• Published 28th Jul 2012
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Of War and Friendship - DocDelray



Mandalorians and Ponies working together to stop the Deathwatch, what could be better than that?

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Tolik's Lament

A cold lump formed in Mackers’ stomach as he watched the flames light the distance behind a background of building smoke. Through the scope of his newly-acquired rifle, he could make out the silhouette of the city he’d been informed was known as Canterlot. He’d also been informed it was the last location of Commander Teth, as well as the capital city of the nation of Equestria, “Oh, osik… That does not look good.”

At his side, Yazan shook his head in disbelief, “Maybe there’s an explanation for this; those black ops guys could’a doubled back and hit the capital, or maybe part of the ship fell on it.”

Mackers let the weapon hang from its shoulder strap as he slumped down against the wall behind him, “The ship fell too far away for that, man…” He muttered in shock as he stared at the ground, “He wouldn’t order it, would he? The Commander is blood-thirsty, sure, but unarmed civies on an under-developed world?”

His comrade grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to his feet, “We gotta talk to the Sergeant about this.”

Quickly making their way through the throngs of frightened townsfolk, the pair headed for the Inn that had become their base of operations. The tension that hung in the air around the town felt like a fog as they pressed forward. Mackers could feel the guilt building in his bones as he waded through the sea of eyes cast on the distance.

The situation in their communications hub was less encouraging. A quiet, somber tone strangled the life out of the room. Their comrades shot worried looks at the late-comers as their Sergeant stood over the holoprojector,

“Sir, I fail to see how action of that nature is necessary if the capital is under our control.” The building rage in his voice was poorly hidden, if at all.

“Sergeant Tolik, are you refusing to follow my orders?” The holographic image of Teth scrutinized him.

“Of course not sir, but, these villagers are no threat to your occupation; I don’t believe this level of action is necessary.” Tolik did everything he could to keep his mounting anger in check. He knew first-hand that Teth was not above executing soldiers he felt were mutinous.

“Sergeant, several of these “innocent” villagers have already joined the enemy and were part of the attack on the ship,” Teth was clearly losing patience with his soldier, “I want this village made an example of. In a day’s time, reinforcements will arrive; when they do, you are to carry out my orders to the letter. Do I make myself clear?!”

Reluctantly, Tolik bowed his head in submission to his Commanding Officer, “Yes, Commander Teth… I understand.”


Teth watched the image of his Sergeant fade out as the transmission ended. Something about his tone and demeanor rubbed him the wrong way. But for now, that would have to wait; he had a city to bring under control. Through the shattered stained glass windows of the throne room, he could still hear the sounds of blaster bolts and the screams of the soon-to-be-conquered.

A sizable portion of his men had reached the castle, and had begun clearing out or subduing any members of the palace guard. Teth had to admit, he was impressed by their tenacity in the face of a losing battle. Not a single Royal Guard surrendered to his men; even the youngest, fresh-faced recruits faced down the volleys of blaster bolts, unflinching. The bravest and boldest of their number had made a hardened storm on the throne room to free their monarchs, sadly offering him less of a challenge than their rulers. Their bravery was inspiring, and this left him admittedly frightened of these creatures. Word will quickly spread to the rest of the city about what had happened here in the palace; even when the city is taken, they will have rebels and insurgents to deal with.

Several troopers were hard at work clearing the bodies of both Deathwatch and Pony alike from the throne room as Teth strolled to the shattered windows to drink in the sight of his conquest. Pride swelled in his chest; if he was to be stranded on this world, then he would simply have to take it for himself. His attention was pulled away from the wondrous sight by the labored words of his prized captive, “I’m sorry, dear Luna, you will have to speak up; I’m afraid I can’t hear you over the sound of my men killing your people.” He said with a playful smirk.

The ebony Alicorn glared at him from the floor beside the throne. She and Celestia both had been placed on either side of the throne, laden with shackles and chains like prized pets, “Why… Do you… Keep us alive…” The powerful drugs, poisons and mental disruptors made it a chore to speak, as the words leaked out between her bared teeth.

Teth smiled as he turned to face the Princesses and make his ascent up the dais, “I’m afraid you two are just far too valuable to me alive; at least, for now you are.” He stated as he ran a hand along her cheek, taking his seat upon the throne, “Did you see the way those Guardsmen faced their deaths without a second thought, all for the chance to save either one of you? No; when I kill the pair of you, it will be on display to all your citizens.”

His musings were cut short by the approach of a trooper baring a Major’s insignia on his breast plate. As he came to a stop at the foot of the dais, the Trooper snapped a crisp salute, “Status update for you, sir.”

He watched Teth who waved him on to continue, “The palace has been brought under control, the majority of the resistance has been weeded out and castle staff brought under heel.” He reported, “The city is taking a bit longer than expected; however, it appears the defenders are falling into disarray and pulling back. Casualties have been within expected ranges.”

“Very good, Major;” Teth stated with a nod of appreciation towards the soldier, “I want you to assemble a platoon, march them to the town of Ponyville and raze it to the ground. When you get there, kill every man, woman and child.”

“No… Please… Do… Do not…” Celestia pleaded between labored breaths.

“You and that town only have your beloved pupil, Twilight Sparkle, to blame for this.” Teth stated as he ran his fingers through her mane, driven by the disgust in her eyes, “Now they will all die because of her.”


Tolik was silent for a time as he stared down at the holoprojector before him. Across from him sat his helmet, the solid black T-visor glaring disapprovingly at him. He could hear the chastising voice of Jax in the back of his head; even from the grave, his comrade wasn’t letting him get away with anything.

The weathered Sergeant could feel the eyes of his younger charges begging him for reasons. How could he explain this to them; would they still follow him, or would they see him as a traitor?

“Sarge;” Yazan broke the silence, “He really did it, didn’t he? That twisted chakaaryc ordered an attack.” Tolik always knew he was a smart kid.

“Tell us he’s wrong, Sergeant,” Mackers demanded, “This can’t really be happening - can it?”

In the back corner of the room, the quiet pair of humans shared a look before turning their attention back to their superior. The Razzan twins, Rollins and Igor, identical to a tee; both stood well into seven feet tall and were built like a pair of dreadnaughts. The only discerning difference between the two was Rollins’s shaved head and Igor’s shaggy brown locks; for the most part, they preferred to always stay quiet and follow their orders. The current situation, however, had stirred the pair of leviathans into joining their companions as they moved to stand alongside Yazan and Mackers.

Tolik refused to face his troopers as his mind tried to make sense of whole situation; to find a way to explain it all to them. Reaching to his left shoulder, he proceeded to remove the armor plate that magnetically clung to him. Looking over the Deathwatch emblem, his heart began to sink, “Why did you join this outfit?” He asked no one in particular. Turning to face his men, he eyed them each closely, “Why did any of you join Deathwatch?”

The four Troopers looked between themselves, “Same reasons most joined up, Sarge:” Yazan answered, “Money, adventure, a chance to return Mandalore to its former glory.”

Tolik’s fist slammed into the table, causing all four of them to jump to attention, “I don’t want the damned tag line, I want the REASON you joined.”

“They said I wasn’t fit for the army, but Deathwatch was willing to take me.” Mackers replied.

“I wanted out of my dead-end life…” Yazan pointed out.

“We needed the money for our folks.” Rollins stated glancing at his brother.

Tolik stared into the visor, “My closest friend was head-hunted by them, but he wouldn’t join unless they took me as well…” He looked down at the patch in his grasp, “We signed on with promise of credits in sums the military would never pay us.” He turned to face them, “We thought we could instill a sense of true honor in the men we led, and the money was good.”

He tossed the emblem to their feet, “At some point, every warrior needs to make a choice. What he thinks is right, what he thinks is wrong. I’m making my choice; you four need to make yours. None of you have to follow me from this point on. We’ve been given orders to level this town in the morning; orders I don’t aim to follow, and I’m perfectly okay with the death sentence it earns me. Any of you want to avoid being branded as traitors, I suggest you shoot me now.”

Not a word went up from the young soldiers as they weighed their options. Tolik braced himself mentally for what very well could be either his death or the death of these young men. To his surprise, each one took a step forward and stood at attention, snapping a salute.

“What’s our first move, Sarge?” Yazan chimed in.

A smile teased the edges of Tolik’s mouth, “First things first: we need to fill in our friends in the Royal Guard, and hopefully get them to help.”

“And uh, how do you think that’s gonna go over?” Mackers questioned nervously.

Tolik smirked half-heartedly with a nod, “I’m sure I can guess how Gallant’ll react to all of this.”


A heavy hoof connected against Tolik’s jaw sending shards of pain from one end of his head to the other. He stumbled slightly as he reached up to check the soreness of his jaw, making sure nothing was broken. The slight metallic tang of blood tickled his tongue as he nodded in understanding, “Alright, I deserved that.”

“You deserve a hay of a lot more than that!” Gallant barked as he barely restrained himself from rearing up and slamming another hoof to the side Tolik’s face, “We should kill you where you stand!” There was an uneasy hush that hung over the room as Gallant verbally tore into Tolik.

“Alright, you want me dead; fair enough,” Tolik could feel the side of his face starting to swell up; those hooves hurt a lot more than he thought they would, “When this is all over, you can be first in line. Hell, you can even use my knife. But we need to live through the coming osik storm first!”

The Guardspony leveled a glare on the fellow Sergeant that could burn through durasteel, “And why should we trust you? You could be leading us all into a trap!”

With that, Tolik drew his pistol, leveling it with the Unicorn’s right eye. On reflex, every one of his troops brought their own weapons to bear with their former companions. Tolik couldn’t help but feel impressed all the more with Gallant; not so much as a blink or bat of an eye, all the more reason to respect him, “If we wanted to fall in line with Teth’s orders, we would have killed you already and started on the town. Now, you got two options here: help us, or get out of our way.”

The tense standoff lasted for a sliver of eternity, as neither side was willing to back down or submit to the other. The Unicorn knew that what he was saying had a grain of truth to it; why would they waste time setting up a trap just for five members of the royal guard, when they could just shoot them where they stood? With no shortage of reluctance, Gallant nodded his head in agreement, “What is your plan, Mandalorian?”

A small smile came to Tolik’s face as he holstered his pistol; as expected, the troopers flanking either side of him brought their weapons to rest, “A real simple one, actually. You and your boys get the townsfolk to evacuate and head for the hills, while me and mine set up a barricade and make peace with whomever we worship and ask for swift, honorable deaths.”

Gallant didn’t even raise a brow at the mention of their suicidal odds, “And where are these ponies supposed to go?”

“Don’t matter, just so long as they get out of here. Once you’re away from the town, scatter in all directions; make it so they can’t track you.” Tolik stated, “You’ve got till morning to get these folks clear of here; I suggest you get busy Sergeant.”


Yazan and Mackers found themselves working to convert several crates, a wagon, and a fruit stand into an acceptable defensive position. The pair was mostly silent as they put their surprisingly vast carpentry knowledge to use. Neither one had said a single word as they worked for the past hour in continuous silence. Over their shoulders, the Royal Guards were hard at work organizing the civilians and keeping them from panicking.

Mackers let out a heavy sigh as he nailed another board into place, “So, you ever think this was how it was gonna end for you?”

Yazan let out a snort, shaking his head, “I’m not dead yet.”

“Hah, key word there: yet.” Mackers chided him. He watched sadly as a grey and blond Pegasus mare tried to keep her foal from crying as she hefted her pack onto her back, “You think these people’ll ever get their lives back in order after all of this?”

His friend was silent for a moment, trying not to acknowledge the mass exodus behind them, “I dunno, man. Heck, we probably won’t live to see how this all turns out in the end,” He said, shaking his head, “I’ll tell you one thing, though: standing up to Teth like this and helping these folks… Makes me feel good, I feel real good.”

“One thing I regret above all else,” Mackers added to the conversation as he glanced back at a pair of mares helping each other, “Never did get to sample the local flavor.”

Yazan gave him an annoyed sigh, “There is something seriously wrong with you, Mackers. We’re probably going to die soon, so I just gotta know: what motivates your thought process?”

“Well, the farther apart the species, the less likely it is I can get her pregnant,” He replied, “Besides, you gotta admit; the curves of those flanks are real nice.” Mackers added with a playful smirk.

“Mackers, you are by far the biggest sexual deviant the galaxy has ever known,” Yazan informed him as he placed a hand upon his shoulder, “When you die, the universe will certainly be left a slightly more boring place.”

For a time, Mackers was stunned by his comrades words; possibly even touched by this heartfelt moment, “You expressed feelings. Lame.” He couldn’t help but ruin it.


Tolik had to admit, things were actually going smoothly for a change. The Royal Guards had been true to their task and managed to evacuate nearly the entire town. A few stragglers remained here and there, but for the most part, it really looked like he wouldn’t have to worry about civilian casualties. Behind the visor of his full helmet, he proudly watched his men set up and dig in for the coming assault. They were ready to face their deaths without a second thought; they were Mando’ade to the core. Familiar hoof falls drew his attention over his shoulder to find Gallant.

“You should be leading the evacuation.” Was the only thing Tolik could find to say to him; what else can you tell someone you’ve betrayed?

Gallant moved up beside him and took in the sight of these former Deathwatch troopers setting up their barricades, “Swift Wing is more than competent enough to take the lead.”

“You’re not staying.” Tolik snarled at the Unicorn as he resisted the urge to beat him unconscious.

“And you really think I’m about to leave you aliens to defend one of OUR towns completely unsupervised?” He asked with a sharp critical eye, “Besides, I want some payback…”

A small smile crested across Tolik’s face; he did what he could to keep his tone gruff and angry, “Fine, stick around and die if you want, just don’t expect me to mourn you.”

“You’ll be dead, too, idiot.” Gallant happily reminded him.

Maybe it was the stress of the battle just over the horizon, or maybe it was just a pair of aging warriors finding common ground. The pair of them couldn’t help but laugh alongside one another at the fact that their almost certain demises were just a few hours away, and yet all they could do is argue.

Tolik held his side as the laughing fit finally subsided, “Gallant, you should’ve been born a Mandalorian.” Taking his side arm from its holster, he held it out to the Unicorn, “You think you can figure out how to use this?”

“I think I can figure it,” Gallant’s horn began to glow as an aura surrounded a blaster rifle Tolik had left leaning up against a tree. The weapon floated in front of Gallant who happily examined it, “I think I’d rather use this, though.”


The morning came quietly and reluctantly as the first rays of light crested over the horizon in the distance. Tolik watched as a force of soldiers twenty men strong came through the morning mist along the main road. Several carts pulled, with no shortage of reluctance no doubt, by a few battered Canterlot citizens. As they came closer into view, Tolik noted Gallant’s sudden tensing, “Hold onto that, just a bit longer.” He reassured him.

As the carts rolled to a stop, a trooper proudly displaying a Major’s markings upon his breast plate disembarked. His attention shifted to the tired creature strapped to the cart, “The next time you drag your feet transporting us, I’ll shoot you myself.” He stated with a glare from his visor.

Tolik took a deep breath to steady his nerves as he looked to the rest of his team before slipping behind the cover of his helmet. So far, he’d managed to act as a competent leader; now it was time to put it all into practice. Getting to his feet, he paid his Equestrian companion a glance, “Keep me covered.”

Gallant gave him a confident salute, the blaster rifle he kept hovering beside him. This did little to inspire Tolik with more confidence; he reminded himself that everyone dies eventually. Who knows? Maybe they’ll get lucky and take some of them with them.

Tolik made his way out of the make-shift cover to meet the Major and his forces halfway, “Major, I’d like to welcome you and your men to Ponyville.”

From behind his visor, his superior eyed the empty streets, the doors left ajar. Here and there were a few scattered remains of torn clothing, dropped mementos and the like, “Sergeant, where are the villagers?”

Behind his mask, Tolik couldn’t help but smirk, “Damnedest thing, I woke up and they were all gone. Guess the ruckus you caused up the mountain scared them all away.”

“How stupid do you honestly think I am?” This was not an unexpected reaction, “I know you’re an accomplished soldier, so I will give you a chance to explain yourself,” The Major stated before drawing his side arm and leveling it with Tolik’s visor, “Before I decide to shoot you for treason.”

Tolik could hear the shouts of protest of his men over his com, he was just thankful none of them were within ear shot. He mused on how their antics probably WOULD get him shot regardless, “I felt the orders were wrong, sir.”

“So you took it upon yourself to aid possible enemy combatants!?” His superior demanded.

“I took it upon myself to do what I felt was right.” He shot back.

“What charming last words.” The Major stated mockingly before a blaster bolt cut through the air within the town and struck his weapon, knocking it clean from his hand and across the dirt road.

Mentally, Tolik followed the path of the blaster bolt back to where he’d left Gallant behind. Quietly he gave a thanks of praise to the Unicorn’s surprising skill with a blaster and his amazingly good timing. Not one to lose the advantage, Tolik quickly stepped in and planted a swift blow to his neck, sending him to the ground.

This, unfortunately, brought a number of blasters aimed at him. His own weapon was leveled with the Major’s face as he stood over him, “All of you, look at what you’re doing,” He called out to the rest of the troopers, “Look at what you’ve done! Attacking unarmed civilians, working them at blaster point and now you stand here with your weapons drawn on your own allies!”

A number of Troopers began to shift uncomfortably as his words started to hit home, “This is wrong, and we all know it!” His gaze shifted from the mostly defeated Major to the rest of the platoon, “None of this furthers the goals or ideals of Deathwatch, or has anything to do with purifying the soul of Mandalore! This is nothing but Teth furthering HIS goals, HIS agendas and every one of us are his pawns in his game!”

He could see a few of them beginning to look more and more uncomfortable with where they were standing. This filled the Sergeant with renewed confidence, “I’m nobody’s pawn; how many of you can say the same thing?”

An awkward silence held the field for a moment. Tolik was certain he was about to be gunned down at any second. Thankfully, the much-awaited volley had yet to come as a number of troopers began tearing off their Deathwatch insignias and moving to stand behind Tolik. Behind his visor, a grateful smile etched across his weathered face as six of the soldiers chose to switch sides. His attention shifted back to the Major on the ground, “Things are looking a bit more even now; what say we just call this a stalemate and go about our business?”

To his surprise the man before him began chuckling. Tolik had expected rage, spitting and cussing or maybe even indignant reassurances of Teth’s superiority, but not laughter, “Did you really think I would come all this way and not bring any back up?” The man’s words sent a chill down Tolik’s spine as he tapped a device mounted on his wrist.

From the far side of the village, a group of ten more troopers exploded from the forest and surrounding the town, their jet packs ablaze as they shot through the wilderness and into the sky over the town. These airborne attackers let loose a devastating volley of blaster bolts across the town square as they took to the rooftops. Taking cue from their comrades, those still loyal began letting lose their own assault.

Tolik immediately turned on his heels and let lose a number of blindly fired blaster bolts into the crowd firing on him. He could feel the heat of the kinetic energy as they tore through the air all around him. To his right, one of the defectors was not so lucky as a number of bolts from his former comrades tore the man apart.

Cussing up a storm, Tolik made a beeline back into the safety of the defensive line that had been set up. Diving head-first over a rather sturdy barricade, he quickly pressed his back to it as a number of blaster bolts slammed into it, again and again. Looking to the side, he caught sight of Gallant who called out to him over the fire, “So, negotiations went well, I take it!”

“Yeah, I think they’re gonna surrender any second now!” Tolik called back sarcastically.


The sudden attack from the forest had caught Yazan and Mackers by surprise. The pair ran frantically as the deadly barrage nipped at their heels like hungry kath hounds looking for meat. Their original defensive position had been reduced to splinters under the sudden assault.

Mackers fired several blind shots over his shoulder as he kept pace with his friend, continuing to spew a long stream of curses between shots. Yazan took him forcibly by the forearm and dragged him through an open doorway to get them out of the line of fire. Tumbling through the door, the pair found themselves in an all-too-familiar setting.

“Oh man, please tell me we didn’t…” Mackers sighed as he looked over the display cases and shelves of the local bakery.

“The Cakes are going to kill us…” Yazan lamented as he realized his mistaken choice of refuge.

Several blaster bolts broke through the windows and the weaker areas of the walls, giving them little time to continue kicking themselves. The pair of troopers dove behind the main display counter as the shop began to explode into a cacophony of chaos all around them.

“GAH! We just fixed this place!” Yazan screamed in rage as he switched his weapon over to fully automatic and began letting fly a volley of shots out the front door.

Mackers took him by the shoulder to snap him back to reality, “You’re wasting ammo, tail head!”

“I don’t care, so long as I waste one of them!” He yelled back.

As unlikely as it seemed over the sounds of combat, they heard the squeak of a floor board behind them. Bringing their weapons around, they quickly pointed them away as they came face to face with a bright pink mare, “Ms. Pie, what the in haran are you doing here!?” Mackers demanded as another volley caused him to shrink behind their cover all the more.

The pink party pony hugged the floor watching in horror as her home and place of business was shredded by the weapons of the off-worlders, “I’m sorry!” She called out to them over the ricocheting fire, “We left in a big hurry and the Cakes forgot one of little Pound Cake’s favorite toys; I thought I could sneak back and grab it before anypony noticed me gone, now the bakery is getting shot to pieces again!”

The pair of warriors shared a look before returning to Pinkie, “Uh yeah, sorry, that would be our bad… Again...” Mackers stated as another angry volley burst through the building.


Through the chaos of it all, Gallant and Tolik had managed to take refuge behind the now-charring remains of vegetable stand. Both took turns firing over the sides of their slowly-diminishing cover, the smell of burnt wood and ozone burning their nostrils as the fighting continued. The morning sun was low in the distance when all the trouble had started, now it was nearing noon and it looked as though they had lost twice as much ground as they had gained.

Tolik ventured a glance around their cover only to have a blaster bolt scrape his helmet and force him back into hiding, “You’d think they’d get bored and go home.” He couldn’t help but make light of the situation.

A half hearted smile came to the Unicorn’s face as a blaster bolt tore apart another corner of their cover, “Now wouldn’t that be nice.”

Tolik looked sadly at his ammo indicator on the side of his pistol, “I’ve ten shots left; you?”

Gallant levitated his weapon to view the power pack indicator, “If I’m reading this right, I’m almost out of ammo too.”

As a few more blaster bolts struck their hiding spot, “Look, Gallant; I was only following orders, and in retrospect if I had kept following them I’d be on the other side of this fire fight right now.” Tolik pointed out.

The Guardspony relented slightly, “I still haven’t forgiven you or your people for what’s happening… But I’m proud you chose the right side, in the end.”

“I’m starting to question that right side thing.” Tolik joked as he watched another of his defectors get torn down, “Ah well. At least I get to die with a clean conscience, right?”

The roar of engines rang out over the sounds of blaster fire, bringing the fighting throughout the village to a brief halt as all eyes shifted to the skies. In the distance, a blaster burnt shuttle craft made a wobbly path through the air towards the town.

“Is that with us or them?” Gallant asked as he watched the craft enter their air space.

“I have no idea…” Tolik answered as he watched the craft start to list to the side. Suddenly a panel on the side of the craft popped off with a small explosion. Smoke and flames began to jut from the hole in its side as it began to sway from side to side, starting a less-than-noble path towards the ground.

A collective cringe went up across the town as the craft fell out of the sky and made a crash landing into the side of the large building at the center of the village. Splintering wood and sputtering engines filled the air as the ship came to an all-too-sudden stop in the side of the structure.

Tolik shook his head sadly, “Whoever that is, I sure hope they’re better at fighting than they are at flying…”