Chapter 5: Night Light
“Keep firing!” was the first thing Luna heard as she emerged into the realm of Rios’ dream. Heat, and a brilliant sun assailed her senses in that moment of transition, blinding her. Blinking frantically to clear her vision, the Equestrian princess found herself standing beside a group of actual Earth equines. Small horses, if her time visiting Ernie’s farm was any indication.
The group of horses were tied to a set of stakes hammered in the ground behind a small earthen redoubt, from beyond which had come the initial shout Luna had heard, and which followed a long series of cracking noises combined with the occasional whine of what sounded like some angry bees.
Luna had spent some time at the Brightly Rod & Gun club, where the local hunters had proudly demonstrated the ability of their weapons, which paled in comparison to Polaris’ weapon. Polaris had then shown Luna the differences between the civilian rifles the local hunters had, and his own C19 Colt that he had been issued by the Canadian Army.
Those weren’t bees going by at all, those were bullets. Luna poked her head up from behind the mound of dirt that was shielding her and the other horses to see what was going on.
There was a pitched battle going on just a dozen or so yards away from where Luna stood. There, a ragged line of men in outfits of green and grey were firing their weapons singly or in bursts at an unknown enemy through an uneven wall of wood and earth. It was the return fire of this unknown foe that was making the bee-like sounds that the Equestrian was hearing.
“Keep firing!” again came the call, and this time Luna was able to orient herself on the speaker, a younger version of Captain Rios who was moving back and forth along the crude fortifications.
As the alicorn continued to watch in fascination, she observed the captain walking along in a strange, crouching sort of duck walk. Giving encouragement to a soldier here, giving what Luna assumed was ammunition to another, and finally checking in with a trio of American warriors who were setting up a strange, tube-like contraption.
“How much longer?” Rios demanded. “We can’t keep them pinned down much longer.”
“Almost ready, sir,” replied one of the men, who was just finishing attaching a pair of legs to the object. “Good to go, sir.”
“Let freedom ring,” Rios commanded, with a wolfish smile.
“Yes SIR!” enthused the soldier, before turning to one of his companions with a cry of, “Load!”
The commanded soldier dropped a finned something into the tube and responded with, “Loaded!”
“Range, two hundred meters,” the first man chanted out. “Mortar, firing!”
There was an explosive, coughing sound from the tube, which seemed to jump and Luna had the impression of something leaving the weapon with great speed. A moment later, from the far side of the firing line, there was the sound of an explosion and a plume of smoke began to rise.
“Short, and left,” called out the third man of the team, peering through a pair of binoculars.
Again the tube was loaded with its strange projectile, but this time the leader of the team called out, “Up fifty! Right fifty!” before he discharged the weapon. Once more there was the strange coughing sound and the fleeting blur of something leaving the tube weapon at high speed, that was shortly followed by the sound of an explosion.
“On bearing!” came a triumphant cry, from the spotter. “Up fifty more and fire for effect!”
“RPG!” screamed Rios in warning, a second later as a snake-like hissing sound grew in sudden intensity from the far side of the barricade.
A heartbeat later three thunderous explosions erupted amongst Rios’ soldiers. Two of the detonations blew apart large sections of the fortified line, sending earth, wood and men flying with equal abandon. A third serpent of smoke skimmed just over the top bit of the rampart and impacted among the three men with their tube weapon, the resulting explosion blotted them from existence with a blooming flower of orange and white.
The screams of the wounded and dying filled the air and the number of bullets flying at or over the partly sundered fortifications seemed to double and then triple in intensity. Through it all Luna saw Rios, himself bleeding from a wound, rally his men and reorganize those still hale and hearty back into a fighting unit.
“Captain,” yelled a man who was directing the firing of a small group. “We’ve got about a company worth of the bastards coming this way.”
“Who’d we lose?” Rios demanded, ducking as another volley of bullets went by, and now Luna could easily tell the sound of the enemy weapons from those of Rios’ men as the foe drew nearer.
“First and Second squad,” the man shouted back, before being forced to duck for cover from more gunfire.
“They’re going to try to turn our flank,” Rios said, in realization. “Concentrate fire to the left. Fire left side!”
The remaining troops on Luna’s side of the barricade blasted away with the weapons with renewed vigor, and for a time it seemed as if their unseen enemy was being pushed back, but Rios did not seem to believe that the day was won. The alicorn watched the younger Rios dig into a backpack with frantic haste, his hand coming out moments later with what appeared to be an oversized phone.
“Wild Card, Wild Card, this is Roughneck Two Zero, are you receiving? Over,” Rios called into the device, which obviously indeed was something like a phone.
“Roughneck Two Zero, this is Wild Card Flight. Do you have any trade for us?” came the reply through the device.
“I am at grid four two Sierra zero one Whiskey Foxtrot seven five eight. I have hostiles advancing across the roadline west of my position. I need immediate CAS,” Rios ordered.
“Roger that, Roughneck,” was the laconic reply. “Two minutes out, keep your heads down.”
“Pour it on!” screamed Rios, to his troops, and the storm of fire from the American soldiers became a virtual tsunami of lead sweeping out toward their enemies, forcing them to take cover in and around the nearby dirt road.
“Roughneck, this is Wild Card,” came from the radio an eternity later. “Sixty seconds out, confirm you are all east of the roadway.”
“Roger that, Wild Card,” Rios replied, pulling a canister from his belt and tossing it off to one side, where it began to sputter and hiss as it emitted a lemon coloured fog. “All friendlies are east of the roadway, popping yellow smoke. Repeat, yellow smoke.”
“Confirm yellow smoke,” was the reply moments later. “We have you in sight, starting our run.”
Seconds later Luna saw a pair of aircraft fly overhead at a moderately high altitude and almost at the same moment the alicorn heard one of Rios’ men begin to yell, “Check fire! Check fire!”
“Oh shit,” Rios breathed, looking around with frantic haste before his eyes locked onto something, his face taking on a look of abject horror. Luna followed the warrior’s gaze until she saw what he had spotted. An ancient and rusty truck, its driver and passengers oblivious to the firefight that had been raging due to a trick of the nearby terrain, had lumbered its way into view.
The occupants of the truck, to their credit, had realized their peril and brought their vehicle to a quick halt by the simple expedient of crashing it into the ditch. The sudden appearance of the vehicle had taken both sides of the conflict by surprise and the smashing sound of the truck’s impact echoed into a sudden absence of gunfire.
“Six… seven… eight… “ Rios counted out, the look of horror having not left his face. “Nine.. te—”
The mother of all explosions seemed to go off just on the other side of the earthen barricade that Rios and his men had held so stubbornly. Luna's ears flattened themselves to her head from the noise and she could feel the heat of the blast on her face. It was because of this cacophony that Luna failed to notice Rios running directly towards her, and so she was taken by complete surprise when the soldier leaped solidly onto her back and pulled Luna’s head around with a halter she hadn’t even noticed she’d acquired as part of Rios’ dream.
“Hyaa!” Rios yelled out, digging his heels into Luna’s flanks and startling her into motion.
For a moment, Luna considered manifesting herself as more than just a part of Rios’ dreamscape. To be ridden, to be controlled, as if she was a mere animal was an insult almost beyond bearing, but then the alicorn realized that at that particular moment Rios did not realize he was astride the Princess of the Night. To him, she was indeed a simple beast of burden, and one that he had need of.
So, instead of manifesting herself and ending Rios’ dream, Luna decided to play the part she was given and continue to see what it was that gave this soldier nightmares. Obviously combat held no terrors for the American soldier, nor did death or the threat of death. From her time guarding the dreams of ponies, Luna could tell that all that had transpired up until this point was merely the buildup to the crux of Rios’ nightmare.
Spurred on by Rios, Luna galloped around the sundered end of the barricade and toward the still smoking mass of men and terrain that had been the now obliterated roadway.
“No, no, no,” chanted a desperate sounding Rios, as he reined Luna to stop by the twisted mass of metal that was all that remained of the old truck.
Leaping off Luna’s back in a single, lithe motion, Rios ran up to the wreckage, and alongside another man, himself bleeding from a fierce head wound, dug into the wreckage.
Now we shall see what gives this stalwart soldier nightmares, Luna thought, preparing to intervene. I hate to let this continue to its conclusion, but it is imperative I understand one who would be my soldier, and by extension, his people.
“GODDAMMIT!” Rios swore, as the other man pulled a broken young body from the equally broken truck. A father’s tears mixed with blood, falling to anoint the soil below with the life of yet another innocent casualty of war.
“Not again,” Rios cursed again, looking up at the sky and Luna could feel the helpless frustration coming off the soldier in waves. “I’ve had enough of seeing the wrong people die. No more. No fucking more.”
Luna drew her power to her. She had learned all she needed to know, and Rios had experienced enough pain for one night. Nay, he had experienced enough pain for a lifetime, and it was her duty as a warden of dreams to be a balm to the agony of spirit she saw before her.
“Not again,” Rios repeated, and before Luna could unleash her gathered might, the entire dreamscape around her seemed to take a sudden step to the right.
“Allahu Ackbar!” cried the other man in sudden joy, as the body in his arm took a gasping breath, and then another, and another. The young boy’s face went from death’s grey pallor to reclaim the warm tones of life, and a small hand reached up to touch the grateful face of his father.
Luna stood there, frozen in shock, her horn still alight with power but now having no goal or target to be used on. “What manner of sorcery is this?” the lunar alicorn muttered, as she tried to understand what had just happened in front of her.
“Oh, hello Princess,” Rios said, looking directly at Luna for the first time. “Sorry. Didn’t notice you before.”
“Captain Rios,” Luna replied, nodding to the soldier as he walked the few steps over to her. “My apologies for not interrupting your nightmare earlier. Please forgive me.”
“Nothing to apologize for. I get these all the time,” the captain said dismissively, before motioning to the tack that Luna still had on. “Beside, I’m the one that rode you pretty hard there. If anyone should be apologizing it’s me.”
Luna’s magic finally had a target to lash out at, and the saddle and halter that the alicorn had worn as part of Rios’ dream vanished as if it had never been. Luna’s blush would take somewhat longer to dissipate however.
“You were dreaming and not aware of who I was. Therefore lese majeste does not apply,” Luna declared, vowing not to tell Celestia any of the details of this dream. “Besides, I am still trying to understand what happened at the end there, and how you went from fully dreaming to being not only aware of your dreaming state, but able to alter your dream as well. At least I am assuming you were the one who did the altering?”
“Yeah, that was me,” Rios confirmed, looking somewhat ill at ease for the first time since Luna had met him.
“How did you do it?” Luna asked, curious. “I sensed no magic from you. The dream just suddenly changed, to what I assume was a happier ending.”
“War changes a man,” Rios replied, walking away from the scene, which blurred and slowly changed into a sandy seashore. “After things like what you saw happening more than a few times, I’d had enough. I joined up with a special operations group that specializes in discreet, compartmentalized missions.”
“Such as the one where Foxfire was the target,” Luna realized, thinking aloud. “That is why you took pains not to involve civilians, and why you yielded so quickly when discovered. You could have fought your way out, but it would have involved suffering to those you have vowed not to bring harm to.”
“Pretty much,” Rios answered, before continuing. “Anyway, I still get nightmares all the time. The headshrinkers tried just about everything on me to stop them. Therapy, sleep studies, drugs. Nothing really seemed to work, until one guy I saw said that if I was going to have nightmares, he could at least teach me how to control them. From the inside.”
“Humans are able to do this?” Luna asked, pausing as she walked alongside the soldier.
“Yeah, it's a thing called ‘lucid dreaming’,” Rios explained. “Not everyone can do it, but it’s basically teaching someone how to recognize they are dreaming and then change the dream.”
“I understand,” Luna replied, pleased. “I must say, this makes you even more qualified to hunt down the windigo alongside me. I have asked you to be my ‘Soldier of the Night.’ Have you an answer for me?”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way Ma’am,” Rios replied, his face taking on a somewhat pained look. “But my answer is ‘No.’ Not only no, but hell no.”
“But why?” Luna demanded, confused and a touch hurt at Rios’ rejection. “You would be perfect. You are a doughty warrior, you are brave, you have integrity, you have skills even I had not thought possible, and our mission suits your stated preference of battle. What possible reason could you have for rejecting me?
“You aren’t in my chain of command,” Rios stated, grimacing slightly. “You’re right, Ma’am. The windigo is bad news all around, and if it was up to me, I’d jump at the chance to go hunting with you, but when it comes down to it I’m an American soldier, and you aren’t American.”
“I thought Canada and America often worked together,” Luna responded, trying to find a way around Rios’ objection. “Everything I have read says that you are allies of long standing.”
“We are,” Rios confirmed, “but you aren’t Canadian either, or even a Canadian ally. If your Equestria was either, that would be different, because us and the Canadians have a standing mutual defense arrangement. But right now, there’s absolutely nothing that lets me legally fight with you. Much as I would like to.”
“So what you are saying is that my sister needs to get off her well rounded flank and conclude a treaty with the Canadians and the Hieltsuk post haste,” Luna stated, before looking away to one side. “It also means that I have made a severe lapse in judgement by simply assuming you would join me because I asked you to. Much as I would like to see you as somewhat oddly shaped ponies, I must remember that the humans of Earth are not ponies. You have your own ways, and your own allegiances.”
“Don’t feel too bad, Ma’am,” Rios said, trying to ease Luna’s self-recrimination. “You’ve just been trying to relate to things in the only way you know how. Much as Earth has been with the discovery that magic is real.”
“Thank you for that,” Luna replied, nodding before heaving a sigh. “In that case, I have taken up much of your night as it is, and so I will leave you in peace. Fare thee we—”
“Just a second, Ma’am,” Rios interrupted. “My superiors wanted me to ask you something, which is why they allowed me to try to make contact with you like this at all.”
“As you have said, we have no framework around which we can render assistance to each other,” Luna said, ears drooping a bit. “However, I would remiss if I did not allow you to ask their question.”
“Right, like I said, we can’t do anything formal without the REMFs having everything in the right inbox,” Rios said, making a face. “But my bosses would like to know if you would be willing to teach us about magic.”
“My sister is the teacher, not I,” Luna explained. “However, I would be willing to explain the basics of magic and magecraft to you, as much as I am able. I assume your superiors are willing to offer something in return?”
“Yeah,” Rios answered, drawing himself up a bit. “In exchange for helping America to understand magic, America is willing to keep a military unit on standby for you to call in if you need support when you finally do track down the windigo. And that’s conditional on the Canadian government knowing and approving of it.”
“How does this differ from what I asked of you?” Luna asked, cautiously curious.
“Ma’am, what you asked for would have put American military personnel under the command of a foreign power. Namely, yourself,” Rios explained, gesturing toward Luna as he did so. “If we do it this way, American personnel would be acting on the orders of the US military chain of command to quote, ‘keep the peace’, unquote.”
“Politics,” Luna declared, looking like she had bitten into a lemon. “I loathe the hair-splitting of nobles and bureaucrats, but if that is the cost of obtaining the assistance of your nation, then so be it. When would you be willing to begin?”
“Now is good,” Rios said, as a school desk materialized into being on the beach.
“Very well then,” Luna agreed, smiling as she used her own power to create a blackboard behind her. “Magic is a fundamental force of the cosmos. However, unlike the other primordial forces, which affect matter, magic instead affects those other forces. In that sense it is the meta-force of existence, permeating all things everywhere. There are four known types of magic. Light, Dark, Harmonic and Discordant…”
Stats
Page generated in 0.044 seconds
Total duration
754 users online
837,053 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
As a lucid dreamer.
There are times its a blessing, times its not.
But the nuance of things, yes, very much so in keeping of matters to who holds the reigns.
Not exactly Tanya the Evil, but hey.
Uh... That's a 10-9. (#comeagain?
)
Reminds me of a similar situation involving my brother.
He'd had this recurring nightmare in which to get to his dream proper, he had to get past a powerful vampire. He hadn't had a good dream for a while at this point, you might imagine. He asked me for advice. I told him to remind himself -and his adversary- that it was HIS dream and he could do anything he wanted with it.
He never complained of that again.
Good man.
10233776
The battlefield is mapped out to the last inch. With those coordinates he identified a specific patch of dirt for someone to throw a missile at. Verra useful concept.
Depends on the universe you're in. For example...
In the Forgotten Realms universe there are 8. Namely Illusion, Conjuration, Evocation, Divination, Transmutation, Enchantment, Abjuration and Necromancy.
In the Secret of Mana universe, there are also 8. Namely Fire (represented by Salamando), Ice (represented by Undine), Wind (represented by Sylphid/Jinn), Earth (represented by Gnome), Lunar (AKA Moon, represented by Luna), Forest (represented by Dryad), Light (represented by Lumina/Wisp) and Darkness (represented by Shade).
In AdventureQuest there's Fire, Ice, Wind, Earth, Water, Energy, Light and Darkness. (Yes, in that universe Ice and Water are separate elements.
)
In the (deceased) SuperDudes universe, there were 5: Body, Mind, Spirit, Soul and Heart.
10233806
Makes sense.
Unrelated note: Awesome avatar, BTW.
10233844
Thanks!
For a good example have a look at this classic. From about 3:50 onwards.
When they're talking about "killbox one-alpha", that's what they're referencing.
Always wanted to be a lucid dreamer, yet never fully accomplished it. Another well written and entertaining chapter, hope you are staying safe and doing well!
...and Pinkie Pie.
10234346
Working on it. My sister, who is immune compromised, had it and recovered. My area of the world is down to about 20 new cases a week, and cautious re-opening is about to start.
10233806
Yeah, reading up on the grid coordinate system was a rabbit-hole I lost myself in for a couple of hours. I've always been something of a trivia nerd.
10234545
As a retired US Army vet, I'm going to give your attempt (as a civilian) at using the MGRS a passing grade. You tried. You even stated in the author's notes you spent time researching it. Ordinary civilians would be readily convinced, and properly entertained.
However, If I was contacting a fighter jockey and calling in close air support, that last bit would have had to have been at least an 8 digit number, if not a 10 digit number. A 6 digit number will only get you within 100 meters. Even an 8 digit grid coordinate will only get you within 10 meters.
I like the way Rios Stood His Ground and is waiting for more ..... Details? ... Instructions from higher?
This is... quite possibly one of the most believable and down to earth responses I've seen a soldier give to being recruited by Equestria. Reasonable, willing to aid, but with the knowledge that this isn't going to come with restrictions, speedbumps or strings attached. Usually it's either one of two extremes, where they cheerfully go along with everything Equestria says or go all "nu-uh, we 'muricans don't do royalty! #NotMyPrincess!"
It's rather refreshing.
10251678
Yeah, agreed. While he may want to help, especially to stop a threat to both innocents, as well as his possible fellow Americans, or whatever nation, he does realize that helping straight out while on duty would be serving a foreign power, a super foreign power in this case. So, he basically tries to use the power of politics to try and work with her while not betraying his duty