Brony Recon: Ascension

by Freescript the Bard

Song of Immortals Part 2: One Does Not Simply Trot into Equestria

MB: Hey, everypony! I'm back from Aviation Camp! Please enjoy another chapter of the Song of Immortals story arc, now longer with more plot twists!

Skyblaze: Seriously, though, you might want to brace yourselves. This story gets so twisted, it may as well be a nerd's underpants after a bad school day.

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Storm's POV

I was bored. When Caramel has to work, I'm usually stuck at home or trotting around town. Well, not so much trotting as almost trudging. Ponies are normally friendly around me, some even congratulating me for bringing life into the world. In response, I try to put on an amiable face and smile back. I get an especially good cheer from Derpy or Dinky, often passing by their house on my walks to and from town center fountain.

The fountain was one of my favorite spots, having more comfortable benches than the parks. I also had an excellent view of the town market, main street, and town hall. Watching ponies go about their business was quite fun, actually. The rush of commerce and the idle chatter between friends is more soothing than one may realize. Of course, this coming from someone who grew up in downtown St Louis. My house was literally down the street from the pier where Cereal had set up Exodus Equestria.

Today, I saw two familiar faces on the benches next to the frozen fountain. Bon Bon was sitting with her legs tucked like most ponies, but looked kind of downcast. Dinky was sitting on the adjacent bench, resting on her haunches, her face matching Bon Bon's.

Concerned, I walked through the snow up to Bon Bon. "Hey, Bon Bon," I greeted. "What's with the frown?"

She sighed. "Can I share something personal with you, Storm?" I nodded. "I've been trying to get into a relationship with Lyra."

Oh sweet Celestia. I nearly gave a fanboy squeal as I realized I was about to influence Lyra-Bon Bon shipping. Calming myself, I took a breath. "So, what's keeping you from her?" I asked. "You two are perfect!"

She gave me a raised eyebrow. "You're not weirded out by the fact I'm a mare?" Bon Bon said.

"Well, my friend is engaged to a Princess and my other friend is dating a mare AND a…" I paused as I recalled the saddening news Ben gave me last night after Sky's unfortunate entry. "…stallion." Drawing my inner strength, I used Markus' advice he gave me when my grandpa died. I put on a smile as I focused on the things that make me happy; Caramel and the foal within me prominent among them. "So I don't have a problem with it. Ponies can do whatever make them happy."

"I guess," she replied, eyeing me when I paused. "But Lyra has these… quirks… that I'm afraid will get in the way of our relationship."

I gave a laugh as I was fully aware of Lyra's obsession with the world I came from. "Well, Caramel has his quirks as well, but look at us now," I exclaimed, sitting back on my haunches and rubbing my slightly swollen abdomen. "I may have my own oddities, but Caramel is forgetful and a little clumsy."

Bon Bon peered at me curiously. "How'd you get passed it?"

"I didn't." Her puzzled face increased as I giggled. "I love him for all his awkwardness and little lapses in memory."

Bon Bon furrowed her brow for a moment, then began to catch on. "So, I should find a way to appreciate Lyra's oddness?"

"Yep!" I responded curtly.

"Thanks, Storm, you're a real friend."

"No problem," I said, looking over at the filly who was still staring at her hooves. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somepony else to cheer up." Bon Bon nodded with a smile as I moved over to Dinky. "Hey, Dinky, what's eating ya?"

The filly looked up at me with large, round eyes. She sighed with a tone that belied her youth. "I think mommy wants Ben to ask her to marry her," she said plainly. Dinky was smart for her age, getting perfect grades in school and had a ton of common sense. "But I know that Ben wants to know about my dad."

I frowned. Ben had put off proposing to Derpy so he could find out more about Dinky's father. It was probably his confounded sense of duty. On any other day, I wouldn't know how to respond. But today, I felt a weird motherly vibe as the words formed in my head. "Sweetie, Kind Greetings is a pony of dedication. Once he has his mind set on something, he will stop at nothing to finish. It's unfortunate that he set his mind on… that."

"I just feel guilty about telling him…"

Hold up, what?! "You… know who your dad is?"

She looked away, scraping at the bench seat. "Can you keep a secret?" I nodded and leaned closer. "Mommy joined the mail mares because she wanted to travel. She was looking for somepony, or something, that was part of her past." I knew Dinky was smart, but this was getting deep. "One night, before I was conceived, mommy disappeared for a month. Carrot Top said that when she was found again, she was five months pregnant with me."

I startled at this. "How…"

"Sometimes, mommy whispers things in her sleep," Dinky continued. "Things about a strange stallion with a blue machine. A traveler and his ship." Oh you have got to be kidding me. "Sometimes, I see things. I sometimes know how somethings work by looking at them. …and I hear it."

I was shocked. I knew exactly who she was talking about. "Hear… what?"

"His ship," the small filly answered. "A grinding noise, but the most beautiful sound in the universe. It's his spaceship. A time machine."

Oh dear sweet merciful baby Luna in her crib. Dinky was conceived in the 'Time And Relative Dimensions In Space'. That's why she's so smart. Dinky Hooves is part Time Lord.

Dinky's father was the Doctor.

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Skyblaze's POV

The setting sun poured its light through the west-most windows of Canterlot Palace, giving the hallway an orange tint. It was a nice change of scenery from Luna's study, the beauty of Celestia's sunset glorifying the snow-covered landscape outside. Looking out the windows, I spread my wings to take in the sunlight.

When I began to switch my sleep cycle to match Luna's, my body started to become deprived of Vitamin D, which is normally gained by literally soaking in the sun's rays. The Royal Physician was able to form a spell that enables me to intake my daily dose of the vitamin at sunset every evening. Which was fine by me, considering sunset was one of my favorite times.

I almost startled at the approach of hooves from my left. Shining Armor, dressed in his ever-present armor, trotted next to me and sat, staring out the window. "Cadence loves to watch the sunset," he said pointedly. "I'm partial to the sunrise myself."

Twilight's brother and I often saw each other around the castle, taking the time for idle chatter. We were similar in the fact that our respective lovers were immortal alicorns. I had met Cadence, of course, and decided she was nice enough to talk to, despite being obsessed with romance novels and… wait a minute…

"Hey, Shining, if you married Cadence, shouldn't you be an alicorn as well?"

He eyed me carefully. "Did Princess Luna tell you about that?" I nodded. "Well, it's actually a closely guarded secret that the spouses of alicorns become immortal. Let's just say this armor isn't just for show." As I watched, the sides of his armor fluttered slightly, making stare in wide-eyed wonder. Twilight's brother was secretly an alicorn! "We don't tell ponies about it because the lure of power would be too great for those who would abuse it."

Being a megalophobe, I could understand this. "I guess I won't have trouble in that department."

"Even if somepony were to try to marry a Princess for their power, it wouldn't work." I gave him a raised eyebrow. "Their love needs to be pure for their hearts to bind to the alicorn's. If not, then I'd hate to be the cleaning crews."

We sat in silence as the sun sank lower. "Have you flown yet?" Leave it to me to kill the mood like Luna.

He sighed. "I really haven't had the chance to learn, what with hiding my wings and all. After we break the news after your wedding, I hope Cadence or even you could teach me. After all, I hear good things about your flight skills."

"Heh, I was a bit of an aviation geek back home. I know how aerodynamic things are and how to manipulate my wings in certain situations. Por ejemplo, the difference between a barrel roll and an aileron roll. It could save your life." I had the weirdest mental picture of Cranky Doodle Donkey's pixelated face in the corner of my screen, giving me flight advice in space.

"In any case, I'd be honored if you--" The captain stopped, looking past me down the hall. When the flipping Captain of the freaking Royal Guard is worried, then you can be damn sure I was.

Following Shining Armor's gaze, I saw a line of five ponies, each clad in a dark grey cloak. Their coats were a matching color, each being almost black. There were three mares and two stallions. One mare was a pegasus, the center pony, and the pairs on her left and right were unicorns and earth ponies, respectively. All had glowing green eyes.

Oh, you have got to be bucking kidding me.

Shining stepped to the center of the hall, standing in a defensive pose. "By order of the Captain of the Royal Guard, identify yourselves!" he shouted at the intruders. Not one moved a muscle. "You are hereby under arrest for--"

"And here I thought you schist-ridden scum would crawl back to your holes and die," I interrupted. "If you're here for revenge on me or my fiancé, you have another thing coming." I drew my wristwatch-switchblade, Shining looking in in confusion as the sword slid out of the timepiece on my wrist. Facing the leader, I stared at them and shouted, "YOU. SHALL NOT. PASS!" Thank you, Tolkien. The Royal Canterlot Voice was the icing on the cake, altering my own voice to sound exactly like the Grey Wizard.

In perfect synchronization, the ponies threw back their hoods and drew switchblades of their own, barring the unicorns, whose blades levitated in front of them with a purple aura. The pegasus mare took a step forward. "Who are you to challenge the will of the True Energy, and the wrath of the Darkness?"

"Oh… nopony," I said with a malicious grin. "Just a traveling songbird…" I flared my wings, pulling myself low for a horizontal takeoff. "…and damn, can I sing."

I left Shining Armor standing in shock as I took off at a speed that, by all rights, should have ripped my wings off. Ten feet before colliding with the pegasus, I veered sharply right, circling the five Alyiess at a speed that left even the disciplined cultists stunned.

In science class on Earth, I learned that there was a sound that, when played above a certain resonance, can cause unconsciousness. I guess watching 'Lost' was a good thing. As I became a blue blur around the cultists, I let loose a screech from my mouth. Let's just say that I had named the sound 'Call of the Banshee' for a reason. The wave of sound echoed within my near-sonic-speed chamber, and the dark ponies dropping with their hooves clutching their ears.

Screeching on the marble floor to halt my centrifugal path, I leaped to take on the nearest pony, the unicorn mare. Being disoriented from my sonic wave, she was still clutching her head. At the moment, her distraction rendered her unable to use her magic, her mind barely perceiving me coming at her. The sword on the ground rose a full inch before clanging to the ground as I swung a full-powered punch to the head with my left- and un-bladed -hoof.

Moving from the mare, the stallion unicorn faced me. His versatility was far better than that of his sister cultist, his sword already raised in defense. Despite being a unicorn, he was almost as large as Big Mac, easily putting overpowering him out of the question. That, and he could use magic. Schist, right?

Something within me reacted. I don't know if it was ADHD, instinct, or adrenaline, but in the split second the revelation went through my head, my mind had already reacted. I was a bard. Bards tell stories of battles far greater than this. But they never simply TOLD them. They were sung. In a hymn of battle.

So I began to sing.

After that, it was a blur. I remember clashing swords with the stallion, but my movements were different, a blurred echo following them. As the unicorn swung, so did I. The hymn was all I ever heard, my own voice rattling off a stream of Archaic, most of which I had no idea what it meant. There was no clang of metal as the blades connected, no hoofsteps as I danced around the unicorn, a flurry of blade and song.

From there, my memory hazed. In the rush, instinct mixed with learned skill as I flipped and dove, engaging not only one, but multiple targets. Constant was my singing, a chant that felt fairly familiar but completely alien. When at last the haze ended, I found myself holding the dark pegasus against the ceiling with my left hoof, my right hoof drawn back and holding the point at her throat.

At this point, somepony competent would have said some epic one-liner and punched the cultist down, but instead I looked around dumbly and said, "How the schist did I end up on the ceiling?"

In hindsight, I should have just punched her. But alas, she beat me to the… punch, I guess. Her hoof connected with my face, sending me sprawling downwards to the floor. The mare smiled maliciously and made a blot for the window. Luckily, us alicorns gotta stick together. Before she was able to penetrate the glass, she found herself trapped in a red-violet sphere.

Shining Armor had apparently been affected a lot more than the cultists in the initial sonic wave, being evidently disoriented the entire time. I would call it trolling, but seeing as I was the cause… Wait, doesn't that mean I trolled myself? Double schist.

"You alright, Sky?" asked the captain, his horn glowing from the magic of keeping his shield up.

"Um, quick question. What. The. Buck. Happened?" I looked around, the bodies of the other four cultists were unconscious, covered in slash wounds and stabs, but noting lethal. If anything, they would probably recover given even minor medical attention.

"You tell me! At first there was this noise that made me really dizzy and confused, then I heard singing and when I came to my senses, you were dueling that pegasus in midair, with moves I've never seen a top rank Royal Guard pegasus do!"

Okay, so a bardic adrenaline rush is a definite catalyst for short term amnesia. Triple Schist. "So… that happened," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. "Now, um, what do we do with this one?" I motioned to the pegasus, slouching from her attempts to free herself.

Shining Armor trotted up to the bubble. "Why are you here?" Legit question.

"To end the tyrants' false hold over the heavens!" she proclaimed. Illegitimate answer. Go figure. "All will bow before the True Energy, and all heretics shall perish before the Darkness!" Okay, so the Alyiess, one of the most powerful cults in Equestria and possibly Terra, wants to assassinate my fiancé. But what about… "The Darkness will soon hold the night, and we shall rally to destroy the tyrant!" Ah… that's why they went for Luna first. They're gonna--

"They're gonna kill Luna to get at Celestia." Thank you, Captain… Obvious. "You are under arrest for the attempted murder of--"

For the love of the Fausticorn, can't anypony get anything said without getting interrupted?! Shining's reading of charges was stopped as the cultist drew her switchblade and laughed maniacally. Like, death-wish maniacal. That was unfortunately the idea. She gave the two of us a grin, as if she had just found the funniest thing ever and wanted to show us, and held the sword up to her own neck.

We were helpless as the body of the dark Alyiess pegasus slumped, a pool of blood forming in the bottom of the sphere.

Quadruple schiiiiiiiiiiiist.

Skyblaze: Um… whoa.

MB: Yeah, it's a long chapter. I figured I should give the readers their due for the five days they didn't have an update. I broke my six-hours-of-sleep rule the night before I left for Aviation Camp! Extra coffee that morning… (JK, I still got over six! Still needed coffee, though)

Skyblaze: Let me get this straight, Dinky's father is Doctor Whooves, Shining Armor is an alicorn, and the Alyiess are now trying to kill my future wife?! And on top of that, Lyra/Bon Bon shipping?!

MB: Um, yes…?

Skyblaze: Pardon me. I need to leave the room to try to cope with the sheer amount of plot twists and the complete darkness of those last few paragraphs.

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Correspondence: Kind Greetings and Exodus Equestria HQ

To the ponies at Exodus Equestria,

This letter comes with ill report. Yesterday at noon, myself and three other members encountered an avalanche zone while trekking back from a week long vacation. In a series of very unfortunate events, an avalanche began. The rain of rocks and boulders rendered all of our party incapacitated. Some more than others. The three of us made it out with mobile status, yet I am regretful to report the following update.

Status Report; Recon Agent 'Aegis'

Missing In Action.

Standing by,
-Kind Greetings

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To Agent Kind Greetings of Brony Recon,

This is ill news indeed. The loss of our agents is tragic, and the status has been updated and placed in the honor record. Should Aegis fail to be recovered, rest assured he will be commemorated and forever remembered.

In lighter news, we have a standing order for all standing agents of Brony Recon. Two weeks from today, all agents re being recalled for a three-day leave to their homes. The purpose is for the agents to address their respective families about Brony Recon and Exodus Equestria. All agents must comply. Even Storm, as she must speak to her parents regarding her situation. However, she has been denied deponyfication, as her male human form cannot support her condition. You are instructed to shadow Storm in her leave to assist her.

Standing by,
-Cereal Velocity
-Sethisto

Comments

[Freescript the Bard]

Sad Rainchaser...

Don't worry, Rain, you will have your POV! As for Aegis...

[Deterra]

Look what you've done now! You've made me join DeviantArt.

This definitely needs more "LyraxBonBon" with a bit of "Doctor Hooves making an appearance" on the side. And definitely more references!

How'd the flying go by the way? Do anything that would make Skyblaze jealous?

[Superswag420]

Holy schisht, Btw I like the use of that. My freinds used to do that in earth sceince and be like " HOLY SCHISHT"

Great chapter btw MOAR!

[M3Xkillers]

I want to say 2 things
First .-

Por ejemplo, the difference between a barrel roll and an aileron roll.

Spanish, me gusta (i am Mexican btw)
Second .-

YOU. SHALL NOT. PASS!

That reference made my day

[TonydBrony]

I feel like I should say something...I got nothing, other than the regular ramble of how much fun it is to read this.
Thanks' for giving me something to read for an hour?
\_O_O_/ I dunno. All I can say is

[gorden freebrony]

HOLY CRAP, There's Aegis!

[Fireeaters]

Came back for that songbird one-liner.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Sometimes, mommy whispers things in her sleep," Dinky continued. "Things about a strange stallion with a blue machine. A traveler and his ship." Oh you have got to be kidding me. "Sometimes, I see things. I sometimes know how somethings work by looking at them. …and I hear it."

Check if Dinky has two hearts.

[Chrome Masquerade]

In perfect synchronization, the ponies threw back their hoods and drew switchblades of their own, barring the unicorns, whose blades levitated in front of them with a purple aura. The pegasus mare took a step forward. "Who are you to challenge the will of the True Energy, and the wrath of the Darkness?"

Who are you to defy the wrath of Khan?!

[Chrome Masquerade]

For the love of the Fausticorn, can't anypony get anything said without getting interrupted?! Shining's reading of charges was stopped as the cultist drew her switchblade and laughed maniacally. Like, death-wish maniacal. That was unfortunately the idea. She gave the two of us a grin, as if she had just found the funniest thing ever and wanted to show us, and held the sword up to her own neck.

Well. I didn't expect that.