Sound Bagels and Donut Seeds
Sound Bagels and Donut Seeds
"Someone get me some alcohol, I can't just stare at whatever happened without something to drink!" Jason yelled to one of the ponies in the mess hall as he passed, being acquainted with some mugs of cider a few seconds later. He passed one over to Dash and walked between two of the tents, reaching a slightly flaming crater and several gathered ponies.
"Everyone that wasn't involved, clear out!" He yelled, watching as the mass exodus of ponies began, quickly clearing the area of most of its population. A small group remained, constituted of a few nervous looking, slightly black faced ponies. Jason chuckled again, taking a sip of the cider when he figured he had stopped.
"So inform me how you managed to make a big mushroom cloud when there aren't any explosives around here?" A pony elbowed another, who debated with himself for a moment before stepping forward.
"W-well, you see, we found these big canisters in the forest when we were coming back last night, and, well, we wanted to see what they were." He shifted uneasily again, kicking a flat plastic sheet that looked like the side of a--
"You found gasoline? And how, pray tell, did you set it on fire like that?"
"Cobalt said that--"
"Don't tell him my name!" Cobalt objected, punching the first pony in the side.
"It was your idea!"
"Nopony stopped me!"
"We didn't know that it was going to explode!"
"Someone please, just tell me what happened!" Jason broke in, silencing the two ponies. A nudging match erupted between the two before Cobalt came forward.
"We tried a bunch of stuff with it, but we couldn't figure out what happened, so--"
"He was like, 'hey, everypony, let's just throw it on the fire and get rid of it, whatever it is'."
"And you listened?" Dash asked, muffling a laugh of her own.
"Yeah," Cobalt replied, "They all did."
"So then it exploded, and clearly you all got singed, and here we are." Jason filled in, letting out a few residual laughs. "Just report all the weird things you have to Shining Armor in the future, okay?" There were several mumbles from the ponies. "That could've been bad, you could've thrown munitions or something on there, and at least one of you would be short a head. Or a leg. Hopefully you get the picture." The ponies shared a look.
"We get it, I think." Cobalt replied, glancing at the smoldering crater again.
"Good, I don't know what it is with the intelligence around here today." He turned around with another chuckle and started to walk away, hearing some hurried conversation from the ponies behind him.
"So, what did you say gasoline did again?" Dash asked as she firmly leaned into his side, making him stumble slightly.
"Usually it wasn't used for explosions, I can tell you that much." He chuckled. "Cars, boats, generators, things like that. You make it from crude oil, which I'm sure you have somewhere underground. So next thing after steel's going to be the steam engine, but I guess maybe your trains have that or something?"
"I have no idea how those things work, but they're apparently making a new model that's based more on speed and pulling poser, I think that uses steam. And steel." She poked his chest. "Aren't you the little history maker?"
"A little. I can't stop until Celestia runs out of windows. Mark my words, I'll get you in every one if it's the last thing I do."
"Of course, you'll be in those with me..."
"Just an added bonus, as far as I'm con-oof!" He tripped and face planted, spilling the cider and breaking the mug, groaning as he rolled onto his back. "Why the hell can't I watch where I'm going?"
"Dunno, what is this you tripped over?"
"Uh, let me look... wait..." He paused, tilting the cardboard box upright and opening the lid.
"Jason, isn't this one of your box controllers?" Dash asked, picking up another Xbox controller a little ways away.
"Yeah, we need to get this back to the tent! Bring that, by the way." He picked up the box in his magic and started galloping back, taking special care to make sure that the box didn't leave his grip.
"What is it?" Dash asked as she caught up, the controller tucked under a wing.
"It's a thing, I'm not telling you anything until I start it up."
"So it's a machine?"
"Yeeeeeaaaaaaaah..."
"Jason, we just passed our tent, what are you doing?"
"We'll need the TV." He dashed into Shining's tent, taking a quick glance at the sleeping general before he raced past his desk and levitated the TV into the air.
"What are you doing?" Evening Glory asked, getting up off her bunk and trotting over.
"Uhh, things." Jason replied, taking a step back, the things floating back with him.
"You should tell me." She took a step forward, smiling widely.
"I'll tell no one!!!" He yelled, galloping out of the tent before she could say anything else. The TV caught a little on the tent, pulling the fabric slightly over to one side and making the tent look lopsided. Jason looked back and saw the two mares, who apparently weren't going to let him get away. Well, of course Dash wasn't, but he had expected less from Evening Glory.
"Jason, what could possibly be so special about that thing?" Dash yelled, sprinting after him as he ran. Several ponies turned and stared at the group as they ran past, before they disappeared into Jason's tent.
"If I told you, it would ruin the surprise!" He set the TV down inside and opened the box as Dash entered, before he pulled out a black box and set it on its side. Jason pulled out a wire that was frayed at one end, and connected the large end to the box somehow, the other five or six ends to the back of the TV.
"Now, are you two prepared to see what I did with most of my free time?"
"Sure, go ahead." Dash waved a hoof dismissively as Jason chuckled, powering the devices. Their eyes widened as the TV started to play sound and the Xbox logo appeared. "This is that thing?" Dash asked, moving closer to the screen.
"Yup, and thanks to the fact that games already came through, we can do stuff with it. Get one of the sound bagels."
"The what?"
"The shiny disks. I call them sound bagels. Just like grass is earth fur."
"Where did you come up with that?"
"The same place I decided cheerios were donut seeds." Dash giggled and grabbed one of the cases, looking it over.
"This one says that it has World War II in it..." She pulled out another case. "But this one says that it's modern warfare. Where's the title in that, it's just a category."
"Just pass me the first one, we'll start simple."
"Okay, here." Evening was poking at the screen, following a moving icon with her hoof.
"Ponies have this sort of stuff?" She asked.
"No, but humans did." He sighed. "Don't tell anyone about what I'm going to tell you, okay?"
"Pfft, I'm a changeling, I can keep secrets."
"Okay, well I used to be a human from another world, and this technology keeps coming through."
"I've heard stranger."
"What is it with some of you just accepting this?"
"Dunno, it kinda makes sense, you're a little weird." Dash butted in, stifling a laugh.
"Yeah, thanks." He put the disk in the corresponding tray and slid it in. "So this is one of the first video games I played, and it's pretty primitive compared to what they have now. But that doesn't mean it isn't fun in its own way. They had a cool cinematic in the beginning, if you want to watch it."
"Might as well." Dash replied, watching dots swirl around a letter 'I'.
Jason turned around to look at Dash and Evening's shocked expressions. He started to chuckle.
"Jason, why are you laughing?" Dash asked, staring at the screen as if expecting something else to happen.
"Just your expressions. You haven't seen anything yet, trust me."
"But, that looked so real..."
"It's not even close, trust me. But at least I can kinda show you more what the whole thing looked like." He selected a mission and started a loading bar.
"What's this?" Evening asked, watching the bar intently.
"This is a battle called D-Day, it was the biggest amphibious landing of all time, and took place during World War II, which was a big conflict we had seventy years ago. This is at Omaha beach, I think, and they had to scale these cliffs to take out some artillery guns. So here we go." He pressed the start button, before pressing it again shortly after.
"Why'd you stop?" Dash asked, looking between him and the screen.
"Well, I don't have enough appendages to work this anymore."
"Can't you just use magic?"
"I could, but--I dunno, it's just not the same." He paused. "Hold on a sec." He shifted into Alternis and looked at the controller again before he stretched out his wings in front of him. "Pegasi have pretty good control over their wing tips, right Dash?"
"Yeah, but they only curl and stuff, you can't move those little stick ball things."
"I'm going to move these little triggers on the back here, I should be able to do that, right?"
She pushed on one, testing it's give. "Yeah, I think so, I definitely could."
"Alright, here we go for real." He set the controller down again, one hoof to each joystick, and pressed the start button again. Almost an hour of loud huddled mare later, he finally learned how to ignore them at least partially, and finished the rest of the mission.
"Okay, I'm ready to answer questions now, so fire away."
"How did you come back to life?" They both asked at the same time.
"It's a game, that kind of thing happens. I'm not controlling a real person or anything, if that's what you think."
They both seemed to relax a little. "Are all video games like that?" Dash asked after some silence.
"No, there are tons of other things, but first person shooters like that are the most common." He got up and walked over to the box of stuff he'd kept, rifling through the games. "This one's pretty cool. Also violent, but cool. You shot people Dash, why're you so shocked?"
"Well, I kinda thought they were real or something. And that'd be like a pony war, I don't want to shoot at other ponies!"
"Yeah, but I'm sure you would if they were in the position of the griffins, it's the same thing here, kind of." He paused. "You wanna play some music? I really want to, it's like that guitar's calling to me or something."
"But didn't you want to wait until we had Octavia back?"
"No, screw that. Get behind those drums, I'll pick out some of the pieces I already wrote out that don't have much of a bass line, we can play those.
"I practiced most of those in Ponyville, so as long as you don't pick anything new I'm fine with it." Dash replied.
Jason glanced over at Eveing, who was looking like the odd one out. "Feel free to play the game, Evening. The controls are under options, you just use the 'A' button and right joystick to get there."
"Those things are called joysticks? That's hilarious!" Dash cried, breaking into a fit of giggles and knocking over a drum.
"Oh, grow up." He paused for a second, thinking about song choice. "We're pretty limited, you still okay with that?"
"I'm fine with anything, really."
"Okay." He walked over to his discarded saddlebag and pulled out a crumpled mass of papers. He managed to extract a few without too much trouble, handing them over.
"Interesting choice..." Dash said with a smirk.
"We haven't even payed these, you don't know how they sound anyway."
"Okay, which one first?"
"The one that's one top, I guess, we can just work our way through."
"Ready?" She asked as he plugged in the amp and tossed the guitar over his shoulder.
"Go ahead." She started a beat, testing out the drums for a moment before a series of bass drum beats counted them off.
"I'll never get tired of playing music." Jason said as the final chords rang out.
"I know, it's pretty great, huh?" Dash responded.
"What kind of music is that, anyway?" Evening asked.
"That was probably more heavy rock, but I do have some heavier stuff in here, so I guess just tell me what you think?"
"Sure, that first one was good. A little loud, but interesting to say the least. You have more though?"
"Yeah, the next one's a little edgy, but good nonetheless."
"Ready?" Dash asked, waiting for him to nod before she started the next beat.
"Yeah, you were right." Dash said.
"What?" Jason asked.
"It was kinda weird."
"Oh, just shush and play the next one."
"Fine." She replied, starting the next beat.
"That was heavy stuff?" Evening asked.
"Kinda, there's way heavier stuff, but that's more metal than rock at that point."
"It's pretty fun to play though." Dash said, twirling a drumstick that was balanced on her hoof.
"I need some water." Jason spoke up after a few moments, rubbing at his throat. "Attempting to sing really takes it out of you."
"You aren't that bad."
"Thanks for that, it really means a lot." He said sarcastically.
She giggled in response, giving him a joking salute. "It's what I do."
"You okay if we go, Evening?" He asked.
"Yeah, sure." The changeling said, clearly absorbed in the game. "Oh come on!" She yelled as her guy died.
"Well, I've created a plague already. Took fifteen minutes to addict my first pony."
"Are you saying that jokingly or is she actually addicted?" Dash asked, looking back at Evening.
"It was a joke, don't worry."
"Okay good." She pushed her way out of the tent, returning back inside a moment later. "There's a crowd out there. Just kinda staring awkwardly."
"I guess I expected something, but there's no way it's that--" He stuck his head out and frowned. "You're right. At least they won't recognize me like this."
"Hooray for you."
"I think we should just walk away like nothing happened. We need riot control stuff."
"They're just kinda staring, I don't think we're going to get charged."
"Yeah, but I can imagine, right?"
"Don't get carried away." She said as she exited, stopping just outside and waiting for Jason to catch up. He dropped the disguise and caught up, staring back at the half circle of ponies.
"No please, hold your applause." Jason said to the group, waiting a while for a response that didn't seem to come, besides most of the ponies moving to leave. Eventually he got fed up and walked towards the side, cutting through a point that was absent of ponies.
"It's fucking weird, who just stares?" He asked, turning to Dash
"Maybe they didn't like the music?"
"It was still pretty weird."
"I never said it wasn't." She replied, sighing as she walked into Shining's tent. He was back at his desk, balancing a pencil over the top of his hoof.
"A little bored, Shining?" Jason asked.
"Not that bored. There was some music a few minutes ago."
"Yeah, ponies didn't seem to like that too much." Jason asked.
"Why, you saw who played?" Shining replied.
"It was us, actually." Dash spoke up, blushing slightly.
"Funny, I never took either of you for the musical type. By the way, where's Evening Glory? She wasn't here when I woke up, and I figured that you knew."
"Yeah, she's back at our tent."
"And that's why I didn't freak out."
"Why are you so at ease with her?" Jason asked, furrowing his brow.
"She's not really that threatening or anything. One of the things we learned in army training was to figure out whether ponies were generally going to try anything. I guess she just seems strange and kinda happy. Not really much of a murderer. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it."
"Good to know you're safe about everything." Jason said with a smirk.
"Well shit, Hunter's more dangerous than she is."
"How is Hunter, did he report back?"
"He brought back Archer's body, we're going to go through the usual rigamarole of preservation before we send him back to his family. Hunter said something about the fact that he didn't want to have the kid buried here, and I'm sure his family'd feel the same way."
"You bury them out here?" Jason asked. "How hard could it be to ship them back?"
"It's a choice, some ponies just want to end up here. I don't question it, I just find a clearing nearby and get some proper graves going. Then I make a map of everypony buried there and mark it with a pin on the map. So there's one at Windforge, and there's one a little ways away here."
"Hopefully there aren't a lot of new graves, right?"
"You're referring to the battle we just had, I assume?" He asked, grabbing a clipboard and flipping a few pages. "Forty seven dead, forty one injured. One missing." He looked up with a hint of a smile. "Isn't that right?"
"Yeah. Just MIA." Jason replied quietly.
"And for completeness here, we're still counting griffin casualties, but they've mounted to around a hundred twenty five dead already, and obviously five prisoners."
"Pretty good battle then, I suppose." Dash said, tapping a hoof on Shining's desk.
"Yeah, one step closer, right?"
"Dammit, did we play that song?" Jason asked. "There's another one I wanted to play."
"I'm sure we'll have time soon enough." Dash replied.
Shining yawned. "Is that about it, I kinda wanted to get back to sleep. I don't know what I did last night, but I'm really tired."
"Yeah, okay, see you later then I guess." Jason said, turning around and moving towards the door.
"Sure thing, we need to get better plans together."
"Oh, when are we moving camp?"
"Maybe tomorrow, I'm not really sure. We'll have to see." Shining replied.
"Well then--" Dash put a hoof around Jason's neck and dragged him out before he could keep talking.
"Dash, geez, I only had like forty more questions." He smirked.
"Hey Jason, when were those griffin re-enforcements coming?" She asked.
"Today, I thought, why?"
"I think they're here."
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FIRST COMMENT! CALLED IT!!!!
Anyway great chapter....again.
I can't wait
Yay a Mention of a call of duty game that isn't flame war kindling!
I'm surprised none of them asked what the giant square with the gun was, Tiger.
Griffon Freedom Fighters
Why Saturday?
That's the only day in the week that I don't read fanfics. Also why did you use such an old game? Of course I liked the music, maybe next time they'll do a USO show.
i.imgur.com/HgOezIB.jpg
You know, technically it was. Combustion engines, after all.
I’m such a child, but this was hilarious to me. 🤣