Eye of the storm

by Bronycommander

Chapter 4 New mission

Author's Note:

This chapter has a slight innuendo scene, thus the sex tag. I am not sure if I played it down well enough, if anything things the rating should be changed de to this scene, please let me know

Chapter 4 New mission

“What in the world was that?!” Blue yelled in shock when she heard the children scream and saw they were gone.

“I don’t know but don’t worry, we’ll find them.” Fletcher assured her and they made their way to inform the princesses what had happened.

Despite the strange circumstance, it took the historians only a short time to find out what happened and Patch reported. “They seem to be having sent on earth, it’s a rainforest-like area this time.”

“Ah, at least a nice change from the desert.” Fray joked in an attempt to brighten up the tense mood.

“Any idea how this could have happened?” The cobalt blue mare asked the earth pony.

“No, but I assume it was no coincidence with that storm. Just at the same time, the Chronoscope had a slight malfunction.” He admitted sheepishly and the middle-aged mother connected the dots.

“You mean, your machine may have caused this?”

In response, he held his hooves up in defense. “Not directly. Based on how it causes dark mist, I just assumed it may have affected the storm or something.”

She just nodded and turned to Fletcher, who nodded. “I know, he’s your son, you want to go with me, granted.”

With that, they both donned the armor they used on their last adventure on earth.

“And we will be ready, if you need us.” Abstraction had joined with his fellow Dark horse members upon hearing the news, saluting.

“Your devotion to duty is commendable, Abstraction but I don’t want to risk you getting lost again, not as you’re now married with Lyra.” Fletcher replied with a weak smile.

“But, you can count on us.” Shadow and Tybalt gave him and Blue a nod, their expressions determined.

Wolf and Midnight gave Fletcher a hug, Pip and Nancy did the same with Blue. “Be careful.”

“Of course, I will be.” Blue gently broke it before she lit up her horn with Fletcher to cast the spell.

---

Her head ached, being disoriented and very exhausted.

It was all Blue could do not to collapse.

Every nerve in her legs felt numb, hooves jittering on the ground. It hurt to move her neck, having seemingly stiffened over hours. Her eyes blurred, mane stood on end. She could smell smoke and taste copper.

For a moment she was certain he hadn't come through alive.

Blinking several times, she looked around and stretched herself, groaning.

As her vision cleared, Fletcher offered her a hoof, which she gladly took as he asked, “Need a minute?”

“It’s all good now.” She replied and he took the lead, walking through the dense forest, their bow and rifle at the ready.

It was only a short time until they came past a road and took a look at the signs, recognizing the language. “Either we’re in Spain or South America.” Fletcher concluded.

“Question is, when.” His friend added as they moved on.

Nonetheless, their travel was uneventful, the sun setting and the clouds becoming dark. “A storm is coming, we have to be careful.” Fletcher realized as it started to rain, only for his companion to chuckle.

“A little rain won’t stop us, righto, Fletch?”

Barely had she spoken, a loud thunder came down, crackling. Both yelped and unintentionally hugged each other, with her adding, “Or we should seek shelter.”

Looking around, they spotted a cave and made a dash for it.

Once inside, they set up a campfire for the night, dining. “So, who shall take the night watch first?” Fletcher asked and she waved a hoof.

“Leave it to me.”

Nodding, Fray made himself comfortable, yet kept an eye on the portly mare. Closing his eyes, he faintly fell how she put a blanket over him.

Ever watchful, Blue Murder had her rifle at the ready, but knew the non-lethal rounds would not do much against an intruder if found.

And despite her best efforts, she struggled to keep her eyes open. Need to…stay awake… Her eyes snapped open, yawing before she closed her eyes, falling asleep.

She could not tell how long she had slept before she woke up, with Fletcher strangely gone. “Fletcher? Where are you?” Blue called out but got no reply.

Walking outside, the mare noticed it was still raining, nothing but silence, the ground was squishy, which unsettled her. For some reason, she felt fear, despite her experience.

She wasn’t afraid of the darkness but something told her she wasn’t alone, walking carefully through the woods. Faintly, she noticed the silhouette of a pony in the distance, appearing to lean against a wall, not moving. “Fray, is that you?”

Coming closer, her eyes went wide in shock, gasping at the sight. The pony was not Fletcher, but her friend Shadowplay. He was hanged on a meat hook through his chest. “Oh, holy Celesta…” The former merc had seen many brutal things but to see one of her friends to be killed like that…was beyond her imagination.

Then her ears flinched at a scream. “No, don’t!”

Tybalt! As fast as she could, she ran towards his voice, and froze in shock as she saw him lying on the ground, a hoof raised in a begging gesture at a smaller pony, but the darkness made it impossible to make out any details.

The young stallion screamed as the other pony slaughtered him by beating him savagely with its hooves, even seeming to feast on his throat.

Blue wanted to interfere but her body was frozen on the spot, unable to look away.

Her heart raced as the pony rose and stepped towards her, eyes small as she recognized the killer.

A colt with the same coat color as her and ginger mane. Her own son. He was breathing heavily, eyes glowing red and covered in blood.

Blue’s mind tried to process this all before giving the only logical order it could muster. Run.

And so she did, not looking back.

But without any warning, a sharp pain shot through her chest and she screamed at the top of her lungs. Vision flashing red, she saw how a thorny tentacle had pierced her, raising her into the air as she could only scream as this new level of pain.

---

Gasping, the middle aged mare shot up, panting and looking around frantically, cold sweat running down her fur.

Just a dream…Just a dream…

Her ears twitched at a faint weeping sound. Locating the source, she noticed it was Fletcher, slightly tossing around with a scared expression.

Reaching out, she attempted to calm him down. “Shh, Fletch, I am here.” Though what happened next she could not prepare for.

There was a whistling sound, followed by a loud explosion, startling her. Confused, Blue looked around to see she was now in what looked like a battlefield. Ponies in different uniforms charged at each other in melee and stabbed each other with spears and knives, some threw their opponent to the ground and beat him.

Then, her eyes fell on a unicorn stallion, who seemed to look around in confusion as well. It took her only seconds to realize this was Fletcher.

He seemed shell-shocked, trying to process what was happening around him. His head turned towards her, eyes wide as they fixed the mare with pure horror and fear.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed another pony in the distance behind Fletcher, a hoof pressed to the chest as if expressing sympathy for Fray.

Gasping, Blue jumped back, breathing heavily at what she just had seen. How was she able to see this flashback at all? Some sort of ancient magic, triggered at touch?

Nothing made sense. And yet, she realized that even after centuries, Fletcher’s past still haunted him at times. That he still managed to keep it together and press on, was something she could only respect and be look up him in awe.

Nonetheless, the mare curled up and tried to sleep again. Just as she closed her eyes, she felt something ticklish on her coat, causing them to reopen again. Lighting up her horn, the unicorn looked around and spotted a spider climbing up her left foreleg.

With a scream, Blue Murder startled and instinctively threw the spider off her, accidentally making it land on Fletcher.

He shot up with a scream of pain. “What the hay was that?!” Fray looked at Blue with pained breath and she gave him an apologizing smile.

“Sorry, I got started by a spider. Need something against the pain?”

Her friend managed to wave a hoof. “Nah, the nanomites make me immune to most poisons. Let’s get back to sleep.”

Nodding, Blue turned her back to him, only to hear a moan and looked back out of concern. Her eyes noticed something twitching between his legs and her glance became one of irritation. “Oh…How flattering. Now put it away or I’ll be forced to take it off you and place it somewhere you won’t enjoy.”

However, with a pained expression and voice, Fletcher looked at her. “Can’t…bite from the spider… could you please…”

Blue’s eyes went wide as she realized what he meant. “No way am I doing that!” She exclaimed in disgust.

“Healing Spell?” Fray finished, causing her to blush slightly in embarrassment.

“Oh…of course. I know one that prevents permanent damage.” With that, she casted the spell, Fray sighed in relief.

“Ah…my sympathies, Fletcher.” Ifrit sounded awkward at this.

“Thanks…” The knight smiled weakly at the mare, she returned it before going back to sleep.

Yet, a thought invaded her mind.

Quite an impressive size he has…Is he really… Then she slapped herself mentally Come on, focus! Ugh, it just had to be that kind of spider…

Despite the awkwardness of this moment, they both got a peaceful sleep for the rest of the night, moving on in the morning, the rain had stopped

The way led towards an incline. “Careful, the rain made it likely slippery.” Fletcher warned as Blue took the first step.

To his horror, she slipped right away with a help and he tried to grab her but the force caused him to be dragged along, yelping as well.

Both fell down the hill, trying to catch themselves without success as they rolled and tumbled down.

Screaming in pain, Blue landed hard on her back but barely had time to react before Fletcher landed on top of her.

“Oof!” They exclaimed in unison before blushing as they unintentionally looked into each other’s eyes. ”Could you please get off me?” Blue asked

“Of course.” He did as told and helped her up before brushing the dust of themselves, continuing to walk without a word.

Again, it was only rainforest as far as they could see, yet Fletcher’s ears twitched. Blue seemed to mumble something and he looked at her. While her expression was neutral, Fray quickly figured out what was wrong. “You are worried about your son, aren't you?”

“I'm fine, Fletch.” She replied hastily, apparently caught off guard, getting a weak smile in response.

“There's no point in denying, I have learned over the years how to read ponies, even if they show no emotions.”

His partner sighed. “Okay, I'm worried about my son, I just don't want to lose him after Marmalade's death, he's the only thing I have left.”

With sympathy, he replied, “I know your pain, I told you about Ruhlinda.”

Blue thought about it. It had been on a way to a mission that Fray told her about it, how he blamed himself, afraid of losing anypony else but let him continue.

“But I'm confident Dinky, Katja and Blau make sure Tungsten's fine.”

Now, her expression was unsure, stopping. “What makes you so sure?”

“Let me lend your hoof.” Gently, his hoof took hers, placing on his chest. “What do you feel?”

Feeling a gentle beat, she could not help but blush at this…close and personal action of him. “Y-your heartbeat.”

“Correct. And now?” His hoof got led a few inches from his heart, feeling a rough surface just barely over the fur and flesh where his heart was and she realized what this was.

“A scar.”

“Right. Back in Africa, I got fatally injured but thanks to Dinky and the siblings, I survived. Without their help, I wouldn't be here right now. And if they could help a millennia-old ex-knight commander escape death, I reckon Tungsten's in safe hooves.”

The middle-aged mare let those words sink in. Her Farman friend had a point. And yet, it reminded her of something. “Did I ever tell you how I met my husband?”

“No.” Fletcher shook his head, causing her to sigh.

“You probably expect a very romantic one, Fletch. But actually, it was very simple. As a colt, he carried out the newspaper every day, thus we met regularly. And so, we became good friends and eventually lovers.”

To her surprise, he smiled. “Sounds as good as any other start of love for me.”

With a weak smile, she replied, “Appreciated.” Then she looked around, taking in the rainforest. “Seriously, how big is this Rainforest? I feel like we are walking for hours through it.”

“I am sure we get out soon enough.” Fray was calm, reaching a clearing on a hill. Both took notice of smoke, pulling out their binoculars, they saw what seemed to be civilians in colorful clothing taking cover behind a destroyed car, fighting soldiers in blue uniforms.

Their ears twitched and saw an attack chopper in the sky, fired missiles at the desperate humans, yet missed. With horror, the ponies saw how the chopper turned towards them.

“I’ll take care of it!” Fray took aim with a charged arrow and fired at the rotor before it could fire at them, It’s rotor exploded, making the chopper spin around.

“Goodnight ya bastard...” Blue commented at the shot before the chopper fired his missiles again, crashing towards them. “Ahh...crap! Run!”

Both made dash towards the words, Fletcher made it and turned around. With horror and fear in his eyes, he saw that the mare tripped and fell to the ground. “No, no, no, no!” She yelled, the chopper hitting the ground, its blades kicking up dust as they shredded to pieces, stopping inches from her. Her forelegs caught the only intact blade, stopping it inches from her body.

“Blue!” Fray ran towards her, concerned, she coughed from the dust, looking at a piece of shrapnel stuck in her right hindleg.

“I can't move...

Giving a weak smile, Fletcher carefully pulled it out, bandaged her wound and casted a healing spell. “Don’t worry, I can carry you.”

With that, he gently lifted her on his back. “Easy now...” His friend mumbled as he did so and he carefully made his way down the hill.

Once down, the ponies saw that the civilians were gone and the soldiers dead. The Chopper going down probably had served as the distraction they need.

One of the soldiers was lying with his back against an armored off-road car. His uniform consisted of a cloak with hood, face covered by a mask, with night vision goggles over it and a few components of natural camouflage over his shoulders. A sniper.

Fletcher took his sniper rifle, together with an Assault rifle from another soldier. “Could come in handy, what shall I get you?”

“That SMG would do it for me.” She pointed to another dead soldier, knowing what Fletcher had in mind and he nodded.

He gave it to her, then opened the passenger door of the car and gently sat her in it. “We can get around faster that way.”

“I don’t mind but I hope you don’t cause anything that gets us pulled over.” Blue replied with slight worry as Fletcher took the driver seat.

“I have driven before, trust me.”

Their car had tinted windows, so it was easy to avoid odd looks as they traveled along the road, eventually coming to a highway, with Fletcher looking at the radio. “Mind some music?”

She shook her head and the dial lightened in Fletcher’s magic, turning on and playing a rock song.

It was a quiet journey, overtaking other cars and occasionally seeing other military vehicles in traffic.

Time passed until the sun was about to set in an orange-colored sky, showing that evening arrived.

Fray steered towards a country road that led into a small forest, hidden from unwanted company.

He made a campfire and helped Blue out of their transport, the mare limped still a bit as he checked on her injury. “Good news, its already better but it still takes some time.”

“Better than nothing, I hate it to slow you down.” Her expression was neutral, though her voice was one of disappointment.

“You’re not slowing me down, Blue.” Her partner smiled weakly. “I am glad to have your assistance here. Besides, it does not look serious, should be healed within a few days

“Still, I can’t really fight in this state, can I?” Now, she sounded somewhat frustrated with herself, getting an expression of empathy.

“Don’t worry, you can still use your rifle.” He walked over and put his hoovers over her shoulder, massaging her.

Caught off guard, a moan of relief escaped Blue, arching her head. “Where did you learn this?"

“Oh, I learned a lot during my time and…from Rarity when she insisted to invite me and my 2 friends to the Spa once after I got Dinky back from Africa.”

Now, the unicorn mare chuckled. “Funny, I got Nancy a Spa coupon once as a gift, thought it could help her relax.”

Fray just nodded before they dinned and hit the hay.

As morning approached, Fletcher casted his tracking Spell, his eyes wide in surprise. “They appear to be closer to our current position now.”

“Righto, let’s not waste any time then!” Blue Murder exclaimed before suddenly twitching, her chest aching as a voice echoed in her head

“M-mom…please…help me…”

“What’s wrong?” Fray asked concerned as her expression became determined.

Mummy's coming, baby colt. Mummy won't let them hurt you!

Comments

[shining paladin]

awesome chapter mate keep it up

[Bronycommander]

11257989
Thanks, think the innuendo breaks the rating?