and eighty seven. I was on grave duty. I counted."
Fluttershy sadly closed her eyes. Ironically, out of all of her friends, it was she who had seen the most death. She accepted that death was inevitable long ago, but the thought still sent spikes of loss and pain through her heart.
"Then I was "demoted" to a logistics officer because the last idiot messed up a shipment. As a griffon, positions that supported an army were often considered inferior. Not that I cared. And for a while I could actually take it. But I guess that was just the beginning of an even bigger curse. Without griffons farming and the war with our number one supplier made food hard to come by. Even after we raided the towns we didn't have much to eat. And dragons eat a lot." She paused. "I was scared. There wasn't any difference between the live griffons and the dead ones. Laying on the ground covered with snow and their ribs stickin' out... Ooh." Grizelda shivered. "I tried to help them. I sent more food. More coverings. But the dragons got pissed when less went to them. I was one of the first to Bone Meal Mine."
"Bone Meal Mine?" Fluttershy asked, shocked at the grisly name. The griffon nodded.
"That's what it was called. Work so hard that your bones grind up in your body. But it was no different. The ponies there hated me. According to a guard, I was to be worked harder than the ponies. And I was. But after about a few days of working nonstop without any sleep, the ponies didn't see an unlucky griffon. They saw me being punished and they didn't care what happened to me. Because to them, I was just another griffon that decided one day I wanted a larger slice of the pie. I don't blame them. I admit, if a dragon was being worked to death, I would probably be the one holding the whip."
"But-But you're not... They wouldn't..." Fluttershy squeaked, not knowing what to say. Her eyes grew moist. For the first time, she realized the effects of war.
"Hatred does a lot of things. I don't want to hate, but sometimes, "Grizelda raised her arms and stared at her sharp talons, "I think of taking my claws and just shreddin' their heads into-" She stopped when she noticed the pegasus tearing up. "Sorry bout' that..."
"No." The griffon's head shot up. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this."
The only noise inside the closet was the sound of a pegasus quietly sniffling. The initial energy that fueled Grizelda's rant had run out, making her one tired griffon next to one sad pony. She put her arm around said pony and pulled her closer into a hug.
"...Thanks."
The pegasus looked up. "For?"
Grizelda smiled and whispered, "Listening. I needed that."
Fluttershy nodded and wiped away the tears. She herself had a smile on her face.
***
The same sun that was the source of all life also roasted the trio as they hid in the Humvee for a shred of cover. They had been here since early morning, from the beginning of Celestia's day to the raging inferno of now. One of the Rangers was in the back, snoring the day away while the other sat hunched over a laptop skillfully manipulating a joystick that controlled a UAV a mile away. Usually, the Sentry Drone would send out GPS coordinates, but the lack of any satellites forced Central Command to manually search for targets.
"Please. Please. Pleeeeeeeease." The Ranger rolled his eyes. This had been going on ever since he had brought out the UAV.
"Pleeeeeeeeeas." A pair of puppy dog eyes and a grin big enough for an Overlord to come out of was on the face of the purple lavender unicorn sitting in the seat next to him. He just barely resisted her charms.
"Pleeeeease." He wrenched his eyes away from the mare, but his stomach betrayed the soldier. Growling for sustenance, lunchtime arrived, and the Ranger gave up.
He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine..." Twilight raised her hooves and cheered, "But only while we have lunch.”
The Ranger switched on the autopilot, sending the drone into a straight line ensuring that it wouldn't crash into anything. He walked to the back, his legs tingling from sitting for so long and pulled out an MRE from the box.
Twilight took the joystick, a surprising feat for a creature with hooves. She had read and memorized the manual for all three types of mobile drones in her spare time. It was simple enough. No high-speed maneuvers, no dodging missiles, just a simple flyover.
The unicorn sniffed the air as the smell of reheated beef stew joined the dry air. The other human yawned and woke up.
"Aww man... Wha...? Zit ardy lunch?" He raised his arms and stretched his body. "Imma go take a piss..." he mumbled as he stumbled out of the Humvee.
Twilight giggled and the soldier having lunch only shook his head in amusement, "So. See anything?" he said through a mouthful of stew.
The unicorn's eyes darted from one end of the screen to the other. "Nope. I can't see anything. Except a burrow... some desert coyote tracks... But it's so fascinating that I can actually see something so far away! What other human technology can you tell me about? Or-Oh! Can you tell me about the other factions?" She asked excitedly.
"Heh. Well... I'll tell you what I know if you tell me about..." He thought of something that might be fun to know, "Ah, I dunno... the creatures that live on this planet?"
"Hmm..." Twilight thought for a second, "Deal."
"Right then. China loves two things. Numbers and tanks. Heaven help you if you're going up against both at the same time. They're no-nonsense, to-the-point, if they hate you, you'll know. Their only weakness is the fact that their units are slow compared to others. But once they get going, they. Are. Unstoppable."
The unicorn smiled. "That sounds like my friend Applejack."
"Yeah, I'd guess so. But their crush-anything mentality means that they still use flame and nuclear weapons. I tell ya, it's painful to be burned alive."
"Wait." Twilight said, confused. "How could you know about being burned alive? Aren't you sitting in front of me... Alive?"
"What? Do you think that I just magically appeared one day and knew how to shoot a rifle and drive a Humvee?"
"Um... Yes?" she answered nervously.
"Well the reason I can is because I did. Every time a battle ends or we die, we disappear. Poof." He made the matching hand gesture. "But when we are called out of the barracks again, we still have all of the knowledge. That's why I know how to drive anything. That's why I remember being burned, shot, run over... If you can name it, I've probably been killed by it. It's the same for everybody else."
Twilight gulped. True, she had not had the time to read into this, but she never imagined it to be this... horrifying.
"And the only reason we try to stay alive is so we can complete our objective." The Ranger slurped the remaining stew and crumpled up the empty bag into a ball. Without looking behind him, he tossed the ball into the Humvee, where it landed in the designated trash box.
"Anyways, enough about me. Let's talk about our Middle Eastern friends shall we?" he said sarcastically. "The GLA, short for Global Liberation Army. They have no single commander, we have no idea who funds the entire operation, and we have no idea what the hell they want. Don't even try to negotiate with them. Their leaders change faster than a subject in a conversation with your pink friend. Another thing that's fast about them is their vehicles. They're weak, but they're perfect for rapid strikes. And for some reason we've lost 21st century vehicles to old Soviet equipment that should've been rusting in army dumps... We were even on the losing side once!"
The unicorn stared. "...Really?" she asked, not believing him.
"Oh yeah. They even reached our western coast to steal toxins. That scared everybody."
"Toxins?" Twilight asked, somewhat scared to hear the answer.
"Oh yeah. The GLA loved anthrax. Toxin Tractors were a favorite. They also put it inside tank shells, Scuds missiles, one guy even armed his soldiers with the stuff. Let's just say that death by anthrax is painful and leave it there shall we?" Twilight nodded, and he continued. "Another thing the GLA loves is stealth. We have no idea how they keep managing to infiltrate our bases, but whatever they're doing, it works."
By this time the second soldier returned and had sat down with his own lunch. The smell of pork sausage with gravy replaced the smell of beef.
The unicorn looked at him and spoke up, "So you wouldn't be surprised if a tank appeared out of nowhere?"
"Hell. I think that happened before and-" the Ranger pointed towards the screen, "Twilight, Twilight eyes on the drone. EYES ON THE DRONE."
She gasped. The unicorn immediately knew that she was flying much too low and dropping fast. But her beginner's luck had run out, and a second later the screen only showed static.
"SORRY! Sorry! Um. I-I can fix it! Can we drive to-"
The Ranger lifted a hand to reassure her. "Don't worry too much about it. We have plenty." He turned to his partner. "Hey! Pass me another scout drone will ya?"
He gently put down his food and pulled out a large black case from the storage in the Humvee.
"Thanks man." He opened the case. "Ay yai yai... Alright, while I'm putting this together, tell me about all of the things that crawl and fly in your world. You good with that?"
Twilight nodded, still feeling a little guilty.
"Well there are the ponies, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. Earth ponies have unmatched strength and endurance, pegasi have the power of flight, and unicorns can use advanced magic. That's the basics, but I'm sure you don't want to hear the long version."
"Well, we got some time left. Why don't you tell us about our enemies?"
"Okay well... Diamond Dogs. They usually stick together in packs. Gems are their favorite but they can eat many things. I'm not sure exactly why they decided to work with the enemy, but it's almost a guarantee that they were promised gems or slaves. Next are... Griffons. They live in a kingdom to the north of Equestria. I've only seen pictures, but their cities were absolutely beautiful. We would usually leave each other alone, but a few months ago we lost all contact. Princess Celestia sent ambassadors but they were turned away. Nopony really has any idea what's going on in the Griffon Kingdom."
The Ranger nodded, then held up the assembled drone and looked towards the unicorn, laptop at the ready. "You wanna fly again? Or do you want to quit?"
"I think I had enough for one day." she said as she stretched her legs.
"Here," the second Ranger said. He quickly swallowed the last bit of sausage and took the computer from Twilight. He nodded towards his partner.
The Ranger threw the small white plane, his technique well practiced from countless drone throws. The screen lit up and they had a clear image again.
He sat back down in the Humvee. "So what else are we up against?"
"Dragons. They're tough, they're dangerous, and coordinated, they can tear through anything. Luckily, they're pretty rare."
"Dragons..." the Ranger mumbled, "Flying, fire-breathing, scaly reptiles that can eat anything. That pretty much covers it?"
"For the most part yes. But depending on where you go, you might find some other types. Few ponies have seen a dragon up close. Fortunately I happen to have a dragon assistant."
The human's eyes bugged out. "Assistant? How in the hell does he fit in your house?"
Twilight giggled, "He's only a baby. About as high as your knee. And I live in a library, not a house."
"So a fire breathing reptile that eats anything. Oh! And it flies. Sounds like a fire hazard to me..."
"He's... trained." she growled with her teeth clenched. "Ugh. Sorry, but I hate it when ponies-I mean people talk about Spike like he's my pet or something."
The Ranger laughed nervously, "Eh, sorry about that."
"It's fine. Oh! And Spike doesn't fly. He doesn't have any wings."
"So is it some kind of birth defect or..." he said slowly, afraid of angering her again.
Twilight shook her head. "That's what I thought at first, but after he went on a journey to find his past, I took some time to do some of my own research. For some reason he never got along with other dragons. But a book written by a researcher named Dragon Scale had a lot of answers. Dragons are very territorial, and if you're not related to them in some form, you get rejected. The priority goes from family to types to color to species. So a family member will be a higher priority than a dragon of the same type. But dragons regardless of their differences will always stick together when against an enemy of a totally different species. Both of the times Spike met a dragon, he was rejected because he wasn't in the family or even the same type. The most common type of dragons is the aptly named Common Dragon. Winged, fire-breathing, reptiles. But Spike is actually a rarer type called an Iron Dragon. Even Dragon Scale only saw two families on her expedition. They never fly, but they are the toughest out of all of the creatures that ever lived. They're, I guess you can call them, the "earth pony" of dragons."
The Ranger stared at the sky after the overload of information. "Okay... Anything else we should be worried about?"
The unicorn hummed in thought, "Well... Just in case. I'll tell you about the changelings." She dug through her memories about that one faithful day at the royal wedding...
"Changlings are black, insect-like creatures that can take the form of ponies, replacing them so that they can- AH!" she screamed when the Ranger pulled out his sidearm and had it pointed towards her head in less than a second.
"How do I know that you're not a changeling?" he breathed from behind the pistol.
Twilight was shaking, and drops of sweat dripped down her face, "Wh-Why would a ch-changeling tell you about itself?"
There was a long silence as the soldier's finger inched towards the trigger-
And put the gun back into his holster. "Point. Sorry." he admitted. "But the second you turn black, your head's coming off."
"Okay... Okay..." Twilight took several deep breaths to calm herself down. When her heartbeat slowed to her normal levels, she continued, "Changelings feed on love. To get love, they find a target and modify themselves so that they look exactly like the target pony. There is very little information on changelings, and all we know is that they number in the millions on any good day."
"Sounds like we have one hell of a war to fight-"
The Ranger who was operating the UAV suddenly spoke up. "Hey! I got something!" He turned the screen so the pony and the human in the front could see what the drone could see.
Eighteen massive lumbering objects slowly made their way east towards the base. Each pulled large covered wagons the size of a four car garage. None of the dragons had wings.
"Speak of the devil..."
"Iron Dragons."
The Ranger turned around and pulled the hand-held microphone from its holder on the radio.
"Command, this is Recon 1. We have confirmation on the dragons. Eighteen. Bad news, they're Iron Dragons."
"Good job, but please explain."
The soldier handed the microphone to Twilight, "Iron Dragons are tougher versions of regular dragons. They can't fly, but they're able to take lots of damage."
"Sit tight, we're sending Comanches over."
"Sir, if they're anything like Twilight said, helicopters might not be enough."
"We won't know for sure. If anything, they'll keep them at bay until we can get some tanks up."
“Acknowledged Command... Acknowledged”
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What you see here is the result of nine non-stop hours of writing. Just because I felt like it.
Holy hell there is a lot of talking in this chapter. If you were expecting an all out battle, sorry. But I needed a break from the action.
The griffin speaketh!
Yeah that's right. Our generals use TF2 respawn technology. USA is BLU, China is RED. They are at a secret war. The GLA are actual freedom fighters, making them the good guys. Food for thought.
No, I'm just kidding.
Info about our resident dragon and why none of his older forms have wings. Think about it. Zecora said that he was just growing older when he was getting greedy, but even then he still didn't grow wings. I'm just going to go with that and not think too hard.
Oh, and that's why the other dragons were impressed at his ability to do a belly flop in lava. Cause he's just that tough.
My chapters are getting longer...
I need your opinions. Are the chapters improving, getting worse, or fluctuating?
Here, enjoy what I think is the best version of Hell March.
Aw, hell. It's about to go down. Nice chapter. Though you might want to do a scan 'cause you missed some spaces here and there, mostly with triple periods. And also the chapter ended and now I have to wait. Could do without that (being cheeky).
So the humans have the mystical power of respawn... Nice. And the build up to the reveal on Grizelda's arc was just nice. I knew something was up with this griffin, and then BAM. Someone issue that griffin a hug, stat!
And that's a pretty damn epic rendition of Hell March. Well, I'm off to find my 1st Decade disk now. Nice work!
1601318
I read your comment... Then I realize that I use a lot of triple periods for some odd reason.
Thankfully MS Word does all the hard work.
1601318
Oh right-
The next chapter is already at thousand words. It shouldn't take too long.
I sense tomahawk launchers standing by! Send in the paladins!
1602164
Get a few missle defenders and tank hunters while your at it
dont forget the patriots and overlords
1603403 Can I launch one, huh?
They will beg for mercy.
1603417
and get the nuke and inferno cannons ready
1603445 Why stop there? Break out the scud launchers and rocket buggies!
1603472
Warning particle cannon detected, (countdown 00:10)
Warning Nuclear missile detected, (countdown 00:10)
Warning Scud Storm Detected, (countdown 00:10)
1603804 We can do better. Shockwave better.
Warning Cluster Missile detected, (countdown 00:10)
Warning Earth Shaker Cannon detected, (countdown 00:10)
Warning Soyuz Missile detected, (countdown 00:10)
1603828 Now let's play...........
1603846 I know a quaint little hamachi server.
1603855
i'm on a mac and i can't play
1603868 The mod does have MAC compatible downloads or is it hamachi related?
1603876 OSX Lion does not support the software anymore.....
1603883 Damn...
"Iron Dragons eh? Well my lasers are going to turn their scales into vapor!" -General "Pinpoint" Townes
Are we going to see Laser Crusaders or possibly Laser Paladins anywhere in the future? Because precision will always defeat brute force, general!
1605337
And Auroras there shall be. Very next chapter too.
1603890 i have hamachi and both generals :D
1606006 Ah but do you have shockwave and/or Rise of the reds?
1607633 no
.
.
.
i do now though (shockwave)
1609966 Hamchi room: Handschar
No PW
There is only one question to ask:
How 'bout those rocket pods?
I like it. C&C logic at its finest. Respawning troops. Vehicles, buildings and infantry appearing out of nowhere.
So when's the next chapter coming?
1891951
Day 51, I am still Writer's Block's hostage.
Kinda like humans with magic that makes technology. Fun to read.
"It runs on money." lol More, please!
1893104
Thanks!
Question though - I've been getting a crazy amount of faves even though I haven't touched this story in about two months. Can I ask where did you hear/how did you find this story?
1893122 a group added it and from the notification
1893672
Ooh... That explains a lot.
Thanks much!
1893122, got a recommendation from one of the groups I'm in (either Humans Aren't Bastards or Human in Equestria).
1893831
Humans Aren't Bastards forum. So THAT'S where everyone's been coming from!
Well, at least I didn't need the DU shotgun ammo and the tin foil hat.
1893122
It was posted in Humans Aren't Bastards.
Would be fun to see the changelings get beaten by their own tactics:
A large changeling on wheels rolls into the insect camp.
"What's that?"
"GLA POSTAL SERVICE!"
Everything goes asplod'.
Did you just pull the latest chapter? I see no update here...
1929483
Pressed the "Publish" button instead of the "Edit" button by mistake. I click too fast for my own good sometimes.
Sorry bout that.
1929495 Eh, that happens
1929498
Still, it's coming out in a day or so anyways.
With all the plans and stuff you would think he would just start merging/modifying structures to start forming his own unique Faction. His construction vehicle could be modified/upgraded by taking the best parts of each faction into it (though my memory of this C.A.C game that is used for the crossover is slightly lacking). What would be hilarious is if Luna tries to help him using her magic alongside Twilight and a few other Unicorns and by some twist of Fate acquire plans from other parallels to the Command and Conquer Universe (funny if he got a few Brotherhood of Nod plans among other things).
1932357
This story was originally going to be a massive C&C crossover from all three worlds... But I decided that was way too much.
Still, fun idea.
1932364
If you have only 1 person trying to put it all together then it isn't too overwhelming (god knows if you used a key character from each reality things would have gotten confusing to quickly). Just use what the human use don't use the aliens or insects from the other game variations (don't quite think the ponies could grasp seeing humongous working ants doing stuff). Mutants to some degree would be out but to say he somehow acquires a cyborg unit or 2 would make things unusual for awhile. He still hasn't made any of the unique unit characters yet has he?
1932458
No hero characters have appeared, but they're going to in a later chapter.
1932472
K. You are doing a great job. No feel of rushing compared to other people that write about RTS game crossovers. Seeing as the enemies are Diamond Dogs, Griffins, and Dragons (are we going to have problems with natural creatures like Hydras, Manticores, and others). Would be funny that if you get Tom to build a K-9 base and instead of normal dogs for some reason they take a more semblance to the Timber Wolves (Saying the magic of Terra is soaking into some of the structures and altering the units themselves [there can be pros and cons for the change but would add to the change of passing the reality barriers]).
More you glorious b******!
1944576
Been writing for a few hours now but only a few hundred words from finishing chapter 11.
1944600global3.memecdn.com/yes-meme_o_961812.jpg
1953172
Damn. Do you know how lucky you are? I'm just finishing up my comment on chapter 11.
Two chapters will come out in roughly an hour. TWO.
Mistake
'What our'
Wow... that's really... dark and shit. I can't imagine how much that must suck, but, it kinda explains a lot.
I also have inspiration... damn it, damn me and my brain hole! Dx
Awesome job!
1602164 You need some nuke cannons. But it depends anyways.