Fighting Back the Beast

by Mr Anomalous

Four

FOUR

This day, much like the previous, had been glorious for Stromm, at least thus far. He had had a good night's sleep, without any nightmares, and he had been well rested. Coffee had not really been needed, but the Commander had a mug anyway. Coffee's good.

It was almost lunch time and the leader of the Helghasts had decided to take a casual stroll down to Ponyville to get something from Sugarcube Corner. Another amusing thought: a war commander of an entire nation deciding to pick up some bread and, if possible, cheese at the local bakery for lunch.

Stromm fancied himself a humble man, and did not like the aspects of servants. He did everything himself, if he could, which included fixing his own meal. Many buildings were still being put up, but none of them were his, because he opted to simply live in the ship. It's not like they were going anywhere soon. At least he hoped not, that would be quite disheartening to both himself and what little people he had left.

About this simple lunch of his: he never got it. He had been heading towards his destination, quite casually, when one of the ponies whom he recognized as a Royal Guard rushed up to him, seemingly from nowhere.

"Commander Stromm! Sir!"

The armored unicorn preformed the Helghast salute, quite well, actually, better than even some of the Helghasts, and Stromm returned it.

"What is it?"

"The Princess requests an audience with you!"

"Which one?"

"Well, it was Princess Luna who sent the order, but her Majesty Twilight will be briefing you."

"Briefing me? What mission am I going on?"

"That's is sir, you will learn at the library. Of course, it is optional, seeing as you are not a civilian of hers, but Her Majesty urges you to accept; it could mean the life or death of many of her ponies."

"Yes. Alright."

"I will escort you to the library, sir."

Stromm knew where the library is, of course, but, after reading a book on standard Equestria Military conduct, he knew that escorts were required for practically everything.

Soon, they were at the tree-library, and the Guard gave his goodbye and departed. He wondered what could possibly be going on?

The sight was really very comical. Two Helghasts, with their masks and helmets still donned, were sitting with towels wrapped around their waists, and otherwise naked. They were inside of a sauna, accompanying Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Oh, I'm so glad that you two could come. I really wanted to get to know you better. I mean, even though you tried to kill Angel Bunny..."

"Yes darlings, I am glad as well. You two are the only of your kind here that would have been willing to do this, and while I am not as scholarly as Twilight, I must admit that I am curious about you two," said Rarity from the other side of the foggy room.

"What is there to know?" Zyve inquired, his arms behind his head, propping it up.

"There could be many things. We all learned your story when Commander Stromm told everyone at the palace, but I am curious about some other things as well."

"Yeah?"

"There could be many things, like those devices that I always see you men carry. Every single one of you has at least one."

"The things that we left outside?"

"Yes."

"Those were StA-52 Assault Rifles."

Both Rarity and Fluttershy had blank faces.

"Guns."

Equally blank faces.

"Oh...gah, Sycth, you take over."

Sycth, who had remained silent up to this point, leaned forward and began to talk.

"Well, a 'gun' is a projectile weapon used by modern-"

The door to the sauna flung open and the two ponies shrieked.

"Zyve, Sycth! Commander Stromm needs you!"

Both Helghasts groaned.

Commander Stromm waited patiently for the two men's arrival and, thanks to Helghast training, he did not have to wait long at all.

Soon, Zyve, Sycth, and the third soldier arrived.

They all saluted one another and went inside, where Twilight was waiting, perhaps a little less patiently than Stromm.

"We are here for the breifing?" Stromm asked, still somewhat confused.

"Yes! Good, I was wondering where you were. Hello, Zyve, Sycth. Who is that?" Twilight asked, gesturing towards the third.

He preformed a snappy Equestrian salute and said, "Corporal Mann Oresteil, Advanced Shock Trooper, Ma'am!"

Twilight nodded, satisfied with his answer.

Giggling, she said, "At ease, soldier."

Oresteil complied and all of the Helghasts stood in the center of the library, where Twilight began to speak.

"Okay, the reason that I have called you, Stromm, here today is to request your acceptance for a mission."

"What is it?"

"Dragon."

Stromm blinked under his lenses.

"There are Dragons here in Equestria?"

"Why yes."

Stromm chuckled.

"And I suppose that there are Manticores, Kappa, and Trolls here as well?"

"Yes, actually, but we're talking about dragons."

Well then...

"We have one plaguing the Everfree forest, stealing gold from travelers, and scaring the manure out of a hermit who lives there, a zebra named Zecora."

"How many men do you think that I need?"

Twilight looked at all of her guests for a moment and answered, "You could probably use five more heavy troopers and a tank, in addition to these."

"Dragons are tough?"

"Very."

"So...I thought that you believed in saving lives at all costs? Why are you hiring us to kill this dragon?"

"Well, Princess Celestia would have attempted peace, but this order came from Luna, who also ordered me not to tell Celestia, and I ask you not to tell her either."

Stromm nodded.

"Alright. We accept."

Twilight smiled.

"I'm glad. You will each be payed quite a bit for this. Oh, and also, be sure to eradicate any other dangerous creature that you might run into along they way."

"For sure."

Three hours later, a group of Helghasts and one tank crushed through the underbrush of the forest. Stromm had decided to accompany his men, mostly because he wanted to see a real dragon. You know, before he killed it.

The instructions given to them by Twilight had pointed out a cave deep in the forest. Apparently, if successful, everyone in the party would get to keep the horde there for themselves. Another reason why Stromm decided to tag along.

It took a little over an hour, but they eventually reached the cave mouth, which was quite large.

"Hold. Check the map." Stromm commanded.

A few seconds of silence later, Zyve answered back, "Affirmative Sir."

"Alright men, advance."

The entire group all checked their weapons, raised them, and moved forward. Sycth still had the faintest of limps.

Stromm made the soldiers and one vehicle stop once more while he peeked around the corner. He came back smiling, his eyes filled with glee. Due to his mask, though, no one could saw it.

"Yes, it is here. Move forward."

Finally, they were inside. The dragon was no where to be seen.

"Search for it."

And they did. But not a single sign of the dragon, aside from the heaps of gold, silver, and gems.

"Alright, set up here, and we will wait twenty-four hours for his return. If he does not show up then, we pack up the spoils and leave."

Marah Kabar left New Helghan for the first time. For the for the twenty-one month since the refugees had landed, she had not needed to leave once. Now she did, because Armeen was missing. Again. Most of the time, she would just have a trooper go fetch him, but she decided that she needed to explore around anyway.

She retrieved her mask and requested an exit at the fence. It was granted and Marah left, a bit unsure, but also a bit excited. Perhaps she would make a new friend. Or maybe even two. She had to admit, she was quite curious about these ponies, it's just...she didn't really like...interaction with living things.

But onward she went. She needed to break out of her shell, and she knew it. She went into town and was surprised that she really did not receive much attention, save for a warm smile and/or a wave.

She picked the closest building, a normal-looking house, and decided to ask whoever lived there. She was still kind of amazed at the fact that they all spoke the exact same language, save a few differences, but that would only make it more convienient to find Armeen.

As she approached, her ears picked up on something: music. It sounded as if it were coming from a cello. It sounded soft, sad, and somewhat melancholy. Marah couldn't help but become a bit choked up. It was amazing because she herself played, cello and bass, but such instruments had been lost in the long war.

Shaking her head, and hoping that she would not be irritating the pony inside by interrupting his or her playing, she set forward again. But, again, she was stopped.

The soft melodic song was suddenly halted as there was a short quake. The entire building quivered and Marah felt an insane and quite inharmonic song erupt from all windows and doors of the building, filled with bass and a lot of thudding and high-pitched snares.

"Vinyl!"

Funny...that voice sounded...what was it? British? From Earth?

Another voice, interrupted by laughter, returned, "Sorry! I...I couldn't resist!"

"It's not funny, Vinyl!"

"Hehe, yeah it is."

Well, these two were obviously busy at the moment. Marah turned to leave when she heard a voice, the very same that had been arguing with the British sounding one just moments ago, call her.

"Hey! Did'ja need something? Don't be shy!"

The voice came from an upper window. Standing there, leaning out, was what appeared to be a unicorn mare with an electric blue mane styled in a very frazzled-looking way. A pair of dark purple goggles were strapped over her forehead, and her eyes were red. Vinyl.

"Oh, um...no, it's alright..."

"Nah, don't worry. Come on in, 'Tavi's cooling down!"

Marah decided that Vinyl wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer and went back to the door.

Minutes later, Marah was sitting in a well-decorated living room with comfy sofas, a tea table, and a roaring fire contained safely within the hearth of the brick fireplace.

There had only been two sofas, but Vinyl had used her magic to levitate another in from the other room, a sight which Marah watched, wide-eyed. She had heard about the magic from less-shy civilians who had left and from soldiers, but had until then to witness it in action.

"Hehe, never seen any magic before, eh?"

Marah shook her head.

Vinyl and Marah sat down in the chairs.

"Don't worry, 'Tavi will be here with the tea soon."

"'Tavi?"

"Octavia's her full name. 'Tavi's just a nickname, or sometimes 'Octi. It just depends. She's real good with the cello, I guess, but she can be kind of stuck up sometimes."

"It's not being stuck up, it's manners."

Marah jumped but Vinyl only grinned.

"She's real good at sneaking up on ponies too."

They all settled down and Marah took the tea and gave it a taste. Immediately, her eyes widened.

"Wow, Octavia, this is really good."

The brown earth pony nodded and smiled.

"Why thank you...?"

"Marah. Marah Armeen."

Marah looked over to Vinyl, holding out her cup of tea and asked, "You're not going to have any?"

"Naw, don't like tea all that much. Besides, after all that, Octavia probably poisoned it."

The earth pony narrowed her eyes lightly and moved the small cup around in her front hooves.

"That wouldn't be too far from the truth, actually."

"See? I told ya."

Instead, in another magic puff and another startling of Marah, Vinyl had a can of beer.

"You sure are jumpy, aint' ya?"

The Helghast women sighed and said, "Yeah, I suppose so. It's my first time leaving New Helghan."

"Is it now?" Asked Octavia.

"Sure is. I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, but, as I see so far, ponies seem to be hospitable enough."

Both ponies smiled.

"Now, the entire reason I came here in the first place: have either of you seen a little boy? He's my son, Armeen Kabar, and he's late."

Vinyl just waved her hoof dismissively.

"Yeah, I seen him, don't worry; he's hangin' out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"Cutie...Mark Crusaders?"

"Just these three fillies who go around having fun. They don't get hurt very often. At least not too bad..."

Marah was not an overly-protective mother, so she took Vinyl's word for it, and finished her tea. She had three more cups before she left.

Author's Note:

I'm finally making the chapters longer! Whoo!

Comments

[Tenebris Caeruleus]

Huzzah!
Good female character, by the way. I imagine creating an everyday person from a planet in nuclear fallout was strange, as they aren't really shown in any of the games.

[Mr Anomalous]

2433317
Not really. Not for me, anyways

[Brutydude]

*Whoo hooo*
*you rock*

[oliver1528]

`she heard music from nearby` me