Chapter 11: Rescue
(Status: Unedited.)
(Comments should point out any grammar mistakes I made and consistency errors, lord knows how long I got stuck on this chapter...)
(Third person perspective)
Time: 1:53 P.M
Date: October 14, 2013
Location: Ponyville Park
-
In the lush green clearing of Ponyville Park, stands a lone hill separated from all the hustle and bustle that the children bring, it’s used for many things; like taking a picnic, watching the stars, watching the sun rise, All sorts of good stuff.
But as of right now, Twilight Sparkle has set up a picnic for her friends at 2:00 P.M, Twilight, being the everlasting loyal student, decided to come early to avoid being late, With her is Rarity and Fluttershy. At first they all set everything up, waiting for everyone else to join them.
The girls are all chatting about various topics, ranging from animals, to books, to clothing, to just aimless chatter. Stopping every once in a while to welcome the remaining girls. The only one left missing is Rainbow Dash, who is currently en route to their location. Not that they know anyway.
“Typical of Rainbow Dash to be always late, why can’t she ever show up on time for once?” Rarity complains, shaking her head in annoyance.
“Something mega-important probably came up at the weather factory?” Pinkie thought aloud, taking on a thinking posture, before reverting back to her bouncy personality.
“No, she should be on her lunch break right now, if anything, she probably overslept on her nap and is rushing over here right about now.” Twilight reasoned, setting plates down and pouring glasses of lemonade for everyone.
“Now ‘ah don’t mean to change the topic ‘ere, but has anyone seen Chris? I haven’t seen the little fellar since yesterday,” Applejack wondered, concerned for the well-being of Chris.
Fluttershy brought her gaze down at the mention at Chris, not noticed by the others.
Everyone save for Twilight and Rarity wondered for a moment, at least until Rarity broke the ice.
“He does have a knack for being incredibly stealthy, if he hadn’t told me that he was heading to the Ponyville mines I probably would be worried for him,” Rarity said.
Twilight finally noticed Fluttershy’s distress and presented, “Fluttershy? What’s wrong?”
Fluttershy brings her eyes up, only a little, before replying, “I...I don’t want to sound mean…”
“Why would you sound mean?” Twilight interrupted.
“It...It’s Chris…He scares me…” Fluttershy replied, shrinking down into her hair.
“Fluttershy, dear, I know Chris seems a bit rough, but I don’t think he would hurt anyone without due cause, why does he scare you so?” Rarity asks.
“…It’s his eyes, they’re so dark, and you can barely see the pupil. It almost looks like he doesn’t have any emotion at all, like he isn’t…Like he’s done things in his life that he has either come to regret, or doesn’t care.” Fluttershy ended a bit hastily.
Before anybody could reply; Rainbow finally decided on presenting herself. Landing a distance away from the group as to avoid destroying the picnic area, it only worked half as much. Her landing was strong enough to make a gust strong enough to reach the picnic area and blow napkins and Styrofoam cups everywhere, essentially dowsing half of the area in lemonade, much to the girl’s displeasure.
“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late!” Rainbow yells, while walking over to them.
“Rainbow! Uuugh, there goes my vest again,” Twilight exclaimed, taking off her vest and folding it up, awaiting to be brought home and hung up to dry, “What kept you so long?” She asked, silently relieved at the change of topic.
It was then Rainbow Dash showed a look of admiration, “I just came back from my nap, but, something happened that kept me.”
“What could ever keep you from being even more late than usual?” Rarity asks sarcastically, draining lemonade from her hair.
“Uhhh, I don’t know, maybe Chris kicking the butt of three armored changelings without getting hit?”
All the girls were showing mixed degrees of shock and awe, until Twilight spoke up.
“He took out three armored opponents?! Is he hurt?!” Twilight asks.
“Are you kidding me?! The kid barely broke a sweat! He was all like Wah-cha! And Ka-pow!” Rainbow demonstrated by acting out a terrible representation of the fight, “The changelings barely knew what hit them!”
“What happened after he took on ‘dem changelings?” Applejack questioned.
“He knocked out the two changelings… While the third one captured Wolf… ” Rainbow’s eyes dawned in realization, “And is bringing him back to their base located at the Ponyville mines… ”
“WHAT!?” the girls all screamed in unison.
“We have to go save him from all those meanie heads, before they hurt him!” Pinkie exclaims in determination and was about to charge off, hadn’t Twilight stopped her with her magic.
Rainbow was about to agree to follow Chris before Twilight stopped them.
“Calm down!” Twilight stopped everyone before continuing, “As much as I want to go to the mines and help Chris, we have to think about this!”
“Think about what?! Chris is in the mines, there are changelings there, and he needs our help! What else is there to think about?!” Rainbow argued.
“What makes you so sure he needs our help? Need I remind you that he took out an S rank magical construct on his second night here?” Twilight reasoned, “He Is probably perfectly capable on taking out the changelings on his own, otherwise Celestia would never have assigned him to recon and liberation missions!”
That shut Rainbow up in thought. All of the girls stopped and looked at Twilight before their eyes glazed over in thought, thinking about whether to go save Chris or not.
“Go anyways just to make sure he comes out?” Rainbow attempts at once last argument.
“Yep,” all the girls replied, and then they started packing to get ready to meet Chris at the mines.
--
‘Oh my god…I’m starting to hate mines!’ I screamed internally as I checked the corner of a tunnel before following it down.
According to my visor, I’ve finally made it to the ninth floor underground and I’m making my way towards the outpost. My pistol and knife both at the ready in case of any hostiles, so far I’ve managed to avoid any conflict with the inhabitants of these caves, ranging from rats to some kind of weird anthropomorphic dogs in armor.
‘Are these guys the miners of this cave system?’ I think to myself as I stick next to a corner to avoid detection from more anthro-dogs.
After they passed I make sure the dog continues walking and then move forward, quickly checking corners and letting instinct take over as I move my way towards the changelings’ base of operations in this area.
I stop for a moment and looking around one last time before moving to a corner and kneeling, planning on checking my visor for a moment to see how much farther I am.
‘Almost there… I’m going to need to find some way to spot my targets.’
Standing back up, I look once more to make sure there are no hostiles, and then start moving forward. My boots silently crunching on the small pebbles underneath me as I hold my knife over my pistol and gun at the ready, prepared for all sorts of encounters, whether CQC or Long range battles.
I continued following the tunnel for who knows how long now, the only thing crossing my mind is my footsteps, no possible encounters as far as I know.
I’ve come to realize that the tunnel is beginning to look more technical, boxes and barrels are starting to appear in the distance, and that can only mean one thing.
‘I’m close.’
I continue following the tunnel, sticking to the walls and barrels now that they are there, in order to prevent possible hostiles spotting me.
*Crunch**Clang**Crunch**Clang*
I drew a sharp intake of breath as I move my knife underneath my pistol and stick it in the groove of the handle and use both of my hands to steady it. Looking around for the hostile approaching nearby, the only sounds being emitted are from the steps of the possible enemy.
On the side of the tunnel where the outpost leads to I see a light slowing getting larger and larger every footstep I’m hearing, so I can only say it’s a torch and someone is coming.
I try looking around for possible hiding spaces but all the barrels are filled, either with equipment, gems, or some weird green-goo, and the boxes are either filled or too small.
‘Crap, crap, crap!’ I mentally curse to myself as I continue searching, the light and footsteps slowly getting closer.
I see one last box near the edge of the cave, but it’s where the light is coming from and I’m not sure I can make it.
Making another risky move, I dart from all the barrels and head for that one box, the footsteps getting close.
‘Please don’t be full’ I pray.
-
The changeling finally turns the corner and swings the torch in the direction of the cave, laminating it in the torch’s range; the changeling stops for a moment and observes the area for any suspicious items or behavior, before stepping his way into the cave, passing all sorts of boxes and barrels.
He was halfway through when a box near him decided to sneeze, causing him to stop his patrol and look around, resting on a box next to him.
He makes his way towards the box and stops just in front of it, resting his torch on the side of a barrel and put one hand on the handle of his sword; he puts his other hand on the flaps of the box.
In a split-second he opened the box and drew out the sword and pointed it… … … .At storage equipment.
“Hmm. Must have been my imagination,” the changeling mutters, before sheathing his sword and grabbing his torch.
He goes back to the center of the tunnel and resumes his patrol, finally leaving through the other side.
--
‘Close one,’ I exhale a breath I was holding as soon as the changeling left, the idiot happened to open the box next to me.
I open the flaps slightly and look at my surroundings, making sure the changeling left before I silently stepped out.
‘Can’t kill him, Can’t risk the outpost being on lock down when I get there, I can wreck hell on them when I’m inside the outpost and Wolf is safely with me,” I mentally give myself the ROE, and objective.
I bring out my knife and gun once more and place them CQC style, before resuming my trek towards the outpost.
‘After I rescue Wolf, Eliminate all hostiles and find a rappel cord, then find some explosives and blow the outpost to kingdom come’ I specify my strategy as I exit the cave and turn the corner into a new one that leads downwards.
I slowly descended the tunnel, careful not to accelerate due to the incline of the cave. Occasionally skipping for a bit in order to regain my center of balance.
I reach the end of the tunnel and see the next one is open and leads to the left downward, as I make my way towards it, I see the outpost in all its glory.
“Hooly shit….I’m gonna need more explosives…and Celestia said this was small?”
The entire outpost takes up about 90% of the cave’s chamber, it was not designed flimsy looking, but instead looked like a bloody fortress. Three main buildings adorned in black bricks with green trim, is placed in the center of the compound, the roofs being patrolled by changelings with crossbows, two of the main buildings go up about three stories high, while the middle building is five stories each building is connected by a sky bridge. There is a metal wall built around the perimeter, each corner housing a watch tower with a magically powered spotlight, with two changelings in the tower, one for the spotlight and one with a crossbow. Any and all climbable ledges are all outfitted with bob-wire preventing any entrances or exits through climbing, the front of the wall houses a fence-wire gate, with three changelings situated near the fence, checking all the personnel that enter the compound.
Around the main buildings was a pathway for patrols, shaped like a square acting like the perimeter wall, changelings in groups of four, patrol the inside of the perimeter.
There was also the issue of the warehouses built next to the pathway, possibly holding unknown weapons for use against the Equestrian government.
‘Damn, still, this is a very good outpost for changelings, if the Intel from Celestia is anything to go by,” I mused to myself, “Shame, it has to go boom-boom.”
I activate my visor and bring up the zoom feature, watching the Changelings patrol from corner to corner. I noticed every time I spot one, they get outlined. I don’t know what that’s for but I hope it will help.
After outlining all of the changelings outside, I take a look inside the compound’s buildings, looking for Wolf.
I search the buildings, coming across many settings, ranging from training rooms, labs, offices, until finally locating Wolf, who is being suspended and hooked to a bunch of green wires leading to a machine of some sort. There are changelings In front of him, and by the looks of things, I’d say they were trying to interrogate him, but he seems to be resisting… Those lightning shocks must be painful to his AI.
‘Just a little bit longer Wolf,’ I mentally reassure him.
After finding out all the secrets I can find by looking at the fortress, I direct my attention to the outside of it.
Apparently the main road splits into many different pathways, each leading away or around the compound. And if I’m lucky…..
‘Bingo,’
Transportation… Not vehicles, mind you. More like magical hover lifts; two so far, a square container big enough to hold at least nine boxes or nine barrels, powered by the changelings’ magic to be transported from each of the connecting tunnels to the warehouses.
The two transport lifts seemed to be going in a clockwise circle, the closest one next to me is three stops away.
I stand up from my hiding spot and begin making my way back towards the barrels and boxes I passed earlier, making sure to take extra caution in case that changeling from before comes back.
After climbing the incline once more I reach the storage area and look for the box I was in before.
Looking around for a couple of minutes—finding boxes filled with gems that so happen to have a couple Dark sapphires, not wanting to waste my chances, I grab them—Before I finally find my old box and get in it; if time proves correct, it shouldn’t be long before a transport lift comes.
--
The changeling from before comes back around and turns a corner to enter the cave, being through with his rounds.
As he enters, a transport lift floats its way into the cave and sits idly by, waiting for a changeling to come and mark his ID and begin loading the lift.
The changeling approaches the lift and swipes his hand over an area of the lift, giving it a biometrical ID check; the lift accepts it and opens its hatch. While the changeling starts grabbing the boxes.
As he loads the boxes he sets locations for where they are to be placed when the lift returns to the outpost, eventually coming over to where Chris is hiding.
"East side, gem storage area," the changeling mutters to himself, as he picks up the box, not aware of the person inside.
The changeling places the box on the lift and closes the door, swiping his hand on the lift once more to signal that it is ready for takeoff.
The lift rises up into the air and begins hovering its way back to the outpost, passing the tunnels and finally floating over the gate, it then starts hovering above all the warehouses, in which they open their roofs. The lift starts dropping the boxes at the designated warehouse for about fifteen minutes before I was next, being the last one dropped off in a warehouse.
--
Unfortunately, I didn't realize the 11 foot fall down. So when I felt my weightlessness for a good second, I almost panicked in surprise, before hitting solid ground with an 'oomph'.
As soon as I entered, I could hear the timer set magic close the warehouse roof, bathing the entire storage room in darkness.
I wait for a good minute or so, before opening up the box a little, looking around to make sure there aren't any hostiles going about on their patrols.
Realizing that wasn't necessary as I was inside, I open the box all the way and jump out, into the darkness of the warehouse, No other means of light save for the constant sparkle of stray gems.
'Let's do a quick inventory check before I continue- wha?' As soon as I thought 'inventory check' my visor showed a diagram of my backpack and pouches and everything inside.
'Don't question it...Less you lose what little sanity you have less… I always have to remind myself that I’m stuck in an alternate universe where logic barely applies to anything here’ I sigh to myself in exasperation, ‘When I get the chance, I’m gonna find a secluded area and…Do whatever I do when I’m alone.’
Next to the diagram showed a list of all that's inside, I begin running through the inventory check.
7x .45 ACP Sapphire bullet magazines (Not Charged)
KM-2000 Military knife (Limited CQC)(1)
10x Uncut Dark sapphires
Pickaxe
Shovel
Chisel
Colt M1911A1 (Not-calibrated)
Steel light armor (durability enchantment X5) (remaining slots: 4)
Clothes
x6 Mountain Dew
Zippo (filled)
Ronsonol Lighter fluid (full)
-
'Wow, when you really get down to it, I don't have much equipment to use. Save for the weapons and armor on my back,' I think to myself, before closing the visor, 'What did it mean by, 'Not calibrated?' I mentally question myself regarding my pistol.
‘Ermm…Let’s try this, “Calibration”’ I murmur quietly, and my visor responded with an information tip.
Help tip #64 – Calibration
Calibration affects both the visor and the weapon in possession, when you want to calibrate a weapon, you must head to: Home > Items > Weapons > Calibrate – Or you can take the shortcut of saying “Calibrate weapon”
When the Calibration menu shows simply create a new weapon folder and begin calibrating your weapon, the instructions will tell you to hold your weapon in the center view of the visor for an unknown amount of time until if completes.
Then you’re done!
‘Seems simple enough,’ I think to myself, ‘All right, let’s see here…”Calibrate weapon,” I murmur quietly once more, adrenaline pumping when something shifted near me, only to realize it was just a gemstone falling from the top of a tower of gems.
Paying my attention back to my visor, I see a pair of brackets, surrounding the center of my view, underneath shows a sentence.
*Aim weapon in the middle of the brackets*
Doing what I was told, I sheathe my knife and align the sights of the M1911 and bring it up to the center of the visor screen in between the brackets.
Immediately the text changes to *calibrating, please wait a moment* with a loading screen above it.
I hold the stance for a good fifteen seconds until the visor said *Complete!*
The brackets close, and re-open while being dragged down to the bottom right of the visor, now showing the ammunition the gun has in its chamber and remaining ammo
*2/??*
I drop the stance I was holding and notice that my gun now has a cross hair following everywhere it goes, with the exception being that the gun is out of sight or I’m looking in the sights.
‘Neat…Back to the mission,’ I remind myself, drawing my knife out and holding it with the knife sticking to the groove in the handle of my gun.
I shuffle around a bit, trying to keep quiet while looking for the doorway that leads me out of the warehouse and into the courtyard. However, no matter how I try, I can’t seem to find the doorway- oh wait… Never mind, I found it.
*Clunk, sqquuuuueeeaaakkk*
Adrenaline courses through my body as the door is moving slowly and is making the sound as if I’m in a submarine.
‘I’ll be spotted if this continues making noise!’ I mentally reminded myself.
I open it just enough for me and my bag to squeeze through, and then exit.
I shut the door behind me, cringing at the awful and dangerous sound its making and its risk to my position.
As soon as I closed it, I immediately dash over to the nearest obstruction and hide behind it. Hoping that there were no changelings close enough to hear the noise I made.
My breathing is erratic as a result from the adrenaline coursing through my body, not to mention that I’m somewhat sweating from the stress that I might get spotted.
After about a minute or so, something inside of me clicked and told my body that I was safe for now, my breathing immediately slowed down to normal and so did my heartbeat.
I slowly stand up enough so I can see the surrounding area and began looking around; making sure that there wouldn’t be any patrols going about.
‘I think I just figured out what that blue outlined was when I zoomed in,’ I thought to myself.
All of the changelings and patrols that have been highlighted allow me to track their position even if they went behind a wall.
As such, if I wanted to, I could follow each and every position and use them as a path while taking them out
However my earlier ROE overrules that.
‘Can’t kill them now, Can’t risk the outpost being on lock down when I get there, I can wreck hell on them when I’m inside the outpost and Wolf is safely with me,’
All that left now, is to infiltrate the facility.
‘But how?’ I questioned myself.
First things first, I had to find an entrance, a back entrance preferably. I stand up and stick to the edge of the perimeter, my back against the cold stone wall as I survey the area, occasionally moving around.
After a bit of circling, I stop across from a doorway across the street, and survey the area once more.
After moving my head back and forth like a camera for a good five minutes, I eventually came up with a plan. I don’t think it was a good plan, but a plan nonetheless.
I pick up a rock and aim for a wall away from my direction, waiting for the next patrol to come by, when they rounded the corner, I chucked the rock and it hit a barrel, making a loud “dong” sound.
Loud enough to catch the changelings attention, they directed their attention away from their patrol to check the area the rock was thrown at.
When they were looking away completely from my direction, I crouched-run towards the door, opened it, and entered the middle building, slowly closing the door behind me.
After sticking next to a dark side of a wall for a bit to make sure no one noticed my entrance, I stand up and start moving alongside the wall.
‘These guys are proving me wrong on so many levels when it comes to their innovation.’ I thought to myself.
The thought came to mind because of the interior of the fortress. It was designed with a smooth texture of concrete on the floor and walls. The occasional carpet or two lined on a hallway.
It reminded me more of one of the buildings in Iraq, only in looks though, the actual layout, I’m not too keen on.
It wasn’t until I reached the first staircase leading up did I finally hear footsteps coming across the hallway.
Instead of rushing up the staircase, I went around and into the back corner of it.
I hid underneath the staircase and waited until the patrol passed.
“That AI is starting to be a real pain in the ass, why are we even interrogating it? Can’t it just lock the memories down or something?” I hear a changeling say.
“It could, that’s why we are having our engineers working on its memory drive, we are only interrogating it for fun,” I hear another changeling say, in a bit more professional manner.
‘Freaking sadists…’ I cursed at them, then realized the irony, than shut that thought down, ‘I only interrogated ruthlessly for information, not for fun, if the prisoner has no use they receive a quick and painless death, or imprisonment.’
I hear the changelings stop as I hear some footsteps come down the stairs, my body tensing up and trying to remain as silent as possible.
“What are you two maggot-sacks jabbering about?! You should be patrolling the floor!” I hear a gruff voice yell at them.
“Y-Yes sir, Colonel!” I hear the changelings yell before scrambling away.
“You!” One of the footsteps stop, “Come here.” The Colonel ordered.
“What is it sir?” The changeling asked.
“I want you to head back to the torture room and charge up the electricity gems, twice the voltage.” The Colonel ordered.
I can only assume I heard a salute, before a pair of footsteps went up the stairs.
The Colonel stayed at the staircase a bit after the changeling left, before I heard heavier footsteps echo away from me.
When there were no more footsteps I stayed for a couple seconds before slowly getting out from underneath the staircase.
‘Damn, I better hurry and get Wolf; otherwise I will be known too quickly, not to mention that I can’t let them have any Intel on Celestia or the girls.’
I look both ways across the hallways before I creep up the stairs, fast but quiet. When I reached the second floor I think I might have heard a door close above me.
‘Let’s start upstairs’
I repeat what I did going up the stairs, albeit more slowly this time, when I reached the third floor I saw a changeling enter a room to the right of me.
‘I can’t breach, my gun would make too much noise…Maybe if I were to commandeer a weapon from the changelings…’
I head back down to the second floor and watch for any signs of movement, before making my way across the hallway. Whenever I am in sight of a window, I go prone and army crawl until I pass.
All the while half of my mind was diverted to its own devices.
‘I like this armor, it’s very nice armor.’
‘They couldn’t make a suppressor could they? But they could make a bloody HK416’
‘I wonder if there has been any advances in stealth mechanics back home, I could kill for a silent assault rifle,’
My thoughts got cut off when I spotted a lone changeling pass by the hallway; I hid next to some containers and observed him.
‘Looks to be standard armor, weak points are the wing, tail, horn, and joints, short-sword located on the left hip, ranged weapon…looks to be a mix of a crossbow and pistol….It’s mine now,’
As soon as the changeling turns around and heads away from me, I holster my pistol and start sneaking over to the changeling.
I was only halfway there when the changeling stopped, muttered something, and began turning around.
I barely made it into a crevice in the shadows before the changeling passed.
That’s when I made my move.
I stood up, and rushed straight for the changeling,
He didn’t even have time to turn around before I reached him, kicked his legs from under him and place my knife in his throat, and covered his gurgling screams with my hand.
After he stopped struggling, I dragged him back into the shadows and confiscated his crossbow pistol.
Now that I had a closer look at it, it was very unique. The lower receiver had the same bolt release on the side, but it looked more to field strip than charging it. As for the upper receiver, there was a tiny bow attached underneath the front sight.
It looked more like a Mouser when it came to reloading.
The magazine is supposed to be placed underneath the barrel, right in front of the trigger guard, it was see-through and I counted five bolts, there also appeared to be some mechanism in between the magazine and the bow, if I had to guess…I think it might auto-cock the crossbow after it fires. Oh wait, scratch that, this gun is double-action. The trigger uses some kind of mechanism that pulls back the string, loading the bolt. Pull it even further and you fire.
‘Cool, now I’m really giving this to Forge he can keep it and make more to give to the Equestrian guard, I won't need it, no matter what, my M1911 is my main gun, nothing will change that,’
I lessen the grip on the small crossbow, my body acting on instinct to holster it, when it found out there was nothing to place it in I put it back in my hand.
I step out of the shadows and begin making my way back to the third floor, being mindful of the windows once more; I make it back to the staircase no problem, only encountering one other changeling.
I deduced he was the other changeling’s partner, so I decided to eliminate him.
I stick next to a corner, watching his shadow, as soon as I spot the first glint of his armor, I sprang.
I grabbed him, swung him over and slammed him on the wall, dazing him. While he was slumping to the ground I raise my knife, and slam it into the back of his neck, spraying a little bit of green blood on the wall.
I retract my knife and grab the body and drag it to the nearest clump of shadows, after making sure there are no more patrols, I head upstairs.
I make it back to the third floor to see that the door I saw before is still closed, and there are still changelings inside it as I notice the shadows moving underneath the doorway.
I sneak up to it and stick to the side where the door will block my sight when it opens.
‘Now, how to go about this, as much as I want to kick the door in and start shooting, I don’t know how many are inside, or where they are even located at. So…’
“Knock, knock,” I murmur quietly, while knocking on the doorway.
“It’s open!” I hear a changeling answer behind it.
I ignored it and continued knocking, all the while I was amusing myself by murmuring “knock, knock,” every time I knocked.
As much as I want to defend myself for either acting like a retard or feeling a bit too happy on the battlefield, I can’t argue. I amuse myself with the simplest of things to escape the horrors of death and brutality.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” the voice on the other side grows louder as he nears the door.
I make sure that I won’t be spotted, and hide behind where the door will open.
The door opens and the changeling comes out, “What is it?!”
As soon as I see his armor, I slam the door shut, effectively blocking any other changeling’s line of sight in that room.
The changeling didn’t have enough time to turn around before he felt the pointed tip of the arrow poking the side of the head.
“Freeze…” I say, “Drop your weapons,” The changeling does so, and I kick them away, “Hands in the air,” He complies, although I was tempted to say ‘now wave ‘em around like you just don’t care’ but I shoved it away.
“How many changelings are in that room?” I ask.
“T-t-two,” The changeling answers,
“How close are they?” I continue.
“T-they are close enough to hear the knocking,” The changeling answers.
I don’t know what compelled me, the fact that physics might be a bit lenient, or the fact that I was looking for amusement.
‘Good’
“Back up a couple steps towards the doorway,” I order.
The changeling complies, all the entire time he is shaking and his eyes are closed, if I didn’t know any better I would say at any moment he would piss himself.
When I deem him close enough, I step over to the doorway and knock.
I might have had a lapse of thought; otherwise I probably should have expected the doorway to slam open from a kick from the changelings on the other side.
Either way, the end result was hilarious.
The doorway caused the changeling in front of it to get sent flying across the hallway and into the wall, landing upside down knocked out.
I couldn’t focus on the knocked out changeling because the door slam kicked in my instincts.
As soon as I spotted the changeling emerging from the doorway in confusion, I shoved my knife in his throat, spun him around, and used him as a meat shield for the last changeling.
This was a good idea, because as soon as I came through the doorway the last changeling opened fire with his pistol crossbow, hitting the changeling meat shield I put up.
When I heard the thud, I poked my crossbow over the shoulder of the corpse and shot the changeling twice. The first shot missed, but the second landed a hit on his face, dispatching him.
Keeping the crossbow trained on the latest body just in case he was faking, I slowly walk up to the dead changeling and check it’s pulse to confirm my kill.
After I did that, I put my small crossbow on the table and went to pick up the changeling corpse by the door. When I picked him up, I looked behind him to see the unconscious upside-down changeling on the other side of the hallway.
I smile a bit and let out a silent chuckle. Before dragging the corpse and placing it on the other body.
I also did the same for the knocked-out changeling, except…Well, that’s another kill count for me.
When all the bodies were cleared and placed in the corner, I shut the door and looked around.
I appeared to be in some kind of intelligence room, with a small weapons cache in the corner. There was a small round table with six chairs surrounding it, and a floating green crystal in the center.
Any person would just head straight for giant glowing crystal sitting in the middle of the room, but I decided against it. Choosing instead to pick up an extra bolt cartridge and restocking the magazine inside the cross gun (2).
I searched around the room, coming across some yellow crystals. Curiosity getting the better of me, I touched one and held it.
I won’t say I was half-expecting my arm to light up again like back in the castle and showing me the contents of the crystal.
---R&D Weapons dossier Num. 14---
Title: Cross gun
Basic summary: An upgraded version of the Small auto-reloading crossbow, using a full-length crossbow instead of a compact version. Uses same method and mechanism as the SARC.
Changes: The Bolt loader is being changed from a vertical to cylinder like, upgrading the bolt capacity from 7 to 20. (With Double enchantment, the capacity can be upgraded to 40 bolts)
Blueprints: 
Planned finale:
-
That was all I needed to see before I pocketed it, ready to give it to forge when I’m done.
I checked the other yellow crystals, but all they had was Intel against Celestia and the Girls…I pocketed each of them to be destroyed later. (Not that any of the stuff was accurate in my opinion)
The last yellow crystal I picked up detailed of building aluminum alloys and other synthetic materials, great for making gun parts and the like. I assumed they needed it to make those cross rifles they were making.
‘Mine now,’
When I was finished, I had 5 yellow crystals worth of intel in my bag, ready to give to Forge.
*knock, knock, knock*
‘Copy cats,’ I surmised, thinking that the changelings were trying to copy me. Even if logically that wasn’t possible because they don’t know I’m here yet.
I bring out the cross gun and make sure it’s loaded and ready to fire, and I get behind some cover in case I miss, lastly, in the most gruff voice I can manage, I yell.
“Come in.”
Two changelings come in at that moment, completely oblivious to the dead bodies in the corner.
Of course, I’m not going to say some witty line or something, all that really happened was that both of them received bolts to the face.
What? I’m not going to make it seem like every kill is dramatic!
Two newly stashed bodies later and an ammo refill, I exit out the intelligence room and begin making my way to finding the armory.
I’ve always hated the feeling of adrenaline pumping into me at the wrong times. Like right now, it’s making my hands shake and giving me the sense of wanting to jump around everywhere, it’s taking some willpower to keep it down and continue on with my mission.
Of course, just because it’s happening now doesn’t mean it’s handy.
Without prior knowledge, a changeling came rounding around a corner right in front of me.
When I look back on it, it feels like some kind of selection goes through my mind when instinct takes over. Like, my mind automatically surveys the situation and acts accordingly.
Thus, the changeling on the ground next to me dead.
However there are some moments when instinct takes over and fails to respond.
There was one time I was walking around school, and one of my friends somehow snuck up on me. Instinct tried to take over, but it failed, when I look back on it, I feel like in my head, it when something like this.
Instinct: Enemy spotted! Activating CQC protocol number 54!
Mind: Wait! That’s a friendly!
Instinct: Conflicting protocols! Unable to properly respond! Shutting down!
Thus, I ended up on the floor in school, what happened was that when my friend surprised me, I almost responding with a fist to the face and kick to the groin, but it only got so far as to lifting off the ground. When the instinct stopped, I lost balance and fell down.
Enough reminiscence, moving on.
After going through the small sky bridge leading to one of the other buildings, I went through the doorway and entered a giant warehouse of the sorts.
Catwalks lining the frame of the structure and gems lined the floor everywhere, gathering in clumps in the corner or in boxes of organized chaos.
In the middle of it all was a bored-looking changeling patrol consisting of six changelings, around them was cases, and if I had to guess they were weapons caches.
‘And the award for ‘Not my Fucking job goes too…’ I thought to myself.
I went down the catwalk and went down some stairs to get to the ground level of the warehouse, when I got down, I stuck next to the clumps of gems that are darkly colored, as my armor and hair would help me naturally blend in.
Taking these guys out was simple.
Step 1: Acquire a distraction.
I took a loose gem and threw it against a mountain of gems that looked ready to collapse, when it hit, it all fell down.
Step 2: Wait in camouflage
I covered myself in gems while the noise was still going, and I stayed next to the mess.
Not long after, one of the changelings was sent to look at the mess, the rest of the group going back to their conversation.
Step 3: Ambush
When the changeling touched one of the gems on me, I took it as a sensor and struck.
He didn’t even see me coming,
‘Welcome to the horde, mate’ I joked badly.
Step 4: Rinse and repeat
You all know what happens now, over the span of an hour, the changelings came and died, one by one, the last one came with his weapon bared. As soon as he saw the dead changeling bodies, I shot him with my crossbow.
After the deeds were done, I covered the bodies with gems, and made my way to the weapons cache.
When I opened it, I came to see a lot of classic cartoon TNT stored here.
I felt like I had an argument to make…But it died down when rationality came in again.
Speaking of rationality, I better do something first.
I ring up Celestia on my visor and she picked up not too long later.
“Chris! Where are you?! The girls are worried sick!”
Needless to say, she sounded a bit mad.
“…” I blink at her a couple of times, trying to form a response, when I couldn’t I drove my hand up through my hair, and looked away.
And looked back at her with…Nope, there goes my determination, it died again…
Celestia is still looking at me like a mother scorning a child, and I’m just sitting here, wishing she would realize what she has ordered me to do.
Unfortunately she hasn’t realized that yet. So, I just skipped ahead.
“I have infiltrated the Outpost and I’m in the armory wing, before I begin rigging the bombs I want to see if you would like to take over this outpost or loot it before I blow it to kingdom come.”
Celestia…Still mad, “That’s no excuse for someone your age to be up and about at 1 A.M!”
I did a double-take, “Say what now?!”
And then I looked behind her…And still saw daylight...
It clicked on what she was trying to do, but I didn’t have the time for this. “Celestia, I don’t have time for an attempted prank right now, and you really need to work on the credibility of your pranks.”
Celestia’s mad face got replaced with a look of surprise, until she looked behind her and saw that her window was showing on the screen. She then looked back at me with a tinge of embarrassment.
“Oh! Ah… oh well, worth a shot. I am a bit rusty since Luna came back, since then; she has been engaging the prank wars with me for a while now.” She clears her throat, “So, you are in the outpost, is there anything of note we might have to pick up?”
“I pretty much have all the Intel I got from here, other than a crap-ton of gems, and some possible weapons, there isn’t much to loot. But, that’s up to you,” I explain.
“…Does the outpost happen to be placed in a strategic location?” Celestia inquired.
“…Hmm…” I try to picture my location on a rough imaginary map of Equestria, “It’s in between Canterlot and Ponyville, so royal guards could get to either places easily. However there is also the problem of it being so far underground with unknown entities in the area in between the surface and the outpost.” I try to summarize, “In my opinion I think I should blow it to Hell,”
“It would seem best; remember Wolf is in the area as well, so you need to rescue him first.” Celestia reminded.
“Already on it,” I replied.
As soon as Celestia said “Best” I just grabbed as much TNT I could carry and placed them in my backpack, making sure to leave one on the weapons cache behind me.
I also happened to pick up a grey gem, which happened to be the remote detonator according to my visor.
I make it back to the center building without any problems, resuming back to stealth mode,
‘I’m just gonna take a guess here and say that Wolf is in the fifth floor in the other end of the hallway. Because according to the laws of the universe where I somehow ended up in, the main objective is in the center of everything,’ I concluded, taking a shot in the dark.
The hallways seemed oddly empty for some reason, not a soul besides me in sight.
Normally I would think I did a bloody good job, but it’s TOO quiet…
I make it without any problems to the top floor of the fortress, and what do you know….
Go on, guess….
Come on…you can do it….
YOU ARE ABSO-*PONY*-LOUTELY RIGHT!!
THERE IS A DOOR AT THE OTHER END OF THE HALLWAY THAT HAS A FREAKING EERIE GLOW AROUND IT, AND IT JUST SCREAMS “WOLF IS HERE”
*cough*
I think it’s kind of obvious why I’m a bit upset for obvious and unknown reasons.
Mainly because: 1. how simple the objective would have been if I had known earlier.
2. It also screams with the best General Ackbar voice: “IT’S A TRAP!”
3…I never gets to three….
Moving on!
Knowing that it’s my main goal and a trap at the same time, I did what any sane person would do.
I loaded my pistol and crossbow, holstered my knife, get into a running stance.
And charged.
While screaming, “AMERICA!”
OK! No rewind two sentences. As much as I wanted to charge in there, I’m not entirely sure if it’s even safe. Granted, I could do my previous strategy with the knock-knock joke, but that gets old man…
So, I check my inventory, and after a bit of tinkering, I manage to rewire one stick of away from the detonator and placed the rest of it back in the bag.
Now, I move up close to the door and make sure that Wolf isn’t too far from the blast radius.
I take out my zippo and light the fuse, “cook” it halfway, and then I opened the door, threw it in, and closed it.
I heard the screams of surprise from the changelings inside, and while they were scrambling, I was taking note of the sounds they were heading to.
Both hands in their respective guns, I count the targets.
‘Two on the left, possibly in cover, three on the right still scrambling.’
…..*BOOM*
I kicked in the door with a loud thud and opened fire.
It was all a moment of reaction really, I saw an open changeling on the right scrambling for cover.
I snap my pistol on him and shot him on the right side of his chest, the bullet entering his chest. After he went down, I snapped the pistol down and raised it at the next changeling my mind registered.
I saw a changeling horn picking out of a turned over table, I steady my aim by criss-crossing my crossbow and using my arm as a steadier. I aimed lower and shot the table with the pistol.
I didn’t bother to check to see if my kill confirmed yet, as I shot my crossbow when my mind picked up movement on the right, it hit the next changeling on the leg, but it was silenced when I shot again.
I separated the two guns and my mind picked up the last two changelings in the room. I opened fire on them until I noticed the blood from one of the changelings appear from his cover behind a cabinet.
Apparently I missed the other changeling as a bolt whizzed past my chest. My body automatically flinching away from the bolt in fear of getting shot and rendered incapacitated.
I sprint over to the nearest piece of cover; a table, in which I quickly overturned. Scattering papers and documents alike all over the ground as I crouch right next to it.
I put down the crossbow and draw out my knife readying it for a possible CQC take-down. However just as I was about to poke out my arm and blind-fire, I hear the changeling fall down in pain.
Jumping out from cover, pistol aimed with the sights on his head, I end him quickly.
Upon closer inspection I saw that the changeling was stabbed from behind with a knife. I look up and notice Wolf, tethered on the ceiling by wires and alike. Doing who knows what to him. His tail seemed to have moved, because when I looked at it, it was swinging limply as if he threw something
“Wolf!” I exclaimed, rushing over to him.
“C-Chris…” I hear wolf say, only barely. His voice is weak and static…They really must have done a number on him.
“Don’t worry buddy, it’s all over now,” I say as I searched the control panel for a release switch, when I saw it (Being a small button saying release) I pressed it. In which Wolf fell down from his perch. I rush over to grab him.
However just as I was about to grab him and hoist him above my shoulder, Wolf twitched and looked towards the doorway.
Taking that as a sign of hostility, I grabbed my pistol and aimed at whoever was at the door.
I shouldn’t even be surprised.
“Heh, heh, so you managed to kill an entire squad of my soldiers huh?” The Colonel said.
“…” I said nothing, as there was nothing to say…
“What? No witty banter, no one-liner like “You won’t win this war?” He taunted, “Or is it that you’re scared?”
I felt my face darken and tense, the grip on my pistol tightened.
The colonel finally walked out of the shadows from the doorway, now that I got a better look at him, I could assess him correctly.
He was big, bigger compared to that changeling brute that stole Wolf. He was wearing plate pants, and it didn’t seem that he was wearing anything on his torso save for some kind of armor that crisscrosses on the center and acts as a holster for his Two-handed Mace with what appeared to be reinforced with Anthracite Spikes. His helmet seemed to be unique; the design seemed to correspond to that of one of those Roman Soldiers back in the old times. Except the coloring was dark green.
His body looked well regulated and strong, if he wanted to he could grab me and throw me on the wall and leave a crater behind it.
His face showed years of battle, scars littered his body and face, detailing from cuts to gashes, and in his mouth, a cigar.
I almost cracked up at that last part. The perfect topping for your enemy to have.
Conclusion: Switch to dirty tricks; if I try to take him on a full-on melee, I’m dead for sure. Keep your distance, and go in on the offensive when he is distracted.
“The ‘big, bad, badass little child’ not even here for a whole week and you are causing a ruckus among the ranks, both ours and the solar tyrant’s” The Colonel continued.
‘Now this sounds interesting, better push it’ I decided.
“The solar tyrant…Celestia? What about her and her soldiers?” I questioned.
“So the little brat does have a voice! Ah ha! And here I thought I was talking to a statue!” The colonel barked.
‘Answer. The. Question.’ I mentally repeated, my vice grip on the gun increasing with each mental word.
“Why, our spies have noticed that you managed to send three of our co-workers to the Canterlot dungeons! I can still remember the faces they made when those idiots found the bodies…Quite a mess you made.” The colonel started pulling out his mace, in which I responded with getting into a fighting stance with my knife and pistol.
“I bet I can top that with only one child…” the colonel slammed the mace on the ground and pulled out a cross pistol, loading it with a glowing 5-bolt magazine.
I responded in kind by reloading my pistol, the ammo count now showing *7/??*.
“You’re going to regret what you did to my brothers. And I’ll make you suffer extra for each one of them.” The colonel threatened.
“…” I watched him, waiting for the first sign of attack.
‘Course, I’m not gonna let him have the last laugh.
“Bring it on, you fat, potbellied pig…” I taunted,
I began hearing the beginning of that song again, but I didn’t have enough time to focus on it. As what I just said had some DIRE consequences.
The colonel’s eyes, they glowed and he let out a huge war cry, effectively shaking the entire room.
As I stumbled trying to regain my bearings, I noticed some kind of acid materializing from the ceiling, some of it coming down and splattering on the ground.
One of them landed next to me and a droplet got on my arm, it burned like a bitch! Somehow it hurt even through my armor!
I tried rubbing it to get it to stop, but it persisted for a good five seconds.
After that, Hell, now I was pissed!
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dat wassh epic cant wait to see what you plan to do for the fight scene *QUE BOSS MUSIC!!!!!*
3791328
....Well then! Ermm...Let's see if I can pick apart this testimony.....
let's see here... Chapter 1: Waking.
Sorry about using a rough entry, however you don't realize that Chris is in the military until reminiscence. So I just went with the idea, "Run, and gun" Anybody can hold a wolf's head at bay, long enough for someone to come rescue them. Or shoot they head off themselves, Chris's reaction was mainly fight or flight.
Also, nice to know your family is military as well, maybe Dale will see your family at the Las Vegas shot show 2014 eh?
Moving on!
Chapter 3 The castle:
Something tells me either I typed it wrong, or you misread. In the story Chris knelt anyways due to a feeling of "impulse" *innate magic maybe?* Even if it wasn't a unconscious use of magic on Celestia's part, Chris would at least show some respect to a superior.
Perfectly alright if you don't like it. Just leave constructive criticism behind on how should improve whether it be grammar or emotion.
SKYRIM reference
Right, when's the next chapter...
6457400 seems dead if you ask me
Dude this story needs to be revived