Prologue

Prologue

In a distant galaxy, many races co-exist across worlds. One such race, Humanity, is the most numerous of all of the races. They were the first from multiple worlds to venture into the galaxy, some through technology and others through magic. Mages as they’re called are able to use their mana energy in their body to pick strands of magic from air and use them to make their magic abilities.

After a long conflict between Humans and other races, the United Alliance was formed. However it wasn’t the end of conflict. As those who attempt to either leave or keep out UA influence fight. Eventually it was the Empire known as Gaio that led to the longest war in history, the United Alliance-Gaio War which lasted over forty years.

It was during that time that a new race joined the galaxy, Angels. Human-like in appearance the have glowing eyes, incredible strength, the ability to conjure wings, and they can’t age after a certain point. However this race isn’t invincible, as they can be just as easily killed by a bullet as any other race. Despite their title, Angels aren’t the most peaceful race as many joined the UA military shortly after arrival, but some others did settle down to live a peaceful life.

Currently they have been accepted into the galaxy with open arms, but one such Angel isn’t having a good time…

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Lieutenant Ember vaulted over the wall and rolled down as she hit the debris covered ground. Being the last of her squad, she continued through the ruined city trying to make it way to the extraction point that was still a fair distance away. Just an hour ago she had a full squad; her CO was leading them well until the insurrectionist forces trapped them leaving her solely alive due to her own abilities.

The Intel hadn’t stated the insurrectionist had Mages and so when the squad was up against them, they weren’t prepared and their gear not suited for magical combat. Being an Angel unlike her Human counterparts, she was able to survive the magic blows. However in her current situation she wouldn’t be able to get away again. She had tried to save her squad but she wasn’t fast enough and the mages too powerful for her to handle alone.

Seeing a large gap coming up she quickly brought out her wings and jumped the gap going higher than if she had just used her enhanced strength alone. As she landed on the other side of the gap she made her wings vanish and once more she was stuck to the planet’s surface.

The sound of gunfire from the Insurrectionist and the local militia echoed throughout the dead streets. Clouds of dust rise from the ground and cover the area of the city in a thick fog.

However her helmet had air ventilation system so it was always kept clean. Suddenly a bleep on her motion sensor, something was approaching from the street just up ahead. It didn’t appear to be local militia, or a UA soldier, that left it being an insurrectionist. A civilian was highly unlikely as they have either been killed or evacuated. Taking cover behind a knocked over and beaten vending machine she hid hoping to have them pass by.

Using her heat vision visor she could see through the dust fog and see the insurrectionist move through. She stayed motionless as they got close to her spot; she dared to look out after her initial glance from before. The red dots on her motion sensor, showed them getting closer but not moving in any sort of flanking maneuver. Most likely they’re oblivious to her presence.

As they moved closer to the vending machine she begins to feel anxiety and breathing began to get faster. She wasn’t used to a situation like this. Stealth is not her forte. They seem to not take note of her as they pass her spot. Unlike her, the Insurrectionist weren’t the best geared and didn’t even have visors that had heat seeking or really anything to move through the fog. Hence why they were moving slowly as to not trip and get injured trying to go faster, or be caught by militia.

It was unlikely they could see her, her armor is built in with anti-motion sensor tech, only something more advanced militaries could counter. Simple insurrectionist would be blind to their surroundings without a drone or scouts. Neither of which this group showed.

Once they were far enough away and she was clear she moved out of cover and began to move swiftly through the thick fog until she reached a clearer section of the city. She needed to reach the UA HQ that had been set up on the far side of the city. For that she needed to go down a level of the city to reach it.

Turning she moved down a set of stairs, after reaching ground point she got into cover as more insurrectionist got closer. Unlike before though they were moving because they were fighting militia forces.

A grenade missed its target and landed near her cover and she dove out to escape its blast. She was then spotted by an insurrectionist who aimed his outdated gun at her. Before he could get a shot off she aimed with her rifle and pounded lead into them. That alerted the rest of them and some turned to face her. As they shot she used her strength to quickly move from one cover to the next. “They’re an angel!” one cried out, “surround them!”

One enemy got on the other side of the cover she was on, she leaned over the top and grabbed them and broke their neck on the side of the debris. Ember then quickly turned and aimed at a tango that was on the second floor of a building aiming their red dot sight at her. One shot got off and nailed her in the shoulder but the armor’s energy shields took most of the hit. It did however screw up her shot and she had to readjust her aim.

Shooting and nailing the enemy in the head she moved from her cover and another grenade landed at her position, however unlike the last time, this was a more advanced grade of grenade and despite not getting blown to bits she was sent flying into a metal wall. Her ears were hurt, despite her helmet it was like everything was farther away and her movement was now slowed.

But the Lieutenant still stood up and moved away from a parade of bullets. She aimed and shot an enemy as they exited from cover. Ember was breathing harder as she moved. Militia soldiers were being pushed back and on her motion sensor she could see more insurrectionists converging on her position. Using her wings she quickly flew upwards and grabbed the broken panel of a window on the second floor.

Hulling herself through the window she heard the cracking of glass as she stepped on the ground. She slowly moved through a ruined bed room with broken furniture and tech. The apartment complex hadn’t survived the battle, pictures from the resident lay on the floor covered in dust or ripped. However it was unlikely they would ever return home, that is if they even survived the initial strike.

Not being on their motion sensor, she moved slowly through the building and watched the red dots on her motion sensor as they moved closer. Taking out a small cube off her belt she pressed a small button and a holographic interface popped up. On the screen various weapons stored in the cube appeared, picking a pistol with a silencer the screen vanished and from the top of the cube a pistol materialized.

The cube, also known as the Compact Storage Unit or CSU or just ‘Cube’ by soldiers, allows the ability to store gear and weapons allowing them to carrying an assortment of weapons. However it was limited in its design that only one of each type of weapon could be put and there was a size limit. So no tanks or anything along that could be stored.

Taking the gun, she placed her rifle on her back and put the cube away. Staying silent and still she listened to the voices of the enemies getting to her floor. “Spread out and find the eye glower!”

Eye glower, an insult given to Angels and various other races that had glowing parts. Personally she didn’t care much for it and didn’t find it as offensive as some others would. Shaking the thought off she moved and hugged a wall as she watched a red dot walk through the hall in front of her. How much she would pay for armor with active camouflage at this moment.

As the enemy got close to the room she was in she looked out just as his head was turning so he didn’t spot her. Pulling herself back in so not to be spotted she waited for the right moment when he entered the room.

Truthfully she rather not kill with the pistol, a silencer is good but in a building that is completely silent, the little noise that would be made would alert the horde and she didn’t want that. Although if she could place the timing just right, it would be possible to kill multiple of them with the pistol and have none remain to hear it.

As his foot stepped into the room, Ember reacted, as he walked forward not noticing her she walked up behind him and quickly placed her hands around his head. He had no time to react as she twisted his head with her Angel strength and broke his neck. The snapping noise was sickening, even to someone who had broken many necks before. She held him up and gently placed his body in the corner of the room, soft enough to not let a single noise echo.

Looking back on her motion sensor, the corpse red dot vanished, and left only four more remaining.

Taking the knife off of her belt, she slowly moved through the hall with her pistol on top and dagger below the gun. She crouched and stood still as she got to the next door in the hall. A red dot was walking through the room. Oh how she wished she could see the direction they faced or at least had some way to see through walls.

She then decided to watch his movement, no doubt facing the way he was moving. Unless he was being cautious and walked backwards would prove trickier. Just then the dot moved away from the door, and that’s when she moved in. The female enemy seemed to be looking out the window. Placing her gun quickly away on her belt she gripped her knife and stood behind the soldier.

They began to turn as they felt something behind them. But it was too late, Ember placed her hand on the mouth of the soldier and then slit their throat and then gently placed them on the floor.

Two more, and by the looks of it, they were close together. Perfect time to put the pistol to good use she thought.

She left the room as she placed her dagger back and then held the pistol firmly with both hands. Even for an Angel she would need to be quickly, it wasn’t easy to kill this swiftly. As she got to the end of the hall she could see the two soldiers as they looked about the living room and kitchen.

Ember breathed in and then out and stepped out, just then they turned and spotted her. However it wasn’t fast enough, she pulled the trigger and killed the first insurrectionist and then turned like a blur and shot the other in the head. Both bodies hit the ground at about the same time. Looking at the gun, she had eight shots left out of a ten bullet magazine.

Going towards the stairs, she crouched and went down the steps. As she got to the point where she could see the room she was entering, Ember stopped and looked out and couldn’t see any enemies and continued down the steps. Suddenly on her motion sensor it lit up as she got on the same elevation.

Looking around she saw a door that led outside and no red dots. Deciding there it would be best to give them the slip rather than stick around longer. Slowly she opened the door and opened it, closing it behind her so in case anyone had seen it closed already. Back in the streets she stayed in the shadows to avoid being caught by any patrols.

Turning into an alleyway she stopped and looked at her UCD or Universal Compact Device, basically a computer but on the arm. It allowed her to keep track of her squad and her current location. Although it did have a lot of non-military related functions as watching videos, looking at documents, going on the net.

Bring up her map of the city she looked at her position and where she needed to go. It was still a way off but if she could keep going without being caught she could get into safe territory. Quickly pulling a cord from her helmet and attaching it to her helmet she sent the map to her HUD and disconnected. The helmet while advanced wasn’t quite advanced enough to map out the city as she walked, the UCD on the other had is. The map she sent to her HUD is pre-created and doesn’t take into account the destruction which is a bit of a downfall.

Continuing down the alley she arrived at another street and saw an opening to the sewers that had been blasted opened on the sidewalk. Looking around to make sure no one could spot her, she took a chance and jumped down through the hole and landed in the murky and trashy water. “Disgusting…” she muttered as she swam to the side and pulled herself up to a path.

A lot of the lights in the sewers appeared to stop working so she turned her flashlight on her helmet on and began to move through the dark. As she walked she brought up the comms and noticed they were still being disrupted by all of the debris from the city-wide conflict. It would be a lot easier to call in a pick up if she could but there was nothing she could do.

Still she couldn’t believe her squad was dead… O’Brian, Richard, Elisa, Tina, and Drew… They were all good friends and they had been in the same squad for years and yet it was just a few damn mages that ended all of that. They had all meet during basic training and then stuck together ever since that which made losing them all the more harder to accept.

“Think anyone is in here?” she heard a voice echo through the sewers and she turned off her light immediately.

“Got to be and when I get my hands on them, they will feel their flesh burning!” another voice responded back.

A Mage? She thought. Just what I needed…

Leaning out she looked at the two people down the sewer facing the opposite direction both with flashlights on their weapons. Pulling out her pistol she began to move closer to them, it was easier to tell which one was the mage. The mage wearing lighter combat gear with a pistol and the other wearing heavier armor with an assault rifle.

Moving closer she took aim at the Mages head first. Just as they turned around she shot hitting the Mage in the head, and then took aim at the other. However the second one ducked and the bullet flew over their head. Shooting at her, her armors shields flared and she fired back while dodging. Not able to hit in the head she only damaged his armor.

The insurrectionist moved out of the tunnel and leaned against the wall and reloaded his gun, but Ember stood her ground and didn’t change guns. They waited for a moment, the only sound being that of the flowing water in the sewers. Then it began as they leaned out and shot at her and she crouched and shot upwards and hit him in the neck up until the head resulting in him falling over and into the water.

She gave of a sigh of relief and moved forward. Although she had to admit, even though the energy shields did take some of the damage, she still felt pain over her body. Had the Mage been able to get spells off it would have been much worse as currently energy shields aren’t able to block magic.

Although while Angels do have natural magic protection in their skin, if enough hits are made it won’t matter and the Angel would be a fried or frozen corpse. Depending on the spell element that is. Elisa in her squad had been a fellow Angel and when the Mages shot at her with their spells she fell in seconds. In a one on one fight an Angel can fair better but one versus multiple usually ended in favor of Mages.

Suddenly as she walked she felt the temperature rise and she turned around and noticed a fire spiraling down the tunnel and she jumped into the water to get out of the way. After it vanished she climbed back up, only to then see a bolt of lightning forming out of thin air strike and rolling out of the way only barely dodging it.

That’s when her motion radar registered an enemy down the hall and she rushed towards her target and began to fire. However the mage dodged the attacks and even began rushing at the Angel. The Mage kicked and a crescent moon of fire shot forth and Ember jumped dodging it and then only to be hit by another sending her into the wall.

Shaking her head and aiming from her spot she fired at the mage and noticed her bullets were hitting their energy shield. No! But how? The insurrectionist thus far hasn’t had armor with shielding! Where did they- her thoughts were cut off as another bolt of lightning attacked and she moved out of the way and saw it hit the ground.

The Mage put his arms together and then opened wide and a large wall of fire began to roar down the tunnels floor. Seeing no other choice she turned and jumped into the water and let it past but then realized she had fallen for it. As she tried to move a bolt of lightning struck the water and shocked her. She began to scream in agony as the bolts continued to hit the water.

Slowly her vision was going dark and her armor was on the fritz and the last thing she saw was the Mage walking over to her on the path above and she saw a smirk. Just before a bolt of lightning struck her and made her black out.

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Angels: A race created by the gods to wage war against their evil counterparts, a race with no free will just the mind set to fight and strive for victory. However things changed when one Angel was created who had free will. At first this scared the Gods and Goddess as they feared an uprising, however the cooler heads prevailed and rights were given to the Angels.

Shortly becoming free, they left to live with the mortal races on various worlds leaving the Gods and Goddess alone in their domain. Ember’s parents were one of the first to leave and joined the United Alliance. Shortly after her birth, her father died in combat during the United Alliance-Gaio War that had already begun prior to the Angel arrival.

After the war ended, her mother ended up remarrying but instead of another Angel, she married a Human and her Human-Angel brother was born. Like herself and her now deceased father, joined the military and is now on his way to becoming a Captain. On the rare occasion their paths would meet and hang out but truthfully she never did see much of her mother, brother, or Human father once she joined the war.

And now it remains to be seen if she ever will…

Taking a Tumble

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Taking a tumble

Ember could feel the pain all over her body, and normally she would be scared but in this case she was just happy she could feel something because it means she isn’t dead. She tried to move a limb but nothing seems to respond and she continues to lie there with her eyes still closed with even those barely responding.

Slowly the pain started to fade and she could feel the ground. Dirt? That can’t be right she told herself. It didn’t make much sense, as she had been in a sewer. A huge number of explanations began to flood into her mind but it was silenced as she finally opened her eyes. Flickering her eyes a couple of times to adjust and then look around. She wasn’t in the sewer anymore that was for sure.

The sky hanging above is dark and cloudy with an almost sickly looking green tint. Turning her head she looked around the landscape. It was in ruins, dead plants, trees and grass, and small patches of sand across the rocks. In the far off she could see mountains, sharp and desolate looking as did the ground below it. Not much wind, and everything still, you could hear the sound of a pin dropping and hitting the floor.

Ember began to lift herself up as she got full control back and eventually stood up. First thing she did was look at her, her armor seemed fine and all of her gear still on her. It was then that she noticed her helmet had receded back exposing herself. Quickly bringing up her UCD she pressed the side button and her helmet folded outwards and covered her face.

Once more her HUD appeared and she began to check the stats of her gear to see if they were all in working order. She let out a sigh of relief as everything turned out green. Then she opened up the comms and see if now she could connect. NO CONNECTION, the screen told her in large red text. Before it was being jammed but now she couldn’t even find a connection.

Looking around she began to summarize that she couldn’t have simply floated out of the sewers as she was near no bodies of water and there’s no signs of her being carried. And even if somehow she did get picked up and brought somewhere else on the planet, she would be able to get a connection to Command.

Her first thought was to fly up and see the surrounding area, but then decided against it. If this was somehow enemy territory, flying up would make her an easy target.

Taking off the Assault rifle on her back, she began to walk through the desolate area. Watching everything to see if something was going to come up and attack. Her helmet was reading nothing but who ever had brought her here could be using active camouflage which is harder to detect. “Damn it…” she spoke softly. “Just where am I?”

It then hit her; something she had forgot to check. Pulling up her UCD again she opened to her GPS and tried to find her current location. LOCATION UNKNOWN – PLANET UNIDENFIED, she read.

Ember just stood there staring at the text with wide eyes. This has got to be some sort joke? Right? How could I just end up on another world? Was I captured and dropped here, but then why all of the effort for just one soldier? She began to rationalize in her mind.

Looking away from the screen Ember continued to stare into the distance formulating a plan of action. So far she hadn’t seen a single sign of civilization and no satellites in the sky that her UCD to detect. Sighing she continued to walk while keeping an eye out for anything. In the distance she could hear a noise and she looked up in the direction.

In the sky small black birds began to fly over, “Crows?” she commented. Their annoying ‘cawing’ noise echoed through the silence. First life spotted and it was nothing special. Looking back to her path she continued on ignoring the crows. As she got further she began to hear another noise, the sound of running water. Going into a sprint she arrived at the creek only to see it murky and dirty.

Hunger and thirst began to slip in as she looked at the water with dismay. Jumping from one rock to another she got to the other side and walked on. However she stopped as she began to feel as if being watched. Turning around she spotted noting but she knew something had to be there.

“A stranger steps into our land and appears lost,” she heard a feminine but almost distorted voice speak. It seemed a bit far off until they spoke again. “What brings you here to our home?”

Ember turned and stepped back as she saw who was speaking. It’s a horse? The alien is dark skinned with large green eyes, and blue hair but also a large horn and insect-like wings; it was then that she also noticed the holes in their legs.

English? How does this creature know my language? Ember thought.

“What are you strange creature? Some sort of zombie horse?” Ember questioned.

The alien frowned. “How dare you! I will have you know I am a Changeling! Queen Chrysalis!” She announced quite dramatically. Ember just stared at the Queen.

“Queen of what? The wastelands?” Ember replied not impressed.

Chrysalis stomped her hoof, “You come here and insult me!” Suddenly she heard the sound of buzzing and looks around as dozens of little Changelings landed. He could tell they were ready to strike with their horns angled towards her. Worse since she has no idea what they’re capable of doing.

Okay, that wasn’t a good idea. Time to salvage this situation.

“Sorry- I didn’t mean that. Friendly joke- honest!” Ember pleaded to the Queen.

Chrysalis stared angrily at the being in front of her and then eased up, “Answer me! What are you? And why are you here?”

Ember breathed in and then out, “I am Lieutenant Ember, and I am an Angel. I don’t know how I got here; I just woke up on the ground.”

“And why should I trust you? I have enemies and so how can I be sure you aren’t a spy?”

“A spy? Never- I don’t even know where I am and I have never seen your species before. In fact I don’t even think I am on the same world…” Ember attempted to explain.

Chrysalis waved her hoof and the Changelings relax but not before glancing each other as if questioning their orders. “Another world? You honestly expect me to believe that?”

No doubt it sounds weird, she doesn’t seem advanced. Although looks aren’t everything- but if they were, she probably would have reacted that way. She thought.

Ember nodded, “I know it may seem hard to believe but I am. I was on a war torn world trying to aid our allies, however everything went to hell and I was severally injured by an enemy… Then I woke up here…”

The Queen looked at the Angel seemingly convinced or at least going along, “Well Lieutenant- as the Queen of this land I demand you tell me your plans from this point on.”

“I can’t say. I will attempt to try and contact my chain of command,” she replied but then her stomach roared. “Also best I leave here and find somewhere I can get food…”

The Queen smirked, “Oh leave will you..?” she spoke in a manically voice causing Ember to step back in caution. “I don’t think you will be leaving. No one leaves.” The changelings began to laugh and ready for an attack.

“Get her!” Chrysalis commanded her underlings. One of the Changelings horn began to glow, and then a green glow rushed over them and they rushed at Ember. The Angel rolled out of the way and then began to turn to escape only to see as expected her path blocked. Pulling a smoke grenade from her belt she threw it and exploded at the feet of the creatures.

Moving through the smoke she jumped over the Changelings and continued to run. She didn’t want to shoot them and cause a further incident, even if they were now going after her. They recovered quickly from the grenade and began to fly towards her spot, their wings allowing them to fly faster then she could. Suddenly she was sent flying as a Changeling rammed into her back causing her to slam into the rock ground.

Damn it! She told herself. Do they want me to kill them?

Getting back up, Ember dodged another changeling that came rushing at her. The Queen herself wasn’t coming at her, as she floated in the air flapping her wings watching them attacking her all the while laughing. Continuing on her escape she saw two Changelings ahead of her which suddenly glowed green and then she saw… Herself?

She had to stop and really look at what she was seeing; the two Changelings had turned into a copy of her. It was then that she decided it wouldn’t be best to go easy. If they are carbon copies, might they have guns? Aiming with her rifle she began to fire at the clones and the bullets seem to just pierce right through them. So it wasn’t a fully clone, more like an illusion as if to fool someone. As they fell over from the shots they glowed green again and hit the ground as their normal form.

Suddenly she noticed some of the Changelings began to back off and Embers slowed down, “You follow me and you get shot as well!” she yelled at them. However despite her original thought the Queen didn’t seem angry, in fact impressed.

“Oh- anger! Such beauty! I am in Impressed at such a sight,” Chrysalis yelled out to Ember.

Ember frowned under her helmet, “I injure two of your underlings and you’re… impressed?”

The Queen laughed, “Us Changelings feed on positive energy and love- but the sight of anger and distraught pleases me. More so to those who dare defy us- those are the best.”

“So what are you going to let me go?” Ember yelled back.

“Let you go?” The Changeling laughed again. “Oh no. More so now than ever I can’t let you leave. My fellow Changelings, watch out for her weapon! Attack from afar!”

From afar? She thought as she noticed the Changelings began to charge their horns and even the Queen. Suddenly from their horns blasts of green energy shot out and began to fly towards her. The energy from the Queen, the largest, Ember decided it was top priority to dodge. Running out of the way she watched as the rock the blast hit exploded. However another blast hit her and knocked her to the ground.

Getting back up she continued to dodge rays of attacks in their endless assault. Running and dodging for that long even for an Angel is tiresome. That’s when she noticed a very narrow gorge coming up. Looking past it, there was just more open area past it with no cover. Standing at the ledge she looked at the waves of Changelings and decided it was time to stretch her wings. As a blast was about to hit her she walked forward and into the gorge.

As she fell she waited for the right moment and summoned her wings. She continued to fall until she began to let them flap. Ember looked up and saw the Changelings flying down and continued to fire. “Wings? You have wings!? Oh this just gets more fun…” The Queen murmured.

The soldier continued to dodge as she flew down the gorge. Flying backwards she began to hip fire to make some back off and then turning back to keep at her max speed. However if there was one thing Angel’s had to admit- they aren’t the best fliers. It’s more so for getting to grounds usually unobtainable. She made a sharp turn at the gorge’s turn and quickly hid behind a large rock before the Changelings arrived. They flew overhead not seeing her in the shadows however one got curious and began to look around and spotted the Angel.

She flew out of cover and then flew past the shots and fired in the direction of the Changelings and it hit one in the leg and they fell down into the water, the rest scurry out of the way and let her pass. However as soon as she got through they turned and continued their pursuit.

Ember continued but then began to become wobbly, her breathing getting faster and heavier. She was flying for way to long and then it happened. One shot and then another hit her wings and she screamed out in pain. She flew upwards in an attempt to get out of the gorge but then of all of the shots, it was the Queen’s that slammed into her back and made her wings vanish.

She began to fall through the air and the Changelings just hovered there and watched as she slammed into the water. Ember tried to move but her body wasn’t giving way to her mind. It felt just like when the Mage attacked. The water rapids began pushing her down the gorge. The Queen flew next to her subjects and as they began to fly closer she stopped them. “No,” she said flatly and once again her underlings glanced at each other. “The Angel won’t survive the rapids…”

“Isn’t that unwise, what if she-,” her underling was cut off as she slapped them with her hoof.

“You dare- do you truly dare to second guess your Queen?” The Queen yelled.

The Changeling flew away in fear and the Queen sighed, “No one second guesses me… Let us head back. Our plans are not to be delayed. Equestria will be ours…” She spoke as they began to fly back away from the gorge and into the wastelands again.

***************************

Ember continued to flow down the river, only living because of her armor. Her body floated far down the river, until her body stopped and landed on the rivers bank. For a while she remained there, her body completely still. The sun already began to set and it was getting dark. Nothing came close to her, the animals too afraid to get close to the unknown being. Until one animal, a bunny hopped over to her body and poked it, and then as they saw it stir the bunny ran for the forest ahead.

Slowly Ember was coming to, this had been the second time she had been nearly killed and lived. The pain was almost starting to become numb by how common it was. She couldn’t go an hour without being shot at- by bullets or magic. As her body began to come under her command she lifted herself up and noticed her HUD on her helmet was on the fritz until in red letters it stated: REBOOTING SYSTEMS – HELMET OPENING. The helmet opened and then folded away and as soon as she was free of it she puked on the rocks.

Her stomach felt like it was going to burst all the while turning. She noticed her Assault rifle was in her hand or on her back and looked around. It had also landed on the bank near him, and slowly crawled over to it and picked it up and began to inspect it. Everything seemed in order, they were built extremely well. She looked at her UCD and that was still working as well, however the armor still was rebooting. No doubt not happy about water getting on it, it wasn’t the same as being in the sewer water as she got out of it quickly, however noticed that she must have been in it for a while as the sun was low now. Although it wasn’t just the water, from the Mages attacks to the Changelings onslaught, both of them did quite a number on it. More so than just water.

It was then however that she noticed her new location, the sky was clearer and the land seemed to be flourishing with life with trees as far as she could see. Looking in the direction of the gorge she noticed she could barely even see the mountains in the Changeling land’s meaning she had flowed down the river far. In fact even the gorge was small as the exit of it was a mile or so away.

Ember stood up and then almost fell over out of hunger. “I need something to eat…” she told herself as she began to move away from the bank and into the forest. It was then that she noticed an apple on the tree and as fast as she could she ran over to it and jumped and pulled it off. With then sent pain downs her legs but she didn’t care- she had food.

She devoured the apple and then grabbed another- and another. Then she went back over to the river which was a lot cleaner than before. Using her hand she began to drink until she was full. Her stomach began to feel a lot better and she lay on her back with her legs and arms stretched out and she stared at the sky. As the night took over the stars became more visible she began to miss the days when she used to star gaze with her Human father, Andrew.

Thoughts of her entire family began to come back, and then a sadness with it. Would she see them again? She couldn’t say, if the UCD didn’t know what planet she is on, and the technological level of civilization seemingly… low based on the Changelings. She might be stuck here unless she could somehow get into contact with command. Would they hold a funeral? Or would they continue to look for her for years to come?

No doubt Command was already going to call her squad KIA.

She sighed and began to close her eyes, but she slapped herself to keep herself awake. It’s best if I find someplace to sleep for the night she thought as she stood back up and cracked her back and turned back towards the forest. Walking into the forest she decided it would be best to find a secluded spot and make a fire.

It was hard to see as she began to stumble around and her armor still wasn’t done rebooting. The moon was out now and the night’s rays made the night easier on her eyes. One would assume her glowing eyes would help but they didn’t as her vision was the same as everyone else. She sighed and leapt over a fallen tree and then landed on the other side.

Ahead she noticed a tree line and she decided to go to it. Stepping past the tree she came to the edge of a cliff and walked to the edge. Now she could see far into the distance, the moon’s light illuminating the landscape. Far ahead, she saw a desert to the North West, barren lands to the North, and swamps to the North East. Sitting down she began to plan which direction she needed to go, but then held off from making a commitment until she got to the fork in the road and had to make a final decision.

Realizing she would need to go down the cliff into the forest below to get there she attempted to bring out her wings but a pain rippled through her back. The shots from the Changelings were still fresh and it would take time for her wings to recover. For now she would need to find another way down. Looking left and right she noticed to the east the cliff began to lower until it evened out.

Staying at the tree line she moved to the east. It took a bit but eventually she began to head downwards and the tree’s below got closer. Eventually she reached ground level and began to move through the lower forest. Instead of going deeper into the forest she stayed at the foot of the cliff to see if she could find a cave and to her luck she found a large cave entrance. She pressed the button on her armor and her helmet came back out and covers her.

The HUD only showed a bar but then reached 100 and the HUD unlocked and she could look over the reboot to make sure nothing was damaged. Some systems were green, but others were still offline. However she didn’t need all of them, as her lights on her helmet came up. Pulling her Assault rifle out she stepped into the cave, ready to kill anything that is in the cave.

Ember walked in and continuously aimed down her sights in case anything popped out. It wasn’t the largest cave but it would work. She reached the end of the cave and there appeared to be no nest, sentient creature or animal. Now it was time to build a fire, but before that she pulled out her Cube and looked at its contents. Guns, some clothing, and survival gear! Click on that category she looked in the contents. Only a few medical supplies, in fact she noted before going to bed she should look at her body for anything, that would explain the numbing, and she would need to get more. If she planned on getting hit again and again it would be used up very quickly.

Anyway she continued down the small list and found a lighter and pulled it out. Leaving the cave she went over to trees and began to cut down twigs and sticks and then gathered some rocks. Heading back into the cave she made a small camp fire and used the lighter to make a lasting fire. Perfect timing too as she looked outside and saw rain pouring down.

Then she decided to pull off her armor. First the helmet folded back and then began to pull off piece after piece until she was only in her underwear. That’s when she noticed the various wounds on her body. Dried up blood was down her leg, and numerous large cuts and red marks all over her body, some even close to purple.

Opening up the cube again she began to take out various medical supplies and applied them to her body. It hurt as she put them on and she had her teeth clenching as she endured the pain. After she finished she looked at herself and just was almost in amaze as she realized just how many bandages she was covered in. She hadn’t been this wounded since her first mission where she made a lot of mistakes but her squad got her out.

Looking at her medical supply list it had dropped down, having had used more then she had expected. Deciding it would be best not to get into her armor she opened up her clothing tab and found the single clothing she had. Making it appear she put on a white shirt with red on the shoulders and in the middle of her large turtle neck, also a brown belt, and lastly white pants. Slipping them on she lay down on the stone ground and tried to get into a good spot but nothing was working.

However the fire’s heat warmed her and the sound of the rain calmed her nerves and slowly she closed her eyes. Although her mind continued to pace- theories and questions, how did she get here? Who brought her? What world is she on? What are the Changelings? She was on a hostile world with no back up and limited supplies, the situation was FUBAR.

Despite how much she wanted to get answers her body didn’t care and slowly her mind shut down and she fell asleep.

Fiery Slate

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Fiery Slate

Equestria - Canterlot – 0600 Hours

A dark colored Stallion walked through the crowded streets of Canterlot to get to the Royal Guards outpost at the corner of the street. Arriving at the outpost he pushed open the door and stepped inside to a small room with a single desk and a unicorn guard covered in paper work. “Excuse me,” the Stallion spoke to the guard who looked up from his paper work.

“Something you need?” The guard looked at the Stallion with tired eyes and a dull tone of voice.

“Ah- well… You see my son ran from home months ago. I reported it a while back and you ponies stated you would look for him…” The Stallion spoke nervously.

The guard gestured for him to continue, “Go on…”

“So… Uh- I was wondering if you made any progress.”

The unicorn sighed, “Your name?”

“Smith, I’m a blacksmith.”

The papers on the desk began to get a blue aura and floated off the desk and the guard began to cycle through the papers. “Fiery Slate?” the guard asked. Smith just nodded and the guard continued to read the paper as Smith watched the guard.

The silence was broken as the guard looked back at Smith, “Nothing.”

Smith was taking a back by this, “Huh?”

“Nada, zilch, we haven’t found him and the pony of your description hasn’t been seen yet. Come back some other time.”

The stallion just stood there and stared at the guard, depressed that no progress had been made. Lowering his head, Smith turned and walked out of the outpost to return and tell his wife the news…

***************************

Unknown Location outside Changeling Territory - 0800

Ember awoke to the sound of yelling. Quickly getting up only to feel the pain from her wounds, but never the less she needed to check out what she had heard. Grabbing her rifle she quickly looked at her armor that was near her sleeping spot and decided to go on without it as odds are she wouldn’t be able to get it on fast enough to aid. She stumbled her way out of the cave and into the sunny day. Then another scream head of her position.

She ran in the direction of the scream, but her pain slowed her down but Ember pressed on. “Please help me!” she heard a voice that sounded a lot more- Human, then the Changelings voices.

Can there be Humans or near Human’s on this planet? She questioned.

As she got closer she could hear growling and hastened. Stopping behind a tree she peered out to what was going on. She could see another alien that looked like the Changelings however more normal horse-like, with a short black mane with a large red line through the center, they also have white fur and large yellow eyes. It appeared to be also wearing clothing, a blue shirt with a turtle neck similar to herself. Lastly on their back what appeared to be a saddlebag. Taking her eyes off of the alien she saw around them three… wooden wolves? Ember blinked and looked away and then back not able to believe she was seeing living pieces of wood.

Magic was one thing, but seeing wolves made of wood made no logical sense, there isn’t any organs in them, a heart- a brain or anything. Wood doesn’t have any of those. She decided they weren’t worth ammo and just ran behind them and “Hey!” she called out to get the attention of the wolves. They turned their heads only to be met by getting hit with the Assault Rifle which sent one of the wolves flying and hitting into a tree where they broke into pieces. But before they could react she hit another wolf and the same thing happened. The last one began to whimper and ran off.

The alien that had been under attacked was still crouching and eyes closed, slowly they turned and began to look at what saved them. Ember just stood there and watched the alien as they stood up and backed away, “D-Did you save me?”

“It appears I did- what were those things?” she replied pointing at the wooden wolves. The alien looked over at the wolves pieces and then back at Ember.

“Timberwolves, notorious for attacking ponies like me.”

Ember raised an eyebrow, “Ponies? Your serious?”

“What you never seen a Pony before?”

“Oh, I have seen Ponies and Horses. Neither that talked.”

The alien pointed at her, “And I have never seen- well whatever you are.”

“An Angel,” she replied flatly.

“That.”

There was a bit of silence between the two but then he spoke up again, “I’m Fiery Slate.”

“Lieutenant Ember.”

“Care to tell me your first name-,” Fiery asked but was cut off.

“No, but there is something you can tell me,” she asked as she crouched slightly to get even height, she realized this was the best moment to ask for directions to somewhere more populated. If the Changelings used magic, maybe there was some race that could use that to get back home, “What’s the closest population center?”

“Population Center? You mean a town? Well many miles north of here is Santa Mane, it’s a small town. I don’t know how they will react though to a… Angel coming into town.”

“Why is that?”

Fiery began to loosen up and not feel as threatened, “Well lately they have been having problems with the local species, so they have got really paranoid. I just passed through there a week ago.”

Feeling she got what she needed she began to turn away from the pony but the they walked towards her and to her side, “So where are you from?”

“Far away,” she replied hoping they would leave but as she began to walk, so did Fiery.

“Well that’s awfully vague- but if you want to know where I am from, it’s Canterlot!”

Ember looked at the pony, “I didn’t even ask.”

“You didn’t need to be. I am just being respectful.”

“Uh-huh…” Ember murmured as she looked back on the path and to her dismay the pony began to speak again.

“So what are you doing out here?”

The soldier stopped and looked at the pony, “Fiery right?” the pony nodded. “Don’t you have something better to do?”

“Nope, I am a run-a-way and seeking adventure. It’s the only way to find out what my cutie mark is.”

“Your what?”

“My cutie mark- oh you must not know what it is…” he replied which resulted in Ember rolling her eyes at the obvious. “Well see a cutie mark is a symbol that magically appears on our flanks when we discover our talent. I finally got old enough to be called a Stallion which is long past when I should have gotten my cutie mark when I was just a colt in school…”

Interesting concept, never heard of a race that has that.

However Ember sighed again despite the tale, “Alright well if you want to adventure then shoo… I will be heading to town.”

Fiery’s ears lowered and he looked down on the floor, “Oh… Yeah I guess you wouldn’t want someone like me hanging about. You know, blank flank and all.”

The soldier stood up, “It’s not like I hate you. Hell, I barely even know you. Problem is- our interests clash. You said you ran away from home, but me? I am trying to get home.”

She began to walk away leaving the Pony behind but then Fiery yelled, “So you’re just going to let a defenseless Pony be all alone in this forest? Where animals like the Timberwolves can eat me?”

Ember turned around as if offended, “Are you guilt tripping me into letting you tag along?”

Fiery turned his head away, “N-no…”

“Oh yes you’re!” she replied with conviction.

“Okay! So I am. Truth be told- I am well lost. I have been away from home for six months now and nothing. I have tried so many things since I left but not a single thing worked,” he replied and looked back at her but then began to turn away. “You wouldn’t understand, I bet your people don’t even have cutie marks.”

“Well you’re a good guesser.”

“I don’t think I can get my cutie mark from being a guesser.”

Once again there was a silence between the two, and Fiery began to walk away and Ember just watched. She began to have conflicting emotions, on one hand going solo ensured she could go faster, however If she let Fiery go alone he could end up getting killed and then his blood would be on her hands. Then an idea formulated, Fiery obviously being a native would be quite useful in getting info to get to their leader.

“Okay. Okay- stop,” she yelled out and Fiery stopped and looked back. “You can follow me…”

Fiery ears shot up and eyes opened wide and ran towards her, “Oh thank you- oh-,” he stop talking when Ember held up her hand.

“Under one condition- you see I may have to go Canterlot. What would you do then? Go back with your parents?”

The pony sat down and began to think, “Then let’s hope I get my cutie mark by then. So nothing will be in vain.”

“That’s one hell of a chance,” she simply replied. “You’re betting a lot on hanging out with me.”

“Well one of the things I haven’t tried yet was hanging out with a hairless ape. Plus what’s the worst that could happen? My parents yell at me for a solid hour? Well that and not having my cutie mark…”

Ember waved her hands at the Pony, “Wait. Wait. Back that up… Did you just call me a ‘hairless ape’?”

Fiery moved back away from Ember and sunk his head, “Sorry! I didn’t mean to be offensive!”

Ember rolled her eyes again, “Just don’t call me that again. I am an Angel- remember that- not some hairless ape. Be happy I can tolerate a lot more than some.”

The pony raised his head and nodded and began to follow as they moved through the forest but then he had to ask one more thing, “We're we going?”

“Back to my cave…” before she could finish the pony snickered and Ember just stared at him and he stopped. “As I was saying, back to my cave to get my gear I left behind.”

Fiery wanted to make a funny comment but then remember how she reacted when she got called a ‘hairless ape’ and decided to not push it. They continued their trek through the forest in silence passing over creeks and fallen trees. Eventually making it back to the cave to which Ember ordered Fiery to stay outside as she would need to change into her armor.

Stepping back into the cave she found everything intact and unmoved, she had to admit she was afraid someone would have stumbled upon it while she was out. Taking off her clothes she opened up the Cube and put them in there and then began to put back her armor. There was a slight pain when the skin tight suit that came on first came into contact with the bandages. After getting her suit on she began to put on the various parts of the armor until the suit was hardly visible outside some small sections of the armor.

The helmet folded out and covered her head and the HUD turned on. Seeing everything in check outside some of the systems that were still being rebooted, she began to collect everything in the cave, putting her pistol on her belt along with the cube. She took one last moment to look around the cave to double check that she had everything and once she was satisfied she exited.

Fiery hearing her steps turned and jumped back at her new attire but then began to get big eyes, “So… COOL!” he screamed and she almost jumped herself not expecting the reaction. “That armor of yours, it’s like nothing I have ever seen before. A lot more impressive than the Royal Guards.”

“The Royal Guards? I assume they’re in Canterlot?” she inquired, taking the chance to learn more about this world.

Fiery nodded, “Yeah, they act also as our police but also are sworn to protect the Princesses.”

“The Princesses?” Ember asked confused. “What about the King or Queen?”

“We have no King or Queen, just Princess Celestia and Luna. It’s a Diarchy.”

“What? That makes no sense. A Princess doesn’t have ruling power, that’s reserved for the Queen and King. Princesses are supposed to marry or inherit the position of Queen.”

Fiery tilted his head, “Really?” he replied and Ember nodded. “Well I guess that’s just how it works here. How does it where you’re from? Do you have a King or Queen?”

“No, where I am from it’s a Republic. We elect our leaders after a selected number of years.”

“And where is it you’re from again?” Fiery asked hoping she would slip.

“Far away,” she replied and began to walk. “Anyway first thing we need to do is get something to eat. I’m starving.”

Fiery took a proud stance, “Well then- I can help you there.” He began to rumble through his saddlebag and pulled out more apples and threw two of them at Ember and she caught both of them.

More apples? Better than nothing.

She let her helmet fold back and that got another response out of Fiery, “Your helmet folds away? Cool! I need something like that- got more?”

Ember bit into an apple and then replied, “Let’s move.”

***************************

Fiery followed behind and they ventured forth into the forest in the direction of Santa Mare. They didn’t talk at all, as Ember stressed silence and so the pony abided. Sometimes they stopped and let Timberwolves pass by and then would keep going on. Both would only stop to get something to drink when they reached a creek or eat another apple, although she had to admit the apples were quite good but not ideally as the sole thing to eat.

Ember was amazed by the world, at times it seemed as normal as any other world, but then seeing Fiery, a talking pony, then wolves made out of wood, and remembering the Changelings took her out of that. It wasn’t a normal world, in fact it’s a strange world, and began to wonder what exactly caused the planet to evolve to host talking horses and the magic the Changelings used wasn’t like the magic on other worlds. No known magic allows the user to make them look like someone else, if mages could do that, wars would be a lot deadlier and chaotic.

They came across a gorge and crossed an old bridge, first Ember went and then Fiery followed after. Just as the pony got to the other side the bridge shook and then fell over. “Well, we're not going back that way,” Fiery commented and they continued on. By this point the sun was starting to get low and the moon starting to rise but they wouldn’t stop yet. Ember decided that they would first cross the large hill ahead and then setup camp.

She stopped at the top of the hill and still couldn’t see the town, not that she expected but it did mean that they still had far to go. Fiery said he had passed through the town a week ago but she didn’t know if they are a week away or if the pony just wondered around lost in the woods for a week. “Fiery, did you keep going south for a week after exiting the town?” she asked as they went down the hill.

“No… I kind of just got lost in this forest for a week. I have no idea exactly how far I got away from it.”

Well that doesn’t really help she thought.

After a short walk from the foot of the hill she decided it was time to set up camp. She went out to get sticks and Fiery went out to get rocks. They arrived back at the spot and set out the sticks and rocks just as she had done in the cave the night before. Fiery watched in amazement as she pulled out the cube and took out the lighter and lit the fire and then they sat there, Ember against a tree and Fiery in the grass.

“So… Ember, where are you from? You seem awfully advanced and I have never heard of your species before,” he inquired.

Ember sighed, “You really want to know? Not going to scream and run off?”

“Well now you have gotten me very curious.”

She clapped her hands, “Fine… Well if you must know I am from Alderii. An entirely different world than this.”

Fiery stood up and got wide eyed, “You’re serious? So you’re a… Alien?”

“To be fair in my eyes, you’re the alien.”

The pony sat back down flabbergasted, “That surely does explain a lot. Although it begs a question, why are you here?”

She shrugged and began to slump, “I don’t know. I was on a mission with my squad on a war torn world, everything went to shit, and I somehow appeared here. Well just south of here in Changeling territory.”

“Changeling territory? What a place to land, they aren’t friendly to pony folk and other species.”

Ember had a laugh at that, “Yeah… They sort of chased me and shot me with their magic into the river and I tumbled down to this forest. They even had their Queen after me.”

“So- I assume when you said get back home, you want to get off of this world?”

She nodded, “Exactly, that’s why I need to find someone who may know how to get me back. By chance what is this world?”

“Well currently we’re in the Wild Lands, but this is the continent of Equestria. The world is Equis. As for people who could help you- I would suggest seeking out Princess Celestia and Luna who I mentioned earlier. Both live in Canterlot.”

“What can you tell me about these Princesses?”

Fiery stared at the fire, “I only really know what is most basic. I never talked to them personally. Princess Celestia and Luna are Alicorns, both over a thousand years old. Celestia controls the sun, and Luna controls the moon, they rise and set both of them…”

He stopped and she waved her hands, “Wait. Wait… How does that work? A planet revolves around the sun, and the moon around the planet. The sun doesn’t move, the planet turns! Did they deceive you all?”

“Is that how it works where you’re from? Here Pegasus’ control our weather, and the Princesses control the moon and sun. It’s just how it works here.”

Ember just looked around unable to comprehend this information, “Pegasus? Are you telling me there are winged horses-.”

“Ponies,” Fiery corrected her.

“Ponies, that fly and they control the weather? I have got to see this… Also Alicorns, what are those?”

Fiery decided to just explain all of them, “Okay let me explain from the start. I am an Earth Pony, basically regular. Then there are Pegasus, they live in the clouds and are able to control our weather. We also have Unicorns, they’re able to use magic channeled through their horn. We have a bit of magic, but Unicorns are the only one who can actually channel it and make it does stuff. Lastly we have Alicorns, who are all three combined, they have wings, and a horn. As far as I know the Princesses are the only Alicorns.”

Pegasus? Unicorns? It’s like all Human mythology coming to reality.

Then she remembered the Changelings, they had wings, and horns. “Are Changelings Alicorns? They have both wings and horns.”

Fiery shook his head, “No. They aren’t ponies. They look similar to us but they aren’t. So… Can I assume that where you’re from there is none of us?”

“Yeah, I mean Humans, another race that exists along Angels, do have stories of Pegasus and Unicorns but no evidence, I guess till now, showed them to actually exist.”

Fiery getting more of idea of where Ember was from had to ask, “Humans? What are they like?”

“Think of me… But without the glowing eyes, and they aren’t as strong as I am. However in the warfare we have it doesn’t matter too much. Plus some Humans can use magic, which is very deadly.”

“Magic? I wonder if it’s the same as Unicorns magic.”

“I guess when I meet a Unicorn I will have to compare the two,” she answered and then when her stomach rumbled she asked, “You got another apple?”

Fiery went through his pack again and pulled out an apple and threw it to her. “How many do you have?”

“A lot. I am honestly getting a bit sick of them to be honest.”

After eating her apple she began to lie down on the grass, “It’s best if we get some sleep. A lot more travelling in the morning. So Night.”

“Night,” Fiery said softly as he yawned and drifted off to sleep. His first day with Ember over, and only more to come.

The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 1

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The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 1

The new recruits had just arrived a week ago but Ember didn’t talk with them much. She was in the second tier of Basic training, on her way to getting to third tier and out of it. So all of her focus was getting the best scores and beating out the competition. For this some of the other recruits gave her a hard time calling her various names behind her back but she ignored them. Although she would lying if they didn’t get a bit to her and she tried to blank them from her mind. The tier system was in set to make sure that by the time they moved onto advanced training they were ready, as they didn’t want to rush and ruin potential soldiers and leaders.

However one of the new recruits did catch her attention when he became the talk of the camp. O’Brian Desord, he was getting the highest scores on all the first tier challenges and exercises. Even higher then she had gotten when she was in the first tier. She wondered just how long it would be till he got to second tier and possibly even caught up to her.

As she sat down to eat lunch she noticed O’Brian was sitting alone, she was surprised as she thought he would have people swarming him. She began to wonder if he was one of those lone wolf’s who scared people off to make sure they didn’t become attached. Although in basic training that is a bit much if she said so herself.

She was broken out of concentration when Elisa Reajor, an Angel with blazing red hair, dark skin, and the standard golden glowing eyes, sat down next to her, “Oh..? Checking out O’Brian I see?”

Embers face reddened and she turned to Elisa and waved her hands, “No- no! Just wondering is all.”

“Well you seemed to have been staring at him for a while; I was almost starting to worry there for a moment.”

“I am fine…” she replied as she began to eat her food and Elisa began to do the same. They didn’t talk much during that time and so they sat in silence.

Elisa then brought up the new recruit, “I hear they’re calling him Shadow.”

“Shadow? Isn’t that a bit cliché? But anyway why?”

“Because of the stealth courses he took part in. Never caught once, people above tried to keep track of him but he just dodged their sights. That and his sniper scores, the Commanders were starting to say they were already guaranteed him the sniper position on any of the top squads.”

Ember’s attention went back to O’Brian as he was still sitting alone, “You don’t say…”

“Personally, I think we should get him in our squad. We’re already in the top ten. Go- on… Go introduce yourself to him,” Elisa replied and nudged her to go. Ember gave Elisa the stink eyes but then Elisa replied with puppy eyes, well to the best an Angel could replicate it with their glowing eyes. She gave in and stood up and with her plate walked over to where O’Brian was sitting.

He looked up from the tablet he was reading and saw Ember, “Can I help you?” he asked.

Ember noticed how he looked roughly her age, with black hair buzz cut and green eyes, he also compared to herself very pale but not sickly. “May I sit here?” she asked back.

O’Brian shrugged, “Sure- go ahead.” Ember sat down and he went back to looking at his tablet. She began to eat and finished up her food, she noticed his plate was already empty but he hadn’t gotten up yet to empty it and she wondered if he was too absorbed in whatever he was reading. The table was quiet and Ember looked back at Elise who was gesturing for her to say something.

“So… What are you reading?” she tried to begin small talk.

He didn’t take his eyes off the tablet, “Reports of the battles that have taken place recently in the outer rim of the galaxy, in the Rendexi Empire territory.”

“I heard about those… Aren’t we, the United Alliance, helping out the rebel forces there that are trying to get rid of the tyrannical rule?”

He looked back towards her, “It’s not as black and white as that. There are various factions vying for control of the Empire. Each with their upsides and downsides. The battles are being waged against each of the sides and the loss of life has become an all-time high.”

“So why are you so interested in it? Plan on going there after training?”

“Just interesting in what’s happening in the home land is all. See my parents defected from the Empire ten years ago when I was only eight,” he replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. She hadn’t expected that, a bit more personal than she had originally anticipated and a bit off topic as she was trying to get him to join their team.

He leaned back in his seat the best he could, “So I assume you’re not here to learn about me- is it?”

She was taken aback by this. “Well… I wouldn’t say that was entirely incorrect,” she said. “But my true intention was to see if you wanted to join my squad. We don’t have a sniper yet and I heard you’re the best here.”

He leaned forward and placed his hands together, “Please tell me why should I join your squad and not the others? In fact you’re the third time I’ve been asked.”

“Since you got here?”

“No, today alone, I’ve been asked a lot since I got here. So- why should I join yours?” he asked.

Well you’re a bit cocky aren’t you? She thought but didn’t make it obvious. “I and Elisa, Richard, and Drew are in the second best squad in the academy.”

“So then why shouldn’t I join the number one best team? You’re not making the best case?” He spoke in a serious tone.

Wow, he is a bit of a shithead isn’t he? She thought, what stick is up his ass?”

She sighed, realizing she wasn’t making much of a case at all, “Okay, because… Um… Damn… This is a bit harder than I thought it would be…”

Suddenly O’Brian began to laugh; others looked over at the table and began to murmur about what was going on. She looked around and almost began to turn her head so they couldn’t see her face, not that it matter much. Ember noticed Elisa was looking in her direction with her thumbs up. Eventually he began to stop laughing and just looked at her with a smile on his face.

“I’ll join,” he simply replied.

“You will?” she said and looked around. “Really?”

He smirked, “You have no idea what the others were like. All super serious and going on and on in great detail for me joining them. None of them relaxed and just tried to have small talk, they got straight to the point personally I am not a fan of those type. Plus you didn’t look like you had it all rehearsed.”

Ember smiled. “Well then,” she spoke and stretched out her hand. “Nice to have you on the team… Oops, forgot to tell you my name, I’m Raina, Raina Ember.

He grabbed her hand and shook it, “A pleasure. Now how about you get your friend to come over? I noticed her watching us for a while now…”

She got Elisa to come over and they chatted until Lunch was over and they had to get back to work.

Suddenly Embers eyes shot opened and she was breathing fast, she looked around to see the camp fire dead and Fiery Slate just lying there in deep sleep. Her helmet was folded so she put her hands on her face and could feel the sweat. That was the third dream she had since she began traveling with Fiery. It hadn’t hit her until then, that her squad was really dead… That she would never see any of them ever again. But most of all she missed O’Brian, he was always there for her, even if she was a year older, he always treated her like a little sister but even then they complemented each other.

She had planned to say how she felt to him after the mission but now that would never happen. He was dead and she’s stranded on an unknown world where many logical things she had grown accustomed to no longer have relevance. It was like a nightmare that you couldn’t wake up from, the only saving grace being that of Fiery Slate and his kind that seem peaceful enough.

Laying back down she closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep.

***************************

Four days had passed since Ember had met Fiery their travels for the most part were uneventful. They made sure to not get into danger and the pony decided it was best to follow Ember and not go running off and possibly getting himself killed. Each night at the camp fire the pony began to explain much of the world to Ember, telling her of Equestrian history and other races that exist in the world to which Ember found fascinating. Never had she expected such a world to exist, it was a lot closer to Human mythology then she had expected before, and a lot of the history seemed out of a High fantasy novel.

As they got closer to the town, the forest began to spread out and less brush in their way. She could even begin to see the sand of the desert ahead. She ate another apple as they got closer to the tree line and stepped into barren land with sand dunes just ahead and then on to Santa Mane. As soon as they exited the forest she began to regret it, as the sun was up high and bearing down on the two of them and began to slow both of their progress but more so Fiery. Whereas her armor did have a cooling system, it wasn’t perfect, but with Fiery being a pony and having fur it made him warm up a lot more and faster.

They stopped for a quick rest just as the base of the dunes, and then afterwards began to walk through the sandy wastes. Fiery almost fell and tumbled down but she was able to catch him in time and hulled him up. He thanked her and then they continued on. When they got up a tall sand hill they could see the town of Santa Mare in the distance, still a bit of a blur from the haze but it wouldn’t be much longer. “Civilization..,” Fiery mumbled as they made their way down the hill.

Eventually they reached the outskirts of the town and she noticed it was eerily silent. Once they got closer she held up her hand and Fiery stopped moving and looked up at her in confusion. “Something the matter?” he asked her.

“I don’t know… Something seems off,” she spoke with concern.

“Really?” he said as he looked at the town which was very close now. “Seems normal to me,” he said as he past her and then ran up to the entrance of the town where a gate was. It was then that he understood what she meant as he stood there and looked into the western town. There was no one, the streets were empty and houses were boarded up and even some were in ruins.

Ember ran up to Fiery and stood next to him, “Like I said. Something seems off. Where is everyone?”

Fiery shook his head, “I don’t know... Sure they were acting paranoid the last time I was here but there were still ponies out and about doing their business.”

Ember walked through the gate, “Let’s check it out. See if anyone is still here.” Together the two of them walked through the sandy streets and looked at the buildings; some were in utter ruins as if they were attacked. They spotted a saloon that appeared to be somewhat intact and decided to go inside and check it out. She had to admit, the town really didn’t seem like it was built with ponies, in fact its architecture is very similar to old Human civilizations or backwater colonies on some desert worlds.

Entering in the saloon they found the tables had been knocked over and destroyed and even giant holes in the floor. Glasses broken and not litter the counter and floor with some drink stains still there. The saloon is dark, and the only light source being that of the sun outside coming through the windows which only lit partial of the room. “I wonder if the local species went to war…” Ember commented, reminded about how Fiery told her that the town was having problems with them, but she admitted to not knowing what the species is exactly.

After finding no one in the saloon they exited and began down the path and then decided to take a stop into the local store which was boarded up. She got to the door and tried to open it but it wouldn’t budge. “Anyone inside? We’re here to help!” she said going on the belief that they had been attacked. There was silence once again and she knocked on the door again and still nothing. Ember looked back at Fiery who just shrugged, she told him to stand away and he did. Taking a step back she then brought up her leg and busted down the door.

The door flew off its hinges and into the wall across the room with splinters flying everywhere. She stepped inside and looked around only to see everything busted and destroyed, with each step she could hear her boots crunching on something. Fiery followed as they began to explore the shop, and saw no one. Most of the supplies and goods were gone and what remained seemed to have gone bad or was useless to the two of them. Seemed they would be eating more apples from here on out until that ran out. One thing she noticed was in the storage room there was another hole in the flooring similar to the saloon.

Leaving another building with nothing to report, Fiery suggested they check out the Sheriff’s office. It was a bit further, in the middle of the town and was easy to spot with the words: Sheriff written on a large slap of wood above the entrance. Similar to the store all of the windows seemed to be boarded up, but this time the door wasn’t locked. Opening it up she was welcomed to a horrid smell of rotting flesh and she turned around the Sheriff’s desk only to see a pony with their stomach busted open and guts littering the floor around them. As she turned to tell Fiery to not look she found it was too late as he was standing there wide eyed at the dead pony.

“I t-think… Y-Yeah…” he stuttered to say and then quickly turn and left the office and she could hear barfing outside. She turned her attention back to the Pony whose face was still intact and opened eye, and was easy to tell that whatever happened he was terrified no doubt as his expression showed it. Ember just didn’t understand, what could have done this? She recalled Fiery mentioning that Dragons existed on this world in the Badlands up north past here, but nothing had any scorch marks and from what she gathered, the two races weren’t fighting each other.

Suddenly she fell over as the office shook horribly and then from beneath the dead body large claws shot up, grabbed onto it and then dragged it down into the same hole she had seen in both the store and the saloon. Quickly she turned to go outside, “Fiery we need to get out of here!” she yelled as she stepped outside and saw the Pony who was still dazed from the puking.

Fiery turned to ask what was going on when the ground shook again and she saw the same claws appear as before but around the pony and grabbed him down she tried to catch him but then the same claws wrapped around her and dragged her down, she could feel the stand and bedrock hit against her but then found herself free falling with the claws no longer around her. Before anything happened she tried to summon her wings but they still sent shocks of pain but she quickly ignored it as she looked around. Taking all of the scenery around in seconds as she saw they were in a cave and below her- mole people with large brown furry bodies, small beady eyes, and large deadly claws on each arm.

Quickly pulling off her assault rifle off her back she began to fire and they dispersed as she hit the stone ground. Getting up the mole people began to rush at her with their claws, she began to fire at them while moving backwards. The mole stopped moving as the bullets pierced through their skin and out the other side. However this didn’t discourage the others as they began to attack at her with seemingly no strategy. She had to be careful, she wasn’t sure if the claws could damage her armor, but she knew that melee weapons go right through shielding technology as the shields could only deflect incoming targets that aren’t magic.

She continued to fire at the incoming moles, their red blood staining the grounds where they fall. Ember jumped on top of a table and then noticed she was stepping into something squishy and looked down for a second to see a body of another pony with their bones sticking out. The Angel slipped and fell off but quickly regained her footing and began to fire again, her stomach turning as she noticed all of the tables were full of dead ponies. One mole got behind her and slashed, it didn’t damage the armor too much but it was enough force to send her flying across the room into the wall, getting the same feeling as when the mage hit her with their magic.

However this wasn’t magic and she still got back into the fight and on the offensive until the rest of the moles died. Turning her head away from the bodies and tables she saw an exit and made her way through it. She suddenly stopped and placed one hand on the side of the cave wall as she felt the pain of a wound reopening and realizing the hit had did more damage than she realized. Ember had to ignore it as she needed to get to Fiery.

She could hear the sound of drums being hit and she assumed it was an alarm and continued on and when she reached the ending of the corridor she saw they were in a huge cave complex and high up as there was a ledge across from her. Moving to the edge she looked down and saw that the cave went down quite deep that without zoom from her helmet wouldn’t be able to see the bottom. All across the various levels she could see moles moving and various machines which looked to be steam powered with even large drills across the walls.

Ember looked at her motion sensor and saw hostiles incoming and she looked to her left and saw they were coming up a large rope bridge that connected her level to the level below. Moving to the bridge she aimed at the ropes and shot them just as the moles got half way across it, the bridge fell and they tumbled down the hole. Then suddenly looking at the level below she could see the moles cashing something and she zoomed in on her helmet and saw them running at Fiery Slate who had gotten away somehow. On her HUD she tagged him so she could keep track of him.

With no way to contact him she needed to catch up to him before he got too far. She cursed, if only her wings hadn’t gotten damaged she could just fly over to him and help and also because she had destroyed the very bridge that could have gotten her to him. Looking around she decided to take a leap of faith and grab on to the cut bridge that was now dangling. Ember placed her rifle on her back and then moved backwards to the wall and then ran forward and jumped as she got to the edge, her Angel strength allowing her to go farther than if a Human attempted the same feat. She stretched out her arm and grabbed onto the bridge with one hand and then grabbed with another.

She began to climb up and noticed a mole above that looked down at her and with their large teeth grinned. The mole began to cut but she quickly grabbed her pistol off her belt and fired at the creature and they toppled over the ledge and fell down. Ember kept the pistol out just in case; she climbed with one hand and then placed it on her belt so she could haul herself up and over the ledge. Not taking any breathers she quickly pulled out her cube and decided that in a situation like this, a close quarter’s weapon would be best. Looking at the last three weapons in the she smirked under her helmet and chose the one she felt was best.

A shotgun materialized above the cube and she grabbed it and then placed the cube back. Looking at her HUD she turned in the direction it told her Fiery was and she began to make her way down the path. He was farther away now and was still running. Going in that direction she didn’t slow down even when a mole jumped out, with one press of the trigger the mole was blasted away from the force of the shotgun.

Her motion sensor lit up like the holidays with red nearly covering the entire thing. She turned and went down a set of stone stairs as Fiery went down another level. The floor compared to the others was a lot open with a large platform in the center of the cave and the moles were waiting for her as she turned to see a couple of them and one in what appeared to be a mechanized suit with a large drill on both arms. Seeing as it was the greatest threat she decided to take out the minions first so she could ‘duel’ the large one.

She dodged out of the way of the drills and rolled forward and shot a mole and then quickly and shot another. Ember jumped away as the drill slammed down on her position and she noticed the shotgun needed to be reloaded. Grabbing a rotating barrel in the center of the gun she rolled it and it continued to spin at a faster rate and slowly the dark lines on the gun began to light up signaling it had been recharged.

A marvel of the United Alliance that many didn’t have and envied for the technology. Every gun of the UA can be recharged with the barrel being turned, making the guns unable to ever run out of ammo as the guns run on a metal known as Ambadium that was discovered on desolate planets. The metal allows for particle build up and then sends them flying out at various sizes and at speeds similar and damage to a regular projectile bullet with gun powder. Depending on the sizes, the guns can only carry a number of particles similar to a clip. However if done too often the gun can get overheated and even sometimes melt if done too often, she had seen some recruits actually have the gun in their hands melt from the excess heat, she hadn’t allowed it to happen to herself yet but in some cases she had gotten really close to it.

The wonders of technology… she thought.

Moving away from the drill suit, she fired at the normal moles and even kicked some off the ledge. Eventually it was just the two of them, she began to fire at the suit and noticed it didn’t go through but just dented it. The mole roared in the suit and charged at her with surprising speed. She tried to side step but the mole moved the mechanical arm and slammed it into her sending her against the ground like a rock skipping on water. Before she could stop it was already heading in her direction. Getting back up she fired more rounds at the suit and rolled forward through its legs and quickly aimed at its back which held its power supply.

However before she could finish it, the mole turned and began to go into a sort of overcharged state and began to go even faster and its drills began to glow orange from increased heat. She began to aim for its legs to try and knock it off balance but the suit quickly moved out of range. The mole put its arms out and then suddenly the two drills shot out of its hands and at her, she ducked as the first one arrived and then barely dogged the second. They continued to fly past her and then slammed into the wall which collapsed.

The mole placed its arms on its back and pulled off the two extra drills and then ran at her. She continued to fire at the leg and soon enough the metal leg began to give way to the damage and the suit began to become unstable but the mole still kept moving albeit slower than before. She ran and jumped over the mole and turned and fired at the power supply and it exploded, the mole tried to get out of the suit but it began to break and mini explosions until it completely went up in flames. The mole screamed in pain which sounded like a person being strangled but really high pitch but after a bit the mole stopped moving and their screaming stopped.

Looking at her HUD she began to track Fiery again and he was much farther than before. Passing the flaming suit she crossed to the other side and ran to a rope bridge. Then an idea struck, she replaced her shotgun with her assault rifle and aimed down the sights at the other side of the bridge and destroyed the knots. Like before the bridge then hanged limp on one side and she began to climb down it, she passed the layer below and jumped off when she got to the bottom of the bridge. Checking the distance again it got significantly smaller as they were now on the same layer and side.

Suddenly two moles came at her from both sides, she shot the first and then kicked the other one but it got back up and jumped at her. Before it landed on top of her she punched upwards and sent it slamming into the low ceiling and then they fell and lay dead on the floor. Stepping over the body she ran to get to the pony before they caught up with him. She spotted Fiery and she noticed he was very tired and was starting to slump but was still pushing on. Ember admired that but she had no time to stare and began to make her way to him, firing and keeping a tab on Fiery at the same time.

Stay alive! We will get through this!

She passed through a small room and found it to be full of more pony corpses with plates. It seemed to be a butcher and they eat the ponies. No doubt why the ponies above in Santa Mane were paranoid is that they feared they would be eaten which turned out to happen in the end. One thing she also noticed was that compared to the town above, the mole people seem to be more advanced with the advent of steam technology. However it’s not match for her armor and guns which are centuries ahead, but that didn’t mean they aren’t deadly; anything with enough force can kill a person from a rock to a bullet. Ember only feared what else they could have and if the suit was anything to go by, they could have even larger.

Going through the rooms she reached back into the main center and saw Fiery who was now slowly down but wasn’t far ahead. Using her max strength she rushed forward with her shotgun and shot the first mole that had their back to the soldier. The others turned their attention from Fiery and began to go after Ember as they saw her as the larger threat where as they saw Fiery as a meal. “Just give up already!” she yelled out as she blasted another and another. When no more came at her she began to move past them however the ground began to shake and she looked down off the ledge and saw an army of moles rushing through the floors.

“Fiery!” she yelled out to the pony, he slowed down and turned towards her with a gleeful smile. No moles stood between the two and she caught up to him, “We need to get out of here. Now.”

“Y-You don’t… Need to tell me…” he spoke with large breaks in-between the words.

“We need to find a way out- just stay on my side and don’t run off,” she commanded to the pony.

Fiery nodded his head, “Yeah… I’ll follow you- I don’t want to get eaten and I certainly don’t want to die in a damn cave!” He spoke with conviction and a will to survive. With that settled the two of them began their escape.

The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 2

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The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 2

“So are these the locals you mentioned!” she yelled irritated, as she ran next to Fiery while being swarmed by the mole people.

“I think that’s a safe bet!” he yelled back. Suddenly a mole came out of the wall just ahead of them and Ember aimed and fired with her shotgun and they fell off the ledge on her side. “Whoa! What was that?”

Oh yeah I never did tell him about guns…

“I’ll explain to you later. Just keep running- we need to find a way up,” she stressed.

For a second he looked back and then at her, “And if we can’t?”

“We make our own way out.”

“That doesn’t sound safe.”

“Fiery…” she said as she recharged her shotgun. “This whole situation isn’t safe!”

They turned the corner and began to go down the stairs, a couple of moles were waiting at the bottom but she fired at them and kicked one out of the way and they continued down the layer. She wanted to head up, but with the position of the moles made it impossible and the only way to head is down. “Dear Celestia… I don’t think anypony will believe me when I tell them about this!” he yelled.

Anypony? Oh yeah, I forgot, ponies. Still kind of weird… she admitted but didn’t say out loud.

“Honestly,” she said as she shot another mole. “I don’t think this is a particularly good memory to share!” Fiery had to agree with that, and in all honestly he had to admit that the entire trip from the first step out of his parents’ house to here hadn’t been very good… They went down another layer and then another, she looked up and noticed they had gotten quite far and were getting closer to what appeared to be the bottom or just a much larger layer that had ground stretching from one side to the other.

Then suddenly she got an idea, “I got an idea of how we can get out.”

“And what might that be?”

“A little thing known as hijacking,” she said as she smiled under her helmet.

“What…”

She quickly pointed at one of the large drills on the wall and he quickly followed on, “Oh… I get it.” He said but she could tell a bit of uncertainty in his voice, that he didn’t trust the plan. But it was the best she got. As they got lower she spotted what appeared to be an inactive drill on the bottommost layer, however she couldn’t see a hatch as she only got a glimpse of it. Suddenly moles blocked off the stairs and the two of them turned into a corridor. Moles left and right began to fly out of the walls, she began to fire at them while they also jumped over and ducked others. As they exited the corridor to the outside suddenly a claw stretched out and slashed at Fiery. A large cut over his left eye, thankfully not stabbing his eye.

The pony roared in pain and Ember shot away the mole, Fiery however still seemed to be in shock as blood began to drip down his face and onto his hoofs that were up. More moles began to arrive and they had no time, she quickly picked up Fiery and began to run. “Blood… So much blood…” he murmured with his eyes both wide opened.

Damn… But wait had he not seen the pony corpses?

She had no time to ponder as the moles were on her again, like they were every second since they arrived. Running down another stone stair they arrived at the bottom most layer, she could see the large drill in sight and spotted a hatch. However it suddenly began to turn on and began to quickly drill through the wall escaping their grasp. “No…” she said as she ran in its direction. However before she could chase it was already far gone. Ember quickly began to look about and saw a large cave with tracks coming out of it and mine carts.

The angel began to run into the cave however the ground began to shake and suddenly she could see a large looming shadow that was coming from above. Quickly she jumped backwards twice and something landed in front of her that caused a lot of dust to rise up and cover her view for a moment. She was going to turn on a different vision but the dust soon cleared out of the way and she saw it. It was like the suit from earlier but it was much… MUCH larger and towered over her and seemed to stand a layer high, unlike the other one it seemed to have hands, with large claws above them.

Although she noticed some fingers began to slide away and then drills came out. Large steam stacks rose from its arms and back. It also seemed heavily armored compared to the smaller suit from before. She realized she saw no moles surrounding her, that’s when she noticed it, all of the moles that had been following them just stood watching in the layers above them not interfering. They seem to be making cheering noises and various cheering and denounces in their own language which sounded like gibberish to her.

This isn’t a mining machine, it’s a war machine!

She looked at Fiery who was over her shoulder and still in a daze still murmuring. “Just hold on Fiery… I will get us out of here…”

Ember decided to run past it, she moved towards it but what she didn’t see was how fast it could react. Its large fist rammed into her side and she was sent sprawling, and Fiery landed on the ground just a bit away. She pulled out her assault rifle as she stood back up and began to fire at the machine, trying to keep its attention off of Fiery. It worked as the robot-thing began to charge at her and tried to slash with its claws. Considering their large size they were hard to dodge, more so with the speed.

Its slash however did hit the wall behind her and made a bunch of rocks tumble down in the spot. While it turned she ran to go get Fiery and try to escape, however the moles in the suit noticed this and turned and charged at her. She then turned the opposite direction and it followed all the while she shot it. Unlike the other suit it was hard to get to its back and shoot its power supply. So all she could do was dodge and shoot at various spots that seemed loose or unarmored.

Maybe it’s time to climb… she thought.

She quickly ran up to its leg and grabbed onto a loose metal and began to quickly climb up where she could see spots to grab. However it soon began to try and shake her off, and when it proved fruitless they decided for more direct measures. Seeing the large hand come at her she jumped off but it moved quickly and grabbed onto her before she could hit the ground. Ember began to struggle to get out of its grasp, not even her strength could escape from it. Slowly she could feel her body being crushed, her ribs taking a lot of damage.

Ember hadn’t noticed but Fiery was starting to stand up and looked at her, “E-Ember!” he yelled out but she didn’t respond. She’s going to die if I don’t help! He told himself but he didn’t know what to do. He was helpless again, not able to anything right…

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“Blank flank!” a filly mocked at him while they were at recess from class. Everyone else in the class by this point had their cutie marks but Fiery was still without one. He walked around with his head down, and if he tried to talk with anyone, they would just call him ‘blank flank’ and then tell him to scram. It wasn’t always like this, before they all had their own cutie marks they were friendly but once they got it they all became arrogant and cocky.

He used to be good friends with another filly, Twilight Sparkle but that ended when she became Celestia’s student and never saw her much after that. After that he was all alone in a school where he was critics for every little thing he did. Fiery would constantly try to improve himself despite his blank flank but it didn’t matter as they insulted him for trying. It was like a nightmare that wouldn’t end; even once school ended and everyone was older they still ignored him.

Moving away from the others he went to his teacher, Teach who was looking out over his students. Fiery just sat down on the ground next to him and stayed silent. For a bit the teacher didn’t say anything, but then he turned his head to the colt, “Why aren’t you hanging out with the others?”

“None of them like me…” he said with a downed expression. “They all call me blank flank and then laugh at me.”

“I feared this. They told me they were being kind to you- but now I see that isn’t the case.”

Fiery tilted his head in the direction of his teacher, “Is there anything you can do?”

“I don’t know. See bullies can be a hard thing to tackle, if you try and get aid, they might back down, but on the opposite side they might come back with more insults.” That caused Fiery to look back down. He truly did want to help the colt but he feared he would only make things worse… More so if he went to each of the fillies and colts parents which in Canterlot was a mixed bag between nice parents and the elites who look down at others with some in-between. The only suggestion he could think of would be seeing if his parents wanted him to attend the school in Ponyville which was a lot better.

“I’ll tell you what,” the teacher began and Fiery looked back up. “Let me talk with your parents. I may be able to help.”

Fiery nodded and smiled, hoping that the nightmare would be over soon. However complications arose, his parents were having a hard time getting enough bits as it was and they had no relatives or friends living in Ponyville that could look after him. After that there was also the fact that their blacksmithing business was one of the few and would be very costly to move to Ponyville and could bring them into debt. The nightmare of the school continued, his teacher tried to make it better for him but the bullies were plenty.

Once school finished up, Fiery wasn’t seen much. He wondered around his house and tried to help but what he tried to do, others could do better. It began to make him feel worthless, and a lingering fear that he would grow old and die and never help anyone. His parents began to worry about him and tried to get him into blacksmithing like the two of them but he couldn’t get a handle of it and just stopped after a while as his morale was already getting low.

He did admit he was happy when he heard about the Cutie Mark Crusaders later on. Knowing that there were others who were trying to get the Cutie Marks despite others calling them names inspired him. It was because of them that led him to leave his home and begin exploring the world in an attempt to find out what he was meant to do as sitting around would do nothing. All he had done was leave a note for his parents while they were busy working, he didn’t doubt that his parents must have freaked out when they realized he had run away.

Over the next months he went to many different places and tried many things, but he ended up being a nuisance for others with cutie marks just trying to do what they were good at. That’s why he was so happy when he found Ember- an alien but also someone who actually let him travel with them.

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And now that very same person was about to die because he had led her to Santa Mane and there wasn’t anything he could do. She had to come and save him and he couldn’t return the favor back. The cheers of the moles echoed in his ears, despite not understanding them it still made his blood boil. Fiery so desperately wanted to help her and escape together. But what could he do? Run up get killed? He wasn’t as strong as Angel and he didn’t have the weapons she does and he wasn’t brave either…

“The game must go on…” suddenly Fiery heard a deep voice but no one else seemed to notice. “It’s too early. It can’t end this soon.”

A looming shadow formed overhead and he tried to turn but then found himself frozen and unable to move. He could feel something on him, a hoof or something. His vision began to blur and go crazy with various colors and then blackness. It felt as if someone was reaching inside of him and messing him up. Fiery coughed up blood and it splattered on a rock. Am I going to die? His first thought.

Suddenly he could feel a burst of energy rushing through his body; it felt like the magic that Earth Ponies had in them was on full throttle- but it was also different. He couldn’t explain it but it seemed a bit different then the magic that all ponies had. Foreign and strange but also powerful. He feared it was going to consume him but then it began to recede back but it was still there as if waiting to be used. Something dark had entered into him.

His body was shaking horribly and he still couldn’t move. Whatever was going on, however seemed to go unnoticed by others as what he could barely see, the machine was still crushing Ember and the moles were still cheering. A large amount of rage began to fill him, more so than any pony should be feeling. “Stop!” he managed to scream out and then it stopped, his body slumped to the ground and the shadow vanished.

“Go… Make sure it continues…” he heard the voice again but nothing after. Fiery then stood up, his rage still strong and he turned in the direction of the machine, his eyes narrowed.

He could feel the surge of energy rising as he stepped closer. “Let. Her. GO!” he screamed but the machine didn’t stop and the moles didn’t’ stop their cheering. His teeth began to clash together as he got only angrier.

The energy suddenly began to form around him; he stood up on to legs like Ember. “I. SAID. LET. HER. GO!!!” Suddenly as if he already knew what to do he stretched out both forelegs and a large ball of fire shot out in the direction of the machine. It barely had time to turn before it got slammed with the fire and stumbled into the wall and let go of Ember who fell to the ground. For a moment he moved out of his trance and ran over to Ember who was still breathing, her armor looked a bit dented but unless it was off he couldn’t fully say what her condition was, just that it wasn’t pretty.

But he was confused, what had he done? He let out magic, a large fire ball. Something he only imagined unicorns could do but he’s just an Earth Pony. They can’t harness their natural magic- but then he recalled what had just happened, maybe it wasn’t his natural magic. The machine got back up and rushed at him, but Fiery turned and began to harness more of the energy. He stood up again and began to send fire balls at it and it continued to hit into the wall until he stopped moving. Rocks from the layers above that had been destabilized from the crashing tumbled onto the robot.

Moles from above began to run down into the lower layer and surrounded Fiery. Everything after became a blur, he continued to shoot fire and began to light moles on fire. He began to conjure walls of fire and spikes that rained down on his enemies. The pony let out a victorious roar as the moles began to flee. Bodies upon bodies of moles lay around the Angel and Pony, some covered in a pond of blood, others smoldering corpses. It was a destructive fight and Fiery was tired out.

He still wasn’t sure what had happened, as it all went by so quickly. Had something given him this power? He couldn’t say, as it hadn’t been able to see who had changed him. Slowly as he calmed down he also began to realize what he had done. He did what many citizens of Equestria, namely Ponies, had never done- killed. He had killed dozens of moles to protect the two of them. None of them would wake up and drill again. But at the same time he also felt it was justified, they had attacked them and they had killed the town’s folks.

Fiery turned just as he heard coughing and saw Ember was getting up. “Ouch… That hurts,” was the first thing that came out of her as Fiery ran over and began to hug her, she was confused until she looked around and saw the massive amount of corpses and then she pushed Fiery a way a bit.

“D-Did you do this?” he said as she tried to stand but had one hand on her side.

Fiery nodded, “I am not sure… Something gave me this power. I can… conjure fire!”

“I thought you said only Unicorns could use magic?”

“I did! I am so confused… But I saved us! We’re alive!”

She continued to look around and then saw the machine knocked into the wall and unmoving, “I guess we’re… I am not sure what happened, but let’s leave before any come back.”

Slowly she began to move towards the mine that seemed to go up as they reached the entrance. The blood on Fiery’s face dried up and revealed there would be a scar left. The cave had what appeared to be lights hanging from the ceiling so they could see where they were going. They continued in silence neither speaking a word of what just happened. Ember couldn’t believe it; she couldn’t believe that a pony, Fiery of all, would be able to muster up such carnage. Some of the corpses were just brutally killed.

Another thing that lingered in her mind was he mentioned that, Something had given him the powers. She couldn’t recall anything giving someone powers, and she made note to ask about it later but currently it was nice to just walk in silence. The entire thing had been one horrible thing after another and being done with was great, but it had still happened and she wondered how Fiery’s psyche was taking it. He was carefree and happy before, but she worried he would be unstable. More so with this power, if handled wrong could injure those around.

It most likely wouldn’t be going away, and he would need training. She wasn’t a mage herself but she could probably think of something.

After walking for a while she noticed she needed to check her systems, a lot of things were down again and she needed to repair them. They had learned in training how to take care of your suit and how to repair it if needed. But her wounds also needed to be checked on, she could feel blood trickling down her leg again. As for Fiery, he seemed in better condition than her as he walked with normal posture.

***************************

Many hours later of walking and nothing to eat they saw a light at the end of the tunnel and both smiled at each other as they made the final stretch. They got to the exit and looked around, they were still in the desert but she couldn’t see Santa Mane anywhere. The sun was also much lower in the sun and no doubt the moon would rise soon. With no trees around they needed to find something to make a new fire with and camp.

One thing she also noticed was that she could see the badlands were farther west then they were before and the swamps even farther. Fiery told her that miles ahead of them are the Macintosh hills and that the town of Apple Loosa is past them, but that they’re currently in the San Palomino Desert. “I wonder if Apple Loosa had a similar fate to Santa Mane,” she questioned as they moved away from the mine exit and into the desert.

“I doubt it… They’re too far away and if anything doesn’t even know what has befallen Santa Mane,” Fiery replied back.

It took a while but they managed to find a cave to rest in, and found some leafless tree’s to cut and take wood from to make a fire. Before Fiery could enter however she exchanged her armor for her clothes, but not before tending to her wounds with the little amount of medical supplies she had left. It wasn’t the best but until they got more, hopefully in Apple Loosa, it would have to do. Not to mention she had possibly multiple cracked ribs, she was at least happy she had normal time breathing or else the damage would have been far more serious. Once she finished that up and put her clothes on she had Fiery enter. She went to look at his scar and it seemed to have healed up already so she simply removed the dry blood.

After that the only noise that could be heard was of Ember working on her armor to the best she could. Fiery fell asleep almost instantly so she had no time to ask him about the thing that gave him powers. One thing that she also questioned was how it seemed more akin to magic from back home, from what she could understand from him, a Unicorns magic is a lot different in that it wasn’t elemental. He said they could shoot beams of magic but not fire, ice, or anything like that. A lot of theories began to pop into her head but one thing she wondered among all was that, is if it’s possible that the thing that gave him the ability was also the same thing that had brought her here.

It was a guess at best but it was one of the only theories she thought could be truly possible. Also that it happened at the perfect time, she arrived on this world when she was about to die, and when she was about to die earlier, suddenly Fiery got his magic as if at the perfect moment. She didn’t believe in fate or destiny so she shrugged those away- but she did know there were lots of strange things in the galaxy and this was no exception.

There was something going on, she didn’t know what but she could feel it in her gut. Things were going to get interesting, the only thing she worried would be that if she could live to see it through.

After a bit of working, she yawned and looked at her progress. It still needed more work so she placed the armor in the cube and decided to once again sleep in her normal clothes. She put out the fire and lay down and slowly closed her eyes but she could still feel pain all over her body, worse than after she had escaped from the changelings. It made sleeping tough but after a while she succumbed to it.

The Days After

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The Days After

Ember was the first to awake; she got up and checked herself to make sure no wounds opened up in the night. Afterwards she got up and sat on a rock across from Fiery and just waited for him to wake up. Shortly after he began to stir and come around, he didn’t stand up but he did shake his head, he first looked at the fire until he turned and saw Ember sitting there. “I guess it wasn’t a nightmare then?” he said.

“No,” she said flatly as he stood up with a look of disappointment.

He stood up put his hoof on his scar and felt it, he shuddered but then turned back to her, “So are we moving on soon?”

“No, not until we have a long discussion about recent events,” she spoke with her eye brows furrowed. Seeing this pony sat back down ready for her to go at him.

“Let’s begin with the biggest thing, what gave you those powers?”

It took no time for him to respond, “I don’t know! I tried to turn and see it but I couldn’t. I froze up. It did something to me…”

“How can I be sure you didn’t have these powers already and all of this has been some elaborate illusion to make me believe you’re on my side?”

Fiery eyes widened, “Sides? What sides are those? All I am is a simple pony who was given these powers. I have nothing to hide- and I ma’am am no liar!”

He didn’t seem like he was lying and she wanted to believe him but she just felt there was something wrong about this. But what could she do? Possibly interrogate a civilian who is as confused as herself and possibly lose the one aid she has in this world? She let out a heavy sigh.

“Alright. I believe you, but this discussion isn’t over. Not by a long shot. Fiery, to put it bluntly, you’re not right in the head right now.”

Fiery cocked his head, “Are you insulting me?”

She shook her head, “No. You just did something that I can assume most of your race doesn’t do. You just ended the lives of people, enemy or not those you killed will never wake up are you okay with that?”

“O-Of course! I-I am just fine, they attacked me and they deserved it,” he said trying to act tough but she could see through it.

“You’re lying. I thought you said you weren’t a liar?” she said as saw him look away. “Come on you can talk to me. This sort of thing isn’t easy. I know when I first made a kill my stomach felt horrible for weeks. I got used to it- but in my mind, I knew it was something that would never heal.”

“I… Just was so scared! You were going to die! Like the rest of the ponies in the town! I was so afraid that I would never see anyone again… And then that thing did something to me and filled me up with so much anger- and gave me the power to fight… I don’t know what… But something dark entered me… I still feel it… I don’t know what to feel about those I killed. One half of me feel happy and the other terrified!”

He’s conflicted and whatever gave him powers was also making him feel things that aren’t normal… What is this dark, he mentioned?

“Just let it out…” she told him softly and she could see the tears flowing down his face. His cry was the only thing that could be heard for a bit. She wasn’t the best at this but she decided to comfort him the best she could do by hugging him and just telling him to let it out.

“I’m scared! What happening to me!?” he said in-between the crying.

“I don’t know- but we will find out. We will get through this,” she said and he began to calm down. After a bit she let go and went back to her rock and gave him some breathing room. She let the silence in and they just sat there not saying anything to each other.

“You okay now?” she asked him once last time.

Fiery nodded his head, “Yeah…”

“Alright, well there is still more. Thing is you got a power that you need to learn to control. If you harm others by accident… Then only more anger will follow. So I devised that as we head to Canterlot, I will train you to the best of my abilities to harness this energy.”

“Is this going to be difficult?”

She smiled, “Oh. You don’t even know the half of it. In fact we begin today with drills. I am going to treat you like a new recruit, the same things they had me go through. Or at least the most I can do in our present situation.”

“Should I be afraid?” he said wearily.

“Oh,” she grinned. “You should be very afraid. But before we can begin, show me what you got with your powers.”

Fiery looked around and then back at her, “Right here?”

“No, let’s head outside. Rather not be roasted.”

They exited the cave and she stood a bit of away from him, “Let it go.”

Fiery replicated what he did back in the mole’s home and stretched out his arms... But nothing happened. Ember raised an eyebrow as the pony continued to try and do the magic but nothing was coming out. “Try to relax,” she said trying to give encouragement.

The pony breathed in and out and then tried again and to his surprise and joy, a fire came out. A significantly smaller one that had come out in the caves but none-the-less a fire came out. He hopped in joy but Ember just shook her head, “I think what ever gave you that power must have given you like a boost or something. I doubt you will be able to replicate what you did down there anytime soon. And with that- let’s get to training.”

***************************

Fiery continued to run around a large rock as Ember watched him as he trained, and she kept sighing as he continued to slow down and then pick back up.

No wonder he was tired down in the mole’s home. He’s not physically fit at all. This is going to be tough.

“Five more laps!” she yelled out to him and he just let out a groan. Same response many recruits gave. While angels are naturally stronger than Humans and some other races, they still need to work out and train or else the difference is meaningless. A strong human could beat out a under fit angel, which happened to Elisa when she first arrived, some of the other recruits that were fit before joining took her out with ease. Although once she really got into it, she beat out most people, even Ember sometimes.

After the fifth lap he stopped and walked over to her and gave him water from a nearby spring she had found. She decided that they would spend the next couple of days near the spring and let him train. “Good job, in five minutes you’re going to do some exercises.”

He gave her the stink eye, “You’re going to kill me. Aren’t you?”

“The only thing that will kill you is your fitness. Now don’t whine. You won’t regret it in the end. Hell maybe you can even impress some Mare back in Canterlot with your fit.”

His eyes widened at that, “You really think so?”

“Yeah…” she had to admit she wasn’t the best to be asking about dating advice but if was something she learned living with other females, is that a lot of them like their guy to be fit.

After five minutes passed she gave him a bunch of exercises to do that would keep him busy. She then decided to go back to working on her armor.

***************************

The next day, Fiery was rudely awoken early in the morning by Ember and shortly after he was back outside running around. She was making good progress on her armor and was getting a lot of systems back online that were offline from after the Changeling attack. Every soldier went through armor repair classes, they needed to be able to carry the tools at all time and know the ins and outs. You never did know what could happen on a mission so they needed to be extra careful.

Later on she went back to watching his progress, once more he was doing laps around the rock but she decided to speak to him while doing it, “I once had the opportunity to speak to a Mage commander once.”

He didn’t stop running knowing she would yell at him but he responded anyway, “A mage?”

“A person who can use magic. Anyway, I asked him, what difference was there between our training and theirs? He told me this: “There is very little. When one is physical fit and mentally stable, they’re able to control their magic easier and stronger. Your body allows for the manipulation of the energy to flow freely and only to the limits of what you set for yourself.””

Fiery wasn’t dumb, he understood what that quote meant without her needing to explain it and he couldn’t disagree. Unicorns need training to excel at magic, maybe not so much physical work but he doubted it wouldn’t help in some ways. He also understood that his ability right now was significantly weaker than before and he needed to train even if he didn’t want to.

***************************

They ended up staying near the spring longer then she had originally planned but she and Fiery could already tell the difference as he was able to go longer without stopping or slowing down. He still needed more but she was impressed at the progress he had made thus far. Although mentally Ember wasn’t doing too well, as once her armor was done, her mind began to wonder back to her squad, only more reinforced with the training, and more memories began to surface.

“We kicked ass!” Elisa yelled as they got back to their base from the training exercise. They had fought against another squad in the academy and won with ease. A bit unfair Ember thought considering they were much lower in the ranks then their own squad. By this point after O’Brian joined they got Tina Osla to join their squad as the medic.

“The Shadow strikes again!” Richard, their explosives expert said as he hit O’Brian on the back who just shook his head.

“You know I hate that title.”

Richard stepped back, “Oh sorry Shadow I won’t call you it again.” He laughed and O’Brian just sighed.

“Ember, how many more do we need to win to surpass Lexton Squad?” Tina asked as she began to remove her armor pieces. Lexton is the best squad in the academy, and their own squad, Phoenix, was just below them.

“A lot,” Ember simply replied, “They have a shit ton of victories and we really need to enter in more fights if we want any chance of surpassing them.”

Drew, the tech expert sat down on a bench and took off his armors boots, “What about the tournament next month? Can’t we beat them there and come ahead?”

Ember nodded, “That is true and I do already have us signed up for it.”

That got cheers from the squad but they stayed silent as they removed their armor and then were own in the skin suit that was underneath. After that they put on their standard uniforms and exited until only Ember and O’Brian were left.

“I just wonder how much longer till we’re out of here and into the field,” he commented as he zipped up his uniform.

“Well I am still tier two and you just turned it yourself. I don’t think that much longer. Tier three is the shortest. But then we’re on to advanced but even that is short with only one tier.”

Again he sighed, “Damn, I forgot about advanced. Don’t they have entirely different squads in that?”

“Yeah. A whole different leader board to compete on. Your squad needs to be in the top out of sixty to graduate. It’s not easy, only the best get through, it’s the reason we do so well in war as we have the best out there. No scrubs.”

There was silence again but then she added one more in, “Well then I guess it’s not that short if you keep failing to get into the top ten. Which then again, fifty don’t every five months.”

“Think we will get into the top ten the first time around?” He asked as he turned to her.

She smiled, “Without a doubt. I bet you now, when they write our history, we will be all over it.”

“Hooah!” he yelled out and then they both left the base.

She didn’t even realize she was staring out into the distance until she heard Fiery trying to talk to her. Ember apologized and then instructed him on what to do next; he was a lot more eager than days before. A bit of her just wondered why she was the one to survive, why not any of the rest? O’Brian was more capable then herself on many things, in fact looking back Ember was more or less the average. Good at a lot but not the best in anything where as everyone else excelled at what they did.

But then again maybe that was the reason she survived because she could count on using all of her abilities. Ember shook her head trying to get the thoughts out of her mind; she found it almost sickening that she was trying to rationalize why she was the one to survive when really all it was luck. She was in the right spot at the right time to get out alive. Nothing more and nothing less than that.

***************************

The next day they left the spring and began to head north through the desert and to Appleloosa. As they walked she gave Fiery things to do to keep up the exercise, but not too much as they still had a ways to travel. At least a week time to get to the Macintosh Hills and then two days to Appleloosa, although she had to admit all of it was just a rough guess and anything could happen that would make it longer.

She did wonder how they would react to her arrival. The only species she heard of that was similar was a Minotaur and that was still more animal then she was. Would they be kind or would they run her out of town like she was some monster? If Fiery was to go by, they would be accepting but she didn’t know if he was the rule or the exception.

They came across a snag when they reached a large cliff that they would need to climb to keep going. Its shadow casts down at the two of them as they walked at its feet. “How are we going to get up this?” Fiery asked. “Hoofs aren’t like your hands, they aren’t easy to climb.”

Ember actually was happy about this, it was really about time to give her wings a good stretch as they could finally be summoned again, but Fiery didn’t know that. In fact she hadn’t told him about them so it would be a pleasant surprise. “Oh don’t worry Fiery. I got it all handle. Come here,” she replied to his question and he walked over to her.

“Wrap your arms around my waist,” she asked of him, he gave her a strange look but complied with the request anyway. He put his arms around her, based on his weight from before he wasn’t too heavy and his weight was just enough that she could still fly.

“You know I hope you don’t plan on climbing with me-,” he said but then stopped as he saw it. Suddenly from her back, not completely connected, very large white wings appeared. She bent her knees and then jumped up. He wanted to scream but he was just too surprised by this revelation. They quickly began to fly up the side of the cliff until they passed it but she kept going for a bit and he turned his head and could see the horizon and the Macintosh hills in the distance. The sky was blue and barely any clouds in the sky. He could only marvel at it for a moment until she began to fly lower.

Ember landed standing up and Fiery let go and her wings vanished. His eyes widened, “What… You have wings!? Where did they come from!? Why didn’t you use them before!? What-,” he was cut off when she put her hand over his mouth.

“We Angels have the ability to summon wings on our backs, the reason I didn’t use them before because when I used them to escape the Changelings land they got shot up and needed to heal. They just became usable yesterday,” he explained to him.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because I wanted it to be a surprise and who doesn’t like surprises?”

Fiery brought up his arm, “This stallion doesn’t.”

“Well let’s keep going, still got a bit until night comes around,” she said as she walked past him, he didn’t say anything but he turned and followed her by her side. It was a bit before they spoke again and she had to admit, the flying was a bit tiring. Useful but using wings and carrying someone can really knock out your stamina.

“You know- you never did explain to me that weapon you used against the moles, in fact I don’t know much about you,” he said as they walked.

“Maybe, I will tell you everything. Just maybe.”

Not From Around Here

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Not from around here

“You know…” Fiery began as they walked through the desert. “I have been meaning to ask you this for a while… I just didn’t know how to bring it up…”

“Just spit it out would you?”

“Well… Why do you wear clothes all of the time? Seems unnecessary.”

Ember stopped in her tracks and just stared at him blankly for a while, “Never- nope. We angels don’t have fur like you. Without clothing we’re bare naked and we… Well we have more to protect and I will leave it at that.”

“Oh...” he said. “I get it- it’s to protect those lumps on your chest isn’t it? What are those by the way? They’re kind of large and I’ve been meaning…”

He was cut off when she began to speak, “You know. I am hungry. You know what for? Meat, animal meat, I wonder if a pony would make a good steak.”

Fiery quickly backed away in horror, “Dear Celestia! You wouldn’t.”

“I don’t know. I am an omnivore, so meat is part is part of my diet and it has been lacking recently…” She said as she looked at him with a sly expression.

The pony began to look around for an escape but then watched in horror as Ember began to laugh and even gasped her arms around her stomach. “Oh wow. You took that so serious. Your expression was just great!” she spoke as she wiped a tear of laughter from her eye.

“You mean you won’t eat me?”

She put her hands on her hips and looked offended, “Did you really think I was going to?”

His eyes shifted to the sides, “Well…”

“Really? You honestly believed it for a second?” she snapped back.

“Well…” He simply stuttered again.

Ember looked away from him, “Well. I guess you can get back by yourself.”

She began to take steps forward but then the pony ran at her, “Stop! Sorry- I shouldn’t have thought that.”

And once again she laughed, “I am just joking.”

“Oh…”

Suddenly she put on a serious expression, “Although not about being an omnivore, before being here I did eat meat fairly often.”

He wanted to take a step back but then stood his ground, “Are you still joking?”

“No, I’m being serious,” she said and he had a horrified expression. “Oh calm down. We’re I come from we don’t eat horses or ponies.”

Fiery slumped to the sandy ground, “I guess I feel better after that. But may I inquire as to what you do eat?”

“Pigs, cows, chickens, turkey… The list goes on,” she explained.

“Well… I doubt you will find any meat in Canterlot. We don’t eat animals, in fact it’s frowned upon.”

Ember was sad about that, steak was her favorite food and going a week without it was always a disappointment, “Is there anywhere on this world that does eat meat?”

“The Griffon Kingdom has meat…”

She smirked at that, “Really? I must visit them if I don’t get off world after I reach Canterlot.”

“…It’s across the sea,” He finished.

“Oh…” She looked disappointed
.

***************************

Just before they reached the Macintosh hills, they stopped and made camp as the moon came up but they wouldn’t sleep just yet. “Alright,” she began. “You’re going to show me your fire. Let’s see if all of this work has done some good.”

Fiery nodded and breathed in and out and stood up on his hind legs and stretched out his front legs, he could feel the energy flowing through his body a lot clearer than before. The image of what he wanted appeared in his mind and then from out of his hoofs a large flame flew out and slammed into a rock and damaged it. He then held back one hoof and then slashed the air with his other and a crescent fire shot out and hit the rock again.

The pony jumped up in joy, “Woo! I did it! I can feel the energy flowing through me.” He then fell over on the ground and Ember ran over helped him back on his four legs. “Thanks… I guess it took out more than I thought.”

“All that says is that you still need more training. Now let’s get some rest. We need to get up early so we can get Appleloosa sooner; we’re running low on supplies.”

“Right,” Fiery said and walked over to the fire and then lies on the ground.

***************************

She relished in the new sights of the Macintosh Hills, it was much better than the desert, even if things did get a bit colder. Ember hadn’t been wearing her armor since they had escaped the moles so she did get a bit too hot in the desert. Since it would take too long to go get to the Ghastly Gorge and go through there, they decided to just head through the Macintosh hills which meant a lot of flying and climbing. Due to the height being much more than the cliff she had flown up two days back she couldn’t fly the entire time and needed to climb so to let her wings rest.

However it would be worth it, as according to Fiery, Appleloosa isn’t that far north of the hills. So going through it would be better than going around. Since there wasn’t much of an official path to take, they had to improvise and even had to go high enough that snow even fell on their camp during one night. “So we need a game plan or something,” she began as they sat around the fire. “How should we proceed to introduce ourselves to the locals in Appleloosa? I mean you’re a pony, so you got it easy but not me.”

“To be honest, I haven’t thought out it. Everypony will be frightened initially but I think they will be good. It is again the time to be cheerful.”

“It’s what?”

Fiery took a bite of an apple, “Well its Hearths Warming Eve in just a week.”

“Huh- you didn’t mention that yet when you told me about this world.”

“Hearths Warming Eve celebrates the founding of Equestria. Typically a play is run in Canterlot that shows the events. Maybe if we get there in time we can go see it.”

She nodded her head to that, “We’ll see. But let’s get back onto focus… How exactly will this aid us in revealing me?”

He finished his apple and then replied sleepily, “Well… People will be more cheerful and accepting of others differences? The whole story of Hearths Warming Eve is about the three tribes, Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns coming together despite their differences. I guess you could think of this like us being one tribe and you being another.”

“I guess I can accept that logic but we need a plan, is there someone in Appleloosa that you can talk to first?”

He went into a thinking position, “Maybe Sheriff Silverstar. I don’t know him that well, but I have talked to him before. Mostly during the night I stayed in Appleloosa before going south.”

“And do you think he will be of use?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I mean he is the Sheriff, he will make sure no pony lays a hoof on you. Then again I pity the pony that does.”

After that they both fell asleep and awoke the next day which began to their descent down the hills. By this point she had put back on her armor. She had to admit, her normal clothes were nice but she felt safe and at home in her armor. Ember understood why though, once she had gotten into advance training they had their armor on nearly every time of the day as if it was part of them. That and being warm from the cold was certainly a bonus, something that Fiery was happy about having both clothing and fur to compensate for.

When they reached the half-way point, and seeing the sun was still up, Ember had an idea. “Fiery, remember how I flew us up the cliff?”

Fiery leaned forward and looked at the land beneath and ahead of them, he kicked a small rock and it began to roll down the side for a while. “I think I know your suggestion and if you think you can do it, then alright,” he said as he looked back at her.

He grabbed a hold of her just like he did on at the cliff, unlike before however she did give a running start or at least the best she could do and then leapt off the ledge and summoned her wing. Fiery closed his eyes the entire time until he began to feel the wing flowing through his fur and past his ears, and he turned his head and watched as they descended down. Since they were going down, naturally they were gaining speed. Before he knew it, the hills were no longer beneath them and instead of rock they saw a mix of sand and barren ground with little grass.

Appleloosa was now in sight, and mere hours away, and while she would have loved to keep flying it was getting strained and they slowly landed on the ground. “You know. Now I understand why Pegasi love to fly. It feels incredible,” he spoke as he let go.

She shrugged as her wings vanished, “I guess. I will admit I loved flying as a child and racing with my friends but after a while, it sort of becomes boring. At least personally it did. When I got into the military, because of guns, we don’t get to use them that much.”

Ember walked past Fiery and they began to make their way to Appleloosa. She noticed tree’s surrounding the flanks of the town; they also noticed a lot of cactus and large rock formations everywhere they looked. To the east she could see train tracks, which seemed to go through the hills and to Santa Mare. She remembered seeing them in the destroyed town but even if they had waited, there was no guaranteed of the train coming anytime soon and if anything more moles would have attacked them.

Hours passed as they walked and the sun was starting to set and lights were being lit all throughout the town. However as they reached a large group of rocks just on the outskirts, the two of them stopped. “Alright, you go ahead and talk to this Silverstar fellow. After that come back here.”

“Right,” he said. “Guess I will be off. Hopefully back shortly.” He leapt off a rock and began to run in the direction of the town and Ember watched him and then laid her back on a rock and looked up at the stairs as they became more visible. Seeing them so clearly reminded her so much of home, just sitting with Andrew, her human father and going to the park behind her house and onto the large drumlin in the center just near the lake. Sometimes they could even spot ships flying just out of orbit and from down below it looked almost like a shooting star if they went fast enough.

Her eyes began to flicker and she shook herself to stay awake but the setting was almost too relaxing. All she could hope is that Fiery would get back soon.

***************************

Fiery walked into town and headed towards the Sheriff’s office. Ponies were out and about during the night and no one batted him an eye. As he passed the saloon he could hear the sounds of patrons singing and chatting. Some even hanging outside and simply speaking while sipping down liquor and other various drinks.

As he entered the main street he could see the Sheriff’s office which was dwarfed by the Town Hall sitting right next to it. He could see decorations put up to celebrate Hearths Warming Eve, and he had to admit it was nice to see civilization, more so one that was in tip top shape. Almost made him forget that he had been through a traumatizing event and been traveling around with an alien f or the past couple of weeks.

He walked up the steps to the office and opened the door and entered the small office, it was just like the one in Santa Mane, a desk to the right and three jail cells on the opposite side wall. All empty. However unlike the one in Santa Mane this one wasn’t in ruins. “Is that you Fiery Slate?” he heard a voice and turned towards the voice and saw the Sheriff sitting at his desk.

The pony nodded, “The very same.”

“Boy Ah haven’t seen you in weeks. What’re you doin here?” The Sheriff asked as he got off his chair and moved towards Fiery.

“Well… About that… See I have a problem, sort of. I know you’re probably going to look at me like I’m crazy for saying it.”

“Boy just spit it out!”

Fiery sighed and began to explain to him exactly what had happened since he met Ember, he didn’t go into great detail, exempting the powers the pony had gained and made up how they escaped the moles and the part of about her being an omnivore. The Sheriff just nodded but was horrified at what happened to Santa Mane as he had many friends in that town and to learn of their untimely demised was devastating.

“And now I’m here to see if you can help,” he finished the explanation and a silence set in as the Sheriff took it all in. A wild range of emotions came over the older pony and wasn’t sure exactly what to say, while he was interested in this alien, the destruction of Santa Mane was the biggest aspect he was having problems with.

“Ah can’t believe they’re all dead…”

Fiery put his hoof on the Sheriff’s shoulder, “If it’s any consolation, we can’t say that for sure. We didn’t have the time to count the bodies, so some may have escape!”

Hope filled the Sheriff’s eyes, “Right. Now about this… alien of yours. Is it- well… good?”

“Well she saved me from the Timberwolves and the moles, so yeah. I would say she is. And it’s a she, don’t call her an it.”

“Right, sorry. So she needs to get to Canterlot to meet the princesses?” he spoke and brought up what Fiery told earlier.

The pony nodded, “Yeah. It’s the only way she can think of trying to get off this world.”

“Hm… How about I meet this alien of yours first and I will see what I can do for ya.”

“Okay, so I was supposed to meet her back at the rocks. Do you want me to go get her or you follow?”

The sheriff looked back at his desk and then to Fiery, “Ah will go with you. Better than having her come through town without an official. Plus it’s a peaceful night; I don’t think the town’s folk will need me.”

***************************

They arrived at the rocks and Fiery began to call out Ember but no one came, the Sheriff stayed on the ground but Fiery jumped up onto the rock and went forward and found the angel lying down with her arms behind her head. He walked forward and tapped on her, “Ember…” she didn’t wake and simply rolled over onto her side.

“EMBER!” he yelled out and she suddenly jumped up and pulled out her pistol.

“What?” she winged her pistol around. “What’s going on?”

Fiery sighed, “Nothing. I got the Sheriff with me and I found you sleeping.”

“Oh sorry… I just I was more tired than I had thought. Well then let’s meet this guy,” she replied. Fiery turned and headed towards the Sheriff who was just waiting and looking into the distance. Fiery landed on the ground next to him and Ember after, the older pony turned and saw them and stepped back a bit when he saw Ember in her armor.

“I-Is that the alien..? Doesn’t look like how you described em.”

Fiery looked up at Ember, “Oh sorry, she’s in her armor.”

Ember took a hint and opened up her helmet and revealed what she actually looked like and the Older Sheriff relaxed a little as she didn’t look threatening. “I see… Well I’m Sheriff Silverstar, nice to meet you,” he said and stretched out his hoof.

Ember grabbed it and shook, “I’m Lieutenant Ember. I assume Fiery explain the situation?”

They both let go, “Yes… So you really are not from around here, are you?”

Ember nodded, “Yeah. I am from a very faraway place. I seek your aid since I will not doubt need to take your train to Canterlot and I feared if I waltzed into town that I would frighten the people.”

“Ah can see that. Smart of you as that probably would have happened and I don’t like trouble in my town. No I do not.”

“So Sheriff, how can you aid us?”

“Well the train isn’t coming into town tonight so you best just stay in the inn in town. I will show you the way; with me no one will say anything.”

Fiery smiled at that, “An inn with a bed… That’s really nice.”

Ember also smiled, “Yeah, I can’t stand to sleep on rocks again.”

“But you just did…”

“Not the point.”

The Sheriff was happy, the alien Ember seemed kind but also dangerous based on Fiery story but not someone who would attack without reason, in fact when Fiery talked about the mole incident, and explained his scar he told him that she carried him to safety. Together they went towards the town, it was Ember first glance at a living town and was surprised at the large variety of ponies and their colors. Back where she came from horses and ponies came in few color variants. Ponies that saw them just stood and stared and some even looked freighted and hid behind barrels but no one dared to get in their way with the Sheriff on their side.

“Um…” Ember heard a child voice and turned to see a filly, which she had to admit, was very adorable with a light green fur, a blue mane, and large red eyes. “W-What are you?”

The three of them stopped and Ember knelt down, “I’m an angel… I am visiting.”

“An angel? That sounds pretty. Are you… Nice?” she asked softly.

Ember smiled and petted the mane of the filly, “Don’t worry, I am the nicest.”

“Really?” Her eyes beamed.

“Yup,” she said as he lifted her hand.

The filly turned and ran over to who Ember assumed to be their mother or older sister; she could hear the filly talking about the angel she had just met. It really settled in then that these ponies weren’t that different from humans or angels, sure they seem friendly but how they act is very similar, had she just heard the voice but not seen the filly there would have been no reason to assume they weren’t human.

Standing back up she followed Fiery and Silverstar to the inn where they found an older mare working the counter. She didn’t appear to be paying attention but the Sheriff pressed the bell and she shot up and looked at the three of them. Initially she seemed calm until she saw Ember standing taller than the two of them. “Dear Celestia what is that!?” the old mare yelled out.

“Calm down my lady,” Silverstar spoke calmly. “This person is an angel, her names Ember. She means no harm; all we did was come here to rent a double bed room.”

The mare continued to stare but eventually calmed down, “Right. We have a room open, the first on the right upstairs. It will be 10 bits for the night.”

Fiery opened his saddlebag and took out 10 bits and handed them to the lady who in turn gave the keys. Before they went upstairs however they turned to the Sheriff, “It seems things have gone smoothly,” he began. “Tomorrow morning, at around 8 AM, the train will arrive, but before then please visit my office. I need you to deliver a letter to Canterlot about Santa Mane.” His voice became solemn at the end no doubt still hung over about it.

“We will be there,” Ember assured him.

“Thanks and have a good night you two,” he said as he exited the inn.

The two of them headed up the stairs and opened the room; it was a modest room with two medium sized beds, a bathroom, and a counter on the walls on the sides of the beds. Ember went into the bathroom and quickly took a shower, which another surprise functioned the same as a Human shower. After feeling refreshed and cleaner than she had in weeks she put on her normal clothing and went over to her bed. Fiery then went into the bathroom as she pulled up her sheets. Her feet reached to the edge but the bed was a good size and so she couldn’t complain.

By the time Fiery exited and got into his bed she had already fallen fast asleep in the comfort of her own bed.

Snowy Days

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Snowy Days

The snow crunched under their boots as they traveled through the snow forest. First match of the basic training tournament – Phoenix vs. Santagol vs. Raven vs. Texan. In the far end of the planet a large forest that had a blanket of snow from previous nights had been set up as the arena for the fight along with various structures. The objective was simple, eliminate the enemy teams with stun rounds that only need one shot to the head, and multiple shots depending on the body part, outside that there weren’t any rules outside staying in the field which already had an energy shield up but students at time did get a bit creative.

“O’Brian I want you to get up on that perch over there, and keep me informed if anyone gets close,” Ember commanded him. He simply nodded, placed his sniper on his back and climbed up the stone structure and then used a bipod and aimed out the window.

“Tina, Richard, and Drew you three enter the structure as well, I and Elisa will scout ahead. O’Brian you know what to do.”

“Roger,” they all said over the comms. Ember and Elisa split from the group and headed deeper into the forest, heading down a small hill to a frozen stream below. The snow falling made visibility in the distance difficult so they turned their vision to heat and everything lit up. They moved slowly from one brush to the next, hugging trees and crouching behind rocks and bushes.

Ember jumped and grabbed on the top of the rock and lifted them up and looked out from a higher position. She went prone as she saw something pop up on her HUD. Three targets were moving in their direction. Tagging them she leapt off the rock and motion for Elisa to fall back. The two of them headed towards their base, and Ember opened up the comms,

“Three targets have been tagged and sent to your HUD. We’re coming back.”

“Roger, so who are the nice people from?” O’Brian asked.

“No idea, but I think we will find out soon,” she said as they arrived back at the base. “I only saw three of them so it could be a recon party.”

They vaulted through the low window and then crouched. On their HUD the targets were getting closer and didn’t seem to be changing direction or speed. “O’Brian, don’t fire yet in case the remaining three are in the area. Wait for my mark.”

There was a silence, as they waited and watched as the enemy team got closer to their base. They couldn’t see the other three and that worried Ember if they were planning some sort of ambush or diversion. But with three other teams, it was possible they had already been eliminated as they were twenty minutes in to the match.

“I wish we had drones or quads. Those would be useful,” Richard commented.

“Only for the advanced, but yes that would be quite useful and awesome if I may add,” Elisa replied.

“Ember, they have entered my sights, permission to fire?” O’Brian asked over the comms.

Ember looked out and couldn’t see them, only their tag, so O’Brian would be the only one able to fire at them. She went to respond but O’Brian spoke again, “Wait, they stopped and began to turn. I don’t think they know we’re here.”

“Alright, Elisa, come with me. We’re going to move and see if we can take them all out at the same time,” she said as she vaulted out of the base and into the snowy ground outside. Elisa followed and they moved slowly through the snow. They watched their tag so see their distance and which direction they were moving but also checking the motion sensor to see some subtler movements.

She hugged a large rock, crouched, and looked out and could now see the three of them facing the opposite direction. “O’Brian you still have visual correct?” Ember asked wanting to make sure.

“Correct.”

“Then on my mark,” she aimed her sights at one of their heads and the red tag turned green, and as Elisa and O’Brian aimed their tags turned green as well. “Mark!” at an instant all three of them fired and the stun bullets slammed into the unsuspecting soldiers and knocked all three to the ground. “Good kill,” she said, even if it was just a stun.

Suddenly they all heard three beeps echo throughout the area and a synthetic female voice came on, “Texan Squad has been eliminated. Raven, Phoenix, and Santagol remain. Three hours until match completion.”

Ember moved towards the stunned bodies and crouched, the three of them wanting to curse their opponent but knowing it was futile. “Well I guess we know who we just eliminated. Must mean either Raven or Santagol got the other three…”

“Think they’re in the area?” Elisa questioned.

Ember looked around down the lanes of trees, “It’s a large forest. They could be anywhere.”

“So then what’s the plan? Stay in our fort till they come find us?”

“I would advise against that Ember,” O’Brian chipped in. “They may plan for the same thing and nothing will happen.”

Ember stood back up, “Reasonable estimation. Probably be best to wait at the fort just for ten minutes, if we see nothing then we will move out. Anyone disagree?”

Elisa and O’Brian had no complaints and the two of them headed back to the fort. Upon arrival, Ember started up the timer and they all sat in silence as it counted down. While they waited, Drew began to check his gun to make sure no chances of it getting jammer and overheats, and then went onto his various tools. Although to his dismay he acknowledges that a tech expert wouldn’t be the most useful in the match, at least on the tech side of things. He still like everyone else in the squad was a good shot; personally he was quite fond of his submachine gun, the SUB-42, a new model that released just the last year.

Ember was a fan of her own assault rifle, the AR-74M2, an older gun but it was a tried and true gun that was still used by many infantry on the frontlines. It provides a good range of fire from long to medium, but not the best in close range but there was worse. O’Brian was using his trust sniper rifle, the SNR-55A, brand new and custom made for him, given to him personally by the heads of the academy shortly after joining Phoenix squad.

Richard was hulking around his light machine gun, the LMG-80, even older than that of the AR-74M2, but was still unmatched in years compared to newer light machine guns. Tina as she said, was quite close to her shotgun, the SG-N, a newer model and great for close range combat that allowed her to take out enemies in usually one shot and dent armored vehicles and mechanized robots quite heavily. Lastly there was Elisa who was also using an assault rifle but a AR-22S, which is the same age as Ember’s gun but was primarily a burst fire rifle whereas Ember’s is an auto but could be changed.

Although everyone had access to multiple guns, everyone had a cube with a variety of weapons in them and everyone was trained to use them just as effectively but each of them has their personal preferences.

After the timer ran out, everyone got up and they began to move out into two smaller teams, Ember, O’Brian, and Tina in the first, and Richard, Elisa, and Drew in the second. They didn’t want to be ambushed all together and if one team got fired upon then the other could come in to get them out. “According to my map there should be a large structure to the east. Looks to be a power station,” Tina relayed to the squad.

“Think a squad would hold up there?” Ember questioned.

“From the map it looks fortifiable, so yeah I would bet on that.”

“Any structural weakness? A backdoor we can take?”

Tina continued to check her map on her UCD, “I think there might be a sewer tunnel below it that entrance is just a bit away.”

Ember began to think about what they should do, it was a sound plan, go in through the sewers and enter the structure from below and eliminate the enemy with a surprise attack. However they were trained to be cautious, and so that sewer could be a death trap waiting to happen. Although she was a bit more clever than that, and wondered if the enemy expected them to think that and left the sewer unguarded or with little defense. Raven squad was known for our thinking other squads so you had to really sit on a plan before acting and account for every possibility they may make.

It was possible though that Santagol was in the power station and they were a lot simpler, relying less on elaborate planning and just going in and taking out their foes. It got their superiors angry at times for their somewhat lack of cohesion but they had to admit the squad was good at what they did.

Ember realized she had been just standing there for a bit and O’Brian and Tina just looked at each other and wondered if she was okay. “Oh sorry. Lots of thinking…” she confessed, and as the Squad Leader you were expected to do a lot of it, unless you were Carlo Dosi, the leader of Santagol.

She decided to ask everyone else over the comms, “So what, should we go in? Possibly split up and some go through the sewers and the rest up top or we just ignore the power station?”

Richard decided to speak first, “Splitting up sounds good. Personally I will volunteer for going up top. Not a fan of sewers.”

“But I thought you loved sewers Richie?” Elisa teased him.

“Sewers are dirty and full of waste. I rather go through a hot desert then a sewer, the sheer amount of things that run through them is just horrible. Plus what about mutations? You never know what radioactive waste gets funneled through there,” he protested.

“Alright,” Elisa said while laughing. “You made your point. But do you honestly think they haven’t already scouted out this area before we began? I doubt they would leave the waste there…”

Drew however wasn’t as convinced, “I don’t know about that Elisa. I mean think about it. While the situation isn’t exactly what it will be like in the field, but it’s still training. I wouldn’t put it past them to keep possible radioactive waste down there for us to check and make sure to avoid.”

“Well none of you have to worry,” Ember stated over the comms, “As we will be going down there. Not you.”

“Thanks,” Richard stated.

Ember sent the coordinates to each entrance to the two teams and they made their way. The ground began to dip as they reached the sewer entrance. A small concrete building, the door was locked, so Ember kicked it off its hinges and it fell to the ground at the foot of the wall across the room. They entered in and turned on their night vision as they climbed down a ladder and entered the sewer. Like she expected the water wasn’t rushing as it was frozen from the long winter and all of the systems in the sewers were off to keep it from freezing.

The planet they were on, Kalsoara, was one of the first colonies of the Human Empire, Red Edge that was conquered over a hundred years ago and repurposed as a training planet for recruits in the United Alliance. Outside the cities that were updates and changed, but a lot of old facilities that were built early on in the colonization were abandoned and used for battle areas such as the one they were in now.

As they walked in the darkness they kept track of their map to see when they would get under the power station. The comms came back up to Elisa voice, “Ember, I believe we may have made contact. Signs of recent activity have been found.”

“Keep low, and don’t get blind sighted,” was all Ember said as the comms ended and their trek continued. She began to scan the frozen waters and various waste and found there was little to no radioactive waste, and no evidence of any of it ever being here. Ember had to admit that she didn’t expect any radioactive waste to be down here but she would be lying if she wasn’t slightly cautious at the prospect.

As they got below the station, they found a large chamber with various rusted machines, and broken tubes. Across she spotted some stairs that seemed to be giving out so they needed to take this slowly. Each step they could hear a creaking and the subtle shaking as it began to lose stability. Ember first reached the door at the top and slid it open and stepped in, Tina followed after and as O’Brian moved the stairs began to shake horribly and he began to lose his footing.

Ember gestured for him to run and that she would grab him, O’Brian quickly ran and jumped as the stairs fell. She stretched out her arm and grabbed his hand and quickly pulled him in. The noise from the crashing echoed throughout the sewers and the halls above. “Well that could have been quieter…” O’Brian mumbled as he looked down at the broken stairs.

“Contact!” Elisa yelled over the comms as shots could be heard, “We have made contact! They got us pinned down from the second floor of the offices. Four up top, two unaccounted for.”

“We will be there,” Ember said and then turned to O’Brian and Tina, “Let’s go.”

On their HUDs, the location of the second team lit up and they began to make their way up stairs and halls. They entered a long room with large turbines that were rusted and falling over with dust on the broken down parts. Suddenly they heard a loud shot fire and each of them dropped down and crouched behind cover. “Welcome! Team Phoenix, to our… Humble domain!”

“Carlo Dosi!?” Ember screamed out.

He clapped his hands, “Ding! Ding! That is correct- and I assume your Raina Ember, leader of Phoenix?”

She didn’t respond and so he spoke first, “I’ll take that as a yes. Well, I can’t stay here. My trusty sniper will take care of you lot; my efforts would be wasted on you… people. So I bid you a adieu and have a good day.” He spoke to them cheerfully.

“That guy really gets on my nerves,” O’Brian stated. “Very punch able.”

“Get in line,” Tina said. “I get the first throw.” Tina before joining Phoenix had been asked to join Santagol by Carlo and he wasn’t quite the gentlemen when it came to asking woman to join his squad.

Another sniper round fired, even for a stun round they still dented the metal, and even ripped through some of the rust. “So got a plan Ember?” O’Brian asked.

Ember looked out as far as she could and then went back as a stun round slammed against the turbine she was behind. But while she was out she did see something interesting as she saw a ladder against the wall going up to the catwalk with the sniper on them behind a large metal crate. Now was just a matter of getting to them, someone needed to be a distraction, the only question was who it would be. “Yeah, we need a distraction. Someone needs to sneak around to the ladder over there and eliminate him from behind. So, who wants to be the distraction?”

“I will,” Tina suggested. “I know the sniper on their squad and I got a good idea.”

Ember nodded, “Alright, then when you begin I and O’Brian will move up.”

Tina moved up, and quickly raced behind another turbine as a sniper round flew over her head. “Hey- Kevin!” she yelled out.

“Tina,” the sniper simply replied with a hint of irritation in his voice.

“Still up for that dinner you asked me out for?” Tina asked him, and O’Brian and Ember began to move up in the shadows as the snipers attention was now on Tina.

The sniper leaned out and looked where he had saw Tina move to, “You denied me the last time and now expect me to forgive you?”

“Well… I realize my fault now… You’re quite handsome… And kind…” she tried to make it sound convincing but she felt as if venom had entered her body. Ember and O’Brian moved up again, and were pleased that Tina’s ‘distraction’ was working.

Kevin stood up, “Really? I mean… Thanks. All forgiven now, what day do you want to go out?” Tina almost wanted to laugh at how easy he was able to fall for this. O’Brian pulled out his pistol and slowly climbed up the ladder. “Tomorrow at eight? I am free then-,” suddenly he fell down as O’Brian fired his stun rounds at the snipers head.

“Thank gods…” Tina gave out a sigh of relief.

“You do know that won’t work out in the field, right?” Ember told her as she lifted herself up and off the ladder.

“I doubt the enemy will fall for it. But this isn’t the field is it?”

“That is true, it isn’t…” Ember said as Tina climbed the ladder.

The comms turned back on, “Hey! We need help over here!” Richard yelled. Without further delay they went down the hall that Carlo had that was right behind Kevin’s body. As they got closer to their friends, they could hear the sounds of the fire getting louder and they quickened their run. As soon as they entered the office building they had to immediately jump into cover as the four remaining members of Santagol had spotted them and began to fire at them as well.

“Flash bang!” one of the Santagol grunts yelled out as they threw a grenade at them. Ember, Tina, and O’Brian jumped out of the way and looked away as it exploded. However they were still a bit disoriented and the enemies began to get more aggressive.

However, because they entered the room, Elisa, Richard, and Drew were no longer as suppressed and began to move out of their spot to see if they could surround the Santagol members up top. Ember quickly leaned out from her position and shot the closest enemy and to her luck hit them in the head and they fell over on top of another soldier. O’Brian pressed the button on his stun grenade and threw it at the enemies.

In a quite haste they scurried out of the way, and Tina was able to get a couple of rounds on one leaving only Carlo and another still alive. Suddenly from behind, Carlo’s final companion fell to the floor as he looked to see the rest of Phoenix arrive on the floor. He sighed, “I guess I lost…” he mumbled under his breath so they couldn’t hear.

“Ember!” he yelled out from his cover. “I surrender.”

Ember looked at her squad, was he being serious? Sure he was the only one left up but it was cowardly for a soldier to just outright surrender. Even one person can sometimes change the tide of battle. She held up her arm as Carlo stood up with his arms up.

“Alright then I accept-,” was all she got out as the window across the room shattered and a stun bullet struck Carlo in the head and he fell over. Everyone crouched behind cover as smoke grenades were thrown in and began to expand.

However while this went on there was once more three beeps and the synthetic voice, “Santagol Squad has been eliminated. Only Phoenix and Raven remain. One Hour and Thirty Minutes until match completion.”

“Everyone turn on your heat vision!” Ember yelled out over the comms. “Raven is here, damn bastards must have been waiting for this moment.”

Suddenly she saw something hit the floor next to her and she recognized it, “EMP!” she yelled but not before it exploded and her suits systems went down. The suit wasn’t fried, not completely but it would take some time for the systems to reboot themselves, time that Raven wasn’t going to give them.

She tried to move around the smoke but she was blind without the heat vision. Ember ducked as she heard bullets fire just a head of her, and suddenly more smoke grenades hit the floor. Slowly she moved through her cover and stopped when she found something at her foot, she looked down and saw it was Richard and he wasn’t moving. “Damn,” she softly spoke as she walked past him only to see Elisa only stunned.

More fires echoed throughout the smoke filled area. “Ember!” she heard her name called out by O’Brian. She turned to see him barely running up to her cover with his leg limping from a stun round. “My systems are down, I’m blind here.”

“I know… We got three of them, but just we two are left. The rest got stunned…”

Ember noticed the smoke starting to lessen, “Shit… This wasn’t supposed to happen. What do you see?”

He quickly leaned out with his heat vision and saw the last two Raven members walking about, having not spotted them yet. “They don’t know we’re here… We can flank them and get them.”

“Right, you lead,” she stated as he went past her and they moved behind the desks at a slow pace. Suddenly she stepped on glass and that alerted the two remaining members.

“There!” a feminine voice yelled out from across the room. O’Brian leapt out of cover and fired his sniper rifle and slammed into the girl’s chest, the force of impact knocked her off her feet. But then he was shot by the others rifle. Ember leapt over her cover and fired at the standing enemy. They tried to move out of the way but Ember hit him once on the head and it was over. Quickly she ran over to the last member who was just getting up.

She raised her rifle at her head as she tried to get up. “Leader of Phoenix…” the downed enemy spoke. “Never thought I would lose to you… Guess you’re not in second place for nothing…”

Ember fired one bullet and the leader of Raven fell on her back, and the Angel smirked behind her helmet.

Three beeps, “Raven Squad has been eliminated. Phoenix Squad remains. Phoenix Squad wins the first match.” While she felt relief that she won, she didn’t like the implications. They were caught off guard and almost lost. More training would be needed before the second match, this wouldn’t happen again…

Ember jolted up from her bed, and looked around only to hear the sounds of running water from the bathroom. Sun rays beamed through the window next to her and onto her bed. She placed her hands on her head; she was sweating from another dream of her past. They were starting to get more frequent and more recent as they went along. She brought her legs to the side of the bed and let them hang there for a moment. She brought up her UCD, she had adjusted the time based on what time Fiery said it was on the planet. It’s 7:30 AM.

She remembered that the Sheriff said the train would arrive around 8:00 AM. So they needed to hurry and get ready as they first needed to head to his office and pick up the letter for the princess. “Oh you’re awake,” she heard behind her as Fiery stepped out of the bathroom.

“Yeah…” she said solemnly, the stallion wanted to ask but didn’t pry.

“Well if you need to use the shower, I’m done,” he spoke as he went over to his bed and began to pick up his stuff. Slowly she got up and walked towards the shower, she stripped and then let the warm water rush over her. It felt refreshing and helped her wake up faster. Afterward she dried herself off with a towel and instead of putting back on her clothing simply put back on her armor, something about being in it made her feel calmer and more at home.

She exited the bathroom and met with Fiery who was ready to go to the Sheriff’s to pick up the letter. They stepped out of the room and went down the stairs and greeted the mare at the desk and then headed out. Like the night before, the streets were bright with life, and the stares. Not that she didn’t expect them, they were stared upon last night and it would happen today.

After a short trek they arrived at the Sheriff’s office and walked in. She could already see the letter sealed on the stallion’s desk. “Good you’re here,” he began as he grabbed the letter and moved in front of his desk. “Ah got the letter right here.” He handed it to Fiery who put it in his saddlebag.

“The train should be arriving, best to get you both tickets and on your way. I’ll see if ah can get you two your own cart; otherwise the other passengers may be off put by you Ember. No offense.”

She shrugged, “None taken. Considering the stares we have gotten thus far, it isn’t much of a surprise.”

“Right, well let’s be on our way,” Silverstar spoke as he walked past the two of them and out the door. They entered the street and headed in the direction of the train station. As they got closer Ember could hear the sounds of the train coming to a stop. When she got a view of it, she wasn’t surprised by its low tech state as everything currently on the planet was considerably low tech compared to her home in the stars above.

As they walked up the wooden steps to the station, they could see ponies getting off and to her dismay only saw Earth Ponies getting off, no Unicorns or Pegasi. Before they reached the ticket master, Fiery took out how much he assumed it would cost for two tickets. However the sheriff just held up his hoof, “I’ll pay. You two already been through enough, and if not for you. Ah wouldn’t have learned of what happened to Santa Mane. Plus it’s not too expensive.”

He alone went up to the ticket master and paid for two tickets to Canterlot and then talked to the ticket master to get a hold of the conductor. The Sheriff walked with the ticket master and they went to go meet with the head conductor while Ember and Fiery sat on a bench. After a bit the sheriff came back and handed them the two tickets, “Ah got your own cabin, when you give them your ticket they will lead you to it. Any questions?” he asked but no one responded. “Well then, Ah bid you a good travel you two… Just make sure as soon as you can you get that letter to the Princesses or at least to the Royal Guards to give to the Princesses. Good luck.”

“Thank you for your help, Sheriff Silverstar,” Ember said.

The Sheriff smiled, “It’s no problem.” He said as he exited the train station leaving the two alone. Ember and Fiery walked outside and up to the train.

One of the conductors collecting tickets was taking someone tickets and then noticed a shadow over herself. She turned to see what it was and then jumped back, “Whoa! Are you the Angel I was told about?”

Well that was quick Ember thought.

“Yes, I am Ember, and this is Fiery Slate and here is our tickets,” she handed the mare the tickets.

“Okay, then follow me and I will bring you to your cabin that we were instructed to,” they followed the mare inside, and up a couple of cabins until they reached the right one. “Do you two need anything?” Both shook their heads and sat down. “Alright then we shall be off in five minutes.”

The two of them sat down, Ember watched through the window as ponies moved to get on and off. First time being on a vehicle since they arrived, it was nice to not have to keep walking everywhere. Fiery mentioned that they would need to pass through Ponyville on the way to Canterlot which is on the side of a mountain. That she wasn’t too fond of hearing as with their level of technology it didn’t seem safe but then again they have magic so that may play into it.

She almost laughed at the name Ponyville, it just seemed a bit cliché, and she wondered how exactly they came with the name. Maybe someone who wasn’t very good at making names was put in charge to do it.

After five minutes passed they heard the sound of the train’s horn and slowly they began to move forward. She was impressed by the ride, even after the speed increased the ride was smooth and the chairs were cushiony. The two didn’t talk much as she continued to watch out the window, seeing the landscape moving like a blur. Suddenly everything became white… It was snow. A blanket of it covered the area and a cold breeze swept through the cabin.

Immediately her mind went back to her dream, the first match of the tournament. Trekking through the snow and her promise, the promise to make sure she wouldn’t be the only one left standing and yet it happened. Years of training and it wasn’t avoidable. They all died and she stood there alive, exactly as it did at the tournament.

She failed; it was that plain and simple. The leader of the famous Phoenix squad wasn’t able to prevent what she believed was possible. Ember had an image, a dream that her squad would grow up eventually and retire. Even Angels retire, some don’t but she personally wasn’t planning on being a soldier for her entire life. In fact she planned on settling down with O’Brian if he had lived; spend as much time with him before the mortal bounds took him.

Ember knew some angels who refused to marry or even accept the idea of being with a human. They found that the idea of marrying someone who is either not the same race was disgusting or the fact that they will not live for as long as too much to bear. However Ember didn’t subscribe to these thoughts, nor did her mother who married Andrew despite him being a human. Personally they both valued the time they spent with them rather than worrying about the day they die.

Plus with advances in medical technology, humans easily lived up to nearly two hundred years rather than the old ninety or rarely past one-hundred but that was before the various planets that housed humanity left and expanded into the stars.

She continued to stare out into the snow, and her mind wondered.

“O’Brian!” Ember yelled from the foot of the snowy hill. The night was young and the sky was clear and the stars shined bright. O’Brian sat on a chair on the hill and suddenly jerked up when he heard her voice. He starched his hair as he stood up and went in the direction of Ember’s voice.

“Y-Yeah! I am up here,” he yelled back in response. Ember ran up the hill through the deep snow and found O’Brian. In the center of the hill were chairs and a makeshift fire pit. “I haven’t lit it yet.”

He went over to the pit and lit it with his lighter and the fire illuminated the area and the snow around the pit began to melt. O’Brian gestured for her to sit and she did so. “How kind of you,” she said softly.

“Well I do aim to please,” he replied as he sat down and let the fire warm him.

“So why did you do this? Came out of the blue…” she spoke softly as she held out her hands and they proceeded to get warmer. Neither of them was wearing their armor or the suit underneath it. Just simple winter clothing, herself a sweatshirt with a jacket overtop and jeans. He wearing a long sleeved shirt with a jacket and cargo pants, sometimes they found it nice to strip of the armor and just wear civvies.

O’Brian leaned back in his chair, “My family, we used to do this every winter. Just sit outside around a fire and talk about… stuff. Plus we needed a break after what happened in the first match.”

“Oh? You never talk much of your family,” she asked curiously ignoring the part about he first match.

“Yeah I know…” he began to explain. “This is the first year I will miss this with them. I… have a large family; I am actually the youngest of seven.”

Now she was even more curious, “Seven? I’m the oldest of two.”

“Living with a large family is tough. Nine people all living under roof, but we make it work,” he spoke as he stared into the fire. “However these sit around the fire allowed us to talk about anything, really made everything else seem small.”

“Anyone in your family also part of the military? Is that where your abilities come from?”

He shook his head, “Naw… I’m the first in generations to join the military. Actually quite the pacifistic family, they didn’t take too kind to me joining. See they hated the Rendexi Empire; it was very militaristic and cruel so they naturally grew a hatred for the military. They felt it was a hazard to our safety, biggest reason we left when I was eight.”

Before she could ask another question he turned it around, “How about you? What about your family?”

Now she was in the spot light, a sad feeling came over her as she didn’t get the chance to ask more. “Alright… Well my family is much smaller, just me my brother, mother, and step-father.”

“Your parents must have come from the Gods Realm; you seem as old as the event.”

Ember nodded, “Yeah. Well my original father did, not my step-father. I was born shortly after, that’s when my mom left the military and remarried my step-father Andrew and like my original father, he was too is a military man. Both I and my half-angel brother joined the military, he’s actually on his way to becoming a Captain.”

“How much younger is he then you?”

“Two years, he’s seventeen…”

“And on his way to becoming a Captain? Damn that’s young!”

Ember smirked at that, “Yeah, he’s sort of a prodigy. I actually hope we can get Phoenix stationed on his ship when he becomes Captain.”

“Well that would be interesting… Let’s hope it works out for him.”

“Let’s…” she said as she picked up a stick on the ground and poked the fire. “So… Wasn’t everyone else supposed to be coming here?”

O’Brian looked around, “Yeah they were supposed to. It’s…” he looked down at his UCD. “10:30, they were supposed to be with you at 10…”

“I guess they wanted us to be alone…” she said in a seductive voice and O’Brian couldn’t help but laugh.

“Please don’t do that voice again!” he said barely able to contain his laughter. “Oh man… But no really I wonder what’s taking them so long…”

“Yeah I wonder…” she spoke in a soft enough voice that he couldn’t hear. But then they heard footsteps going through the snow and voices. Soon enough the rest of the squad came into sight.

“Oooooooh,” Began Elisa as they walked towards the fire. “You two, here alone… I hope we weren’t interrupting.”

“Not at all, sit down, sit down! Anyone wants some s’mores?” O’Brian spoke to the group. They all sat down and began to make s’mores and chat about life and personal things. Tina said they were late due to Richard not able to find his jacket, and he had them all searching for it and in the end they he had to borrow one from a friend. The winter nights on the planet were some of the coldest but with friends she found it more than bearable.

She came back to reality by the shaking of her shoulder by Fiery. “Hey you in there?” Fiery spoke to her as she turned her head to face the stallion.

“Y-Yeah… Sorry a lot of my mind…”

Quickly he looked over his shoulder out the window and then back at her, “Good, you’ve been like that for hours and I was getting worried. Anyway we’re getting closer to Ponyville. Won’t be that much longer till we reach Canterlot, although it will no doubt be night…”

Ember looked out the window and could see the town coming into view, they were getting closer. She just hoped that it wouldn’t be long till she was home…

Crossing the Bridge

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Crossing the Bridge

As they waited in the station at Ponyville, the two ordered some food that they said they were serving. It took her a bit to order since so much was only digestible for horses and not an omnivore like herself. But after looking around she was able to find a salad, and by this point anything other than apples would be good. In fact she vowed to stop eating them for a while as she grew sick of them. Not even did she feel that way about the mundane tasting rations they needed to eat on Phoenix’s various missions throughout the galaxy.

“So what are you going to do about it?” she asked as he eats her salad with her fingers as the ponies didn’t use eating utensils and just dug in with their mouse.

He looked up from his hay fries, “About what?”

She motioned to his flank, “That. You said when you followed and I quote: “Then let’s hope I get my cute mark by then. So nothing will be in vain,” However… Things appear to be in vain. Sure you got your fire ability but you didn’t get a cutie mark from it.”

“Your right… I didn’t get it. But you know what?” he asked back.

“What?”

“I may not have gotten it but I grew as a pony. You trained me- I am stronger, faster, and now have the ability to summon fire from my hooves!”

Ember leaned back from her food, “But what does the fire help you with?”

He too backed from his food, “What do you mean?”

“Well think about it. How many things in your daily life can you use the fire to do? Your ability is built for battle.”

“Then what would you suggest?”

“Me? Well if I was in your situation, I would see if those Royal Guards you mentioned would take you in. Use it to defend the people of Equestria.”

Fiery looked out the window at the station and smirked, “You know… That doesn’t sound half bad… Fiery Slate, a Royal Guard. I like the ring of that.” He turned back his head to Ember, “But what about you?”

“Me..? What about me?”

“Oh come on. Think about it, we’re going to the Princesses to see if they can send you back. But haven’t you wondered if they can’t? Or if it won’t be that simple- what are you going to do? What’s the contingency plan?”

Truthfully she had been thinking about that but hadn’t put too much thought in the backup plan. If she was sent on some quest to gather something to do it, then that would still be going with the main plan- but if she couldn’t get sent back either way… She shivered at the thought, she wouldn’t accept it. Never… Back up in space, her parents and brother still live and she would be damned if she let them believe she was dead.

“I don’t know… I guess I will cross that bridge when we get there…” she said as she dug back into her salad. The train once more began to move and soon enough Ponyville was starting to get smaller as they got farther. Canterlot was starting to get clearer as they got further up in elevation. They got a good view of Ponyville from higher up through the snow, and could see the lights that were on.

It was then that the snow began to get a bit rougher and it began to get harder to see outside. However the train was fine and they continued on and Canterlot was harder to see then it was before. “How old are you Ember?” Fiery asked out of the blue.

“What?”

Fiery finished up his hay fries and then spoke again, “Well you never speak much about yourself- so I opted to ask.”

“I’m twenty-six.”

“Ah- so you’re six years older than me, since I just became twenty a few months ago. When your birthday?”

“November 13th. Just turned twenty-six last month. Assuming you guys use the same calendar system.”

“365 days, January through December.”

Ember nodded, “Huh, strange how we have the same system. Then again we’ve been speaking the same language so maybe I shouldn’t be shocked.”

“Equestrian?”

“English, at least that’s what we call it. Although some planets that never made contact with the alliance used it, so maybe it’s almost like a natural evolution.”

“You’re losing me here…” Fiery said and Ember just laughed.

They continued to chat through the night; the train began to go through caves upon caves until they reached the top and back outside. The snow was starting to lighten up as they crossed the bridge into the cave that would lead to the Canterlot station. As they began to slow down, the two of them discussed exactly what they would do. Considering she couldn’t just waltz through the city, Fiery said they would go to the Royal Guards that were stationed in the city and talk with them about it.

As the train stopped and Ember got a good look at the city, she almost felt like she had walked back in time, to the medieval ages on some of the Human worlds she had learned about. A large castle-city with the monarch or this case a diarchy which was common in those years, although some current civilizations still had a monarchy but they were in the minority compared to other forms of governments. Before they exited the mare conductor from before walked back into their cabin and told them that Royal Guards were on their way.

“Oh… I and Fiery were just discussing talking to them,” Ember replied.

“Ah, well the head conductor said that the sheriff told him that it wouldn’t be wise to let a new species walk around the city. Don’t want to start a panic... So you two just sit tight until they arrive.”

The two of them didn’t argue and just sat back down and waited. It wasn’t long till the cabin door opened and a couple of Royal Guards came in. Ahead in the pack being a white Stallion with a blue colored mane and a shield for their cutie mark. It was also her first time seeing a Unicorn, and one of the Royal Guards to his side was a Pegasus. While some of the other guards did seem a bit uneasy, the blue mane stallion stood strong with no fear. “I am Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor. Are you the two we were sent for?” he announced.

Ember nodded, “Yes, I am Lieutenant Ember, and this is Fiery Slate. We have a letter for the princesses. About some recent events you may not be aware of.”

“I was informed of that,” he said as he looked up and down at Ember. “I have never seen your species before… Where do you hail from? They told us you’re called Angels?”

“I am from a far off place,” she simply said not sure if to bring up the fact that she is technically an alien to these ponies.

“Uh huh… A bit vague but I hope to find out more soon enough. Let us be on our way, if you do have a message for the princesses then we shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

“They know we’re coming?” Ember asked Shining Armor.

“Yes, now let’s move.”

***************************

They exited the train and followed the Royal Guards that flanked Ember and Fiery. The night streets were packed and the lights from torches and lamps illuminated the streets. It was obvious the area was high society as everything seemed fancy for lack of a better word. The stores were full of high society goods, she could see ponies drinking tea around tables and she could hear parties going on in some of the large houses.

She noticed that a lot of the nobles in the city appeared to be wearing more clothing then she had saw back in Appleloosa. There was something she couldn’t shake off, a sort of air of arrogance that stemmed from them, like they looked down on the average folks. She recalled back on her home planet of Seilia, that when she visited the capital city with her step-father she saw various rich folks that seemed to not care for the lesser people. A trait that seemed to be cross-species.

It took them a bit but eventually they arrived at the castle’s draw bridge, the Royal Guards saluted Shining Armor as they passed through. They entered the courtyard and then descended up the steps into the castles interior. “I never thought I was going to meet the Princesses in person,” Fiery said as they walked through the large halls of the castle.

“Not everypony gets the chance, you should be honored,” said Shining Armor as they reached the large doors to the throne room. Ember began to feel uneasy; she had to be very careful with her words as she didn’t want to piss off a royal ruler. Shining Armor stood and motioned for the guards on the side of the door to open it.

The door opened and they walked through and saw the throne room, it was large with stained glass windows on both sides. In the center a large red carpet leading up to the golden throne with water was flowing over it. Two guards stationed at the foot of the throne. It was then that Ember got her first glance at the princesses. In the center she saw a large white mare, an Alicorn if she remembered correctly from what Fiery told her, her mane is colorful like a rainbow, a lot different than the manes she had seen thus far. To her left a blue and black mare, also an Alicorn, with a blue and purple mane that sparkled like the night skies.

“May I introduce Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Shining Armor announced to Ember and Fiery who took a hint and both bowed.

“Rise,” Celestia spoke in her kind voice. “I was informed you were coming from one of my guards, you have a letter to deliver?”

Fiery pulled out the letter from his saddlebag and handed it to Shining Armor who quickly inspected it and seeing nothing wrong with it walked towards Celestia who used her magic to take the letter and open it. The room stayed silent as she read the letter between herself and Luna, her expression changed as she finished the letter.

“This is… terrible news…” Celestia said as she put down the letter.

“What is it Princess?” Shining Armor asked.

“Santa Mane has been destroyed and all killed by the moles…”

Shining Armor was devastated; something like this hasn’t happened in many years, “How could this have happened…”

Luna spoke up, “It says you two arrived and were attacked by the moles. Did you find out why?” She too felt the pain of losing her subjects but she was used to death. She was part of many black ops, and thus was out of Canterlot very often. Luna ruled the Night Corps, which was a mixture of her own guards and specialized ponies selected from the Royal Guards.

Ember shook her head, “No, they attacked the two of us on sight and we barely survived escaping their underground base.”

“The letter is kind of vague on your escape… Can you give us more details?” Luna asked.

However before Ember could respond Celestia spoke, “Luna… Now is not the time. If you want to talk specifics you can later with this… Angel. However there is one thing we need to speak about. The letter mentions that you need help getting home?”

“Yes. See as you may already theorize, I am not of this world,” Ember spoke and she could see Shining Armor shocked expression. “Before coming here, I was on the brink of death but when I woke up I appeared in Changeling territory. I don’t know how I got there and I can’t contact my command.”

“I see…” Celestia spoke uncertain as she had never dealt with an Alien before. “And so you came to us to see if we can send you back home?”

“Yes, I was told you two are very powerful magic users.”

Luna and Celestia looked at each other, “That is quite the request… We have never attempted planetary travel. In fact you being here confirm our planet isn’t alone…”

Well this isn’t good she thought.

“We would have to really research this into seeing if it’s possible,” Celestia finished.

“So what you’re saying is that I’m stuck here.”

Celestia spoke, “Unfortunately for the time. However while we look into this you may stay in the castle. You and Fiery Slate.”

Fiery spoke, “I actually have family here.”

Shining Armor stepped forward, “Wait- Fiery Slate… I know why your name sounds familiar. Your family reported you missing months ago.”

“Yeah. I will have to talk to them…” Fiery said looking down at the floor.

Celestia gave a yawn, to which Luna laughed and the Alicorn looked embarrassed. “I think it’s time for me to take my leave… Luna you can handle things from here.”

“Good night sister,” Luna said as they hugged and Celestia suddenly was engulfed in an aura of magic and then vanished. “Shining Armor you’re dismissed. However Ember and Fiery Slate please follow me- I have things I wish to discuss with the two of you.”

Ember and Fiery looked at each other and then followed Luna out of the throne room. They walked through the labyrinth of halls in the castle until Ember had to admit she was lost. Eventually however they arrived at a large black door with a moon symbol engraved on it. “Welcome to the Night Corps,” she said as she opened the door into their operations.

They both entered after her and saw stallions and mares running about in a hurry. She even saw some ponies that seemed bat like with sharper eyes and bat wings instead of bird-like wings. A lot of them were handing over large scrolls to each other and some around tables in serious discussions. None of them batted them an eye as they walked through into a room in the back that appeared to be an office. “We’re the Night Corps,” Luna stated as she went behind the desk and sat down on the large chair. Fiery and Ember also sat down wondering what this was about.

“I assume by this point you’re wondering what the Night Corps are and why I brought you here,” she questioned and both her guests nodded.

“The Night Corps are run by me, we’re an intelligence group and we take part in black operations. Away from the normal populace, we do the things others won’t. Many things that not even my sister knows of, I brought you here because I can tell that something else happened at the moles base.”

Neither saw a way out of this, also if anyone should know what happened to Fiery, it was someone who probably could see a use for it. “Well, you see when we got captured, Ember almost died to one of the large machines the moles had. Somehow something gave me powers, the ability to summon fire at my will despite being an Earth Pony, and with that I killed the moles that attacked and the rest fled…”

Luna’s eyes narrowed, “A Earth Pony actually able to conjure magic… Show me.”

Fiery held up one hoof and a small fire appeared over his hand with ease, he let it sit there and then moved it about to show he had control. “Remarkable…” she said and Fiery made the fire go out.

“I have never seen something like this… Not since…” she said but then quickly changed the conversation. “Fiery, I noticed you have no cutie mark.”

Fiery looked a bit sad, “Yup…”

“How about you join my Night Corps? I could have use for somepony with that sort of ability.”

Fiery smiled, “Really? I was actually thinking of joining the Royal Guard, but this… I would be honored!”

Luna then turned to Ember, “How about you? It’s clear from the message that you’re a soldier of some kind and you seem to be far more advanced than us. That’s an advantage.”

Ember wasn’t so sure of this; there was something she was leaving out. “Why would you let two people, one pony and the other a… Angel, join your black ops group? I am from another world and I still seek a way home. You’re leaving out something.”

“I see there was no fooling you,” Luna spoke, but Fiery was confused.

Fiery looked at the two of them, “Wait what’s going on?”

“You see what happened in Santa Mane… Isn’t the first time that the moles attacked, in fact we have been tracking various groups of them throughout Equestria. We believe they’re working with a group of Dragons to try and overthrow us, the Princesses.”

And the truth comes out, thought Ember.

“I assume Princess Celestia is unaware of this plot?” asked Ember.

“Yes, she has much to deal with already, she doesn’t need this… However there is more than just this- the reason I ask you is that I am intrigued.”

Ember raised an eyebrow, “Intrigued?”

“You’re an Angel, and a species from another world. There is so much to learn, maybe cooperate between our species. No one on our world is like you, outside maybe the Minotaur and I give you my promise that we will research much to getting you home.”

Ember was still loyal to the UE but she realized that she wasn’t home and she had no way to get into contact. The ponies of Equestria are kind and the moles do present a danger that could hamper their research if they actively harm the populace. Lastly she also saw a moral obligation; she has superior technology and enhanced strength, something that would surely help in pushing them back. Although she realized that giving technology to a species like the ponies could prove dangerous as it would give too much advancement.

This was the bridge that needed to be crossed and the choice was clear. If she was going to get back home she needed to aid these ponies as they aid her back. “I accept, when do we start?” Ember asked and the Princess looked pleased.

“Not yet… Your new here, I wouldn’t want you to miss out on Hearths Warming Eve. Once that passes, then we will start.”

Ember, soldier of the United Alliance, and operative for the Night Corps. She could already see danger in her future, only to what extent she feared as death could surely end her goal of getting home…

Author's Notes:

A bit on the short side, but it's setting up future events!

Also some notes: I say the ponies use the same calender as us since it just makes things a lot easier to map out.

Lastly, if it wasn't obvious already, the story does take place before the Hearths Warming Eve episode of season 2. So soon enough the Mane 6 will make an appearance. They won't become regulars, at least not yet in the story. Luna however will be, so I may just add Luna's tag into the story. I didn't make her speak with the thou, we, us, because I think by this point she wouldn't talk like that anymore.

Also one other thing... I was thinking of possibly using my blog to expand the lore of the universe Ember is from. I may or may not do it, depending on what people think. :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

Night and Day

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Night and Day

By the time they got out of Luna’s office it was late into the night and Fiery decided it would be best to go to his parents tomorrow. One of Luna’s guards directed the two of them to their own rooms however Fiery stayed in Embers room to simply chat before they went to sleep. The Angel was still in her armor not having the chance to switch yet. “Feeling nervous for tomorrow?” she asked as he looked around the room.

He turned to her, “Oh… Yes… It’s been months and I fear they will be very angry.”

“I don’t know them but maybe they will be just happy you’re alive.”

Fiery entertained the thought as it did hold merit as his parents were the kind who wouldn’t hold the anger for their entire lives, if anything they most likely yearned for things to return to normal. If not they most likely wouldn’t have put out a missing pony report. He watched as Ember sat on her bed and even moved up and down to see how it matched up to the beds from home.

“So- do you want me to visit them with you?” she asked him.

He shook his head, “No. It’s something I need to do by myself.”

She couldn’t argue with that, in fact she was proud of him, “Well good for you.”

“And what will you do while I am doing that?”

Ember put her hand on her chin and began to think, “I think I will learn the layout of this castle. Learn more of your world and maybe even go about the city below. Maybe give my wings a stretch.”

“Right… Well then no point in keeping you up- I think I will head off to slumber.”

“Night,” she said to him as he left the chamber leaving Ember alone. Looking to her side she saw as the moonlight radiated through the window and everything was still. She stood up and walked towards the window and looked outside at the castle courtyard, seeing guards patrolling with torches littered against the walls. In the far distance she could also see the lights of the city.

As she looked out, doubt began to flood her mind. She wasn’t being sent on some mission to find an object to go home or simply teleported. Instead she was now working for a black ops group that keeps peace from the shadows while they researched for some way to get her home. But she wondered if they could even find a way. Magic is powerful but maybe she overestimated its capabilities. Ember hoped it would be the answer to everything and that she would be there when they have the eventual funeral for her squad.

An image shot through her mind of her family and friends looking over the caskets of her squad, five filled and one empty. Missing in action only went so far until they would accept death. Her family was tough, they would move on- eventually even if they didn’t want to and truthfully she didn’t want her family to live on with the pain of losing a love one forever. It was still hard for her to accept what happened to her squad. All so young and yet killed in instant. Her thoughts then moved on to their families and how they must also be reacting to the whole thing.

But the biggest question of all was- could she live knowing she may never get home?

Ember let out a heavy sigh and then turned towards her bed- she just stood there looking at it until she began to strip of her armor and into her civvies. As she reached the edge of the bed she just let her body fall on top and she clenched the covers but then slowly let go as she crawled up to the pillows and sunk under the covers.

***************************

Fiery Slate wasn’t having the best time getting to bed, he closed his eyes but he kept opening them up again at the slightest sound or as he tried to find a better spot in bed. His thoughts kept going back to his parents and his journey up till this point. Nothing would be the same- whether it was his new found power, him joining the Night Corps, or being a blank flank despite all. His future had been altered and now he couldn’t tell where it was going.

With the Night Corps he knew he would go up against the moles again and now even Dragons and he would need to kill them or they would kill him. Ember trained him but he still deep down felt he wasn’t ready to kill again, the first time it was so sudden and nearly uncontrollable but he knew the next time it would be on purpose and with full control. This would be expecting, if not demanded of him and unavoidable if they are to complete their missions.

He had to admit that he was also starting to feel doubt, but at the prospect if he had made the right choice. His mind was scared and telling him to get up and go back to Luna to decline the offer despite having accepting it already. But his body wouldn’t move from the bed, it was firmly planted. Thoughts of living an average and possibly blank flank life plagued him, he could see images of peace and harmony but as much as he wanted to accept that future he knew it wasn’t what he truly wanted.

Tomorrow he would be meeting with his parents and also telling them that he most likely wouldn’t see them again for a much long time. He could already see their expressions at this prospect, they will plead for him to come and stay home but he knew he had to refuse. Tears will run down their faces and his own.

Fiery’s eyes opened sharply as he noticed he was starting to cry. He looked and saw it was still night, the morning was still ways off but he was starting to have more trouble sleeping knowing what lay before him. The stallion lifted the covers and walked off the side of the bed onto the carpet flooring. Fiery walked towards his window as the snow outside began to descend from the sky slowly. However where Ember looked at the courtyards his eye was immediately drawn to the city below and his home part of the blob of buildings and lights.

From the ponies walking around the city to those who sleep, all of them feel at peace. But he didn’t feel at peace, and he just didn’t know what to do to put his mind at ease. He then began to think of Ember, if she was having the same trouble or not. He wanted to go and check on her but he stopped himself- It wouldn’t be good to disturb her if she was sleeping and he wondered if this is something he needs to overcome himself.

But how could he come over the realization that his life was changed and for his parents as well?

Fiery continued to look out the window as the snow began to pile on top and Guards at time even shaking to get it off. He smiled at that. Their dedication was something to admired if a bit off topic to his current train of thoughts. However it was almost comforting, knowing he wasn’t alone. Just like the Royal Guards, the Night Corp had others to help and aid. Knowing that Ember would be there to pick him up and help.

That began to put his mind at ease as he slumped towards his bed and fell asleep in its embrace.

***************************

Luna had to admit she was curious about her new members of the Night Corps. Just like with many she was curious about their dreams and began to use her magic to see if she could enter them. However it didn’t work, for either Ember or Fiery. For the Angel the mare noticed a sort of barrier pushing out magic energy and not even her own could break it without straining herself out. She hadn’t learned much of the race yet but she wondered if they have natural immunity to magic. The next night she made note to ask about that.

However for Fiery it wasn’t that she was being blocked but more so feared to delve. It seemed to be seeping into his dream but she could feel a dark presence. It felt familiar and dangerous and she backed out before it could consume her. She was so confused as how it could be possible that she didn’t realize how much energy she had used compared to regular dream watching. But she was now more worried for the stallion than before- she feared if this dark presence in him got even stronger that it could consume him.

But she couldn’t tell how long it would take as it seemed to be dormant for now and not growing but she didn’t know how long that would last before it began to grow. Needless to say, the future of the kingdom was surely going to be an interesting one.

***************************

Ember was the first to wake up from her slumber and then walked towards the bathroom that was on the other side of the room. She took off her clothing and was surprised that the shower was much larger than the one in Appleloosa.

I wonder if it’s larger because it’s the Capital and they have guests from around this world…

Stepping into the shower she let the warm water run over her body and after a bit then she began to actually wash herself with soap. Once she was finished she got out and dried herself. Afterwards she put on her clothing and checked the time on her UCD- 12:00 PM. I a bit later than she was trained to do but she had to admit the bed was extremely comfy and she almost didn’t want to get up.

Once finished she stepped out and walked down the hall to Fiery’s room to see if he was up and around. She knocked on the door and got no response and she folded her arms as she waited to see if he was just getting out of bed. Then she knocked again after a few minutes and nothing. Putting her hand on the handle and see it was unlocked she stepped in only to see Fiery still sound asleep on his bed. Ember sighed and walked towards the bed and began to shake him, “Fiery get up, and it’s already 12 in the afternoon.”

“No… Five… Five… more minutes…” he managed to mumble out in his sleep.

She continued to shake him until he jolted upwards with panting. “Ember-! Oh… Sorry… I just…”

“Took long to fall asleep?”

He nodded, and she responded, “Yeah… Same here. Anyway you have things to do today so get up- take a shower and go meet them.”

Fiery yawned, “That’s what was keeping me up…” he said as he headed towards his bathroom and closed the door behind him. She waited outside for him and eventually the stallion walked back out and a bit more awake then before.

“How many days until Hearth Warming Eve?” asked Ember.

“Four days- not including today,” he replied as he got his saddle bag back on.

Her head sunk down, “Four days huh… I am going to have to find something to keep my attention. Not like we have an objective to get to before.”

“Well you do that. I think it’s time I head out. I will probably eat at my parents.”

Ember grinned, “Food… Yeah I bet this place has lot of food.”

“Not any meat,” he spoke.

She stared daggers at him, “Did you need to remind me?”

Fiery chuckled and then spoke, “Yes. I do believe I did.”

Together they walked to the front of the castle where the draw bridge was and that’s when the pony continued on by himself. The guards gave her an interesting look since the last time they saw her she was wearing her armor and now just clothing. However she paid no mind and turned back into the courtyard and then back into the castle. Once inside she asked about where she could get something to eat and was directed to the kitchen.

It was an interesting chat she had with the chef with trying to find out what she could eat and what she couldn’t having also left out the omnivore aspect of her race. After a while they said they would simply make French toast and they had soda as well so she grabbed one. An interesting combo but she wasn’t much for making foods and drinks mix. Really it was just which ever she was in the mood for.

Once she got her meal she went to the dining hall where a long rectangle table was situated and she sat down. She was happy that they appeared to have silver wear for other species that use them. Apparently some Griffins used them, but most of them just use their claws. As she ate happily, the doors opposite of Ember opened up and Princess Celestia walked in with some butler unicorns using their magic to levitate the plates above them. As the Princess sat down the plates landed and their tops came off revealing the lavish food.

Ember didn’t say anything and continued to eat silently. Until Celestia spoke first, “Lieutenant Ember, are you enjoying your meal?”

Ember stopped eating, “Please Princess Celestia, just Ember, but yes. I am enjoying my meal thank you.”

Celestia smiled, “That is good to hear. I heard from Luna that you and Fiery Slate have joined her Night Corps.”

“That is correct,” Ember said as she dug into her meal.

“Do stay safe- I know my sister must say I don’t know of what they do and there is truth to that but I am not completely blind… I do know there are dangers.”

Ember looked up at the Princess from her meal, “We will.”

***************************

Fiery walked through the streets of Canterlot, as he got closer to his home he could feel sweat going down his head. His clothing and scar got him stares from the high society ponies as to them he looked out of place in their idealized Canterlot. No doubt his parents would ask him how he got the large scar across his eye- he didn’t mind it too much. Honestly he was just happy he didn’t lose his eye as he was very close to it.

He arrived just outside, the furnace and smelting part of the house where they worked was a walk in and the actual living part was on the side and back of it. However the furnace was off and everything dark with no sign of his parents around which was a little unsettling. Fiery walked into the room and saw that a great amount of dust had been built up and many tools hadn’t been moved in a while. Even some snow was lying atop the tables.

They must have taken it harder than I thought.

Walking out he went to the front door and found it was locked. Bringing up his hoof he knocked on the door a couple of times. The pony waited outside for a bit in the cold with his feet in the snow. Until he heard steps coming from behind the door and it opened revealing a black-colored pony with a grey mane, “Yes… Is there something you need?”

“Dad… It’s me,” Fiery spoke and the older stallion lifted his head and his eyes widened as he looked at Fiery.

A tear ran down his father’s face, “Fiery..! I-Is that really you?”

Fiery nodded his head, “Yes Dad… I am home.”

Smith launched out and hugged his son, “I can’t believe..! We were so scared!”

“That’s so like you two…” he said.

Smith continued to hug for a while but then let go and walked inside, Fiery followed. The house was still clean as his parents would keep it clean all the time. They didn’t want their blacksmithing career to spread it’s dirtiness into the main house. “Honey!” his father yelled out. “Come down please!”

Steps could be heard above him and then watched as an older mare, his mother, Silica, with grey fur and a black mane, came down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she saw Fiery and just stood there. She then looked at Smith who was overjoyed and then slowly walked towards Fiery. “Is… This is real- right?”

“Mom…” he said as he hugged her. “I’m back.”

They let go and she noticed he still had no cutie mark, “Your flank… It’s still blank… Oh Celestia… I am so sorry…”

“Mom, you have nothing to be sorry about. I ran from home and I guess I couldn’t find it,” he said solemnly.

“Are you two…? Mad at me?” he asked as he was on the verge of breaking into tears himself.

“Fiery… My son,” his father began as he put his hoof on the stallions shoulder. “We’re just happy you’re back and safe.”

He looked at the two of them and then down, the two of them could sense something was wrong. “Mom… Dad… I am not here to stay…”

“What…” his mother began. “But you just got here. No… You just…”

“After Hearths Warming Eve… I will be working under Princess Luna in the Night Corps. We will very busy,” he spoke with a heavy heart and tears starting to come down his face.

“Princess Luna? The Night Corps?” His father spoke, his face still teary eyed but suddenly a sense of pride. “Son… That’s amazing.”

His mother stayed silent and Fiery spoke, “I will be gone after that but… I can stay here till Hearths Warming Eve.”

That made Silica a bit happier, “Fiery... I-I bet your hungry, let’s eat. Honey?” she spoke in a cheerier voice.

Smith nodded, “I’ll cook something up. Come sit down, you must have a lot to tell us.”

It was then that she realized it, the scar over his eye. She was so in the moment that she hadn’t even taken notice to it. “Yes… Lots to tell us,” she spoke as she sat down along with Fiery as his Dad began making a simple breakfast.

As he cooked, Fiery told them of the events that had happened. Similar with the Sheriff, he omitted the parts about his fire magic. A wide range of emotions came over his parents, more so of fear when they learned of what happened to Santa Mane and the moles. However if there was something they were interested in was meeting Ember, the Angel who traveled with their son and saved his life. Silica didn’t want her son to go, more so now than ever with the dangers she listened to.

She wants him to stay home and be safe; however she knew that even if she wanted it. It wouldn’t happen as Fiery expressed passion about going to the Night Corps and really helping people. Both of them, Silica and Smith were both proud of their son as they could tell he had grown a lot in the months that he was gone.

***************************

Ember walked through the castle unsupervised and got a good feel for the layout and not as labyrinth-like as before. As she walked on the inner wall she could hear noise on the ground below, so she walked towards the edge and looked down at what it was. She could see various guards, Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi. It appeared they were doing sort of competition between the Pegasi while the others cheered them on.

Intrigued she found her way down steps on the side of the wall that led to the training area. They appeared to be flying through various hoops that were hung up around the area. Lots of sharp turns needed to be made as obstacles made it difficult to go from one hoop to the next. It reminded her of Angel Training she had back on her home world, before getting out of High school and then going into the military where there many of the Angel Training was disregarded.

The Pegasus in lead made a turn and soared through the last hoop, the crowd of guards cheered and the Pegasus landed. However the crowd continued to watch as the other Pegasi continued to come through the hoops. He then noticed the Angel watching them in the back and walked towards her. “You’re Lieutenant Ember, correct? The Princesses told us about you.”

Ember nodded and handed out her hand, the Pegasus put his hoof in her hand and they shook. “Yes, I saw you out there. Quite impressed.”

“I’m Sky Hook, and I appreciate that coming from a land walker.”

Ember raised an eyebrow, “Land walker?”

“Yeah, you know. Like Earth Ponies and Unicorns, they’re stuck to the ground. I mean no offense.”

She smiled and saw an opportunity to waste time, “Well… I take offense to that and challenge you to the course.”

He looked at her, “You’re serious?”

“Oh I am very serious,” she said as she walked towards the course.

Sky followed her just as the other Pegasi landed and the race ended. That’s when Sky made the announcement that Ember would be racing, seemingly unaware of her wing capabilities. They stood at the edge of the line, both in their ready position. However just as they began counting down Ember began to take steps back but just as the Unicorn counting down spoke “one,” Ember began to run forward and just as she hit the line both of them soared.

He was surprised when suddenly she made wings appeared on her back, and she was fast and catching up quickly to him. They moved through the hoops and dodged all the obstacles. She had to admit, the flying was great, it wasn’t like before where it was simply going up and down. Making turns was a really good work out for the wings and the adrenaline began to run. She twisted her body sideways as she passed through two large rocks and then turned as she exited.

Only a little bit ahead of her was Sky Hook also dodging and flying with ease. However as the adrenaline pumped she was getting faster and starting to catch up to him. They both began to fly upwards to the upper part of the course. As they reached high up into the sky they both made a very sharp turn back down and that’s when she began to pass him. Seeing this, he began to go even faster and then they were on equal footing.

The two of them together began to twist and turn through the obstacle course. Until they reached close to the end the two of them began changing places, one head and the other behind. She was sure she was going to win as she passed him but then suddenly like a blur he passed her and scored through the final hoop, and then she followed after. Sky landed and was panting heavily, Ember landed as her wings vanished she was also drenched in sweat. Despite the snow and only in her normal clothing, she felt extremely hot.

She walked towards him, “Good race,” she said as she once more put out her hand and he took it.

“You too… I almost though I was going to lose for a moment.”

“I almost thought I was going to win,” she replied and they both began to laugh. They both were handed a canteen of water.

“You know they didn’t tell us you had wings,” Sky spoke as he put down the water.

“I thought it was in the letter to the Princess. Or maybe they glossed it over?” Ember tried to rationalize.

Sky shrugged, “No idea- but it doesn’t matter now. Want to stay here and train with us?”

Ember thought about it for a moment and agreed to stay. She couldn’t think of much else to do so it was better than nothing. Plus it would be good to get some more exercise and not sit around like a lazy ass all day.

***************************

“You have had quite the journey,” Silica spoke to Fiery as they all were sitting in the living room, the sun having gone down a bit ago. The fire place had been started and it warmed them through the cold night.

“And that journey will continue on…” he said.

Silica and Smith looked at each other and then back at Fiery, “Can you promise us one thing?” she spoke.

“What’s that?”

Silica grabbed his front hoofs, “Please… Be safe. Don’t be reckless. Come home to us.”

Fiery smirked, “I promise as Celestia as my witness. I… promise.”

They both were happy at this and the family continued to talk and catch up through the night until they settled down for the night and embraced Luna’s night.

Hearth's Warming Eve

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Hearth's Warming Eve

“So Lieutenant Ember, tell me more about where you come from. Are you the dominant species on your world? What are your people like?” Luna asked curiously as they sat on cushions around a small round table.

The Lieutenant took a sip of her glass of water, “My species of Angels are actually quite the minority. Humans are the dominant species across the galaxy; we aren’t bound to a single world.”

“Oh, so your species can travel between worlds? If only we had that ability… What about these Humans you mentioned, what do they look like?”

Ember shrugged, “Nothing special, extremely similar to us, but they don’t have wings, enhanced strength, and glowing eyes. But… they can use magic which is quite the advantage.”

“Magic? Can they all use it or just a few?”

“The latter, only a few can use it- but a powerful Mage is quite a formidable foe.”

Luna sipped a cup of her tea, “I wish we could accurately compare our magic abilities.”

“As far as I can tell, Fiery’s magic is similar to ours, but to be fair I haven’t seen much of unicorn magic outside the teleportation and you levitating your cup.”

Luna put down her cup as if embarrassed, “Well- we have many uses, mostly harmless, but some are offensive spells that can cause damage. But we don’t typically teach nonmilitary unicorns them.”

“Understandable, from what I understand your world seems to be a lot more peaceful. Outside, you know.”

The Princess nodded, “Yes. Most go through their entire lives without ever witnessing violence. However history isn’t full of peace, you will learn that once you see the Hearths Warming Eve play.”

“Then I look forward to it,” she spoke as she took another sip of water.

Once the Princess finished her tea she stood from her cushion, “I must take my leave; I hope you have enjoyed your day in Canterlot.”

“Night Princess,” Ember spoke and bowed as the Princess turned and left the chamber leaving the soldier alone. It was the end of her first day in Canterlot not including the night before. She had to admit, it was nice. Training with the Royal Guard was a new experience and she began to learn about this new culture- while they consider her an alien, she considers herself surrounded by aliens. It was strange because why they were ponies, they acted very Human. While one could argue that Angels do act Human, and people would agree, when it came to non-humanoid races a lot of the time they acted a lot different.

Their morals are blue and orange instead of black and white. Strange and unpredictable to Humans and Angels, what were perceive as normal they consider strange and outlandish. But not these ponies, no they were very familiar and not foreign at all. Various social cues still work, implying socially they developed in some ways very similar. It was curious. Although to be fair, Humans developed on various planets but when they reached space travel were many ways similar to each other, languages and all.

Had she fallen on any other world with a non-humanoid species, she would have been damned without an AI or Artificial Intelligence, to translate the language, if they even spoke as Humans do at all. It could have been telekinesis or something along those lines. She had tried to learn other languages but it just didn’t turn out well, she could barely remember any of the phrases or words she was taught. Typically if they found someone who didn’t speak English she just had Drew translate as he was taught many different languages.

She stood up from her cushion and hopped into bed and fell asleep.

***************************

The days passed by quickly, Ember and Luna continued their talks in the night while during the day she hung out with the Royal Guard and continued to train with them. Some of them were cautious but slowly began to warm up to the bipedal alien among them. She didn’t see much of Fiery as he opted to stay with his parents through the days leading up to Hearths Warming Eve. Ember noticed that as they got closer to the day, the citizens began to get a lot more cheery. She had to admit that even she was getting into the festivities as if it was contagious.

One of the days she went to Fiery’s home and met his parents who were very welcoming. She could tell they were sad that their son was going off once again but Ember stressed that she would protect him which gave them some ease. Fiery embarrassed Ember when he asked when she was going to make a change of clothing. In truth she had washed them since they arrived but she hadn’t even thought of getting new clothing. More so she doubted any ponies were proficient in making clothing for a bipedal creature.

Fiery did get his parents a bit worried when he blurted out how she was an omnivore and therefore eat meat regularly. They got all stiff and only were slightly relieved when she revealed that they didn’t eat ponies but the idea that she ate cows and such still was a bit strange. They know their Griffon neighbors eat meat but they rarely interacted with them.

She ended up eating dinner with them and then leaving afterwards, Fiery told her that he would meet back up with her after the Hearths Warming Eve play.

***************************

The day of Hearths Warming Eve arrived and Ember awoke early to see the snow slowly falling. Checking the time it was 7 AM, earliest she had woken up since she arrived on this world. Getting into the shower and then exiting she put on her armor as she was letting her clothing dry after giving them a wash. Not exactly the best outfit to wear on a holiday, but she found it comfortable. After getting everything she needed for the day she exited her room.

“Morning,” she heard a voice speak behind her and she turned to see Sky Hook, but not in his armor revealing his blue fur and short silver and black mane.

She faced him, “Morning to you Sky, how’s your going thus far?”

He shrugged, “The best it could be. Happy I got the day off; I know some guards are still on duty. I pity them.”

“Pity the fools?” she said with a smile. “Are you going to the Hearths Warming Eve play?”

Sky laughed, “Your question should be, who isn’t? But yes, I am going. Actually going with my sisters.”

Ember folded her arms, “Your sisters? They would be interesting to meet. Considering your competitive nature I can only assume they’re similar.”

“Nah, they’re quite calm and collective compared to myself. I am the second youngest, my eldest sister, Raven is actually in the Night Corps like yourself. My youngest sister, Nighty Cloud, is still a filly.”

“How about your parents?” she asked curiously.

Sky looked away and lowered his voice, “I rather not talk about them.”

Not probing for any more information she let it slide, “Anyway what are you about to do now?”

“I am actually going to go meet with my sisters, you’re welcome to come if you want,” he replied and asked.

“Well I got nothing else to do, so if you don’t mind.”

He shook his head, “Not at all. Also I forgot to ask, how is your morning thus far?”

“Nothing to write home about,” she said and they left the castle.

***************************

Compared to the days before, there were more ornaments and holiday decorations up, from trees to giant candy canes everything was on fully display. “Not the best attire to be walking in the city,” she spoke as they walked.

He quickly glanced at her armor, “Looks like your about to take somepony out. But at least your helmet is down so not all is lost.”

“What is that? I’m going to poke it!” They heard a cheery mare yell out. Suddenly she felt a hoof poke her leg and she turned to see a pink mare with a fluffy pink mane.

“Pinkie!” a lavender mare called out from across the street. ‘Pinkie’ looked up at the bipedal creature with awe, no fear in her eyes. Ember looked around and then back at Pinkie.

“Hello?” Only she didn’t realize that she would be bombarded after.

“Hi I’m Pinkie Pie! Who are you? What are you? Do you like cupcakes? Do you like to party? Can we friends? Are you nice? What are things you like? Is that your skin? Are you an alien? Tell me tell me tell me!” Pinkie spoke swiftly at Ember as she hopped up and down.

She was taken aback by this, “Um… well I am Ember-”

“Wait, you’re an Ember? You don’t look like one, are you fooling with me?”

Sky almost laughed but held it back as Ember shot him a glare, “No my name is Ember.”

“Well then Ember, not an Ember but is named after it, what are you and do like to party?”

She glanced at Sky and then back towards the group of mares that the lavender mare was part of. They hadn’t walked over yet, just watching from a distance. “I am an Angel and I guess I like to party…”

“An Angel? That’s silly, that’s the name of a bunny! Do you like being named after things? You’re strange.”

Sky couldn’t contain it and started to laugh and Ember just sighed, “No, I am not named after a bunny. If anything he is named after us but I doubt that… Anyway, is there something you need?

”

“Nope!” she spoke showing her teeth but then looked at her friends. “I need to go! This was fun!” She turned and began to hop away towards her friends.

The two of them watched as the group walked away and then Sky spoke, “That was certainly interesting, but we should probably get going.”

“Right.”

They arrived at Sky’s modest home sometime later, a simple two-story building with three rooms. The two entered the house and could hear two voices in the living room. Both turned the corner and saw a dark purple mare with a long silver and blue mane and blue filly with a red mane, Raven and Nighty Cloud, both Pegasi. “Sky!” the filly spoke and ran over to her brother ignoring Ember.

Raven looked up at Ember, “Lieutenant Ember, I heard about you from my superiors.”

“And you must be Raven,” Ember said.

The filly looked away from her brother and saw Ember and then in a quick rush ran behind the couch and looked out shakily. “S-Sky! W-What s that..!?”

Ember looked at Sky, “I thought you said they were calm and collective.”

“That would be me,” Raven spoke as she walked towards Sky and Ember. “Nighty is still quite… cowardly.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. She is still quite young Raven,” Sky interjected.

Raven let out an “humph,” and looked over at Nighty who was still hiding, “She will learn. Anyway,” she said turning back to Ember. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person. In fact I don’t know if the Princess mentioned to you already but I will be going with you and Fiery Slate on your first assignment.”

“That’s news to me,” Ember said and Sky nodded in surprise. Sky went over to Nighty and explained what Ember was and that she wasn’t bad. Slowly but surely the filly began to come out from hiding and got closer to Ember. The bipedal creature bent down and held out a hand towards the filly. Nighty looked at the hand and then up at Ember and then back again. Ember could still see her shaking but eventually she held up her hoof and placed it on her hand and shook.

Ember smiled and the filly smiled back. The shaking stopped and Nighty could see that Ember wasn’t going to harm her. “Well she has overcome one fear,” Raven said and Nighty looked up with a proud expression.

“Have you two eaten breakfast yet?” Sky asked.

Both shook their heads, “Nope, mind making something? I want to talk with Ember here in private,” Raven spoke.

“Sure, come along Nighty,” he said as he left the living room and the filly followed him to the kitchen leaving the angel and mare alone.

They both took a seat in the living room. “So here we’re,” began Raven.

“Yes… So do you know what the mission is?”

Raven nodded, “We have got some reports near Neighagra Falls about ponies going missing. There’s a small village nearby that we’re going to check out. Luckily no one from the village of Hollow Shades has reported anyone missing.”

“What about Santa Mane? Is anyone being sent to go investigate that? Sure we got attacked but we didn’t get the whole story,” Ember questioned.

“A couple of agents have already been sent there. You need not mind what happens there and instead just focus on what is coming up.”

Ember sighed at that, she wasn’t exactly pleased with the answer but she knew there wasn’t anything she could do. “When we get to the village near Neighagra Falls is there a specific lead we will be following or we’re going in blind and just improvise.”

Raven smiled, “A bit of both. We don’t have any ponies we’re going to talk to but instead just go to the area that relatives of the missing ponies said that they went to.”

“Well that is sort of a lead, let’s just hope there is something to find there,” she said just as Sky came back in.

“Ladies- food is ready; may you accompany me to the dining room?” he announced.

Ember stood, “My, such a gentle… colt?”

Raven snickered at that, “What do you say? Clearly gentlecolt is not normal for you.”

“We say gentleman,” she explained. “Since we say man, not colt.”

“Interesting sometime you must tell me more about your culture,” Raven said as she got off her seat.

Ember thought back to Luna, “Been talking to Princess Luna about just that each night.” She revealed to the mare and she looked interested in hearing what the Princess had been told. Together they followed Sky into the dining room and ate breakfast together. She stayed with the family until the sun was starting to go down and the orange skies of the late afternoon showed. Then it was time to go to the play, lucky for them, Celestia made sure to secure front row seats for them. Only to her surprise there was no seats, everyone just stood. However since the angel towers over them she had to sit on the ground so the ponies behind her could see, Sky got a good laugh out of it.

As they sat down Ember spotted Fiery and his parents standing just a bit down the row. They waved at them but then watched the stage as the lights began to dim. The spotlight went to the center of the red draping which then moved away to reveal a fire place and a small purple dragon with an old times outfit- it was silent for a moment but then he began to speak.

“Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony. It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart... by hatred!”

Just as Luna said, honestly it’s not surprising. If a species has full sentience, they will no doubt have dark points in their history. It’s unavoidable unless you took control of the species very early on and removed all free will. But that itself would be a dark point. So unavoidable.

Everyone but a select few gasped at this prospect, the idea of hatred being the normal and violence in general was a frightening prospect. However for Ember the Angel, while she wasn’t a very hateful person, violence was the norm, it was to be expected in her line of work and if she wasn’t used to it, than she wouldn’t be a very good soldier now would she?

The purple dragon continued but quickly walked up to the front of the stage and put his claw over the side of his face as if to whisper, “I know. Can you believe it?” he spoke in what seemed his normal voice but then continued in his fake accent. “During this frightful age, each of the three tribes – the Pegasi,” just then Pegasi that were above were lit up “the unicorns,” and then the light shined upon three unicorns, “and the Earth ponies,” lastly the light was shined on the Earth ponies below, “– cared not for what befell the other tribes,” the ponies on stage all looked away from each other in disgust, “but only for their own welfare.”

Racism? She recalled Fiery’s brief explanation of the event days ago, it seemed to match up. It was similar to some Human planets; they discriminated against various skin colors of their own race. That racism has died out but interspecies racism is still seen in modern times.

The curtains closed, “In those troubled times, as now,” then the curtains opened to show to Pegasi, one shaking a cloud, “the Pegasi were the stewards of the weather,” the cloud went off the side and a sun appeared, the background changed from clouds to farm fields and two Earth ponies came out, “But they demanded something in return. Food that could only be grown by the Earth ponies.” The two Pegasi flew down and held out their hoofs and then the Earth ponies with untrusted eyes handed food over to the Pegasi and then flew off just as the Unicorns arrived from the opposite side of the stage.

“The unicorns demanded the same,” so the Earth Ponies handed them food as well and then the unicorns horn glowed and the sun was changed to the moon, “in return for magically bringing forth day and night.” Now the stage light was on the dragon and he was the center of attention, “And so, mistrust between the tribes festered, until one fateful day, it came to a boil. And what prompted the ponies to clash? 'Twas a mysterious blizzard that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes' precarious peace.”

Fake snow began to fall from the ceiling, and the background was night and it showed Earth Ponies trying to harvest food but it all died, “The normally industrious Earth ponies were unable to farm their land…”

Ember continued to watch the play happen; she was surprised when the group of ponies she had seen in town earlier was playing the major characters. Raven told her that they were actually the elements of harmony, very famous in Equestria for dispelling Nightmare Moon, who was Luna, and only months ago a being known as Discord. It was interesting and she wondered if they would play in any future events but Raven told her it was unlikely since none of them are part of the Night Corps.

When the play finished she found it interesting how it all ended happily. They founded Equestria and they made peace. If this had been other species it would have most likely ended in bloodshed and then eventually made a peaceful ending or no ending at all.

She had to admit, the singing at the end made her a bit uneasy and thus she didn’t take part in it and just listened. However she did see Fiery singing and when he noticed she saw him he sunk down and face turned red. After the song ended the curtains folded and the lights turned back on. Everyone began to chat and talk, Fiery began to hug his parents and she could see small tears going down their faces but a sense of pride in their facial expressions.

After that he rushed over to Ember and friends, Sky and Nighty said they were going to head back but Raven stayed telling the two of them that she needed to talk with them. She quickly brought Fiery up to date with what she told Ember earlier. “Tomorrow, early in the morning we leave for Neighagra Falls, we will meet at the station, there is no station in the village, but there is a dirt path leading to it. So that will take us a few hours.”

“I will be staying in the castle,” Fiery said.

“Good, cause I didn’t want to have to go fetch you. Ember will do that,” she spoke and directed her gaze at the Angel. “I also neglected to mention up to this point but we will be having one more joining us. A Unicorn, he’s a bit on the eccentric side and… W-Well you will see when you meet him.”

Ember wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that but she didn’t say anything. After that Ember and Fiery both left to go to their own rooms, compared to before Fiery didn’t seem as nervous, she assumed staying with his parents aided in relieving him of that tension.

Tomorrow they begin their first day of Night Corp work, she only hoped that those days wouldn’t last too long before she could get back home…

The Disappearances of Neighagra Falls Part 1

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The Disappearances of Neighagra Falls Part 1

Like the first morning they arrived in Canterlot, Ember was the first to wake up. After doing her normal routine she headed over to Fiery’s room to find unsurprisingly, that he was still sleeping. Not wanting to waste time she sprinted over and instead of giving a gentle shake simply used her enhanced strength and lifted the pony up and dropped him back down to the bed. Fiery screamed and Ember just laughed.

“What was that for!?” he demanded to know.

She shrugged, “You were still sleeping and I didn’t want to wait too long for you to get your lazy ass up.”

“Pfff…” he simply stated unhappily. She pointed at the shower and he sighed, “Yeah- yeah. I know.”

It didn’t take long for him to shower and get ready. Afterwards they left together and headed towards the station. The snow was light in the morning and compared to the previous night wasn’t nearly as cold. Now that Hearth’s Warming Eve was over, people outside were starting to take down a lot of the festivities flair that had been up for the past week.

Before going to the station the two of them stopped at a general store and picked up some goods. Ember made sure to stock up on medical supplies and stored them in the cube. By this point all of her wounds had healed up and she was ready to go. However it was always good to be overly prepared rather than underprepared. They also made sure to stock up on food, more than simply apples.

Afterwards they got to the station and spotted Raven standing alone in a dark green and black cloak, “Lieutenant Ember, Slate, good morning you two.”

“Morning Raven, we just stopped and got some supplies before leaving,” Ember explained.

“I assumed as much when you weren’t here earlier. I too stocked up on supplies, and I believe he is also stocking up on some.”

He? Is she referring to the Unicorn that is coming with us? Just who is he?

Just as she was about to ask about him she suddenly heard a voice from above, “Watch out down below!”

She couldn’t react fast enough and suddenly felt something impact her back and sent her crashing into the ground. “Sorry my lady!” she heard the voice again but this time much closer… Like it was speaking from atop of her… The weight that had been on her back lifted and got off, she quickly stood up and looked down at what had impacted her.

A green fur stallion with a short blue mane and large red eyes and a horn atop his head stood facing her. “Ah you must be Ember! Pleasure to meet ya! I am Wishful Magic or as many call me, Crazy! I don’t know why. I was just testing my new spell, a mixture of teleportation and levitation and it didn’t work out to well as you can see. Oh dear I hope I didn’t hurt you, then again your armor looks tough so maybe the concern isn’t needed.”

Ember just directed her gaze at Raven, “Is this him?”

Raven simply nodded, “Call him Wish, he’s a bit crazy but he’s a lovable crazy.”

“I am not crazy! I am simply… very eccentric about my magic arts.”

“A crazy-level of eccentricity,” Raven insisted. “But that’s why your one of the best.”

Ember turned towards Fiery and he just shrugged. “Oh before I forget…” Raven spoke once more and dug into her saddle bag. “I got these for you three.” The mare pulled out three cloaks similar to hers, handed the first two to Fiery and Wish, and then handed the bigger one to Ember. She was surprised that it was made to fit her and perfectly fit over her armor.

“Wow, thanks. I am surprised that it fits me perfectly… I didn’t have anyone look over my figure or anything to give out measurements.”

Raven smiled, “We at the Night Corps are proud of our efficiently, we saw you in your normal clothes and simply went based on that. I am happy it worked out well. These are just in case we need to keep low. If this is bigger than we originally thought, it may be good to keep a low profile.”

Wish rolled his eyes, “I could simply use my invisibility spell but fine, I will use your cloaks. A tad bit more boring if I say so myself, why hide in the shadows when you can hide in the open?”

“Because that sort of magic takes quite a bit out of you… AND it doesn’t work all of the time, I’ve seen your reports. It goes on and off…”

Wish just scoffed it off. All together the four of them hopped on the train. Unlike their journey to Canterlot, there were no stops to the station outside Neighagra Falls. Raven explained that the station wasn’t in the village because of the terrain, near the village it was a mesh of lots of hills, trees, and rivers from the waterfalls.

Despite the Night Corps being part of the Canterlot military, due to their increased security and needing to stay undercover, they aren’t flown to their destinations on chariots as it’s a lot easier to be tracked by their enemies and as Raven stressed, the Night Corps has many enemies, not just the moles and dragons but ponies and some griffons as well. Although she did say that there are some griffons in the corps and they do sometimes work with some griffon military groups.

As they got seated the train began to move, seeing as they would be sitting with nothing much to do, Wish decided to make some small talk. “So, Ember, you’re a… Alien?”

Ember wasn’t surprised at the question, she had been asked it by various others, “I am, but to me, you’re the aliens.”

“Ah, so then it’s a matter of perspective is it not? I assume based on your rank of Lieutenant that you were in your military?”

Raven tilted her head, “Did you not read up on her before?”

“Reading? I may be one for magic testing and doing many… strange things but reading isn’t my forte.”

Raven just shook her head silently and turned away, but then Fiery spoke up. “You know Ember, you haven’t told me much about yourself. You told me your age and you trained me but I don’t know much about your history or were you’re from.”

Ember leaned back in her seat, “You ask me to divulge much information yet don’t give much yourself. For instance, Fiery, outside knowing that you ran from home and that you’re a blank flank, there isn’t much. For Wish next to you, I know even less.”

Wish still continued to persist, “See but your different. A being from another world, with technology generations ahead of our own. It’s far more intriguing to hear things from you- I mean I have a well… Colorful background but it’s not exactly unique in the Night Corps.”

Raven turned her gaze away from the window and back towards the group, “If Ember doesn’t wish to speak about it, then don’t pester her. If anything I am more surprised you aren’t pestering Slate, since he does have the ability to form and control fire, and not even a Unicorn.”

Wish looked at Fiery who was sitting next to him, “Now that is an interesting topic of discussion. I have been also quite curious about that since I heard about you two. Still no idea how you gained it? Most curious indeed… As much as I would love to see it in action, I realize that this is not the best place for it. Wouldn’t want to burn down the train, now would we?”

Fiery just shook his head. He was gaining a lot of control over it but he didn’t want to risk that.

Raven decided to change the subject, “How about we just stick to talking about this mission.., thoughts on it Ember, the disappearances and such?”

Ember folded her arms, “People disappearing mysteriously? Can’t say this is the first time I have dealt with such a thing. Assuming this is connected with what I and Fiery dealt with back in Santa Mane, then I think we might be dealing with an underground group of moles.”

“I just hope this doesn’t turn out like the Vanhoover incident a few years back, eh Raven?” Wish spoke.

“Don’t remind me… That was bad…” she spoke and could tell that Ember and Fiery were curious and decided to elaborate. “See before Princess Luna came back a year ago, the Night Corps was a much smaller and more disorganized group. However we still got shit done. In Vanhoover a similar incident to this was happening, people were going missing. But, unlike in Neighagra Falls were the people are still missing, in Vanhoover they would show back up- dead and hanging from street lights.”

“I recall that… The Vanhoover Murders, didn’t like twenty ponies die before those responsible got caught?” Fiery spoke.

Raven nodded, “It was bad. It wasn’t a single pony, but a group of crazed ponies. They believed they were being ‘told’ by some mysterious entity to kill it. Personally I think it’s just hogwash… All of those involved were already diagnosed with mental problems before the killings.”

“A mysterious entity? Did they ever say what it was?” Ember inquired.

“Nope. None of them ever spoke of what it was- so we just had to assume it was them being crazy. There wasn’t any evidence to suggest it wasn’t just them being psychopaths. But even I will give them credit; there are many strange creatures in this world. Discord, who is basically chaos incarnate, nearly a god.”

Ember remembered hearing about him from Princess Luna. The elements of Harmony helped stop him a year ago. From the tale she told, Discord almost reminded her of a weaker Dark God.

But a mysterious entity? Could it be what gave Fiery Slate his powers? Or was it another being on this world? So much we don’t know yet, it’s a bit maddening.

Raven continued, “We always try to stop such people before they act. Typically we’re quite good at that but they were quite organized. Although since Princess Luna has returned and take leadership of the Night Corps we have stopped other groups before they have gained public awareness. Outside the village of Neighagra Falls, no one’s knows about it.”

“I am impressed, due to your technology level- I would assume it would be a lot more difficult to keep such a range of control,” she replied, hoping they wouldn’t feel offended. Without things like digital communications that allow messages to be sent from across world systems, or even just fast communications from one person to the next, there would be an expected delay from the message being sent and arrival.

“To major cities and even to the most secluded places, we have members of the Night Corps who report to us frequently. We even have some dragons in the Corps; they feed us the most Intel they can.”

Even Dragons? Once again I am impressed by these ponies. They got quite the network of spies working under their belt. Like any good Black Ops group would.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask, why are they trying to overthrow the Equestrian government? Do they feel suppressed or something?”

Raven shrugged her shoulders, “That is still a mystery- from the Intel we have gathered they do indeed wish to take over Equestria. However, even with the Intel from our Dragon agents who are in the thick of things, the main reason is still unknown. Apparently the higher up of this operation are keeping their true intentions on the down low.”

Now Ember found that to be strange, “So they just started to rise up without reason? That seems a bit strange. Do we know if they’re working for someone else?”

Raven cocked an eyebrow, “Someone else? That is a possibility… Haven’t put much thought into that.”

“I wonder because where I come from,” she spoke and noticed instantly that Wish was leaning forward as if to hear better. “We have dealt with groups before that simply were the goons. Hired soldiers to do the dirty work of others and keep it secret.”

Wish looked disappointed that it didn’t delve into much specific information but Ember decided to share a bit more. “When I was just a kid, there was a civil war on a small planet known as Kasar. It seemed simple at first, one side was fighting for the leadership of Queen Daria, and the other were fighting to overthrow and install a new government. Both sides showed off their propaganda and it was hard to see the “good” guys in the situation, if there was at all. Queen Daria wasn’t perfect but she certainly wasn’t the worst.”

“Anyway, it soon became clear that there was more to this war than originally thought. The rebels who wanted to bring down the Queen were suddenly being funded- we didn’t know who was funding them at the time but they were getting really expensive and top of the line gear from somewhere. This was giving the rebels a boost over the loyalists. The loyalists however reached out to the United Alliance, or UA to look into the rebels suppliers.”

Wish decided to ask a question before she continued, “The United Alliance? Is that what you’re part of?”

Ember nodded, “Correct. The United Alliance is a multi-species alliance between various governments across the galaxy. A sort of peacekeeping group- but could also act as its own government and military if the situation calls for it- which is quite often. Well back to the story, at first the UA wasn’t sure to look into it, because they felt it was a war that they should solve themselves. Once some UA weapons and gear went missing and ended up in the hands of the rebels that was all the justification for the UA to look into them.”

“After months of investigating, it was learned that there was a large organization from another world that was pulling the strings and benefiting financially from the conflict but upon raiding one of their facilities we discovered they had their hands in conflicts happening across the galaxy, not just on Kasar. Not going to lie, but the UA did feel embarrassed that they hadn’t caught on to it until they hand their hands in over ten wars going on.”

Wish was happy, he had learned more about where she was from and some of the problems they face. “So what you’re saying Is that this maybe a group similar to that? Benefiting from the chaos?”

“I don’t know if that’s the case. As far as I can tell, there isn’t much of a way of benefiting from war like you can where I am from. All I can really say is that those who we fight may just be a façade, meant to keep us away from finding the source.”

“Who do you think the source could be?”

Ember shrugged, “I have no way of knowing. I am still new to this world; you three know more about here than I do.”

“I’ll admit there isn’t anything that readily comes to mind…” Wish admitted.

They continued to chat as the train moved down the mountain and down towards ground level. Fiery quickly dozed off and they didn’t both to wake him up. Raven told Ember that the reason they had no specific leads to go on was that their agent in the village had also gone missing, it was the reason they were being sent rather than anyone else. Because an agent has gone missing, the situation is deemed critical and of high importance because of the missing agent being such a rare occurrence.

As they got close to the station, Fiery woke up as the train stopped and frantically looked around “What? Are we there already?

“Already? You’ve been sleep all of this time, I sometimes wonder if you have a sleeping problem,” Ember spoke, she quickly glanced outside and noticed there wasn’t a hint of snow of the ground, in fact it seemed a tad bit warmer. Which was odd considering they were further north, although she then did recall that they said that it snowed from the weather Pegasus and then wondered if there wasn’t any over here?

“I don’t have a sleeping problem, I just love to sleep. Is that too hard to understand?”

“Not really, but we’re about to be on our mission, sleep can wait… By the way, Raven, I noticed it’s not snowing here, why is that?”

Raven looked outside as did Ember, “That? You heard about Everfree forest right? How it has its own weather and such? How it doesn’t follow what we control?”

Ember nodded and Raven continued, “Well this is another place like that. It’s just not as dangerous. Very few monsters lurk here. Strange places indeed…” The Angel chuckled at that, and Raven tilted her head, “What’s funny?”

“Well what you consider abnormal, I consider normal. See every planet I have been to before have their weather controlled naturally by uncontrollable forces. There are no weather ponies to control when it rains; snows and we don’t clean up our snow either.”

Wish looked horrified, “What!? How do you people live, I would be scared if I had to live where we had no control.”

“For us it’s normal. We can predict what weather will come, but we can’t do anything to change it without seriously harming the environment. Our Sun and Moon or even Moons, are also uncontrollable. However unlike the weather, they’re extremely predictable. See, we rotate around our sun, and the moon around our world. However the world is also rotating, so that’s why there is the illusion of the sun rising and setting. In reality it’s not moving, we’re.”

It was a hard concept for Wish to comprehend as just as every pony, they know that Celestia rises and sets the sun and Luna rises and sets the moon and before them, the ancient unicorns did it, but never did they move on their own. However from what Ember stated, it was clear that their planet was the abnormal as all other planets follow what she said. He could only hope to eventually go to a planet and see this “natural” weather and planetary rotation for himself.

***************************

The four of them stood up and headed out the doors. They were the only four getting off the train, the rest going to either the Hollow Shades or Manehattan. As they stepped down the wooden steps of the station, the train once more set off. Leaving them as the only living souls in the area and with no quick escape if anything was to go FUBAR.

Getting on the wooden path they began to make their long walk to the village. A river of water flanks their right and trees on the left. However looking ahead, the amount of trees triples and the path begins to twist and turn and go up and down hills.

While walking, Ember continued to scan the area with her helmet’s interface. Just for safe measure she brought out her pistol. Wish watched the weapon and notice it was similar to something the Griffons have been working on, but more crude and larger. Ember was surprised at that, she hadn’t expected them to start getting guns for a while longer. “I wonder if I will ever get to see what the Griffons are working on,” she replied.

“The Griffons are quite militaristic, they put more of an emphasis on developing weapon technology than we do,” he said. “Some fear that it may lead to their domination of the world, but so long as Celestia keeps ties with them good, I don’t think we will have to worry about it. At least, not for a while.”

“Heh,” Raven spoke. “Griffons are militaristic but outside conflicts in the past, they don’t seem to wish for more territory. They’re on the border of Zebra territory, but the Griffons own most of their continent. With their current economic and social problems, I think expansion is the last thing on their mind. Not to mention we both benefit from trading. If we were to stop trading, their economic problems would worsen.”

“But if they took over us wouldn’t they be able to simply manufacture the goods they would normally import from us? That would generate jobs, and they wouldn’t have to pay for imports.”

Raven shook her head, “In theory, yes, they could do that. But they would lose revenue from us importing their goods. However while they’re more militaristic and superior in military technology, we out number them 2 to 1, and with our magic they would lose a good amount of people before they could successfully take control. There isn’t much reason to keep it in mind because it’s never going to happen. Lastly, like I said before, we have some Griffons working for us and they can alleviate those fears.”

Wish smiled, “But I like to theorize. It’s a fun thinking exercise. Plus I can’t stop thinking and theorizing about every little thing.”

“It can also make one very paranoid, if you’re going to theorize, do so about who is ultimately behind this Mole-Dragon alliance.”

“Fine,” he simply said and looked away and Raven just sighed.

Fiery kept quiet as he just took in the wilderness around them as he had never been in this area before and so it was new. When he had left his parents, he had gone south and never north, so for him this was all new terrain. Personally he was found of discovering new places, because with new places there was a sense of wonder and mystery that is lost once you see all of its secrets. He had only heard about Neighagra Falls before and it was one of the places he wanted to visit as it has the largest falls in the known world.

With that, he couldn’t care at all about the economic and political situations of any country, even of his own. So as he walked he ignored the conversation. Although if he didn’t at least care of the wellbeing of his country from terrorist groups, then he wouldn’t have signed up for the Night Corps in the first place, he just can’t be bothered by the politics of it all.

As for Ember, being a soldier she had one purpose. To fight to keep the galaxy at piece and so she felt it was really useful to keep tabs on the current political and economic situations of the United Alliance colonies and neighbors. Sometimes she felt soldiers, on her side and enemy sides are blinded to the truth and really understand what they’re fighting for. Knowing what each side believes in and what lead to the conflict really gives a person perspective and what is right and wrong.

Even in the past she had questioned the United Alliances actions before. Just like all of the other sides, they aren’t perfect but they get things right. Most of the time at least. She was at least lucky enough to not take part in the conflicts that did involve the UA fucking up. However her step-father had, and he had told her stories of the things they had to do, the things he wasn’t proud of but wasn’t hiding from them.

Around 1600 Hours, they arrived just outside the village. All of them put their cloaks on and it made them harder to see. They were deep in the forest near the falls now and there wasn’t much light getting through, just occasional sun ray through the breaks in the trees above. Through the trees she could see with her visor animals watching and then scurrying away as if in fear.

As they got closer they could see the small houses coming into view through the trees. There was a clear opening where the houses are. Once they stepped through a small gate that Ember could have easily hopped over, they entered the village. They could see some ponies walking about, others talking with each other. Not nearly as crowded as Canterlot but there was clearly some life in this town. Ember noticed the houses seemed more in tune with Nature than the Canterlot homes, in that many of them looked like they were made of a hollowed out tree.

“Just who are you folk?” An old stallion walked up to the group, not caring about the bipedal creature.

Raven decided to speak for the group, “Hello. We’re from Canterlot, here to investigate the disappearances that have been reported around here recently. Do you know anyone we could talk to on more information about this or yourself possibly?”

He just shook his head, “Sadly, I can’t help you. But you best go to talk to Rocky Autumn, his wife was one of the ponies who have vanishes. I do hope you can aid our village, we’re afraid if anypony find out about this than we will lose visitors. It’s the only thing that keeps our village relevant.”

Raven could sympathize, “We will. Thank you for your aid.”

“It’s no problem, just keep up the good work,” the stallion spoke as he walked off.

Ember then realized something but only too late as the old stallion had already walked off, “We forgot to ask him what Rocky Autumn looks like.”

Raven went wide eyed, “Shit.”

Wish just laughed, “I guess we will need to ask around. How about we split up and reconvene here in thirty minutes?”

“You sure about splitting up?” Fiery spoke. “Ember here might just scare away anyone she tries to talk to.”

“I hadn’t thought about that, mind just sitting here and waiting?” Raven asked Ember.

Ember shrugged, “I guess I can do that.” She decided to just sit down on a nearby bench that was more or less a log cut in half. With that the rest of them wondered off and out of her view. Sitting there she tried to keep her mind off of her current problems and on the mission. That was one of the problems of just sitting about doing nothing; your mind is more likely to wander off to either nothing of significance or something you rather keep away.

What was the point of pondering what has already passed? It didn’t help, only made her angry and sad of what could have done differently. But it was the present, nothing could be changed. It was better to look forward and try to learn from the mistakes rather than obsessing over them and nothing ever changing.

***************************

Fiery wondered about the village alone with his cloak still up looking for Rocky Autumn. He could see some fillies playing around a fallen tree that seemingly didn’t have a care in the world, maybe even oblivious so the dangers that are rising. Back when the days were simple and there wasn’t a care in the world, but then again, Fiery would argue that he didn’t have those days. Even from early on there was always some sort of strife in his life.

All of it could be traced back to one simple fact, his blank flank. Raven has her shadow cloak, a symbol of her ability to travel in utter stealth. Niche ability but it is perfect for her job. Wishful Magic is a lot less niche and not exactly the most unique, his is well simply a wand with magic at the top. It was useful in many ways, as was magic in general for Unicorns.

However he had to admit, while being a blank flank was a big negative for a while, he wasn’t minding it so much recently. Ever since he came across Ember, it was slowly going away from his mind, and with his new found fire ability it was starting to feel like the shackles of being a blank was breaking down. What much did it matter if he doesn’t have a cutie mark? If he can use his ability to defend pony kind, and maybe even from that a cutie mark may arrive.

Turning his gaze to other things in the village he came across a group of ponies talking with lower voices and almost disheartened expressions upon their faces. As he got closer two of them wondered off leaving one stallion with an orange coat, grey mane and eyes, standing alone. Seeing as Fiery had no one else to ask, he walked up to the stallion and asked a simple question, “Are you Rocky Autumn?”

The stallion looked up with his blank expressions and from a closer view he could tell that this pony had gone through much grief if just from his eyes. “Yes,” he said nodding. “I am Rocky Autumn, is there something you need?”

He wanted to apologize before asking but this wasn’t a time to beat around the bush, “I am actually here to ask about your wife. I heard she had gone missing. Can you give any information about her disappearance?”

Rocky’s expression narrowed and he could tell the pony was angrier, “What do you care? Who are you anyway to ask such a question?”

Fiery was taken a back from this sudden hostility and even stepped back a bit, “I am Fiery Slate, I am here with some friends to investigate the disappearances and see if we can find them.”

The anger began to leave Rocky after hearing that, “You’re really looking into them? Trying to find them?”

Without a word Fiery just nodded and that was all Rocky needed to see to open up, “Thank you… Truly… My wife, Starry Portrait had gone up to the falls as she had done many times. You see she was an excellent artist and did enjoy the moonlight. Always she went, but then she didn’t come back one day. She never gave specifics but if there was one thing she was always interested was a cave.”

“A cave?”

Rocky nodded, “Yes. You see on the closest waterfall to this village, there is a stony path leading up to behind the falls. Many don’t see it as many trees block this otherwise clear path, so many don’t even know it exists. But she was always curious. I don’t know if that helps but if there was a place to look that would be it…”

Fiery was about to speak when Rocky continued, “I… I always wanted to go looking. But I’m just afraid; I love her so much but… I’m a coward. I didn’t want to go and possibly lose myself. When more ponies began to go missing, I began to feel if it was my fault. Had if I gone and possibly helped Starry before this happened, maybe just maybe. Or it’s possible I may have vanished along with them.”

“Rocky, not everyone is a hero. Personally I am new to this whole aiding people business. Literally just started- but I understand that it’s not a thing for everyone. I really had conflicting thoughts if I had done the right thing. Don’t punish yourself over this, we will get her back. Just try and stay strong, so when she comes back, you will be right there waiting.”

A tear ran down Rocky’s face, “Thank you… I will try to stay strong. Thank you Fiery.”

Fiery simply nodded once more and turned away from Rocky, and headed in the direction of Ember. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to, but he now felt more obligated to complete this mission. Now more than ever. A stallion, an innocent one’s, life was torn asunder by this and it was up to them to restore the balance and give the people of this village back some semblance of normalcy. It’s a heavy burden but if there was one thing Fiery felt proud about it, was that he had friends to stand up with him.

***************************

Fiery was the first to arrive and he explained what he had learned to Ember. She was impressed and while she didn’t say it to his face, had expected either Wish or Raven to find Rocky first and speak with him. Ember patted him on the head and he smirked. Shortly after, when the thirty minute timer went off, both Wish and Raven appeared at the same time and Fiery explained to them what he had learned from Rocky.

Raven and Wish then went on to say that while they didn’t get to talk with him themselves that they both learned also about other disappearances and how they all were around the same areas of the falls. They had spoken to the relatives of the ponies that had gone missing and it backed up what the initial statement from their agent in the village had said. At first Raven wanted to just go there but realized that with the agent also missing that it may be good to get some more details before running in blindly.

However now was the time to go forth and try and find the ponies that had vanished. Leaving the village through the back entrance they began to make their way to the falls which resulted in them going down elevation wise. As they got closer they could hear the roaring sounds of the falls but still couldn’t see them over the vastness of the trees that surrounded the group. It was almost like a maze, as the paths began to be covered by brush and the way they had just come from was just a blur among the waving branches of trees and leaves that fall from above.

Although they eventually came to their destination, the Neighagra Falls. They exited the tree line to the edge of a lake that the falls exited into. The falls were like nothing Ember had ever seen before and she had seen waterfalls before. They stretched out for miles ahead of them and they reached miles up. The amount of water that was going through the area was staggering. She quickly let her helmet fold and let the mist and breeze that was being generated touch her skin.

It was a majestic sight; one that she wished could show to her squad as was her friends she had made since her arrival. However while the sight was nice, the group quickly began to make their way around the river and to the waterfall that is closest to the village. It didn’t take long and they could soon see where the trees blocked the path. Managing their way around the obstacle, they stepped onto the stony path that lead upwards and closer to the raging waterfall.

So loud was the noise that none of the group could even hear each other. Although for Ember she was able to use her helmet to block out the noise and she smiled at that. Upon reaching behind the waterfall they soon saw the entrance to the cave and it wasn’t as small as Fiery thought as it was easily big enough for a large group of people to walk into side by side.

One step into the cave revealed it was very moist which came to no surprise because of its location. Another thing was that it was very dark with no lights which could be either very bad or very good. It could be bad in that it’s a trap or no one has gone in here and it’s a cold lead, or it could be good because the enemies that may lurk inside don’t know about this entrance or didn’t believe anyone would find the entrance and thus left it empty.

“I think we should get this operation going, shall we?” Raven spoke as she stepped forward into the cave.

Ember nodded in agreement, “Yes, let’s.”

The Disappearances of Neighagra Falls Part 2

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The Disappearances of Neighagra Part 2

2120 Hours – A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

The rain was hitting hard and between the vast forest and rocky terrain the group had gotten lost in the “training” situation. Phoenix Squad had just won their second round of the tournament and no it was time for some down time and regular training exercises. In the current situation they were trying to reach the destination point that their superiors had set them towards.

They had been traveling for hours in the weather, and when they had started it was still daytime but now it was pitch black. The rain was slamming against them and streaks of lighting could be seen in the distance. Outside their night time visor, that was their only source of lights that was significant. If not for the noise cancelling abilities of the helmet, Ember would have been driven crazy- without it hearing the squad even on their comms would be difficult.

Phoenix Squad began to walk upwards on a rocky path with the forest now below them. They were at the foot of a large cliff that had many passages on its face.

“Ember- you want to fly?” Elisa spoke over the comms in a nonchalant way.

Ember stopped for a moment and looked back towards her friend in disbelief, “Are you crazy?”

Elisa shrugged, “No, just bored. Really- REALLY bored.”

“It should only take us a few more hours to get there,” Ember said turning away and continuing her briskly walk. O’Brian ran up to her side and spoke directly to her helmet.

“Not going to lie, not seeing the point in this training exercise Ember, if they wanted us to you know, walk miles on end, we could do that back at the academy,” he told her.

Ember continued to look forward, “They probably want us to get the full experience. While we do have drop ships, we also can’t drop in at any point. Sometimes walking is the name of the game.”

“Well it’s not a very productive game,” O’Brian deadpanned.

Ember smiled, “Drew,” she spoke over the comms. “Mind playing some music? You got some don’t you?”

She couldn’t see it from behind his visor but the tech expert grinned, “Yeah, I got some music.”

Some Rock and Roll music began to blare over the comms. Typically if this was happening the squad leader would scold the soldier, but this was an order and there wasn’t anything better to listen to. Neither was there any other trainees or soldiers who volunteers for them to fight, no instead they continued to walk endlessly through the landscapes without any conflict outside fighting the sense of boredom.

With no sense of urgency even Ember was starting to get tired. They had been awfully vague with the objective and while she had theories it didn’t make her feel any better. What was the point of a training session when their own command was hiding things from them? There wasn’t if Ember was being truthfully honest but she was hoping there would be some resolution to this.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and everyone got alerted. Suddenly Tina called out as large rocks began to rumble down towards them at an accelerated speed. The squad having no choice high tailed backwards, however as Ember ran forward a large rock ricocheted on another rock and shot just ahead of her. It impacted the ground and sent a shockwave that sent her flying.

She heard Elisa’s voice just before blacking out from impacting another rock.

Ember awoke sometime later on a grassy ground, she felt fine for the most part but as soon as she got up she realized her helmet was damaged and she couldn’t see much. “Fuck… This isn’t good…” she spoke solemnly to herself as she continued to look at her armor. Some of the systems were working but she attempted to bring up the
communications but oddly enough found them to being jammed rather than being broken.

Jammed? Is this part of the training session… No it couldn’t be… Could it? She thought to herself as she looked upwards from where the rockslide had brought her. It was clear she hadn’t rode it down or even she would be dead as she saw the entirety of the rockslide, now mixed also with mud, was a bit away and where she was there was very little.

The rain was the same as it had been before and with her helmet mostly out of commissioned it was getting even harder to see and worse of all, she could only hear was the rain, not even her own thoughts. Sighing realizing the terrain back up to her squad was blocked off from the rock slide she turned towards the direction of the objective. As it was the only part of the helmet still working properly.

As she walked through the forest she just then realized she had lost her assault rifle and pistol. Checking for her CUBE, she sighed in relief as it was still attached to her. Taking it off and activating it she quickly took out an SMG, the same one that Drew had used before, the SUB-42. She also took a flare, ignoring her E2D, Emergency Distress Device, as the jamming was still in effect and would be blocked. It was something they were hoping to have working past jammers in the near the future.

Just then as she activated her flare, in hope to get someone to spot her, a light from above shined upon her blinding her and the flare. Her eyes quickly adjusted and realized it was a drop ship above, she smiled, she would be rescued…

However her face turned grim when upon further inspection the insignia on the drop ship wasn’t of the UA but in fact the insignia of the Te-rendii, a faction currently at war with the UA. She didn’t have time to question as the drop ships guns aimed towards her and her honed training instincts kicked in and she began to run. The bullets from the gun began to rip apart the ground and foliage around her as she kept changing up her movements to dodge the rain of bullets.

But this all came to abrupt ending when she got the end of her path that being at the edge of a cliff. With no time to think she leapt off the ledge and continued to free fall. At first the drop ship didn’t follow, not sure if she was Angel or not but as soon as she activated her wings with the added momentum the drop ship came right back to stalk her.

Moving her wings she was able to just dodge the bullets but they were slowly catching up with her movements. With the rain being so heavy it was hard to see ahead of her, only what the light shined on from the enemy drop ship.

This wasn’t a training exercise, her life was once again in serious danger but this time it wasn’t Mother Nature.

Lowing closer to the ground she made a quick decision, not a smart one but the best she could act upon. She deactivated her wings and in an instant went from flying to free falling through the tall trees. The drop ship halted its attack not able to enter the thicket but she knew it wouldn’t stop it for long. Quickly activating her wings at the last possible second she slowed her fall and landed into a tumble on the ground floor into a tree.

As she got back up the first thing she noticed was that the rain in this area was less. The higher the trees and the much thicker brush above was stopping a good chunk but it was still hard to see and it was loud.

The planet was under attack by Te-rendii forces and she needed to get out…

***************************

PRESENT TIME

In the cave Fiery took this as his first chance to show them his fire ability. Creating a small flame that illuminated the cave he gained praise from Wish and Raven who hadn’t seen it before. Ember just stayed silent and just stayed on high alert. “Amazing, a fire created by an Earth Pony- never have I would have thought possible!” Wish spoke as they continued to walk his eyes focused however on the fire.

Raven watched the fire in awe, “And you said something gave you these powers?”

Fiery nodded, “Yeah, I don’t know what exactly did but something did.”

“I wonder what that could have been..,” Wish wondered and then turned his head towards Ember. “Got any idea?”

Ember just shook her head, “It’s unclear what it could have been but it happened at the opportune moment.”

“That’s oddly suspicious, and you really have no idea what it was?” Wish said once more turning his focus back to Fiery.

“Sorry… I tried to look but whatever thing did it to me froze me up… It was a very painful experience. But I got through it, so there’s that,” Fiery said.

Wish smiled, “Well remember once we find our enemies we will no doubt have to engage them. Hope you’re ready for that.”

Fiery looked down towards the floor, “Yeah… I hope so…”

They continued to travel through the cave with the light from Fiery’s magic being the only thing that made anything even visible outside Ember with her visor but that was just for her. As they wondered she began to question if this was the right way to go. It had been just over an hour and yet they had come across nothing. Wish was starting to get annoyed but Raven kept him focus even if he wanted things to just get over with.

Things turned for the better once they spotted a light into the distance. The group quickly hastened and Fiery put out his fire as they got closer. As they got closer to the light they spotted some crates and barrels and decided to hide behind them. Raven looked out into the large open area that they entered into it. Lots of machines and structures cover the room and she noticed the mole people hanging about. However she noticed a lack of ponies in cages or any sort.

“No ponies in cages but a lot of moles in there,” Raven whispered to the group.

Fiery sighed, “Once again, underground with moles… Perfect…”

Wish raised a valid point, “But wait, if they have this huge facility. Why didn’t they have guards posted up…?”

It was just then as if on cue the ground around them rumbled and they jumped out of the way as a mole jumped up from the ground and slashed. Ember reacted first and fired her assault rifle at the mole and riddled them with bullet holes. However that was just the first of many as more moles began to jump out towards the intruders. Forcing their hand, the group rushed into the open area instead of the tight cave.

Raven sighed briefly when they engaged in combat and their cloaks seemed to come off quite quickly, it wasn’t that they wanted to keep them but they were in the way in the middle of the fight. She noted that they would need to either come back or pick them up if they survived or else just get more for the next mission. If there was another mission… There was always the chance that there wasn’t going to be another.

Wish brought his magic to his horn and sent a green blast of energy at a mole but this wasn’t like what typically a unicorn would shoot out. As soon as it hit two moles next to each other they began to feel immense pain as the magic began to rip through their body damaging them heavily. He continued to use this spell at rapid pace against the enemies. He spotted Raven as she put claws on her hoofs and with ease moved around the moles stabbing them repeatedly.

Two moles surrounded her, as they launched themselves forward at her she simply flew upwards and let them clash with each other. Turning back down, she flew back at the two dazed moles and stabbed them with her claws in their heads. Raven continued to simply fly around and striking the moles and escaping when she felt she was about to be overwhelmed. However she was caught off guard when a mole shot outward from the wall and slammed right into her sending her crashing into the ground.

Fiery taking this chance ran towards where she landed, once there he brought out his fire shot out a crescent flame into the mole that had hit her. It landed and the mole flew backwards and he slammed into the wall. Fiery looked down towards Raven with an adrenaline rush going, “You okay?”

She began to stand up and nodded, “Yeah, don’t worry about me.”

Fiery didn’t say more and just turned towards more moles. He found the ground shaking and quickly moved out of the way but used his magic to place a huge flame on the spot where the mole was coming up. As soon as the mole exited the ground he was swallowed up by a large flame. The stallion looked away from the burning mole and realized he had been holding his breath. He wasn’t used to it, not fully yet. It was still taking the life of someone, even if that someone is an enemy that is trying to kill you themselves.

Fiery stood on his back hoofs and sent out two fire waves at incoming moles. However he failed to notice a mole that was about to fall right on top of him. The pony spotted the shadow and turned but it was too late. But then suddenly Ember launched herself at the mole and slammed into the ground and as she landed fired it with her assault rifle. “Fiery, you got to pay attention to your surroundings!” she yelled out to him and the pony just silently agreed with her.

Wish ran toward a crate and jumped on top of it as moles began to rush at him. Despite the situation being quite dire the green stallion’s expression wasn’t showing it as he smirked as he dodged the larger creatures. Leaping onto higher ground he quickly shot a small spell onto the ground and it began to illuminate green. A mole ran towards him and landed on this spot, when it did the mole was suddenly wrapped around with ropes of magic that began to cut into his skin.

Charging up another magic spell, Wish moved away and then sent the spell straight into the ground. The ground erupted as moles arrived and began to slam against them and crush it. But one slashed through the ground with his large claws and leapt toward Wish who simply used a small spell that zapped the mole and sent him into the air. “These moles think they can take us on? It’s quite funny honestly…” Wish spoke to himself but didn’t notice it was in ear shot of Raven who just rolled her eyes and muttered about how it was such a cliché line.

Raven was fighting well enough but noticed a mechanized suit heading towards her and the mare flew up into the air and out of range. The enemy suit sent a claw at her to try and grab her in the air but missed just barely. “Ember!” she yelled out to the Angel who simply saw her situation and knew what she had to do. Quickly taking out her shotgun she planned to deal with the suit the same way she had done in the previous encounter.

It being distracted by the flying Pegasi, Ember found it easy to get behind the suit and fired at the energy pack which erupted into flames and exploded stopping the suit all together. Not as climatic as her first encounter but then again she didn’t have aid. Another suit however rushed Ember and the Angel had no time to dodge as she was sent into the remains of the previous suit. Just as the mole was about to slam it’s drills down upon her a green beam of magic shot out and caused the suit to be sent back a bit. Wish landed next to Ember and she thanked him as she got away from the ruins of the other suit.

Working together Ember began to fire at the suit to draw its attention. The suit now operational again rushed towards Ember and she was able to dodged out of the way of this time. However as this happened his back was exposed and Wish, having seen what Ember did before, shot his magic towards the energy pack and it began to go berserk. “Good job!” Ember called out as she moved away from the suit as it exploded.

For the most part the moles seemed to be pretty simple minded and weren’t tactical geniuses and so the group was finding it easy to kill them. Even Fiery who was still honing his fire magic was getting some kills it but not as successive as everyone else as he was still finding it hard with each kill, to get through his head that his mind that the enemies he attacked weren’t going to get back up. In time he would get used to it, as they all do.

Fiery aimed up at an attacker and charged his fire and just before they landed sent out a large fire ball that exploded upon impact and sent the burning mole into the ceiling and broke the stone with the immense force and the corpse stayed. Fiery looked around and realized that it had been the final kill and the room was silent. However he flinched when he heard one more shot fired and turned to see Ember with her gun pointing at a mole. “Room cleared,” Ember spoke with no emotion and turned her focus on her team members. “They know we’re here now, I think we should get moving.”

Wish nodded but decided to ask one question, “Those weapons you use… They’re amazing. They’re just like the prototypes the Griffons are working on but way more advanced than anything of theirs.”

“Yeah, my civilization has been using them for hundreds of years,” she explained.

Raven yelled out to the group interrupting the conversation, “Hey! I found a way further into the cave.” She informed them as she flew and pointed her hoof towards a wooden gate at the corner of the room.

They began to walk towards it but she stopped when she realized that Fiery was following, looking back she saw him just standing there staring at the charred corpse on the floor. With the battle over and the adrenaline slowing down he was starting to take it in and his stomach was starting to turn inside. Ember walked over to him and tried to speak with him but her voice was reaching to him. It was just like what happened to her…

***************************

2300 Hours

Ember moved through the dense tall forest trying to find someone who was on her side. As she moved it was then that she realized that if she was to engage them she only had her SMG with stun rounds, one’s that may not even affect them. As she recalled the Te-rendii forces also have some sort of armor similar to her own.

It was worse than when she had to crouch as she saw lights coming just ahead and voices, “Spread out! We got an Angel around here- find them!” one of them spoke out. The group of enemy soldiers began to spread out and look in the brush, they would no doubt yell out if one of them saw her.

Her first thought was to just sneak by all of them; however she was realizing it may not be viable. There were many of them, maybe a bit too many. Flying was out of the question as she would be spotted within seconds even with all of the rain; no doubt the drop ship was still flying about.

Then another thought came up… What about her squad? She hadn’t heard from them since the incident, had they engaged the Te-rendii forces or had they been picked up by our own forces? Things were in the shitter right now and this wasn’t getting worse. FUBAR was most accurate in this situation.

Slowly she moved through the vegetation, away from the soldiers. Typically one might just go the other way but the soldiers were in the way of getting to her original destination which was without a doubt the best place to get to in a situation like this as there would be others there to help her. Going the opposite way could lead to disaster as it would be easy to lose her way on this planet.

Before she realized it, one of the soldiers was nearly upon her and she needed to act fast or risk exposure. Her breathing was getting faster; did she need to kill him? No, could she just knock him out? Her mind was in confliction of what to do. It seemed simple, just knock him out with her Angel strength but for some reason she was honestly contemplating killing him. She’s a soldier, she would need to eventually, and it’s just a fact of being a soldier.

Ember pulled the knife off her chest armor, and moved in towards the lone enemy who wondered here. She moved around the bushes and got to behind him and stood up and grabbed the person, they struggled but the Angel’s strength stopped most movement. With her hand on his mouth they couldn’t yell out for aid as she took the knife and prepared.

Time seemed to stay still; this was something she needed to do. It would be something in the years to come that she would need to do. Her stomach would stop turning inside, she would stop feeling light headed, and her focus would never be stilled. She clenched her teeth together and stabbed the enemy’s head through the visor which shattered upon impact and went right into his left eye. It didn’t take long for all moment from the enemy to cease and she let go and the body feel to the ground.

Her breathing had gotten faster, and it was just as she expected, she began to feel all of the emotions and sickness from having taken a life. It wasn’t the same as taking the life of an insect where they aren’t fully sentient, it’s another to take a life of someone that has feelings, long memories, and will be known and remembered by others. It… Wasn’t the same…

She crouched and hid in the vegetation once more and looked towards the body and in turn looked towards their rifle on the floor. Ember leaned towards it and grabbed it and pulled it in. Her own SMG wouldn’t be very useful in a fight but if she needs to use this… It wasn’t even a choice; she would have to use it. Quickly taking off any more ammo off of the body that she could, knowing that they didn’t have Ambadium that the United Alliance used for all of their own guns.

Once she was sure she had all of the ammo she could find she moved further into the enemy’s grasp. Slowly, almost to a crawl she moved with utter silence through the groups of soldiers who hadn’t seen to find their dead friend yet. But there was nothing she could do, she couldn’t move the body or else she was in risk of being exposed as she moved it. The situation wasn’t in her favor, not one bit. Angels at time were known to take out groups of soldiers on their own but that was still far and few between and Ember wasn’t sure she was one of them.

Although if she was being fair to herself, this was the first time she was literally up against real enemies by herself. It wasn’t how she thought this was going to be when she imagined it back in camp, she imagined her first kill would be in combat with her squad where they would all share the pain and get past it together. Not alone in a dire situation.

“We got a body here! Damn it!” one of the soldiers cried out.

Shit.

She began to move faster with less finesse and more noise. It wasn’t exactly smart but they were now moving faster and they knew she was around her. Ember wanted to sit there and contemplate if killing the soldier and not just leaving him alone was a good idea but there was no going back anymore she made her choice.

Suddenly a bullet flew past her and hit the tree, “I found them!” Ember turned around and with her stolen rifle fired at the soldier who had missed and the bullet pierced through their helmet as they had no shielding compared to her, everyone in the United Alliance had shielding technology. Sometimes there would be debates that the United Alliance was getting too powerful with their military technology but she didn’t care much, a bias from being in the military.

However she noticed that compared to the first kill, the second didn’t have as much of a punch, and she didn’t feel as bad. But there was still a lingering feeling. Breaking into a sprint she moved through the trees dodging bullets or the shield taking the hits. Turning around she fired and hit another soldier but she wasn’t able to confirm if it was a kill. She slowed down as she spotted more coming at her. Ember looked around and made a quick move to and jumped and used her wings briefly to get herself in the tall tree.

Bullets continued to fire as she leapt to another tree and barely grabbed hold. However there was less fire upon her but it wasn’t going to hold long. Pulling out her knife she breathed in deeply and breathed out as she jumped out, summoned her wings, and then let them go once she got optimal distance and fell through the air and landed on top of an enemy and stabbed them in the face. Before their friend could react she pulled out the knife from their skull and threw the knife with such strength that it pierced his friend’s head as well.

Picking her rifle back up and even some ammo she once more had to move into cover as another barrage of bullets fired down at her from just ahead. However once in cover she actually had to smirk, she was actually doing it. Surviving against the odds, almost like the heroes in books or movies. But she couldn’t let her ego get bigger but she couldn’t deny that there wasn’t a bit of a thrill to the whole thing, there was something about the fighting where your life was at risk that wasn’t like training sessions.

Firing out of cover she nailed another kill and then another. The pain of killing was gone, there was no stomach turning or anything she was feeling great actually. Ember fired upon a Te-rendii who got too close and she kicked them away. However they weren’t dead yet and Ember knelt down and once again stabbed them until they moved no more.

They tried to surround her but it didn’t work, she out smarted them and got out of any blockage. It was starting to become a slaughter as she moved around the soldiers, slashing and shooting until she was the only one who remained in the darkness and rain. Part of her wanted to keep fighting, but she looked in the direction of her objective and with a slower pace began to make her way there. She couldn’t see any more evidence of any more Te-rendii forces in the area, but the drop ship could still be around. She stopped when she saw a large open area of dirt and stone just ahead. Looking around there wasn’t any other way she could do without exposing herself in the open, although she very much doubted that the soldiers she killed hadn’t called back to the leader of this operation.

Running out into the open was a huge mistake, as soon as she moved out she was suddenly sent flying by a wave of water that suddenly appeared and slammed into her. Skipping across the ground she tried to regain her posture and stand to see her foe, without even seeing them it was obvious who she was dealing with. A Te-rendii mage, clearly water but she couldn’t determine a second element yet. Another strike of water fired upon her and she moved out of the way and then saw the Mage standing in armor on the other side of the open area.

Their second element became soon apparent when the ground shook and she had to move out of the way as the ground opened up and tried to grab her. Running forward trying to reduce the distance she also fired upon the mage who summoned a large earth slab to protect her and the bullets couldn’t penetrate the thick surface. The mage then sent out the slab toward Ember who moved out of the way only barely, but had no time to fire as a large thick slice of water slammed onto the ground and even broke the stone floor.

Water a mage used wasn’t the same as regular water; it was stronger, even more ferocious. To the point where if one honed it enough they could even slice a person in half. However the mage currently in front of Ember was not of that level. Ember wasn’t able to escape the water and was slammed into the floor by it and it was enough force that even with her armor and Angel’s natural magic defense that she was starting to coughs up blood.

That was the sad fact, Angels flaunt their natural magic resistance but it wasn’t absolute, and it wasn’t difficult to push past it and kill the Angel with magic.

Ember got herself back up and jumped out of the way of a large rock that the Mage summoned. The Mage placed their hand upon the ground and rock pillars shot up from the ground, a skilled mage to be able to actually control natural elements. Although they weren’t seemingly able to control the rain, which was a bit more difficult since it was constantly moving compared to the Earth which is still, for the most part anyway.

Ember continued the run, not stopping and rolling when another slash of water went towards her. However she was getting closer and closer to the Mage who started to move a bit away but was making her onslaught of attacks slower than before. Getting closer to the Mage, the mage stomped with their foot and the ground around them began to twist and turn. However that didn’t stop Ember as she jumped onto the earth and jumped up and with her wings got right above the mage. Firing her gun down towards the mage they began to cast earth to stop the bullets. They were successful but Ember still landed next to the mage.

Instead of firing Ember ran and tackled the Mage and with her strength grabbed the mage and slammed them right into the rock the Mage had summoned and then pulled them back and slammed again until their face was a bloody mess and barely recognized able. Ember stood there, the fight over and her victorious. She looked down upon the mage corpse, and then took off her helmet as she coughed up more blood that scattered across the ground but was then mixed with the rain.

Ember fell to the ground on her knees and just stared up into the rain, when suddenly a light shined upon her like earlier and saw the same drop ship from earlier. She tried to move but her body just wasn’t responding, she was too tired now and had used all of her strength. The last thing she saw before passing out was the drop ship exploding….

***************************

PRESENT TIME

“Fiery, come on, we need to move, we can’t just stay here,” she said as she shook him and eventually he came to.

He tilted his head towards her, “Oh… Sorry, I just was…” he said as he looked across the field of bodies. “I-I don’t know.”

Ember was sympathetic and looked where he looked. She crouched to get to his level and spoke, “Fiery, this is the reality of things. Killing is never easy but you get used to it. Remember what I trained you and you will keep living. Just keep moving forward.”

Wish and Raven just watched from afar at the two. They could tell what was going on with Fiery, it wasn’t new and it was something everyone in this field had to go through. “Poor kid…” Wish murmured.

“He isn’t that young,” Raven retorted back.

“In experience he is,” Wish said. “His fire powers are amazing but it was easy to tell that he wasn’t used to fighting, that it was something he was just getting into very recently. It will be hard for him but I think he will turn out well in the end. Fiery showing these signs is just proof that he is a pony, it’s natural.”

Raven smiled, “Wow, didn’t expect to hear something like that from you.”

Wish frowned, “Hey, I can be sort of deep when I want to… It’s just not that often.”

Fiery and Ember together walked back to Raven and Wish and they set towards the wooden gate, Ember tried to open the gate but it was locked, so she made quick work of it and just kicked it down. Looking through the gate they saw the cave continued to go further down and it was time to walk again but this time they would be on the watch in case of any ambush.

As they walked Raven decided to make some small talk, “Good job Ember, first time seeing you in combat, I’m impressed.”

“Thank you,” Ember said but decided to elaborate. “I will admit though it was interesting. I’m so used to working in a squad, fighting enemies similar to myself. A level a tactics to the fight. But back there? That was hectic, sure we worked together but it kind of seemed that it was a bit reckless.”

Raven recounted the fight that they had just had and had to agree but, “That is indeed true, however against the moles I can’t say there is much we can do. They can pop out of anywhere and so whatever you plan against them will just be stomped. Best to improvise.”

“Well improvising isn’t always the best,” Ember stressed.

“Get used to it,” Raven spoke with a matter of fact. “It’s kind of a stick of the Night Corps. Let’s just say we aren’t known much for our strategies.”

Ember frowned, “You say get used to that…”

“I understand you’ve been in the military for…” she spoke hoping for Ember to fill it in.

“9 years, since I was Seventeen.”

“…But this isn’t like yours, at least I can assume that as much. So get used to it, because things aren’t changing.”

Ember frowned but didn’t say anything further, just silently disagreeing, but Raven’s higher up in the chain of command so she wasn’t in line to disagree or disobey. Being reckless and improvising could get your men killed, and she didn’t want that to happen, not again. She tried to stop it, and it didn’t stop it, however she wasn’t going to throw away all that she learned with her squad over the years…

Raven walked up ahead and Wish stayed back and walked side by side with Ember and spoke softly, “Don’t worry about her. She isn’t one to keep following orders, a lot has happened to her.”

“Hm…” was all Ember let out and didn’t ask any questions. A dark past… It wasn’t surprising for a black ops group like this but she still didn’t like it influencing their decisions… Although she was guilty of this, it wasn’t something she liked to admit but she was having a hard time stopping but she herself was acting more aggressive in combat than she has in more recent years…

The group continued down the tunnel until once again they could see a light ahead and the group hurried up and stepped into the light. They entered a large room with no ceiling looking up into the sky, water falls all around them and a large island in the center with water around it from the falls. The island in the center went upwards and that’s when the group spotted it… A very large wooden ship being hung up by a dock that was on the highest point on the island which wasn’t anything that they expected.

The boat also had strange metal engines on the side of them, similar to what you would see on a jet or plane. It also had no clear place for Pegasi to lead it through the sky, in fact outside the engines on the sides it seemed like any ordinary boat.

“Is that an Airship?” Wish questioned as they continued to stare.

“Are those common?” Ember asked.

“Common? None have ever been created; sure we have Pegasi who direct carriages, but never a full ship… The amount of Pegasi you would need…” Wish trailed off as he looked around and turned and saw a bunch of cages. He ran over to them and the group followed, they were full of ponies. But…

They were all dead, each of them were dead and more so they seemed to be drained, their bodies skinny to an unnatural point. Raven ran over to one of the bodies, “Damn it…” She identified the body as the agent that they had sent originally and her tone and demeanor changed. “What the Tartarus happened here!?”

Ember looked over at Fiery who looked to be trying to see if he could find Starry Portrait in the bodies but seemed to have no avail which was a bit hopeful. The Angel turned her head and looked towards the ship, “I think we should go up there.”

Wish looked away from the bodies and looked at the ship as well, “Yeah… Think it might be a trap?”

Raven pushed past Wish, “I don’t care, let’s find out what the fuck happened!” She ran past them and the group followed her behind. They walked over a small bridge and entered the island and yet while they saw machines from the moles, they still didn’t see any moles. To get to the dock above they began to walk up a path that lead upwards to the dock above.

Raven was still ahead of the group and was the first to reach the top and get to the dock. Seeing no one still she didn’t stop and continued and ran up a ramp onto the boat. “Raven hold up!” Ember yelled out.

They followed Raven and got onto the boat which had a sway to it despite not being in water, showing that it wasn’t stuck in place. Ember finally caught up to Raven and grabbed a hold of her to stop her but she continued to struggle, “Let me go!”

“Calm down! Do you want to get yourself killed!?” Ember yelled at her.

Raven’s eyes opened wide and she began to stop moving. “Raven… I don’t know what happened, but you can’t let your emotions run so wild… And I should know.”

“What?” Raven spoke. “What do you know?” her voice lower but still full of anger.

“Because before I came here… My squad was all killed… Right in front of me… Friends and someone I loved…” she spoke, it was hard, she hadn’t told anyone since she arrived as to what happened just before. “It’s hard; it’s not easy surprising your emotions. But you need to.”

Fiery smiled at that, not at what happened to her but that she was calming her down, “Ember… I got to admit. You’re almost like an older sister.”

Ember’s face actually flushed red at that, “What? I didn’t mean to come off as that.”

“I’m serious, you’ve helped me and really your words have reached me… I am still struggling but your words give me hope that I can overcome,” Fiery said.

Ember let Raven down and the mare walked forward to make some space. “I didn’t know,” she spoke to Ember as she turned her head.

“Well naturally how could you?”

Raven looked then towards Fiery, “Heh… Look at me, elder member of the Night Corps breaking down in the front of new members.”

“Oh stop this show… Please, it’s getting quite old you know?” a new voice spoke to the group.

They all looked towards the direction of the voice and saw near the helm a white colored mare with a green, red, and lime long colored mane and blue eyes. “Oh I’m sorry, did I draw your attention. Oh dear me…”

Fiery noticed her cutie mark, a couple of stars with a paint brush across them. “Starry Portrait!” he spoke. “Rocky has been looking for you, what are you doing here?”

“Rocky? Oh… yeah him. If you survive this tell him I’m dead or something. Kind of forgot about him, too busy with work.”

“With work..?” Wish spoke. “Are you saying you work with these… moles?”

“No… More so that they work for me, and I in turn work for him.”

“Him?” Ember spoke. Him, she implied a leader. Just who..? Suddenly the ship shook and Ember saw that the ship was moving away from the dock. “The ship it’s-,” and despite being let go the ship continued to stay afloat in midair. Around the ship what appeared to be small blue lights began to shoot out of the metal engines and the ship flew up towards the exit in the ceiling.

“Now it’s time to continue the game,” Starry spoke.

An Angelic Soldier

by Korten

Prologue

Taking a Tumble

Fiery Slate

The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 1

The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 2

The Days After

Not From Around Here

Snowy Days

Crossing the Bridge

Night and Day

Hearth's Warming Eve

The Disappearances of Neighagra Falls Part 1

The Disappearances of Neighagra Falls Part 2