Night Shift Rhapsody
Luna walked along the sleek obsidian wall occasionally glancing at a name or two that was engraved into it as a reminder of the ponies that once walked among the living. The princess of the night knew every one of these names by heart and held them close to it as well. There were tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of names engraved into this wall.
The alicorn had on a somber, yet, neutral expression.She could see her reflection in the wall. Every time she built up the courage to actually read some of the names, she could see the smiling faces they belonged to behind her standing tall, and proud. Their smiles reflected that pride as well as showing determination and contentment.
She could hear their voices chanting a singular but meaningful proclamation as a distant echo of the past. They’d put their lives down for hopes of a better life. For this reason, they took up arms against their fellow ponies.
History, they say, is written by the victors. The truth, however, is reserved for the participants. They went down as being heartless aggressors while in fact they had more heart than anypony now, thats for certain.
A tear found its way to the ground, it’s owner, looking towards the sky trying to hold them in. Luna moved to the wall and placed a hoof on it. She hung her head in memorial and in respect. It was a kind of respect she could give only to a certain few.
The inigo alicorn brought her head back up and a sad smile found its way to her face. In the reflection a teal unicorn clad in dark blue armor held a hoof up so it meet with Princess Luna’s. He had a short blonde mane and purple eyes. He wore the same sad smile as Luna.
Behind him were a multitude of ponies who gathered close to him and looked to the alicorn as well. Luna drew in breath in preparation to speak but was interrupted forcing her to release it as a huff.
“Your Highness, there’s an emergency.” huffed a winded guard. He continued to gasp for air causing the princess to become annoyed.
“Well, would you care telling me?” she asked. Another pony flew landed two feet from them. Night Shroud flapped his wings before leaving them at his side and promptly trotting over. He was Captain of the Lunar Guard. He could certainly shed some light on this situation. The regular palace guards tended to annoy her for some reason.
“Your Majesty, if I may?”
“Ah, Night Shroud, please fill me in. I hear there’s something rather urgent that needs to be brought to my attention but have yet to be informed about.” The princess of the night glared at the palace guard making him shrink.
“To put it simply, there is an army amassing below Canterlot.”
“Wait, what?! Who are they? Changelings?”
“No, ma’am. We can’t say for certain but whoever they are, they’re setting up camp.”
Luna let out a worried sigh. “Ok, how large is this army?” The lunar princess didn’t need to panic. Canterlot is a strong and fortified city. There is a sizable Guard presence and the ponies here can endure if need be. Surely it couldn’t be a force large enough to overwhelm the defenders.
During the changeling invasion of Canterlot on Cadence and Shining Armour’s original wedding day, the changelings hopelessly outnumbered the equine defenders but they didn’t succeed in defeating them. Did they cripple them? Yes. Did the attacking force crush all opposition? No. The fighting lasted until the changeling aggressors were cast out of Equestria by the power of Cadence and Shining Armour’s love. Canterlot prevailed then so it will prevail once more. They have to.
There was a long pause before he spoke again.“This is something you will probably want to see.”
Luna didn’t like how he said that. Not wanting to waste anymore time, the alicorn shot into the air with a powerful thrust of her wings. Wind whipped past her but had no effect on her erethral mane but caused her eyes to water in irritation.. As Luna continued to gain altitude a sliver of doubt began to creep on her mind. It can’t that large could it?
The princess of the night realized she had closed her eyes. She didn’t honestly know if she wanted to open them again but reluctantly, she did. As soon as she did so, every last thought in her mind ceased.
“No...” she whispered. It was as much a statement as it was the closest descriptor to what her thoughts translated to. An overbearing sense of dread threatened to crush her as she gazed past Canterlot and out to the landscape of the countryside. Never in her lifetime did she ever think she’d see force so large. The camp was so large that its lights gave of a glow the made the horizon slightly brighter. She would have mistaken it for a decently sized town if it weren’t for the fact that it was mostly comprised of tents and other temporary structures.
The thing that unnerved her the most was the fact that she could see oddly shaped silhouettes flying about. Some of them had lights that blinked every so often while others sported something akin to a spotlight and circled the perimeter of the encampment. Luna was no fool. Those were machines.
They aren’t changelings. That much is certain, but who could they be?
(For the longest time, I tried to use this goddamn keyboard to make english text pull off a french accent. I gave up. The Colonel is French. Imagine him with a mild accent. I give up and am lazy, so bite me. For those of you wanting to know why he's french, I'll get to that. so deal with it.)
Cadence and Cool Ember were escorted into Town Hall. The Ponyvillian building was now converted into a hive of activity. There was a multitude of tables that held complex equipment that either of the ponies couldn’t begin understand. Humans were every either carrying things or operating some form of technology. The amount of technology and machinery they had at their disposal was both intimidating and fascinating.
Cadence began to wonder what she had just gotten herself into. They had the means to do whatever they pleased if the felt like it. What was going to happen to her? What was to become of Ponyville.
Cadence’s thoughts were interrupted when Cool put a hoof on her shoulder. She must have been showing her anxiety on the outside. The armored stallion gave her a reassuring smile and motioned his head for them to continue.
The duo was led up a flight of stairs and towards a door at the end of a hallway. Pictures of Ponyville's past mayors still remained on the wall which surprised the princess of love for some reason. She’d half expected some kind of propaganda posters. The group arrived at the door and the soldiers guarding it moved aside to let them pass.
Sitting at the mayor’s desk was a human wearing the same tan armor as the rest of them. Other than the fact that his helmet was missing, there really were no distinguishing factors. They all honestly look the same to Cadence. Sure there are variations in the colors of their mane, skin or eyes. There’s also an obvious size difference as well as slightly different facial structures but as racist as it sounds, she really couldn’t pick one apart from another.
Cadence let her eyes wander as she was lost in thought. The room was dimly lit by a small lamp on the desk. Bookshelves dominated both the walls on either side of her. The human remained silent and continued to stare out the window. Eventually, her eyes did the same. Just outside was a view of Ponyville. It wasn’t the greatest vantage point being just above roof level for most of the buildings in that general direction.
The princess’s thoughts were halted by a voice.
“It took you long enough, Staff Sergeant.”
That voice belong to the human at the window. Cadence was thrown off a bit by him. The accent he had was identical to those who lived in Eastern Gryphos. Is it possible that they hailed from that area of the world? Princess Celestia wouldn’t say much about them when she asked.
The Staff Sergeant shifted nervously. “There was a small complication on the way here but it was handled.”
“I did not ask for an explanation. Return to your previous duties.”
Mikes nodded once in acknowledgement and left without another word.
“Lopez, Menarchi, you are dismissed.”
“Sir!” the soldiers responded mechanically. They walked out shutting the door behind them leaving both Cadence and Cool Ember alone with the biped. Cadence exchanged a look with Cool who shrugged in response. You could touch the uneasy tension in the air if you held a hoof out.
After another thirty seconds of silence, the human spoke with the same Eastern Gyphish accent.
“You are royalty, are you not?” he asked maintaining his sight out the window.
Cadence once again looked to the stallion on her right. He motioned his right foreleg in a circle as to say “roll with it”.
“Um... Y-yes.” she began unsteadily. She took a moment to clear her throat before continuing. “I’m Princess Cadence. And you are...”
There was a pause before he responded. “Do not take this the wrong way, but I don’t give my name to anyone until they can earn my respect. For now, you may address me as Colonel, which is my rank.” His accent grew thicker when he spoke this time for some reason. Odd.
Cadence thought about it for a minute. She wasn’t offended by his response, however, not giving your name when asked is considered rude in Equestrian culture. It’s probably part of human culture to only give a name when respect has been earned.
The Colonel turned away from the window and gazed at the two equines with a look of what Cadence would guess to be disinterest. He then took a hand and ran it through his short black mane while sighing deeply.
“Regardless, I will need information from both of you. This is why you are here.” The human put his hands on the desk and adopted a serious expression. “You are not prisoners, but that does not mean you can do whatever it is that you want. I will ask you questions and you will answer them. Afterwords you may leave if you wish. I ask for your complete cooperation. It will make this much easier for both of us.”
Cadence was about to speak but was interrupted by the stallion on her right. “And what if we refuse?”
The response was immediate. “You will be detained and you will be asked again. Depending upon whether you comply or not will determine how unpleasant the experience is for the both of you. It would be rather... how you say, unfortunate, if you were to resist. We are not here to be your friends but we are not here to be your enemy either. Since you are royalty, your cooperation would make life alot easier for everyone.”
“So tell me, do you wish to make this simple or shall we do this the hard way?” asked the human in a calm but powerful voice. Again, his accent grew thicker for some reason which struck Cadence as strange.
Cadence really didn’t have a choice. It’s either they give them what they want or they make you give it to them. Yet, the Colonel implied that they weren’t here specifically for malicious purposes. Why? Regardless, there was only one option.
“We will cooperate but I want to know something, first.” the pink alicorn stated. Cadence cursed herself because her response sounded more demanding than she would have liked.
The biped smiled in mild amusement. “You are not really in a position to make demands but I’ll allow you one question.”
“You said that you're not here to be our enemies. If that’s true, then why did you attack Ponyville?”
The Colonel sat back in the large office chair behind him and leaned backwards in it slightly. “There is no simple answer to that question...” he responded uneasily. “One might say, that it is because we are desperate...”
The mare that stopped my fall had long since given up on talking to me and opted to carry me instead. My perception of time hasn’t been all that great as of late but I’d say that I’ve been dangling off of the armored pegasus’s back for at least a good hour or so. From what I could see, we were venturing deeper into the countryside judging by the fields of crops which seemed to be getting more abundant.
The only sounds belonged to nocturnal insects and the pony's armor moving against itself. It wasn’t much but it was a good distraction. Thinking has proved to be against my better interests since my mind seems to want to insist that this pony is trying to help me. I wants to say that I’m being irrational. Rational thinking is reserved for ponies who don’t have to worry about the ones closest to them trying to hurt them. So, yes. I very well could be thinking irrationally but it’s relative to the situation when you get down to it.
However, suppose they are trying to help. Then what? You can’t exactly hide from a goddess. Not for long, at least. It would be a fools dream to think that you could successfully evade her for ever. It’s impossible. Not with the kind of power she possesses and the resources she has at her disposal.
I would enjoy a chance at revenge but that will never happen. It’d be even better to find out that has just been some kind of crazy nightmare. Actually that’d be fantastic. I can only imagine the kind of relief I would feel when I would wake up. Another what if.
Suppose that I am being rescued. Suppose that I could escape. What would happen then? I stick out like a sore thumb so I could never go into public. I’d always be on the run. I won’t live like that.
As much as I want to humor the idea, I can’t let myself think of something that absurd. My life is only an object to everypony. That is an unchanging fact of things. Part of my mind wants to say otherwise that’s as far from the truth as anything can be. But still though, what if the mare carrying me is really here to help?
Mikes made his way out the door leaving the Colonel with the the two quadrupeds. His squad had cleared the buildings they were assigned so orders weren’t exactly specified. For the time being he and his subordinates were to patrol sector D5 which was command’s equivalent to saying “we have nothing for you to do but you still need to look important” in some way or another.
The Staff Sergeant carefully shuffled his way down the staircase and made his way into the foyer. Surprisingly, the stairs seemed to be the only thing that was made smaller here. The sizes of the alien rooms were at least six and a half feet between the ceiling and the floor. He was a proud 6’ 2” and didn’t need to crouch to stand in a room. The stairs here were a little annoying to say the least. Each step seemed to be noticeably shorter making it harder to keep balance in his standard issued boots. It was enough so, to require effort to traverse them safely.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, soldier ventured through the desk jockeys that populated the building since this was to be the command center for a while. He saw ponies in blue buttoned shirts sporting black utility belts get escorted in by an officer, by the look of his uniform. Must be the local law enforcement he thought to himself. Coordinating with alien law enforcement sounded like it would be a nightmare but maybe not. It’d actually make things run easier now that he thought about it. He chuckled to himself realizing it had took him this long to realize that. The thought of him being part of the brass was hilarious.
Hopefully, things will go according to plan, whatever the plan may be, so this sitiuation can be resolved quickly. The faster the higher ups complete their goal, the faster he can go home. It’s a little unnerving to know that you are literally a world away from home.
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The humans down below are likely thinking this if the Ponies don't do as they ask. Luna has good reason to fear them.
Ugh. Legal battle. No fun for anyone.
"We don't want to be enemies, but we skipped right past negotiation and into forceful occupation. Oh, and we may have killed some of your citizens who tried to defend their homes, and we may have committed some minor war crimes on some of the ones that did surrender. But we don't want to be enemies."
"We expect you to answer all our questions, but we're going to start by not even giving the most basic courtesy such as a name."
"You're not prisoners, but we'll detain you like the other ponies we beat and crippled if you don't do what we want."
"Actually, we'll probably torture you if you don't do what we want. But you're not prisoners."
"Oh, and we might have completely violated one of your citizens in about the most absolute fashion possible, but we expect you to return the criminal who did it, and did I mention we've got a giant army and that wasn't really a request?"
...Humans are kind of dicks in this story.
Pretty much every time they're on screen, they make their position less and less sympathetic. And considering they're coming from the emergency of trying to preserve their species from extinction, that's quite the accomplishment...
NYES.
2152089
So... basically the humans took their First Contact techniques from Homeland Security? *coughGuantanamoBayandAfganistancough*
Some government officials never learn...