Friends Come & Go, But Battle Buddies Last Forever!
Surprisingly Wilson was very nonchalant about learning that Logan was still alive. He chalked it up to "Magical cartoon pony bullshit". Also, a significant portion of his attention and mind was mentally assigned to keeping the casualties of the previous battle alive. Anyone that meets Wilson and interacts with him for more than a few minutes would immediately notice Wilson's unique characteristic of how he places the physical well-being of his fellow comrades' health, easily over anything else physical or intangible in the universe. When he was informed of the friendly fire incident that was the result of gung ho officers chasing after some chest candy, he wanted to go maim and torture the instigators. Luckily for those officers, the only reason Wilson didn't immediately go after them was that he had to treat and take care of the casualties that came from it.
When Wilson had a moment of free time where he wasn't critically needed in the infirmary, he decided to take a quick once over on Logan. Logan sat on a cot in the infirmary as Wilson was using a stethoscope on his new body. Wilson dropped the stethoscope and then placed a bare hand palm on Logan's chest. "You're dead," Wilson announced. "Not in a, I'm gonna kill you way, but in a you are not alive kind of way. You have no heartbeat or body heat. You do breathe, weird, but with that hole in your chest, I don't know how its possible. Somehow, you can see with your eyes even though they're rolled up into your head."
Tran and Eric were sitting nearby in chairs and they eyed the various wounds in the Jaeger body that Logan now occupied. When Tran and Logan were assassinated, they were shot by two Jaegers. His immediate return fire had managed to kill them, having used his signature hand cannon. The Jaeger's body that Logan now occupied had two enormous bullet holes in the chest, very obviously from Tran's hand cannon. The body also used to have a hole in the wing but it had been healed by Princess Luna. The two entry holes were huge and the two exit holes were even more colossal. One of the holes was in the general area of where the heart should be and the other was in the stomach. Strangely enough, both of the wounds did not bleed and Logan felt no pain from it when it was touched. The wounds did have a lot of old blood staining and obscuring things but Wilson had cleaned up the entry and exit wounds so he could properly examine Logan's new body.
Logan shrugged. He poked at one of the wounds on his chest with one of his talons. Again, he felt no pain from it. "I mean, I did die. Maybe I might still be a little dead? The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated. I don't know how this shit works," he said. His eyes went wide as he remembered something. He looked over at Tran and had a grimace on his face. "Remember when that big pony healed me and why?"
Tran nodded and stood up. He walked over to Logan and Wilson. "You sure you want to try?"
Logan still had the grimace on his face, remembering how much it had hurt. He nodded. "Well, we gotta learn how this shit works," he said. Wilson wasn't sure what they were talking about but held out a hand for Logan. Logan saw this and grabbed Wilson's hand.
Tran reached out with a bare hand and touched one of the entry holes in Logan's chest. At first, the action had only felt like someone was poking him. However, the next thing he knew, he was immediately filled with mind numbing pain. Logan clenched Wilson's hand with a terrifying amount of strength, some of the talons digging into Wilson's hand. He screamed like his life depended on it and Tran immediately retracted his hand. His fingers were now stained with blood that had oozed out from the wound. "Fuck!" Logan cried out.
The wound that Tran had touched was now oozing deep red, almost brown, blood. Wilson looked at the bleeding wound and as he was cleaning it up, he paused. Wilson put his palm against Logan's chest. "Holy shit, your heart's beating."
Logan clutched his chest. It was still clear that he was in pain. "Is that why I feel like death?" he asked with a strained voice. Logan looked up at Wilson. "Please do something, I feel like I'm dying." Wilson walked away to get something while Tran took a few steps away from Logan after the pain he caused.
Wilson didn't ask any other questions and gave Logan a dangerous dosage of morphine and Logan's body relaxed. Wilson wasn't worried too much about other health complications that he could cause because his patient was basically already dead. That didn't stop him from packing the oozing both sides of the bullet wound with gauze and bandages. The blood was barely a liquid, almost being a sludge and it was so dark, it almost looked to be a reddish brown. All of this pointed to signs of being aged, drying, almost coagulated blood. "It's like you're a zombie. Everything says you are dead and have been dead for quite a while," Wilson said.
Eric, who was still sitting in his chair, threw up a hand to get their attention. "Well, if that's the same Jaeger that tried to kill you and Tran, its a month old corpse," Eric said.
Wilson looked over at Eric and tapped Logan's chest with a bloody hand. "Yeah but a month old corpse should be a liquified mess of rotting flesh. There should be only bone and barely any flesh left," Wilson said.
Logan took a deep breath and put a talon-ed hand to his chest to feel his heart beat. "And why did it take a month before I 'respawned'? And why the body of who possibly killed me?" Logan asked.
Wilson let out a sarcastic snort. He was still patching up the wound that was now bleeding. "Magical cartoon pony bullshit," Wilson answered.
Logan chuckled but the smile disappeared from his face as his gaze fell to Tran. He could still feel some of the pain from whatever Tran did, even with all of the morphine going through his system. "And what the hell is Tran doing whenever he touches my ouchies?" Logan asked. He looked up at Wilson. "Why doesn't something happen when you touch the holes?"
Eric stood up in his chair and started walking over to Logan and Wilson. "Let's see if I do something," Eric suggested.
Logan had that pained grimace on his face again. He looked back at Tran and then to Eric. "Fuck, I hope its not feeling like death again," Logan said.
Wilson held up a hand for Logan to grasp and clench as Eric reached the two of them. Logan grasped Wilson's hand and mentally prepared himself for him to experience hell. Carefully, Eric reached forward and touched the other open wounds on Logan's chest. Logan could feel Eric prod the wound and after a short moment that seemed like an eternity, Logan didn't feel any of the hell he was expecting. However, what none of them expected was for the wound to start bleeding profusely. Eric's eyes went wide as he saw blood flow significantly from the wound. He pressed his hand against the wound to put pressure on it, to slow down the bleeding. As that happened, Wilson started grabbing a chest seal and something to pack the wound with.
As for Logan, he felt his heart race. He didn't expect Eric to put pressure on the wound and since he was sitting up, he was pushed over and fell off of the cot. Eric almost fell over with Logan but managed to stay standing. Logan quickly got up, wings flared out and him holding out his hands, talons bared, from his body's natural instincts. His heart raced and adrenalin surged through his veins, it felt like he was in a fight for his life. He now had the body of a predator which made things worse. Even though Eric and Wilson were his friends, he looked at them like they were his prey/enemy and he needed to fight them.
Wilson, holding the medical supplies he sought out earlier, held out his hands in front of him in surrender. "Logan, calm down. I gotta fix your shit!" Wilson yelled.
Logan didn't hear Wilson's words, he was too focused on keeping the two of them in his sights, ready to fight them. He almost shot forward to strike first but then he realized who his targets were, his friends. He shook his head and look back at Eric and Wilson. He took a few deep calming breathes as he kept reminding himself that he was in the company of his friends. He got back on the cot and allowed Wilson to patch himself up, breathing very deep and heavily. "Goddamn," Logan said.
Eric looked at his bloodied hand and back at Logan. "What the hell was that?" he asked.
Logan was trying to control his heart, which felt like it was beating a million beats a minute. Some of his extremities were shaking or twitching, as he was still feeling very antsy. "When you knocked me over, it felt like I was gonna have to fight for my life," Logan said. "My new predator bird brain."
Eric was about to wipe the blood off of his hand when he realized something about it. The blood was not as dark as earlier, now being a lighter shade of red, as if there was actually some life in it. "Hey, your blood, its changed color," Eric said while holding his blood covered hand up.
Wilson, who was now patching up Logan's latest bleeding wound, paused, looked under the gauze. This wound was bleeding normal red blood like a normal wound, unlike the other wound that oozed out almost-coagulated blood. He finished up packing the newly bleeding wound and then went back to the other one. Interestingly enough, instead of bleeding, the first wound was now scabbed over. He redid the packing on the first wound and then went back to the second wound. The wound was still bleeding but it was slowing down. He used a spare piece of gauze to clean off the blood so he could look at the flesh underneath and when the flesh was revealed, he watched as the wound rapidly scabbed over where he touched. "Well, you're healing. Fast, wounds already starting to stop bleeding and its already scabbing," Wilson explained.
Logan looked down at the flesh wound and poked at it with a finger. "Well, that's good," he said. Once Wilson finished packing all of the wounds, Logan stood up and redon Tran's borrowed coat. "Well, aside from the Magical cartoon pony bullshit, we got the gang back together."
When Wilson finished with bandaging up Logan's entry and exit bullet wounds, he walked over to Eric. Eric, at this very moment, was still covered head to toe in blood and viscera. He was completely blood red, aside from his face which he had wiped off. However, the entirety of his eye was red. There was no white to his sclera, giving Eric a very haunting appearance. "I heard about what happened to you from the soldiers I had to treat," Wilson said.
Eric gave an agitated snort. "Fucking morons," Eric said. He suddenly recoiled, realizing what he implied. "Not our soldiers, the idiots that shot at us."
Wilson chuckled. He understood the faux pas. "I know you'd never do or mean anything bad to your soldiers," Wilson said. "I want to give you a once over just in case."
Eric nodded and took off his body armor and coat. Wilson went through the usual things, such as checking the heart beat and how his breathing was. When he went through the usual cognitive tests, Eric passed them. Even though his eyes were completely blood red, there was nothing hindering his ability to see or follow an object, eyesight wise. "Well, you blew some blood vessels in one of your eyes," Wilson said. "That's why its all red like it is."
Eric shrugged. He had seen how he had looked in a mirror and several of the soldiers under him had mentioned the condition of his eyes. "Figured. I was pretty close to a shell impact. That's why I'm covered in another soldier," Eric commented.
Wilson coughed to interrupt him. "Only your right eye. Your left eye is perfectly fine. I don't know why its red like the other one," Wilson said.
Eric was about to ask some questions, when they had a few new guests. The four of them were occupying a personal infirmary room by themselves and the door to it had been essentially kicked in. Tran, Eric, and Wilson immediately drew pistols and aimed it at the door while Logan dove behind a cart of medical supplies. Hilariously enough, Logan had instinctively flared out his wings. However, he was wearing Tran's coat and it wasn't meant for someone with wings which meant it had no wing holes for Logan's wings to poke through. This meant that when he tried to flare out his wings, it threw up the coat up and over Logan's head.
As Logan's new bird brain was beginning to panic, Spitfire walked into the room. At the sight of all of the pistols, she flinched and doubled back, hiding behind the doorframe. The humans reholstered their weapons at the sight of the pony. "Fucking don't surprise us like that!" Wilson yelled out.
Spitfire sheepishly walked into the room, followed by Soarin, Gilda, and Rainbow Dash. The four of them had their attention immediately drawn to the griffon that was covered up by his own coat and panicking and walking around in random directions. "Aw, shit!" Logan cried out as he walked into a chair and fell over.
Gilda's ears (earholes?) perked when she heard the voice and recoiled back. She took into the air, hovering, as she drew a sidearm. "You!" Gilda yelled out, alarmed. Everyone reacted to Gilda drawing a sidearm, all in the same fashion, as in they also drew a weapon. No one knew where the threat was so everyone was just paranoid at every direction.
"STOP," Tran commanded with a rather imposing tone. At that very moment, everyone stopped where they were, not moving a single muscle. No one made nary a noise as Tran's dead facial expression somehow conveyed supernatural irritation. It was rather frightening for the ponies and griffons (even Logan), as they felt like children being scolded by their parents. He had a rather frightening glare, that brought up deep primal fear from the ponies and griffons. Even Logan felt it, even though he couldn't see anything because his face was still covered, but not Wilson or Eric. The room, to the five of them, felt supernaturally colder as they froze in a never before felt, primordial dread. "What the hell is your major malfunction?" Tran demanded.
Gilda sheepishly lowered herself to the ground and lowered her pistol. Words seemed to escape her mind, as she was terrified from being scolded by Tran. She did, however, managed to slowly raise and point a shaky talon at the Logan, who still had no idea what was going on since his face was still covered by his coat that was still upended over his face. Tran snorted at her answer. "Carry on," Tran called out.
All at once, the terrifying presence that everyone felt was immediately gone. All five of them realized they had stopped breathing in fear and all simultaneously took in a deep breath. Logan, finally realizing what was the problem, uncovered his face and returned the coat so that he was wearing it in a reasonable manner again. Spitfire, Soarin, and Rainbow Dash immediately realized what had worried Gilda as they were now faced with the sight of a red scarf-wearing Jaeger staring back at them. All three of them had the same shocked expression, only surpassed by Gilda's horrified face. Gilda, who was still pointing a shaky taloned finger at the Jaeger, was dumb struck. "Y-You're dead!" she cried out.
Logan realized that Gilda was pointing at him and he pointed a talon at himself, and patted himself down. "Doesn't look like it," Logan replied.
Rainbow Dash, absolutely confused, looked to the humans for answers. She had no idea why there was a Jaeger here without causing alarm... Well, aside from Gilda of course. "What the buck is going on?!" she demanded.
Tran pointed over at Logan. "Old friend o' ours," Tran replied.
Gilda rubbed her earholes upon hearing the answer. She blinked a few times, still dumb struck. "Y-You killed him! We all saw you kill him. He should be dead!" Gilda said.
Rainbow Dash was still just as confused. Tran's reply had answered nothing. "Okay, what the buck is going on?" she asked again, less demanding than the first time she asked.
Gilda looked at Rainbow Dash because of her question and then back at the elephant in the room. "That's Snowhawk! He's one of the Empire's best Jaeger assassins! Tran killed him and his brother partner!" Gilda answered.
Logan's ears (griffon earholes) perked up upon hearing Gilda speak. "Snowhawk? That's a dumb shit name. Is that who I'm supposed to be?" Logan asked.
Soarin looked at Spitfire. He was just as confused as everypony (and griffon) else. "Well, I can see why you like working with these human weirdos. They do make life spicier," Soarin commented.
Spitfire took Soarin's statement in stride. She looked at the Jaeger, the new one, and then to Tran. "Can you explain what the buck is going on?" she asked, mirroring Rainbow Dash.
Eric, finally wanting to advance the conversation, pointed over at Logan. "Remember our friend, the fourth one who died a month ago? Well, he's back, And he's using the dead body of a Jaeger" Eric finally addressed. A few seconds later, Eric continued. "And no, this isn't an ability humans have, we're blaming this on the bullshit magic of this world."
Gilda looked away from Eric after hearing his description and looked at the now ex-Snowhawk, now Logan. She still had her pistol drawn and was very paranoid about anything with the supposed Logan. Logan noticed Gilda's tentativeness and he waved at her, to which she flinched in reaction. She almost pointed her weapon at Logan in instinct but kept herself from doing so, considering her company.
Spitfire pointed a paranoid hoof at Logan. "Are you sure it's your friend?" she asked.
Eric nodded. He looked at Logan with tired eyes. "He was alone with the princess and Tran and he didn't take the chance to kill them. He knows things only Logan should've known. I trust that it's him and the others trust that it's him. That should be enough for the rest of you to trust him," Eric answered.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. She slowly trotted towards Logan and held up a hoof. "It's nice to have you back, Logan," she greeted.
Logan took Rainbow's hoof and shook it. "Nice to meet you again, rainbow ass," Logan greeted back.
Rainbow scrunched her nose from Logan's nickname for her. "Yeah, it's him," Rainbow said.
Soarin instead of his attention being directed at Logan, he was more interested in Eric. He was still covered entirely in blood and viscera and he had just returned from battle. "Hey buddy, we heard what you went through, then did. We came here to ask your side of it. What happened? Are you all right?" Eric's blood and viscera covered form didn't help the three ponies and griffon try to figure out Eric's current status. That repulsive fact obscured whether he was fine or not and it also made him seem rather... Psychotic? Deranged?
Eric frowned. Fighting the battle was enough to tire him substantially but having to bear witness to the obliteration of his fellow troops was the death knell in how he felt. His body ached and his mind ached even more. "Yeah, Fine, where it counts. A few things are hurting a little but I should be fine," Eric replied.
Spitfire opened her mouth, wanting to speak but her emotions were holding her back. After a few tense seconds, she finally spoke. "And what happened at the other airship," Spitfire tentatively asked.
Eric straightened up and his body tensed. "They deserved every bit of it," Eric said. Spitfire's statement looked like it had set off Eric, and he no longer seemed like he was their friend/ally. Eric clenched his fists but it wasn't enough to suppress the growing fury. It seemed like he was about ready to fight them, even though they were his friends. As more and more rage built up in the human, the room strangely felt warmer and warmer for the non-humans, to the point where it was almost unbearable and raging hot. The ponies and griffons in the room, even Logan, felt inclined to get themselves ready for a fight as their instincts screamed at them that they were in peril. Adrenaline pumped through their veins and despite whatever they had done previously in the day, none of them felt tired any more. All of their day's exhaustion was gone as they were completely focused on a possible danger and they were ready for battle.
It all stopped when Tran walked over to Eric and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's been dealt with and it was entirely justified," Tran commented. Eric unclenched his fists and let out a breathe that he only now realized he'd been holding. As that happened, the sense of danger that everyone felt suddenly disappeared. Everyone let out a sight of relief as the room seemed to cool down, as did their tempers. Lethargy flooded their bodies as the adrenaline was gone and the muscles they had tensed up in expectation of the fight, was now relaxed. Tran turned to face their new guests. "What did all of you just experience, right then?"
The ponies were confused and looked amongst each other, Gilda joining in on their confusion, wondering if any of them had a clue what he had been asking. Spitfire looked up at the human with confusion. "What do you mean?"
Tran pointed back at Eric who was now, relaxed, controlling his emotions. "When Eric looked like he was about to pop his top. All of you tensed up and froze. What was that?"
The ponies and griffon seemed uneased. Even Logan had felt the same thing as the ponies and Gilda. The only ones who didn't feel the same sense of anxiousness as the rest of them were Tran and Wilson. However, Tran and Wilson had witnessed them all become anxious and tense up in response. Logan shivered and pointed at Eric. "It was like earlier, when we were dealing with my wounds. I felt like I was getting ready to... Fight?"
Gilda looked at Logan and shook her head to try to shake off some lingering mental fog. "Hey, I know we're cool, but it seemed like Eric was gonna kill us?"
Spitfire only now realized that she had slowly backed up, to the point where it seemed like she was trying to hide behind Soarin. She took some steps forward so she could join in on the conversation. "It felt like we were threatened? Like our lives were at stake?"
Soarin looked at Spitfire with a shocked expression. "You felt that too? I thought it was just me? I thought we were about to have to fight for our lives!"
Wilson and Eric looked at each other. Tran shrugged while Eric looked at his hands. They were shaking. "Is my anger that scary to you guys?"
Rainbow hovered into the air, appalled. "No! You're our friends! It's just that, at that moment, it felt like we were gonna charge into battle. That rush in your heart, the power to charge, the feeling and heat of being in... Danger? Maybe fighting for your life in a battle?"
Tran patted Eric on the back to calm him down. Eric seemed to still be tense and was subtly shaking "How about me?" Tran asked.
Rainbow, still hovering, tilted her head, at Tran's questioning. She raised an eyebrow. "You're scary but we're used to it. We know you're cool to us."
Tran folded his arms and started glaring at her with the same emotionless expression on his face. Rainbow was used to people who was like this, having met Pinkie Pie's sister, Maud Pie before. However, the next thing she knew, Tran's seemed more... Chilling than usual. Before she knew it, she stopped hovering in the air and touched down to the ground as she slowly froze in terror. It wasn't confined to Rainbow. Before anyone else could react, Gilda, Spitfire, and Soarin felt the effect from Tran's glowering expression. Even Logan, who was standing to the side of him and wasn't in Tran's direct eye line, felt some terror. The room seemed unnaturally... Colder as they all froze in their tracks and even thoughts.
No one made a sound as the room essentially became dead silent, enough that each of them could hear their own heart racing. They felt no pain, no terror, no prior weariness even though it was close to evening. All of them were filled with a feeling of hopelessness as life seemed to be no longer worth living. It felt like they were... Dead inside.
Tran finally broke his gaze and all of them all took in a deep breath, nearly collapsing from oxygen depravation, they had all simultaneously stopped breathing the instant it had started. Some of them were on the verge of collapse and Spitfire suddenly had tears falling from her eyes. Soarin realized what was going on with her and grabbed her with a wing and held her close. While he tried to comfort Spitfire, Soarin looked at Tran with a startled expression. "W-What was that?" he asked.
Tran let out a sigh and shrugged. "We don't know and neither does Luna. It happened to her too," Tran answered.
Soarin kept staring at Tran with a rather scared expression before turning his attention to Wilson. "W-What does he do?" he tentatively asked.
Wilson scowled and shook his head. "How the hell am I supposed to know? None of this makes sense! It's your guys' magical cartoon pony bullshit! It's all new to us!" Wilson quickly answered.
Logan shivered and manically dusted himself off, trying to get rid of some residual feelings of what happened. He searched through his coat out of habit only to realize he was wearing Tran's coat instead of the gear and clothing he had before turning into a griffon. He looked back to Wilson with a pleading look. "Please tell me you have a cigarette?" Wilson dug through his gear and tossed something to Logan. He tried to catch it but was shaking too much that it fell to the ground. Logan picked up the cigarette pack and opened it up, sticking one in his mouth. He lit it with a lighter that was in the pack of cigarettes. He took a long drag and finally redirected his attention back to the others. "I missed a helluva lot while I was gone, didn't I?"
Spitfire looked at Tran with a terrified expression, mentally unclear on what she wanted to do. She was petrified, worried about what he would do next. She looked over at Wilson and realized that none of what she and the others had felt did not affect Wilson. He looked as angry as he usually did, with his normal resting-bitch-face, and showed no discomfort like the others. "D-Did you not feel that?" she asked.
Wilson was confused for a second but could see that the ponies and griffons looked very distressed. He looked at Logan and also saw that he was emotionally distressed. He knew very little about griffon and pony body language but it was obviously clear that it seemed like they had gone through the emotional/mental wringer. "No. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to affect me, whatever Eric or Tran did. We don't know how it works, only that it does," Wilson explained.
Spitfire turned her attention back at Tran. She still had the mental fog that the experience had created but steeled her resolve. "Please, never do that again. Nopony deserves to go through that, not even our greatest enemy. It was terrible. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't do anything. I was going through every bad experience in my life all at the same time. It felt like I was... Dead inside. Truly dead. L-Like I didn't want to live anymore," she pleaded, tears dripping from her eyes.
Tran sighed, emotionally drained. He took a step forward and every pony and griffon, even Logan, flinched in fear of what he was going to do next. They didn't flee but watched as Tran walked over to the four of them, Spitfire, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and Gilda. Every instinct in their bodies were telling them to run away, coming from the memory of what they had gone through. When Tran was in arm's reach of them, he reached over to Spitfire and patted her on the head. "We've only known each other for half a year but, you are my friends, all of you. Friends, I would trust my life with. We have fought together, bled together, and protected each other. I don't want anything bad to happen to any of you," Tran poured out from his heart, as he patted Spitfire on her head.
Spitfire's tears slowed as she took the words to her heart. The feeling of dread was gone and her body was filled with warmth as Tran was finally showing some emotion for once. "We're family now," Tran continued. "I want the best for all of you. I want all of you to stay alive. If any of us are to die, I would rather be the first so that none of you are harmed." Spitfire's eyes started filling with tears again, except these weren't tears of sadness or sorrow like previously. These were heartfelt tears.
They all felt touched by his words, they were a good reminder to continue to try to live, for the best of their well being. Being near him was no longer dreadful like earlier. Now, it was the exact opposite. They were all heartfelt and were mentally uplifted. The mental cold dread in their body was now replaced with an spiritually uplifting warmth. Before he knew it, Spitfire reached up and hugged him. The feeling was now multiplied several times over and she felt like she could take on the world, no matter what it would throw at her. The next thing any of them knew, Soarin, Gilda, Rainbow Dash, and Logan rushed over and hugged him in a group hug. Just like Spitfire, they all felt an unnaturally amazing spiritual uplifting feeling the moment they made contact. It felt like they were going through all of the past good experiences in their life, all at the same time, reminders of life. As long as they had each other, nothing would stop them from soldiering on.
Eric walked over to the group and and raised his fist. "After everything we've done together, fighting in this war, you're our family. Our bonds are forged in fire, War! An unbreakable bond that can face anything!" Eric chanted. From the group hug, they looked at Eric. The ponies and griffons felt fire in their bodies. They could feel their hearts race and that they were ready for anything. They broke away from the group hug and all raised a fist/hoof/fake-hoof. They felt like they could fight through any battle no matter how difficult. If they survived every battle in the past that they had fought through while being with each other, any other battle in the future would be a cake walk. They wanted to fight!
Eric lowered his fist and Tran walked over so he could be beside his fellow warrior. Tran folded his arms and the two of them had an intense gaze on the ponies and griffons. Before they knew, that feeling of being ready of going into battle slowly died down. In addition to that, the warmth they had felt from Tran's uplifting words slowly burned away.
Spitfire, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Gilda, and Logan all suddenly looked confused as their spirits mellowed out. Soarin looked amongst his fellow ponies and griffons and was suddenly confused. "Whoa," Soarin said.
Tran glanced over at Eric and the two shared the same thought. "I thought about what Tran had done earlier, making you all feel scared and depressed. Now, it seemed like he did the opposite, making you guys feel all happy and whatnot," Eric postulated. "And I joined in to see what I would do."
Rainbow Dash started hovering, her heart and mind still feeling some of the aftereffects of that supernatural supercharge. "Yeah, you did that... Thing? I mean, Wow, it was... Awesome! I felt like I could take on a dragon all by myself, what was that?" she exclaimed.
Wilson scrutinized the various ponies and griffons, having been a witness to everything they had gone through. "When they made you guys feel those weird bad emotions, I think they just wanted to see if they could do the opposite," Wilson commented. "And it looks like it worked."
Logan had an absolutely confused and astounded expression on his face. "Man, I wonder if I can do that?" he asked.
Rainbow hovered over to Logan and had a look of awe on her face. "That'd be cool. What would you do if you could do what they did?" she asked. She rubbed her chin with a hoof in deep thought. "We gotta get Twilight to see how this works."
Wilson threw his hands up into the air. "Damn, where's my weird mind juju magic aura?" the short medic demanded.
Tran looked at the exasperated medic. "Did that happen to you, what me and Eric did?" he asked. Wilson shook his head and Tran directed his attention to Logan. "But it worked on you, right Logan?"
Logan nodded his head and he had a surprised look on his face. "But why didn't it work on you guys? Is it because you three got your human bodies?" he asked.
Tran shrugged his shoulders and looked at the other ponies. "What did I make you guys feel? The second time?" he asked.
Spitfire rubbed the tears from her eyes and smiled up at Tran. "Like I was... Alive. That everything was good in the world and it was right to be alive. It made me forget about everything bad in the world," she answered.
Eric looked at Gilda, the only other griffon in the group aside from Logan. "And what did I make you feel?" he asked.
Gilda smirked and hovered up to be beside Rainbow Dash. She put an arm over her shoulder. "Like I could take on the world. Like I could fight anything!" the natural predator boasted.
Rainbow pumped a hoof into the air. "Like we were awesomely unstoppable!" the ace dogfighter added on.
Tran and Eric, who were still standing beside each other, glanced at each other. The two of them didn't know much about how this work but they did learn something during the entire ordeal. Whenever they felt emotionally charged, whether negatively or positively, it was affecting the denizens of this world in a rather strange and extreme way. Eric looked over at Wilson who was standing by himself. "Now, we gotta figure out what you can do," Eric said to Wilson from across the room with a wave of his hand.
Wilson folded his arms and started pouting. "It better not be something fucking stupid like I make their ouchies feel better with a kiss," he grumbled. Logan chuckled and made a loud air kiss in Wilson's direction towards while pointed at the wounds on his chest. Wilson turned his head away from Logan's direction while pouting.
Rainbow Dash circled around the room. "Mare, I want to fight something! What you made us feel was awesome!" she cheered. Just as those words left her mouth, a siren started blaring. All of them recognized it as the airship's emergency siren.
'ALL HANDS ON DECK, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!'.
Everyone slowly turned to look at Rainbow Dash. Wilson had an especially angry look on her face. "You stupid fucking bitch," he insulted.
-X-X-X-
All of the airships took off while troops on the ground filled in defensive positions. Troops that were on the airship gathered on the top deck, the observation deck, of the airship and had their weapons ready or filled in weapon positions. This rogue changeling hive, it was located and situated in the side of a large hill, borderline a mountain, that was one small section of a long line of other mountains that made up a long spanning mountain range. A few mountains away, they dejectedly watched as a dragon, a full sized one, crawled out of one of a nearby mountain. It was a several kilometers away so they had a short amount of time to prepare.
Everyone was on the deck right now, ie Tran, Wilson, Eric, Logan, Princess Luna and four escort sentinels, Rainbow Dash, Gilda, Soarin, Spitfire, Rarity, Blueblood, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were gathered together, looking at the incoming threat. Almost everyone had a pair of binoculars and were surveying the giant beast. Princess Luna tossed her binoculars overboard in irritation. Prince Blueblood and Lady Rarity were quite surprised at the princess's rather humorous display of decorum. "And that would be a metallic dragon," Princess Luna dejectedly said. "An iron one at that."
Eric, who was still covered in blood and viscera mind, lowered his binoculars and turned his attention to the princess. "What makes them different?" he questioned.
The princess groaned, knowing how bad this was going to be. "Their scales and hide are tougher than a normal dragon's. Basically made of iron like their name implies. They're flying bunkers that spew fire. Nearly impossible to kill," the princess explained. As the dragon quickly came into full view, the situation got worse. It would have been bad if they were facing a full sized iron metallic dragon. What made their situation absolutely horrifying was that they were facing a full sized iron metallic dragon... That was wearing metal armor... That also had a partner. Immediately after the first dragon came into view, they watched as another dragon crawled out of the same mountain the first one came from. Wilson slowly walked over to Rainbow Dash and then smacked her sharply upside the head. She was about to angrily retort back but then shrank back, considering she had tempted the gods by literally asking for a fight.
Tran lowered his binoculars and looked over at the princess. "How thick would you say their hide is, with scales?" he asked the princess.
The princess snorted. "At least five or six centimeters," she answered. She looked back at the dragons. "And there's no telling how thick the armor they're wearing, is."
Tran paused for a few seconds and searched through his mind for solutions. "How much weight would you say you can support while still being able to fly at over, say, 200 kilometers per hour?" he asked next.
The princess was confused for a few seconds before finally answering. She was the the second largest alicorn in Equestria, so she had a significant advantage with her physical abilities compared to other ponies, pegasi in this case. She was nearly the same height as Tran, being maybe an inch or so shorter, meaning as a pony, she weighed a little under five hundred kilograms, another thirty five kilograms if you included her wings. Being one of the powerful alicorns of Equestria, her physical flying ability and capabilities were further boosted by her earth pony strength. "Maybe a thousand kilograms?" she replied with a curious expression.
Tran looked over at Logan. "Want to go see some of the stuff I've been working on since you've been gone?" he asked.
Luna's ears perked up from Tran's question even though it wasn't directed at her. She made some assumptions from what he had asked her earlier. "Have you a weapon for me to carry into battle?" the princess asked the human.
Tran didn't turn to face her. He had a smirk on his face that only Logan could see. "Something like that," Tran replied.
-X-X-X-
Luna had a look of scorned indignation on her face. The lunar princess, one of the few alicorns of Equestria, a royal princess, was now being ridden like a simple packanimal as if she was a trivial travel mount with no intelligence. Standing around her were four of her escorts who were doing their best to remain stoic, Rainbow Dash and Gilda who were on the verge of breaking out in laughter, Spitfire and Soarin who were indifferent, and his three human (one ex-human now griffon) friends who were busy running around and grabbing things as they were in this airship's cargo bay. Everyone else was gone, having rushed to battle stations or preparing for battle.
The princess, not bothering to look back at her 'rider' had a look of indignation on her face as she slowly came to terms with her situation. "Pray tell, why did you have a saddle sized for somepony of my stature?" she asked.
Tran who was sitting on a saddle that was perfectly sized for, theoretically speaking, the second largest alicorn princess of Equestria, was adjusting the bags/satchels of extra bazooka rockets strapped to his body. "It's not mine, Logan found it," Tran replied. The weight of Tran and his gear was barely a trifling matter for Princess Luna to carry, in terms of physical hindrance. The power of the earth pony portion of her alicorn genes was a great boon to her, for this task.
Wilson and Eric had returned to them with a large chest, one that Tran had requested. When they opened it, the container was revealed to contain several long cylinders with stabilization fins. They didn't have pointed noses like a conventional mortar or air dropped bomb. When Eric pulled one out of the box, he was surprised to find that they didn't weight as much as their size would suggest. He had no idea what they were.
Hand pointed over at Rainbow Dash and Gilda. "Hand those to the two fliers," Tran commanded. Instead of the two humans going over and handing them to the two fliers, the two fliers flew over to them where the chest were. They were confused at the look of the objects and they had no idea what they were. They guessed that they were bombs but their weights and shapes mystified them. They were a large cylinder with a flat back and a inverted concave front nose. They had fins to stabilize their flight and weighed about 6 kilograms. They were about half a meter long while being 15cm wide. Gilda and Rainbow Dash could probably only carry four each, due to their large awkward size. There was two extra of the bombs and one each were given to two of Luna's escorts.
Logan looked at Tran. He pointed at one of the bombs that Rainbow Dash was carrying. "Are those HEAT bombs?" Logan asked.
Tran nodded. "HEAT with copper EFPs, I made some just in case we had to deal with something really armored," Tran replied.
Gilda raised an eyebrow as she settled the weight of the bombs on her body. She was trying to get them in a comfortable position where she could fly with them. Every time she repositioned them, she would hovered into the air for some test flying. "Heat? EFP? What's that mean?" she asked.
Tran looked over at Gilda as he tried to settle the saddle in a good spot. He was constantly dismounting and remounting the saddle, every time it was repositioned or adjusted. The princess was still wearing her usual armor so the saddle was not wanting to stay still, sliding against the armor a little bit in every direction. He had to find a good spot for the saddle so it wouldn't interfere with the princess's wings. "High Explosive Anti Tank," Tran responded.
Gilda was still confused. She obviously knew what high explosive meant but she didn't know what a tank was. "Tank? What's a tank?" she asked.
Tran finally managed to position the saddle in a perfect spot so that it was comfortable for the princess to wear and for Tran to sit down on. He sat down on top of the saddle for hopefully the final time. "Just imagine a large steel bunker that can move," Tran responded. He pointed at one of the bombs. "Those things should be able to punch through 35 centimeters of steel."
Rainbow Dash and Gilda's eyes went wide from hearing the bomb's capabilities. Rainbow Dash whistled in amazement. "Damn, those dragons don't have a chance!" she exclaimed.
Tran, now sitting on the saddle strapped to Princess Luna's back, pointed at Rainbow Dash and Gilda. "Wait for the princess and I to distract them. Once that happens, head in and try to drop those bombs on them. Try to aim for their head but anywhere on their body works. They're magnetic so if you manage to hit the dragon, it should stick to him before detonating" Tran explained.
The two ace dogfighters and the two of Luna's escorts carrying the bomb nodded. Meanwhile, Princess Luna, who still had a look of indignation on her face and had been patient as Tran adjusted the saddle to her, grumbled. "I would prefer to conclude this as quickly as we can," the princess complained.
Tran reached down and gave the princess a reassuring pat on the neck, as if he was trying to calm a horse from his home world. "We gotta take our time. Those are the only ones I've made so we can't waste them," Tran replied. The princess frown grew.
Eric, who was standing nearby, closed the chest and turned his attention to the others. "I'll direct the airship's cannons and the soldiers on deck to provide some covering fire," Eric said. He looked up at Tran, sitting atop the princess. "Have fun with your horse ride." Gilda and Rainbow Dash used all of their mental fortitude in trying to keep them from laughing at the princess, not wanting to get banished by the powerful alicorn. Meanwhile, the princess's escorts were just as offended as the princess, due to their loyalty to their night mistress.
The princess glared at Eric, wishing she had the ability to smite people with her eyes. Tran wasn't able to see the princess's irritation since he was sitting on her back, only being able to see the back of her head. However, he could see the princess flick her ears in irritation and after having lived in Equestria and being around ponies for quite a while, he could guessed that she was probably annoyed. He looked back at Eric with the same blank look on his face. "Imagine if I had my scout's spurs. It'd complete the joke," Tran commented.
Rainbow Dash burst into laughter while the princess's escorts looked at Tran in shock with jaws dropped. Spitfire but not Soarin, who were standing on the sideline, was also looking at Tran in shock, eyes wide. The princess turned her head so she could look at Tran. She had a look of absolute outrage on her face. "I am not appreciating your attempt at lewd humor," she remarked.
Rainbow Dash flew over to Tran, who was calmly sitting on Luna's back with the same dead expression on his face. She nudged Tran on his side with an elbow. "Spurs? I didn't take you for tackplay." The princess glowered at the hovering showboat and flared open one of her wings, smacking Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus laughed as she flew back up to Gilda.
Soarin turned to look at Spitfire and nudged her with his elbow. "If even he has spurs, maybe I should get some spurs to join the club?" he joked. Spitfire didn't appreciate the joke and smacked him in the face with one of her wings, something he accepted and chuckled.
Tran raised an eyebrow and looked down at the princess. "Lewd? Tackplay?" he questioned.
The princess retained the same frown on her face but there was a tinge of redness in her cheeks, impossible to tell if it came from anger or embarrassment. She turned her head around to look up at Tran. "Pray tell, aren't spurs meant for controlling the 'horse' you're 'riding'?" she commented. "A rather private task you only indulge in the 'bedroom'?"
Tran mentally paused for a second. They were ponies so obviously they weren't riding horses so if they used spurs... It was pretty funny, now that he thought about it, when he mentioned his scout's spurs. Tran blinked and directed his attention back at the princess. "We have a more practical use for them but the ones I'm referring to are ceremonial and were earned when I proved my combat worth with my fellow soldiers," Tran explained. "They meant a lot to me when I was given them and if the soldiers that helped me earn mine were present, they would have been proud that I earned them."
The princess, despite still being irritated, raised an eyebrow at the human's tale. "Were your fellow soldiers not able to attend your ceremony?" she asked.
Tran let out a slow breath through his nose. Even though he displayed no emotion on his face, the princess could see tiredness in his eyes. "They were no longer present to attend," he stated.
The princess understood his answer and the look of indignation disappeared, replaced by a look of sympathy. Rainbow Dash and Gilda, despite joking earlier, no longer had the look of mischief, now only sorrow. The princess's escorts lowered their heads in respect. "Those who pay the ultimate price are to always to be remembered, whether they belong to a different army," she reassured.
Tran nodded. "That they do," Tran replied. He turned his direction to Rainbow Dash and Gilda. "Is everyone ready?" he asked. The two dogfighters, with bombs strapped to their bodies, unslung their submachine guns and nodded. He looked to the four princess's escorts, two of which were armed with the special bombs, and pointed at them. "Ready?" he asked. The four escorts saluted in him response. He drew his own submachine gun while his bazooka was slung on his back. He looked at Eric. "Ready?" Eric nodded and grabbed Logan, the two of them quickly leaving the cargo bay to get to their role in this battle.
Wilson drew his Serbu Super Shorty Shotgun and handed it to Tran, along with a bandolier of shotgun shells. There were maybe thirty shells to go with. After Tran tucked the weapon away in a safe manner, Wilson held out a hand. Tran grabbed Wilson's hand and the two firmly squeezed each other's hands in a non-moving handshake. "Stay alive," Wilson ordered.
Tran broke off the handshake. "I'll die, when I want to die," Tran answered back. Rainbow Dash, Gilda, and the princess's four escorts took a position nearby the princess and rider. Wilson walked away from them and over to a large bay door. This door was the loading bay door for this cargo bay, for the airship. Wilson pulled on a chain and the bay doors opened, revealing the outside world. This airship had taken off long ago and they had been airborne for a while. Upon the opening of the bay doors, wind started blasting into the cargo bay and the sounds of gunfire, artillery fire, and explosions could now be easily heard. The eight of them charged forth and took flight, ready for battle.
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11853751
They're not mercenaries, they're allies to the griffons. Kinda like how in WW1 the Austro Hungarians were allied with Germany (griffons).
in here, the minotaurs are basically the austro hungarians and italians
If a Sequel of this story happens, I'm going read it, Because I love this story be interesting if there were another four human characters that pop into existence if a sequel does happen that be awesome keep up the good work, I'm enjoying the story.
Offhand, I want to say Discord left something extra behind as well ... (and if he didn't, somebody did) ...
So much magical cartoon pony BS going on with these humans. Also, the "tackplay" conversation
Just finally got caught up. While most of the time don't prefer this style of story I'm happy to say this is one of the ones I adore. Being a naval fan myself will the Equestrian Navy ever be present in this story? For this time period you know the Navy has that good tech
11879652
yes but far forward in the story. you'll just have to wait.