III. The Sound of Thunder
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Another day, another chapter. It was a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing. Begin!
From Skies Above – The Sound of Thunder
Quill Dipper recognised the room as soon as he entered. He had been in this area looking at odd alien equipment when he stumbled upon this room in particular. Rows of sealed compartments lined the walls, each holding long metal objects. Many of the objects were of the same design, with several designs filling different rows. Quill hadn’t spent long in this chamber, but promised himself that he would return and attempt to uncover the purpose of the objects.
None of this, however, mattered much to Quill at the moment, as he was far more concerned about the horde of savage gryphons rampaging through the ship.
A light flared up, forcing Quill to shut his eyes and let out an involuntary yelp. The light faded slightly, and the researcher opened his eyes to find himself caught in the glare of a unicorn guard. Quill caught sight of a young pegasus mare whom he recognised to be from the research team, currently cowering behind the guard. The unicorn guard’s eyes flicked from Quill over to the pegasus guard who stood beside the door, then back to the unicorn researcher. “Get back from the door and keep your head down.”
Quill could only nod in response, too scared to form coherent words. He scampered toward the back of the room, taking cover behind the row of cabinets that ran through the centre of the chamber. He found himself sitting next to the pegasus mare, whose name he had forgotten. Neither spoke, instead huddled quietly and hoped that they wouldn’t be discovered.
*
Avlyn was a young gryphon. It had only been a year since he had completed the brutal training regime that allowed him to call himself a warrior, making him one of the youngest selected by Vaelis to take part in the assault. It was a great honour to take such an important role, but Avlyn’s young age only served to hinder him. His orders were clear, to guard the breach. The initial attack had more of an impact that the gryphons had expected, their forces overwhelming the guards and forcing them back into the ship, cornering and scattering them deeper into the bowels of the metal behemoth. Avlyn had been denied the honour of taking part in the main attack, and instead having to hang back and wait whilst his older brothers in arms stole all the glory of the battle.
The wind howled loudly, but failed to cover the sound of the battle raging inside the ship as it sailed out to the gryphons standing guard. The sound screams and the clash of steel only added to Avlyn’s anger. He looked away from the breach and swept his eyes over the Equestrian’s campsite, desperate to take his mind off his misfortune. The tent structures held up well against the storm, advertising their expert design. Avlyn let out a frustrated sigh before turning back to the breach.
A flash of movement caught his eye. He whipped his head back around and scanned the campsite. There it was again! A shadow passing between two tents. Avlyn instinctively grabbed the hilt of his sword. There was something in the campsite.
“Avlyn! What are you doing? The breach is that way!” a gryphon called.
Avlyn didn’t take is eyes off the campsite. “I thought I saw something!” he called, “Stay here, I’m going to check it out.”
“Don’t be too long, Vaelis will have your wings if he finds you’ve abandoned your post!”
The young gryphon didn’t respond, instead taking flight over the camp. His sharp eyes scanned back and forth, searching between tents. Then he spotted it: A dark figure running along the side of the ship, away from the breach. But it wasn’t a pony, or a gryphon. The tall biped was crouched slightly, sticking close to the ship for cover. This was one of them.
Avlyn felt a mixture of fear and excitement grip his body. This was his chance to prove himself, to prove that he was as capable as the other warriors, or even more so. But he was also afraid. He had seen what the other monster had done to Faelin, and heard how Aceius died. But here it was, completely unaware of him. As long as he kept the element of surprise he was sure he could best the creature. He briefly considered going back and getting the others, but quickly decided against it. This is my kill, my glory.
Avlyn swooped down silently and landed on the alien’s vessel. It had slowed slightly, and Avlyn feared for a moment that he had been spotted, but the creature made no indication it knew of his presence. He scampered along the top of the ship, thankful the wind was covering the noise he was making. When he was satisfied he was in a good position, he drew his sword, eyeing his prey, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Now!
Avlyn leapt, and time seemed to slow before his eyes. The creature didn’t know he was coming. Victory was his.
Then he heard it. A shout. The words were lost to him, but the meaning was all too clear. It was a warning. The creature below froze, looking toward the sky and spotting the incoming gryphon. It jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Avlyn’s blade. The gryphon felt a stab of fear pierce his heart. He leapt up and raised the sword, eyes locked on his opponent.
The creature scrambled through the snow toward a black object. Its weapon! Avlyn couldn’t believe his luck. He prepared to strike, but something caught his eye.
His heart dropped.
There was another creature sprinting toward him. Avlyn was gripped by fear, images of Faelin’s wounds racing through his mind. He snapped out of it quickly, silently cursing himself for losing his concentration, and wasting valuable time. The gryphon crouched low and prepared to launch himself off the ground to escape, but a bright flash from the second monster sent an explosion of pain tearing through his chest. Just as the loud crack reached his ears, the air was knocked from his lungs, and the gryphon couldn’t seem to get anymore in. Avlyn fell down into the snow, coughing and wheezing.
The creatures were now standing over him, their unassuming but incredibly powerful weapons drawn. He could see the reflection of himself in their masks, the scarlet that now covered his feathers and fur causing his eyes to widen. Avlyn gathered the last of his strength from his dying body and tried to swing his sword in a final effort to save himself.
*BANG!*
*
Doctor Rainlight trotted away from the creature lying unconscious in the bed. The surgery had gone amazingly well considering that the creature wasn’t even from this planet, and its health seemed to be improving rapidly at an unnatural rate. Unnatural for any terrestrial creatures, that was.
She sighed. She had been intrigued by the alien as soon as she had laid eyes on it, yet she, nor the other doctors, knew anything about it aside from what they were able to find during the surgery. She longed to know more about this fascinating species, yet it resisted every one of her attempts to scan its body magically. She couldn’t even feel its presence with her magic.
No, not it, he.
Rain looked back at the alien once more. He rested peacefully in the bed exactly as he had been before, his chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. With a sigh, she shook her head and headed toward the door.
With the doctor gone, the only sound in the room came was the monotonous beeping of the machine monitoring the alien’s heart. He lay almost completely still on the bed, when suddenly, his hand moved.
*
Quill had no idea how long he had been hiding for. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. It felt like an eternity. All the while he could still hear the sound of the battle raging on. Battle cries and clashing steel echoed through the cold metal hallways, punctuated every so often with a scream of fear or pain. Just mere days ago he had been ecstatic about this expedition, to explore a vessel made by aliens, but now he regretted everything from the moment he said yes.
The sound of hoof steps echoed loudly down the hallway just outside, or were they the paws and talons of the gryphon raiders? There was incomprehensible chatter as they grew closer. The pegasus that had led Quill to the room had taken off a while ago, in search of others, leaving only the unicorn behind. Quill was sweating more than he ever had in his life. He cautiously poked his head around the cabinets.
The unicorn stood in a battle stance, just by the entrance of the room. His sword glowed with a dark green aura, matching the light of his horn. It was raised above his head, poised to strike at anything that would seek entrance into the room.
The sounds were getting louder, now much clearer over the noise from the battle. The hoof steps were... unusual. They diffidently weren’t the clatter of talons striking the floor, yet they lacked the heavy thump the guards made when their heavy hooves struck the metal of the ship. The pattern was also quite irregular, much different to the guards and the gryphons.
A light shone into the room, and a creature made its way slowly inside. The unicorn by the door was dumbfounded. The beast that just entered was tall, standing several hoof spans above the average pony. It walked on its hind legs, and its face covered by a somewhat disturbing mask. In its forepaws (Hands? Claws?) it clasped a small back object. The unicorn was frozen on the spot, eyes wide and mouth agape.
Quill Dipper wore a similar expression. It was one of the aliens!
The creature turned, spotting the unicorn standing mere meters away from it. It let loose a shout in its alien tongue, and shined the light directed into the unicorn’s eyes. The guard reacted immediately to the threat, thrusting the sword forward, hilt first. The heavy pommel struck the creature square in the chest, sending it reeling backwards.
The guard held his ground, sword at the ready. The alien was quick to recover, raising the black object and pointing it directly at the guard’s head.
The was a loud shout, and the alien froze. Standing in the doorway was another of the chamber, similarly dressed to the first. It pointed its arm at the first alien, the digits on its hand spread out wide like a fan. The second alien held another of the black objects in its other hand, pointing it at the ground in front of it. Despite his fear, Quill found himself to be intrigued by the object. It was almost like an L shape, with the alien gripping the shorter of the two sides. The unicorn researcher couldn’t help but feel that it was somewhat familiar.
The alien in the doorway was talking to the one on the ground, speaking slowly and clearly in its language. The one on the ground kept the object pointed at the guard, but didn’t move. The unicorn guard stood stock still, sword at the ready and eyes darting back and forth between the two creatures.
Quill’s fear of the gryphons and the battle faded, quickly replaced by awe of the two aliens conversing before him. He was so engrossed in the creatures, that he lost his balance, and fell to the floor with a loud thump.
The alien on the floor reacted immediately. It swung the object to bear, pointing it directly at Quill. The unicorn scholar froze in fear under the alien’s gaze.
The Royal Guard’s eyes snapped on the creature as soon as it moved. His eyes identified a threat to the researchers he was sworn to protect. His horn flared brightly and his green aura enveloped the creature on the ground, attempting to magically rip the weapon from the creature’s grip. The alien let out a startled cry before swinging the weapon back to the guard, breaking the magic cast upon it.
*BANG!*
The room flashed brightly and Quill felt a deafening sound assault his ears. The guard staggered backwards, his aura fading and the light from his horn vanishing.
*BANG!*
Another loud noise, another flash. Quill clamped his eyes shut and covered his head with his hooves.
*BANG! BANG!*
The mare screamed. Even with his eyes closed he could see the bright flashes of light.
Then silence.
The lights and noises stopped, leaving only the ring in Quill’s ears. The ringing slowly faded, and the voices of the aliens reached his ears. Spoke sternly to the other, who replied in an apologetic tone. With a final bark from one of them, the conversation ceased. Quill slowly opened his eyes, but snapped them shut when he found one of the aliens staring at him, the black weapon pointed at him. A new wave of fear surged through his body. This is it. I’m going to die!
His hooves trembled over his head as he waited for death. But it never came.
Leathery paw clamped down on his mane, causing him to yelp with fear and struggle. “Gah! No! Get off me! NO!”
Not too far away he heard the mare shriek, and beg for mercy. I’m gonna die I’m gonna die!
No matter how much he thrashed he couldn’t escape the alien’s iron grip as it began to drag him across the floor, but still he struggled. “Let me go! I don’t want to die! Please! Please let me-”
*THWAK*
The heavy impact on the back of his head caused him to yelp, and the angry growl of the creature persuaded him to stop his struggles and keep his mouth shut. The alien shoved him and he felt himself hit a wall before falling roughly to the floor. A thump next to him followed by quiet sobs revealed the pegasus mare had been thrown beside him.
Quill risked opening his eyes. His vision was slightly blurred, caused by tears that he hadn’t realised he had been shedding. The unicorn found himself to be in the corner of the room, with his back pressed against the wall. He looked around slowly, soon regretting the action when he spotted the bloodied, unmoving body of the unicorn guard that had been watching over them. One of the aliens standing several meters away, unblinking eyes staring down at him and black weapon trained on the pair of researchers. The other, who, much to Quills surprise, had been joined by a third Quill didn’t, see enter were now searching through the cabinets, pulling out the objects Quill had promised himself he would return to study.
On of the creatures returned the small weapon it held to a sheath on its waist. Quill was able to get a better look at the grip device. It took a few moments, but something in his brain clicked. The unicorn had seen that grip before! The alien proceeded to open one of the cabinets, and withdrew one of the objects.
Quill’s heart skipped a beat.
On the large object the alien now cradled in its arms was a grip of the same design to the black object on the creature’s waist. They were weapons.
The room was an armoury.
*
Rainlight rushed back into the room, the door guard following close behind. A high pitched droning noise filling her ears, signalling that the heart rate monitor was not receiving a pulse. Her eyes immediately shot to the bed, only to find it empty, sheets roughly tossed aside in a mass in the corner and the tubes and cords of various life support systems discarded carelessly. The machines that had once kept the creature alive lay scattered around the room. Rainlight also noticed broken glass on the floor, from the mirror that once hung on the wall.
Oh no, no, no!
She dropped down and looked under the bed. No sign of the alien. It had just disappeared out of thin air. There was only one door to the room, and the pegasus guard stationed outside had kept a close eye on the door. Nothing had left, but it wasn’t in here either.
Wait.
Doctor Rainlight eyed the mass of bed sheets against the wall. She looked to the guard and gestured toward the improvised hiding place. The pegasus nodded and the pair slowly approached the pile.
“Grrah!”
The sheets surged up, draping themselves over the pegasus, and revealing the alien who hid underneath. The alien wore no clothes, pale pinkish skin covering its entire body, save the top of his head and its groin, which were covered by hair. The guard cried out at the sudden attack, and struggled to free himself from the trap, but the alien had other ideas. He charged forward and delivered a brutal kick to the writhing mass of bedsheets.
The tangled guard hit the ground with a loud *oof*, and the alien turned his attention to the startled unicorn. The creature leapt at Rainlight, brandishing a shard of broken mirror. She screamed as she felt a muscled appendage wrap around her body and lift her clean off the floor.
The sharp shard of mirror was pressed against her throat, and she immediately silenced her cries. The alien hissed something in his foreign language, before making his way to the door, the unicorn still in his arms.
A welcoming sound echoed down the hallways of Canterlot Castle, making its way into Rainlight’s ears: the repetitive drumming of armoured hooves on the cold floor. The alien noticed them as well, quickly turning and heading in the opposite direction, his bare feet making a loud slap with each step.
*
Quill Dipper watched with a mixture of awe and utter fear as the aliens pulled weapon after weapon out of the compartments that filled the room. From the long metal weapons, to small roundish objects that resembled cans, to rectangular boxes that slotted into the original weapons. The aliens carried out their tasks hurriedly, hanging several of the weapons of their bodies with straps attached to the devices, and stuffing their bags and pockets with the smaller objects.
Quill jumped when a fourth creature burst through the doorway, hissing something in the alien’s strange language. The others reacted immediately, ducking behind cover and readying their new armaments. The one that had been watching the two cowering researchers held a paw up and raised a single digit over its face. The terrified unicorn didn’t know how to respond, but was quickly distracted by noise coming from the hallway just outside.
Claws clattered against the cold metal floor, echoing down the empty hallways. There were voices too, first incomprehensible, but soon growing into understandable words.
“-down here, so keep your eyes open.”
The command was acknowledged by a squawk that only a gryphon could have made.
The mare whimpered, earning her a low growl from one of the aliens.
Silence. The noises from the hallway had ceased. But that must mean-
“What is it?”
“I heard something. In here.”
A shape moved in the doorway, and Quill realised that in the corner he was in direct line of sight from the doorway. “Well what do we have here?” a menacing voice sounded off.
An armoured gryphon stepped through the doorway, a sick grin on his face. “Little ponies all alone?” he chuckled.
A second followed him into the room. One of the aliens made a slow hand gesture to the others. The first gryphon started toward the ponies, and the mare shrank back, to scared to make any sound. The gryphon came closer still, his companion not far behind. “You’re going to do exactly what I say little ponies, or I’m gonna-”
An alien shouted, and the group sprang from their hiding places. The gryphon shrieked and jumped back. One of the creatures barked a string of loud commands, but the gryphons had other ideas.
“The freaks! Kill them! Kill them!”
Steel blade in his talons, the gryphon lunged.
And the aliens responded.
*
The Equestrians were in complete disarray. They were cut off from each other, small groups slowly being pushed back to the front of the alien vessel. From the beginning, the battle had slowly tipped in favour of the gryphons as they continued to hack and slash their way deeper into the ship. The floors and walls were stained with blood, and the occasional corpse, gruesome marker of places where the ponies had lost ground to their attackers. Vaelis had every bit of confidence that they would come out on top as he hacked down the last remaining Royal Guard in the group. The others had lost their nerve under the might of the war group leader, and had taken off deeper into the ship to find a more defendable position.
Suddenly, Vaelis froze, the gryphons behind following suit. Distant thunder echoed throughout the halls of the ship, clearly audible over the dying sounds of the battle. The scout, Cerik, approached him. “You heard it too?”
“Aye.”
Vaelis tightened his grip on his axe, still dripping blood off the blade from his last victim. “Perhaps the storm worsens.” He suggested.
“No.” Cerik was quick to respond, “That’s not thunder. That came from inside.”
“There is something else in here?” Vaelis snarled. “Go. Find the source and report back, we will deal with the rest of them.” he gestured to the body of a fallen pegasus, who bore several deep lacerations courtesy of Vaelis’ axe.
Cerik nodded, before taking off down the hallway.
Vaelis didn’t stay to watch the scout’s departure, as he had already set off in pursuit of the fleeing group.
*
The alien backed into a wall, guards approaching it from every side. The chase hadn’t been long. The quadrupeds were naturally faster than their bipedal prey, and the alien held an added handicap in the form of a struggling mare.
Rainlight was defiant, putting up a fight whenever the glass blade was not pressed into her throat, but the presence of the improvised weapon always managed to dissuade the unicorn from continuing her struggles.
It was inevitable that the guard would catch up to the biped and his hostage, managing to catch the duo at an intersection in the hallways. Now the alien was cornered, guards to the left, to the right and in front. His back was pressed against the wall, the unicorn in his arms being the only reason the guards hadn’t attacked.
“Release her!” A pegasus barked.
The alien snarled, and responded with a string of bitter words that Rainlight was sure were insults.
He swung the helpless mare back and forth to face the guards on each side as they slowly advanced toward him. With her back pressed against his chest, Rainlight could feel his breaths becoming faster, and even his heart beginning to race, pounding like a drum in his torso.
The guards ponies were growing ever closer and Rainlight could tell that this wasn’t going to end well. She tried her hardest to fight back her fears, but her efforts were crushed when the alien barked more foreign words...
...and began a steady march toward the guards.
I would be lying if I said this story didn't give me a few ideas, and I hope you're enjoying my shoddy art.
Thanks again for reading, your are a wonderful audience! Remember, rate, comment, track and let your friends know!
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yey!
this story rocks
I loved Article 2 and I love this just as much.
Can't wait to see the next chapter!
When can we expect an update? Will it be a routinely update or just a 'when your done' update?
OMFG
MOARRR
MOARRRRR
GODDAMN CLIFF-HANGERS
Good chapter, though the naked guy is a complete idiot. Reminds me far too much of Article 2 too.
Step 1: Play Innocence by Nero
Step 2: While listening to Innocence, read a scene involving humans and some kind of conflict.
Step 3: ????
Step 4: PROFIT!
BTW, liking the story. Nice and dark, just how I like it >:D
More more more!
yay, new chapter
Oh dear, the one in the castle won't end well.
Another good chapter. I would say I'd love to see this update more often, but then again I can barely keep my own pace going. I hope the dude that has Rainlight captive at least has some underwear on, otherwise this is going to get pretty awkward should he be subdued and the Princesses and the Mane 6 come strolling in. Nothing says "hello" like being subdued by a bunch of alien ponies, their royalty and a group of young mares enter the room and your junk is on display.
Shoddy my ass. This is fucking awesome. No other words describe it.
291858 Actually, I believe it is Forward Unto Dawn
292738 Whatever You just told me it is chief LOL
293197 Chief from Arby n the Chief or normal Chief
So about when can we expect another chapter?
308106 real chief and blue team the real Spartan team from the books not RvB
308663 Ah
308664 your welcome
This is amazing.
Tracked an Liked.
308663
This reply is a bit late, but if it is Chief and some Spartans, all they would need to do would be to rip every living thing apart with their bear hands.
Okay. Utter joy is in my bollocks as I read this wonderful piece of bloodshed.
YAY~! XENOCIDE FTW!!! (Meaning, GO HUMANS!)
550384 Yeah. Those ponies/ gryphons wouldn't stand one single fuckin' chance.
A mare being held hostage by a human in order to escape a hospital-like environment? I think there was another story that inspired this chapter (which is one of my favorite HiE stories).
yay, assault rifles. assault rifles make the world go round
2115533 I dissagree, It adds a reality to the story.
A mare is a adult female horse or pony you mean stallion which is a male equine. unless I read this wrong.
3874165 Don't like it don't read it.
3899591
There are three ponies in the room, if I recall correctly: the guard, Quill and a mare. My bad for only mentioning her twice in that scene.