Chapter 2
Brouge, Late afternoon, 1630 standard time
As the creature lay squirming on the ground the pegasi began to circle it and voice their opinions loudly.
“What the hay is that thing?” Spoke one voice alarmingly.
“I have no feathering Idea,” quipped another, “You think it’s dangerous?”
“What is it wearing?” Came a third, “If that’s armor it doesn't look very strong.”
“Quiet you lot!” Commander Hurricane roared, pushing herself through the throng of bodies and towards the lanky creature.
“Get into defensive positions. If this thing is hostile we need to be prepared to deal with it.”
As the pegasi readied their blades and formed their lines around the creature, Hurricane strode right up to the prone figure and prodded its side with her forehoof.
All of the pegasi tensed, waiting for an outburst from the thing, but to their chagrin, all it did was groan and shuffle a bit away from the contact.
Hurricane sighed deeply and shook her head. “I do not need this today.” She thought darkly.
“Fire Storm, Lance Point,” She barked, “front and center!”
Both mares quickly came forward and stood at attention in front of her.
“Both of you will take that thing to one of the secluded rooms in the citadel. Strip it of its apparel and anything that seems dangerous. Bring Apothecary Battle Scar with you. See if she can figure out what’s wrong with it. You will then stand guard over it. If it so much as twitches I want to know about it.”
They both saluted then went to pick up the thing in question. Lance Point promptly slid her forehooves under its chest to prop it up. She then bit down on its sleeve and hovered a couple feet above the ground and draped it over Fire Storms back. They both then quickly trotted off towards the citadel.
“What are the rest of you gawking at?” Hurricane shouted, “Get back to your stations or you’ll be on latrine duty for the next month!”
As the crowd quickly departed the area, Hurricane quickly turned around and walked back to the citadel. She needed to get a war room situated and her command office set up.
Four hours had passed and now in the waning light of the evening she was shifting though battle reports and casualty listings, sitting in the former throne room of Governess Ruby. She had most of the décor and frilly furnishings removed. She only left the desk, had the large table from the dinning quarters brought in with maps strewn all about, turning the once grandeur space into a fully functional war room.
The doors to the room suddenly burst open and Private Pansy quickly trotted over to where the commander was seated.
“Your orders have been carried out Commander,” she stated breathlessly, “The Second Legion has just begun their construction of the outpost down the road. They should be finished just before dawn if they work through the night in shifts. The couriers have been sent out, they should reach their destinations soon and Cyrene herself will hear of our victory in just two weeks. Now as for the state of Brouge, the civilians are proving to be quite helpful, especially the earth ponies of the workers district. They have already begun to move the bodies to a burial site and have organized crews to start rebuilding the walls at first light tomorrow.”
Hurricane raised an eyebrow quizzically. “You mean to tell me that no citizen has acted out against our occupation and actually want to help.”
Private Pansy shook her head. “Not all of the citizens commander, like I said, most of the working class and middle class are obeying with little resentment towards us. It seems that the capital had been forcing an unreasonable tax on the populace to fund the war effort. They are more than happy to help us out and be rid of the oppression coming from Dawnstar. On the other hoof,” she sighed deeply looking downwards towards the floor, “The nobles are not at all happy. They openly try to resist when we search their homes and many talk of rebellion. None of them have actually done anything yet, but give it time. I wouldn't be surprised if we have an underground resistance spring up within the coming months.”
Hurricane laid her head on the table and groaned loudly. She then snapped her head to the side and ordered her cup bearer to bring her another goblet of wine.
“Say what you want about the pompous horned pain in the flanks," she silently mused, “they sure know how to make good hooch.”
As she drained her third goblet of the evening she turned back to the private and asked, “Has there been any news about our mysterious guest yet?”
Pansy shook her head slowly and stated, “No commander I only heard about its arrival after I got back from the Second Legion’s camp. Apothecary Battle Scar is waiting outside the door. She would know more about it than I would.”
“Very well private, “Said Hurricane rising to her hooves, “Send Battle Scar in here then hit the rack. Be in my office by first light tomorrow morning. You’re dismissed.”
Pansy snapped to attention, bid the Commander a good evening then quickly trotted out the door.
Soon afterwards a blood red pegasus with a white mane and tail strode into the war room and approached the Commander.
She was wearing saddle bags and each of them was bulging at the seams with items. A strange helmet was lying across her back as well as a long blocky looking object with an opening at one end.”
Hurricanes jaw dropped. “Holy hay! Does all of that belong to the creature downstairs? Where did it put all of it”
“It,” stated Battle Scar with a roll of her eyes, “is a ‘he’ Commander. And yes all of this was taken off of him. Before we get started with my diagnostic of his condition I’d like to drop all of his effects”
She then promptly dropped her saddlebags on the floor and picked up the long, black, stick looking thing and helmet. She placed them on the table gingerly.
“Like I said before,” Battle Scar stated flatly, “he is definitely male, but of what he is exactly, well I have no feathering idea. Judging by all of the tools and apparel he had on him it is safe to judge that he is sapient, but I have never seen or heard of a species that looks like this in all of my years in the legions. The closest things that come to mind are the great apes on the Zebrican plains, but even then they are wildly different.”
She cleared her throat loudly before continuing.
“Now, he has a flat looking face, no snout to speak of. He has a very short black mane. It is only barely there and covers the top of his head. His eyes, which are green, are relatively small but have very good pupil dilation. This suggests that he’d be able to see in the dark better than us. His teeth are marginally similar to ours, only his front ones are much sharper. This leads me to believe that his species eats at least some meat, but the grinding teeth in the back suggest a plant diet as well.”
A look of worry crossed Hurricane’s face at that comment. “Spare me the details Scar how dangerous is this thing.”
“Well it baffles me to say this, but I believe that he could be quite a threat as he seems to be some kind of warrior.”
“A male? Being a warrior!?” Scoffed Hurricane, “You have to be pulling my wing.”
“Most of the observations I've gathered supports this Commander,” shot back Battle Scar venomously, “He was found wearing what appears to be weapons and armor. He is well built and has an excellent muscular structure. He has scars, both old and new, on many points of his body. He also has a lot of marks on him. They don’t seem to be true battle marks, but more like the tribal symbols that the zebra warriors etch into themselves. Just because he is a male does not mean you should underestimate him. We have no idea what he is capable of!”
“Enough!” barked Hurricane rising from the table. “Just tell me what’s wrong with the damn thing. When it wakes we can question it and find out how it got here and what its intentions, violent or not, are.”
“Oh” Stated the Battle Scar softly. “ That's actually quite simple, it seems to me that he is suffering from magical fatigue. A lot of unicorns get it when they try to do a spell that is too taxing for their body to handle. Now why this creature that has no horn or any noticeable magical capabilities whatsoever would have it is beyond me, but he is showing all of the symptoms. It should wear off overnight. Now I should get back to my duties, have a good evening commander”
She turned her back on the commander and began to walk towards the door. Before leaving; however, she stopped and turned.
“One more thing”, she said, “These were around its neck, and they seem to be identification of some kind. I believe the top line to be a name, as for the other lines, I have no clue what they mean.”
She then tossed a small metal chain towards Hurricane then promptly walked out the door.
Hurricane deftly caught the chain with her wings and brought it over to the table to have a look at them.
It was fashioned like a necklace of some sort with two metal disks dangling at different distances from the chain. They read:
DURRANT
M.J. O NEG
635 34 9980
UCMC M
NO PREFERANCE
As she finished reading the strange disks she heard a commotion outside the door. Suddenly Lance Point burst into the room, out of breath and chest heaving.
“Commander!” she shrieked, “You should come with me immediately mam. Its awake and it’s got Fire Storm.”
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I just wish your chapters were a little longer, or that you updated more often. Other than that, great story.
2588665 More the latter than the former. Long chapters take more effort to read...
However, I don't really mind. I understand writing a lot can be difficult, especially if you're not used to doing so.
2588665 2588855 There's also the fact he'll be leaving in a couple of weeks, so anything sent out is made under a time constraint, so I'm happy for anything posted.
2589852
Yeah, I know. I read the announcement, too. That doesn't change the fact that this is a really good story, and I want more of it.
2590466 “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
― Aristotle
I like where this is going.
Well done. Keep going!
Hmm. Well, this should be interesting. First contact scenario in progress. I look forward to seeing how it pans out.
Thanks for the tips on the dog tag information. I was playing New Vegas and found similar stuff on the Desert Ranger Combat Armor
SSGT VICKERS R.B.
O.POS. USMC
I think it means that armor belonged to Staff Sergeant R.B. Vickers of the USMC 200 years ago (Who has O positive blood)
Woooo another week down. Weve done it so much That I think I could do fire team rushes in my sleep "Im up he sees me Im down!!!" Three more weeks to Go
This is very good so far. I really like how you are using the historical background of Xenophilia to do something different with this because it adds a lot of depth to the story. I also like how the pony's cultural bias made them initially discount the threat posed by a freaking Marine because he is "just" a male without considering that other species may not share the same gender rolls. They are also going to be in for one heck of a surprise when he gets his gear back because a futuristic composite/ceramic armor will be more or less impervious to everything they have and they are not going to believe the range, accuracy, and power of his gun.
That said, I am a bit disappointed by the prologue because it feels like it was just an info dump to get things started rather than something we have any reason to care about. I think it probably would have worked better to drop it completely so the story starts with chapter 1 and then go back to fill in details as they become relevant to the story.
2798080 Huh, it sounds like I got this off my read later list at just the right time.
Hmm. Not bad. I'll have to keep an eye on this.