• Published 5th Mar 2013
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My Little Caboose II: Friendship is Fragmented! - DarkWing



Church, finally freed from his stone prison after a month of having Discord trapped in his mind along with him, must readjust to the pony world with nothing but twisted memories, as well a group of equally twisted friends.

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Chapter 58 - "Ghost Canyon"

The past twelve hours were spent in silence by the majority of the people in the cabin, because every time someone spoke up to break said silence, Carolina stared at them until they stopped. Eventually, Church and Grif saw the canyon approaching in the horizon.

"Almost there, guys," Church said loudly. "And it looks like we have company in it. I can see at least a dozen small... ship... things... in there."

"Be sure to land on the edge of the canyon so we can look inside," Carolina said, looking towards Grif. "We need the element of surprise, and we can't do that if we land in the middle of an army of UNSC soldiers."

"I'm not sure we have to worry about that," he said hesitantly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... I can see vehicles, but I can't see any soldiers."

Carolina looked to Wash and motioned her head towards the front of the Pelican, not trusting the judgement of inexperienced soldiers. With a sigh, Wash lifted his safety off and walked to the front. Wash looked into the canyon and saw twelve hornets scattered about the canyon. What he didn't see was the men who brought them there.

"Do you see anything, Wash?" Carolina asked.

"No, I don't..." Washington said, squinting his eyes to focus. "All the vehicles are empty. There isn't a single soldier guarding them."

"Maybe they're all inside the bases," Simmons suggested.

"They wouldn't just leave their vehicles exposed like this if they were trying to hide," Washington grunted, looking towards one of the hornets. "No, something's not right."

"With who we're going up against, this is right," Church said with a reluctant sigh, the lights above the controls wavering as he spoke. "He's been here, and he wants us to know that. He left these things out to try and unnerve us, to get us asking questions about everything. He thinks he's infallible, so he's toying with us."

"The Director never really seemed like the toying type to me," he said, curious as to why the Director had changed so much.

"With the thing running through his head right now, he definitely is," Church explained quietly. "But we have to call his bluff if we want to get anywhere. Grif, think you can land this thing, or do you need me to try and help?"

"You know, I think I might have this. I'm a bit more of an experienced flyer now. It's actually pretty easy when all you have to do is—" Grif began, but stopped when the force of the landing caused Wash to fly forward, slamming his helmet into the controls.

"Son of a bitch!" Washington groaned.

"Well, at least your flying was a bit better than terrible," Carolina murmured as she raised the harness off of her. "Can't say much for your landing, though."

"Hey, thanks," Grif replied.

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Hey, a bit more than terrible is like a C, and that's still a passing grade. From you, I take that as a ringing endorsement since you seem to be even worse than Tex," he chuckled, flipping a switch that caused the back of the Pelican to open up.

"I don't think I've ever met anybody as stupid as you," she muttered under her breath, then stood up and looked at the others. "Alright, boys. Time to look around. If you see anything out of the ordinary, speak up. We don't know if this is a trap or not."

"Oh, it's definitely a trap," Church said instantly, appearing in front of the dashboard.. "It's just a matter of when and how it's going to be sprung. He's a master of throwing people off his trail and confusing them."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to be prepared for anything," she said, walking out onto the field. "Looks like there was at least a six dozen soldiers here judging by the vehicles. There's no signs of struggle. No blood. No bullets or weapons laying around. Just a bunch of empty, unmanned ships."

"Home, sweet home," Sarge said reminiscently as he cradled his shotgun in his arms. "This place brings back so many good memories, doesn't it Simmons?"

"Yes it does, sir," Simmons agreed. "It even looks exactly the same as how we left it. Minus the ships, of course."

"What if the ships are haunted and come back to life and try to kill us?" Caboose gasped.

"I don't know, the only ghost we've really known is Church, and he can't hit things for shit. I think it's safe to say that if the ships did come to life, they'd only hurt each other," Tucker chuckled.

"Enough fooling around. Let's go check out the bases and look for anything suspicious," Washington said, pushing Tucker ahead of him.

"And remember; if you see anything that isn't one of us, take them out," Carolina said, double checking to make sure her pistol had max ammo. As Grif began walking out of the aircraft, Carolina held up her hand. "Nuh-uh, you're staying here to see if the Pelican is damaged at all. We need to have this thing in working order and ready to fire up at a moment's notice."

"What? I have to stay here by myself?" Grif asked. He knew being alone made him a prime target for getting attacked. He also knew that Discord was insane and does things that nobody would expect. "Actually, I'm okay with this. Have fun, you guys."

"Grif might have broken our ship, and as a reward he gets to sit back and relax while the rest of us risk walking into a trap. Great," Tucker grunted sarcastically. "Hey, if I find a bomb and blow the ship up, do I get the rest of the month off?"

"If you do that, you'll get the rest of your life off," she answered seriously.

"Wow. Aren't you a bundle of sunshine wrapped in pixie wings?" he grunted. "Even Caboose is better company than you, and I can't say more than two sentences to him before he forgets what we were talking about."

"Thank you, Tucker!" Caboose said happily.

"No problem."

"What isn't a problem?" he inquired, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"See what I mean?"

"Guys, just be quiet. It'll be easier for all of us this way," Washington sighed, wondering if they'd even get the chance to be killed by someone else before Carolina killed them.

"Wash," Carolina said, shaking her head. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but they're not taking orders from me, so what makes you think—"

"Okay, Wash," Tucker said with a nod. "I was pretty much done talking anyways."

Carolina looked at Washington, and then to Tucker as he walked next to him with Caboose and the Reds following behind. Wash then nodded at her and began walking towards the Red base, Reds and Blues following close behind. Glancing back at the ship, Carolina shook her head clear and began walking after them, making sure nothing caught their flank.

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