When over 6800 humans in 12 teams play paintball using restored and/or recreated weapons of war for the entertainment of the masses find their way into Equestria with their equipment. chaos shall ensue
6800 people. 12 teams. 500+ per team. Restored/Recreated weapons and vehicles of war. All for one, purpose. The entertainment of millions! When all 6800 participants in the 'Assault of the Paint & Fury' Paintball Tournament suddenly disappear one night during their 6 month Battle, and not a vehicle, spare part, bullet casing, or even any rations litter can be found.
The boot prints left in the mud, indicate that the contestants mounted their vehicles and drove off into the nearest forests. Then. The tire and tread tracks end, as if they drove into oblivion. The world is left in shock. After a manhunt that lasted for 6 decades, those involved were doomed to be written down in history, not for their intended goal is being the best of the best sportsmen. but being members of the greatest mysterious tragedy in human history.
Meanwhile on the flip-side of the mysterious disappearance 6800 Humans now have to deal with and survive a new world. Full of New Challenges. And. New peoples. Without any real weapons, they have their vehicles. Their equipment. And their wits, to not only survive, but thrive. ================================= This is a Humans in Equestria story. More specifically, filling a genre or topic i have seen a quite annoying lack of. Human Colony in Equestria. Please forgive and notify me of any misspelling or errors in my writings. most of my stories never make it out of my hard drive, i'm taking a crack at uploading, and i hope you'll enjoy reading as much as i enjoy writing!
Warning! This story contains Gorey details and scenes that would make a law and order SVU set blush. If you're uncomfortable with gore or violence or mature themes. Skip this fic and move along. You have been warned.
Made the trending lists! 4:42AM = 21-1-2019 Thank you all so very much! Your support is the glimmering gold of my days!
Chapter 1 - "You ready to strangle the snake? Lancer.
The rhythmic bass rich purr of my Puma's V-12 diesel engine had lured me into the comforting embrace of sleep, yet again. I had barely afforded myself any sleep last night. In my sheer excitement for today, i had spent neither a passing glance nor care at the clock in my Motel room. I Poured over the Vast unfolded maps of the entire combat area. Studying the terrain and all obstacles and cover upon it.
I must say. Today. Or rather, this morning, due to it being the second day officially as of fifty two seconds ago, of our six month 'Battle'. As the bi-yearly TV announcement puts it...
"Six thousand eight hundred people... Twelve teams... Restored/Recreated Weapons of War... One mission... To survive and wipe out the enemy teams... For the, Half a million cash prize. Join the 'Assault of the Paint & Fury' Paintball Tournament. Today! Don't Delay!"
And who in their right mind wouldn't snap at the opportunity to legally own a fully operational Armoured car? Moreover one as sexy as the SdKfz 234/2 Puma?
And to top it off! the chance to earn half a mil cash? That's what i thought.
And that bring us here. To the present. Me. Riding 'Hot-seat' in a ten and a half tonne armoured car, slugging my, loader, in the shoulder, Once Again, For not having his sound-canceling headset on Again, So i can tell him to load the APCR!
After he snaps from his bout of sleep, and pulls his headset over his ears. He turns to face me.
"Welcome back to the crew Andrew. Pleasure you could join us." I Said through a glare of daggers, causing his lithe form to shift in his seat uncomfortably. "Then again. I cant say much... I was out-cold fifty six kilometers ago" I said breaking into a laugh as Andrew slugged me as hard as he could in the cramped space.
"Righto, Andrew. We need 'Armour Piercing Composite Rigid' in the breach, now. The Snakes use Jumbos and Pershings. and i don't want to spend time screaming into your ears to switch-out then." I turned from my periscope to see Andrew nodding like a bobble head and ramming a brass casing into the cannon breach. As i unhooked the locking latch holding my positions hatch, i heard Andrew complete the process with "Load, Up. Clear." and i pushed my hatch up and out, before pulling myself into the cool fresh air of the night.
Another several minutes of peaceful driving pass, before i had to get all serious again. I Popped back inside the turret to retrieve my binoculars.
"Driver, in the next two hundred meters. park in between those trees on your left." "Sure thing!" I Heard Jackson or 'Jackie' as we call him, Call into the headsets.
Just as i returned to my position half outside the turret. we arrived at our destination with the audible but faint squeal of rubber tires. "Jackie. Forward, slow, six meters. Get us in between those trees. be careful. theres a seventy foot drop just past them." The Awkward silence eventually broke with my radioman, who was probably reading one of his many on-board comic books right now, commented. "Lancer-01, going to where no man would ever dare go before..." I turned in my limited space afforded to me by the hatch. and stared daggers at the engine deck behind me, where my radioman sits. As if my glare alone could cut a hole through the steel to him.
"Stow the chatter Tom!" I barked into my throat-mic. Tommy Picstaal my radioman fastest ears in the southwest. he can decode messages and write them down faster then most people can even think 'What the heck is the cacophony?', but he's prone to complaining frequently and is often babyish. as such his nickname is 'Tommy Pickles' when he starts acting up. and due to the name similarity. its a reference to the main character of the TV show rugrats. His nickname is more a playful jab.
I turned back around grunting in frustration when my trench coats belt loop snags on the hatch latch.
Once again facing front. I Look over the Area we managed to park in. The Moon casts the only light in the location. illuminating everything in a pale off-white hue. we had parked precariously close to the edge of the cliff. but we reaped the benefits of the two trees we had squeezed ourselves in against. That being, our camouflage bushes we covered our normally tan and olive green tiger striped armoured car with. from the enemy positions 1.2Km away we'd look just like an overgrown tree.
The heavenly glow of the moon lit the entire field before us in a ominous hue of near pure white. the only thing giving the 'Enemies' well camouflaged camp away. was the orange glow of a few dozen small fires.
"Tommy, Radio central. coded message entailed. 'Attention, Lancer-01. Armoured Worms compost bin located. thirty two inches past the router. measure twice cut once. waiting to catch thieves red handed. Standing-by' End message"
Armoured worm. this years designation for the 'Snakes' or the 'Brotherhood of the Serpentine' their aggressive fighters. not much in the thinking department. their command structure mostly consists of infighting about how they should 'Crush' their enemies. make no mistake however, once they decide on a plan, their a force to reckon with. their force consists largely of artillery and heavy tanks, supported by infantry with heavy armour big, and often belt-fed guns and auto-cannon armed armoured cars.
Compost bin. this years slang for their FoB or 'Forward operations base'.
Thirty two inches past router. inches being this years term for clicks or 1X1KM squares.
Router. this years term for path of planned future travel.
Measure twice cut once. term for 'Plan carefully and don't make a mistake.
and finally
Waiting to Catch thieves red handed. a term for the Snakes Arch rivals the 'Mist Cougars' every year for the last six years the cougars have been making it their personal mission to eliminate the Snakes first and early.
"Alright Jackie, pull us back ten meters and cut the engine for the night. the lot of you. get your sleeping bags brush your teeth and by then i should have the Swags setup on the engine deck."
Once the vehicle skidded to a halt once more, inside of a thicket of bushes everyone jumped to work, doing their own thing. and after about ten minutes everyone arrived back at the engine deck of the Puma to find their Swags -
- Set up and comfortably warmed by the heat from the engine deck.
As i lay in my tiny little tent i glanced at my watch, its glow in the dark arms illuminating 3:14AM. with a groan i zipped up my swag and went out like a light.
I heard my driver punching the side of his tent, and he says quietly "Get some sleep Lancer. i hope your ready to strangle the snake tomorrow!"
little did we know we wouldn't get much sleep tonight...
At least, that was my thought process before a shrill and irritating screaming rang through my head curtesy of my ears. And my Swag collapsing into a balled mess around me.
As soon as my frantic fumbling found the zipper i ripped myself from the fabric cocoon and looked around.
As crew were currently climbing out of their swags and Andrew opted to cut himself out of his tent with his switchblade.
I looked around, noticing the orchestra of gunfire around us in its full detail, Tank cannons, machine guns, chain guns, rifles. All singing their chaotic melody through the night. But oddly enough i noticed no tracers. And that was weird. Maybe my VISRR wasn't working properly. But i pushed that thought to the back of my mind as i threw myself face first into my stations hatch, falling into the crew compartment in an upside down mess.
The hatches of my fellow crew members were slamming shut around me. And i noticed the feet of my radioman crawling to his station on the vehicle floor.
After righting myself i climbed back up through my hatch until i was eye level with the roof of the turret, and began turning around looking at the surroundings of the vehicle. Nothing but dull off-white moonlight. My VISRR still refused to display any tracers, This was beginning to frustrate me. And the oddity of how the gunfire was sounding off from all around us never left my mind entirely. Especially since were were alone, Atop a narrow mountain right on the edge of a cliff.
The labored whine of the Inertial Flywheel from the engine bay of the Puma signified that Jackie had already began starting the engine.
"Jackie take us back down the hill! Full speed! don't roll us!" I yelled into my throat mic.
"Siryessir!" I heard ring in my ears, the vehicle violently shook, the V12 coming to life with a throaty cackle before breaking into its rhythmic bass of a purr.
With a jerk and the clunk of the gearbox, we hurtled backwards until we nearly slammed into the rock face behind us, Jackie locked the wheel to the right, causing us to stand up on the left side suspension. Yes the Puma, a ten tonne armoured car, can stand up on one sides suspension from a sharp turn in reverse, its 325 horsepower engine lends it remarkable agility at 27.8 Horsepower per tonne. That being the ability to power along at 100km/h in drive and 60km/h in reverse.
The screech of rubber on stone alerted all the critters around us of our hasty departure, causing birds to fly erratically from their perches and small ground critters to dart across the road in front and behind us.
The engine whines it's ghostly moan as it strained to speed us along the gravel path down the mountain. However, even here my mind couldn't shake the oddity of how the sound of gunfire was following behind us. Almost as if it was an entity chasing us. "Jackie, Step on it." I ordered cautiously into the throat mic.
We hurtled down the path, gravel eventually gave way to bitumen, its near black lending comfort, as it meant the ability for my currently lead-footed driver to push the pedal down further. And that he did. The moment the wheels hit the road, we collected speed at an alarming rate, accented by the seconds long screech of the tires.
My eyes scanned the space around the vehicle as we screamed down the road, constantly on the lookout for the threat of an enemy, trying to take us out of the chance to earn big.
At this point the Puma had picked up enough speed to become difficult to steer, i, as well as the rest of the crew noticed we had begun swerving from one side of the road to the other in a ragged zigzag, the eight wheel steering overcompensating the drivers inputs.
"Woah, Lancer, pull his reigns in! we're gonna end up in a tree or something!" Tommy voiced from his compartment behind and to my right.
"Jackie! Cool it off! no faster than 45!" we still didn't slow down. "JACKIE! SLOWDOWN DAMN IT!" With that, everyone, and everything that wasn't tied down, flew forwards as the Pumas forward suspension depressed as low as it could go, screeching tires were very audible as well as the acrid smell of burning rubber. The G-forces held us forward for what seemed like ten seconds as the vehicle came to a sudden halt.
"Jackie! i said 45kp/h not full stop!" I yelled into my throat mic. "I-... Sorry...Commander..." The shaken bloke stammered. "Sir-yessir. 45Kp/h" He repeated with a defeated sigh. Before i could respond, the clutch dropped and we began rapidly accelerating, G-forces this time pushing us into our seats.
Thirteen minutes down the road i noticed a forest off to our right, and, for some reason, i felt drawn to its darkness, as if it was calling to me. The racket of gunfire still pursuing and around us but in the direction of this forest. All was quiet. My conscience voiced its concerns, but with very little thought i pushed it to the back of my mind before ordering Jackie to adjust course for the dirt road leading through it.
Our 'Puffy' tan and green bush covered blur tore down the road like a frightened cat, going fast enough to kick up a sizable dust cloud behind us.
I felt a near unnatural comfort inside of this forest. And my concerns of how fast we were going through this seemingly instantaneous fog bank that appeared around us melted away, however the feeling of comfort quickly burst into a raging hellfire as fear clawed at my soul. My peripheral vision had picked up movement to my left, snapping my gaze to the left, i caught the glimpse of a red streak, possibly scaled by the way the light shone off of it. Darting from tree to tree at my eye level. This was near impossible for a living creature since i was sitting about three and a half meters above the ground.
But i was sure what ever this was... It was a living creature, it moved from cover to cover organically, matching our speed near perfectly, always moving just fast enough to blur itself out, making viewing any detail impossible.
My sixth sense kicked in, feeling a burning sensation on the back of my neck, i swung around, realizing the familiar sense of being watched. And my world slowed down...
Matching our speed, i stared at a set of glowing teal eyes, the pointy things glaring back at me with near endless glowing malicious intent. I dropped back down into my hatch till i was eye level with the roof of the turret. I Look out into the forest again only to lockup upon seeing that during my short span of divided attention. One pair of eyes. Had grown into near upwards of a dozen pairs. A barrage of Teal slits carving fear into every fiber of my being before slowly bleeding out from teal to a luminous crimson.
Without hesitation, in a flash i reached up, grabbed my hatch, and dropped into my positions seat, slamming the hatch shut in a fluid motion and twisting the locking lever shut, before jumping up into a half standing-crouch around my seat in the cramped space to peer out of the rotating periscope.
Feral rumbling growls as well as snarling could be heard from all around, the ten tonne armoured car shook violently as each pair of eyes grew a body of mist and began plowing into the side of the Puma. The disturbing thing was all these sounds were being heard from inside the Vehicle as if they were sitting behind us snarling in our ears. Their feral noises echoing and rattling around in our heads like a ping pong ball stuck in a leaf blower.
My fear gave way to despair. A hollow feeling balled up in my chest as my periscope became surrounded by glowing red eyes that orbited the vehicle, Defying both the laws of physics and common sense. I heard Jackie cry out in fear, even though he failed to activate his throat mic. His scream of terror echoed throughout the crew compartment over the engines ghoulish whine.
"LANCER! WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY! WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY! THEIR STARING INTO MY SOUL! MAKE THEM STOP! MAKE THEM STOP, PLEAAAASEEE!" My poor drivers wails for help hadn't fallen on deaf ears.
I was shook back partially out of my fears when i heard the loud near constant drone of our MG42 Machine gun. Its 1200 round per minute fire rate sounding more like someone ripping canvas woven from sound than a machine gun firing.
Looking through the periscope i watched as dozens of teal green tracers belched from the from of the turret, the floating disembodied eyes suddenly departed from the vehicle as we broke the fog bank.
Our Escape from the fog was sudden, but we didn't dare stop, we could still hear the malicious throaty chuckle echoing inside our vehicle.
It didn't take me long to realize that i was violently shaking in fear and shock. I forced one shaking hand to grasp and hold the other down in my lap as the Puma launched then hurtled through the air, jumping a five meter wide stream without any difficulty. Before slamming back down on all eight wheels.
Everyone and everything was suddenly thrown to the left side of the vehicle when we swerved violently to the right. After mustering enough mental fortitude, i looked out of my periscope again still shaking from the last time i used it. I noticed Jackie had swerved violently to get us on a well used dirt road. And we were now hurtling down it at an alarming speed. I checked my positions dashboard and noticed that the speedometer was reading 120kp/h, screaming downhill lent us even more speed, but i didn't dare tell my petrified driver to slow down.
"FUCKING FINALLY! THIS SHITHOLE FROM HELL FOREST IS ENDING! DONE! FINITO! FINALIE!" I heard Jackie yell in a shaking triumph mixed with relief and accented with petrified fear. As the treeline dissipated from my periscopes view Jackie yelled out "GOODBYE! CIAO! OLIVEWA! AUFWEIDERSAIN! FUCKOFF!" And i must say... I Agreed with him whole heartily!
We Sped past an orchard of some kind before heading off road and into an open field. "Lets see those bastards get the drop on us this time!" I yelled into the vehicles intercom. After a further five minute drive we finally came to a halt. But not on our own free will... We'd run out of fuel, and no one in the crew had a sufficiently large enough pair of balls, or the wheelbarrow to carry said balls. To get out and refuel us with the Jerry cans.
So there we stayed. There we slept. Inside our only protection.
But for the second night in a row. We wouldn't get much sleep. Our dreams constantly being probed by echoing whispers...
We all woke up at the same time screaming bloody murder over each other for about three minutes, before Jackie noticed sunlight pouring in through his periscope.
We all quieted down for a few moments before Jackie cut through the awkward silence. "Listen guys, i may be a great driver and all... But without go go juice we aint goin' no where".
"He has a point. Its daylight now. Those creatures attacked us at night and in the dark. It stands to reason that they may not be able to appear in the light of day." With that i looked out of my periscope. Since it can only rotate 90 degrees left or right, i had to rotate the turret to get a decent enough view of our surroundings. "I... Don't see anything but well lit empty fields. By the way. We may be in the deep shit..." I said with a cringe.
Andrew asks with a voice of cautious concern. "And why would that be?"
"We appear to have, in our panic last night. Drove through some poor sods Spring onion crop... As well as their fence on the other side of the field..."
"Say What?!" The crew yelled out in near perfect unison." Before the sound of everyone's hatches clanking open reverberated through the vehicle.
We all stood there, gazing at our poor, poor Puma. She was a right mess... Mechanically she was fine. But she was smothered in thick gloopy mud and spring onion, as well as having a wire fence wrapped around the forward two axles like a snare. And at some point during our late night frenzy we'd picked up a, thankfully empty chicken coup, which now lay precariously balanced on the front bumper and drivers periscope.
"Well... At least now we can disguise it as farm equipment fairly effectively..." Tommy said with a slight chuckle, every one joining in as well, even me.
"Righto Jackie, fill er' up. Whilst Andrew and i begin cleaning her up. Tommy, get on the blower and ask HQ for directions. There's no field like this on the map... Meaning we may be out of bounds..." I said worrying about the latter prospect. Being out of bounds for too long unintentionally or no, is a big no no. Usually punishable by immediate disqualification and a whole team penalty.
The crew set about their assigned tasks, and without a word... All except Tommy, who seemed to be throwing a tantrum in the vehicle. Something about not receiving any channels. Tommy poked his head out of Andrews hatch on the top right side of the turret and yelled out for someone to check if the aerials were screwed in properly. To which i climbed atop the engine deck and found them tightly secured.
"Ah, For. Fuck. Sakes! Work you Piece of SHIT" Echoed from the hatch before i heard a loud bang, that sounded suspiciously similar to someone hitting a microwave with a cricket bat.
I Climbed into the armoured car on a warpath. "You break my shit your buying me upgraded gear to replace it Damn it!" I Yelled as i launched myself into Tommy's cramped compartment.
"Calm Your Tits. I Only gave it a 'Get well soon tap' " Tommy growled before i rebutted with "Once again. Break my shit. And I'LL give ye' a 'Get well soon tap'. Out through the roof of this compartment!" I yelled, making everyone outside the Puma cringe.
In a town by this time, nearly smothered under the silhouettes of hundreds of pastel coloured ponies. Three ponies in particular were causing a considerable ruckus. A lavender blur running circles around her friends yelling giddily about how shes about to revolutionize her world with this invention. Leading and even often pushing her three friends closer towards her crystal homes two huge front doors.
"Ah' Dont see why your in such ah' hurry Twi. I know your excited. but cant this wait till', ya know, the end of the day. when my stand closes?" Applejack asked with her southern twang dancing off every word.
Twilight looked flabbergasted. " Wha- No! I can't wait that long! the Excitement will kill me!"
"All right Darling. We're following you, stop pushing please." A perfectly white unicorn nearly yelled in frustration at being pushed down the street. "Hey? Has Anyone seen Pinkie?" A lazily hovering blue Pegasus inquired. Both Twilight and Rarity looked around questioningly.
"You know what Dear... Now that you mentioned it... Pinkie dissapeared sometime around earlier this morning, something about Pinkie twitches and throwing a huge party. And i haven't seen Fluttershy this morning either. I'm due to go see her later this afternoon for tea." Rarity said evidently sinking into somewhat deep thought as to what could be going on.
Twilight darted to the doors that now loomed over the ponies, using her magic to push them open. After tapping a fore hoof against the floor for several seconds she looses patience with an audibly frustrated groan, and picks up her friends with her telekinesis, levitating them inside and placing them down on their respective cushioned crystal chairs. Slamming the doors shut behind them.
"Twilight! Honestly" Rarity huffed with indignity.
"Finally!" Twilight yelled. As her voice echoed around the cavernous room under the library, A familiar Lavender glow illuminating a large assortment of colourful gems on a shelf in the corner.
Twilight's magic levitated the gems over to the table, holding them in mid air, as chalk draws a series of symbols on the large round crystal table, the image once completed resembling an intricate five pointed star. Placing the colourful, Very expensive looking gems down, each in their own respective places. And letting out a proud huff.
"Well, Twi. Its... Uhm... What is it?" Applejack inquires now more than slightly confused and even more frustrated.
"Dear Applejack, those are quite expensive gems. Their quality is superb!" Rarity said with a joyful squee.
"Watch this!" Twilight said, illuminating her horn. The magical lavender aura leaving it in whisps of energy and connecting to several points around the center gems symbol. The whole setup glows with a yellow aura as the gems own stored magic meld together in weird ways, almost making the air charge with static.
The other two mares at the table, staring on with a foals curiosity. As Twilight uses her magic to spin two of the gems in opposite directions to varying degrees, causing faint static and shrill screeches to emanate from the center gem and fill the air.
Just as Applejack was going to ask what she was doing, a voice could be faintly heard through the center gem, although it was very quiet and slightly distorted.
"Ah, Yes, Of course. Just one moment Princess!" Twilight said as she began furiously adjusting the gems again. But, what would happen next, would shock everyone currently involved.
"I- I Dont know. Princess Cadence should have the only other setup... I have no explanation for how that Pony could intercept this signal..." Twilight mused with a confused expression.
"TWILIGHT!" The loud adolescent voice boomed down from the library above.
Darting up the stairs Twilight as well as AJ and Rarity saw a very annoyed looking spike sitting in a small mountain of scrolls, each with Princess Celestia's royal seal.
"Spike! Whats going on!" Twilight asked now very concerned at this turn of events.
"Thats what i- what i- oh no... not again!-" *BELCH~* yet another scroll materializes in a green flame before, rather comedically. Falling atop spikes head.
Twilight freed Spike from his parchment prison. Before opening the first scroll however, her library would be filled with a short burst of blinding light and the muffled sound of a 'Telipoof'. Upon her eyes recovering she is greeted my the two, Rather green looking royal sisters. Celestia looked as if she was about to loose her breakfast... Again... Whilst Luna looked like she hadn't achieved a wink of sleep last night, as well as sharing her sisters green hue.
"Princesses?" Twilight inquired.
"What ever happened to you your highness's?! look both look simply deplorable! This will not do! Rarity said before levitating two cushions over to the sisters and sitting them down, before beginning to brush their manes. Spike returned from the other side of the library with a recently emptied paper bin.
"Th-Thank you- A- All" Celestia praised thankfully through obvious attempts to avoid throwing up.
"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! what is wrong! Why are you both ill?" Twilight questioned almost frantically.
"My Dearest student... Somthings- Not as it s- sh- sho-" Celestia stopped mid-sentence whilst siezing the bin from spike with her magic. Before hurling violently into it.
"What isn't as it should be?" Twilight inquired.
Princess Luna spoke up this time. " Last night. both we and our sister, felt an ext- ext- -reame influx of chaos magic. Shortly before something of unfathomably large mass crossed over into our world... or many, Many smaller things..." The midnight blue princess corrected herself.
Applejack and Rarity both looked to Twilight, Very concerned expressions on their faces, before looking back to the princesses for more information. but that wouldn't arrive. As both sisters had fallen asleep on Twilight's floor.
"Ah'm gonna go get Appl'bloom from school and take er' home!" Applejack declared before bolting for the castles doors.
"AJ Darling! Be sure to bring Sweetiebelle home with you! i'll stay with the princesses to ensure they are not disturbed." Rarity said with a motherly tone.
Twilight stared into oblivion, contemplating what Luna had told her. the Princess of the nights words cutting through her soul as she contemplated whatthey could entail... 'influx of chaos magic. Shortly before something of unfathomably large mass crossed over into our world... or many, Many smaller things...'
"What ever happens... We must defend Equestria..." Twilight mumbles near inaudibly.
================= 0930 Hours Unknown river bank =================
The shade cast down by the dense leafy canopy above us was a godsend. The sun has had Alot more bite than the days previous, the air seems fresher too.
The tan/ olive green tiger-striped Puma sits lazily under the shade. Having not been moved since last parked an hour and a half ago. The thin Very deep river had been the crews original objective, as they needed to clean their vehicle, so that its camouflage could be effective.
Contrary to popular belief, Camouflage is not meant to completely render a vehicle invisible. No, its purpose is to break up the vehicles shape against its background. An example would be... Ahah! This Panther tank!
There! See how its Camouflage doesn't make the tank 'Invisible' but it breaks up its shape enough to make it harder to identify at longer range, unlike this Panther.
I Chose our Puma's camouflage pattern very carefully! I chose a two tone tan patch pattern as the base, due to tan's ability to blend in with most landscapes near flawlessly. Then covered that with a drab olive green tiger-stripe pattern to breakup the vehicles signature further. And when we threw fresh foliage atop that to breakup the vehicles 'Shape' further, so we blend into the background. Don't get me wrong. If your Looking for our puma properly, you'll find us. But if you don't know we're there, or our approximate location... Your efforts are mostly for naught.
Speaking of which. We were careful where we parked our little beauty. There was a convenient patch of bushes, Shaped like a horse shoe that we reversed into. We also went the extra proverbial 'Mile' and smothered the top of the Puma in foliage to conceal it from the air. Command hadn't radioed us back yet, so we became concerned that our transmissions were being jammed. Thus our little crusade to find fresh water and a place to hunker down until further notice.
Further more, this place was paradise! Not a stray sound to be heard besides the birds chirping, the rivers merry gurgling, and the hum of the occasional dragonfly.
The greens from the grass and vast leafy canopy above us counteracted the harsh tans of the fallen dry foliage that littered the ground. The coolness of the shade was occasionally exchanged for short periods, when the warm breeze would blow through. The temperature outside was about... twenty seven degrees C. Not too hot overly, just, comfortable if not slightly warm. That golden temperature that prompts laziness.
Once we had cleaned the outside of the vehicle, Andrew and I opted to clean the inside as well. For good measure i took some pine needles from a nearby tree, crushed them up, and placed a whole ration container full of them on the floor of the turret basket. Four blokes in a constantly sealed can that averages 43 degrees Celsius, thats 104 Fahrenheit for you fine people who still use it, isn't the greatest pleasure on one's nose.
With the Puma cleaned to the point you could eat your dinner off of it, we quickly ran out of things to do... Tommy chose to read a comic book, Surprise Surprise... Jackie, fell asleep in the shade of a pine tree. Andrew was downing various parts of his 48 hour ration pack, after having polished off his 24 hour ration pack from the previous day. And i decided to go for a swim, i always felt a natural affinity for water. It Relaxes me, lightens my soul. My avid love of the water had earned me the informal nickname of 'The Otter Knight'.
I loved that nickname so much i took it on as my Mascot, Say... I don't believe i ever mentioned the name of our steel steed. 'Tidal Tiger', i paid a small fortune in making her amphibious. I had to do it myself, with occasional help from Jackie, since every mechanic i tried hiring simply laughed in my face and told me it couldn't be done. And i'll have you know, did it we did! And we only suffer from the occasional minor leak...
That isn't the only modification that was made to our vehicle. I had 'Ready racks' installed around Andrews position so the poor bloke wouldn't have to bend over every time we needed to reload the cannon. The Consequence from this adjustment was. Andrews compartment became slightly more cramped, but he now doesn't have to bend over to pick up the next round every reload. As either side of his seat now has a six round 'ready rack'. This also changed our Puma's fire rate, we can now get off one shot every one point five to two seconds, for twelve rounds, after that though our reload rate increases to one round every seven seconds! Due to Andrew having to squeeze into an even smaller space to retrieve rounds from the ammo racks in the floor of his position. The original fire rate for our vehicle was one shot every four and a half seconds, but this time would increase due to Andrew getting fatigued from having to constantly bend over and heft a eight kilogram shell from the floor to the breech.
The rear of our Puma also now sports twin 30 liter or 7.9 'liquid gallon' external fuel tanks. I also had a long range 'Arrow' laser sighting system installed for far quicker and more accurate range finding. The sides of the vehicle have 'Hanging stowage' which are literally just toolboxes i bought from the local hardware store and attached to hook loops i welded to the sides of the vehicle, and i also had custom stowage boxes made for the turrets exterior. Finally i had twelve millimeter armoured side skirts attached to the sides of the vehicle to protect the really thin undersides of the vehicle, those being only eight millimeters or something like that angled at forty five degrees down angle.
But thats enough Armoured car porn for now.
I laid on my back as i floated down stream for a few minutes, before i'd right myself and free style back to the 'camp site'.
At Twenty minutes past two in the afternoon i heard the hushed voice of Jackie quietly hissing at me to get into cover as i floated downstream for what must of been the fortieth time. After following his instructions and grabbing onto a tree root that overhung the river and pulling myself under the cover of a bush leaning over the water. He pointed up at the sky mouthing the words 'look at this shit'. I Obliged him curious, and i noticed a inky black silhouette against the suns rays about five hundred meters off to my right and about two hundred feet high.
"Damn" I quietly hissed. "I hate drones!"
Once the flyer left Line of sight, i trudged from the river and sprinted down the pebbly shoreline to Jackie, enjoying the feeling of the small smooth pebbles messaging my feet as i bolted for my driver.
I Placed my digital binoculars down on the wooden collapsible picnic table that we always carried on our Puma, Reclining into my camping chair.
I pulled an ice cooled Bundaburg Lemon lime & Bitters from my chairs cooler pocket.
After cracking open my bottle and taking a hearty chug, i let out the loudest holler of a laugh that my body would allow me. For several seconds i actually forgot the breath, i was laughing so hard i was doubled over in my chair, shaking from laughter, but no noise was leaving me as i'd ran out of breath to laugh with. Before taking a large enough gasp of air that i gave myself hiccups.
"Bravo, Brav- *Hic* -o, You've Taken the ca- *Hic* -ke with this one guys!" I Said clapping loudly. "I Love how you even went though the *Hic* trouble of planting that image in my Bionoculars gallery. howd you *Hic* do that? Take a photo of an image on one of your phones?" I mused aloud with a chuckle, a sly smile spreading across my face.
"Damn it Jay! I'm Telling you its the truth! Look around you! Do either of us look like we're joking?!" Jackie Hissed with all the seriousness of a drill sergeant.
'Jay, he addressed me by my actual name. That in its own right is unusual and a cause for concern. And that would be a hell of a poker face... Jackie couldn't hold a poker face if his life depended on it...' I Racked my brain but it refused to accept the image of a flying Pegasus as actual fact.
"So, on the hypothetical that, this isn't you lot pulling my leg. What would that even mean? Pegasai- Pegasai? Pegasus? Pegasuses? Pega- Peg- Ah fuck it you know what i mean. They are not real! So what? Is it a new drone being used by the other teams? Is it some balloon that got loose from its moorings? Or some escaped government experiment? I Dunno?!" I Said waving my arms through the air.
"I Don't know Lancer... But either way. We should consider being more careful. Moreover, What the hell do i do? i cant radio HQ and say theres flying horses around us, they'll have an event paramedic check us out for head trauma!"
"..." My awkward silence and rubbing of my lightly bearded chin was certainly concerning for the three worried crewman, it meant that i was actually considering their hallucination in serious thought. "Alright... I Don't know whats going on, but none the less... We STILL need to link up with the rest of our unit. Then make an effort to locate wherever Johnna decided to 'Set up shop' with our HQ truck. Until then, our current goal is certain. We must meet up with Lancer-02 ,03 ,04 and 05. And i imagine it in out best interest to remain undetected, so we stick to the roads, under cover, and at low speeds so as to not kick up much dust." To the end of that summery i looked up to see my crew silently nodding. "Righto, Everyone mount up and ready your positions, Tommy, Get on that radio of yours, and attempt to make contact with the rest of the unit. Use our SOS code if you need to, just get them to come running. Jackie, help me put on the rubber dust skirts. And Andrew..... Do what ever it is you do" I Finished with a laugh before walking to the Puma.
Getting our Rubber dust skirts into their operating position was simple enough, as Jackie and i had grown tired of the Tedious labor of sliding them into their runners, which they had the habit of slipping out of constantly. So we opted to do the Lazy thing, and leave them in their runners 24/7, and just fold and tie them to the same hooks the 'Hanging stowage' are attached to.
With that done Jackie jumped into his position and began starting our girl up, whilst i packed up the last of our camping furniture, and jumped into my position.
After slipping on my Throat mic, placing on my headset and plugging into the vehicles intercom. I said in a thick German accent as seriously as i could- "Fahrer, Aus Marsch!"
Rarity and Twilight were walking over the footbridge to fluttershy's well hidden house. But that was when things started to become slightly concerning... Fluttershy's usually quiet voice could be heard in a semi loud panic.
"Oh, Dear. Oh, Dear. Oh, Dear! Everyone Calm down! Please! I cant understand what your all trying to say when you keep talking over each other!"
Rounding the corner the two mares were greeted by the Custard yellow Pegasus currently surrounded by an inconceivable amount of animals. All of which were seemingly yelling things at her in their own languages.
Twilight walked over to Fluttershy, a look of deep concern mixed with a twang of confusion as she could see Fluttershy's fuse slowly burning short.
"What happened here Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her frustrated friend, but she didn't get a response, due to her voice being drowned out by the cacophony of noises being made by the small army of animals. "Of, Course... FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY! HELLO!?" Twilight yelled to get her friends attention, eventually succeeding.
"Oh, Hi Twilight!" Fluttershy yelled with her usual hushed tone, but she too was subject to having her voice drowned out by the animals panic.
"WHAT?! I. CANT. HEAR. YOU!" Twilight yelled each word with emphases.
"OH, HI TWI- oh that's enough. QUUUIIIIEEEEEET!" Fluttershy yelled at an unnaturally loud volume, a volume the girls had never heard her use before. Her voice acquired a high pitched pang from it.
All the animals shut up at her mood swing.
"All of you! Quiet!" She said through an annoyed glare, before pointing a fore-hoof at a squirrel closest to her."You! What is the matter!" After the squirrel frantically made a series of noises and waving its paws around for several minutes it finished its explanation. Fluttershy looked troubled.
"Whats wrong, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, stepping closer to her friend.
"This squirrel just told me that a huge monster sped through the forest last night, before crashing through my fence, stealing my new chicken coup that i was going to show my chickens today. And continuing down the road towards Ponyville.
Twilight then turned to where Fluttershys new chicken coup was being build to discover that the whole thing had been ripped from the ground and taken. And on top of that. Four sets of continuous tracks had been left gouged out in the mud.
"What kind of monster... Could have that kind of strength and leave these tracks..." Twilight openly mused whilst staring at the tracks with fear driven disgust.
Rarity and Fluttershy joined her as they looked in the direction the tracks were leading to. The tracks were at least twenty centimeters deep. This creature must of had the weight near upwards of five or six manticores! Twilight followed the tracks to the well used dirt road that lead to Ponyville, before turning on the spot and looking towards her home town.
"There are monsters among us girls... we have to protect everyone..." Twilight mumbled, shortly before having a blue and rainbow coloured blur fly from P-ville and come skidding to a halt in front of her.
"Twilight! Theres Trouble in town!" Rainbow blurted out, eliciting a shiver from Twilight, and worried gasps from Fluttershy and Rarity.
"Monsters?!" Twilight yelled at Rainbowdash?
"Wha- NO!" Rainbow said with frustration, coming to a hover mere inches from Twilight's face. "Some Snobby Pegasus captain just arrived in town and is causing a ruckus!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"Ah, so then, Captain Stryder has arrived... Excellent! He arrived sooner than i expected!" Twilight said beaming with relief.
Rainbow's jaw dropped agape at her friends response, having it not be the lest what she was expecting.
"WHAT?! I'm sorry, WHAT?!" RD nearly screamed, her tone loud enough for a voice crack. "YOU! YOU CALLED THAT!? THAT? THA-"
"Showoff?" Twilight cut in with a sly grin.
"YEAH!... NO! Hes a Jerk! He's Treating Everypony like his servants!" Rainbow yelled her shade turning from blue to red as she was clearly fuming.
Twilight sighed deeply "I was worried that this outcome would be a possibility." Twilight groaned. her horn lit and before any of her attending friends could react she -Telipoofed- them into town center.
All the townsponies around Twilight and her three friends were silent, but few had actually noticed the element bearers entrance. Twilight could also hear yelling from the direction Everypony was looking. Rainbowdash took to the air before saying.
"RIGHT! THATS IT!" And darting in the same direction.
After the townsfolk began to notice the Princess of friendship, and began parting to let her through, she found the cause of the disturbance. It was , as Expected. Captain Stryder. His tall lime green lithe form was currently standing in the center of a circle of stunned ponies as he proceeded to yell at an irate hovering Rainbowdash, each staring each other down, nose to nose. A mare was down low to the ground standing over her trembling foal, staring daggers at the captain.
"What. Is going on here!" Twilight Inquired with a ruthless Authority after seeing the cowering foal.
The captain, finally noticing the princesses presence, drops all his previous engagements with a turn of his armour plated back and drops into a swift over exaggerated bow.
"Its a Pleasure To finally meet you, Your Highness!" Twilight cringed at how cushy he was being with her, because of her title alone. She did however, bury her growing disdain for the captain, at least for the time being.
"Captain, I Take it that you and your Pegasai guard are ready for your mission? Are you aware of its parameters, and the conditions at which your command extend." Twilight said deadpan.
"Why, Of course your Highness! 3rd Pegasai~ At your service! Our mission is to conduct Aerial reconnaissance and report back each patrols findings to you... Under no circumstances are we to engage or do battle with anything that we may find, but we are permitted to slow it down if it heads for Ponyville, reconnaissance is our primary objective. This includes anything out of the ordinary considering terrain and the obstacles upon that may have been altered by the creatures!" The captain parroted, keeping his tone professional.
"Very good captain, Get to it." Twilight said dismissively. Before turning and leaving, ensuring that the mother and her foal followed her away from town square.
Once Twilight, The foal and his mother were far enough from the town square Twilight asked the mother what happened. To which she reply's.
"Whilst i had my Attention on a Fresh produce store, i was attempting to haggle with. My colt here noticed that Pompous Buffoon and his flight land." She barked up that description with an alarming amount of disgust. "Jaderunner, wanted to get the captains autograph. But the captain obviously didn't like his attention, and decided the best course of action against my foal was to use 'Gust' to blow him nearly halfway across the square!"
Twilight's disdain had boiled over into a fury that would most certainly be directed at the captain once he had settled into his new Headquarters. Whilst Twilight needed his help, she still demanded that he treat everyone as his Equal. His sole purpose for being a Guard was to protect the ponies in his care!
"Don't worry, I'll see too it that he is punished and with no slap to the hoof either." The lavender Alicorn said with all the seriousness of her title.
The wind howled as two black shadows flew through the onset of a brewing thunderstorm.
Two Pegasai floated through the air, their wings straight so as to catch the rising warm air from the thermals. They continued to glide for a few more minutes, before the silence between them broke.
"Ugh! This is Crazy! We've been searching high and low, under every tree, bush and rock for this beast for days! And all we've found are an abandoned Chicken coup, and sets of tracks that seem to lead no where! And I've Had it! I've Had it!" The completely carbon coloured Pegasus clad in storm grey chainmail practically yelled out whilst having a small mid air temper tantrum.
"Hey! How do you think i feel?!" his counterpart wearing a white scarf and glass flying goggles growled. "I Haven't slept in two days! The captain has run me ragged trying to impress the Princess! So SHADDIT!" The Cobalt blue and orange maned flyer yelled whilst looking at his friend.
With that they flew on for another fifteen minutes, before they both looked at each other questioningly.
"You hear that too right?"
"You mean the princess yelling at the captain? Or that irritating humming?" The cobalt flier asked.
Both Pegasai roll their heads to get a full view of their surroundings. Having heard a loud ear piercing howl pass them and feeling a vibrating hum reverberate the air around them. Before it ebbed off into nothing. Leaving them looking at each other concerned and confused.
They both orbit around the location for a half an hour before they hear the same sound and feel the same air vibrating hum again. Only this time, They see it.
Off to their right side, almost matching their height. A Single black spec speeding diagonally away from them in a straight line. The scouts break out of their wide orbit and follow the spec. The sheer amount of effort they had to exert to keep up with it was worrisome, Had the creature seen them, and was running? Or Much more frightening... Was this its normal speed?
By now they had gotten close enough to see its rough form. It was Huge in comparison to they themselves, it was fat, stubby and had short wide wings that it held beneath itself. Most confusing besides its constant headache inducing howl, is how it staid in the air, it never flapped it wings. Seeming to just... hang there in the air... Its skin was shiny, very shiny, probably scales. And coloured in splotches of deep brown, and light green. Its tail was white, and it had a red nose.
Once they were within a few hundred feet of it they noticed that it had many shiny glass looking eyes atop its 'head', they, being alerted to this fact by the rays of the sun reflecting off of them. Due to this disturbing revelation, they dove under it to avoid being spotted. They continued to gain on the beast until they were only a dozen feet from it, they held their ears flat against their skulls in a futile attempt at dulling its constant howl.
They then feel their blood chill, not because of the cold air at their altitude. Butbecuase they were joined by a second even throatier growl, this one sounding like the purr of a Huge Manticore. In fact, thats what they where initially looking for.
Both scouts broke off from the beast they were practically within touching distance from. As they were about descend below the cloud layer and return to their HQ just outside of Ponyville. A robins egg blue and grey blur with a Yellow streak running down its back hurtles from the cloud layer they were about to descend into.
"What in Celestia's Sweet Apple, buckin Rays of light was that thing?!" The carbon pony Exclaimed wide eyed, before his partner could respond their train of thought was drowned out by the new creature screaming towards the other one from below. Its feral growl was drowned out when its wings started to spit green fire that looked like miniature suns at the brown beast. Thunder cracked constantly as Both sky-beasts fought for supremacy of the skies.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" They shouted at each other but they couldn't hear themselves think let alone what either of them was saying over the sudden barrage of sound. By now the 'brown beast' had been hit, Hard several times by the 'Thunderbird', and was now trailing thick black smoke, as they followed each other through tight circles. Each trying to get behind the other... Presumably...
The fight ended fairly quickly, the "Brown beast' was agile and small, making it quite difficult to hit. However the Brutal power and attacks of the "Thunderbird" had it outmatched from the near start of the fight due to its ambush. The 'Brown beast' got hit several dozen times and eventually began spewing red smoke all over the sky before it leveled out and the red smoke changed to a purple smoke. The 'Brown beast' rolled onto one wing before turning sharply away whilst descending and flying in the other direction, leaving the 'Thunderbird' flying around victorious, trailing thick plumes of white smoke. After two or so minutes the 'Thunderbird' turned and began flying in another direction whilst lowering its altitude.
The skies once again turning peaceful, only the sound of the howling wind from the brewing storm around them. Both Pegasai sat in the cloud, their heads poking out the top like small shrubs, with stunned expressions on their faces. What had they just witnessed... They were so baffled by what just happened, that they stared at each other jaws agape, mouths moving silently, they were unable to form words.
"I- Think now is a good time to report to the captain..." The Cobalt flier finally stuttered out.
"Yeah... No kidding..." His friend said comically loudly, Evidently still suffering from hearing loss.
========================== 1140 Hours. Ponyville Royal Guard Garrison. ==========================
A Brilliant white flash illuminated the room. Washing out the orange glow from the ferociously crackling fireplace, but only for a split second.
The violent reverberating growl of thunder shook the windows in their sills. As three ponies sat around the table just in front of the window. The Orange glow of the fireplace illuminating the decently sized room, and the clutter of fancy hoof-carved furniture that was sprawled across it.
The only other pony in the room wasn't sat at the table like his comrades, but stood at the window, waiting for the deluge of rain to begin, before starting to converse with his inner circle. He didn't have to wait long. A wave of rain swept over the land outside with the rapid fury of a tsunami. The pony, who was adorned in bronze armour, the Patch of a Celestial sun with a single sword under which symbolizes his rank as captain.
Captain Stryder turns to face his most trusted friends at his table. The primal roar of the rain outside the captains 'House' inside the garrison was threatening to drown out his hushed words completely as he approached the table.
"So, I imagine you must have a myriad of questions for me, such as: 'Why are you here?' and 'What is so important it required your summons at 11PM on a Sunday night'. And my answer to you all is... Yesterday, Two scouts were flying their routine patrol route. Before they made discreet contact with two flying creatures, not of Equestria."
All in attendance looked at each other questioningly across the table, each having a sickening realization that the rumors were true, before the captain continued.
"The first creature was brown with green splotches, its skin was shiny, meaning it possibly has scales. It held its wings beneath it, and somehow flies without the need to flap it wings. It was stout, fat, and very loud. The scouts described it as 'A constant growl that made the air tremble' it also had a constant 'Whistle'. The second creature was much the same except longer and more streamlined, it also had a thinner tail, and was much louder than the first.
The two creatures broke into acrobatic maneuvers before parting ways, they appeared to be in the midst of battle between themselves. By the fact that neither creature killed the other, and the victor let the loser leave. makes me believe that this may be a territorial dispute between the two. What is you input on this?"
Everyone looked around the table for a few seconds before a tan coloured mare wearing her nightcap spoke up.
"Sir, I'm no Anthropologist, or what ever would be the qualified job to guess the behavior of creatures. But it is possible that it was a territorial dispute. But unless these creatures can wield weapons or magic, Or are insanely huge. theres no real problem as of yet." She said with a hopeful smile.
The captain spoke up, remembering a certain detail in the report. "I Do believe that they can use magic. The Private described it as 'With constant cracks of thunder, fire spewed from its wings and wisps of light that look like miniature green and red suns were hurled at the other'."
The mares face paled considerably at the report. And another Pony, a Chocolate stallion with a fiery orange maine spoke up next with great conviction.
"If they are so capable so as to wield the power of thunder and suns then they must be dealt with swiftly!"
All ponies at the table, including the captain nodded at this conclusion. It was the logical course of action to defend the ponies in their care. This incident had occurred only ten kilometers from Ponyville. Had this freak storm not blown in from The Everfree, Ponyville would have been discovered, who knows what destruction could of happened. Then a thought popped into the head of the last Pony, the runt of the table. The near luminescent red pony mustered the courage to speak up, flicking his droopy grey maine out of his eyes.
"But what about Princess Sparkle? Shouldn't we consult her before carrying out an attack on a foreign entity?-" He was immediately silenced by the glare of his other three counterparts around the table, the mares voice boomed over the white noise of the typhoon outside.
"THEIR ANIMALS, MONSTERS, they are incapable of cognitive thinking or communication, the scouts reports that they tried to communicate with it but it did nothing. Its only reaction came when it was attacked by its counterpart."
The captain stood from his cushion whilst looking down his nose to the quickly shrinking form opposite him.
"I Appreciate your concern, Firebrand. But you have to understand, if we alert Princess sparkle to this development, she'll deny any self defence of Ponyville VIA preemptive strike, in-favor of attempting to 'Study' it or something, Remember that incident a few months ago with that timber wolf?... Princess sparkle is a scientist, first and foremost. She doesn't have the vast experience we do in combat as Royal Guard! She cant understand... to make the decision that counts! And right now the defence of Ponyville is our upmost priority. Besides. She can always study the body much more in depth when we bring it back here..." He said with greedy vigor. "This may be the act that finally gets me recognized in 'The hall of the Guard'.
'Captain Alexi. Makeri. Stryder. Awarded this place in these records for his decisive victory in the first battle of his career. Slain monsters from an alien world in defence of his fellow Ponies! Has a Ring to it...'
The captain thought as he walked over to the front door. His inner circle on his heels
"Be ready, We launch tomorrow morning. I'm going to tell Princess sparkle that we're heading on a training exercise over The Everfree, in order to train my Guard to master their fear of it. Once we leave we commence mission start. Sergeant Firebrand, have two squads of six take off and fly the directions both beasts flew after their engagement. Have them report back to you immediately, The storms lingering over Ponyville and its surrounding area whilst The Everfree's skies are clear. Spotting two scaled beasts sleeping should be a simple task, creatures that big need a large area, tell them to start with the clearings in the forest."
The red pony simply nodded his lowered head, accepting long ago that when the captain ordered something, arguing would just hurt himself, and his unit.
Unbeknownst to the group of separating ponies now walking through the rain to their respective barracks. The four of them hadn't been alone during that meeting. Hanging from a low tree limb that extended over the arch of the captain's roof. A lone Vampire Thestral had been listening into their conversation intently. She releases her grip on the tree limb, righting herself midair and flapping her wings furiously, fighting the force of the constant barrage of the rain pulling her down. Her usually unnaturally fluffy fur didn't help her in that feat, her fluff absorbing the deluge like a sponge.
Eventually the combined forces of rain and the weight of water in her coat forced her to land. But she didn't stop, she couldn't stop. The lives of creatures where held in her hooves, she must report her find to Princess Luna!
On and on, she galloped as hard as her body would allow, only slowing to a jog occasionally to catch her breath. By now she was shivering violently in the cold of the rain.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAHHHHHH! I HATE RAAAAIIIIIN!!" She screams into the black swirling heavens above her.
The clearing was bathed in rich white moonlight. Painting the Small city of shrub camouflaged Canvas and nylon tents in an eerie white glow that reflected off everything.
The only souls moving around at this time? The sparse frequent patrols of three, moving, around the perimeter and inner 'Roads' between the fabric structures. The random sods currently stumbling around cross-legged between the tents looking for the bathroom truck that has been moved so many times today during setup, its current location was a mystery. And Lancer, Who sat on the front step of the Command Truck, Enjoying the peace of the cool night air.
As Lancer took another hearty gulp from his warm cup of Milo. The door behind him slid open, a long shadow spreading over the ground in front of him. Lancer turned to see his friend since school, John Brigan, or 'Johnna' as he was nicknamed among the crew.
"You know the plan?" Johnna inquired as he joined Lancer on the grated step, His own cup of Coffee steaming in hand.
"Once i finish my Milo, and my sorry lot finish their first cooked meal that didn't spend the first twenty two months of its life in a plastic bag. 'Tan Tabbies' pack up and depart for the village spotted during an air patrol. Strictly recon." ...Another Hearty gulp...
"Yeup, Tats' De' plan" Johnna said in a dopey voice. Before sipping his coffee.
Lancer brings his industrial sized mug to his lips again, before taking it away and shaking his head, chuckling.
"Hmm? What's so funny?" Johnna asked cracking a smile.
"When my crew drove out of that fog bank we ended up breaking 90 road rules i'm pretty sure, before running out of gas in some poor bastards spring onion crop. By the end of our panicked spree we had driven through three fences accidentally stolen an empty chicken coup and destroyed a fair portion of some poor farmers livelihood. That field was apparently only a ten minute drive straight south to that village."
"It's a good thing you didn't go there. That village is on the tactical map, its fair game. Probably crawling with Snakes or Dragonborn." Johnna rebutted.
Lancer Scrunched up his face in thought, placing his cup on the step next to his right foot, before turning to face his friend.
"Thats What gets me Johnna. How could we be 'Magically' Teleported from the northern most sectors of the map to the southern most? It doesn't make sense! You know as well as i do that the combat area is over three hundred and fifty kilometers across!" Lancer began to raise his voice in frustration.
"I Dunno, but its best to not question it too far. We know where we are now. We just have to deal with it." The buff well tanned Samoan said into his mug, taking another sip.
Lancer stood up at that and began to walk over to his 'Lady' who was parked in a recess in the trees, just off to the side of the entrance into the clearing.
"Hey, Jay! You gonna finish your drink?" Johnna asked, before looking into Lancers abandoned mug. All that greeted him was the Remnants of a melted marshmallow.
Light Erupted from the Vehicle into the early morning mist as the turret hatch opened and Andrew popped out the top of the vehicle.
"Where is he? We're supposed to be gone already!" He exclaimed with a frustrated tone.
"Your saying something?" Lancer huffed whilst scaling the left side of the puma.
Andrew let a relived smile out over his broad square face.
"No sir. We're ready to leave!" Andrew reported with a raised professional soldiers voice.
Lancer slipped into his hatch like a caterpillar climbing back into its cocoon. before slamming the hatch shut he turned to face Andrew.
"You may want to button up so we can get going. don't look now. but you just re-woke the party." Lancer said quietly whilst pointing to the tents with his thumb.
Andrew followed his point before exclaiming a profanity and falling into his position slamming his hatch shut. Cooks from both teams, Not in the slightest appreciative of having their recently achieved sleep interrupted. Had taken up arms and were quietly charging at the Puma, Waving the Various implements of their profession.
As Jackie released the parking brake and the Puma began rolling down hill away from camp, so they could start the engine without waking everyone up. Lancer was Doubled over in his seat laughing up his lungs.
"That was the most Hilarious thing I've ever seen! They were trying to be so 'Threatening' waving their pans and knives and rolling pins and soup ladles through the air whilst quietly yelling and charging at us!"
An rather uneventful half hour drive later the Puma had pulled up and came to a stop behind a small empty hill that overlooked the town. Its significantly thickened foliage camouflage making it look like a rectangular bush from the air. But their parking was cleaver, so that only Lancers shoulders and head would protrude out form over the hill, to allow him the view he required for his recon. AND Allowing him to still have the protection of his Vehicle. Without give their position away.
With their checklist of 'To do's' Completed, the crew buttoned up their vehicle, and used their spare time to sleep. Before falling asleep a passing glance was afforded to the dashboard clock in front of lancer. Its glowing arms portrayed the time as 3:12AM
"... We need to rethink our sleeping patterns..." he mumbled to himself.
Luna's moon still perched in the starry midnight blue sky. Its light making sneaking around a 'Royal pain' for the Royal Guard's ponies trying to get into position around the huge camp. Three ponies in particular, lay beneath a rose bush, peering out into the camp.
"There goes another one" The tan mare points with a fore hoof. "That makes another patrol, so in the past half hour there had been 16 patrols on this route." she said pointing to a crudely drawn map that was slapped together by two of her troops. "That means that after this next patrol, we have one minute and eight seconds to get from cover to cover into the camp." After a short pause she begins fidgeting, and Stryder notices her nervous twitch.
"Is there something wrong Swiftwind?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. To which the mare faces him and replies.
"Sir, we began this... Operation under the duress that these creatures were hostile and/or Animals. Yet they have manufactured goods, military structure, and they evidently speak Equestrian. This is-"
"You speak of INSUBORDINATION First Lieutenant. I Advise you tread cautiously, less your livelihood be put on the line. How would you provide for your foals?" The captain growls through a glare.
"Sir! We don't know what their equipment is! The only weapons i recognize on their patrols are knives. If those long poles they carry around with them are their weapons i shudder to think what their capable of based on the privates report. And thats just for starters! Look around their camp! There are metal vehicles, or at least i assume their vehicles, EVERYWHERE. And they all have far larger versions of their soldiers poles build into them! I don't know what they are, but they look Very sturdy-"
"Know your place First Lieutenant Rosewood! You will follow your superior officers orders, To. The. Letter!" Captain Stryder hissed.
They both ducked as another patrol passed by, two of the creatures were dispensing banter with each other loud enough to hear.
"Sooo! Our little 'Jassie' has finally gone n' knocked up his wife Eh? About time. You two've only been together for like four years!" Both laughed, whilst the patrols third wheel turned away slightly blushing newer shades of red by the second.
"Sh-Shutup you cunt!" Their friend practically yells out. "You have no proof we did anything!" He growls.
"Oh i don't do i?" One squaddie said breaking into a smirk. "Well i heard you both knockin' headboards last night. pretty smooth move mate, starting with a massage and moving onto-"
"SHADDAP!" The now profusely red third yelled loud enough for even the crickets to go silent.
By this point some of the guards behind the bush had started chuckling to themselves at the weird creatures expense. The patrol continued on silently for a bit before the two started talking between themselves again.
"See! They are not only smart enough to manufacture goods, and have a military, but they are social creatures!" Rosewood hissed before taking a back-hoof to the face. All the guards behind Stryder and Rosewood instantly fell silent.
"FOLLOW. YOUR. ORDERS! Or i'll personally see to it that you 'Say hello your heritage'" The captain growled so silently into Rosewoods ear, only she heard him. "I. Have NOT. Worked this hard. For this long. To have the grandest moment of my career and possibly my familys history, Destroyed by some, Griffon loving Whore and her Abomination of a family!" He silently yelled into her ear.
Rosewood shot him a glare that was make a dragon end itself. Before growling ferally through grit teeth.
"You know what captain. You can take your operation and sit on it. hopefully it'll be large enough to replace the Stickstuck up your tail hole!. You may have the power of Rank. But i have the power of one hundred twelve Brave stallions and mares who'd lay their lives down to protect the ponies they love! And i will ensure to it that they not be remembered as the ones who plunged their nation into war, Because of Some ARROGANT, POMPOUS, IGNORANT, Court fool Blowing smoke up his arse! Good Morning to you. Captain! Squad. Return to Ponyville and Prepare the last line of defence." As she backed out of the bush and turned to her troops she pulled a trenching shovel out of a privates pack and threw it under the rosebush, next to the captain. "Its to help you dig your early grave... In case Your Mouth gets tired!" She huffed indignantly whilst turning her back to the slack jawed Irate Captain who was still hissing profanity's and orders from under his bush. "NOONE, Threatens or insults MY family." she grumbled as she walked to the front of her units crouched formation.
First lieutenant Rosewood Proceeded to usher her stunned detachment of the 3rd Pegasai, uneventfully, back to Ponyville.
============================= 0500 Hours Royal Chariot, En-route to Ponyville =============================
The royal chariot streaked across the midnight blue, starry night sky. Its polished gold leafing shining in the white glow of Luna's moon for a rare change. The two sisters sitting riding upon it, in the midst of a leery conversation over a certainly unusual event to occur to Luna during her dream walking that night.
"You've never seen such carnage dear sister!" Luna mumbled, abstract from the current surroundings. "These creatures, While it is true that they are Intelligent. There certainly is no denying that. But for all their Genius, they are Cursed with the blight of eternal war!" Luna mumbled whilst turning to look her concerned older sister in the eyes.
Princess Celestia spoke up finally. "Luna, are you Sure that you haven't made a misunderstanding of their disposition?" She inquired in all seriousness.
"That's nigh a possibility Dear sister. There were complicated diplomatic and political issues that caused said wars. However that doesn't negate the fact that. Their species has been at war since its infancy. What is of great concern, if their methods of war..." Luna shuddered at that vision. Celestia was becoming ever more concerned the more Luna revealed about these creatures that now trod upon their nations lands. "Great Atrocities... Indiscriminate killings... Torture... I've seen Their peoples terrifying Technological marvels and weapons of war... Machines that are nigh indestructible to their common soldiers, Weapons that throw metal balls hundreds and even thousands of feet to kill their enemies... Airships that far surpass any of our own, or any in the world in both Range, Agility, and Speed... I've seen the metal cylinders as large as you and i dropped from said airships over their towns and city's, on their army's and civilians alike... and the sheer gruesome destruction hence caused... One weapon in particular chills me to the bone... A Metal cylinder larger than your throne dear sister... One nation dropped it upon one of their enemies city... The blast from this weapon, reduced the city and its citizens to dust, the fires of Tartarus that burst forth like a rising mushroom incinerated all, beit building or creature. A city twice the size of Canterlot... Reduced to ash and molten stone instantly, and its people burned, dead or dyeing... slowly... painfully..." Luna began shivering at the sheer mass death and destruction she bore witness too in the Humans dreams, before the warmth of celestia's wing wrapping over her midnight coat comforted her.
"It's okay dear sister, we Shan't let that happen to 'our little ponies!" She explained with the same sheer, motherly authority she has had for over a thousand years.
It was then that a near blinding flash of light illuminated the sky behind the chariot, causing the sisters to turn around. A Column of midnight blue light with a yellow glowing aura pierced the sky and continued into the heavens, its emanating power parting the clouds in its immediate area. Celestia ordered the pulling team to circle around and double back to the lights source. Upon landing the sight that greeted them was truly shocking to say the least...
A lone Vampire Thestral, laid upon the ground, unconscious before them. Luna's gasp rasping through the air as she practically leaped over her taller, older sibling to the guards side. The princess of the night held her ear to the barrel of the damp, cold, un-moving mass of matted mud-plastered fluff lying in the thick mud. Relief washed over her expression as she heard a faint slow heartbeat.
"Oh, Thank goodness... Shes Alive..." The Princess said with a heavy sigh as she nearly collapsed in the mud.
"Why is this pony from your guard nearly dead in the mud Luna!" The princess of the day demanded softly as she used her magic to levitate the unconscious form into their chariot.
"I Heard that Twilight had summoned captain Styder to assist her in defending Ponyville from the creatures that we spoke of during our last meeting in the Ponyville library." Celestia Grimaced at that. "I sent Radiant Eclipse here to keep tabs on him-" It was then that Luna noticed words gouged out in the mud, words that bore the young officers pristine calligraphy.
'Dear Princess Luna! Please! Look into my memories! The matter is of Dire Urgency and requires your IMMEDIATE intervention!
Following the Advice of the text left from her Youngest and Brightest Officer, and dear friend. Luna lit her horn before gently touching it to the Thestral's forehead. After several seconds Luna reared upwards with a Gasp of sheer Terror! Before Celestia could articulate her words into a sentence, Luna Stood up from the floor of the chariot, before barking out orders to the Pulling team to 'Make the Greatest of Haste'. Turning to her stunned sister she replied with.
"Tis as i feared Sister... The Pompous Court Fool has laid down plans for an Attack against the 'Humans'. Said plans are probably being carried out as we speak!" The Princess said through a glare.
"Let us hope not. For if what you've told me is true... Tell of the Humans most certain course of action..."
The Princesses continued using regenerative magic on the out cold Thestral, to heal the damage done by both hypothermia, and Extreme magic exhaustion...
Celestia kneeled next to the un-moving mass of mud-plastered fur on the floor using her magic to heal the poor soul, her younger sister sitting opposite to her using her magic to remove the masses of wet mud and clay from her guards coat and fur.
"She poured so much of herself into that spell, that she nearly Killed herself using that Soul flare..." Celestia remarked.
Luna looked up from cleaning her friends coat. "I know Tia... I Don't know whether to be Angry for her Risking her life like that... or... Proud for her putting herself on the line for what she knew was right... Whatever the outcome i come to, Shes certainly getting a promotion." Luna said through the warm motherly smile both her and Celestia shared.
By this time the Pulling team were grunting with the growing strain of each flap of their wings, the Royal chariot was Blitzing through Luna's sky so fast that contrails were forming off the edges of it. Both sisters praying that they make it in time to stop the attack, Before irreparable damage was done...
After a few minutes had passed the captain had seemed to regain his composure enough to proceed with his planned operation. If not now largely understaffed for such a battle...
"Go!" He quietly ordered his troops. However a previously unforeseen patrol that had unofficially began its rounds a few minutes early spotted the heavily armed and armoured guards moving from the bushes and across the six meter gap between the shrubs and the tents in the clearing. However...
Before any of the three Humans could Yell out or for that matter even raise their weapons, they were met with the lightning fast response of the guards. Two of the humans, a short eighteen year old in forest camouflage. As well as a Tall thin twenty two year old women in her pajamas wearing her ballistic vest. Fell immediately to the earth after the barrage of crossbow bolts. The teen laid face down with an arrow protruding from his neck at an awkward angle, Alive, but barely... And the woman fell onto her back, an arrow sticking out of the center right of her chest.
The last Squaddie stood tall and proud, if not wobbly. With three bolts Sticking out of his chest and one in his abdomen. His tall muscular figure sharply responded to his dulling minds commands, raising his Lee Enfield .303 rifle to his shoulder. Captain Styder froze in fear upon seeing the huge masculine form of the six foot eight' man as well as Australian's glare through his gun sight that bored a hole into his soul. However the Aussie would fall before getting his shot off, when one of the guards used 'Razor wind'. The resulting spell nearly cutting the man in half, his form collapsing from the mist of crimson to the ground, the two half's of his rifle following shortly after.
The captain looked on in disgust at the effects of his Privates Razor wind on the strange creature before him. He changed for several shades of green upon seeing the creature dead, with its innards spreading out across the rapidly blood soaked ground. The smell of Iron in the air alone was enough to make a guard loose his lunch. The Captains attention averted upon his noticing movement in his peripheral vision.
Turning to the left he saw the woman and rolled onto her stomach, and was crawling, hand over hand. To her short counterpart.
"Stop it! NOW!" He hissed quietly at his guards, who immediately leaped into action, by now she had pulled herself upright over her fallen comrade and pulled a contraption from one of the many pockets in his vest. She pointed it at the captain, causing all the guards to freeze. The captain shivered perfusely as, for the second time in the last twenty seconds, he found himself being the recipient of a feral glare of pure rage and hatred.
Staring down the fights of her weapon the Sergeant stammers out two words filled with every last ounce of energy she had left, and every drop of hatred she had in her... "fffFF-UCK! ... YOU!" She growled with a primal rage that made many of the ponies coats stand on end. Before she pointed the weapon into the air above her, pulling the trigger.
-= POMPF =- ... ... ... A deafening crackling whistle pierced the air for several seconds before a loud --CRACKKK-- could be heard, the sound echoed off everything in the clearing. A blinding red Aura illuminated the entire clearing.
Before the loosing conciousness the sergeant looked upon her handy work with blurring eyes. Laughing loudly in triumph
The ponies looked at one another in shock, before the captain realized her ploy. But alas, it was too late. Before he could stutter out a word the Rumbling growl of an engine could be heard on the other side of the camp faintly. Before a ghoulish wail filled the air.
The sound so loud the ponies muscles tensed, preventing them from fleeing, and causing those who'd still been flying to fall from the sky into a tensed up heap. They couldn't hear anything other than the shrill ghoulish howl over the camp. But they certainly felt the stampede of feet begin hitting the ground and running around the camp.
A Hundred more creatures appeared from the tents and began running around, each creature hurriedly pulling their armour over their pajamas. As well as some of those 'Always ready types' running out in full gear, having own multiple pairs of armour and clothes, thus allowing them to be in a pair at all times.
The captain realized and mentally cursed himself as he had not only doomed himself but those under his command. Once the siren stopped three minutes later they were quickly found, but their muscles where tensed for so long they'd all been crippled with paralyzingly painful cramps and muscle spasms.
Once the Humans noticed the fallen patrol several medics came rushing to their aid. Whilst the combined death stares of over 318 Apex predators made the guard ponies skin crawl...
A flag flapped and snapped in the strong northerly winds. Its jet black colouring only broken by the image of a thick grey fog, with a white cougars skull wearing an officers crush-cap, roaring whilst an iron cross hangs from its neck.
The only sound of the morning being that of snapping canvas from the flapping flag, clinging proudly to the eighteen foot high flagpole. That was... Until the not so faint ghostly howl of a Chrysler siren howled its way into the crisp morning.
All the guards in the prefab watchtowers stared at each other in confusion, initially thinking the siren was they'res. Those guards who turned on their towers one thousand watt searchlights, probed the sky and the 'HESCO bastion' fence line. A guard in one of the six towers around the Mist cougars C.O.B had noticed movement, and shone his light in between the Huge canvas tents being used as makeshift hangars for their JU-87 Stuka Dive bombers.
The light turned the night around the hangars into midday. At the same time the other watchtowers caught the hint and shone their lights onto the hangar tents. The Watchtower opposite the canvas mountains noticed shadows moving around inside, and the sergeant inside the tower checked his roster. And came to a sickening realization.
Picking up his microphone, and plugging it into the bases intercom, he yells in German to the whole base. <ALLLAAARRRRM! The base has been infiltrated! The base has been infiltrated! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! The base is under Attack! WAKE UP AND GET TO YOUR ACTION STATIONS!>
With the first word an officer in the prefab HQ building tripped the bases air raid siren, and it began its shrill whine.
Almost immediately People began filling out of their respective barracks, some in professional orderly double file, fully geared up and armed. Others stumbling and falling out of the front door into a mess with their comrades leaping or falling over them in the door frame.
However in one barrack, gunshots were heard, Lots of gunshots. It sounded like someone was hip firing their FG-42 Machine rifle. And in two barrack buildings not a light blazed to life, nor curtain shift.
<SEND REINFORCEMENTS TO BARRACK FOUR!> The sergeant yelled his native language into the microphone <SOMEONE CHECK BARRACK' TWO AND THREE! THERE IS NO MOVEMENT!>
And with that a squad of four grenadiers kicked the front door to barrack four in and paused for a moment, before charging into the 'Debauchery of a call to arms' MP-40 machine pistols blazing. Whilst a stray mechanic running to his hangar quickly adjusted course for barrack two as well as an orderly.The officer Kicked the door to barrack three off its hinges. His red faced furious shouting cut off almost immediately with his body tensing up, meanwhile the mechanic sprinted to the decking hand railing, and coughed up his breakfast.
<Officer! Report! What is the situation!> The team leader called over the bases intercom with great concern taking root in his voice. The officer vaulted over the railing and sprinted to the barrack the mechanic had checked. Before standing weakly upright in a respectful stance. Placing his left arm behind his back and removing his crush-cap, placing it over his heart.
The Orderly after five seconds of holding this posture removed his 'walkie talkie' from his Midnight blue, red trimmed trench coat pocket and said the words that made the base freeze, all except for those in barrack four. Whom sounded like they were having a wrestling match worthy enough of utilizing the furniture.
"...They're... All dead... ... Errik, Their all dead sir! Slain in their beds!" He said before abruptly cutting off the transmission into the bases intercom, falling to knees and doubling over with his head in his hands.
The base was still and silent. The tension and sorrow solidifying the air. All before eight blood and oil stained pegasai burst forth from the hangar, three mechanics in hot pursuit throwing socket wrenches and spanners after them. Six more practically red bloodied pegasai burst forth from the open windows of barrack four. Some still sliding the crimson stained blades into their scabbards. Then, like someone flicked a switch...
The permeable sorrow that had filled air, in a flash was replaced with that of a primal fury. Orders where spat from orderly's and officers, to which the bases occupants growled and grunted back their words of compliance. The air was filled with orders and yelling, The retreating panicked pegasai felt the Primal. Feral. Malice behind and dripping off of each word, and instantly knew they'd bought about the wrath of an enemy that would now thirst for the most savage of revenge.
All across the base Anti-air guns were rapidly being forced skyward, their crews thirsting for the blood of those that had killed their best friends in their sleep. 'The rule book for the sport was at that moment, thrown out a window, trampled upon, drove over by a PanzerIV then set alight'. The quad 20mm cannons of no less than seven Wirblewind Anti-air tanks. Filled the air with near continuous cracks of thunder. Shortly after, the quad 20mm fixed Positions around the base, all eighteen of them filled the air with their orchestra of Chaos. The last guns to join the party where the six 88mm Flak guns that the team had managed to setup before heading to bed. Their cracks of sound making the air shake violently, whilst their immense recoil sent them sliding backwards across the ground.
Whilst the pegasai had been able to escape the humans easily enough, they however, couldn't outrun the hailstorm of 20mm rounds that furiously hissed and buzzed past them. Two pegasai where hit several times, the force of the impacts hitting their wings breaking them, sending them tumbling several hundred feet to their deaths in the forest below. And one unfortunate soul was unlucky enough to be hit by an 88' round. The force of the impact hitting her flank caused her own armour to kill her as well as breaking her back, her limp body falling from the huge mist of crimson paint and blood to the ground below.
The guards that cheated death flew back to Ponyville as fast as their wings would carry them. Upon landing they were greeted by the towns ponies who'd been woken by the blood chilling howls of both bases sirens, as well as the Mist cougars Anti air guns going berserk. The ponies that had encircled the remaining pegasai who'd escaped the doomed operation, parted ways to let the Four princesses through. Celestia's expression made her look as if she'd kill any survivors herself, Luna glared at them, as if her pure blood boiling hatred alone could melt them down to nothing. Twilight looked both disgusted and betrayed. And Cadence... Upon spotting the dried flaking blood peeling and being carried off the ponies before her by the now lazy wind. Only Grimaced and turned away from them, tearing up and sobbing as she did so.
Celestia steps forward. "I Congratulate you all" She says sarcastically through her glare "You've not only slaughtered Innocent civilians." At this the 'Survivors' looked up and into her piercing gaze, mortified at what they'd just heard their leader say. "-But you've Also Started a war with a people initially looking for peace..." She said calmly, However the guards were cringing and bracing themselves for what they knew was coming...
Celestia calmly walks over to them. Her unicorn and earth pony Guards marching past her and surrounding the survivors, whilst her Pegasai and Luna's Thestrals Hovered above them. Their Spears and Halberds at the ready, preventing any escape by air. Celestia stopped in front of a Sergeant, before glaring a glare down her nose at him, that would bring a life times back luck should she be in the vicinity of a mirror store.
The Princess inhaled deeply before snapping herself to eye level with the Traitors face and yelling. "AS WELL AS PUTTING EVERYONE IN YOUR CARE AT RISK! DO YOU HAVE ANYKNOWLEDGE OF THE GRAVITY OF OUR SITUATION?! YOU'VE JUST DECLAREDWAR AGAINST THE HUMANS!" She bit her tongue and stood upright once more inhaling and exhaling deeply, mentally counting in a rapidly failing attempt to calm herself down. meanwhile the now Thoroughly terrified blood stained guards ponies, shrank so low to the cobblestones that they may be at risk of disappearing. It was Luna's turn to scold then next.
"Doest thou know the great terrors they've bought upon they around them?" She asked through grit teeth, her eyes closed. Once she opened them she saw the cowering ponies nodding like bobble heads. "I Assure thee, The horrors thy hast seen. Are but the beginning..." The survivors clenched their eyes shut.
Twilight stepped forward now. She opened and closed her mouth several times, stumbling over her words for a few seconds before breathing a ragged breath. "I- I Don't know whether to be Ashamed. Disgusted. Or Appalled by the actions of you and your comrades this morning. And once more,-" She said leaning into the sergeants personal space. "-You. Lied. To. Me." She punctuated each word, causing the survivors to whimper under each word. "You withheld VITAL INFORMATION! And proceeded to SLAUGHTER The INNOCENT, Because you Never had the independence to say. No." The normally grey now oxide red patched guard, held his ears flat against his head, keeping his eyes clenched shut.
Cadence looked at the disgraced ponies before her, before shaking her head side to side as if denying the information being told. "why?..." She whimpered quietly. "why? would you do such a thing?... How could you do such a thing?..." The normally Cheerful princess of love said choking on a sob, her tears leading to the disgraced few also crying silently to themselves at their blundering error...
Princess Celestia opened her eyes once more, having reached the count of 86 and calming enough to not use the royal Canterlot voice. She announces her next words with all of her authority, and personal restraint. "You are all a Disgrace to the Equestrian Royal Guard." The survivors eyes snap open before looking up in shock.
"Thee have proven most unworthy to don such armour, and carry thy sword." Luna says with disgust. The disgraced shake they're heads pleadingly knowing what is to become of them.
"You have shown a complete disregard of our Laws. And Virtues..." Twilight said with sadness. Holding back tears of her own. They're eyes tear up and they want to scream no! but their voices cant find their mouths.
Cadence stepped forward before saying with a shaking voice. "You've proven yourselves, most inept, and un-dutiful to the post entrusted to you. Your entire regiment has committed but so far are not limited to the crimes of: Dereliction of Duty. Murder. Falsification of Royal documents. Insubordination. Unlawful bearing of arms. and endangering those under your protection..." Cadence says through tears. "How do you plead?" The disgraced sergeant remains silent tears streaming freely down his cheeks. "HOW. Do you plead?" Cadence pressures again through a sob.
The Sergeant realizing the inevitable fate of both he and his regiment, feeling the full weight of his actions come crashing down, crushing him beneath his guilt. Responds by yelling with a soldiers professionalism. "GUILTY. OF ALL COUNTS PRINCESS!" To which Cadence begins openly crying once more. Twilight breaks eye contact with the 'Disgraced' there and then. Both princess Luna and Celestia unfazed by this admission to guilt, render punishment.
Celestia lights her horn. With that, the bloodied armour of the survivors is removed. And turns to ash, before its released from her magic and wisps away on the breeze.
Next Luna's Might night blue Aura envelops the traitors weapons, pulling them free of their stained scabbards and floating them by her side. The swords and lone crossbow burst into flame. Before morphing into pale blue metal ingots.
Twilight speaks up with great astonishment. "That's Mythril!" Before Luna replies with.
"Yes, it is. The metal from the Disgraced weapons has been transmuted into mythril. and shall be reforged into the weapons of those whom are deemed heroes." The princess of the night announces without breaking neither glare nor posture.
Both sisters spoke at the same time, the words they hoped they'd never had to speak again. "Thee have proven thy selves Unworthy. Of Armour and Sword. Thy feet shall be stayed in times of need, Thy title Stripped. Thy name redacted from all Royal documents. For thee hast smitten the innocent, and Disgraced thy name."
With that the now naked bloodstained ponies were shackled and flanked by earth ponies on a disgrace march back to Canterlot.
The princesses watch until the parade of shame had roamed over the horizon. The towns ponies dispersed, heads hung with dispair. How how their own could commit such atrocities? All where in mourning of those 'Humans' who had lost their friends and family...
Cadence dragged her hooves as she slowly trod into Twilight's castle, the lavender unicorn following her. Princess Luna and Celestia both stood there for a while longer before tears began to slip from their eyes. A tear falls from Luna as she sobs quietly. A lone Poppy flower grows when the tear hits the ground.
Celestia embraces her younger sister, Her sobs turning into full blown tears of sorrow and pain. "H-How, Sister?.. Ho-w could- they -D-do This..." she chokes on a sob before coughing into her sisters coat, and returning to crying.
Celestia cringes closing her eyes before her own pained sobs join her sisters. As they both sat in the now empty street, Quietly crying. The towns ponies having returned to bed.
Before too long though Celestia freezes, before shooting bolt upright and staring off into space toward a hill on the horizon. Luna notices this and asks.
"What is wrong, Tia?" Her sister continues staring at the hill, before telling Luna to use 'Enhanced sight'. to which Luna humors her sister, lighting her horn her vision clears up substantially, and sharpens to the point she can see the slightest grain of sand on the cobblestones before her. Luna directs her now purple glowing eyes to where her big sisters looking. Her blood curdles...
Staring right back at her. Is a Human, Watching the town from just over a hill...
There two sisters sat there, staring back at the huge glass lenses that watched from a far distance.
"What do we do Tia?" Luna asked with deadly seriousness... The response that would come form her older sibling shocked her...
"Nothing..." Celestia said with wisdom.
"But SISTER!-" Luna was cut off by her elder sibling with.
"That human... I've been sensing his magical imprint, or rather, Lack there of... He's been there, watching. For the last hour..." The white Alicorn murmured.
"Wait- Lack there of? Elaborate please?" Luna asked confused. Raising an eyebrow.
"The Humans, and their equipment. Have next to no magic... If any at all inside of them. I can only detect the humans and their equipment, because they're 'Holes' in the system." Celestia said slowly, trying to explain it.
Luna blinked her eyes and they returned to normal. She then clenched them shut, this view wasn't one she was adept in using yet.. She was still self teaching from 'Starswirl the Bearded's' VAST writings on advanced magics. She focused hard holding her eyes shut, the physical exertion threatening to lead onto a migraine... After a short while and a little pain, her world exploded into coloured auras, her vision now that of a birds eye view.
She could see through walls and the roof's of her subjects houses. As well as the magical auras that emanated from their bodies like a misty flame. Hoof prints, and even the residual energy her subjects had left imprinted in the air and on the surfaces they touched. And true to her sisters word. There was a great depression in the razors edge of their worlds magical balance. She felt this great presence drawing in magical power like a heavy tidal current, or a sponge absorbing water. Turning her head to the direction of the Human and concentrating, her out of body experience comes to focus above the hill.
She gasps in shock when she sees whats awaiting behind the hill. A Vehicle of some kind... about four and a half of her subjects tall, or in her scale about twice her height. She couldn't see inside of it, nor it itself for that matter, it was only visible as an inky black mass that drew all the magic around it into its ominous darkness like a black hole...The human sticking half out of its top, had little to no magic that was detectable. But there was a slight tint...Just a taste of his unique magical signature, A Royal purple flame with an emerald green mist.
Luna snapped her eyes open. "Oh my... I don't know if its the same for the rest of his species... But he's going to be quite adept in neutral magics, and that hint of emerald green... so his special strength is restorative magic..." Luna asked through a thoughtful cringe at her sister, who nodded proudly.
"Very good Lulu. Your learning fast-" It was then an audible buzzing could be heard that caused both Princesses to look around questioningly. A Yelp of surprise then one of joy came from the direction of Twilight's castle. Both princesses took flight and flew through the threshold and into the foyer. They found a large square collapsible table carved from birch sitting in the center of the large room with both Cadence and Twilight standing opposite each other around it.
Several gems of various sizes and colours sat inside of a intricate star that had been carved into the tables center. The two sisters looked at the two ponies in confusion.
"Princess sparkle? Why are you playing with your invention again?" Luna asked in genuine confusion.
"I got it WORKING! I've hopped into the Humans Communications accidentally once, so i figured i could do it again! This time they're so close they're coming in clearly! No distortions or static!" she said giddy.
Luna was about to squee in excitement herself. such an invention working properly would make communication vastly easier and infinitely quicker, near instantaneous! But she was cut off by a short burst of static. Before loud beeping could be heard from the yet to be named device. The beeping continued for two minutes before ending abruptly.
"Huh, that was interesting... I wonder what that was all abo-" Before Cadence could finish her sentence she was cut off by a barrage of beeps of different pitches and speeds. Little did they know, this head splitting migraine inducing barrage of sound would continue for the next eight minutes...
"I don't like the sound of this..." Twilight yelled over the audible chaos currently destroying her hearing. " Why do i get the feeling that the humans the captains ponies attacked have just called for help?!" she yelled over the noise.
"And all these different toned ones after the first are the other humans replying? Its possible!" Celestia yelled. "We may be on the brink of something terrible! We MUST improve our relations with the humans rapidly! Or else we may be fighting a foe we cant deal with initially!" Then. the beeping abruptly stopped. replaced by a young feminine voice.
"P.C.C to Lancer-01 report." several seconds later a familiar voice to Twilight and Cadence sounded back.
"Lancer-01 to P.C.C, Jane, have i every told you that you have the voice of an archangel?" The male voice replied in a tender tone.
"Your Arse-hattery is neither needed nor required Lancer. Stuff it in your arse and get off on it later. Answer the order before i send a Wirraway to plug your mouth full of paint."
"Yesh, Archangel is right. your call-sign suits you perfectly Jane. Lancer-01. In position, You lot in the P.C.C are gonna love this!"
"Get on with it you bastard! I'm not in the mood!" The female voice growls back.
"I swear 'black and blue' here. That sorry lot that barely escaped the Mist cougars flew back my position and landed in the plaza. Some HUGE horses made their way through the crowd. and publicly stripped them of their rank! WHOOO FUCKIN HOOOO!" The voice of 'Lancer' was hollering out with pure joy. "Those horses gave them an ear full, stripped em of their weapons and armour, then shackled them and marched their sorry hide the hell outta here! That'll teach em for attackin us! their leaders are on our side!" All four princesses looked at each other in confusion.
"Say again Lancer. Did you say their leaders? Confirm, Johnna is requesting a full description as accurate as possible." The female humans voice was growing further and further on edge at the mention of the word 'Leaders'. This made everyone increasingly nervous. The information they'd gathered from eavesdropping was that the Humans were definitely 'sore' at them.
"Two horses and Two smaller horses...Ponies i think. The two larger ones where of white and the other dark blue and black or purple patterns. Of the pony two one was pink and the other Lavender purple. All wore crowns, the larger two, the white and blue one, wore additional baubles with gemstones. Possibly markings of rank." Lancer concluded.
"Thanks Lancer Continue your watch and standby for further orders. Respond Acceptance of orders." 'Jane's' voice went silent, as if waiting for a response. A Response that never came. "Lancer-01 Respond Acceptance of orders" Yet more Quiet. "Lancer-01 Respond your Acceptance of orders immediately or I'll send a patrol around to hammer them into that thick skull of yours!" As previous nothing but silence greeted all listening in. "Lancer, if this is a prank i swear when i get my hands on you i'll gut you myself! you have to come back here eventually!" Still no response... "Soup' I've lost contact with Lancer-01" Jane reported to someone in the background. "Lancer-01 Respond immediately!" This time there was a crackle in the line before the sound of shuffling clothes made a hideous static.
"This isn't gonna end well for you flea bags. I'm a Commander of the Wallaroos Independent Arms company!" Lancer's voice said threateningly.
"Yeah, Right, And i'm Princess Celestia's bitch. Get out or i'll skewer you and pull you out myself." Princess Celestia's ears perked at the mention of her name, she then recoiled at the context it was used in, her expression becoming that of an angered glare.
"Is that so Captain Stardust? Well you've just earned yourself an unpaid vacation." Celestia said through grit teeth.
"Lancer Report! Whats going on over there? Do you require assistance?" Jane responded.
The four princesses heard two rapid knocks against metal. Before Jane replied with "Affirmative, Sit tight, i'm sending the Dingo's" Jane's voice replied with a soldiers professionalism. "Just... Don't go getting yourself killed... Loosing Jake was enough death for a lifetime... Stay Alive lancer. By any means- What the?" Jane was sounding very confused from her end of the line. Before she yelled out a string of profanity's and something about a line being tapped and starting counter jamming. The gems began to make a horrendous screech of static filled with sounds reminiscent of spike running his claws down a chalkboard. Twilight quickly disabled the radio by removing the center gem.
"Why do i feel like we're about to see much more death and suffering?" Cadence said through a worried expression.
The other three princesses didn't know what to say to that. their future was as of current. uncertain.
It hit the four of them like a sack of bricks. Causing them to dash out the door and fly to the other side of Ponyville.
"Princess. Captain Stardust Usually doesn't do anything...Rash... Right?" Twilight said through a concerned shaky voice.
Chapter 9 - All is not fine on the eastern front...
============= 0700 Hours North Ponyville =============
Four Alicorns soar through the air with the grace of runaway trains. Their vision locked on the hill just outside of north-east Ponyville.
"Can you see them?" Twilight yells over the rushing wind in her ears. Cadence shakes her head, now wearing a panicked expression. Luna and Celestia didn't notice the question, and in fact. Began outrunning Cadence and Twilight. Their larger frames and larger wings having more muscle, allowed them far a greater top speed. The Solar and Lunar princesses began a fairly steep dive, With one last flap of their wings the two sisters pinned their wings against their flanks, Picking up an alarming amount of speed in the dive.
Twilight beckoned Cadence to follow her, and followed the two sisters in the hell dive. Twilight extended her wings again with great difficulty due to drag, and began gliding towards the ground.
Upon their arrival back to terra firma, they found the scene from a horror tale. A Creature, Presumably the 'Human' was standing half out of the top of a huge metal... something, Probably a vehicle. The captain was held against its chest, facing us. The Humans Right arm was across Captain Stardust's neck, a Very sharp knife held against the left side of the captains throat. The blades edge was pressed against the petrified captains neck, and glinting menacingly in Celestia's sunlight. Held against Stardust with just enough pressure to shave strands of fur from the left side of his neck with every Ragged. Slow. Clearly distressed breath the Human drew. The captains two fellow soldiers lay on the ground either side of the vehicles massive wheels bleeding from deep gashes on their legs and barrels.
Cadence gasped and slowly, cautiously, moved to help them. A Previously unseen human showed himself from behind the vehicle, Pointing a short pipe, that it held at its eye level in one hand at the pink princess. Cadence ceased her slow advance, The second humans glare was sending shivers up and down Twilight's spine, it was full of so much malice.
"Thats far enough beastie." The second human mumbled calmly. It was this human that gave the Princesses, their first full body view of them. Most of this humans form was hidden under various clothing. Thick brown leather boots, Black socks, Khaki Shorts, Black T-shirt, a Thick vest with a myriad of pockets and pouches and finally a metal helmet that would offer little protection from swords, or any weapons for that matter... The helmet protected the back of his neck, which was covered to the nape, his ears, the back and top of his head but the front of it was only covered with a piece of mirror finish reflective blue glass that completely hid his face from view.
From this view, Twilight could gather that the Humans appeared to be Primarily Bipedal in nature. And they are Really tall, This second human challenged the height of Celestia! Their Muscular structure was quite intriguing. Heavy muscle growth around the legs, quite possibly to hold up the rest of their body... Speaking of which, Wide torso with a thin cross-section, Most of the visible muscle on the creatures torso was concentrated around the shoulders and forward upper torso area. Long arms that are built thicker towards the torso and thin out into the joint before its hands.
'So, These creatures are build for lifting and manipulating with objects no more or slightly heavier than their own weight. Bipedal-ism gives them superior endurance and agility, whilst their five fingered hands allow them to interact with their environment precisely. Their head, its the same size as a ponies minus a muzzle, Interesting... Whilst i doubt they'd have earth pony strength, finding yourself on the receiving end of a melee from these creatures would really ruin your day... And with four legs ponies will have greater speed and acceleration... No visible horns or wings for that matter, so they cant fly, and possibly cant use magic. Agility, Endurance, Advanced environment manipulation and intelligence... Truly a force to be reckoned with.
The human held his hostage in just the right position to restrict his movement. The Alien creature drew slow, shaking, deliberate intakes of air, his shoulders raising and lowering with each breath. Without breaking eye contact with the group, the human addressed his counterpart.
"Jackie. Don't worry about the Pink one... Skip filling the Jerry cans, and just run the line into the primary tank." The human said slowly and cautiously.
The second human, 'Jackie', looked about to protest his orders, but simply nodded and bent his right arm at the elbow. Pointing the pipe it held strangely into the air, before stepping backwards until he was out of sight behind the vehicle.
"Release the captain and no harm shall come to you." Princess Celestia said with steeled determination. Luna was standing next to her older sister with the same mask of neutral determination as her sister.
"Firstly." The human growled in fluent Equestrian. His tone proving Twilight's theory of him being stressed. "You're answering my Questions, then letting me and my crew leave. Before we pass the treeline, I'll release the good captain."
"We'll gladly answer any questions but you must release the captain first.-"
"Fuck no! I've heard of the handy work your kind are capable of." The human spat back at Celestia with venom, Causing the solar princess to flinch. And Luna to glare.
"D-Do-nt you D-are Talk to Princess Cele-stia-" Without moving the human glanced down as the captain tilted his head up slowly to glare back into his eyes. "-Like That!" The Human Tightened his grip on the handle of his blade and just grunted dismissively, quickly looking back to the other ponies quickly.
Cadence spoke up from where she stood. "I'm going to bring our wounded guards over to our group so i can treat them..." she said slowly and clearly, lighting her horn. The human from behind the Vehicle returned to pointing his pipe at the Princess of love. Cadence, undeterred, levitated the unconscious forms of the wounded guards ponies over to the main group and began tending to their wounds.
"If you must know. Captain Stryder acted upon his own accord. He was neither hinted nor ordered to attack your Ponies-" Luna was cut off by the Human who took on a glare that could cut through stone.
"DON'T. YOU. DARE. Compare MY People to YOUR Animals!" He growled with a savage rumble in his voice.
"Sa-vage-" Stardust began to say through the humans tight grip. He cut off his next string of words when his captor pressed the blade tighter against his neck. The captains skin, was now dangerously taught under the blades edge. The human began slowing his breathing.
It was then that Twilight notice Luna's eyes shift ever so slightly to the right and down. The Lunar princess then flicked her right ear up and down. Before returning her gaze to the human, or rather his weapon.
"Continue. Before you get two captains back." His tone of voice was steadily becoming more hostile with each minute that dragged on. Luna hurriedly continued to explain her points.
"-His only orders were to defend the Ponies of Ponyville. If you don't believe me, my lieutenant was spying on Stryder the night before the attack upon you, She nearly killed herself to get a message to my sister and I. Her message Alerted us, it allowed us to make haste and Arrive before the planned reinforcements could deploy themselves. She's your 'Peoples' Savior."
Luna responded whilst concentrating on the knife.
"Bullshit. Shes YOUR Peoples savior, if those Pegasai had come within a Kilometer of our camp, they would of been dealt with swiftly!" The sheer certainty in his voice made Twilight's blood chill. "And anyway, If thats true. And your not trying to kill us. Then why'd 'Captain Crunch' here and his 'Bastard Animals' Threaten to kill me and my crew if we didn't comply. Like at the mere mention of danger we'd cave in and surrender like Spineless Cowards. How can i trust you? What proof do i have that you wont kill us?
With little warning, Jackie's sudden yell was cut off by a loud 'gurk', followed by a loud metallic Thud was heard from behind the vehicle. At the exact same time. Twilight watched the muscles in the humans arm tense and the blade bit into the captains neck drawing the slightest blood. Before she could scream 'NO' however, she saw the weapon and the humans hand be encased in a Midnight blue aura. The human fought the force of Luna trying to pull his knife and hand away from the captains neck, but after a second the human did something surprising.
Using his free arm the human shunted the captain so hard he flew face first towards Luna. The Princess of the night caught the captain with her magic, And recognized her mistake immediately, to her horror saw the human quickly spin recently freed knife in his fingers, adjusting them until he gripped the spine of the blade. He drew his right arm back quickly to throw the weapon at the Wide eyed Princess, but abruptly stopped and spun around, throwing the blade over the back of the vehicle.
A Pained yell echoed across the top of the hill, and over the plains around it. A yell that made Twilight's world stop. Twilight's eyes locked onto the orange and yellow blur that was now falling sideways off the top rear of the vehicle. Using her magic faster that she thought she was capable of. She caught Applejack mid-fall, at the same moment Princess Celestia's expression changed from one of shock to pure anger. The solar princesses horn flared and the humans form was slammed into and pinned to the roof of the vehicle, Luna leaped into the air and immediately used 'Respite'. Respite is a spell that instantaneously numbs all of a creatures senses and forces them into a restful sleep, its often used as a light anesthetic or as an alternative to medicinal painkillers.
The humans body went limp immediately, he was out-cold so fast his eyes didn't even close. Which was concerning, that means that Luna may have overdone it.
With the threat now over, Twilight -Telipoofed- away for a few seconds... Before -Telipoofing- back with nurse Redheart, who gasped upon seeing the wounded unconscious Applejack with a knife handle sticking out of the front of her barrel, being treated by Cadence.
After twenty stressful minutes nurse Redheart sat up with a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from her brow. A tightly and thoroughly bandaged Applejack lay on the grass breathing calmly in sleep.
"She'll live, but she wont be working for several months-" Twilight cut the nurse off with...
"Several months?! She's not going to do that! She was working her farm when she had a fever!
"Well then i'd tell her about how she's the luckiest mare on the planet right now. That knife's blade, went all the way to the hilt in her barrel. And didn't so much as nick a single major blood vessel or organ! See to it that she doesn't work. If she tears those stitches open, then i'm going to have to keep her in a hospital bed for a month and a half to allow the additional work closing that wound to heal!" Before Twilight could fire a verbal counter-battery the nurse turned and leaved for Ponyville again.
The bloodied knife had laid abandoned on the grass for the last seventeen minutes, but it now found itself being held in Lavender magic and wiped on the grass. Then on the receiving end of a thoughtful, analytical stare that would make a Manticore nervous. Twilight obsessed over the knifes inefficient design for combat.
Such a large handle allowed for a human hand to grasp it firmly without fear of it slipping out of hand, but such a short blade made it an inferior weapon in comparison to a sword or even a parrying dagger... It was then that Twilight had an idea, using her magic she lifted the blade into the air.
Luna saw this and responded quickly with a worried rushed voice. "Careful Princess sparkle!"
Twilight sat down on the grass and outstretched a foreleg. She rested the knife sideways on her foreleg, letting her magic dissipate until gravity started pulling the knife what ever direction it deemed fit. After several attempts Twilight got the answer she was looking for.
"So thats your purpose... I Don't know whether thats genius or insidious..." Twilight mumbled to herself whilst glaring thoughtfully at the weapon on her foreleg.
"What have you found Dear Twilight?" Celestia asked as she walked over and sat down next to her former student.
"The balance of this knife... Is in the center of the tang. That being the top of the handle and bottom of the blade. This knife is designed to be thrown!" Celestia looked puzzled at such an off design choice, whilst Luna scoffed and replied with.
"What a useless idea. Once you throw it you have no weapon. And to make it throwable they had to make the blade to shorts its useless..." Twilight levitated the weapon back into the air and retorted with.
"Its possible this knife isn't meant to be used as a primary weapon. Remember the other humans pipe thing? It seemed pretty confident that it would stop Cadence..." Twilight then noticed a small switch on the spine of the blade, just in front of the handle, using her magic she pushed it in all directions till it slid backwards and the spring loaded blade folded itself down into the handle. "Fascinating. By folding the blade into the handle you don't require a scabbard or sheath to store it safely, and its only half the size. Saving weight and space! These humans make interesting design choices..."
Twilight then turned to the Huge metal vehicle that stood proudly to her left. She walked over and lit her horn, but something was amiss... She lit her horn again and strained, pouring more and more of herself into the simple spell.
"Whats wrong Twilight?" Cadence asked. Confused.
"I- Dont know... Its just a simple telekinesis spell, but it wont work on this thing!" Twilight struggled again to use her magic to open the drivers hatch, but it was in vain. After her most intensive efforts left her panting, she was only rewarded by the hatch shaking slightly.
"What is wrong with this thing?" Twilight groaned in exhaustion.
"A more pressing question is what do we do with it, if we leave it here more humans may come and get it. But if we plan to move it, How are we going to move it?" Cadence thinks out aloud.
Luna and Celestia look at each other before both grinning...
The Normal, warm summers day, was quickly ripped from the various animals of the forest. Two steel monsters sped their way through the forest at never before seen speeds. Their high pitched whines instilled terror in the various animals of the forest.
The metal Trio had been reduced to a Duo, when Alex Murchov, the driver of 'Baby snatcher 3' forgot to declutch when he jumped the river, and promptly ripped the gearbox out the bottom of the armoured car on landing. His reward for his stupidity? A forty eight hour stay in the three star 'Motel De Medical Half-track No.2'. And his mechanics will most likely send him back to that bed once hes released, if Johnna doesn't first. Johnna had just got through with warning everyone that we may not be on Earth anymore, and we may not have spare parts ever again. That being said. Everyone had been taking the recent events surprisingly in stride. just milling about their daily tasks and chores...
No obstacle live or dead stopped their charge through the forest, not even the river stopped them, as the metal beats just jumped over the band of water. Their rampage continued to the very visible border of the forest their current base was in, this being the difference in colour or rather the tone between the bark on the trees and the grass itself. This colour difference stretched along the entire treeline, on one side, the colours were more brighter and vivid, and the other, more natural... darker and gloomy muted colours.
They slowed down after the treeline but only enough to allow them to turn onto the soon to be appearing road. But something was wrong, where was the road? Had they drifted off course whilst dodging and weaving through the trees? It was certainly possible, At the speeds they were hitting and with the way that forest looks the same from whatever angle you look at it...
The human in the lead vehicle sat back down in her seat, reaching for her radios microphone. She'd never get past.
"Hey! Wheres the road Rabbit-" Her question was cut off abruptly, by the sickening butterflies of falling. That was right before the familiar feeling of being slammed back down into her seat hit her, The Daimler Dingo is a light weight vehicle, and its engine and decent transmission allow it a fair rate of speed. So the crews of Dingoes are familiar with going to bed battered and bruised, its really in the job description... 'Sitting in a cramped space going at crazy speeds'... Only this time, it brought the not too familiar feeling of flying forward and into the front of her station. With a loud metallic crack her forehead slams into the front of the radio.
After recovering from her short blackout, her vision was blurring and swimming from left to right. She realized she was being shook by her driver and boyfriend, Luke. His skin was really tan, that and his big wide nose and dirty brown coloured hair, gave away his native Australian Aboriginal Heritage. His muffled voice was finally reaching her ears and clearing up slowly...
"Eliza! Eliza! You all right love?!" Luke's Girlfriend simply looked back into his eyes blankly for a few seconds, before her senses began to recover enough for her to realize they weren't moving. Confused. Eliza asks why they are not still moving, and was about to ask, more importantly why'd he slam the brakes on so hard?
But she stopped after the first groaned question, when the sound of gurgling water bored its way through the temporary cotton in her ears and into her head.
"Wait, are we back at the stream?" She asked getting annoyed.
"Nope, its a second one. Bastard appeared out of nowhere. Clarkson's gone the long way downstream to find a way to wade his car across it." Luke reported.
"Well. Crap. We cant just sit here! Is the tranny alright? Or are we equal parts as fucked as my mood is leaning right now?" Eliza groaned through her developing headache.
"The moment i noticed how far the drop was i declutched, so yes, the transmission and gearbox are fine. We can leave on your beckon honey." Luke details.
"Then lets go. You said Clarkson and Rabbit went downstream? Then lets follow them."
"Your the commander 'Missus boss'!" The Aboriginal teen threw out her nickname in his native accent in a joking manner, which made Eliza smile. That smile became contagious before they both broke out into hearty laughter.
As they made their way to the other side of the stream and turned left to follow the current, Eliza looked to her left and went wide eyed. She saw the cliff they'd come off, it was at least a ten foot drop into the knee deep river below. She silently mouthed 'Fuck. Me...' To herself in disbelief as Luke poured on the gas and they picked up speed rapidly and drove onto the road.
After about five minutes they saw a dust cloud being kicked up down the dirt road before them. Both parties slowed down and came to a stop next to each other, each facing in opposite directions. On the left facing downstream was Eliza and Luke. And on the right facing Upstream was Clarkson and Rabbit.
The fairly well build Clarkson was sitting in the right side of their Dingo, whilst the stocky form of Rabbit, their radioman and teams navigator sat in the left seat. Eliza jumped the side of her vehicle and stormed over to the left side of Clarkson's Dingo, formally known as 'Ol 2' Due to it being a vehicle whom actually fought in World War Two.
Clarkson laughed loudly to himself whilst Rabbit shrank lower and lower into his station, trying to avoid the now flailing arms of their C.O Trying to grab his hair as she leaned over the wall of the armoured car and inside of his station.
Eliza yelled furiously to Rabbit whilst grabbing at air trying to tear the small man out of his station. "DAMN IT RABBIT! ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND?! THAT IF THAT'D BEEN A CLIFF INSTEAD OF A FREAKIN HILL?!" Eliza finally caught several strands of Rabbits black hair and pulled him up to her eye level. "PULL. YOUR. HEAD. OUT. OF. YOUR. ARSE!" She yelled before dropping him back into his seat. She leaned over the wall of the armoured car and slapped a large crumpled map on his lap. "You. You have Four minutes to figure out where the fuck we are!" She said angrilly before looking at the still snickering Clarkson. "And. You!. Your pulling double time and keeping up with us!" She growled before hopping off the side of 'Ol 2' and walking back to her Dingo, 'Desert Rat #1'. The name was a throwback to the 'Desert Rats' A combined force Australian, Canadian, and others that fought Rommel's armoured forces in Africa during WW2.
Sure enough, four minutes passed. Eliza trudged back to Rabbit whom was still pouring over the map, his hand held a small compass, whilst his other hand ran two fingers over the route they took through the forest.
"Well? Times up Rabbit, am i gonna have a new Rabbit pelt beanie for the cold tonight?" She asks whilst leaning over the side left side of 'Ol 2'.
After several seconds Rabbit looks up and stares into the front wall of his station, his eyes darting around short distances, not particularly looking at anything whilst he silently mouthed words to himself, he then looks back down at the map on his lap. He slides a finger seven KM south-west. After a further few seconds he taps his finger twice.
"Found us. We're twelve Kilometers out of our way south-west. I'll post you with directions two hundred meters before they're required." Rabbit said with determination, Flinching as he received a light hearted slap across his left shoulder.
"Theres my Rabbit." Eliza said through a smile. Before posting a friendly warning. "Careful mate, the next one goes across your face if we get lost again!" she said through a broad smile as he hopped off the side and to the ground.
With that, Clarkson and 'Ol 2' pulled over to the side of the road, whist Eliza and Luke in 'Desert Rat #1' drove down the road a few seconds before sharply pulling into a U-turn and rapidly building speed.
'Ol 2' accelerated as Eliza and Luke were speeding towards them and Clarkson put his foot through the floor as 'Desert Rat #1' Whined past him, its engine cooling fan howling a ghostly whine trying to cool the vehicle.
After about seven minutes Eliza noticed a wooden fence off to her left. after a while they passed a front gate, as well as several ponies. But they kept on going. Their objective was retrieving the Tan tabbies.
"What are you doing?" Luke asked Eliza with a side glance.
"Found it!" Eliza said with a chuckle as she plugged her Smartphone into the armoured cars radio Aux port.
"Uh Oh, What are you doing?" Luke said through a sly smile.
With a tap of Eliza's thumb the loudspeaker on the side of the turret blasted into an electric guitar rift..
" NOOoooo! You didnt just select that song" Luke said through a chuckle. Meanwhile back inside 'Ol 2' The music was clawing its way through the open hatches and inside the crew compartment.
Clarkson let loose a Hearty "HAH!" Then licked his lips.
"What is it? And whats this song-" Rabbit was cut off but the first of the lryics...
"* I won't pull the trigger, just to see you die No remedy to make me come alive I'm ticking like a time bomb, no fuse just guts and gore Initiate the burning of the core
"This song suits our mission parameters quite well, Listen to the Lyrics" Clarkson said with a chuckle.
Rabbit did as his friend suggested and just listened.
I count down to zero, pull the trigger, no parole No mercy no mercy on your soul
Kill by any means necessary Win by any means necessary Live by any means necessary Die by any means necessary
"Heh. I Suppose your right..." Rabbit said, actually enjoying the song.
"Johnna said that we are to retrieve The Tan Tabbies. By any means necessary. It appears our C.O is taking that fairly seriously" Clarkson yelled over the lyrics.
"I'd say, She'd even found a song that matched the mission, and also the opinion of the Mist Cougars at the moment..." Rabbit said, sounding rather concerned about the latter.
I am not judgmental A sinner nor a saint 'Cause either you're my best friend or you ain't
"Hey dont worry about the 'Smoke cats', Johnna's got a scout team watching them, The bloke may want to even the score as well, but he's not stupid. hes not gonna let them start an all out war." Clarkson yelled reassuringly.
Meanwhile up front, Both Eliza and Luke were singing karaoke in tune with the lyrics. Eliza passing an imaginary air microphone between Luke and herself. Both of the lovers had a huge smile across their faces.
Come gather here around me "Come gather here around me Feel my breath under your skin Feel my breath under your skin I'm deadly only when I'm getting caught I'm deadly only when I'm getting caught
I count down to zero, I'm a soldier without soul I count down to zero, I'm a soldier without soul No mercy, no mercy on your soul "No mercy, no mercy on your- SHIT!-"
Luke slammed the brake pedal so hard the Dingo lowered on its forward suspension, as well as having its rear wheels bounce on the road surface, making an irritating rubbery chirping sound as they violently shook on the road.
The 3.2 tonne armoured car screeched to a halt half off the road, and spend most of the skid over there in a drift. Luke poked his head out of his divers hatch to look for the three ponies that had darted out in front of them in the road. His expression of concern had warped into one of seething anger when he found the three shivering on the road under a red faced Clarkson, who had his Sten gun pointed at the trio.
Eliza Yelled her order and the Muscular Clarkson lowered his weapon but still kept it to his hip and pointed in the ponies general direction. Luke ran over and got into Clarkson's face.
"What the Hell man! Their CHILDREN!" He pointed to the shaking trio in the dirt.
"Yeah! And look at em! One's from the bloody breed that slaughtered Errik's lot! And one of them has that magical horn thing! How much you bet she can make your head explode into a fine mist?!" Clarkson yelled into Luke's face hard enough to have spit fly.
The situation was getting out of hand but the kids were the priority at the moment. Eliza ran over and crouched next to the terrified trio. Upon seeing her their reaction made Eliza's heart fall through her stomach. Two went wide eyed and stammered uncontrollably, and the white unicorn one just closed her eyes and hid her head under her hooves. Clarkson's irate arguement with Luke was reaching its epitome for a friendly fire tale. The two had been yelling in each others faces to hard that they'd turned grey. As well as Clarkson waving his sub-machine gun around like it was going out of fashion.
"SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUP!" Eliza yelled through a glare at the two. "Bend over, and Kiss each others Arses! Then, Reach down into your pants and GET. A. GRIP!" She continued to yell. "Your both on the same roster! Cause I Put you there, because you both get along like brothers! So Bury your Petty argument and work together damn it!!
It was then that the songs lyrics broke through the arguments awkward silence.
I am born to kill, judge and condemn I am born to win, slay and maim 'em I am born to live, fight for glory I am born to die, memento mori I am born to kill, judge and condemn I am born to win, slay and maim 'em I am born to live, fight for glory I am born to die, memento mori *"
With a sigh, Eliza motioned Luke to join her, and they each picked up a foal, Luke carrying two. The duo, with their precious cargo in hands. Climbed back into their armoured car, Cutie Mark Crusaders in hands.
"What. The. FUCK, ARE YOU DOING?! They're The ENEMY!-" Clarkson's rant was cutoff by his C.O
"Are they? All i see are Children, And Children are not responsible for the evils their elders atone to!" Eliza spat back with a motherly venom that caused Clarkson to flinch and take a step back.
"Well!? Get in your bloody vehicle and follow us!" She hissed in a blind fury at her squad mate. After about a minute their dingo screeched off down the road leaving 'Ol 2' to try and keep up.
"Shit Clarkie, I've never heard her in that tone of voice before... The fact that such an Angel of a woman can reach that level of pure rage is terrifying!"
"Yeah, How do you think i felt? I just got back in and did as she said! She sounded like she was about to rip off my balls and beat me to death with em... I can see why Johnna put her incharge of her own scout unit, shes got the sisterly compassion that glues the unit together, and shes got the personality of a Loving, 'No Bullshit Cheetah...'"
Both Dingoes sped down the road and out of sight over the slight hill the road of built on. Their mission still yet to be completed...
The sterile room was grey in colour, this in part, due to the drab cheap coloured tile used in its construction. However it also had to do with the sheer quantity of iron used in its construction, beit for structural stability or just for decoration.
Four metal tables are lined up side by side, just enough space between them to allow a pony through. Upon each table lay an unconscious 'Tan tabbie'. The Puma's crew had arrived to this very room Via -=Telipoof=- from Princess sparkle, the ordeal had put her on the verge of magical exhaustion. The lavender purple princess currently sat in the shadowed, cool corner of the room, drinking a rather unsavory cocktail of potions and natural herbs. It was supposed to taste like mango, Either the nurses lied to her, or the pony who'd made the concoction had never eaten a mango before.
Applejack was up and about, only with a limp. Her luck was unbelievable. Not only had the orange and blonde mare taken a fifteen centimeter knife to the barrel and not been severely wounded, but now she was walking around like nothing ever happened... Proving just how much of a terrible patient she is.
Despite the nurses telling her to sit down, she continued to walk around the humans quite curiously. She seemed to still have a qualm with the one who wounded her. As every time she passed his table she bore a disgusted glare.
The rest of the maine six had been found and brought to the same room, Fluttershy being the last and current arrival. Upon walking through the door the Custard yellow mare gasped in shock and galloped over to the center of the room to see what was wrong with the creatures.
Upon reaching the closest table, she cautiously looked over the tables edge at the side of the Human, before slowly raising up to her full height, since the table was practically on the floor she was a good head higher than the humans lying on the tables.
"Wh-what happened to th-them?" The shy mare stuttered in awe at the unusual creatures before her.
Twilight moved to speak up before Applejack spoke up aggressively. "They were Spyin' on Ponyville, N' attacked the royal guard when they were asked to splain' em' selves'." Fluttershy gasped at the news. Before asking.
"Are they okay?" She said looking the humans over for injuries. "Oh No! What happened to you Applejack!" The yellow mare asked with a squeak before looking over the bandages around Applejack's front.
"I'm fine. They-" Applejack said nodding sideways to the humans. "-Are fine, It was the Guard who needed the medical attention. Two privates were cut up pretty bad n' the captain nearly had his throat-..." Applejack ceased her explanation in detail upon noticing Fluttershy's eyes glass over in fear. "-They're fine, they've been seen by th' nurses an' released."
Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief at the good news of this bad situation. "So why are they unconscious?" The yellow Pegasus inquired with concern.
Twilight stood up and with a wobble, walked from the dark cool corner, glad to leave the terrible medicine behind. "Because their too Dangerous to be kept awake! That one-" Twilight said pointing a fore hoof at Lancer. "-Was strong enough to throw an armour clad pony at princess Luna, he then immediately went to throw the knife he had used to hold said pony hostage at princess Luna, The only thing that stopped him was that Applejack had knocked one of his counterparts out cold then moved to hit him. Thus why Applejack's bandaged, And very lucky might i add." Fluttershy gasped and flattened her ears against her skull in fear, whilst turning to look at the unconscious human lying only a few feet away.
"Princess Luna used Respite on them, and with ample power, they are gonna be out for several more hours at least, if not a day or two..." Twilight told her worried friend. "We're perfectly safe! And its the perfect time to gather some information about our worlds 'New Arrivals'." Fluttershy's, As well as Applejack's, Rarity's and Rainbow's Ears perked up at that last sentence. Pinkie didn't seem surprised by the information, but as Twilight learned so many years ago, no one questions Pinkie pie...
"SAY WHAT?!" Four of the six friends yelled out in unison, loud enough to make the nurses flinch and a doctor jump. Upon receiving glares from the various medical staff around the room the friends smiled apologetically.
"If your all Quite Finsished." Nurse Redheart Asked. Upon recieving no answers and silence, she said "All right then," and turned towards the tables, beckoning her fellow staff to assist her.
The main six took their seats in the stands along the back wall of the room.
"Ugh! This is pointless Twi' I Cant see anythin' from here!" Applejack complained whilst shifting to try and get a better view.
"Oh, Right! Hang on!" Twilight said lighting her horn. A bubble appeared between the six friends and the medical ponies around the humans, the bubble flattened out into a concave disk, acting as a magnifying lens. Allowing them all a clear view.
"Oh, Dear, Twilight. Their not going to... You know... Are they?" Rarity asked starting to change a shade.
"Wha- OH! No No No no no no no." Twilight said shaking her head. "We wouldn't dare!, they may be acting like savages, but they've shown a large amount of intelligence! As you can see they not only have manufactured goods, but they also have military and social structure, AND, They speak fluent Equestrian!" Twilight listed to the amazement of her friends. Except Pinkie.
Before the lavender alicorn mumbled inaudibly. "And there's 900 in the everfree, plus more on the way..."
The doctor lit his horn, but then tilted his head in confusion, He used his magic once more, and again and again, getting quite annoyed and tired at the effort it was taking to use a simple telekinesis spell.
"That Doesn't work on them or their items and equipment for some reason!" Twilight yelled from her seat.
"Why not?" The grey pony doctor yelled back up at the stands.
"We don't know. It could be any number of things. Wards, Charms, Magical resistance. You name it" Twilight informed the doctor.
With a roll of his eyes he nodded to his fellow nurses "Be careful, Slowly." He instructs them.
They inspect the clothing and armour of the humans, Two wore full clothing and protective armour, the armours coulor was a Mixture of different coloured browns and tans with green splotches thrown in, Clearly to help them blend into their environment better. They also wore thick clothing, clothing so thick that it was impracticable for the summer. And speaking of clothing, they wore alot of it.
Rarity was both bewitched and disgusted by the humans and their obsession with clothing, but the colours were so drab and bland, whilst the style... well there was none.
After removing the humans tan leather boots the doctors were greeted by thick black socks, Yeah, they left those on... Continuing up from there, they found multiple layers of body armour that overlapped each other like an armadillos plates. They gave each plate a firm tug, before realizing that each plate on the front was paired up with a 'Buddy' plate on the back. No luck with the sides of the Humans torso either, upon looking there they found thick Kevlar vests.
"How do they keep cool with all this on?" A nurse asked her friend. It was then a pained scream filled the room.
Everyone jumped and several guards lowered their spears, preparing for the humans to have awoken and taken another hostage. But the humans remained stationary, a nurse rolled around on the floor holding a hoof close to her. The medical staff rushed over to her and inspected her badly burned hoof. The doctor set aside two nurses to tend to the chocolate brown mare.
"That is why i said be careful. Where did you put your hoof SweetRemedy?" The doctor asked, to which Nurse Remedy replied by pointing to a metal and rubber box that was sown into the back of the humans vest, just below the neck.
The doctor moved in to inspect the overlapping metal fins that the metal box was made of. He noticed a very strong heat being emitted by it. In fact, he could feel said heat half a foot away from it.
"Interesting..." He mused looking at the Aluminium and rubber protrusion from the humans armoured clothing.
"What is it doctor? Twilight asked.
"It appears to be a metal vent that exits the armour. Its emitting extreme amounts of heat, and may explain how the humans can wear so much without overheating in the summer!"
The doctor Motions with a hoof and the nurses remaining proceed with trying to figure out how to strip down the excessive amounts of armour and clothing.
After a further three minutes one nurse discovers several black plastic 'Quick slide release buckles' holding the plates together via a Kevlar strap. She notifies her fellow staff around her and they quickly make progress in removing the heavy armour plates. Each one being a concave four millimeter plate of steel. Soon the nurses were hopping around the tables, like the floor was lava, trying to avoid the 6KG plates landing on their hooves. Each plate made a loud 'Thud' as it hit the floor immediately followed by a hollow metallic clatter.
Much to their frustration They realized that the armour on the humans back was under the aliens immense weight, and in individual pieces. Resigning themselves to removing them later, they continue on. It was at this point that the doctor noticed a black rubber tube running out of the next layer of the humans clothing and to the Aforementioned metallic box that had been woven into the previous layer of clothing.
After several seconds of inspecting the thick camouflaged jacket they discover a thick plastic zipper. The doctor begins slowly opening the zipper with his teeth.
Twilight and the rest of the maine six watch on in suspense at what they are to find below this layer. Scales? Fur? Feathers?... More clothing... To be precise a Black vest that completely rapped around the humans torso.
"Okay... Okay...-" The doctor inhales sharply in frustration before letting out a huff. "-This is getting ridiculous."
"How are they able to wear so much without DIEING in this heat?!" Applejack asked whilst turning to her friends. Her response was a shrug from four of them. Twilight however, Was busy peering into the bubble lens with great curiosity.
Many minutes went by, and nopony could find a way to get this layer off the humans. Eventually one frustrated nurse decided to experiment with tugging on the rubber hose that lead into the metal box on the humans back, one tug. Two tugs. Three. Fou- =Pop=...
The nurse promptly flew backwards a short distance before landing on her hind quarters, the rest of the medical staff in attendance gasped as they looked at a bright green, Almost florescent fluid start glugging out of the hose. Pouring out across the table and dripping onto the floor with an audible noise, the medical staff stared on in shock, thinking that the nurse may have just caused the alien creature to bleed out. Their fears were replaced by curiosity when nurse Redheart looked at the dried blood on the third human and saw it's crimson colour.
"Its not blood... what ever it is..." She mumbled blankly, they continued inspecting the vest and the strange, horrid smelling liquid, after about thirteen minutes nurse Nurse Redheart looked over the humans full body-glove that was under the vest, and noticed that it was completely drenched in sweat. Curious she held a hoof to the humans flank. And gasped in shock before starting to try and tear the vest off the creature.
"Redheart! What are you doing!" The doctor yelled at the white mare. Her Maine swayed back and forth as she violently tried to rip the vest off to no avail. She spat it out, turned to the doctor and the nurses around him and yelled urgently.
"It's Overheating! Badly! We need to get this off!" She yelled before returning to her previous actions.
The doctor placed a hoof on the humans flank and instantly knew he wouldn't need a thermometer to find out its temperature. It was at least 37 degrees under all those layers now.
"Quickly!" He yelled as he joined in the frantic blitz to get the next layers off. All the while the maine six watched on from the bleachers in shock. Fluttershy and Pinkie looked on with tears forming in their eyes. Rarity sat there with a hoof across her muzzle in shock, Twilight watched on, frozen in horror, and Applejack launched from her seat and down over to the fiasco.
'He' may of tried to kill me, but i cant just let em' die like this!' she thought to herself and she leaped onto the table over the human. She pointed to the only earth pony in the room, that being Redheart. And yelled. "You! Bite down on that side and pull!" Applejack bit down on the opposite side of the vest and began pulling with every granule of strength she had. Harder and harder the earth ponies pulled until an audible sound was heard, Tearing fabric.
"Pll HRDDERRR" Applejack growled through a mouth full of fabric. She pulled even harder and eventually a burning pain hit her, like a blacksmith had just plunged a red hot iron into her barrel. The orange mare clamped her eyes shut and pulled even harder. Eventually there was a loud fabric(ie) =SHRRRRIIIPP= And both mares flew a few feet in opposite directions as the fabric vest gave up and exploded outward in two halves. Eight square rubber bottles flew out of the open vest and all over the table. The medical ponies pulled the mess of rubber pipes and containers aside and continued to rip the remainder of the vest away. Underneath they found a fabric 'full body-glove'. They growled in frustration as their medical scissors kept getting stuck on copper wires woven through the fabric and even got stuck in the odd material itself at times. Next, a button up shirt that they quickly ripped off, next a white singlet, a nurse promptly cut it off.
Finally, they found skin. Sweat covered skin, the nurses could feel the heat radiating out from the humans chest. The nurses instantly threw watered down towels over the top of the humans chest in a frantic attempt at cooling down his dangerous temperature. The doctors had an idea of what the humans normal temperature was, thanks to the work of a nurse who found the black vest had a wire that ran into the humans wrist armour, a display read 'Cooling Vest 26*C', as well as 'COOLANT SEAL COMPROMISED'.
After several minutes and a dozen cold towels later... Applejack watched on in relief that they saved the human, The doctors medical scans exhausted him to near unconsciousness, but he was able to confirm that no damage had been done.
It was then that Applejack's adrenaline began to ebb off, and she was struck by a crippling burning pain, she looked down at the bandages around her front and notice a large red stain.
"Ah, Horse-apples..." She groaned before falling into her haunches. Redheart noticed Applejack's plight, and rushed over to assist her.
"Get me a medical bed and two nurses!" She yelled before running for the locked double doors. Unlocking them, She turned and galloped back to the orange mare now starting to lie down on the gurney The maine six watched in concern and pinkie galloped to keep up with the group leaving...
Two hours later, the humans had been stripped down to their underwear and non-evasively studied, before being left alone in the locked room, two guards posted outside the doors.
On the other side of Ponyville, two Dingoes had arrived on the outskirts and been hidden on a riverbank. Their crews left to perform their missions. Luke and Eliza went to break into Ponyville library to gather information, and return the CMC, in order to protect the ponies from their friends.
Clarkson and Rabbit went hunting for the 'Tan Tabbies'. Eliza had ordered Rabbit to shoot Clarkson if he posed a threat to the locals. And rabbit was keen to keep that promise, this man in front of him wasn't the Clarkson who he befriended, He was something else, a monster bent on revenge...
It Wouldn't take them long for the two parties to meet...
Chapter 11.5 - "Breaking and entering... Not my strong suit..."
================= 1315 Hours Castle of Friendship. =================
The Quiet of the Castles library was broken by a hushed and muffled voice, If it were occupied, those in the room would of seen the peering eyes of Eliza through the closed but unlocked window.
"Rooms clear" She whispers to Luke before gingerly pulling the windows frame open. Eliza climbs in, holding Applebloom close to her chest, by this point the CMC were still scared, but they knew they could trust these two humans to some measure, due to these two protecting them from the others.
After Eliza was inside she put Applebloom down, and leaned back out to help Luke in. She took Luke's hand and pulled him in, The two foals hanging from a basket made from Luke's duck down stuffed raincoat that was secured around his waist by their Dingoes tow cable. Yes it was safe, They double checked it. One end wrapped around Luke's waist, around the waists of both Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo, before looping through the coats brass hoop buckles and back around Luke's waist.
Once Luke was inside, they both pulled the remainder of the braided steel cable inside and eventually the two foals. Eliza turned to where she left Applebloom, And found empty space...
"Shit!" Eliza quietly cursed herself.
"No offence El, But, What did you expect to happen?" Luke said through a concerned nervous smile.
"Yeah, Yeah. Let those two go then we'll have to triple time it. Anything about this lands history and its people! And no fairy tales!" Eliza ordered Luke in a hushed yell.
When untied to two foals looked at each other then back at the humans, Who, ushered them to leave. They did so, gladly. Eliza and Luke quietly jogged over to the vast bookshelves and began glancing over titles. Forty two books in, Eliza finds 'The Complete History of Equestria before Nightmare moon Vol.1' Glancing over the next few books she quickly finds Volumes 2-5 and piles them in Luke's jacket.
Luke discovered the 'Encyclopedia of subspecies Magics & Spells'. The book was Thick At least 6000 pages! He hefted the book into his jacket basket and continued his 'Liberation of the bookshelves'. Next up was 'Earthponies -N- You'. The blurb on the back read 'The complete known Earthpony history and unique attributes.' "Good enough for me." Luke said adding it to the now rapidly developing pile.
Little did they know... They'd picked up an undetected guest watching them from the crack in the door. Both the humans continued rushing from shelf to table and back again, With Luke occasionally lifting the jacket in the air by the steel cable to check its weight.
Meanwhile on the other side of the door...
The ponies colours were obscured by the darkness of the room. The orange and white stallion had blacked out the windows using magic, so that Captan Celaeno could show him the humans encampment using a new spell he 'cooked up'. the spell displays memories in the air, like publicly replaying princess sparkles simulation spell.
Captain celaeno had been answering an urgent summons by the Princesses, she'd been flying along the outskirts of The Everfree, When she noticed something so unusual it may as well of been impossible. Smoke, Campfire smoke. In The Everfree.
"Looking through my spyglass, i saw a city of tents. An uncountable number. Most likely Thousands of them... But that wasn't all!
What ever had set up their camp in the forest. had cleared large amounts of trees and constructed a crude fort of sorts. All the tree cut down were in a large stretched rectangle. At the end of the rectangle there were three Huge buildings with curved roofs. One had its doors open and several very large strange vehicles could be seen inside... The larger being."
Celaeno had to concentrate but eventually the images of the vehicles showed up and stayed displayed in the darkness of the castle foyer. The response, unsurprisingly, Was all in attendance to gasp in shock at monstrosities of engineering.
"That isnt the end of either! There were rows upon rows of hundreds of smaller ones!" Concentrating once more Celaeno replaced the heavy aircraft with 'the smaller ones'
Everyone around the table was looking very troubled... The full scope of the situation was finally beginning to sink in with this report... These 'Humans' are not even in the same technological league as the equestrians. but the full gravity of the situation was still not taking its effect on those in attendance. Luna looked around the room. Those in attendance were.
Captain Celaeno. Herself and her sister Princess Celestia. Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess Cadance and ShiningArmour. The invited Leader of Nova Griffonia (Equestria's closest griffon ally, due to their friendship running so deep, and the Equestrian colony in the Nova's territory.) . Olenia's leader. As well as the ambassadors for Stalliongrad the buffalo kingdom and the Hippogriff's.
It was Nova Griffonia's leader- Governor Teafeather. Whom spoke first. "So they're currently in possession of advanced technology. Whats the big deal? You Equestrians outnumber them what? A million to one? How much damage can a bigger shinier sword do?"
It was Princess Skystar, Heir to the Hippogriff throne, who actually began to speak sense, Being young enough to believe in the rumors circulating around Equestria about the humans and their 'Technology. "What Princess Luna's saying, is their weapons and equipment are Centuries ahead of us! Airships the size of wagons that fly through the air at hundreds of kilometers an hour! Armoured wagons that are virtually indestructible to the common soldier! Weapons that can kill and maim from thousands of meters away!-"
"THATS PRO-POSTEROUS!" Ambassador Ralph Archonev, of Stalliongrad. Spat out in disbelief. "I HVE' NVER' HERRRD', OF SUCH LIES!-"
Luna by now was quite visibly fuming at the sheer incompetence that was being displayed by the various parties. only Celestia, Skystar and Sunburst was fully heeding the gravity of the situation. If only they could SEE what the humans world is lik-. The thought slapped Luna across the face.
Feeling the immense amount of power needed, all in attendance turned to the now glowing Luna, before any could mouth a word. Everyone in attendance, Blinked out of existence. Except Sunburst, who noticed a petrified Applebloom pointing him to the library.
The sight that greeted him through the crack in the door was surly something interesting...
-=SPLOOOOFF=-
The group of Leaders and representatives appeared in a world of dull colours. Those dull greys slowly developing colour, but it would never be as colourful as their homes...
Governor Teafeather approaches the clearly weakened Luna before asking "Care to explain yourself? Where have you taken us?"
"I've taken us nowhere. But my memories. More specifically. The Memories of the Memories and dreams associated to the humans as i was performing my role."
Celestia walked over to her younger sibling. "So why this particular memory?" She asks cautiously.
Luna looked at her sister with stern determination. "Because, Dear sister. Your ALLGoing to see.
Skystar walked over to the solar and lunar princesses. "See what?" She asked nervously. Luna's reply chilled all of them.
"The humans definition of a place called... "Hell..." It was then that the world around them sharpened into outlines then shapes. They were standing in a road. Around the road on either side were houses. They were in a town! But Skyscrapers lined the horizon in the distance. So they're in a suburb.
The sun had just Slowly edged its way over the horizon. Birds began chirping. The cool air that surrounded their ghostly forms began to warm and it looked, as if the beginning day was going to be grand.
Until... A Shrill howl filled the air... Followed by a rumbling Menacing Growl...
All looked to the sky, except Luna, who just sadly clenched her eyes shut, knowing of the gruesome display of that which was to come. And everyone's mouths fell agape. The bright orange morning sky... Was suddenly blackened by the silhouettes of Hundreds of flying metal vehicles like Celaeno had showed, but BIGGER.
After the cloud started to Roar over it seemed to never stop... on and on more and more aircraft flew over head. Each aircraft dropping dozens of things by parachute...
Humans!?
Luna opened her eyes. "Brace Thy selves... This may be too much for you...
"Follow me..." Luna said ominously. All in attendance did just that... The First of the humans had just landed on the ground. Walking around the corner the group headed down a street named 'Lancaster crt.' and spotted one.
The human was wearing a rather thick looking set of green and tan striped clothes. It, Presumably a 'HE' was untying himself from his parachute all the while around him the birds had all but gone silent, giving the entire suburb an eerie heavy feeling, the danger in the air was thick and palpable.
The human picked up its black pipe thing and crouched down low. He then began sneaking around like he wasn't suppose to be here... Wherever here was.
The human was constantly turning his head, and his eyes were moving from left to right up and even down... Always checking behind himself every few stealthy footsteps.
"Whats got it so spooked? Its like it's paranoid that somethings going to jump out and kill it without much fight..." Skystar asked, before anyone could answer or Archonev could make a snide remark, not to far in the distance was a series of sounds that made everyone jump, except Luna, whom just closed her eyes.
*BLAM* - *RATATTATTATTATTAT*
The human the ghostly group was following dropped even lower into his crouch. He stayed still in the alleyway between two wooden fences. Turning his head to the left, looking down that path he was traveling, to right, and the path he had just came down.
After an awkward pause the human the group was following started speaking an odd language, his voice an almost inaudible whisper. "Что за хрень ...Они должны были молчать!-" Judging by how the last word was spat out a few seconds later and with its conviction, it was a curse. "-БЛЯДЬ!"
The group remained silent and continued to look at each other questioningly. All except for Archonev. He'd recognized the commonly used dialect of his nations language from the first two words the human spoke.
"What language is that?" Shining asked in pure confusion.
"Mine..." Archonev said in disbelief. "How do these creatures have our languages?" He asked no one in particular whilst staring at the bipedal form nervously looking around.
Just as the human started to move once more, more cracks of thunder began to echo out from all around him. Those then turned into an orchestra of chaos and was making everyone nervous. after a further five minutes of sneaking through the neighborhood.
The strange creature came to an abrupt halt and stiffened up, raising his presumed weapon to his eye level. Everyone watching held their breath. eventually shadows moved about in the light at the end of the shadowed area they were currently sitting under in-between two houses.
The human lowered his strange contraption, before loud shouting could be herd from behind and the human in front of them snapped around to the rear. The group had just managed to turn in time to see a human in colourful civilian clothing with a vest, similar to what the soldier human was wearing.
The second one raised his weapon and fired his shots. Everyone in the group either flattened or held their ears as the loud rapid cracks filled and echoed through the narrow space. When they opened their eyes and looked up. The second human was laying on the ground, and the first one had spun back around to the front. Another human appeared in the light at the end of the alleyway, and raised his weapon towards the soldier. The green clad solider they had followed opened fire first. everyone held their ears but they didn't look away this time.
With several claps of thunder the human in the light shook as if he was being hit by an invisible force, he stood there in a mist of blood before dropping his weapon and falling face down on the ground.
Everyone in the group was left standing in disbelief at what they'd just witnessed. All in attendance besides Luna and Celestia were petrified of what they'd just seen. The humans had invented weapons that could kill from a distance, and so Easily at that. Their hearts fell into their stomachs when they heard the pained scream of a child yelling for their 'Daddy' several seconds later.
The green soldier tensed up and raised his weapon as the form of another human rushed down next to the body of the one he'd just killed. She was no older than five years of age. She sat next to her fallen father on her knees, shaking him all the while saying 'Daddy?'. The scene had everyone in the group crying.
Eventually the little girl just doubled over her father and started sobbing. Everyone's ghostly translucent forms looked to the green soldier and saw that his shoulders had slumped and his weapon was lowered. After several seconds of watching the scene the green soldier reached into his vest pocket and pulled a piece of paper. He stared at it for several more seconds.
The group jumped as dozens of Thunder cracks roared from behind them. They saw the green soldier shake violently before falling to his knees, then his back. Turning they saw the first colourful human was kneeling and gasping for air.
"Fuckin' Rooskie!" The human spat with a hatred pure enough it could of been distilled.
Skystar turned back to the green soldier, walking over to his un-moving body, she gasped and sobbed out "No...".
Everyone else then walked over to Where Skystar stood over the green soldier. He laid there in a large pool of his blood. The green mask covering his face from the nose down was stained with crimson, on the ground next to the fallen warriors hand. Was a photograph of a smiling family. It didn't take much effort to understand it was his family.
A Wife and four children wouldn't be getting their husband and father back... The near constant cracks of thunder echoed out across the suburb. Explosions began joining the song of death and destruction. The group was paralyzed with shock from what they'd just witnessed.
A Mechanical whine pierced the barrage of sound at the end of the alleyway.
*POMPF- POMPF- POMPF- POMPF- POMPF- POMPF-*
The much louder deeper cracks of thunder caused the air they breathed to rattle in their lungs. The Ground shook as explosions filled the street in front of them. The explosions, their sound, and their heat, began to fill the air around them.
Skystar gasped and began to run towards the still sobbing child at the end of the alleyway. She stopped and collapsed to the ground crying when an explosion hit the end of the alleyway between the houses. Once the smoke cleared there was nothing but fire and debris from the houses that once shielded them.
The roar of a metal aircraft caused the stunned group to look up. Skystar looked up from her rasping sob. And saw a formation of three smaller blue bird like aircraft howl overhead with a shrill scream. They dropped pony sized metal tubes from under their wings. The tubes disappeared behind a row of houses. Two seconds later, everyone fell to the ground as if someone had pulled the ground out from under them like a rug.
Looking up they saw that the houses were...gone... an entire block of houses, had been leveled to nothing more than a smoldering mountain of debris.
Whilst everyone was gazing stunned at the sheer amount of destruction that had occurred in a mere five minutes, an air vibrating sound akin to someone unzipping a zipper roared overhead with a *VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT*.
Two grey metal aircraft of a similar size, but completely different more boxy shape screamed overhead, a trail of what seemed to be small suns streaming from its front. One of the previous three blue metal bird like vehicles burst into a fury of purple and orange flames before screaming into the ground. The other two began to fly evasively, but shortly afterwards the second one joined its brother in death. As a metal pillar was dropped from one of the new aggressors and rode a trail of smoke and flame, it flew straight into the back of its target, causing it to explode.
The last blue green metal bird like vehicle began to fly in circles with one of the two grey ones. The second grey vehicle howled onto its tail and launched another pillar. The surviving blue craft spat several small suns from its tail and the pillar flew off in a random direction erratically.
*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT*
A Stream of smaller suns erupted from the ground. Most missed, but those that hit had ripped the left wing off the blue craft. It sharply rolled onto its back, and careened into the ground. Its impact marked by a loud 'Boom' and a large cloud of fire rising from the ground.
A Sound akin to a Pegasai team kicking a thundercloud began to reach the now thoroughly terrified, stunned and appalled group. looking up and behind them. They saw black Vehicles hovering in place like many of the winged species of Equestria could. A moving stick, now known to be the humans weapons. Rotated freely under its glass 'head' it would fire every so often at the ground.
With that the world around them morphed out of focus and returned to a grey mass that surrounded the now red eyed group.
Celestia just stood there with a blank yet seemingly thoughtful expression, staring off into nowhere...
"H-how long... Have they had such weapons?" Shining armour stuttered in shock.
Luna replies with. "They've been able to fly for the last two hundred or so years. their pipe weapons have been their species primary weapon for near two thousand years now."
"What... What was, such a battle fought for?" Archonev asked in shock.
"The attacking nation had run out of land and resources for its people. The country they attacked had little people living on its vast lands. As well as a small mountain of debts to the attacker." Luna answered.
How often do they fight each other like this..." Cadence mumbled. Luna's response would leave the group stunned and petrified.
"They've never stopped fighting each other... Beit for one reason or another, good or bad... They've always been at war with themselves... Some of their nations depend of war for their economy to remain stable.
Governor Teafeather of Nova Griffonia mumbled wide eyed. " They're just like how the empire used to be... To to think this is what could of happened to Nova Griffonia had we not embraced the pony way..." he shudders in fear as the mental image flashed over his mind.
Luna was sure her point was finally sinking in. But to nail home her recent advances she summoned several recollections of memories she'd taken from various humans.
The various memories formed around the group like a dome of TV screens. The one currently focused on would grow in size and sound would be given to it.
The spluttering of engines filled the hollow grey space the group stood in, A Shrill wail of a hand siren filled the air, and Humans wearing blue uniforms with rubber yellow vests, ran from a manor like building to their vehicles that sat on the green lawn in the front yard.
Aircraft were already rolling down the narrow path in-between the rows of still dormant tan coloured vehicles. The running humans were shouting and yelling at each other over the sirens wail.
Two humans in particular jogged side by side, stopping at an aircraft.
The blue dressed one yelled. "I've Fixed the hydraulic and electrical systems sir! But the oil hoses still need attention!-"
He was cut off when the yellow vested human yelled "JUST CRANK IT ANT'!" With that the blue dressed one said.
"Godspeed to you sir!" and began hand cranking a handle that stuck out the side of the metal vehicle.
The memory dulled out before sharpening again, the vehicles where now in flight towards a dense black cloud.
Another familiar voice cut in " Bombers sighted, Dead ahead! Lets drop in on em' and give them a reception!"
"Roger! following yew' red one!" The memory shrank down and another took its place. This moving image showed several Much larger tan coloured flying machines in formation, flying towards an island.
Two humans sat next to each other in the front of the vehicle. In front of them a seemingly random patchwork of gauges, buttons and switches. The rhythmic growl of engines made up the majority of the sound from this memory.
"Pilot to bombardier, Your ship." One of the two humans said.
"Bombardier to Pilot roger, my ship." The human in the nose of the plane leaned over what looked like a pair of binoculars.
"Bombardier to crew, bomb bay doors open." He announced whilst flicking a switch. The howling screech of wind filled the aircraft as explosions started to fill the air, shaking the crew and their aircraft. After a few more seconds of staring through the binoculars he flicked a series of switches and metal canisters clanked and fell out of the aircraft's midsection.
"Bombardier to Pilot, your ship." the human said.
"Roger." the voice came from seemingly nowhere in the memory but the group didn't have much time to think about that as the hum of the engines grew into a loud rumbling growl.
He pushed a leaver forward and a mechanical whine filled the inside of the craft.
"Bombardier to pilot, the doors are stuck.-" he was cut off by someone saying...
"Uh, oh. Zero inbound. Ten -O- clock level." And with that a previously unseen human in the memory ambled his way into the cramped space and reached for an awfully large human weapon, that sat in the window above the 'Bombardier'.
Someone else said. "Here they come boys, Come on out!". With that the new human pushed down on two buttons and the weapon roared to life with a rumbling *BRA-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT*
The human continued to fire seemingly at nothing. The group watching the memory from the safety of Luna's mind was confused at first, until a black spec appeared in the distance. Within a second the rapidly approaching spec grew into the form of another smaller machine. It hurtled towards the lumbering giant of a vehicle and the hail of suns it spat. before its wings lit up with fire and its own balls of light were thrown back.
Streaks of light flew through the glass nose of the airship. Sending shards of glass at the humans faces.
"Zamp, you've got to get those doors closed." With that the human the memory was focused on began to move throughout the cramped insides of the metal craft. Pushing a ladder out of his way he crawled under the space he just made before lowering the ladder back into its previous position. He turned on the narrow walkway. The sky outside was clearly visible. The screeching howl of wind swirled throughout this area of the strange vehicle.
Looking down and past the narrow walkway. He could see not only the streaks of light his fellow humans and their weapons were throwing into the air, but the attacking craft falling towards the ground or flying past on fire.
The memory and the pained screams from the humans inside of the sky-ship unfocused and shrank as Skystar looked back to the previous one. It returned back to its full size as its sound returned.
An Audible Buzzing noise filled Luna's space.
The human sitting inside the strange contraption shouts. "I'VE GOT ANOTHER ONE!" Just as a very worried voice yells out over the noise.
Another Humans voice yelled through with its distorted dire concern making the group cringe. "RE̶D ͢O͟NE̴! ̕GĘT͜ O͝U҉T̵TA T͏H̸ERE! ͞P̨U͡LL̢ ҉UP̷! ͜PU͡L̷L̴ UP̸! "
The human this memory focused on yells whilst sinkeing lower into his seat. "I'M UNDER FIRE! I'M TAKING FIRE!" Audible hissing and buzzing surrounded him in the claustrophobic space inside the vehicle. The human pushed a handhold forward and the hum of his machines engine turned into a mechanical growl, the view from inside his aircraft changed from one of the horizon to one of stormy grey skies.
everyone noticed it before the human did, but a black rubber hose began violently shaking and writhing in front of the pilot. As the human noticed its strange movements it swelled until it burst. Spraying the tiny space with a black fluid whilst hissing hostility.
The human cried out in pain as the liquid was sprayed into his eyes and pulled his goggles over his eyes. He cries out " I'VE GOT AN OIL LEAK!" Then yells out in utter horror as the black liquid coming from the hose suddenly catches fire.
Everyone watching gasped and looked on in terror as the humans clothes caught fire.
"I CANT SEE A DAMN THING!" The human began furiously trying to move a small knob that sat on the metal rim of his glass bubble window, when it refused to budge he yells "I CANT BAIL! MY CANOPY'S STUCK! I CANT BAIL OUT!" He then punched the glass, but was only rewarded with a hollow thudding sound for his efforts.
The human reached down into a space beside his seat and pulls out a much smaller pipe weapon. He pulled a small hammer looking thing on the black weapon back before pointing it at the black stained glass bubble that surrounded his head.
*BLANG* *BLAM- BLAM* Everyone looked on in shock as the human dropped the weapon and lowered his clenched left fist, his clothing still alight, and began punching at the now damaged glass bubble. The glass shattered in fist sized holes and the sudden rush of air put the fire out. The humans clothes were charred and the thought of his condition under those clothes made Celestia shudder. Cadence had clenched her eyes shut and stopped looking ages ago, instead opting for burying her eyes into Shining's mane.
Back in the memory the human had turned to look out of the shattered hole filled glass behind him to see a black craft with a bright yellow nose growling behind him still firing. The human yells
"He's on my tail Red two!" A Series of rapid metallic thuds rang out through the humans cramped space. There was a small explosion behind him and his engine started to sputter. In terror the human yelled out "I'M HIT! I'M HIT!"
He pushes his control stick to the left, but his craft continues its upward right spiral. Ignoring his inputs the human is left powerless, He just sits in his seat mumbling "oh my god..." As his vehicle nose dives in a wide rolling spiral towards the ocean. Its screaming mechanical, howling, whine and sputtering engine informing all watching of its slow death. The human looked to his right to see his crafts right wing a raging inferno of orange flame, the world outside spinning violently around him.
Skystar clenched her eyes shut and looked away just before the doomed human and his dying machine slammed into the raging dark blue ocean. The sound of shearing metal against the wet *THUD* Causing all to jump.
Luna looked around. Everyone had been Scared by what they'd witnessed, Teafeather and Archonev stood there frozen silently watching jaws agape. Cadence and Skystar held their eyes shut with tears freely flowing. Twilight stood there, her eyes wide as saucers and visibly shaking. King Jolev of Olenia and Ambassador Ralen of the buffalo had visibly changed to several new shades of pale. Celaeno had removed her hat and held it against her chest out of respect, her face wearing a sad frown. And shining armour stood there with a serious expression mumbling a prayer to both the humans and they themselves.
Shining noticed a previously unseen memory above him, Upon looking into it, the memory grew and lowered itself along the dome of images until at eye level.
The memory was following a group of humans through an open field of budding wheat. Four large green metal vehicles on strange wheels rolled through the center of the field towards a treeline.
Behind each vehicle was a double file group of humans, at least thirty behind each. One of the humans sitting half out of one of the vehicles looked to his right and yelled into a box he was holding. "look ONE THREE ONE THREE LOOK! RIGHT STICK RIGHT STICK YOU'VE GOT TROOPS ON THE GROUND!"
A humans voice yelled out of a box inside the vehicle "FUCK! SHIT! RIGHT STICK, RIGHT STICK!" One of the vehicles lumbered to the right and several humans that were lying on the ground rolled out of the way to the left.
The Human this memory focused on yelled into the box. "FUCK SAKES! ONE THREE! PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS!"
Celestia looked Appalled at the humans language. Archonev Was steeling himself for the gory mess he knew was about to occur.
Dozens of human voices were being emitted from a box inside the metal vehicle. A Human just behind the Massive metal vehicle Yelled "STAY. DOWN! Keep Behind the Tank-" His voice was cut off by a sudden loud Purr. a near constant stream of teal streaks flew at the human vehicle. Shining changed to a green hue as several humans let out short pained howls before falling to the ground in mists of crimson. Their bodies lay in a mess of red gore and amputated limbs from the rapid stream of teal streaks tearing at the 'Tanks'.
One 'Tank' Turned its head to face the source of the storm of death. An unseen human inside the tank yelled "ON THE WAY!" The tanks weapon Belched a cloud of fire and sent an orange streak into the place the attacking humans lay, sending dismembered body parts flying through the air in a cloud of dirt.
The human atop the vehicle said calmly. "Cease fire, Cease fire. Target destroyed."
"How can they be so callus?! THEIR BRUTALLY MURDERING EACH OTHER!" Twilight yelled at the memory.
Before Luna could respond. There was a loud *Pop* from the treeline, Screaming past an orange stream similar to the Tanks projectile just missed, turning around the human watched as it hit the ground several hundred meters behind them and bounced off into the air.
The human Yelled "FUCK! ANTI-TANK. H.E. TRAVERSE LEFT!"
With that there was another *Pop* from the treeline and yet another orange ball flew towards the tanks and the humans behind them. This one hit, causing the huge armoured vehicle to shake violently, but it was only a passing glance. The projectile flew off into the cloudy grey sky with a sinister reverberating chirp.
A humans voice came from the box inside the tank. "Just a Ricochet, were OK" the human the memory was focused on sat lower in his tanks head until he was eye level with the top of its head.
"BULLSHIT! THAT'S A KRAUT HIGH VELOCITY GUN! I CAN HEAR IT WHISTLING!"
Two of the other tanks began spraying projectiles into the treeline. The tank fires its weapon and an orange streak lands in the treeline, a sixty foot tall pine tree falls over as a massive green red and orange explosion rocks the forest.
"Ok. Cease fire cease fire. AT Destroyed." The moment the human finished his sentence another *pop* exploded from the forest sending yet another orange projectile screaming towards the tanks. this one however connected. the tank farthest to the right explodes in a massive ball of fire. Its metal head flies off of its body and through the air. With a hollow *Thud* the steel top of the tank lands several dozen feet away from its body. The pained screams of the humans that once stood behind it reach the group watching, causing Cadence to hold her hooves to her ears. Skystar does the same cringing, tears still streaming freely from the previous memories.
The remaining three tanks turn their metal heads and fired at the treeline the hidden aggressor was loosing its projectiles from.
"All tanks! All tanks! Squirt that treeline! Light those fuckers up!" A human from the box yelled.
All three tanks began spraying red and orange projectiles over the forest, firing their main weapons as well. trees young and old splintered and collapsed to the floor. There was an explosion from inside the treeline, just as the other one, it was massive and colourful... Red, green and orange fire flew from it and set the surrounding forest alight.
The tanks didn't stop, they kept advancing, protecting the humans walking behind them from the hail storm of projectiles that showered the group. Humans in trenches died in droves and as the tanks continued to advance. They drove over several wounded humans in grey uniforms who where not fast enough to crawl into their friends trenches.
The screams of the humans being ran over and their abrupt squishy cut off caused the group to begin to look sick, even through no one was watching anymore, no one could... but Luna kept the memory open.
'They must see this. its the only way for them to understand the fire their playing with'
"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" Cadence practically screamed in agony.
With that Luna glowed and they group was returned to the warmth of the 'Castle of Friendship's' Foyer. The group looked shell shocked. Luna was now concerned that in her rage at their arrogance she'd shown them too much. She hurriedly rushed to explain.
The humans are not by nature violent. By nature their quite compassionate, loving creatures. They love technological challenge or a challenge in general, they love sports and art and music. In a great many ways they're like all of us. War and fighting has always been a part of their nature and culture. However it was usually small battle and skirmishes. That all changed in their 1900's when technology began to rapidly advance. eventually each faction on their world were struggling to make increasingly effective weapons to protect their people VIA discouraging an offensive against them. However greed plays as much a part in their people society as it sadly does ours.
"How- How could they do this to themselves! WILLINGLY NO LESS!" Twilight practically yelled. Luna responded with.
"Never willingly! The humans never start wars willingly! Theres always an underlying goal, a need. Their two most destructive wars. Aptly named: World War One and World War Two. Saw the bloodiest fighting in their people history, it has yet to be surpassed. World war one was starting just as the human industry advanced far enough to allow inconceivable mass production of civilian goods. When the war started each side rapidly converted those factories to making weapons for their armies and thus a blood bath never before seen ensured. The same event happened with World war two. Only this time the factions industry had grown further, and technology had advanced so far that weapons were growing to terrifying levels of destructive power. By the end of both World wars,the estimated deaths range from 50-80 million. 38 to 55 million civilians were killed, including 13 to 20 million from war-related disease and famine."
Everyone looked utterly destroyed by those statistics. Understandably too. It was common knowledge that there had been no major wars in their known world in over a thousand years. No one barring Celestia and Luna in attendance had seen such conflict before. Even then Celestia chose to forget such memories.
But Luna chose to never forget the fields of maimed dead and dying that laid before her. She never forgot the name and face of her commander, The same pony she had watched and been a second mother to since his colt-hood. She remembers the cold of the rain showering her back as she sat in the blood stained quagmire of mud and clay, shielding his broken dying body from the rain as she was powerless to save him. The remembers his last breath leaving his body as he died in her hooves...
Luna was determined to NEVER let such fighting happen AGAIN.
"The short of it is: first war was started when one country was being bullied by another stronger one. That country Called for its stronger ally to help it, which it did. The instigating county called its ally to help it and eventually both groups dug in and fighting ravaged their world. Once the war was over. The ally of the bullied nation was forced to pay an unrealistic amount in damages to the nations that fought and won the war, as well as this, not only did they have to pay so much money that they risked nationwide bankruptcy. But to top it all off they had to give so much of their industry to the victors that their nation was bogged down in mass unemployment and debt. This caused an event for the nation of 'Germany' called. The great depression.
During this economic depression. Inflation of currency was so bad. The the 'German' people who had money burned it in the winter to stay warm. And those that didn't would have to pay our equivalent of $60 bits for a loaf of bread-"
"THATS INSANE!" Twilight yelled out. "That's enough bits to feed two family's for three weeks!" Twilight yelled in dismay.
"Exactly. That continued on for several years until an evil man rose to power in Germany, Promising his people that they would never go hungry again, and Germany will be one of the most powerful and advanced nations on the planet. This man. Kept his world. He tore up the treaty of appeasement and restored his peoples land to above its former glory..."
"And then?" Skystar asks wearily.
"Then his greed got the better of him. By the time the second world war had started... Germany had annexed about the same amount of land Nova Griffonia currently claims. By the peak of the war Germany and their Allies would own a combined land similar to that of which the griffon empire currently owns. The violent brutal fighting fought by a once desperate people under the thumb of a dictator. Once again. Germany fell. And its government was dissolved. It was divided in two between the two victorious countries that ended its reign. It's Currently united under its own reign again, only with a different flag, ideology and morals now.
The goal of my sister and I, is to show the humans our ways, and try to keep them peaceful for long enough for a friendship to foster between our races, Bringing us all together."
After an awkward silence Teafeather spoke up. "Watching their history was horrific... It reminded me of what my people was like before you reached out to us. Helped us..." He said through a sad expression, before standing upright and proud. "Nova Griffonia will offer any and as much assistance with settling the humans as necessary!" Luna smiled thankfully, but before she could say thank you. Everyone else joined in.
"The Buffalo will Provide support as well!"
"As will we!" Skystar Proclaimed. "I'm positive mother will agree!"
"The crystal empire will offer as much aid as is required!" Cadence spoke up. Shining agreed almost instantly.
Archonev Took on an expression of anger. " Stalliongrad will NEVER support such a people! You fools are supporting your own Destruction! We Should END THEM! Whilst they are weak! Eliminate the threat!"
"Then your not welcomed in my castle!" Twilight said flaring her horn in disgust. The ambassador of Stalliongrad was surrounded in a bright purple aura then -=Telipoofed=- from the foyer.
Everyone's gaze fell on the silent Celaeno. "I Apologize. But i'll have to return home and consult my peoples king before i can give you any affirmative pledge... But you can bet that me and my crew will be at your assistance once we return! Make a list of what you need and we'll return immediately!" She said with excited devotion!
It was then that the group heard talking from the other side of the doors to the library. Curious Twilight began to walk over and nudged the door open. What she found made her jaw fall agape.
There sitting at a table before her. Was two humans dressed in camouflaged uniforms, And sunburst, As well as the three Cutie-mark crusaders. By now the group had noticed Twilight's body tense and wandered over. Shining, upon seeing the humans glared daggers at the humans. Causing the male one to drop his teacup.
The moment the sound of shattering ceramic filled the room. Everyone was shouting at each other.
Leaving Sunburst and the CMC sitting there looking at the display before them. Sunburst sighed and face-hoofed.
After two minutes of trying to speak but being cut off he inhales deeply... "QUUIIIIIEEET!" He yells whilst surrounding the two parties in one way sound proofed shields. Only his voice could pierce the yellow auras surrounding both parties.
"All of you! SHUT UP! And get along! Luna, Celestia and I. Have Had ENOUGH!. Your all going to talk with each other. Civilly. The first Pony or Creature i see misbehave. Gets turned into a Chicken! Am i Clear!" He yells out in frustration, huffing from the effort.
The Humans crossed their arms and nodded begrudgingly. And the Group of various creatures nodded, looking very agitated about being treated like children.
With that outburst out of the way, and his point clear. Sunburst Levitated more chairs over to the table and spike brought in more cups and an assorted plate of biscuits and cookies. No one at the table made eye contact with each other in either shame or fear, Causing Sunbursts left eye to twitch.
Blackness dissolves away into a crisp clear image...
A Field of burning tanks... Their crews dead and charred. Either hanging out of their hatches or on the ground close by the mangled steel behemoths.
The field was littered with mutilated human corpses... Amputated limbs, innards and bullet casings practically covered every foot of lawn. The grass that was visible was stained thick with blood.
Overhead, a formation of flying specs... Their getting low towards the ground... A BF-109 G6 screams past. The inside of its canopy stained and painted red. Scorch marks mar the war birds once grey and robins egg blue skin. Its nose points skyward, and it hurtles back into the heavens like a homesick angel. After dodging several trees. A team of Pegasai fly past and follow its contrail vertically into the sky.
The 109 stalls out, its nose still pointed towards the sun... The wounded pilot kicks the rudder to the right and lowers the flaps to their landing position. The bright yellow nose of the shark coloured Veteran of the skies falls back downwards towards the Earth... A perfect hammerhead... The pilot pulls his flaps back in before slamming the throttle forwards.
Purple-blue fire spews forth from the engines exhaust, the planes heart lets out a supercharged howl, it's war cry. And screams like that of a phoenix as it claws through the air downwards towards the half blinded team of Pegasai. The captain realizes whats happening and swiftly changes direction. His squad however, does not...
The purr of the 109's nose mounted twin 13mm machine guns and single 20mm cannon alerts the remaining Pegasai all too late that their lives are ending. The machine gun rounds shred several of the winged Equines, whilst the ones hit by the 20mm just outright exploded into a mist of blood and gore.
During his opponent's target fixation with his now dead squad, the captain had used the precious time to gain airspeed and dive alongside the badly wounded plane. With a grunt he flaps one last time, tucking his wings in for speed. By arching his body slightly he steers himself into a collision with the humans bird.
The moment he intercepts the 109'. His wing glows a bright white, during his pass his wing seems to phase through the planes tail... The 109 separates into two pieces almost immediately, the tail flying off on its own mission, and the main fuselage, that being the cockpit engine and wings, Spirals off in a flat-spin so violent the wings fold and sheer off the plane. Leaving the cockpit and engine tumbling end over end into the ground.
In the distance the Acoustic violence of a battle could be heard. Just under a dozen Sherman fireflies are engaging a pony mage company. Their 76mm cannons kicking up mighty clouds of just, whilst their crews spray a red magic shield down with all off the 50 cal. fire their tanks can throw out. The main guns rounds explode into shrapnel on the shield filling it with cracks... The machine gun rounds begin chipping shards of the shield away onto the unicorns taking refuge inside.
That was before a squad of earth ponies crawled out of a hole in the ground and ran into the nearby treeline out of sight. The fireflies continued their advance until they simply sank into the ground. The very earth betraying the steel monsters and eating them. Immobilized. The tanks are made quick work of by a Pegasai team flying overhead. The flying ponies drop strange green glowing glass bottles. The green grenades explode into balls of violent green flame that uses the tanks armour against itself.
The tanks armour superheats to a sickening orange glow under the bright green liquid fire currently dripping off the tanks. Black smoke begins to pour out of the closed hatches and cannon barrel. A Rumbling growl builds up inside the now glowing white steel coffin, Geysers of hellfire blast out of the tanks hatches before an earthshaking explosion sends the vehicles multi-tonne turret flying through the air. A hollow *Thud* acknowledges the turrets return to mother earth, twenty feet from the now glowing hull.
A series of similar explosions rocks the landscape as tank parts are violently thrown across the field in all directions. The lone surviving vehicle manages to claw its way out of its grave and resume the barrage on the ponies. Its four 30 cal.s sounding like woodpeckers hopped up on a sugar high.
It wouldn't make it much further than its fallen comrades. A telephone pole sized javelin of magic impales the tank center mass, before being absorbed and causing the upper glacis plate to melt away in a silver clumping mass, revealing a very dead mutilated crew.
===================================== During the same time as the castle break-in... =====================================
The human lying on the still cold steel table jolted awake with a sharp gasp, rubbing his eyes to clear them of the fog he was seeing. He lethargically looked around but his powerful adrenaline rush was causing his body to be racked with a slight burning pain. And was making muscles across his body twitch violently.
His eyes sharpened enough for him to notice his fellow crew sitting upright on the tables either side of him. None of them had yelled or cried out in fear or shock this time. They hadn't done so for the last week of waking up from those nightmares... Dreams of nothing but black void, and ghoulish whispers, Usually ominous warning about our futures in this world... But this was the first time the nightmares showed images... And whatever is causing these nightmares, chose to show us a prophecy worthy of the title 'Nightmare'.
Jackie turned and looked into my eyes, his paled shell-shocked face and wide petrified eyes showing me that he too, and quite possibly the whole crew had just had the same dream as me... As usual...
Andrew's voice reached me form my left. He was evidently mid panic attack, as his words only came out in short gasps of air.
"Ser-iOUs-lY.. l-AN-cer.. W-Wh-What the F-fff-uck is Wr-rong with thi-sss... Sh-It hole..." The poor guy was almost in tears...
Tommy was just staring wide eyed into oblivion, giving a particular white tile a stare that would make it nervous if it was sentient.
I wrapped Andrew in my single allotted blanket, it was at this point during our adrenaline rush starting to wear off. That i noticed we'd all been stripped down to our underwear. And poor Andrew was in his birthday suit. I then practically leaped off the table and commenced a frantic search for more things to wrap my poor loader in.
After about three minutes my furious speed searching paid off. in an abandoned chest of draws i found several T-shirts in vacuum sealed containers. After opening the box i lifted a black T-shirt out and also recovered a plastic shred covered pair of shorts.
Rushing back to the now blanket cocooned Andrew. I was about to prepare myself to dress the poor sod, but to my surprise he'd recovered from his panic attack enough to reach up and shakily pull the clothing from my arm. After two minutes he was up and walking about in his new clothes. It was then that it hit me...
The million dollar question on my mind was, it was no mystery that the T's pattern had eroded away to nothing, but why was it that the colour stain on the shirt looked familiar... i began staring without realizing it and eventually Andrew was freaked out enough to not be able to ignore me.
"Uhh. Lancer? Can i, Help you?" He asked nervously.
"Pull the bottom corners of your shirt outwards for me please..." He complied and did as requested, and i continued staring. I had attracted the various attentions of the rest of the crew by now, even Tommy realized his answers were better found elsewhere than his mind.
The crew walked over to were i stood and joined in the awkward staring competition with the T-shirt.
"Sn-hn-ton... Heroes?" Tommy asked confused.
It was then that the familiarity of the S' unique style hit me. and the Title at the bottom of 'Heroes' only sealed it. "SABATON! This is the T-shirt they bought out for the Heroes album!" It was then that everyone put two and two together and connected the dots.
"Wait, Lancer. How'd a Human shirt with a Human bands logo on it end up on a medieval planet of talking horses?"
It was then that Lancer froze. He'd pulled those clothes from a padlocked vacuum sealed box... This planets inhabitants couldn't have vacuum storage tech yet. they still run around with swords for crying out loud. But then again, they obviously had electricity judging by the buzzing lights above their heads...
All members of the crew went rigid. They all felt fear welling up inside them... Modern music culture merch, in a vacuum sealed and locked container. On an alien world with the same gravity as their world... Ponies in the medieval technology period with Electricity... And the voices that haunt their sleeping moments...
Jackie shakily spoke the words we were all thinking. "Didn't those... voices say, we were the last hope of saving 'OUR Species'... That 'we're the last ones left'..." We all began to stare at each other in terror... What if we were still on Earth?...
"The voices also said that we couldn't trust them... that they want to kill us!" Tommy said with dire concern.
"With how they've brazenly handled the situation i'm starting to believe that!" Andrew spat out in growing rage.
It was my turn to speak, I needed to 'herd' my group back together before they did something stupid.
"We escape now, and deal with implications of our nightmares later!"
=========== Meanwhile down the hall... ===========
A pony and a griffon walked down the narrow hallway. Nurse Redheart had the lead whilst the griffon followed closely behind. This newcomer had been summoned by Princess Celestia on a whim that, possibly a creature of a different race, not related to ponies or Equines in general would allow for greater trust. Thus an open dialogue.
The talons of the griffon of many greys was practically bursting at the seams! She of all griffons and ponies, was getting the opportunity to try and help a new race!
Upon arriving at the door, The nurse placed her ear against it. After a few seconds she sighed before saying "All clear, They must still be asleep." As she pulled the door handle down with a hoof and began pushing it open with her head the grey griffon was looking depressed and saying.
"Awwwww! I hope not! I Wanted to make some more fri-" She was cut off by Redheart gasping in pure shock horror. The barred window, was barred no more. The glass window was pushed open and the humans were missing! Gone!
She ran down the hall leaving the griffon looking confused were she sat. Curious, The 'Guest' hovered into the air and flew over to the open window.
"Its no wounder they simply left through a barred window. The windowsills rotted completely, it may as well of been made of wet paper..." She said to herself. she poked her head out of the hole in the wall where the window now sat at a precarious angle.
Looking down the wall she noticed paw prints that scaled the wall to the ground. The only reason they were visible was because the escaping 'Humans' paws, had wiped away the aged crumbling whitewash in their getaway.
With a chuckle the griffon flew out through the window. And followed the prints down the wall with a bubbly giggle. After looking around confused about where the strange creatures may have gone she flies up high into the air and searches on the spot. Her Eagle eyes soon spot movement far off in the distance. Flapping her wings she follows the strange creatures from an altitude.
"Why are they heading towards town? I though Celestia said Humans were scared of ponies..."
==================================== During the same time as the castle break-in. ====================================
A Single large room. Soundproofing was attained via angular foam plates that had been attached to the walls. Around a large table sat in the center of the darkened room, the windows blacked out by heavy tinting, as well as an upturned table.
Cramped around the huge table was sixty six people. a non proverbial mountain of paperwork sat in the tables center, and grew by the minute as assistants bought in more and more sheets or stacks there of, and added them to the pile...
Though cramped, the sixty six darkened silhouettes were assorted into six person groups with as much spacing afforded as possible. Needless to say, that wasn't much...
Music had been/was being played over the small portable Bluetooth speakers which someone placed on the table in an attempt at calming the irritable group around the table. Its effects were... negligible, but still noticeable. The current song being whispered from the speakers was 'Scream- by Thousand foot krutch'. Some of the parties that had previously been complaining about the muggy humid heat of the high twenties near thirties degree Celsius day, had all eventually opted to silently sing along with the song, more than a few rhythmic knees bouncing could be felt through the floor. But complaining was still rampant. And several parties in particular were bickering like crows over the last scraps.
"WE CAN'T GET STARTED WITHOUT THE YANKS!" The Tertiary commander for the 'Tea Empire' practically yelled out. The rather short nineteen year old had practically gone red-faced in anger at The 'Russian's' Utter impatience. His blond tipped scraggly hair being a stark contrast between him and the rest of the manicured/'proper' members of his group.
Meanwhile across the narrow center of the table, the 'Gopnik Crusaders' Sub-commander and Tertiary commander were yelling back with enough energy to send spit flying every now and again. Across the table at the opposite end from 'Johnna', 'House Kurita's' Advisers had gotten so bored that one decided to craft origami fans from several of the sheets of paper provided to jot notes upon. His friend soon caught on and began requisitioning the paper from the other team leaders who wanted in. Soon everyone at that end of the table was furiously fanning themselves down with the humid warm air that was rapidly going stale, due to everyone's incessant bickering.
"This is the last stack Johnna." An assistant named Karey said whilst holding her nose against the humid sticky musk of the room. "Thats all the reports. S-Sir! Permission to be dismissed for the day!" She yells over the noise of the room with the last of her held breath.
"Granted, get out of here Karey, before it gets ugly." Johnna said with actual concern. Karey nodded and hurriedly saluted before running out of the room and slamming the door shut behind her.
The song changed to 'Still waiting- by Sum 41' And that was the release for the rooms hairpin trigger.
"I sure DONTknow why I'M STILL WAITING. For a team who's ALWAYSFUCKIN LATE!" The Sub-commander for the Italian team yelled at the ceiling.
"Wheres the Mist cougars leadership whilst we're on the subject of being late?" Ling Barsey, leader of team 'Dragon's Will' inquired in her thick mandarin accent.
To that, everyone went silent out of shock before looking around at each other and noticing that Errik and his fellow leadership was missing from the table. To say that the German team was punctual normally would be an understatement... 'Religiously on time and over prepared' would sum them up far better.
Everyone was officially at a loss for words, and began staring at Johnna questioningly. "OI!, Don't look at me like that. I Dunno where Errik's lot is. I gave them the time of the meeting two days ago. He should be here already..." Johnna said with his mind evidently wandering elsewhere.
Someone adorned in a red trench coat with black trim snaps his pocket watch shut. He leans over the table before speaking in his deep, rich, cultured epitome. "Excuse me... But is this going to take much more time? The Principality's time is precious, and we're seemingly needed everywhere at once. What, with half the the teams at this table hiring us to disrupt the others Operations-" He said in his calmed, smooth, rich tone, whilst placing his feet on the table and leaning back into his chair, placing his white gloved hands behind his head. Once in his comfortable recline, he continues. "- There is much that i must oversee... Prototype vehicles falling behind their maintenance deadlines. Ammunition defects. Logistics errors, The list goes. On... And On... And On...-" He was rudely cut off by the leader of the 'Gopnik Crusaders'
"SO YOU ADMIT TO PROFITEERING OFF OF THE COMPETITION BETWEEN THE TEAMS! You slimey bastard! This is why your team proposal was rejected! You're as trustworthy as a Cheshire cat! You smile like one too!-" Dimitri growled in his thick Russian accent.
"Dimitri! Nows not the time for wedging divides between everyo-" Johnna was cut off by deep silky laughter from the Principality's leader. it was almost on the level of arrogant amused villain, type laughter.
Everyone now turned their head to the source of the laughter and found that the 24 year old man dressed in nearly all red. Was still reclined as ever. The only change from last time, was he is now in the thralls of genuine laughter. However. That laughter soon and and rapidly changed, into the laughter one makes when greatly irritated. "Come now. All of us here at this table-" He addresses all by raising his arms wide towards all in attendance around the room. "-Knows why our team was rejected! It was because you all were so concerned about our teams technological superiority that you all complained until the board decided against us joining the league legitimately." His eyes narrow to slits, and his gaze becomes similar to that of the Deathstar's laser, in that, any and all he made eye contact with, made all efforts to look away from his glare of mass destruction. "As such we weren't banned from participating. But neither are we eligible for winning the Prize Either! Like it or not! You've all molded the Principality into what it is now!" He spat the next part out with unrivaled hatred. "MERCENARY'S! Guns for hire! We get no mention! No Acknowledgement!"
"You dont use WW-1 or -2 Equipment or vehicles though... your hardly within the boundrys of the ru-" Ling Barsey begin before being swiftly cut off.
"Explain to me. Where the rules limit us to WW1-2 equipment? I've read that book. Many times. NOWHERE Does it say participants are limited to WW1-2 equipment or vehicles! 'It is a Recommendation for the fair play of your fellow contestants." The man of red proclaims from the rule book he holds in his hand. "If i so did desire! I could roll up with a fleet of M1-Abrams and still be within the guidelines!" He then inhales slowly. "But, that would be the definition of overkill... Yes, my 'Team' Air-quote. Uses custom equipment and vehicles. But, we ensured that out of the spirit of fair play to our fellow participants that the advancements in said Vehicles and equipment never exceeded that of WW-2. But i digress. What Johnna has called us here for, i believe is a declaration of 'Ceasefire' Between our teams. As well as the reformation of our various assets and tactical knowledge into a single unified entity~." He says with his cultured charisma dripping off of every word. Returning to a seating position and leaning over the table in a thinking posture.
Everyone now looks to each other confused before looking between the red clad tactician and Johnna.
"What he says is true. I don't know if either of you have looked up lately." He then pauses to point to the non-proverbial mountain of paperwork stacked on the center of the table from all the teams in attendance. Most of it being logistics and stockpile listings, however a fair chunk of it was red paper. Red meaning expenditures, beit food, fuel, clothing, spare parts, the list is nearly infinite. "But our situation is of dire concern. As well as the fact that, whilst yes, certain features of this land matches typography data that we'd kept as maps or digital data VIA smartphone or tablet. There is still large swaths of land, this forest as an example. That match no maps or data we have. And that's not even considering the celestial events we've been witnessing. As i'm sure you've all noticed the Celestial bodies don't behave to the rules of convention here. They stay perched at high noon for both the sun and moon, the only time they move is when one replaces the other. Several of my fellow teammates tell me that the starts line up with that of North America. So we have at least a basic approximation of were we currently stand." Johnna pauses for a few moments to see if any of the silent crowd had anything to contribute to the meeting. "Righto, At any rate. No-ones been able to contact the ref's or even get a cell signal. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion we're on our own here. I've already limited my teams patrols to the usage of the Armoured and scout cars, as they use far less fuel than other vehicles and we have an abundance in spare parts..." He then pauses as he still struggled to word his next point in a delicate manner. "Then, Theres the 'local's'."
"Locals?" Several from around the table repeated with cautious curiosity.
"I personally get the feeling that no one here is going to believe me, so with that out of the way..." Johnna gives a whilstle, and the double doors to the room swing open. Three squaddies in uniform and armed with gewehr 43's march into the room, chains secured around the center squaddies waist belt.
The forms behind the first three soldiers are obscured. What ever they were, they weren't human, that much was evident. Once all three are through the door the outer two about face and march four paces away from the center of the formation. Leaving the center soldier to about face to the right and march the convoy of prisoners into the room. Only stopping once all those in chains were inside. The door was once again closed behind them by the two guards posted outside.
Everyone at first thought it was a joke, until each person rapidly realized that this was too elaborate to be a gag. And speaking of gags, the prisoner Pegasai were gagging, themselves, at the odor of the room. Their dirtied armour stripped coats begin to glisten in the dim light from their sweat in the humid heat. Their expressions? That of terror... They knew their errors, and they knew that they were staring down those in charge of their fates.
"Why are they in chains? What did you do to them!" Ling yelled out across the table.
"Why do i have the feeling that several basic rights have been ignored at this point?" another unidentifiable voice said from across the table.
"Look at the state the poor things are in! RELEASE THEM!"
"PEGASUS'ES! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE POOR THINGS!"
The room went into an uproar of angry yelling and chanting. With a sigh, Johnna picked up a megaphone he hid under the table, in such an event that the meeting devolved into such a breakdown.
He turns the volume dial to eight, before holding down the trigger. "During the early morning before the sun rose. This very squad attacked this very base. One of my men were killed. Two critically injured. One of those two still has yet to awake from his coma." The room fell eerily silent. The atmosphere changing to one of dire tension. the Pegasai gulped and began to shrink away until their backs hit the wall, at that point they just slid down it to the floor. Regardless of how much they bragged about how many predators they could take on at once back in the academy. Staring down the angry glares of Sixty eight carnivores at once was truly a terrifying experience.
Johnna too had also noticed the dangerous shift in the room but continued. "This squad was acting on the orders of its overseeing commander. And thanks to recon, performed by the currently missing 'Tan Tabbies', Yes the very same 'Tan Tabbies' lead by Lancer-01. We're able to deduce that the captains ordered were not receive well amongst his troops. In fact, half of his force mutinied and returned to a nearby village their based from. Sadly the other half split into two forces, one half engaged this base, whilst the other simultaneously attacked the mist cougars base."
The feeling in the air was thick, though nothing was said, everyone in attendance was silently mourning the deaths of their fellow sportsman. Though the teams have their difference in opinion and doctrine as well as competitions, There was an unspoken sportsman like code of honor everyone adhered to, if a fellow sportsman was injured everyone would often stop to allow aid to be rendered. everyone in this sport cares for each other with family like love.
Johnna continued... "The attack on us was a miserable failure, during their initial stealthy push from the perimeter treeline to the camp, they were spotted by an early guard patrol. From there a very short resistance occurred, in the chaos, Private Adam collins was mortally wounded, his fellow squaddie Private Jessica Burdon was also wounded severely. Lance corporal Allen Wattson, was KIA'd trying to protect his downed patrol. Jessica saved us all when she crawled over to Collins and used his flare gun to alert the 'Not to be named' off duty C.O who was raiding the kitchen truck for a midnight snack. From there he triggered the base alarm and the assault on this base ceased there."
Once again everyone's attention shifted to the group of panicking pegasai, some of which looked mortified at that report, others looking as if they were about to have a panic attack, and two stood defiantly upright against their captors.
"And? What of the Mist cougars?" The red clad man inquired in cold curiosity.
"Well Char. The Mist cougars didn't notice the attack against them. Sadly. The pegasai sneaked onto the M.C's base and made their way to the barracks. They drew their weapons, and proceeded to slay the sleeping tank crewman and aviators in their beds.-"
At that information, Dimitri slammed his clenched fists into the table. Causing those around him to jump and the Pegasai to squeak/gasp in fear, In a fluid motion Dimitri drew his .357 magnum whilst yelling "UNACCEPTABLE!" He took aim against one of the proud ones, lining his iron sights up with the defiant creatures right eye. Everyone began to make a move at disarming the aggro Russian and the guards that escorted the prisoners in, even moved to put themselves between the crazed man and his target. But before Anyone could move past their initial movement or Dimitri could pull the trigger, a Shrill whistle filled the room. Everyone turned their heads to Char. His form stood bolt upright, and his outstretched right arm was aimed at Dimitri, or rather, Chars Luger was. Flanking the red clad Blond haired man, his Sub and Tertiary commanders had both lowered their stance and had drew their strange weapons, custom remakes of the STG44.
"I Wouldn't do that if i were you." Chars deadly serious near angered tone rolled from across the table. "Killing hostages, Doesn't bode well for negotiations~" He said in his classical cultured low toned charisma.
"What do we need Negotiations for? We're Humans! We're the top of the food chain! We have been for the last 3000 years! These creatures have shown their true nature, Un-honorable ANIMALS! And they shall be treated as such. Horse is a fine type of meat back home in the Rodina!" Dimitris cold hard words had pushed two of the pegasai to begin hyperventilating, one female guard began crying and the two proud ones looked as if they'd begin to waver at any moment.
"Dimitri. Please do give me a reason to shoot you. I mean, You've had it coming for sooooo~ Long~ Just give me a reason to pull this trigger." Chars blue eyes began to drill holes through Dimitri's soul, and thus, his resolve.
He pulled the hammer back on his .357 and tightened his grip on the pistols grip.
"Dimitri, You pull that trigger. And your right to future meetings will be revoked. i know you don't want your team thrown on the back burner."
"You wouldn't dare punish us! We're one of the biggest teams here!" Dimitri spat whilst staring down the dirtied steel-grey muscular form in front of him.
"He would. As will we!" Ling said standing from her seat.
"Same with Us." Emily Paddinger. Leader of the Tea empire declared as she rose from her seat gracefully.
Dimitri was looking between the four leaders, each with their guns drawn upon him. Chars commanders and their STG's aimed at Dimitri's shoulders with a type of blood-lust that often inspired fear in those who faced them in the field.
The sound echoed around the room, Leaving everyone frozen in fear. Several people looked towards the hostages fearing the worst. To their utter surprise, Everypony was in no worse-a-condition than when they first entered. The Metallic *Thud* of a heavy weighted pistol hitting the wood floor sounded off. Dimitri recoiled into the wall behind him clutching his right hand with his left. The grimace of extreme pain smeared all over his face.
The door was pushed open wide. And the 7'6 (With a lack of a better description) 'Build like a brick shit-house' form of Robert Mcdonnel, The leader of the American team 'Texan Ronson's '.
Entering the room, his glare would make fluttershy's animals relocate to another country. And his glare was laser focused on Dimitri's cringing face.
"If i' evah see ya'll try somthin' like that again. I'll tell mah' tank gunners to use yer' big mouth as a ranging target. Kapiche!" Dimitri only nods returning the Americans glare. Johnna holsters his sidearm, and the other three leaders soon follow. Robert just stands there holding one of his .357's, which was a recreation of General Patton's pistols.
Johnna leans on the table with his hands, shaking his hanging head, he lets out a relived sigh. He mumbles "Guards, please take them to room two, make sure that they are given anything they desire, so long as they cant escape with it."
"Sir!" The guards turn to usher the ponies out of the room before Johnna looks up and raises his voice.
"Sergeant!" The guard turns back to face Johnna from the door. "Make sure their comfortable! And for the love of everything sacred man! Build the poor sods the shower i asked for them two days ago! Raid Chase's supply Depot if you have to, but just make sure their treated like our own troops would be!" The guard smiles warmly before happily replying with.
"Siryessir!" And beginning his jog down the hall to catch up with the convoy shuffling down the hallway.
After a few moments Johnna looks to Dimitri, then a light bulb evidently lit up and Johnna turns to Mcdonnel. "Ey, mate, Wheres your lot? Don't you guys generally like the dramatic entrances?" The tanned scraggly leader asks in confusion.
Locking his weapons safety, Mcdonnel spins his pistol on his finger a few times before holstering it and replying with "Yeah, they should be here an-" Before he could finish his sentence he stopped, as somewhat familiar music began to enter the soundproofed room. And the voices of several hundred people accompanied the music, singing the lyrics in near perfect time. They sounded absolutely bloody awful, like an orchestra of moaning cats.
"So Then, A, Byyyyeee, Byyyyeeee, Miss, Ameri-can Pie! Drove Mah' Shevvy to th' Levy. But the Levy was Dryy."
Johns lets out a single "HAH" Before plopping back down in his seat holding his forehead. " I guess that answers my question then!"
Char clears his throat from across the table before asking. "Can we please get this meeting back on the road so that i can return to the previously Aforementioned list of things that i need to attend to." With that everyone returned to their seats, including Dimitri, who'd removed his black leather glove to reveal half of his hand was now bruised purple.
After a few seconds Johnna kept on staring into the table on an alternate train of thought. Mcdonnel responds with. "Well, Sweetheart? You gonna say somthing dearie~?"
"Faaarrck Off." Johnna groans in his thick (but deeper than normal) Australian accent. "Were was i?"
Ling shifted uncomfortably before saying "Slaughtered in their beds?"
Johnna's tone returned to its previous sad, sorry self. "Ah...Right... Well, one of the guards had noticed shadows in the temporary hangar tents and checked his roster, after several minutes of confusion, the guard 'pulled an Aussie' and went, 'Fuck it' and sounded the alarm. The mechanics rushed into their stations around the aircraft in the hangar tents, and found that pegasai had begun to sabotage the fighters. They'd cut oil and fuel lines as well as any visible pipes, hoses or cables."
Johnna looked up from his blank stare at the table to see if everyone was still following along, and was greeted by many inquisitive stares and several people bobbing their heads, agreeing with the pegasai's action of sabotaging the aircraft as a good tactical decision.
"Those whom sabotaged the aircraft were chased out of the hangar tents by the over-zealous and quite frankly pissed off mechanics, and the pegasai tasked with killing those sleeping suddenly found themselves in a brawl for their lives as the alarm awoke the barrack they'd just entered. The guard tower routed a squad of grenadiers to the building when he'd noticed no-one was leaving for action stations, as well as the several that had already been visited by the winged bastards. From there a C.O Found the dead, and alerted Errik, and then the Germans... Lost their SHIT!"
Everyone around the table cringed at that, Knowing that when the Germans became very angry, they often reached the 'Not a level in hell below me' state of rage. Very scary to deal with... "The rule book went out the window and within a minute and three-ish seconds the poor winged bastards trying to flee for their lives were being shot at by every AAA weapon on the base, a total of six were downed by Wirblewinds and Ostwinds. Three from Fixed 20mm fire, and one sorry bitch got his by an 88'."
The cringes were real, and several in attendance grimaced and hissed at that. Emily practically leaped from her seat. "What happened to their bodies?" she asked in concern, knowing that the Germans were Liable to skin them in their raged state.
"I sent troops to render aid for the Mist Cougars, but they evidently weren't needed, so they retrieved the bodies instead. Two more were hit by Wirblewind fire and fell with their wings broken, but were saved by falling into trees. Their due for their fourth surgery in an hour. Its doubtful they'll ever fly again..."
Everyone stared blankly into the tables wood grain. The feeling in the room was somber at best.
"I Dunnoh' bout' you lot'. But ah' don't like taking about all this death. Whats the real reason why you called us here besides this.... Incident..." Mcdonnel said quietly in his drawl.
Johnna leaped at the chance to change the dark subject. "Wheres your teams reports? We want everything, Logistics logs, current supply and attrition!"
Mcdonnel waved his hand and several of his assistants walked in carrying large boxes. They removed the lids and quickly flipped the boxes over on the table. Leaving lazy neat piles next to the mountain of paper. Alarmingly, almost half of it was red.
"Food aint' lookin' too good for us chief. Ya' know we usually travel light n' live off th' land. But there ain't many deer or large enough game to support all of us round' here... we're, with a lack of a better term, Fucked."
"Don't worry. This meeting was not just a logistics recall. As char said before you arrived Robert, the primary reason I've called you all here this afternoon. Was to propose a ceasefire agreement, and to have all of our teams ally. Its the safest course of action to ensure humanity's survival, since as i'm sure you've all guessed, were not on earth anymore, or from earth of our time at least..."
Dozens of heads were nodding in agreement at what Johnna had just suggested. Char spoke up, to hammer the idea home for the rest who were evidently confused at the prospect. "And, how would this help humanity to survive?" His mannered rich low tone inquired.
"Well, for starters. Five Thousand Humans is alot more dangerous and terrifying to face the prospect of battle against instead of a few hundred. Thus lowering the chances of future skirmishes or heaven forbid, battles breaking out. With a single unified entity, Diplomatic strains are also greatly reduced. And finally we gain the benefits of having combined and huge amounts of manpower, and as such vast amounts of work and resources are able to be utilized. It makes life substantially safer, and easier, if we all agree here to join into one conglomerate."
"And who will command or lead such a conglomerate?" Ling questions. Everyone appears to look concerned at the prospect of loosing their command, and thus their assured protection over their teammates.
"Us of course, Having only one leader is foolish. It can lead to all sorts of problems down the road, such as corruption, or becoming emotionally compromised. But as it stands theres ten leaders sitting before me. We have a proverbial 'round table' going on here mates."
Johnna could see that many were liking this proposal but several of the leaders looked very confused or indecisive as to where or how to proceed.
"You have given a great many points to think over, but i humbly ask that you allow us to think over such points before continuing." Ling said in a cautious tone.
"As do we, We have much to consult with our team in its entirety before reaching a definitive conclusion." Emily stated before rising from her seat.
Dimitri just stood up, before leaving the room with the rest of his personnel, still clutching his hand. Ling and Emily also turned to leave but stopped once they heard Chars calm voice reply with.
"The principality accepts your terms in their entirety. We're all with you on this." This caught them all off guard, as Char's faction was the 'Avoid all unnecessary contact or relations' type. This shift in Chars opinion was the driving force for the next several advisers to begin openly talking with their leaders about the prospects of such an arrangement. From what could be heard, most of these prospects were positive.
Mcdonnel removed his green helmet. He then slams its into the table causing everyone to go silent, he runs his hand through his dirt brown hair before sighing and responding with.
"Not much fer' speeches... Th'ts why i like you Australians. To the point and always willing to joke about it" He then looks Johnna in the eye "But i suspect this ain't a joke, an' yer serious bout' all this. So you can count us all in. Texan Ronsons are at your tables service Johnna" With that he reclines in his chair, before drawing his .357 and without aiming, shoots out a tinted window.
Glass rains down on the cooks attempting to prepare the various implements of their trade for dinner that night. Everyone in the room was stunned at what the American had just done. And just stared at him slack jawed.
"What? Don' look at me like that! It was too fuckin hot in this shithole. Smells like a dead camels ass too." He said bluntly with more drawl then usual. After several seconds Johnna and his personnel began a guffaw, causing those remaining in the room to roll their eyes at the stereotype of the Australian's and the Americans getting along so well.
The room soon went into an uproar of laughter when a very aggravated chef pitched a fresh hard tomato through the broken window, sending shards into the room. But the thing that caused the laughter, was the fruit hit its intended target with perfect accuracy, Knocking his unsecured helmet off of his head, and sending it rolling across the floor with the red bruised ball still sitting in it. Giving the helmets nickname of 'Salad bowl' A whole new meaning.
"Karey. Send messages to those who left that we continue this tomorrow and await their decisions."
"Sure thing mate." Karey said still chuckling, then closes the door as she as the last of the leaders left leaving Robert, who's still in his recline and Johnna alone in the room.
...
...
...
"So," Robert begins. "Whats your point of view on these 'Locals' That i just saved. Are they a severe danger to our safety? or are they willin' to make peace with th' fact that we're stuck here for th' long run?"
Johnna Practically collapses into his plush wheelie chair before sinking into it and groaning. "I Dunno mate... From the recon reports Jay shoved down me throat... Their queens appeared to be mighty pissed at their captains troops. She even publicly stripped the ranks and sacked the survivors who escaped the massacre against us. Word has it she then paraded their sorry arses out of town down the only cobbled road, presumably to their capital... So, theres a chance that they've wanted to initiate peace since day one..."
"Or" Robert begins ominously whilst glaring at the ceiling. "She punished them to not being able to exterminate such a comparatively weak enemy... I've seen the reports you've made on the way up here. Heard rather... but Morse code gives them just as much justice. They not only outnumber us, but can fly and use Fuckin 'Magic'... Its shit out of a fairy tail from satan's ass crack."
Johnna looks up out of the window before sighing. "I Know, Either way... We're fucked. If they attack were Fucked, If they don't we're still Fucked, Cause if starvation or disease doesn't kill us. The freaking winter will... That's if we stay sane that long and don't break down into civil war or just start murdering each other..."
"Yeah. We are looking pretty Screwed arn't we... Well, Either way, Us Muricans N' Aussie's have to stick together Ey?"
"I Wouldn't trust anyone else to watch me back whilst i have me trousers down" Johnna said through a smile at his childhood skype friend.
Little did the two know, but in the shadows a particular oddity was watching them through a busted roof grate. The same pair of jade green Eyes whom helped save them that one stormy night. The vampire Thestral commando crawled her way silently through the Ventilation ducts of the two story building until she found the vertical exhaust vent out the roof from which she entered that morning.
With one mighty flap of her wings she launched herself off the roof and immediately hurtled through the forest out of sight...
'The princesses will be happy to hear of the humans wanting to be peaceful! They even protected our own ponies, much more, the same ones that caused them harm!' She thought to herself with a gleeful smile. 'But what they said about themselves wasn't encouraging... are they really so fragile? And even then we still have much ground to cover in earning their trust... Damn that Stryder! He's caused such a mess!... Waiiiit a minute... If they've spared Stryders troops, then that means the fool could still be alive! Heh. He'll still get his trial...' She mentally spoke to herself whilst she flew through the shadows of The Everfree at great speed. Her goal, The Castle of Friendship. 'The Princesses will want to hear of this report!'
================================================================================================= During the same time so as to still be valid with 'During the same time as the castle break in', but also shortly after said event, thus making it a slightly different time from which said timestamp takes place, but is still valid... =================================================================================================
Sunburst slams his hoof down on the table, causing spike to jump.
"For the love of everything sacred! Just get past your differences and talk with each other! Talk about your favorite foods, Your homeland, how does the tea taste? Anything!"
...
Eliza clears her throat whilst raising her tea cup to her lips. "So. I'm Eliza... This is my boyfriend Luke..." She introduces Luke by placing a hand on his right shoulder. Luke gives a nervous smile and shrinks partially in his seat whilst taking a prolonged sip from his cup. "And you all are?" she asks cautiously.
Awkward silence...
Eliza looks into her teacup with a mellow, defeated expression. "Well, About as awkward as sitting down for tea with your races enemy could be..." She quietly mumbles to herself. Celestia's ears perk in Eliza's direction at hearing that.
"Your race considers us they're enemies?" She asks with a disheartened hurt tone. Luke leans cautiously over the table, pausing with a hand half reaching for the biscuit plate when Luna looks to him. He slowly continues he reach for the confectionery, snatching his prize he rapidly retracts his hand and sits back down in his seat, Dipping his biscuit in his tea he takes a bite before swallowing and breaking the short silence after the question with.
"No, Not most of us at least. But don't get me wrong. There are a large majority of those who seek retribution or worse, revenge. Then there are those who want to see the countryside painted in your blood." Skystar begins choking on her beverage at hearing the humans blunt response. The governor of Nova Griffonia Looked shocked at the humans words. He mentally notes 'Despite their stature, and weak, frail appearance. They are still bluntly and honest... Quite the unusual creatures indeed. They show fear but at the same time, they also command the room...'
"Tis as we feared sister, the humans are growing more hostile by the passing day.-"
"Hostility towards your race is understandable isn't it? Your people frolic through the streets and countryside preaching 'Peace and Fwendship-" The Savage and blatant sarcasm that drips off her words makes Sunburst reel back slightly, before he just hangs his head. "- Yet. Your captains appear to be practicing rather...-" Eliza searches for a word for a second before continuing with "- 'Destructive', tendencies." She scoffs "And you wounder why We're seeming hostile... I Dunno, Maby its because, you didn't have your brother cut in half.-" Eliza says calmly and casually. Luna closes her eyes at those words. "Or your best mates friends slain in their sleep..." Eliza was savagely burning all in her company with her words. "But you know, Slicing someones neck until their almost decapitated doesn't make too much mess. You know what? I think Gabriel's still trying to clean her brothers blood of the walls and ceiling of his barracks.-" She was cut off by Celestia.
"I Understand your predicament, But you must also understand that no one ordered the captain and his troops to commit such atrocities to your counterparts. you cant blame our entire race for his-" Eliza slams her cup down onto its saucer. Silencing Celestia. With a loud clink, a piece of her cup's finely painted ceramic is sent skidding across the table.
Everyone realized that Celestia stood in this one... Eliza inhales deeply and exhales with closed eyes and a scowl smeared on her face, in an evident attempt at calming herself. When she finally does speak several seconds later, the irritation and anger in her forced, calm voice could be felt from across the table as she speaks with her eyes closed. "I, Do~, Beg your pardon love. But did you just call the unwarranted slaughter sixty two people, six of which were my best friends and my brother... An 'Predicament?" Twilight and Skystar notice that Eliza's hands are clenched into fists. And her level of anger is no mystery due to her white knuckled fists lightly shaking from her rages force.
Luna opens her eyes and speaks up. "My Apologies for my sisters rather poor wording-" Eliza slams both her fists down into the table, causing everyone to jump, Skystar to squeak in fear and Luna to blink.
"NO!... NO!... WE WILL NOT JUST SKIRT AROUND YOUR CALLOUS BULLSHIT! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW WE FEEL. YOU HAVE NO COMPREHENSION OF HOW THIS EVENT HAS MADE OUR BLOOD BOIL! HOW COULD YOU!? YOU HAVEN'T EVEN HAD A WAR IN OVER A MILLENNIA!" Luke stands from his seat and places his hands on Eliza's shoulders in an attempt to calm her down, she shrugs him off however. But her next red faced Yelling session is intercepted by Luna.
"We understand that your kind has been through much-" Shes cut off by the Irate Eliza.
"NO MOONBUTT, YOU HAVE NO COMPREHENSION OF THE PAIN AND SUFFERING THAT YOUR KIND HAS CAUSED US! IF THERE WAS AN OPEN PORTAL TO YOUR HELL HOLE OF A WORLD. OUR WORLDS ARMIES WOULD OF MARCHED IN AND PAINTED YOUR TOWNS AND CITIES RED WITH THE BLOOD OF YOUR ARMIES!"
Everyone at this point had shrank into their seats, barring Luna and Celestia who took the verbal assault they knew they would face before even sitting at the table.
Eliza finally began to control her self, clenching her eyes shut she sharply and deeply inhales and exhales. Sitting back down in her seat, she raises her cup to her lips, some of the tea began to dribble from the side of the cup where the missing piecing of ceramic once sat.
"At any rate. Any further attacks on my people would be most unwise indeed. All teams within radio range were messaged. And have been arriving throughout today. In our current F.O.B's location, there are enough tactical bombers to level not only this town, but any settlement or hypocritical hick love boat, farmers shit house. Within two thousand five hundred kilometers of here. We have enough heavy armour to destroy any force you pit against us. And enough vengeful pissed off troops to break as many necks and slit as many throats at necessary." Luke stares at his girlfriend speechless.
"Wasn't killing the Captain and his troops enough revenge for your people?" Luna asked with sorrow in her voice.
"Oh, Trust me, The good captain and his captured troops are alive. heck, some are even receiving medical care." This caught Celestia and Luna off guard.
"When captain Stryder never returned we believed him KIA. What has become of him?"
"Hes currently... Indisposed of at the moment... The moment he figures out how to unlock his 3X3 foot cage from the inside with no key then he should be available. His troops are being treated with the upmost of respect and dignity."
"Are you humans always so cruel?" Celestia asks with concern.
"Only when we're slaughtered in our sleep for no reason after arriving on an alien world." Eliza sneers.
Sunburst clears his throat. "I Apologize for the actions of my fellow ponies. I... Know its hard loosing someone-"
"No, You don't. Not when their death was so brutal. You have no comprehension. Your peoples actions against mine are unforgivable." Eliza chokes on a sob.
Luna drops her facade of neutrality and in a tender caring tone says " I know how it feels to loose someone you hold dear in such a brutal fashion-" Eliza slams her fists down into the glass table, causing a crack to form in its thick top. In a sweeping motion she flings the tea set of the table, the resulting ceramic debris is sent sprawling across the crystal floor of the library.
"Fuck you! What part of not seen a war in millennia do you think i didn't notice when i read through your races history? What happened? Your significant other died after being ran over by a fucking stampede of loving whores? Or smothered by affection?-"
A Midnight blue aura surrounded Eliza before she was pulled over the table, only to stop mere millimeters from Luna's Glare of death.
"You Evidently didn't read FarEnough into the history books you were about to steal!" Everyone at the table was stunned at the Usually stoic Princesses sudden outburst. Eliza would of said something... if her mouth wasn't held shut by magic. so instead she just glared back into Luna's eyes with hatred. "I'MPrincess Luna of Equestria, My sister, Celestia and I, Are the Immortal Rulers of this land. And no peace comes without great cost!" Luna yells, Just a few octaves short of the royal Canterlot voice. "My sister and I have seen and Lead more of our Subjects into battle than your Species has in all of its battles, wars and skirmishes Combined!" Luna says with an uncharacteristically feral growl to her voice. Eliza continues her glare of mass destruction into Luna's soul.
"Sister! CEASE THIS AT ONCE!" Celestia orders, But her Commands fall upon her siblings deaf ears.
"A Millennia Ago, I Ignored my sisters advice, 'Thee shan't be attached to thy subjects' she said! 'Their life be too frail, their mortal bodies are but of the finest glass-work our realm has to offer!" Luna yells into Eliza's face. The Princesses throaty growl. Her angry expression exposing her long canines. "One of our pregnant guards began foaling whilst on duty... She should have been left to deal with it herself. But at her constant cries for help, i couldn't take it! I Helped her give birth to a healthy colt! From the moment my gaze met with his pure innocent eyes, i felt a warmth deep inside that i had been denying myself all those years i sat upon the throne with my sister!" Everyone just watched and listened to the princesses history, a history that had never been recorded nor spoken before... "I Ignored my sisters advice for most of Star Glint's life! He grew up from an innocent colt, who'd play chess with me whilst i tutored him, to a strong prideful and caring stallion who eventually became the captain of my guard!" It was at this point that Luna's current budding guards pony, and friend landed silently in the open window to the library, Instead of interrupting her emotional mentor and mother figure, she listens.
"He found himself a special somepony, settled down, began to raise a family! Then the already unstable relations between the griffins and our nation collapsed when their king died of old age and the prince was slain by his jealous uncle!"
Teafeather already knew the battle to which Luna was referring, Only one battle occurred during that war. In two hours of brutal bloody fighting, both armies brawled with each other near savagely until they both whittled each other down to nothing.
"The Army commanded by my sister fell after a bloody massacre, And it was my armies turn to take the line! The formations marched over the hill, and were greeted by the sight of the dead and dying littering the farmland that once fed Canterlot!" Skystar looked as if she was about to cry already. Cadence held her eyes shut, Luna had told her this story once already after having one bottle of Port too many...
"With bravery my troops were lead into the field, marching over the still warm corpses of their friends and family! At the head of the formation? Star Glint and I! I Trudged through the Quagmire of blood and mud! The severed limbs and decapitated bodies! The innards of Equestria's bravest and finest warriors, fighting to protect the ones and land they love so dearly!" Everyone around the table was beginning to look sick, Eliza's expression had softened substantially, Realizing that she was foolish forcing her sorrow and hatred onto another...
"The griffons ambushed our battalion from all sides! From above, the flanks, The rear, They even poured out of craters that they filled with our own dead! They used our dead as camouflage to hide their soldiers from us!" Eliza's guilt was showing itself freely now, she felt tears begin welling up inside herself, This princess went against the advice of her elder sister to be closer to her subjects, even to the extent of joining them on the battlefield, she gave up her sheltered spoon fed ways and put herself in danger for her people... Luna's eyes had glassed over and tears were now begging to run down her cheeks.
"Poor Star Glint, had to watch his comrades be slain in their dozens, I Myself had slain over thirty griffons in a desperate attempt at saving my subjects, My first true friends, friends and family... Eventually the pained screams of agony from the dying faded out to nothing! And it was but I, Whom Stood amongst the slaughtered in a field of red clay and mud! I Looked everywhere for Star Glint, But he was nowhere to be seen! That was until i heard a pained moan... I Found the Pony i'd helped raise since the very moment his spark of life was bought into this world... Lying atop the body of the one who'd Taken him out of the combat... The griffons Warhammer was still resting in Star Glints back..." Luna was by now freely crying and choking on sobs. Her head hung limply from her shoulders and she looked into her hooves, evidently reliving through the painful memory and she was retelling it.
"I Couldn't do anything but sit there in the blood sodden quagmire... Shielding his broken body from the rain whilst his spark of life slowly departed from our world... He was essentially my son... And i was left Powerless to save him... or even lessen his pain..." With a sharp rasping gasp she started openly weeping, And sobbing with the broken heart of a mother whom's child was stolen from her before his time.
"Medical spells or medicinal magic never existed back then... And its not like a Princess needs to know medicine or anything like that? After all, Medicine is for the commoners of the empire!" The princess of the night said with a deep set hatred and disgust towards her once cynical self.
Celestia began holding a stiff upper lip, but tears also streamed down her cheeks, Luna's recollection of the battle had dredged up the memories that she had forgotten...
Luna was a complete emotional wreck, her mane was all over the place, her head continued to hang limply from her shoulders, her tears were constantly hitting the crystalline floor and had began to form a small puddle under her. For several seconds she moved her mouth but instead of her words the only sounds that left her was her pained hollow gasps and raspy sobs.
"His last words were... 'Dont cry lulu...You gave me a better life than i could of ever dreamed of... You gave me a purpose to live... I... I'm going to miss you... where ever i end up...But i'll always- be with you." She makes one particularly harsh instake of air, choking on her tears, as she touches her heart with her hoof. "Love.. You....Lu-lu..." With that she rests her head into her fore hooves, as she continued to cry a thousand years of lonely repressed emotions into the cracked table top. Luna's face was hidden under her tear soaked mane, its ethereal breeze cutting out and her midnight blue hair dulling, and flopping down atop her head.
"I- I Couldn't even face his family after that... In my SPINELESS COWARDICE! I never adressed his mother... his wife... His foals grew up hearing nothing of their fathers sacrifice to keep them safe and give them a safe world to grow up in..."
Everyone at the table had all Silently mourned Luna's loss with the grief stricken Princess.
"I Carried- his... mangled body, back to the palace... I had the best architects the Empire had to offer, Build him a shrine... To this day, He and his comrades... His family... Are at- rest... Beneath the castle courtyard... Twice a Year, in the garden... The door to the tomb is opened by my magic seal... Once on Hearths warming Eve. So that they may see that their sacrifice was not in-vain... and once on Nightmare night... So that they can have fun scaring their fellow subjects..." Luna says into the table.
Luna's Thestral friend. Silver Streak, was wiping tears from her eyes with her wing near constantly before a realization hit her. "P-Princess..." Luna raised her head and looked in the direction of the window to find her friend. "The Guards Hall of Records... That would happen to have been your doing too... would it?" Luna just gives a silent, shallow nod.
Eliza finally regains her composure enough to speak. "I'm, so, so sorry..." She mumbles across the table. "I Was being an inconsiderate, insufferable bitch..." Eliza sobs.
Luna places her back in her chair and wipes her tears using her magic. Before a Midnight blue aura illuminates the floor and the casualty tea set is reassembled back on the table from the many colourful shards and splinters of ceramic.
"You couldn't have known dear..." The emotionally destroyed princess says with a sniffle.
"Its not the point... I Shouldn't have exploded like that... I Guess the rumors from around the team are true... I really am every part the monster everyone makes me out to be..." She mumbles defeated...
"Come now dear... If you forgot, i 'exploded' as well." Luna said with a shaky hollow chuckle.
Luke's muffled voice addressed the tearful group from through his handkerchief. "Like Eliza said earlier. The majority of us don't want to end up fighting with you. But at the rate the relations between us are deteriorating, Either our hand will be forced to keep everyone under control. Or our limited number will be split in half and we'll be destroying each other by the end of the month." Luke blew his nose into his handkerchief and Eliza resumed where he left off.
"The Best course of action is to Swiftly sign an official document, A treaty and apology or something, then keep everyone distracted for long enough that they have to put their plans of revenge on hold. You'll be surprised how effective work takes peoples minds off of plotting revenge." Governor Teafeather then inquires.
"And how do you propose that we keep your people distracted long enough for our races to mingle in such a way that we don't end up with worsened hostility's?"
Skystar joins in with. "Well, according to the reports made by the troops that defected from the Captain. The humans don't have permanent residence. They are currently living in either tents or crude prefabricated structures. We could have your people build themselves a town. And we can have the various races show up sometime into its construction to help... That should improve relations" Eliza clicks her fingers and points to Skystar.
"Theres a good idea!"
The Thestral guard sitting in the window piped in with her own report. "Princesses! I have important information to report!" Turning to Eliza and Luke. "Sorry," she says with a cringe "But i had to spy on your leaders during a meeting i get the feeling a member of the Equine species wasn't invited to, But it was for the greater good..."
Eliza leans back in her chair. "None taken, At this point i'm starting to think we deserve it..."
The Jade eyed Thestral smiles at the lack of hard feelings before turning to the princesses. "The humans are at a crossroads. Several of their leaders are Divided in opinion but the leading or rather only suggestion that was made for their future plans, was that all their 'Teams' should join up into a single faction. However the meetings final verdict was postponed until tomorrow due to the indecision of several leaders. Once They were alone, the 'Hosts' of the meeting were discussing their peoples current status. And the future of their race, and it didn't sound good... They talked about how they were going to keep their people under control, and then had a rather defeated conversation about how their species was 'Fucked' no matter which course of action is pursued by either side. Due to rampant food and resource shortages, and their species susceptibility to diseases and the elements. I'm no Adviser to you Celestia or Luna. But we HAVE to help them! After all we've done to them! They need our help more than ever! But i don't think they'll accept our help even if we gave it to them! And if we do, than it may divide their ranks!"
Eliza shoots bolt upright before leaning over the side of her chair and reaching into her bag, after receiving confused looks from all at the table she pulls out her long range UHF radio, it looks like one of the old Vietnam Era Brick radios.
Twilight's curiosity peaks once Eliza starts turning several knobs and dials, Finally she unties the ribbon holding the antenna down, causing it to whip up towards the ceiling. After a three second long burst of static fills the room a female voice escapes the box. And the princesses realize that this is the humans version of Twilights invention...
"Desert Rat 1 - Your transmission is received. Standby..." Everypony at the table looks to each other in amazement at how clear the transmission is. The same voice returns. "Desert Rat 1 - Whom do you wish to connect with?"
Eliza presses down on a red trigger on the side of the brick radio. "Desert Rat 1- Operator. Connect me to Johnna. Priority."
"Johnnas not in the C.C.B at the moment."
"Then get him please! This is an emergency message!"
Releasing the trigger Eliza waits for a response... After receiving none she presses the trigger yet again. "That means run Twigglets!" She yells into the microphone. After a second the sound of someone on the other end sliding out a wheely chair and boots running out of the room comes through the radio.
"Once Johnna gets on the blower, i'll tell him that the leaders of your people wish to speak with him about an important matter, Don't worry, Johnna is a man of great patience, unless we interrupted his meal, he hates having his meal interrupted..." Glancing at her watch she sees it now reads 6PM. "Shit" she mumbles to herself.
Chapter 17 - Sir! The Germans are... German-ing...
================================ 18:10 Hours. Just after Eliza's outburst. ================================
With a metallic clank and a rattle Johnna's mess kit lands on the table and skids to a halt, his scrambled eggs now join his boiled vegetables: Carrots sticks, beans, peas, corn, broccoli and jacketed potatoes. And his hearty bowl of mushroom soup spilled over his bowls lip, causing a rather generous half cups worth to splat over the table. Johnna slumps into his seat before resting his head in his hand and reaching for his fork. As much as he looks forward to his meals... Hosh-posh, slapped together 'versatile' menus as the cooks called them, only served to add to his anxiety. The fact that not only his, but everyone else's meals around him are the same random mixes of random ingredients, shows just how low on food they are. In an attempt at staving off the panic of their food shortages the cooks began to start boiling rice and serving pasta and rice balls in generous servings to make it look as if our supplies were still keeping up with us. But truth be told... The arrival of the Texan Ronsons has overtaxed out already short stocked supplies, and left the cooks sweating bullets...
'We need to think of something fast... or else we'll be screwed... Hungry people do dangerous things alone... Let alone hungry scared people on an alien world who are also paranoid about being murdered in their sleep by fucking talking horses-'
A Loud sound pierces the thick foggy veil of Johnna's thought process causing him to jump from his seat and place his hand on his Webley revolver. Robert sits down and raises his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Steady there friend. i Figured your a beer person" Robert nods to the two Fosters sitting on the table with his hands still raised.
"Ugh. You pegged me right mate, but why you blokes call flavored water beer I'll never know" Johnna says with a short laugh as he buttons up his holster and sits back down.
"Some of the Mist Cougars joined us for dinner for the first time since the attack, thats an improvement i guess... They're finally leaving their camp. They've fortified it like fort Knox. They even have Panzer IV's patrolling the perimeter"
"That is a little excessive against 'Ponies' armed with medieval weapons isn't it?" Robert asks perplexed at the Germans overkill.
"Oh, Bloody Oath mate" Johnna says taking a prolonged gulp of the Alcohol. Afterwards he immediately recoils at the taste and places the bottle back on the wooden table. "Fuckin' disgustin'. How do your lot drink this shit?" The Australian asks in disgust.
"Its all that they'd let us take with us-" Silencing his friend with a raised hand, Johnna reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a huge flask. Placing it gently on the table, he gives it a slight push, sending it sliding across the rough surface to Robert.
Unscrewing the cap Robert gives the inside a sniff. "Thats a familiar scent" The American announces. Giving Johnna a questioning look.
"OI! I aint' a Alcoholic you plonker! I don't drink on duty, i keep it on my person, because in this sport we're often times surrounded by idiots. And i need my medicine"
"As you'd say, 'Too, bloody, right'. A little warm though" Raising the flask slightly he non-verbally asks for permission before taking a swig with "Cheers buddy"
After the first gulp he immediately goes wide eyed before choking and spraying the drink over the side of the table, breaking out into a coughing fit. "What- =COUGH= Wh- What the fucking hell is this shit?-" He's cut off by his body making another wheeze for air. "Fucking Diesel?"
Johnna snatches the flask. "Everybody's a critic" he mumbles slightly agitated before taking a hearty back toss.
Just as Johnna picks up his spoon or 'Shovel' as the Americans describe the Australian MRE spoon. And brings a spoonful of Mushroom soup to his lips he hears his name being called out over the ruckus of the eating area, despite being completely outdoors and exposed to the cold fresh air of the young night. The fact that its surrounded by improvised wooden barricades means that, Over three hundred people are currently shoved into the space no bigger than a larger end backyard.
Johnna shrugs his shoulder before leaning back over his tray. "You gonna see who that was?" Robert asks Johnna confused at his actions.
"I'm off duty, eating my meal, They can fuck themselves till' I'm finished. They know i don't like being disturbed during my meals, its why i eat them hot." Johnna says casually if not slightly annoyed, Earning a shrug from his friend sitting opposite him.
As the spoon reaches the Australians mouth his name is yet again called. Shaking his head, he continues to attack his soup. His name is called out in rapid succession, until Johnna finally slams his fist into the table, causing his meal to jump on the tray, and stands up.
Looking over the crowd He sees Karey waving to him desperately. With a sigh Johnna tosses his spoon into his half empty soup bowel before stomping his way through the crowd to one of the four entry points in the barricade walls.
"Karey-" Johnna's tempered growl is cut off by his assistant's raised hand.
"Before you have a go at me. Desert Rat 1 has made contact with the enemy leaders and it seems as though they currently want to end hostility's with us. They wish to work out a plan to-" She stops talking once she noticed everyone who was previously eating their meals and talking suddenly shut up and the entire area was blanketed in an eerie silence.
With a glare Johnna yells "As you were" Before taking hold of Karey's hand and beginning to lead her towards His Teams command truck. He halts abruptly when an angered voice asks from behind.
"Is that an OrderSir." Turning Johnna stands face to face with his teams newest member, usually quiet and reserved he's demonstrating quite the amount of insubordination since Johnna wouldn't hear of any plans to counter attack the Equines.
"As a matter of fact Private, It is. So return to your meal, unless you'd like to eat it in the solitude of the 'Custodian's Truck' At the mention of the prison truck the private backs down with a glare before returning to his meal.
================================== 18:32 Hours. Castle of Friendship Library. ==================================
Eliza taps her fingers on the now magically repaired glass table in her impatience. Whilst resting her head on her other hand. Mean while, Luke and Twilight were exchanging seemingly random information in turns.
"Does it usually take this long to find somepony?" Skystar asks with curiosity. Eliza responds to her question with.
"No, But Johnna hates having his meal disturbed. And often goes to rediculas and even hilarious feats of effort to remain undisturbed. Once we found the bloke in a tree eating his tuna salad accidentally while on patrol" Skystar looks to Eliza in confusion.
"I Though you said humans couldn't fly and didn't have claws, so how can you climb trees that well?" Skystar continues.
"Well, it comes down to the persons skill and the tree itself-" Her explanation is cut off the the sound of heavy boot steps walking over the command trucks floor. Johnna's voice soon comes over the radio, breaking the half hour long silence.
"Sorry about your meal Johnno!" Eliza yells through the radio as the sound of a wheely chair wheeling closer to the radio comes through the light static.
"So long as we can achieve anything of positive note my dinner is a sad, but worthy sacrifice. So i hear that the leaders of the Equines who attacked us wish to end hostility's between us?"
Celestia spoke up "That is true, We never ordered the captain to commit those atrocities against your people. He did that trying to live up to the pressure of his family's title of 'Defenders of Equestria', Your people are currently camped in a very dangerous place! Usually creatures from within that forest pose a great threat to our subjects, so when the captain heard your people were residing within its borders, and were heavily armed, he made an uninformed assumption. Sadly an incorrect one that couldn't have been father from the truth..."
Luna speaks next. "Speaking of that Traitor, We'd also like you to return him alive, so that he may face the courts for his crimes!"
Johnna's voice leaves the radios crackly speaker after a few seconds of pondering. "Fine by me, but you have one problem, Whilst the leaders of the teams here wish to end hostility's, i'm afraid that large groups of our people want either revenge or blood for what the captain has done. And from what i hear the Mist Cougars are actively hunting for him in the forest. From the sounds of how mad they are with him i only imagine that they'd want to skin him alive after what his troops did"
Shining shivers at the mental image of Stryder being skinned alive. Skystar just listens with fear evident on her face. 'No pony deserves a death that horrific...' She thinks to herself.
"After what he's done, we can sympathize with your train of thought. but you must understand, Dead captains cant be punished for massacres" The voice over the radio returns.
"And we understand this, Thus why after the captain was captured by my Command staff we had him imprisoned in a weapons crate and hidden in the forest. He's hidden well, and only we know where he is, But first things first. What of this peace you speak of?"
Luna speaks into the device. "Our subjects were never involved in this incident, in fact they didn't even know you existed. only the former captain Stryder's branch of the royal guard and the princesses, my sister and I included knew of your existence. And my sister and I accept full responsibility for our guards lack of procedure and Ill actions. My sister and I wish to apologize for the actions of our guard and offer our condolences, and wish for official documentation to be signed between our factions in order to foster trust and eventually deep friendship between us."
"Karey, Go and find the other TL's and send them here immediately!" With that a set of boots and be heard sprinting out the door, slamming it shut again. "Apologies, but my assistant is going to retrieve the other leaders, By this time they should be in their tents.
============================= After a short period of time. =============================
Robert, Emily and Dimitri had all been found and sent to the Wallaroo's command truck rather quickly As of current everyone was sitting silently around the table answering the occasional question from the hyperactive Twilight, with so many different cultures that the various teams had Twilight had gone into overdrive and shortly afterwards a stack of neatly rolled scrolls next to her rivaled her height.
"At any rate,for the time being Eliza, Your team and the Tan-Tabbies are to act as mediators between us and the Equestrians. We'll attempt to carefully Pull several string to-" Johnna's cut off by the door flying open. And several out of breath masses of foliage and green camouflage paint bursting through, slamming the door shut being them, two of the three collapse to the floor gasping for air, whilst the third walks over to the table the leaders are sitting it, before practically falling over it and lying on the tables top.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Emily questions as she stands. The ghillies suit sprawled out over the table raises a pointed right hand before limply slapping it back down on the table just trying to regulate her breathing.
Johnna says with concern. "I sent Janine here and her two sisters to keep a very close eye on the Mist Cougars, I Felt as though they'd try something. Evidently my fears were justified. Whats wrong Janine. Take it slow, Tell us." Johnna said quietly and he placed a glass of cold water in front of the red-faced sweating teenager, removing her ghillie hood.
"Its the- Cougars... They've-" Breaking into a coughing fit from her dry throat the teen reaches for the glass before emptying it in two gulps, leaving Johnna to fill it again and fetch two for her sisters, who'd collapsed either side of the door.
On the other side of the call everyone just listens in from the radio on the table with silent concern, waiting to soak up any and all information.
"The Cougars have lost their shit Johnna!" The tanned brown Aussie returns to his seat after placing a jug of cold water on the table in front of Janine, Greedily she ceases it and drinks straight from it, Causing Emily to surprise everyone by giggling lightly to herself. Janine passed the jug onto her sisters before Johnna says.
"Janine! Calm yourself down and tell us everything." After a few seconds the standing human bush takes her own seat at the table in the cramped space of the truck.
"Sir! The Germans are... German-ing..." Everyone at the table is confused except for Johnna who was greatly concerned by this.
"Explain please." Everyone in the castle listening in were becoming worried by the looks Eliza and Luke shot each other at hearing that statement.
"I Doesn't need explaining sir! The Germans are doing what their historically known for, Taking seemingly random shit and turning them into hideously dangerous weapons. There was a small resistance of about sixty eight who actually took up arms against their comrades, and they were quickly overrun" Everyone around both tables immediately began putting plans into action. On the Humans end Johnna began Giving Karey orders, to which she yelled her acknowledgment and ran out the trucks door to complete. On the Castle of friendships end, Luna barked out orders to Silver Streak. Upon the completion of said orders Silver Streak let out a screech of acknowledgement and promptly fell out of the window, breaking into a glide over to the new garrison of guards in Ponyville to commence with the evacuations.
The scout continued her report as all listened. "After the resistance was dealt with, They dismantled a Panzer IV completely, diced it into chunks then threw it all into a Rocket furnace they build facing into a gale force wind that kicked up out of nowhere only over that part of their base. That was already starting to set off alarm bells. Then they started pouring the molten metal into improvised Cartridge molds! Sir, They're making Ammunition! We're in the deep shit! We think we were spotted as we left to come here! Sir! We need to stop them before this gets any further out of-" Janine was cut off by the door to the truck being kicked in.
On the Castle of Friendships side of the call, the only sounds they could make out was in-legible yelling before the sounds of automatic gunfire filled the room, followed by silence.
Everyone drew in closer to the radio as Eliza snatched it up, before she could press down the trigger she heard foot steps.
Johnna's pained voice came through the radio. "So, It was you then. Glad to know my sense of smell is still working, Cause i could smell your treachery from a mile off" The voice of Private John Williams, The very same John Williams who was insubordinate at dinner, echoed around the crystalline library from the radio.
"Ohh-ho-ho John!" He says in a near sadistic tone. "You cut me to the quick sir!"
"Shaddap! I know you had a hard on for this! You've been planning this night since the massacre!" Johnna lets out a pained yell as the private stamps his steel cap boot on the gunshot wound to Johnna's shoulder.
Punctuating each of his words with an additional stomp. "YOUR. UN. FIT. TO. LEAD. US!" With the last stamp the private kicks Johnna in the gut, causing him to double over on the floor.
"The only way to ensure that our race survives is to either put the fear of god into them. Or Eliminate them before they realize we're a threat!"
"F-Fucker! I'm. Going. To. KILL Your Sorry Arse!" Johnna grunts out in pain. Still, doubled over when Williams plants a vicious kick into Johnna's jaw, knocking him out-cold before his head slams into the wall.
Emily elbows the guard restraining her in the jewels, causing him to immediately let go of her and collapse over the table clutching his nether's whilst letting out a pained howl. Emily stops at Johnna's side. "John! John are you ok?! JOHN!" As her eyes start to tear up a shrewd laugh gets her attention as she looks up and glares at the private.
"So, The Brit' has the hots for my Former Half-Caste Commander. QuiteIronic considering it was you Brits who caused his peoples suffering in the first place" He lets out a Wicked Guffaw before she leaps to her feat and cocks her arm for a savage right hook. The Privates guards are so stunned by the Stoic and 'proper' Woman's sudden primal savagery that they fail to stop her attack from connecting with their current C.O. With a meaty -Smack- Williams and sent hurtling out the open door of the truck.
As the six guards recover and raise their STG-44's to their hips to unload their mags into Emily. Robert raises his .357 and lets loose one round for each enemy guard. Aiming for their necks, which are only protected by Kevlar. he manages to down all of them in less than a second. sending them to the floor grasping their necks gasping for air.
Dimitri just stands on the spot stunned. Shouting fills the air outside before gunshots echo out into the night. 'What has happened to us... we've become the very monsters whom attacked u-'
=BLAM=
Looking up Dimitri sees Emily's form fall into Roberts arms. He drags her from the doorway and into cover behind the door. The guard Emily hit has begun to recover and starts to stand, but Dimitri gifts him with a uppercut for his troubles, sending him to the floor in a heap.
A Squad of Grenadiers File in through the doorway and aim their MP-40's at the Russian man. Dimitri raises his arms and Robert applies pressure to Emily's freely bleeding right arm and shoulder.
Williams walks through the door rubbing his jaw. "That bitch can pack a wallop. I Love it when their feisty..." He says with a whole new never before heard level of creepy rapist. He turns to the surrendered russian. "Dimitri. I know you also foster a hatred towards the animals who've killed our friends! Join us! We shall purge them from this world!" Dimitri just shakes his head.
"Everyone in this sport is family... I wont join someone who shoots his own family. And What of the Civilians? If you kill their Civilians then your no less a monster then they were!" Dimitri yells.
"Tssk, Tssk, Tssk, Ivan Ivanov's gone soft" His words earn a feral growl from Dimitri. "Arrest all of them! Lock them in the Mist Cougars command building! And they are not to receive medical treatment for their injuries either! They chose their side!" Williams commands are met by a brief grunt, before the guards tie each of their prisoners thumbs and pinkie fingers together with zip ties and lead them out of the truck.
The only sounds from the radio now are Williams chuckling to himself for some reason, until footsteps could be heard, through the radio.
"Errik was a fool for not joining us. He saw the Prophecies and the nightmares himself. He should have been the one leading us to victory"
Williams voice in next through the speaker. "Being related to Rommel didn't help him make the right choice. nor would it make him anymore a competent leader. Whats the status on our ammunition?"
"Since we're still using the Co2 cartridges in the round casings the weapons effective ranges have been reduced, but they can still penetrate the guards armour at around about two hundred meters. in the case of the helmets three hundred. past that point though the velocity drops off substantially, gun powder should be our concern the moment we gain the resources to manufacture it. We've converted over half the stockpile. The MG-42's all have their modified rounds, and i'm issuing Reversed bullets to the riflemen as you requested. The enemy's armour will be their downfall. Also, at the request of a Sturmpanzer loader. We've dismantled the 150mm shells for the vehicles, as their useless for firing live ammunition, and coated the 150mm rounds Co2 canisters in tree sap and shrapnel. We're currently arming the Stuka' and schnell-bombers with them."
Williams voice bears far more excitement and anticipation than could be considered healthy at this point. "Excellent! They'll pay for what they've done! If you manage to find the other team leaders or more rebels deal with the mas you see fit Captain"
"YESSIR Comerade Gen-eral!"
The sound of boots walking around the inside of the truck stop as the sound of a glass bottle being placed on the table comes through the radio.
"Who knew that Bastard had a good taste in whine?" The sound of a cork being popped and liquid being poured into a glass came through. "Wasn't planning on attacking before we were ready. But at least we managed to win. Now those animals are fucked! I think i'll enjoy a nice horse pelt jacke-" He voice randomly pauses before the sound of boot steps could be heard getting closer. The sound of someone picking up the microphone came through the speakers and filled the library.
...
"Whats this? ... conditions of peace trea-"
...
"Are you listening? ... ANIMALS!" The metallic clattering of the radio being dropped filled the room before a loud built up grunt filled the library and the transmission cut off abruptly.
Everyone sits around the table in shock at what just happened...
Eliza stares into the table horrified. Her wide eyes fill with tears ads she just shakes in her chair. "M-my people... are in a civil-war..." Luke just wraps his shaken girlfriend in an embrace as she starts loudly sobbing into his chest.
He looks to the princesses. "We will help you evacuate your people, as well as providing you with information as to the locations of enemy formations, our navigator is the Best on our team, you already have the tan tabbies hidden somewhere, once they hear of this and Johnna's last orders they'll help us without a doubt"
The Princesses look to each other before finally turning to the two humans and nodding. Just as Luna opens her mouth to speak the doors to the Library burst open and an ensemble of humans burst into the room. Being pursued by several Solar guards. The slam the doors shut behind them.
"Clarkson, Tommy, Jackie! Move that bookshelf over here! QUICK!" The three humans, only one of which was clothed and two where as naked as the day they were born, ran over to the shelf, and with an ear piercing screech pushed the shelf in front of the violently shaking door. A Guards voice could be heard from the other side once the banging stopped shortly after.
"Humans! You cant just take food from the market without paying! Thats called stealing here!"
Yeah, and it is back home too, but the difference is we're not back on our world are we? we're on an alien one! Stripped naked, And starving!" Give the shelf a light kick, Lancer removes the presumably 'Stolen' food from the improvised hobo sack he dropped on the floor once he entered.
Spinning around on his foot holding an apple he freezes after his first step into the room, as he's greeted with the sight of a table filled with various mythological creatures, the majority being ponies. The Awkward silence continues for several moments before Cadence clears her throat. "You know taking without paying is a bad habit around here, but considering the circumstances, we can make the exception..."
Shrugging Lancer takes a bite before wrapping himself back in his 'Kilt' he made for himself using a market stalls canvas weather cover. It was then that the guards from the other side of the door flew in through the windows and hovered in the air around the group. The C.O flies in last yelling with a victorious grin. "AHAH! I HAVE YOU NOW!" As he notices the princesses he stops and bows respectfully.
"Thats quite alright captain, we'll pay for the stolen goods. now can you please fetch them more adequate covers?" Luna said as she changed several shades of red.
The 'cell' was small and dark. In reality the 'Prison' that we'd been thrown into was just a converted office in the Mist Cougars command building. They'd locked the door, then dead bolted it, just to make sure that we couldn't escape via picking the lock.
The near endless roars of aircraft taking off at 'Wartime Emergency Power' or WEP, as the pilots call it, had left us long ago...
The only sounds that joined us now in our confinement, was the near constant sounds of marching. That along with the rhythm of engines driving past the command building every so often. The sounds of horse shoes could also be heard against the gravely soil outside, thus meaning their officers were on the move with their troops. Those vehicles are either the Cougars 251 infantry halftracks. Or heaven forbid, tanks.
Our morale was at its lowest. Johnna was still unconscious... He most certainly has a concussion after hitting his head that hard... At least his pupils still dilate, thats a start i suppose... Robert sacrificed his singlet in order to render crude medical aid to us, for at least the time being. We managed to remove the bullet from Johnna's shoulder easily enough, but without a way of sterilizing our hands it will most certainly get infected before long... Now it's my turn... God help me...
"Righto, we're all set govnr'. Sorry about this Emm's. Its going to hurt like a bitch..." Robert said with an evident discomfort. whilst signaling Dimitri to move to the opposite side and hold her down. Placing the sleeve of my jacket in my mouth Robert asks. "A Question. What's your favorite color?"
"You know, I've seen that movie ri-" Emily's body tenses up as her teeth bite down on her sleeve. She does better than the two thought she would and holds herself near still for six seconds before instinct takes over and her body begins to try escaping the source of its pain. Robert's two fingers dig into the wound having found the bullet lodged near her shoulder joint. but due to the blood in the wound hes fingers just slip over and around it.
==Dimitri's Prospective.
As i hold her to the floor Emily starts trying to thrash around to get away. It hurts me to know that i have to force her to endure such pain, but we don't know what material that bullet is made of. it could be anything from lead to copper to steel. if we left it in her shoulder she has a high change of suffering lead poisoning or other ill effects...
I Felt sharp pain in my stomach as she'd began to knee in a desperate attempt at escaping my grip. I eventually managed to pin her legs down with my right leg. This was quickly turning into a demented game of Twister... I found myself yelling over her muffled screams. "Cant you work faster?"
"I-Almost - Have it. But i keep Slip-" Robert gave a tug and the bullet finally left the bone. Before wrapping the freely bleeding wound Robert checked for any metal left in the wound, thankfully the round deformed around the bone but didn't evidently fragment.
With her wound banged tightly I release the shaking, crying woman. Both Robert and i held her in a tight embrace, careful not to put additional pressure on the wound. Trying to comfort her as best we could.
==Roberts Perspective.
I Felt guilty as sin for doing that to her, but pain is a better alternative to lead poisoning. "At least it wasn't a shotgun..." I found myself stuttering as i hugged her tightly.
"Please, don't. Say. That... Enough pains enough... don't give me that mental image..." The poor woman said with a short gasp for breath, tears were flowing freely from her at this point, who could blame her... If i had someone digging around in my shoulder for a bullet the poor prick would most likely end up with a fist planted firmly in his nose for his troubles...
At some point Dimitri had got up and walked over to the opposite side of the door, and leaned against the wall. Leaving me sitting on the floor rocking back and forth whilst hugging the traumatized Brit.
It was then that, something very surprising, and Hilariously convenient happened.
The door opened and the guard posted outside our door walked in brandishing his PPSH.
"What the Fuck are you all doing in here? Killing each other? I Don't mind, it'd mean i get the rest of the day o- =OOOMPF=" The guard stands there for a few moments before rather comically falling helmet first to the floor like a Stormtrooper.
Both Emily and I look to Dimitri as he grabs the guard by his vest and lifting him up partially before he freezes. Blinks. Then says. "Alexi Chernov?" The guard only groans in response before Dimitri single handily cracks his right knuckles and gifts his treacherous Second in command with an overzealous uppercut.
Using Chernov's shoelaces, Dimitri performs a knot that would make Spongebob's Flying Dutchman proud. With Chernov Imprisoned against the table and desk, Dimitri picks up the PPSH and places the spare magazines he liberated from his Former second in command into his olive green cargo pants. Checking the last mag before he pockets it, Dimitri notices blue tips on the rounds. "Paint round huh Chernov? Theres still redemption for you yet comrade."
==Normal perspective==
Sub commander Chernov groans as his vision begins to restore itself. he tries to raise his hand to hold his throbbing jaw but finds with a gut wrenching feeling that hes been restrained against a table and a desk. A familiar graveling voice reaches his ears. The anger with it causing him to freeze.
"Tell me comrade Chernov! ... Who is involved with this revolt. And Who is their targets... The private of Williams isn't neither smart enough nor has the charisma or foresight to pull this rebellion off. So who is-"
"I'll vill never tell you comrade gen-arall!" Chernov yells in Dimitri's face. His reward for making Dimitri's ears ring. Is a Vicious backhand from Dimitri. "Chert voz'mi, ty zver', lyubyashchiy mraz'!" "<Fuck you! Beast Loving Traitor!>"
Dimitri Spins around on the ball of his foot before placing his steel capped boot on the table Chernov is tied to, perilously close to Chernov's 'Assets'. Leaning over the Traitor Dimitri Yells back in his native tongue. "Vy pomogayete duraku, kotoryy nachal etu bor'bu, kotoraya ne sdelala nichego, krome kak ubila nashikh druzey i ugrozhayet nevinnym zhiznyam!" "<You are helping a Fool, He will not rest until he has committed terrible crimes, Crimes that will ultimately destroy us.>"
Chernov spits at Dimitri, only managing to hit his shirt. Dimitri continues with an un-amused expression. "Idiot, za kotorym vy posleduyete, ne sdelayet nichego, krome kak unichtozhit nas, Chernov. Po slovam nashego meditsinskogo personala. Nashi tsifry - eto minimum, neobkhodimyy dlya togo, chtoby ne stradat' ot geneticheskogo zastoya. Ergo, my nakhodimsya v opasnoy zone dlya unichtozheniya nashego vida s litsa etogo mira! Vrachi govoryat, chto yesli my poteryayem boleye neskol'kikh soten chelovek, samoye bol'sheye, my sdelayem eto za neskol'ko pokoleniy, prezhde chem obshchiy zastoy zastavit nas umeret'! Poni budut vystavlyat' nashi kosti v muzeyakh. «Eto ostatki odnogo velikogo i mogushchestvennogo chelovecheskogo roda», - skazhut oni!" <"IDIOT! Your are helping the fool who'll destroy our species! The doctors say if we loose a minimum of a few hundred people we're in serious danger of genetic stagnation! If such happens, Then our Species would be lucky to get a few generations before our race is wipes from this planets face by genetic defects! The inhabitants of this world will display our bones and personal treasures in museums! "These are the remnants of the one great and powerful human race" They'll say!>"
"Any idea what their saying?" Robert asks Emily from the floor.
"Not a clue, but i wish i had popcorn" She responds.
"Tell me comrade Chernov! WHOS the Swine leading this Rebellion!"
"NEVER!"
"I admire your resistance to interrogation Chernov. Its every bit as impressive as i expected from you. Thats why i chose you as my right hand. But your using you talents for zte wrong side! Tell me Before i'm forced to use more drastic measures of interrogation!"
"Go to hell comrade gen-arall. Those bastard animals get what they deserv!"
Need i remind you Chernov. There is no 'I' in zte word team. But there is 'U' in Gulag.
Chernov's uncomfortable expression shows through his facade of temperament.
"Your threat is shallow comrade Gen-arall *Chernov says in a mocking tone.* I know we don't have a gulag here!"
"Not yet comrade. But where you think we are going to throw these dissidents? Would you like the luxury cell. It comes with the best views available. After wall. Theres no roof. Mother natures dirt is you floor. And your 3x3 foot living area has best ventilation ever. Due to the walls beingk chainlink fence."
Chernov spits at Dimitri's face This time it lands home and true
"I'm afraid it... has come to this comrade Chernov" Dimitri walks over to a box on the table in the corner that he found whilst locking down the building for Chernov's interrogation. The Russian returns with his sheathed knife, he pulls his Machete sized Kukri from its sheath. Raising his arm, knife in hand, Emily and Robert jump up from the floor before he does something stupid. Dimitri Stabs the knife into the wooden table near Chernov's balls, before disappearing out the door. The sound of a metal locker can be heard opening. After a short rummage, the door audibly slams shut with a metallic rattle. Dimitri returns holding an AK-47, the stock is ornately carved with beautiful patterns.
Chernov's head flies up from the table at hearing Emily say "An AK-47?"
"What are you doink with sasha?"
Dimitri walks over to his knife and pulls it form the table. Placing the 'AK' on the table next to Chernov's face. He holds the blade to the lacquered wood. "Tell me WHO is behind the revolt, and where their targets are!"
"No! NO! YOU WOULDN'T you monster! Leave Sasha out of zis!" Dimitri Raises his Kukri over his head, blocking out the yellow light from the single light bulb in the room. Causing the tip of the re-curved blade to cast a shadow of Chernov's face.
"Once again Chernov. Who is the leader. And who are his targets!" Chernov spends a long time thinking, too long. Dimitri Brings his blade down full force into the table, Causing Chernov to yell in fear of his prized possession. Dimitri held the AK up to Chernov's face. "Oops. I missed. I Wounder how many times that will happen?" He asks turning to Robert with a chuckle and a sinister grin that would make a Cheshire cat shiver.
"Need i ask the question yet again Chernov?" Raising the blade back to its former position and pinning the AK to the table with his other hand Dimitri waits patiently. "Tri!"
...
Chernov starts shaking his head in a no gesture. "Dva!"
...
"No! Comrade Gen-arall! Have mercy upon Sasha!" Chernov pleads.
"Sasha is your responsibility, since your a traitor that makes her a traitor as well Chernov. Odin!"
...
Dimitri brings his arm and thus the Kukri into a downswing towards Sasha. Dimitri Ceases his blades advance only mere centimeters from the weapons stock as Chernov finally scream out "OK OK OK! STOP STOP! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!"
Dimitri raises his blade from its poised position over the Kalashnikov, and with a swing of his arm throws it across the room, the tip of the blade penetrates the wall, causing it to jut-out the wall at an odd angle, the knife rocking back and forth slightly whilst sticking in the wall.
Robert and Emily look to each other with deadpan expressions. "What have i just witnessed?" Emily questions.
"Thank god... He didn't hurt the defenseless gun..." Robert says in his twang as he breathes a sigh of relief.
Rolling her eyes Emily scoffs before mumbling. "Men..." She turns and leaves the room.
Chernov is not openly yelling out random information about the various leaders of the coup-de-tat. As well as their targets.
"Big bear?!" Dimitri yells out in shock. His own best friend had orchestrated this whole nightmare? "Chernov i'm going to cleave Sasha in half, and cram one end down your throat, and the other up your ass!" Dimitri said lifting the petrified man off the table by his vest. "That is bullshit! He'd never do anything like this! Its so out of character for him its impossible!"
Robert walks over. "And how can you be so sure there champ?" Dimitri drops the traitor back on the table.
"Big Bear, AKA. Staff sergeant Nikoli Markoran. Wouldn't even hurt a fly! When we were competing in his homeland-" Dimitri points to the unconscious form of Johnna. "- His cousin had the second most deadliest snake in the world crawl into her tent. Instead of killing or injuring it, he grabbed it and walked it outside whilst it was trying to kill him, he walked it down the road for three minutes this way, before throwing it into the bushes away from our camp. The man is as soft as a march mellow. He's all, 'Protect the whales' and everything. You should see him when he finds out someone throws recyclables in the wrong bin even"
"People change Dimitri" Robert said with a mellow tone.
"Not Big bear! Something here is... as you'd put it 'Fishy-" Dimitri's cut off when Emily yells from down the hall.
"GUYS! GUYS!" She rejoins them looking petrified. "All the Close Air Support aircraft and tactical bombers are gone! Along with most of the fighters! The halftracks are missing! And so are most of the tanks! The base is practically abandoned apart from the sparse patrol!" She was nearly frantic. The rebels had manufactured their own ammunition, and She and Johnna already proved they are effective unfortunately.
"We need to contact them somehow!" Dimitri yells. They all split up looking for a way to contact their people. They all meet back up after several minutes, distressed they just start yelling idea's at each other. Then Chernov's voice could be heard yelling from up stairs. Returning to the room Chernov is greeted by three glares of mass destruction.
"What do you want traitor!" Dimitri Growls.
"Your trying to stop the attacks arnt you?" Chernov asks.
"Yes, We are!" Dimitri yells back.
"Check Sophia's locker. Shes the mist cougars new scout, but she always leaves her radio in her locker apparently. Number 357."
Emily jogs over to the locker room and quickly located the suspect locker, quite surprisingly its unlocked, Thats a bad habit...
Upon swinging the door open, her eyes light up. Greeting her is a wide-band command radio. Hefting it out of the locker in one arm she grunts in pain as pain shoots through her injured shoulder. Robert rockets down the stairs repeating "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry... Forgot" He snatches the half of the radio Emily had managed to pick up before grabbing the other half's carry handle and darting back up the stairs.
The three gather around the radio as they set it to scan frequency's. short rapid bursts of static fill the room as the device scans through channels looking for chatter. After a minute that stretched on for eternity voices breached the static.
"Kanga-carrier seven to Danim, Whats your ETA. we're awfully exposed here."
"Danim to Kangaroo Carrier seven. ETA three minutes. Sit tight." After that message the radio began flicking through more channels, two seconds later it found more chatter.
"Valkyrie leader to squad, keep your heads on the swivel. Protect the bomb buses from enemy-" It was then the screech and roar of jet engines filled the room, compliments of the radios speakers. "-Oh, Shit! JETS! WE'VE GOT JETS!" The sounds of 30mm cannons and the banshee like screams of jets became an orchestra of chaos that threatened to cut off the voices completely. The radio transmission between the squad were reduced to panicked cries for help and orders being barked between those whom kept their calm.
"What are they doing?! Arnt we all on the same side now?!"
"Someone get him off me!"
"Johnson, start firing he'll fly right into it!"
"Damn bastards dancing all over my arse!"
"What the hell?! I've lost rudder control!"
"Fighters pull your heads out of your arses! Their shutting us down one by one!"
The squadron leaders voice growls ferally over the radio "RED! Its that Principality Bastard Char! All units focus fire on the red craft Repeat the RED craft! Its their leader! Tear it to fuckin' shreds!"
"At least Chars on our side?" Robert says with a confused sigh of relief.
Emily picks up the microphone before setting the radio to a rarely used setting that the rules of the sport required be installed for 'safety reasons'. With the knob turned to Wide-band Emergency Broadcast. Emily speaks into the microphone once shes pressed the trigger.
"To all Forces! This message is directed at you!-" some voiced mumbled over the radio bands to each other or no one in particular.
"Wait.. what?"
"how is this possible? Wasn't she supposed to have been assassinated by the horses special forces?"
"Thats what i heard..."
Emily presses the microphone trigger once more. "I Now understand that not all of you are acting on the will to harm others with fowl intent... But instead, act upon the fallacy's of this rebellions leader. Staff Sergeant Nikoli Markoran, Code name: Big Bear. As you can tell! Your team leaders still live! And i'm afraid i have shocking news. Our lives were put into jeopardy. The rebellion opened fire upon us with live rounds. Both I And Johnna sustained gunshot wounds. The legendary Jamargy sisters fates as of current are unknown, however they were wounded severely during the short resistance we were able to put up against the rebels, and are feared dead-" By now angered yelling and disgust was present across all bands of the radios range.
Emily continues "By proceeding with your actions. You are all Endangering the lives of Innocent beings. Mothers, their children. Fathers. Brothers. Sisters. And their sons and daughters. The young and Old are in danger by your actions! You threaten their lives, livelihood and right to freedom and equal rights by proceeding with this act of immeasurable violence against a civilization that has not seen war on over a millennia!" A Voice yells back over the radio with hatred. And received several acknowledgements from his peers.
"THEY KILLED OUR PEOPLE FIRST! WE'VE DONE NOTHING TO THEM! BUT THEY'VE DONE PLENTY TO US! THEY GET WHATS COMIN'! THEY CHOSE THEIR SIDE!"
With a sigh, realizing that there was little they could do to salvage the situation she sacrifices something precious to her, Her teams trust... Emily depresses the trigger to the microphone. "I Fear that we, your leaders are to blame for this series of events as well... You've all placed your trust in us, and we withheld information from you. The attack against us. Was not an act ordered by the Equestrians leaders. Nor its people! The massacre of our people was carried out by an over cautious glory seeking captain, his troops were forced by cultural pressure to obey the orders of their captain, however over two thirds of the aggressors force realized that the captain was acting on that of his own agenda, and abandoned his command, returning to their barracks to face punishment for abandoning their posts..." Awkward silence over the radio was a start...
Emily continued "The 'Tan Tabbies' Posted a report before the Rebellion started, They witnesses the Equines leaders perform a public punishment of all the survivors that returned from the failed attack on the Mist Cougars. All survivors were publicly stripped of their rank, shamed, Then taken into custody and marched to their capital in chains. As Prisoners. Before the Coup-de-tat started, Johnna, Dimitri and I were in the middle of a radio call with the Equines leaders. They contacted us, Apologized. accepted responsibility for allowing their guards to fly off the handle, then wished to sign official documents that protect our species from any further such violence against us. THEY. NEVER. WANTED. VIOLENCE! So, Are we going to brutally murder their innocent because of the actions of a few? Are you willing to stain your hands with the blood of the innocent? Because if you are, then sadly, your no different than the Rogue Captain who commanded the Massacre against us"
After a minute of silence, a voice talked back over the radio. "This is Captain James Jackson, of the Flying fortress. 'Ratta-tat tat tabbie cat'. We're with you Emily!" After a few seconds of more silence more voices seeming flooded over the radio, so many people where yelling and hollering their pledges of allegiance to Emily that the radio was emitting nothing but constant high pitched static for nearly thirty seconds.
"Wonderful! Simply Wonderful! You've all made the Human race proud! Attention to all forces of the Coalition! Switch your IFF tags over to: Star, Star, three, five five, seven, one, star. Anyone who doesn't switch their IFF tag to this frequency is an enemy. Subdue them without causing mortal harm. In the case of aircraft. Damage then in a manor which causes the aircraft to force an emergency landing or the crew to bail out. Don't kill anybody if at all possible, unless its a last possible resort please! in the case of Tanks and other Armoured vehicles, Disabling them Via engine shots is recommended! Infantry are to be downed by non lethal means, if worst comes to worse and they pose a life threatening risk to either the natives of this world or yourself or comrades, then you have permission to shoot them. Try to aim for non lethal areas such as limbs. Stand by for further orders! We're setting up a command center now to advise all forces!"
With that done, Emily places the microphone down and turns to her friends. "Lets get this war over with, sign those documents, and have a sugary barrel of tea..." she groans as she falls to her knees from stress and the drilling pain of her shoulder.
Laughing Robert drags a chair over and sits her down at the table the radio is currently sitting on. Before Robert can turn to go retrieve a beverage from the fridge the glass windows shatter as a squad of loyalist grenadiers figured out the obvious source of the radio transmissions.
Robert crawls across the floor to Emily, who threw herself out of the chair. "One day! One Fucking 'Normal' Day! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?!" He yells up to the shattered window from the floor. The sound of the ground floor door being kicked in and heavy running reaches them, Dimitri aims his PPSH at the stairs, As Robert commando crawls his way into their former cell, and Cuts Chernov free.
Robert Hands the confused man his AK-47 Before letting go he says. "You helped, us. That means that i have at least some faith in you buddy. Are you going to fight for good?"
Without a second to think Chernov nods strongly. Realizing his grip on the barrel of Sasha Robert smiles warmly before saying. "Good man." And running out the door with the former Russian prisoner closely behind, loading live rounds. Into an empty magazine. "Where did you get those?" Robert asks in amazement and confusion. Chernov just reaches into his pocket and repeatedly throws handful after handful of live rounds at the leaders, who immediately begin passing them to each other and pocketing them.
The first two troopers storm their way to the top of the stairs, only to be sent tumbling back down after being sprayed in the helmet, visor and lightly protected neck by Dimitri and the PPSH.
"Vhere about to have company Comrades!... I Like company... Especially the kind i can shoot!" He says with as thick of a Russian accent as he can whilst still being understandable. His malicious grin gives them all chills.
Chapter 19 - We'll Protect you Prin-...cess? OH, SWEET CELESTIA WHAT IS GOING ON!?
=========================== 0700 Hours. Castle of Friendship. ===========================
Three Alicorns one of pink, one of white, the other of lavender. Sit on the crystal balcony of the Castle of Friendship, as they both watch Celestia raise the sun... Safety at this point, is but an ideal wish.
"It's really happening isn't it?" Twilight asks her friend, sadness clinging to her voice.
"I'm afraid so... But the evacuations are almost complete. I just hope that the Guard has managed to reach and evacuate the other towns in the area..." Cadence replies.
"Its entirely my fault... Luna knew that this could happen but i kept postponing the date to send an envoy to negotiate rendering aid. Then the captain attacked the humans, and instead of sending aid to them, i feared for the lives of those who'd transport it... The only reason they're attacking us is because we let them build the fallacy that we're monsters out to eliminate them. We should of acted sooner..." Celestia says with regret evident as she watches her sun hang in the sky.
Gabby walks out onto the balcony and joins the three princesses. "I never get used to how beautiful this view is..."
The three look to the grey griffon before looking back to the spectacle before them, smiling in the relief from their stressful, dire situation. No matter how brief said relief was, it was a gift.
"This may be Somepony's last chance to see it... I understand that the humans are scared to death of us, and we've reacted terribly to their plight... But to overthrow their current leadership and start a civil war between themselves to attack Ponies indiscriminately... I knew it could get bad but... Not this bad, this fast..." Twilight mumbled to nopony in particular.
"YOUR HIGHNESS'S!" Everyone on the outdoor area turns around to the doorway to the balcony, Luke slides to a halt in the doorway. "You all need to come inside immedi-" His body locks up. He stands on the spot petrified, staring into Celestia's sun.
All on the balcony turned to look at the sun, all except Celestia have to raise a limb over their eyes to avoid blinding themselves. They all see nothing that would warrant this reaction.
"Whats got you spooked Luke?" Gabby asks as she flies over to him. Gabby's question breaks the human out of his trance. he bolts over to the three princesses and pulls Cadence and Celestia by their chest pieces and pushing Twilight towards the door. Eventually everyone gets the message and begins walking off the balcony.
"RUN! DON'T WALK! RUN! GET INSIDE AND HIDE UNDER SOMETHING SOLID!" He yells in desperation, causing all to pick up their pace as they begin to dart down the stairs. Gabby hovers off to the side of the stairs and looks back to the sun one last time before heading inside. Only, the suns grown many black spots.
"What are those? The sun doesn't have spots..." shes yelled at by Luke once more.
"Get under cover!" The lithe Australian stops, leaning over the stairs railing he yells with as much volume as possible. "EVERYONE GET UNDER SOLID COVER! AIR RAID INC-"
((Dont watch the video its for background immersion. Start video at 13 seconds and let it finish by itself. NOTE: you may need to play the video multiple times if you wish...))
His voice is drowned out by a cacophony of banshee like wails and screams that send all the ponies in the castle into a frenzy, hiding under tables and other furniture, standing under the thick crystalline door frames and arches, Any and all cover available is used, except for a handful who either stand on the spot petrified, or duck low and hide their heads under their hooves at the barrage of sound.
Every few seconds the screams of both aircraft and terrified ponies are drowned out by a loud explosion that causes the floor to lightly shake. In several instances the explosions are muffled and the sounds of nearby buildings caving in on themselves is heard for a second before the next scream or wail dominates everyone's hearing.
On two occasions the attacking aircraft targeted the castle itself. The wails and howls of Jericho trumpets drilled into the heads of every living creature in the castle, making everyone's ears ring. Shortly after the wails would die down an explosion would rock the castle, sending books flying off their shelves, and causing the chandeliers to bounce and dance on their chains. Dowsing all below in liquid wax.
Wail after wail, the ten minute long assault continued for what felt like an eternity. And by Mist Cougar standards, was an eternity for their doctrine of mobile warfare. The Stuka' pilots would only drop one bomb on each pass in an attempt at delivering the maximum destruction they could with their limited payloads. With each pass they aimed for the thatch roofs of the many buildings in Ponyville. Their improvised fragmentation bombs plowing through the structures roof before exploding inside on the level beneath. The sudden force of the weaponized 50mm, 75mm, 88mm, 150mm and 380mm compressed air cylinders exploding inside the medieval structures blew out windows, blasted the roofs off, and often even removed the level they exploded in off the structure entirely. But often enough whole structures just caved in on-top of themselves like houses of cards.
In their blood boiling hatred for the creatures below them, the Cougars wanted to put the fear of god into the animals whom mercilessly slaughtered their friends and family... And that they did... Run. After run. After run. On and on. Below the cloud of forty seven aircraft, several smoke plumes began rising into the heavens, as rubble from the exploding structures around town knocked over oil lamps and blew still smoldering coals from the fireplaces and stoves of the various homes and businesses around the wreckage of the town.
One particularly over zealous JU-88 pilot nearly crashed into the Castle of Friendship, in order to aim his bombs at one of the many windows that once held beautiful stained glass windows. His right wingtip only barely managing to miss colliding with the central spire.
Eighteen of the twenty two bombs he carpet bombed the castle with missed the windows exploding harmlessly outside on the castles crystalline structure, the hailstorm of shrapnel the bombs had been coated with shredded the gardens below to a post-apocalyptic scene that would give any avid gardener PTSD. Two 75mm bombs however, found their target.
From under the Cedar desk she and Cadence shared, The Princess of night watched in horror. As two silver cylinders, close in appearance to those she'd seen whilst dream walking. Whistle as they glide through the windows, over the heads of the ponies in the library door frame, and disappear out of sight, followed almost immediately by an explosive pop that caused her hearing to cease for a minute and her vision to temporarily blur, she attempted to stand only to immediately fall back onto her belly, her senses performing cartwheels.
Once her hearing returned to her. The absence of the Stuka's war-cries made her think she was still absent of her hearing, until the sobs and cries of pain from her petrified subjects, whom took refuge in the castle reached her.
Eliza climbed out form under an overturned bookshelf only to have near a dozen spears be pointed into her face. Celestia was furious. "CEASE this at ONCE!" She yelled to her guard, her hearing still damaged.
All the spears dispersed from Eliza's presence as she was enveloped in a golden aura and placed back on her feet next to Celestia. Whom brushed glass fragments off of her shoulders with an outstretched wing.
"Thanks" Eliza said with a grateful smile, which Celestia returned.
"Its not your fault. These events are out of your control. and even then, i wouldn't blame you, although i certainly cant agree this is a good thing. One might say, we had this coming..." She said with grievance.
Medics dashed past the two as they ran to a screaming mare trying to get attention in the library's doorway. once she turned and ran ahead of the medics everyone noticed the bloody hoof-prints she left and she ran.
Eliza sprinted across the room to the door, nearly tripping several times over debris but always managing to recover. upon skidding to a stop, she gasps cant look away, the scene shes confronted with is like that of a horror movie.
In the corner of the foyer, a small group of civilians were shaking like leaves, several still trapped under the shredded mutilated bodies of the guards whom saw the bombs hurtling through the castle and just managed to shield them. Over half the foyer was painted red, and bits of pony clung to every surface, vertical or not.
The fact that the carpet on the stairs was reduced to a rats-nest of shredded, tangled strands and the stairs themselves had huge chips missing out of them indicated the bombs impact point. Various foreign debris such as nuts, bolts, shredded ration cans, even green and brown bottle glass littered the rooms floor.
"W-We're nothing... but S-sadistic monsters..." Eliza stutters as she fell to her hands and knees in the doorway. Eliza had collapsed into a pile of shattered glass, but was in too much mental shock to feel the pain from the dozens of cuts she just gained. Luna picked the distressed woman up in her magic and sat her back down on a clean patch of flooring, before using her magic to numb any pain that she may have been, but wasn't feeling.
'I Cant heal her, not until every bit of glass is removed...' The teary eyed princess thought to herself.
Several Civilians had to be slapped or shook out of screaming fits but all the wounds to the surviving ponies appeared to only be mental. Not like that was any better however...
Most of the Guards soon recovered from the affects of the the raid, and had begun moving civilians to the remaining un-destroyed wagons outside.
They're pace increased when Luke moved from guard to guard, quietly informing them that the raiding party will be back in about half an hour with full bomb loads to support the incoming infantry and tanks.
The rumbling growl of near one hundred engines filled the room, causing several ponies to return to their screaming fits, yelling out about 'how they've come back to kill us'
Luke ascended the stairs and was greeted by the sight of a moving field, almost one hundred tanks were rolling through the fields between The Everfree and the smoking smoldering ruins of the town. Much to his disgust... He saw a dozen tanks from his team in amongst the incoming wall of armour. Three skink Anti-air Shermans, Two Kangaroo infantry carriers. And eight Sentinel tanks, each of the latter being the newest vehicles purchased by the team. their armaments ranging from two Maxim machine guns and either an seventeen pounder Anti-tank cannon or a twenty-five pounder Howitzer.
The sound of marching filled the air. Before long a column of infantry could be seen marching quad-file through the cluttered streets. Officers on horseback barking orders ferally down to their troops, whom only yelled back their responses with equally as much rage. Rather alarmingly they numbered that of a battalion, and all the troops in Mist Cougar uniforms where singing 'Marschiert in Feindesland'. Which was consequentially rapidly depleting the morale of the troops from the various other teams marching in formation with them...
The seen resembled that of the March scene in 'Fury'
((Watch if you want to hear the marching and lyrics... You really dont have to though. I just added this for those whom are curious or wanted to hear what the scene sounded like))
And that's a terrifying prospect. If they've gone that fanatical for revenge, we're all screwed...
Luke stands on the stairs looking out through the narrow window down into the streets below as they turned into flowing rivers of revenge crazed infantry. 'Is this what my grandfather felt like in the battle of Hürtgen Forest?... I'm fucking terrified...' Luke noticed that at some point whilst viewing the spectacle his legs had begun threatening to buckle and his hands were shaking.
Twilight noticed Luke shrink back slowly from the window before resting his back against the wall it sat in, and slowly slide down the wall looking defeated. walking up to his side she noticed the terrified look plastered over his face. She rears up on her hind legs before looking out of the window. 'Oh...No... There's no way we can even hope to last five minutes against this many... we're all doomed...'
Luke was bought out of his trance when Twilight's leg brushed up against his shoulder. Looking to his right he finds himself eye level with her cutie-mark. His eyes wander up to her face. For some reason he cant narrow down. Either the look of fear shes currently wearing, or the tears welling up in the edges of her eyes, or her shaking in fear, either or all of these factors combined makes something inside himself click. His hand reaching over and retrieving his Garand from the floor, he pulls the action back before pushing a full clip of ammunition into his rifle.
Twilight's ear twitches at the distinct sound of the weapons mechanism being messed with. "What are you doing? Your not going to fight them are you?! You cant win!" She exclaims in disbelief.
"I We have no choice. Our loyalty lies with Johnna, and your all innocent. Its out Obligation to follow Johnna's last orders. Which consist of act as Mediators, with is Johnna speak for 'keep them alive and out of trouble whilst negotiating with them, your responsibility mate.'" With his clip in the rifle he presses it down with his thumb, causing the action to cycle forward. quickly removing his hand from the operating rod. With a loud metallic 'clak' He rises to his feet with his weapon across his chest. "Enemy troops at the gates mates. Our job to protect them, or at least provide enough resistance to let them escape." The man says with a grin. Eliza hears this and begins to stand on her shaking legs. picking up her Owens gun, she wobbles over to the group of humans forming up in the Foyer.
All the ponies watching this just look on in shock that the humans would still attempt a resistance whilst being outnumbered so hopelessly. Luke hugs Eliza whilst pecking her on the cheek, causing the woman to recover slightly from her mental staggering. "STOP!" Twilight yells from the library doors into the Foyer. Grimacing at the mess the 'improvised' weapons left. "You'll all DIE if you fight them! You can't possibly beat all those soldiers! DOESN'T YOUR LIVES MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU!" She yells with a surprising amount of concern for all parties, the library falls completely silent, as every-pony watched on in shock.
"Of course we don't want to die! But if we don't at least delay them, We're all going to die! Every last one of us! At worst if we fail the same thing will still happen, but theres still a chance that we may have reinforcements! So we're going to fight. Even if its in-vain!"
"How... How can you still find resolve in knowing that your throwing your lives down?" Twilight asked in tears. The humans response made Twilight cringe.
"Better to die fighting, beit for your own life, or others. Then to die cowering in a corner pleading for non-existent mercy."
With that the humans began to drag Crystal furniture from the library into the foyer. Readying themselves for a fight to the last bullet.
During all of this the guards-ponies had just finished carrying the last of their wounded and fallen comrades and civilians though the doors, before slamming them shut and pushing as much as possible up against the door.
Eliza had set up her radio in the library so that the ponies could hear if any reinforcements were coming. the guards had half blocked the door way into their final stronghold with crystal book shelves. We're currently hiding behind our improvised crystal barricades in the foyer checking out final ammo count one last time. 'I don't think paint rounds are going to do much... especially when they have actual bullets... Oh well. Triple tap each it is then...' Eliza thinks to herself with an unusual calm considering the situation... 'Why is it that cliche of 'when ever you know your gonna die you feel so calm?' actually true?'
==Lukes perspective=
The sound of Caterpillar tracks ceases for two minutes before a shadow appears under the doors. Everyone aims down their iron sights in anticipation.
...
...
...
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
The loud thumps against the door echoes around the foyer, several gasps could be heard from the library to our backs. I give one last hug to my sweetheart before leaving the cover of our makeshift defensive-line... as i inch towards the door, aiming down my Garand's sights, the sounds of hooves on the floor behind me causing me to cease my cautious advance before turning around. My eyes lock with those of the princesses. "Your highness's! Get to cover immediately! This is no place for you! Your people need yo-" My angered rant was cut off rather quickly by that of Luna's motherly tone.
"I don't know how royalty works were your from Luke. But my sister and I have lead our subjects into battles of hopeless odds before. And besides, our Ability's are not to be underestimated." Luna finished by smiling warmly.
I let out a few stutters, but soon gave up, understanding that arguing with Royalty, was as productive as arguing with children. You give them advice, and tell them not to touch the stove, and they go and do it anyway behind your back anyway. Just get behind the barricade! My friends will need protection more than i will."
"Why's that? your the one answering the door? The same door with hundreds of armed soldiers on the other side..." Luna asks in confusion.
"Because when i answer it i'm more than likely going to just get shot in the face by a sniper." My blunt monotone made Twilight look squeamish. To be honest though... at this point i was fairly certain that wasn't too hard...
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
I turn to face the door, inhaling deeply, I yell "Cant you see the porch light isn't on?! We aint' got no candy for you children! So FUCKOFF!"
For about half a minute after my comment, that had the princesses looking at me in confusion, All i heard was a C.O Arguing with someone else on the other side of the door. Then, My heart fell through my stomach and butterflies of fear flew through me. The sound that caused this? A low pitched mechanical whine, followed shortly afterwards by the grinding of gears. Without even speaking I grab Celestia and Luna by their breastplates, since they were the two princesses who stayed by my side. Twilight having moved back into the Library to protect the civilians. And Cadence behind the barricades with half of the guards.
Pulling Both princesses off their hooves i drag/fall to the right pulling them with me. As we all hit the floor, The doors explode into table sized chunks that collapse into the foyer.
As we all look up, we find much to our surprise that we are not currently smothered under enemy forces. In fact, the foyer is still empty. A voice echos through the now doorless front entrance. "Surrender now, and you shall live!"
I Turn back to the doorway from the floor. "Fuckoff ya bastard! I know your gonna kill us all!" My words are met with nothing but silence...
A Squad of eight soldiers from my team walks casually through the door like they own the place... Upon seeing me prone on the floor, my rifle aimed at their necks. they freeze before raising their hands. 'Whilst the armour stops your from being injured. it still hurts like hell and leaves you breathless when your hit in the neck...'
I Stood up from the floor, without taking my rifle off their squad leader. "Turn round, slow, and form a wall at the entrance. MOVE!" Nodding the forms about face in the direction they just came, and slowly walk with their hands in the air back to the door.
The princesses and I walk to the entrance being them, using them as shields from the abundance of pissed off riflemen aiming at us. The C.O whom appeared to be in charge of this detachment stepped in front of the infantry. I then noticed a Kingtiger 10.5 parked behind the infantry.
And a tan coloured Sentinel 17 pounder with brown and green splotches parked behind and off-center to that as well.
(( This is the Sentinel 17 pounder for ye' who be curious))
My, My, My. Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh Dear... He repeats in a mocking tone. So THIS!-" He gestures not only to I and the princesses, but the visible defensive line of humans and ponies, and the library fort further behind that. "- Is the 'Legendary' Resistance of Johnna whom had my troops pissing their pants!" He turns to face his battalion. "P A T H E T I C" He yells back to them with enough force that he almost doubled over in his yell.
Turning back to us he looks into my eyes with his glare. "Step aside. We have a job to do here!" Returning his glare i stare back into his corrupted soul, but something about his eyes keeps putting me off. His pupils appear to have a green outline with a faint orange glow to them. The shade of the ruined trees around us highlighted that little fact.
Celestia had begun silently muttering something to herself when we all noticed his eyes. But his voice snapped us all back to reality.
"Then, Y O U D I E!" He yelled back with a near primal rage. Raising his right hand above his head, he throws a pointing gesture towards us, all the while wearing a sadistic toothy grin. With a mechanical whine the Kingtigers turret begins to swing to its left, whilst the muzzle of its 105MM cannon lowers down to our level. With the grind of gears the turret slows its traverse and stops with the gun aiming at us.
A Sergeant in my teams camouflage practically leaps forward alongside the Commanding Officer. "SIR! Have you lost your collective Marbles?! My Men are infr-" He's cut off as the C.O Draws his pistol and shoots him in the stomach. The officer collapses to his knees gripping his abdomen. This scene causes all the troops in Wallaroo's colours behind them to look on in shock, before they all begin to surge forward to help their wounded officer.
The C.O in Mist Cougar grey raises his pistol to their advance, pointing to each of them. "BACK! Everybody back in formation I Say! Or I'll shoot you all like dogs!" Everyone stands there mortified at the scene before them. The officers actions had Luna and Celestia repulsed. Even the Commander of the Sentinel tank at the end of the street opened his positions hatch and half climbed out of his tank, looking through his binoculars in disbelief.
With a loud burst of static from the library. The Radio crackled to life. The familiar voice of Emily cuts through the noise, causing all the soldiers in the street to lock up and look to each-other in disbelief.
"To all Forces! This message is directed at you!-"
"Wait.. what?"
"how is this possible? Wasn't she supposed to have been assassinated by the horses special forces?"
"Thats what i heard..."
"I Now understand that not all of you are acting on the will to harm others with fowl intent... But instead, act upon the fallacy's of this rebellions leader. Staff Sergeant Nikoli Markoran, Code name: Big Bear. As you can tell! Your team leaders still live! And i'm afraid i have shocking news. Our lives were put into jeopardy. The rebellion opened fire upon us with live rounds. Both I And Johnna sustained gunshot wounds. The legendary Jamargy sisters fates as of current are unknown, however they were wounded severely during the short resistance we were able to put up against the rebels, and are feared dead-" All the soldiers in the street looked shocked at the news. and several had begun to glare daggers into the back of the C.O's head.
"By proceeding with your actions. You are all Endangering the lives of Innocent beings. Mothers, their children. Fathers. Brothers. Sisters. And their sons and daughters. The young and Old are in danger by your actions! You threaten their lives, livelihood and right to freedom and equal rights by proceeding with this act of immeasurable violence against a civilization that has not seen war on over a millennia!"
An angered Mist Cougar Corporal yells into his friends radio backpack."THEY KILLED OUR PEOPLE FIRST! WE'VE DONE NOTHING TO THEM! BUT THEY'VE DONE PLENTY TO US! THEY GET WHATS COMIN'! THEY CHOSE THEIR SIDE!"
Several of the civilian ponies inside the library were crying to themselves as they made their preparations and accepted their possible but seemingly assured fates.
Emily's partially distorted voice returns after a short silence. "I Fear that we, your leaders are to blame for this series of events as well... You've all placed your trust in us, and we withheld information from you. The attack against us. Was not an act ordered by the Equestrians leaders. Nor its people! The massacre of our people was carried out by an over cautious glory seeking captain, his troops were forced by cultural pressure to obey the orders of their captain, however over two thirds of the aggressors force realized that the captain was acting on that of his own agenda, and abandoned his command, returning to their barracks to face punishment for abandoning their posts..." Everyone looked to each-other in a confused state of shock, and disorder began rapidly becoming evident in their ranks.
Glaring at the scene before him, the C.O Climbs on top of the Kingtiger before sticking his head through the open hatch of the radioman position in the tanks hull.
"The 'Tan Tabbies' Posted a report before the Rebellion started, They witnessed the Equines leaders perform a public punishment of all the survivors that returned from the failed attack on the Mist Cougars. All survivors were publicly stripped of their rank, shamed, Then taken into custody and marched to their capital in chains. As Prisoners.
So much static had flooded the transmission by its completion that the last sentences were inaudible, but everyone was now looking to each-other questioningly. Before the C.O's voice yelled through the air once more.
"F E U E R F R E I!" There was a deafening roar, a flash that forced my eyes closed on instinct, then a concussive force against me. But oddly enough, I felt no pain... My death was painless? Then i again, i was hit with a 10.5CM cannon, I'm most likely mist by this point-
I Then felt in immense a heavy weight fall against my side. Looking to my left, i see that Luna had collapsed against me in a cold sweat. her dark-blue fur having changed to a darker shade... 'Wait a moment... Thats not just her. Looking around i noticed that the light around us had dulled down significantly. The sensation of heat against my left side made me turn my head and yell out in shock.
I was staring straight at a 10.5CM 'AP' Round that was protruding part way through Luna's Midnight blue shield. As i began to lift Luna onto my back Celestia used her magic to carry her sister and the three of us retreated back through the door, Luna's shield finally flickered out then shattered into hundreds of thousands of coin sized fragments, the sound of the rain of shield fragments, was comparable to a dump truck dumping a load of broken glass onto the road.
When Celestia and I heard the sounds of over one hundred Enfield .303's chambering a round we all froze, but Eliza raised up from behind the barricade waving her fist and hollering out her approval. "WHOOO! THATS IT MATES! Welcome back to the good guys!"
Pivoting our heads Celestia and I Looked to each-other in confusion before looking behind us. And seeing the C.O Standing there with his hands up whilst looking down the muzzles of every soldier's rifles for the last six rows of the firing line that formed facing the castle's entrance. The Kingtiger began to adjust its aim onto us once again with its lethargic mechanical whine.
The guards ponies abandoned the defensive line and reformed their formation around the front of us. "Don't worry Princeses! We-..'ll Protect... You?" Their declaration was interrupted when they noticed the Elephant sized Sentinel tank begin rotating its turret to the Kingtiger in-front of it. Luna was just starting to come around too as she looked up to me and followed everyone's confused gaze to outside. She managed to look just in time to see the Sentinels turret stop swinging and all the infantry parting like the red sea to get away from the two tanks.
"Whats it-" Her drowsy question was cut off abruptly, by the air shaking sound of a 17 pound AP round tearing the air in-half.
===Normal Perspective==
==BLAMMM==
The round slams into the rear sloped armour, showering the street in sparks. The armour protecting the Tigers engine bay was no match for the round, with a metallic Thud and crunch that made everyone cringe as they continued to hold their ears, trying to shield themselves from the bell/gong like ringing of the hit tank, the sound made their teeth hurt, and they could feel the reverberating sound in the air around them. The Kingtiger rocks forward on its forward suspension, as ink black smoke bellows out from the engine bay, the engine finally splutters, coughs, and gives out.
"OH SWEET CELESTIA! Whats going on?!" Several guards yell to each-other in panic, whilst trying to shield their sensitive ears from the deafening sounds of tank on tank combat, before their leader manages to regain control of his subordinates.
"Put up a shield! Defend the Princesses!" Nodding they all put up their own shield, layering them like multicoloured spaced armour.
The sentinels gunner is heard yelling over the radio in the library. "HIT Over-match! Recommend Ballistic Capped! Load-up!" Another voice yelled over the radio presumably the commander "We're not trying to kill the crew! We've knocked out the tank! Leave them!
However the Heavy tanks turret began to slowly traverse around to its left, its cannon barrel raising to the height of the Sentinel's turret.
"JUST GIVE UP!" Luke yells in disbelief at the Tiger. "Bail out Already! You know your not going to be able to do that!"
"Eliza? What does he mean?" Cadence asks Luke's girlfriend.
"The King tiger has two types of mechanism for turning its turret, hydraulic-electric. And Hand-crank. However, the Hydraulic traverse only works when the engine is running. Luke's in disbelief that the crew are actually going through the trouble of trying to hand turn that things 28 tonne turret instead of just surrendering."
The radio crackled back to life. "Commander! They're not sharing your sentiment! They ARE gonna kill us!" After a few seconds the tank commanders voice yells over the radio.
"Someone disable that tank crew! Or we'll have to put them down! I've got better things to do tonight then die!"
Eliza and Clarkson both vaulted the barricade and reached into their pockets in near synchronization. Cadence's question fell on deaf ears and they both charged outside and sprinted towards the tan painted Tiger.
As they approached, the commander of the Mountain of steel before them climbed from his turret and seized control of the pindall mounted MG-42. At the sound of the locking pin being pulled from the mounting, several Wallaroo riflemen aimed at the commander and began shouting orders he ignored.
Eliza raised her Owens gun and unloaded the entire magazine of paint rounds into the commanders chest and legs, causing him to fall overboard to the ground below, were several Wallaroo's planted their knees into his back before zip tying his wrists together.
The two scale the side of the tank dodging rubble from several critically damaged buildings. As the Kingtiger's six meter long cannon barrel collided with a building across the narrow street, pushing the loose debris out of its way and knocking down what was left of the unstable second story wall.
Clarkson Stopped on the roof of the hull. Whilst Eliza climbed over the gun mantlet and stopped above the commanders hatch. With a nod from each of them they pulled the pins on their paint grenades and flicked the safety lever off. They sat there holding the armed grenades for two seconds 'Cooking' them.
((Cooking a grenade is where one arms the grenade but delays throwing it, this is done sometime so the fuse is greatly reduced by the time it lands, so the enemy cant throw it back. And no, it surprisingly doesn't involve a stove or other cooking utensils...))
Two seconds later Eliza drops hers down the commanders hatch. And Clarkson throws his through the radioman's hatch towards the middle 'Turret compartment'. Each of them yell "F R A G O U T!" on instinct and courtesy to their teammates as they cover their ears.
"G R A N A T A ! R E T T U N G S A-" The crew-members yelled warning is cut off by two loud bangs and paint spraying out of the open turret hatch.
Poking her head down into the hatch Eliza observes the crew groaning in pain as they lay reclined around their compartment stations. "Thank fuck they were wearing their full kit..." she mumbled to herself as she collapses on the roof of the turret giving a thumbs up to the Sentinel's commander. Whom was half out of his hatch.
The commanders voice came over the radio once more. "Gunner! Tank Destroyed. Hold Fire!" Everyone watched with held breath as the turret continued to traverse around, but since the two of their teammates were on top of the turret the terrified gunner of the Sentinel couldn't fire.
The Muzzle of the 105mm cannon is face to face with the Sentinels gun mantlet, only clearing it by a few centimeters. But to the tank crews relief it keeps rotating freely, continuing on its course due to momentum.
Below Clarkson and Eliza several troops began yelling up to them from across the street, when Eliza started listening to them her eyes flew open wide. Turning to her left and looking up, she saw that the cannon barrel was going to knock over the wrecked building leaning over the tank at a precarious angle.
"CLARKIE! GTFO!" She yells and she gets to her knees gritting her teeth in pain from the cuts on her limbs. And slams the commanders hatch shut. They both leap over the side of the vehicle. Eliza had the worst of it, since she jumped from the turret roof. After falling for three meters she yells as the impact with the ground sends excruciating pain shooting through her legs. Clarkson and two more fellow infantry man-handle her away from the tank across the street as the guns muzzle collides with the wrecked building.
With a the foreboding squeak and moan the wood structure that kept the stone balcony and outdoor dining area of the restaurant standing defiantly in the aftermath of the air raid. Finally surrenders to gravity. With a loud crunch the hoof carved wooden supports cave in on themselves, sending the entire balcony and everything on it crashing down onto the tank.
Once the last brick stopped bouncing across the street, yet more groaning from the structure caused the four Australians running or in Eliza's case limping down the street for their lives.
As they all trip over rubble the Whole building leans forward before falling face first atop the Heavy-tank in the left side of the narrow street. The two story structure just piles itself into a mountain of debris atop the tank.
Once the last of the rubble stops moving, the only visible part of the tank is its telephone pole sized cannon barrel sticking out of the rubble, and over the plot of land the building once stood on.
Everyone just stares at the rubble in a stupor. Just as everyone begins cheering, gunshots echo out from the end of the street, followed shortly by the roar of an MG-42 from the other side of town.
The Sergeant, who's being carried by two pony medics. Yells in his stretcher into his hand radio "EVERYONE INSIDE THE CASTLE NOW! DEFEND THE CIVIES!"
A tidal wave of forest camouflaged infantry surges through the gaping hole in the front of the castle the doors once sat in.
The Sentinel 'mountain goats' over the rubble, across the garden courtyard, and backs up at an angle partially into the doorway. To prevent enemy infantry from entering the castle easily, but still allowing friendly forces to shoot over its engine deck. Luna places three door fragments on-top of the Sentinels turret, making in improv bunker slit/window for the commander. For which he tips his hat to her with a warm smile. Earning a smile in return from the princess.
The commander yells out into the Foyer. "Does anyone have paint rounds? All we have is live ammo!
============================================ 0950 Hours. Castle of Friendship. Battle for Ponyville. ============================================
==Lance corporal Jackie Krosst=
Violent ringing penetrates the veil of darkness that clouded my consciousness. That irritable head-splitting ringing means that i'm not sleeping... 'Why am i being dragged? Who's... Dragging me?'
[i']Somethings digging into my back... What happened to me? Why am i so muttled... Who's slapping the side of my face? Stop it... "S-sst-op it..." Whats with all the yelling? Are those...Gunshots?'
'Whats this warm feeling... its so relaxing... Its... Almost like i'm lying down in the sun...'
...
...
...
'Wai- OH GOD! THAT PAIN! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS PAIN! ARRRGH! MY STOMACH!'
...
'Wheres the pain gone?...'
'ke- u~p... Wa~ke~U~p~' 'Whats that voice in my head..'.
'Wa~ke U~p!' 'But i don't want to wake up...The warmth of the darkness...its so comforting...-
'OW! Who just slapped me?!'
'Why does it sound like i'm surrounded by gunfire? What's going on?!'
My colourless black realm suddenly materialized into vivid colour that blinded me... 'The scene... it feels familiar...but i cant remember...'
I Find myself standing in the large foyer of a castle... Everyone else appears locked in the thralls of battle. but theres no sound... just silence... My thoughts are the only thing i can hear in this strange environment...
'Why is everyone inside a castle of crystal? Its beautiful... But why is there a Sentinel backed up into the broken doorway? What is everyone shooting at?' Turning on the spot, my gasp echoes throughout the entire soundless void that i'm in...
'Why are there so many people injured? Why are there so many dead?' I feel the warmth of my tears streaming down the sides of my face as i stand there on shaking legs, my hand clenched over my mouth in shock... Tucked away in the corner of the foyer. Row after Row of bodies lined along the back wall, stained sheets keep their identity's hidden from the world... but without a doubt their dead...
Pivoting on the spot silently crying to myself, i see Ponies of various breeds rushing about around the many humans in the foyer. Pegasai flying ammunition to the firing line that was shooting over the sentinels engine deck, along with first aid supplies such as bandages and antiseptic. Unicorns moving the broken bloodied bodies of my fallen fellow humans... Earth ponies dragging stretchers and fallen debris around and about the massive room... 'Wait... Why are there Howitzers in here?!'.
Three 25 pounder howitzers sit in the corner. Their tan and olive green gun-shields riddled with silver dents and holes. Mist Cougar and Wallaroo Field Engineers work as fast as they can servicing the damaged guns with their field tools. Each squads designated welder walks quickly down the line of five guns spot welding two steel 'I' beams to the bottom and top of each guns shield. As they finish each gun a unicorn slides two thick sheets of crystal in place over the front of the gun-shields, either side of the cannon barrel.
Its then that i hear sound other than my own... Two distorted voices are currently yelling at each-other, as they drag someone towards the gap in the barricade over the doors to another room. My curiosity gets the better of me as i follow the three to the door, catching up i freeze in my tracks and look on in both confusion, fear, and shock... Their dragging...Me.
My grey uniform with red trimming is shredded around my belly area... The front of my shirt and pants are stained a dark rusty red colour... My blood trails as they continue man-handling my un-moving body through the partially open doors.
I find my self muttering. "A-... Am... I-..."
I Jump in surprise when a voice addresses me from behind. Turning on the spot i see a nightmarish dark-blue blob of shadow like smoke, in the rough shape of a horse or pony similar to my height. Deep, flaming turquoise balls of light roughly where the eyes should sit, leave trails of misty light when they move.
As it approaches i back pedal, step for step, terrified. I find myself tripping over a severed limb that was yet to be picked up, upon doing this the shadow stops and looks to the dismembered leg, i cant make out an expression, but the monster tilts it head to an angle, seemingly either surprised or confused.
The voice reaches me, only this time instead of being normal. It sounds demonic... like one of those cliche voices you hear from a ghost movie... As it speaks its eyes glow with a brighter intensity.
The voice asks, but in my state i find myself incapable of answering her question. Instead i just keep backing up. Until my back hits the wall on the opposite end of the foyer.
With nowhere to go, i curl up in a ball against the wall trying to protect myself as i scream. "GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" At my pleas the creature of darkness freezes mid stride. Before its eyes blow bright enough to drown out all the colour in the room. I bury my head into my little armadillo ball position against the wall. Waiting for the end... but instead, i feel the warmth of a soft touch against the back of my shoulder. After recovering from my Stiffness i slowly uncurl myself and look up.
Standing over me is a pony. Her midnight blue coat has a brilliant sheen to it. And her mane blows on an ethereal breeze. Her Turquoise eyes look down to me with the warm love that a mother has for her child. As she sits down next to me she speaks.
"So, your the shadow entity that I've seen lurking around the foyer. I thought it looked human in shape... But, Why are you in this realm?" She asks with curiosity.
I Just lye on my side there stunned, before sitting up with my back against the wall, holding my legs to my chest with my arms. And managing to finally stutter out. "What do you mean 'Entity? And i don.t know why i'm here... i just watched two people drag my body into that room..." I replied whilst pointing to the doors.
The pony sits there with a troubled thoughtful look on her face, before she rises to her feet. "Come, We shall see whats become of you." She gestures towards the door with a nod in its direction.
Taking her hoof, she helps me up, and together we walk over the door. On the way dozens of both Humans and Ponies come and go through it. Though most of the humans leaving the room are wrapped in bandages and loading their weapons or are being carried by either ponies or their fellow comrades into the corner opposite the improvised morgue.
I Stopped. "Whats going on? Why can only you see me? Am i-... Dead?" The pony stops, then turns to face me from where she stood in the doorway.
"Your in a rather interesting impasse. Your neither as of current... Your body isn't fully dead, yet, your consciousness has left it... Its rather strange... Even i, in all my millennia, have never seen such an event occur..."
"W-wha- Does that even mean?! Are you trying to tell me your immortal? And i'm now a- Ghost?" I Stutter in a mix of fear and panic.
"Well, Your not a ghost. as your body isn't dead yet. But your soul has become detached somehow... And your not the only one... All around us i see dozens of humans... but i also see, Others... They bear your species shape, but their made of shadow, and have green flames as eyes. They bear similar characteristics as timber-wolves and other magical constructs in this sense... its quite strange..." She replies whilst looking off into space, evidently thinking. But she shakes her head to clear her thoughts before once again motioning for me to follow.
As i enter the room i'm greeted by the sight of a casualty clearing station, doctors and medics from all walks of life are rushing from patient to patient administering medicinal aid and magic to help those whom have been injured. The beautiful floor of the room has almost disappeared under various blood smears as used medical supplies. Unicorns are in a constant struggle to clean the messes left by both doctor and patient.
"This is... Terrible..." I Said with a hand over my mouth in shock. "Why are we doing this to ourselves..." The Strange pony turns to me and replies with.
"It appears that your people are standing up to try and defend us... However the odds of success are abysmal as of current. We don't want to kill anyone... but I'm afraid they don't share that sentiment... Our enemy fights with a savage near primal, Feral even, brutality that our lands haven't seen in years from an army..."
"Is there any way we can stop this from continuing..." I find myself asking.
"Theres only two options so far. Either kill our enemy, which isn't an option anymore than a last resort. Or, Pray for human reinforcements from your peoples 'Coalition', Either way... The outlook for our future, and the futures of Everypony in this castle are bleak at best..."
Muffled voices echo their way into the space we currently share...
"DOC! MEDIC! HURRY!"
"COMEON! WE'RE LOOSING HER!"
Two Wallaroo medics and three unicorns in white uniforms rush over, but after a short bout trying to stem the massive blood loss they all looked to each-other knowing a loosing battle was in their midst's. The unicorns lit their horns as my body was surrounded in a yellow aura, the same warm feeling from previous envelopes my body and i suddenly feel more relaxed...
Turning my head to look at the only being who can see me i stare for a few seconds before asking her a question, my defeated tone of voice instantly grabbing her attention from the scene before her.
"I'm done for... Aren't i?" The dark-blue pony closes her eyes and flares her horn. After a few moments her horn stops glowing and her teal eyes look into mine, her sadness evident by the glassy pain that reflects through them. Closing her eyes she nods her head.
Looking back to my motionless body, i lye in a pool of my own blood, everyone surrounding me just closes their eyes and looks away from me. In the back of the group i can see Princess Cadence crying... She moves past everyone and wraps her hooves around my expired mortality. She sits there next to me, just, crying into my shoulder...
One of the mist cougars whom dragged me into the room placed her hand on Cadences back.
"Don't worry. We'll see to it personally that shes given a memorial, so that none shall forget her loss..." Cadence raises her head from my bodies shoulder, and looks back to the woman in grey uniform.
"If Jackie hadn't- -sob- done what she- did... I'd be the one dead..." The princess of love returns to her distressed embrace of my shoulder.
The woman once again speaks with her voice full of pain. "I know... It takes an extreme amount of courage, bravery, and care for those around oneself to throw yourself onto a grenade. Her sacrifice saved not only you. But us... And the hope you shall give to your people..."
"I'm Princess Luna... I'm afraid that i must thank you for your sacrifice... You saved Cadence... But couldn't save yourself in the process, You eternally have our dept, and i'm afraid that i couldn't ask any more of you... But, Princess Twilight sparkle has been trying to solve the problem of the 'Possessions' that are causing your people to fight each-other... Your, circumstances could aid her in that analysis. That is if you wish it... I'm not going to force you to do anything after what you've done." I look into her Teal eyes, they seem to intend into her pure soul for years... After thinking over it for a few seconds i simply nod my agreement to her.
"Then please. Follow me Jackie..." Luna begins to walk up a spiral staircase thats hidden in the corner of the Library. After two minutes our ascent is finished, and i'm still suffering from shell-shock...
'Am i really dead? Is this a dream... or rather, a nightmare...' 'What happens to me now? Do i pass on? Or am i doomed to roam this world in constant limbo...'
As we finally reach the top of the stairs Luna turns to face me. "Don't worry. We wont allow you to be stuck in limbo, No creature deserves a fate of aimless wandering, to be stuck in between two dimensions and be invisible to those around you... that's tragic." 'Ah. I forgot she could hear my thoughts... Thats rather-'
"Pervasive?" She replies with a smile.
"You could say that." I found myself replying.
We continued down a narrow hallway. All he rare windows that provided light had their glass blown out. Most certainly due to the various bombing runs against the castle.
Luna stops at a narrow but fairly tall doorway. Using her magic, the doors slide open sideways. the sound of grinding stone fills the hallway, like some archaic dungeon door from a video-game.
The room was evidently a former Loft that was converted into a private lab and study. No windows can be seen anywhere, the only dim orange and blue light in the cavernous room is that of the hundreds of glowing gems.
The lavender coloured pony i see looks up in surprise, and greets the princess, but evidently cant see me, as she immediately turns back to the mountain of books that are stacked on the table around her.
"I'm starting to feel like a third wheel..." I groan in degeneracy.
With a giggle Luna walks over to Twilight before addressing her...
After a fairly brief discussion Twilight's head shoots up from the three books sprawled out in-front of her as she scans the room, looking for me. After a lavender bubble spreads from her horn and around the room, her dully glowing lavender eyes lock onto me after a brief look around the dark gem lit room.
Twilight approached me, cautiously at first. Reassurances from Luna that i'm not hostile evidently comforted her enough to allow her to casually walk up to me. A Spool of parchment that was seemingly endless takes flight from a table in one of the few dark recesses of the room. With one end finally making its its way to Twilight's front, The rest of the paper rapidly flaps through the air across the room, spooling up into a scroll in-front of the lavender Princess. Two quills along with black and red ink also find their way to the air besides the princess.
Mumbling to herself whilst she study's me, the sound of quills against paper soon fills the room. Looking up from the Lavender pony stalking circles around me whilst being followed by the various supplies, i give Luna an uncomfortable smile. She returns with her own warm gesture.
"Twilight." Luna mumbles with amusement. The princess ceases her current notes and sit upright. I had to repress a chuckle, the way Twilight sat up so quickly, she looked like a puppy that just had her name called. "I Do believe that your making our guest uncomfortable."
Twilight looks up to me before giving a sheepish giggle, hanging her head she just mumbles. "Sorry...I get carried away sometimes..." 'Dawwwww. She's using the cutes! . . . It was super effective!' Luna chuckles to herself whilst i drop of my knees and bear-hug the now partially freaked out Twilight.
"Y-you weren't kidding about her being friendly." Twilight stammers. Releasing Twilight, i raise to my feet once again. Looking to the scroll i'm disappointed, Twilight can only see me as a shadow... but at least she can see me i guess...
Luna notices my expression and moves over to join me and her fellow princess. "Twilight, As you've been informed. Jackie here recently died. But her consciousness lingers around in the grey area between our world and the dream world... Shes scared that shes doomed to wander around aimlessly in an invisible space... I Brought her here. Because, if anypony can find out a way to give her options it was you." Twilight smiles at Luna's compliment and trots over to the table she was seated at upon our entry.
Walking over to her side, i look down and see the three books she has sprawled out over the table are books about paranormal legends and creatures. "Well, after hearing a short description of what Luke told me about the eyes of the humans outside. I thought it sounded familiar, but i couldn't remember where i learnt it... Until l i remembered that i put all the books i couldn't prove or though were nonsense up here in the attic where my secret lab is. After a short dig through the bookshelf on paranormal myths and legends i found the copies i was looking for." Twilight gestures to the three books facing us on the table. "These two are different copies of this same book-" Pointing to an ancient looking leather-bound tomb with deteriorating iron edges and filigree. A huge lock that looks to me made of meteorite iron or tungsten prevents over two thirds of the book from being read. A single obsidian looking gemstone with a purple burning flame within itself sits in an iron setting in the center of the books spine. "-This is the original, the many ages haven't been kind to it. Even with a preservation rune protecting it...-" As i place my hand on the coin sized gemstone, Twilight starting tapping the dirt encrusted gemstone with her hoof, she recoils slightly as the book shocks her. "-Thats new..." Twilight says with a pained expression, whilst rubbing her hoof she continues with. "Its never done that before-"
Before Twilight can finish her words the book lets out an unholy screech, Akin to that of someone running a cheese grater down a chalkboard. I feel an immense amount of power suddenly surge through me, and the book levitates off the table and tendrils of magical energy touch Twilight's and Luna's horns. Twilight is greatly worried about this, and flares her horn, summoning a fireball. Luna's yell for her to stop causes the fireball to shrink, before imploding.
"This is most interesting... It appears to be draining magical power from us and transfusing it to itself and Jackie... Let us see where this leads." After a moment of staring through Luna, Twilight nods with an unsure expression.
The 'Preservation rune' as Twilight called it glows with a black light that is somehow so bright it begins to blind me. after a few seconds the runes black glow dies down to a barely noticeable aura. Still levitating mid air the book turns to face me... The locks keyhole glows purple before it dissolves away to dust and forms rings around the tomb. The rings of black metal are sucked into the gem set in the books spine. And what happens next surprises everyone in the room...
The book bursts into purple flames. Once they die down, its fully repaired... Twilight stares in amazement at the display before her. Shes left utterly speechless as her jaw hangs agape.
The book levitates towards me... And as i gets closer i can hear shallow whispers... All directed at me... Calling to me... To say that this experience was leaving me on edge and uncomfortable was an understatement... As i begin to backpedal the book simply follows me all the while seeming to randomly flick through pages.
After nearly a dozen steps and changing directions multiple times during my retreat from the very persistent book. I stopped and held my arms out in-front of me. With inconceivable speed the book darts across the six foot gap between us, and lands in my waiting arms. The gem glows a bright violet as the book flicks through its many hundreds of pages.
It crosses the iron page that kept most of its knowledge sealed away for several millennia. The pages in this section are made of some sort of thin black fabric, the edges are golden, and the text on the pages are white.
Once again voices begin to speak to me from all around. As Twilight notices my shadow looking around, and nervously recoiling from seemingly nothing, she begins to look even more nervous if such a thing was possible, however the princess of friendship continued to document what was happening onto another scroll.
Luna can also hear the voices and appears to be confused initially, as they're speaking in only whispers and they're of many languages... But i somehow understand them...
"Y͜óu ̛w͟i̧ļl ma̛ke us ̶s̛éen͞ ̷a͟gai͝n..͞. ́W̕ę sh̵an't be f̡or̶go͢t̶t͝e͟ń ͡no̢ l̀o͡nger̸!̕"
Twilight jumps as she averts her gaze to the dust falling from the ceiling. In the foyer below the 25 pounder's had all started firing.
=WHUP= =WHUP= =WHUP-WHUP=
"Thé ́H͘u͏m̴an͝s!͢ ͠O̢u̶r ̛b̡r̵ethr͏e͝n͡!͘ They ͘ne̢ed͞ ͠u͟s̀!"
"So ͘mànỳ ͏dead͜ a̵nd dy͢in͘g̀.͞.̡."
I began addressing the voices but to Twilight it looked as though i was talking to myself. "I know... Theres all this death and destruction and i'm powerless to stop it... powerless to stop what happened to us from happening to more people..."
Twilight looks up to Luna. "Princess! Whats going on? Shouldn't we stop this? I Can feel it still draining us." Twilight is silenced by Luna mumbling.
"Fascinating... Jackie is communicating with others of her disposition... I can hear them as well as she can... The 'Lost ones' as they call themselves... Apparently our 'kind', Ponies i'm assuming they mean. Made a promise several millennia ago to never forget them... It appears our ancestors were bad at keeping promises back then..." Luna said with a pain filled expression.
"So these 'Lost ones' as they call themselves. Have been wandering around Equestria? Amongst us, and we haven't been able to see them... Thats terrible... I cant imagine how much that must hurt, to be longing for contact, and being so close, but to never be known of..."
Stepping forward Luna asks me the question that would change not only my life. But the lives of all the inhabitants of this world. "So, Jackie. Whats your choice?"
Looking from Luna's serious expression to the current open page of the book i see a depiction of this very scene on the left page. The right page remains blank. But on the left page of the recently unlocked section of the book i can see an image depiction of Luna standing in-front of me, Inside the loft of the castle of friendship. The wrecks Kingtiger sits outside, surrounding its wreck and the ruins of Ponyville are thousands of shadows. Humans and ponies are scattered about in-between them.
The voices have stopped... Seemingly awaiting an answer on held breath. Looking up to Luna i finally replied with. "Let us be known. I fully accept leadership of the lost ones." Upon the finishing of my words, Luna smiles as theres a stunned silence. After several seconds of me shifting awkwardly thinking that i may have broken everybody, I hear hundreds of voices call out in near perfect unison "Upon your word M'Empress!"
Twilight jumps out of shock-terror, when the deafening roar of dozens more unholy screeches fills the cavernous loft at once. Over fifty columns of pink and violet light fill the rooms various empty spaces in-between furniture. The air is filled with so much magical energy that it began to feel like water. The ambient magic suddenly accumulating in the air takes on the appearance of a thick pink gas in the air.
"Incredible..." Both Princesses find themselves mumbling at once in awe at the sheer magical presence before them.
The air in the room clears as the sudden burst in magical energy is rapidly sucked into the plumes of light. Once the air is clear the blinding light dies away to nothing, However i still feel immense power flowing through me. My ghostly body is surrounded in a blinding violet and black light. Once it dies down i hear the princesses gasp.
After opening my eyes i look up from the book to see that the room has been filled with the kneeling forms of. . . . Sixty two more humans, They all wear armour form various ages between The time of Sparta to the full plate armour of late medieval times. 'WAIT! WHY DO HALF OF THEM HAVE UNICORN HORNS AND WINGS?!'
Looking to Luna, i find both she and Twilight have adopted the same slack-jawed expression as i had. After freezing for a moment i look down my own body to my feet and discover that once again i was mortal, and wearing some bad-ass armour to boot! Letting out an overjoyed squee, i bear-hug the open book against my chest.
"Well, Someones changed haven't they?" Luna replies with an inquisitive smile directed towards... Me?
"What do you mean?" Looking down my form i find it quite difficult to see due to the purple and grey plate armour that i'm currently dressed in. Its then that i noticed a strange sensation i've never felt before. Resting the book in one arm i move to reach up to touch my head, but notice the picture on the right page had suddenly appeared sometime during recent events. Examining the image i see that all the shadows in the previous picture have been replaced with more of the same strange humans, each either looking normal, having wings, or a horn. Its then that my eyes catch myself in the image.
closing the book slowly and holding it under my left arm, i reach to the top of my head with my right hand...
My hand makes contact with my hair, and a pair of fuzzy pointy pony ears?!
My new ears flick involuntarily at every small sound and vibration they pick up on. To my annoyance i can hear Luna snickering at my reaction to the new appendages. Turning to face her i let out a growl of annoyance, but before i could yell my planned string of words, I feel a sudden pressure far outside of my body, and i head the sound of a vase being knocked off a pedestal next to me. Snapping my gaze and turning my head, i find an ancient vase frozen mid fall in Twilight's magic.
Looking further to my side i let out a gasp of surprise to find that i have wings. Grey, Fluffy, Feathery, Wings... The tips of the feathers along the trailing edge of my wings have a yellow stripe and purple tips.
Officially on the verge of a panic attack, i back pedal into the wall behind me as my wings each start randomly flapping on their own accord. Out of respect the many humans kneeling before me resist the urge to look up at me whilst i hyperventilate at the sudden series of changes to my body.
Seeing my floundering, the two princess join me by my side and attempt to calm me down. 'What has happened to me? why do i have wings and pony ears?! Why do they have wings and horns?!' was the sentence i was initially trying to speak. but what came out was more along the lines of wheezing. "Wha- Wha- Wha- Wha- Wh-wh"
After several minutes of wheezing, hyperventilating, and being hugged and calmed by the two Princesses. I finally managed to regain some of my composure. Standing back up, i catch my reflection in a row of test tubes that sit in their rack. And i have a horn sticking out of my rust brown hair... By this point i can feel an eye, wing, and ear twitching.
"WHAT IS GOING ON~!?!" I yell out towards the ceiling.
I sat in a chair, at the table the tomb originally sat on. Breathing into a paper bag. Still thinking i'm tripping out on some sort of airborne mold, or that my former comrades were using some sort of improvised chemical weapons and i was hallucinating. But the captain of my 'Guard' leaning on the desk holding out a glass of water to me didn't help to reinforce those theory's.
Looking over the room once more for the ninth time, i once again see many humans, each with one of the various components of the three races anatomy. Wings. Horns. Or insane strength... And that wasn't all, they all wore armour from various stages in human history as well... But oddly enough... They all spoke modern English... As do the Ponies...
Which i find strange...Both groups should still be talking in old English if English at all... 'I'll have to keep my guard up around this lot... At least until i can find out some more in-'. My train of thought is cut off by yet more artillery fire.
All the people whom i supposedly freed are looking at each-other as well as around the room, quite evidently worried and intimidated by the sounds. 'Righto, Time to take action...' "Don't worry, The causes of those booms are on our si-" Before i can finish my words, the door to the secret laboratory slides open, its archaic mechanism and the oddly satisfying sound of stone grinding on stone fills the room.
'I'll have to get quite a few of these secret passageways in my house when i build it... Its so satisfying watching them open and close!' I had to chuckle to myself on that one. But its true.
A voice with a thick southern twang echoes through the blinding wall of light that pierces the darkness around the room. "Twilight!We'reinbigtrouble!Haveyouseenthehumansoutside?!Andtheres-" The barrage of constant words from the orange and blonde mare is silenced with Luna clamping her mouth shut using her magic. Twilight walks over to the panicking pony and raps her in a warm embrace to calm her down.
"Applejack. Calm down, and speak slowly please. Thank you." Twilight says to her in a calm level tone.
Nodding, The dark-blue Aura around her muzzle disappears and she swallows. "We're all in great danger here Twilight... Theres humans all around us shootin' up the place, And theres now Timber wolves running down here as well! We have to get everypony out of here-" Applejack's sentence cuts off when her eyes lay themselves upon the mass of exhausted mutated humans cloaked in the darkness of the room... "What... Whats goin' on here? Twi... What did you do?"
Twilight looked hurt at her friends question. "I. Didn't do anything. Jackie here-" She points me out as i stay seated at the table. By this point i had put the bag back down on the table and was quenching my thirst from the cup my captain had handed me. Applejack's gaze rested on me, as she cocked an eyebrow at me in confusion i sheepishly giggled, then proceeded to shrink further into my seat. "- Was dead about nine minutes ago." As she said that i cringed... The possible fate i could of been cursed with still sent shivers up and down my spine... What nightmare fuel that fate is... She touched the preservation rune on one of the ancient tomb's i keep up here at the same time i did." Looking to her hoof then me. Twilight continues. "The book took a... Considerable amount of magic from both Luna and i. And used it to create a body for not only Jackie's lost consciousness. But those of several of the 'shadows' that 'Haunt' the humans."
Applejack stands on the spot frozen, evidently still trying to process that information. Getting up from my seat, i walk over to the orange pony, then start waving a hand in-front of her face for a few seconds. At no response i stand back up to full height, whilst looking to Twilight. "Welp. 'Applejack.exe has stopped responding... ALT-F4 to restart." Twilight looks to me as if I've lost my mind...
====================================== 1017 Hours. Sweet Apple Acres. West Orchard. === M4A1 Sherman - 'Dancin Derps'. ======================================
The only sound that could be heard in the west orchard, was the rhythmic purr of the tanks R-975 Whirlwind engine. The same engine used by the P-47 thunderbolt. It can pull that eight tonne plane to a speed of 697km/h. And this mighty engine can push sixty six and a half tonne M4A1 sherman to a top speed of 48km/h, Which for a sixty six tonne tank, is blisteringly fast.
Sadly. Stealth is a foreign concept to this engine. Even at idle its 'Pur' is more like a disgruntled growl... From an angered train. Which brings us to here... This present moment, I'd just managed to tell Adam's my driver, and like all tank crews my best friend, To park us inside a bush thicket.
My gunner. Graham Schnide. Has currently dismounted his position in the tank, originally, it was to take a leak. But he soon found a seemingly random tree-house. When he 'Scouted' air quotes, the tree house. Probably looking to 'five finger discount', As the Australians call it. Some food. He came across three native children, scared out of their witts of him they soon attempted to jump through an open window. But he was attacked from behind by some strange creature made of wood. Live rounds made dealing with it a minor issue. But trying to avoid a zigg zagging idiot carrying three baby ponies with a 50cal. is certainly difficult.
Graham is currently being stitched up by the radio operator and crew medic, 'Joseph Coxly'. He was quite the addition to the crew. Our radio operator quit on us a few months before this... 'Apocalypse' happened. And in a hurry to get every tank in peak operating condition our boss Robert, accidentally assigned a replacement medic for one of the infantry units into our crew. None complained. So with us he stayed. Hes a bit of a mystery, but i think he fought in a war somewhere... his trigger finger twitches in his sleep, and he could sleep his way through a war. But for now, he is just stitching our 'crew clown' gunner back together whilst chewing him out on 'allowing a walking tinder-plug kick his ass'.
My loader. Ryan Ashferd. Has been trying to convince me for the near last half hour to shut the engine down. Using arguments such as 'We're wasting fuel!' And 'We're painting ourselves a target with all this noise!'. But my counter argument was the same for the last seven attempts "Our engine ignition is faulty and still hasn't been replaced. I'm not taking a fifty percent chance that we cant start up again without hand-cranking."
But since we'd been sitting here for the last eighteen minutes i finally cave in and order the engine shutdown. With a flick of several switched the engines purr died out to nothing with a splutter. And my worst fears are imagined. Another engine. My Visor doesn't show any friendly units no matter which way i turn and look. 'We're, officially, in the shit...'
After several seconds of hushed yelling and furious pointing all the crew return to their stations. With Grahams injuries i'm not expecting good gunnery from him... Not that the 105mm Howitzer the crew dubbed 'The Derp Cannon' had that much accuracy to begin with... don't get me wrong. its a gun, so it shoots the direction you point it. But its so low velocity that a stray breeze can move your shell drastically off target, or your enemy can simply drive out of the way of the shell if hes far enough away...
But if that shell connects! Whoo baby that tanks hurtin'. If its a medium tank, the shells calculation by the system is usually stunning the crew and/or breaking something off. If its a light tank, Yeah. Insta- dead... But this engine sounds familiar, but i cant quite remember why... anyway, with nowhere to go, i decide that, following Emily's message we should head to the tow into provide support for those whom are fighting. With our short stubby Derp gun, we are not hindered in urban combat, and the HE effect from our shell should be enough to knockout infantry.
I'm snapped back to the present when i have a hoof land in my balls. "Sorry'" The pony wearing the red bow reply's in her twang. Shes about to jump to the floor of the turret basket when i wrap my arms around her, causing her to squeal in shock.
"HEY!" i begin to look up as u receive a flurry of punches to the top of my helmet. "Dont you hurt Applebloom!"
'I'm thoroughly getting annoyed at this! Robert you better pay me for this!' "I'm not hurting her kid! I'm stopping her from hurting herself!" The punches stop.
"Huh? Hows that? And don't even think of trying anything funny!" She fires back. Looking up to her, i see a shiver run down her spine as she stares back into my helmets sky-blue visor.
"The inside of this tank isn't a playground kid! Theres many dangers in this confined space!"
"I'm not a kid! and how bad could it be?"
"Being crushed under Breech recoil. Loosing a limb or being cut in half by the turret basket. Concussions. Cuts. Bruises are guaranteed. Dislocating joints. Heat exhaustion. Heat stroke-"
Ok! Ok! Thats enough i get it!" The orange pony yells back. "So then why let us in here?"
"Cause its still safer than running around out there at this point!" Adam yells from the front of the tank after his words the engine roars to life.
Yelling over the engine i manage to get my point across to her. "Get in the front right compartment! And don't distract my driver!" She nods and soon two bundles of technicoloured fur fall into Josephs seat. climbing out of my hatch i give Applebloom as shes called to Joseph and pointed to my commanders seat. He offers little argument and takes my position.
I hop off the turret roof and stand on the engine deck, Then pull the pin holding the Pindall mounted 50 cal on the rear roof of the turret. I plan to act of spotter for Graham, since the orchards so thick and low to the ground. Grahams going to need all the help he can get...
'The mist cougars made a crude and unreliable Sabot fin stabilized round. Even though its using the old paint rounds compressed Co2 canister to fire. Its still a thin dart. It can barely penetrate our armour, but i'm still not having one of my guys skewered.
The fact that this is a late comer to the battle, means its safe to say that its probably transporting these rounds to other units. And the fact that its actually running means that the Mist Cougars haven't messed with the hit detection system on it. Meaning...'
Reaching for my throat mic i begin communicating with my crew. "Ryan. Load HE. Graham just blast it in the face and its gun will be disabled!" Through the open commanders hatch i hear the hydraulic mechanism for the breech opening. I Continue my orders by yelling at my driver. "Adam's forward slowly, if they cant hear us at this point they need a new hearing aid prescription."
"Yessir" I nearly fall off the side but thanks to my grip on the Ma Deuce' i manage to pull myself back onto the engine deck. 'Adam needs to calm his farm a little and stop clunking gears. Just got a new gearbox...'
As we drive out into the open, i look to my right and see our target. About fifty meters down the road and staring at us is a Panzer IV G!
My next order was reduced to me yelling "Tank RIGHT! RIGHT! RIGHTRIGHTRIGHTRIGHT!" I Was nearly thrown off the tanks engine deck a second time when Adams dropped the clutch and put our left track into gear three. Our tank practically drifted into a staring contest between the enemy's 75mm antitank cannon, and our 105mm derp gun. "FIRE!"
With massive recoil and a crack, from a small charge in the rear of the shell to simulate the sound of the gun firing. The cannon hurls the round down range... Aaaaaand right over the Panzer's turret.. Stunned i yell down to my Gunner through the open hatch. "What the hell?! That wasn't even the right postcode!"
Ryan yells out "Round up!"
Looking back to the panzer, i see something that caught me off guard. The commanders hatch had been opened, and a white flag was being waved. looking through my binoculars i noticed it wasn't a flag... its was... Underwear?!
"Put a round into it anyway... it may be a trick..." Yet more recoil and a crack, I watched as the round arched through the air and landed in the left side of the enemy's front. With a wet =Pop= the entire front of the panzer was changed from grey to orange.
As the Sherman turned to leave for the town. A voice yells over the radios open channel. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! What?! Has all the oil from all the fast food you stuff into your mouths finally reached your brain?!"
With the screech of the rubber blocks in our tracks. I'm thrown froward into the turrets rear wall, as i stand up the turret starts rotating from the front to face the panzer. Knowing what was about to happen i climb down off the rear of my tank and watch the show. Once the turret is facing the tank i watch the panzers commander go wide eyed through my binoculars and drop into his turret.
As his hatch slams shut my tank fires and i watch as the round hits the front of his tank. And another. And another. And another. Eventually i climb up the side of the tank and tell my pissed off crew 'that was enough.'.
Joseph yells out in joy from his position. As i turn i see him half leaning through his hatch. I tug on his pant leg to get his attention before asking him what he was hollering about.
"SIR! The mist cougars! They've Surrendered! All enemy forces just... 'Snapped out of it' randomly and threw their weapons down!"
I Know i must of blinked at him in confusion. And i certainly know that i slapped him upside the head and told him to climb into his position and stop joking. But his tone of voice and body language, as well as the scene before me did a very good job at convincing me this ordeal was over...
But now what was our fates? The only thoughts that came to mind was. 'Looks to me like Poland just stamped on the toes of the soviet union...'
The howls of hundreds of wolves reached us from the direction of the town... "Well thats not concerning at all..."
Chapter 23 - In between guards, and nowhere to call home.
====================== Mémoires of Jenet Phillip. Leader of team Nova. ======================
23rd March. 2022 It has been three weeks since our race's Coup-de-tat. The dead have been buried with a torrent of tears. The injured healed and returned to their lives before the attacks. And the dying, well, They were subject to either fate...
Throughout the last three weeks our story was told throughout the country and her colony's by the royals. Despite this, the common folk of this land upon which we stand still hold a negative opinion of us. One of hatred and disgust. We tried to assist the locals in rebuilding our wake of destruction, but they turned us back with glares and cold shoulders. One team of Australian Engineers were even chased off by the locals they approached with farming tools. Understandably, after this event. We ceased contact with the locals, and distanced ourselves with the various races wanting to make contact with us. We packed up and moved our camp deeper into the forest after groups of civilians started to show up and harass us.
31st march. 2022 The castle we'd settled down into and started repairing deep inside the forest has been a good home these past days. But we found ourselves once again having to uproot our tents and move. Our morning plans were shattered when we awoke to find our camp surrounded by upwards of one hundred thousand guards. An uptight captain by the moniker of 'Shining Armour' demanded the still recovering Jamargy sisters to take his pompous white ass to Johnna, even though one was still wheelchair bound, one had an arm and leg in a cast and was struggling on crutches, and the last sister was wheeling her wheelchair bound sibling whilst in a leg-cast herself. To be honest the sisters shouldn't have been out of their room, but you know Australians. Stubborn as ever. And heads made of granite.
Karey saved the situation, having just been returning from the ladies room. She took shining to her boss, and from the moment the door closed behind shining, i'm sure the whole castle/ Scratch that,The whole continent could hear Johnna yelling. This went on for several hours before the door slammed open, Causing several bricks to be be dislodged and fall from the ceiling whilst Johnna yelled our his obscenities behind the white unicorn.
Karey ran out of the office with a pile of paper work. and several hours later we were ordered be up-tent and were once again on the move.
On the bright side, We all managed to convince everyone on our respective teams to agree to the plan of joining together into one faction under a single banner. A vote shall be made in several days on what our flag should be.
20th April. 2022 I haven't found a chance to fill in my diary until now. we've been run ragged by not only my fellow leadership, but the Equestrians for the last few weeks. Every time we stop and pitch our tents, the next morning we find ourselves surrounded by guards ordering us to move.
This has begun to unnerve my fellow teammates. Several have had their weapons confiscated as shots were fired at the guards. The fighting was immediately smothered by the people around those whom acted out. And shining prevented his guards from continuing past drawing their swords.
As of my last entry. We've covered over nine hundred kilometers. The heavier vehicles such as our construction dozers and heavy tanks are consuming alarming amounts of fuel, despite the packed earth roads, the terrains many hills and uneven nature is taking its toll on our vehicles attrition rates. Whenever a vehicle broke down, we just left it behind with a small mechanic team and they'd catch up with us once we stopped for the night. We stopped and setup camp prematurely today when we had fifteen vehicles break down all within ten minutes of each-other. All of our mechanics have been working throughout the day replacing and repairing worn or damaged parts.
The vote for the flag came to its conclusion tonight. The flag with the most votes was quite interesting. The flag was a black base, with two white crossed swords in the center, a dove flies through the crossed tips and a vertical white olive branch grows under the crossed swords.
(Image of the Humans Flag. Forgive me. I made it in paint.net then tried uploading it to half a dozen sights before giving up and using world anvil...) https://www.worldanvil.com/i/237374
Quite a bold statement.
The swords are 'Messer's', These swords were produced my crafty blacksmiths whom needed to supply their civilian customers with swords for self defence. But at the time the German government had banned civilians from owning swords, so the cheeky smiths shortened the blade length, gave the weapon a slight recurve close to the point, as well as increasing the thickness and thus weight of the point, the result. A two hand or 'hand and a half' sword, that was as happy to cut through wood and bone as it was to pierce through armour. The new weapon gained such a positive reputation that the German army even wanted it, and commissioned an elongated version dubbed, 'The Kriegs Messer' or 'War knife'. This sword, was chosen as a symbol of people coming together to protect themselves.
The olive branch was added, because it is a symbol of reconciliation, and/or a symbol of making one view/belief compatible with another.
The dove was chosen because of its symbolism of peace and nurturing care. But it's also a symbol for sacrifice. And its presence in the flag was so that all whom live under it, and all whom look upon it, shall never forget those whom sacrificed their lives for the well being of the people.
All symbols considered, this flag is a powerful statement about the humans, and those whom they ally and protect.
We move out once more tomorrow. I suspect that the Equestrians are herding us somewhere... Beit a place for us to settle down permanently or to their borders so that they can be rid of us.
21st April. 2022 We had to defuse a situation at 11AM today, due to the mechanics working overnight, and they're requisitioning of nearly one hundred additional sets of hands from our ranks to get worst of the maintenance nightmares of our vehicles back in peak operational condition. Johnna, as well as the rest of the leaders all agreed to up-tent later in the day to allow those whom stayed awake all night working to catch-up on lost sleep. Johnna told shining the plan, and he agreed.
Not even half an hour later Equestrian solar guards began collapsing our tents, many of which with drowsy tired people still inside them.
Johnna found Shining, And dubbed him 'Shining spoon' 'The captain with a silver spoon lodged up his pompous ass'. As shining opened his mouth to counter Johnna's outburst the Australian shoved an apple in the captains open mouth, before turning him around and planting a boot under his tail.
As Johnna turned to leave Shinings personal guards drew their weapons. But quickly stood at attention when they noticed over two hundred rifles and sub-machine guns aimed at them. Shining and his guards have been hanging really far back since then. But their pegasai scouts are still trying to stealthily dogg us, The Wallaroo's Radar halftrack frequently picks up small signatures above us, and their SPAA halftracks fire a short burst up past the clouds the scouts hide in, so that they know we're watching them as much as they are us.
1st March. 2022 I Caught a group of three Australians Jerry-rigging together a flame thrower today! They insisted that it was for burning the many fallen trees that are constantly blocking the road. A likely story, i had it confiscated anyway. Shining continues to be a 'Royal Dickhead' in the words of Johnna. I'm afraid it wont be too long before Johnna does something either insanely smart, or Rash...
We've been taking twice as long to move as usual, as we've been reduced to traveling single file along poorly maintained mountain roads. In places our engineers had to extend the road to allow our heavier vehicles enough space to cross. This delayed us further, and i could swear shining was changing several shades of red... We sleep in and on our vehicles tonight, theres not enough space to set up the tents, Hell, theres barley enough space to walk around the vehicles...I hope no one trips...
3rd March. 2022 It happened today... Shining armour made the idiotic move of trying to confiscate our weapons. The moment his guards ripped the rifles out of the hands of our wounded. A Mist cougar tank crew became so irate that the Equine guards following Shining's order found themselves staring down the muzzle of a Jagd-Tiger
(this image is conveniently taken at pony height compared to the tank.)
Suffice to say. They shat themselves. And ceased performing this order. Much to Shining's utter rage.
Johnna's just lost his last straw. He's ordered us to sleep in shifts. We are to only stop to refuel, or refill our water tankers. fuel is low, both types of ammunition is in abundance. Nerves are frayed and emotions are boiling over. Johnna is trying to shake our chaperone, for their own sake.
12 March. 2022 It appears that the shoe is on our foot now. It took a while but now theres not a single pony to be seen. To say that we all weren't overjoyed at finally having some breathing room would be an evident falsehood. Johnna has ordered that we continue through the next few days, then he promises that we'll stop and relax for a few days.
Johnna's general plan is to open up such a gap between us and Shining that we can loose their scouts, hopefully for long enough to have free reign over possible settlement locations. Once he plants his rear to the ground we're staying and not moving!
17th March. 2022 After just under a week of a constant brisk 7kph march we've left shining in the dust, and we've also lost the scouts when we continued to march through a torrential downpour. A few sniffles from everyone is a small price to pay for personal freedom. The Tan-Tabbies are currently away on a recon mission to scout out possible locations within a hundred km forwards of our current location.
18th March. 2022 How did they catch up to us so fast?! How did they find us?!
We all awoke to having solar guards posted INSIDE our camp this morning! It goes without saying, this pushed johnna over the edge. I've never seen the man so pissed off he visibly twitches... Its rather concerning seeing the usually lively chilled out, even 'childish' would describe his usually mood, always pranking his fellow officers or making random jokes be-they actually funny, cringe worthy dad jokes, or just outright racist joke traps that lure you into the center of the jokes before slapping you in the face with their meaning.
But this morning the man was pissed off. and remained that way throughout the day until we returned to our forced march by the solar guard. We returned to our brisk 7kph march. once we gained enough distance from the solar guard to be out of the equines earshot, Johnna ordered everyone to mount up. The confusion was cleared pretty quickly when he yelled at everyone to climb either into or onto a vehicle and stay there.
Everyone removed their kit and tied everything to their backpacks, before they slid their backpacks either onto the 'Kit hooks' welded to the sides of the halftracks, or onto the cannon barrel of the tanks. I must say, that i never would of thought to use the tank guns as 'kit hangers'... In fact, that explains alot about how his troops are able to advance so quickly around the battle theater.
With Everyone loaded up into or onto vehicles and not a single pair of boots on the ground Johnna did something that i honestly wasnt expecting. And i get the feeling that only his troops were expecting him to do this.
He ordered the combat and field engineers to cut down and collapse trees and the boulders in the hillside of the mountain road we were traveling on over the road itself. After about five minutes the road was blocked completely with a six foot high wall of debris. Johnna even went a full step further and a step to far in the same stride. After the Coup, several hundred meters of improvised barb wire was confiscated. The 'devils rope' was made from two strands of braided steel cable that sandwiched sharpened bolts that were cut in half vertically, it was fairly effective. Several of our engineers drew their blood on our own crude barrier. Johnna made sure to place the wire in obviously evident locations on the pile, his goal was to not harm the ponies pursuing us, but to slow them down.
Once the engineers finished the wire, they returned to the group with devious smirks on their faces. They soon returned to the barricade in groups of two, each carrying a box. It turned out that they took the liberty of laying several dozen boxes of 'paint bettie's'. The 'paint betty' is a type of mine directed at infantry. Its modeled off the 'Bouncing betty', which was a grenade/mine used in WW2 by the various branches of the Wehrmacht. The grenade is traditionally placed either side of a doorway or narrow enclosed passage with a piano wire 'tripwire' strung across the space. Set off the trip wire, and the grenade bounces up to waist or chest height, then explodes. The paint version still bounces, but it explodes into a hailstorm of two hundred and thirty conventional paint pellets.
And the devious lot just rigged together about seventy two of them into a minefield about twenty meters after the barrier.
Wish i could see those fireworks. And the looks on those bastards faces when they set them off. Johnna assures me that they placed the tripwire at the end of the minefield opposite the barrier, so as 'To ensure maximum coverage' after all 'It would be a Shame if their nice white coats were to become stained now would it?' and 'Gold armour is fairly hard to keep clean these days. It scratches to easily under wire-brush after all, and our paint is so clingy'.
With all the engineers mounted up, we set off once more, With the mountain roads finally behind us, and no boots on the ground, the vehicles were finally allowed to open up the throttle. The convoy advanced further forward at 30kph. Lets see those solar guard keep up with their gold armour now!
20th March. 2022 Its safe to say that we've lost the solar guard. We've seen neither hair nor hide of any guards pony since our stunt with the barrier. We've seen the rare merchant or explorer. Heck, we got directions from a harpy when we got lost.
The Tan-tabbies returned from the recon. And they reported that theres a huge lake and waterfall, based off their report of the land and its features. and adding the fact that its been getting steadily cooler. I'd wager that we're almost at Niagara falls!
Johnna has declared that, thats our final destination! and we're not moving a step further. After setting up camp, Robert suggested that they should hold a friendly race between their vehicle crews. The first vehicle to the falls and all the infantry on it get the title 'First in (whatever we choose to name the settlement later)'. I immediately stated how we're not naming our first settlement after Bastogne. After a few seconds everyone caught onto what Robert was referencing. The expressions of sudden realization from the other leaders, caused both Robert and i to break into hysterical laughter. They looked like comical anime expressions.
21st March. 2022 Whilst the convoy continued at its brisk 30kph advance forwards, our end goal was in sight, and emotions were positive and running high. The sudden boost in morale was incredible. And everyone was thrilled to finally have a place that they could slap the label of 'Home' onto.
The race started, And several dozen APC's, AFV's, Armoured cars, Scout cars, and Light tanks sped off into the distance, leaving us all choking on a small sandstorm from their speed down the dirt road.
The highlight of my day was when about three minutes later the convoy started parting behind me. And an APC that was late for the races start sped past at 'Mach 1' with almost a dozen people riding it carrying a German flag, The loud speaker mounted to the side of the vehicles turret was blasting 'Primo Victoria' A song from the band Sabaton. Everyone they went past had a smile on their face and/or were laughing. Its good to see everyone just like they were before this Apocalypse!
23rd March. 2022 I Can't believe it! The APC that sped past me blasting Sabaton won! When we arrived the crew has already stenciled 'FIRST IN' into the sides of their vehicle with white chalk in a rather fancy font, their vehicle mascot was painted to the right of the text. A cartoon falcon carrying a soldier under each wing and a soldier hanging from his underwear elastic from its beak, only this time, they added our new flag being waved by the soldier hanging from its beak.
================================= Johnna. Human settlement site. Niagara falls. =================================
The sun was just cresting over the falls. Its the day after we arrived at our final destination. And, after sleeping for twelve hours everyone has caught up on sleep and are roaring to go!
We possessed limited tools, pretty much what we had on our vehicles, in our kit, and whatever our engineer crews and their vehicles had. The inventory worked out to be:
-Eighteen hammers. -Eighty two shovels. -Fifty five two-man crosscut saws. -Around about a thousand three hundred feet of braided steel tow cable. -Twenty pickaxes. -Three thousand feet of rope. -Nine sledge hammers. -Ten engineers hammers. -Nine engineers mallets. -Six wood splitter axes. -Seven hatchets. And finally the occasional toolbox with screw drivers, spanners, Ect.
Johnna stood on the turret of a Kingtiger, and he had the undivided attention of every soul in attendance. "ALLRIGHT YOU LOT! Shining spoon and his gaggle will be on us before long! So skipping the inspirational speech for the sake of getting something done, Sort yourselves out into these respective groups.
Emily's group, are responsible for foraging for food. The only tools you'll need for that job are your knives and the near useless flimsy multi-tool kit shovels i know you all own.
Dimitri's group, your responsible for falling trees, prepping them, and stacking them next to this tank! Logs go on the left side, and all branches that are too small or bent to be of use get piled up to the rear of the Kingtiger. We'll burn them in the field we plan to crop to fertilize the soil. And please, harvest the lumber from a fair distance away from here, it'd be a shame to ruin the beautiful view.
Mcdonnel, your lot are responsible for using the remaining saws to cut the prepped lumber into planks, we'll also need a stockade build around the campsite, I understand we don't have enough tools for this, anyone in Mcdonnel's group who's left over with nothing to do, your assigned to fishing and bringing water back to camp.
Jenet, your team are responsible for planning possible building and infrastructure locations, please draw up as many combinations as possible that put public necessity's within easy reach of everyone in the settlement. You have until- You know what, make that ASAP.
As possibly however racist this sounds, Riccardio, your group are responsible for all things food, anything Emily's group finds that's edible is free reign for your taking. So if your good at cooking or know a lot about food join the Italians group.
Char, Your group are responsible for our defence! Need i remind you the stakes in the event that your fuck up?"
"I Perfectly understand whats at stake if my group fails, which is why we shall be utilizing surgical precision in our planning and execution of the defences." Char says without breaking eye contact with me. A challenging smile on his face.
"Righto, Get to it mate, Errik. Your group are to bring prepped clay back to camp and use it to construct rocket furnaces, as well as roof tiles and pottery for future use, your also responsible for producing charcoal for future forge work, The other half or any that cant do this can begin building wattle and daub structures. Anyone of your group that are left should be occupying themselves, i don't care if its making wicker baskets or whatever, so long as their not sitting around. No-one from any group should be doing nothing unless your taking a break after working your arse's off!.
Before any of you ask, my group shall be responsible for retrieving the necessary materials to begin forging more tools and equipment, I personally doubt we'll find band iron, but we should be able to find magnetite, iron rocks or pebbles, or at the very least, Iron bacteria.
Theres the groups, sort yourselves out and get to work as soon as possible! We don't have much time!"
With that ramble concluded Johnna climbed off the Kingtiger and joined the other leaders around the behemoth of a vehicle so their groups could form.
Sunset the same day. . .
A legion of Solar guard's ponies sit under the cover of the tree canopy, many, including shining were dyed Various colours, from pinks to greens and even blues. Several dozen of them were furiously polishing their armour, trying to remove the paint, but the best they got was smudging it all over the armour.
Those poor souls who were wearing 'mail shirt' at the time had to deal with their fur matting and chafing in their armour's many rings. Some even had patches of fur starting to go missing. Everyone looked miserable, exhausted, and stressed beyond belief.
Shining was simultaneously furious of how he lost such a large group of huge creatures such as the humans, especially with how noisy they are with all their kit and vehicles. And terrified of having to tell Celestia that HE managed to loose the afore mentioned group.
"If word of this gets back to the princess... My career is OVER. He squeaked, biting his lip, he poured over all the possible hiding locations that the humans could be hiding, he'd been searching for the lost group numbering that of a small army for the last twenty eight hours.
It was then that Shining heard one of three voices in all of Equestria that he dreaded to hear at this very moment. "Captain Shining. What a pleasure to Finally find you. Your a little ways off the beaten path aren't you?" Turning on the spot and wearing a faux smile, he greeted Silverstreak with a nod.
An awkward silence devours the solar guards camp for what feels like an eternity.
"You've lost them haven't you" Silverstreak monotones through a deadpan expression.
"We haven't lost them, We've-" Shining was cut off by Silverstreak's friend and second in command Moonglint.
"Misplaced them?" She says with a sly grin. Shining stood there frozen, he now without a doubt knew that the Lunar guard are still tracking them...
'The Lunar Guard are never going to let me live this down...' "We shall stay encamped here and ensure the cretins don't slip past you-"
Both Silverstreak and Moonglint snapped their gaze's on Shining. Their eyes failing to restrict the sheer amount of hatred they held against his words. Silverstreak speaks first. "Those 'Cretins', Have been torn away from their world, most of them are only eighteen to twenty three years old! They've lost their families. Their homes. Their most cherished possessions. On top of that all. A Detachment of-" She punctuates the next three words by pushing the solar captain back with a hoof. "-Your. Solar. Guards. Attacked them unprovoked, and scared them so badly that their command structure dissolved and a Coup-de-tat started in their ranks, the rebels WON, Then attacked us indiscriminately! It takes a 'Special' set of Leadership skills to allow such events to happen on Your watchCaptain Shining Armour. I'd Watch my tone AND words if i were you." She says over her shoulder as she prepares to take flight with the rest of her detachment. Her blue Bat-pony eyes catching the orange setting sunlight and reflecting it back over all of the Solar guards. "Apparently, some Humans eat horse meat. We may chip in and help them bleed you." She says with a wicked grin, showing her fangs, she then darts off vertically into the sky. The rest of her squad joins up on her flanks as she finishes her barrel roll.
Shining turns back to address his troops, and finds that several of them are several shades greener than the white they should be. and others are looking to the Lunar guard's ponies in terror as they fly off into the distance.
"Its going to be a long time before i'm doing something other than babysitting humans isn't it..." He mumbles to himself.
His current breath hitches in his throat when he hears the regal voice of Celestia speak from behind him. The irritation and distaste in her captains words evident. "Well, If Ensuring the survival and protection of fragile creatures such as the humans isn't a role you deem worthy of your time, then perhaps you can spend your 'Precious' time training the new recruits for my guard, Captain Armour." She looks away from the captain as his head hangs low in shame, And looks over all her soldiers in their camp. "It's Evident that regrettably, the Solar Guard are not up to the challenge and demonstration of patience that are required to earn the humans trust and protect them." She then uses the royal Canterlot voice to ensure all in the camp can hear her. "Your all Relieved of this Duty that has been entrusted to you, And shall all follow captain Shining armour back to Canterlot to resume your usual duties." With her eyes closed, The princess of day turns and leaves the clearing.
Once she returns to the carriage she takes her seat on her cushion. She ignores the gleeful look on Luna's face as the carriage takes off to campsite setup for the Maine six and the Princesses.
Shining was pacing back and forth outside the entrance of the royal purple tent, his breath creating small clouds of steam in the rather nippy night. 'Winter is certainly coming with a vengeance for that warmer than average summer...' He thought to himself whilst looking to the cloudless crystal clear night, admiring the endless blanket of stars and the beautiful greens,blues, and pure white belt of the milky-way.
He was in the process of packing his tent when he was pulled aside by one of his orderly's. The scroll he was given had requested his presence at the royal tent. After the half hour walk from the remnants of his camp he found himself sitting out the front of the entrance to the purple structure. And there he sat, in the rapidly cooling night air. Ponies came and went into the tent, and had been for the last half hour.
'Surly somepony told the princesses i'm out here... Perhaps i should go ins-' Shining's train of thought was interrupted by a light tap on his hind quarters with a steel-capped boot. Spinning around and leaping to his hooves, he turned to face his assailant. "You!" Shining said with no small measure of annoyance, and a twinge of indignity.
"Good evenin' to you too Shining spoon" Johnna said with slight irritation at the stallions reaction. Johnna leaned against the tree that the royal tent had been erected under. "Let me guess mate-"
"Summoned by the Princesses" Shining finished with skepticism as well as a raised eyebrow. His answer earning a nod from Johnna as his eyes lock onto something behind the captain. Turning, Shining saw a batpony poke her head out of the tent flaps. Turning to face her Shining nods in greeting.
"Captain armour." She replies with a slight glare. She then turns to Johnna and smiles warmly. "Johnna. You both my enter now." She said in a singsong tone.
Shining looked to Johnna just in time to see him raise an eyebrow. After a few seconds the Human just shrugs and begins walking the short distance to the tent flaps. After standing alone in the dimly moonlit night both confused and more than slightly concerned, Shining follows the human inside.
Once Shining pushed past the tent flaps the comforting warmth inside washed over him, ceasing his light shivering almost immediately. 'How that human can wear only boots shorts and a T-shirt in this weather i'll never know...' Shining mentally grumbled to himself.
After a short walk through the tent Shining found himself in the cavernous central room. The four princesses sat in their cushioned chairs opposite the doorway. Johnna stood before them calmly, with his hands behind his back, not in the least concerned about showing them the respect they deserved. Shining hadnt realized, but he'd begun glaring two holes into the back of Johnna's head. And Twilight had noticed this.
"Brother? Are you alright?" She asked with concern. Shining couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the Humans jaw dropping open, and his arms falling limply by his sides.
"BROTHER?! That TWAT-" The man exclaimed in shock, pointing a finger at the white guards pony, whom is currently wearing a grin that would creep out a Cheshire cat. "-IS YOURBROTHER?!" Twilight cringed slightly at his volume, before sitting upright and changing her expression to that of a piercing glare.
"Yes, Captain Shining Armour of the solar guard is my older brother. As well as the husband of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. And i'd appreciate you showing my brother some respect if you wouldn't mind." Johnna managed to finally get a grip, mentally slapping then chiding himself for reacting in such manor.
"That i would ma'am." His response cause Twilight's eye to twitch in slowly developing frustration and confusion.
"Why would that be?" Twilight said with an internal sigh.
"Because ma'am. Respect is something that travels both ways. I will show him respect once he begins to address My people and I with the same courtesy." This response earned a nod of agreement and understanding from Luna, Cadence was now glaring at her husband, who was now trying to avoid her gaze, only looking back occasionally to see if she had changed her target.
"And what has my husband done to earn such a response from you John" Cadence inquired whilst sitting up in her chair. Never taking her glare off of the captain, a bead of sweat slowly starting to form on his brow.
"He has shown a complete lack of sympathy. Lacked the communication skills required of a leader. Openly displayed his distaste of my people. Betrayed our trust by breaking an agreement between our leadership, and his. And shown a complete distrust in us VIA an attempt to confiscate our only means of protection." With each point, a new bead of sweat began glinting on Shining's forehead in the red glow of the various crystals around the room, providing heating.
"I'm sure shining has Perfectly, Legitimate, Excuses, for his actions?" Cadence said, raising her voice for emphasis.
Shining stood there as an awkward silence enveloped the room. After several seconds Johnna turns to face the captain. his deadpan betraying no emotion. All eyes on captain Armour, he clears his throat, then begins his explanations.
"Allow me to begin with an apology. I apologize for my rather incompetent command during the past few weeks. However. I only acted the way i did in the best benefits of your people." Before Johnna could speak his protest, Shining continued, raising his voice in order to continue uninterrupted. "I'm sure your aware, that winter is rapidly approaching. And building a town capable of supporting several thousand pon-err, people. isn't something that can just be thrown together in a week. I figured that with your knowledge of the current date, you'd understand that. So i tried to ensure that a certain distance was covered each day, as your location to settle was still to have been chosen by your leadership, Since the only true way for some-one, to choose their home is to go to that location and see it themselves.-"
Johnna speaks up whilst shining inhales to continue. "So, let me get this straight. Your guards forcing up to move near constantly from sun up to sun down was actually your attempt to get us to the possible locations where we could build a settlement before winter?" Johnna asks with a raised eyebrow. "What's the date?" Johnna asks with a confused tone to his voice, his question causes everyponies jaws to drop.
"You don't know what the date is?!" Twilight exclaimed in such a high tone that her voice squeaked.
"we've just been using the continued dates that our world, dimension... Whatever. was currently following. That brings us to- The fourteenth of March."
Everypony face-hoofed. "Well, Theres the primary problem. Without communicating with them brother, You've rushed them to their new home to prepare for Autumn." Twilight exclaimed with sarcasm.
Luna and Celestia looked to each other before joining Cadence in a little chuckle at the captains expense.
"Righto, Now that you've all stopped giggling like school girls. My question still hasn't been answered.
"Correct." Shining opened his mouth to say, but Celestia answered for him. "This may have been my fault also, i gave the captain the order to have you settled at a location of your choosing before winter. But it appears that you've chosen quite well with Neighagra falls."
"Wait a minute, You all were going to give us...-" Johnna's expression deadpanned. "-Really. Neighagra falls? I mean really?" The princesses looked to eachother confused at the humans sudden questioning of the locations name. As Luna was about to ask what the problem was, the Human answered for them. "Neighagra falls? Canterlot? Are all your settlements just puns of places from my world? Are there any others that i should know about?" Johnna asks cautiously.
Twilight and Cadence then take turns listing off the names of the many major settlements in Equestria. "Manehattan"
"Philly delphia"
"Baltimare"
"Vanhoover"
"Los Pegasu-" Twilight was cut off the the human holding his ears with his hands and groaning "Okay, Okay. I get it. Yes, the answer to my question is . Yes. Noted" Luna and Cadence chuckled with each-other once more, only this time at Twilight's pout for being cut off more than the humans reaction.
Celestia cleared her throat. "Are we not all becoming a bit sidetracked to the matter at hand here?" Everyone nodded in agreement. The princesses of love and night respectively recovering from their laughter.
Johnna speaks up once again. "Well thats the lack of communication and sympathy dealt with and explained away. But what about the 'showing your distaste for my people', 'breaking our agreement' and 'trying to confiscate our weapons'." Johnna asked with an inquisitive tone.
"I'll have you know, i didn't break our agreement-" Shining raises his voice to continue, once he sees Johnnas expression change to a 'Yeah, right, Is that so?' expression "-OR, at the very least, never intended to."
"Go on" Cadence asks.
"Once the meeting between your peoples leadership and I concluded that morning, i ordered my orderly's to spread the change of plans, however they never managed to make it to the guards at the rear of the formation, due to the convoys immense length and the narrow mountain roads. So the guards at the rear of the convoy were not aware of the change in schedule."
"OK, That makes sense, i probably should of offered you a radio to speed that communication up... Ok, fair play, I'll take responsibility for that cock-up. But please do explain the part about showing your evident hatred towards u-... O-K,Nevermindithinkiknowtheanswerthothatone..." Johnna mumbled quietly at such a speed his words were barely legible.
"Oh, Really John" Cadence inquires through a glare. "Please do explain..."
Johnna places his hands behind his back and averts his gaze. "Well...You see Ma'am... A large majority of my people had continued to work well past sunset and into the very early hours of the sunrise the next day. So, our leadership and Shining got together and discussed plans to up-tent later that day to allow the several hundred people whom hadn't slept to do just that. But as your aware now-"
"My husband couldn't get word to his troops at the rear of your convoy fast enough and his guards began collapsing tents with your people still trying to sleep inside them" Cadence finished for Johnna. Earning a nod from the tanned Australian.
"Well, after that happened, and reports started to funnel up the radios about this happening...I... Maaay have gone on a witch hunt for the good captain, then confronted him..." The princesses leaned in awaiting a response, but they got awkward silence instead. Shining stepped forward and continued for the suddenly tongue tied Human.
"Once he confronted me, he verbally let me have it. Threw around names like 'You backstabbing Mule.', 'Jackass.', And my personal favorite. 'Shining spoon' The 'Captain with a silver spoon lodged up his arse.' If i remember correctly?" All the princesses looked to Johnna, Twilight looked at the Human as if her glare alone could melt him into a puddle of goo. Cadence and Celestia looked upon the human with expressions of understanding. And Luna's expression looked as if the next thing she found funny would set her off into a laughing mess.
'She's enjoying the captains 'trial' here a little too much... I Like her!' Johnna thought to himself with a mental smile.
'I Swear Princess Luna likes to see the solar guard and i Squirm...' Shining groaned to himself mentally.
Shining continued "After that, when i tried to explain myself to you, you stuffed an apple into my mouth then kicked me out of your leaderships tent, onto my face." Shining said with indignity. It was at this moment that Luna stood bolt upright form her chair, and began to take her leave from the room, mumbling about 'taking a short break', and we should 'continue without her for the time being'.
After several seconds we heard the faint sound of a zipper being zipped shut, then the faint cacophony of uncontrolled laughter. Shining looked as if he was about to melt away to nothing in embarrassment.
No matter how much shining may have deserved every bit of this before, Johnna could see that most of the problems was as much his fault as it was Shining's. So with a nudge of his boot, Johnna got the captains attention.
"Chin-er... Muzzle up, Captain." Johnna said professionally. This little pep-talk seeming to remind shining of his rank, causing him to stand at a relaxed attention and to hold his head high. That little display of kindness form the Human caused the remaining three princesses to smile.
Luna returned shortly afterwards, and sat once more in her chair.
Shining finished his explanation. "And finally, the reason i had my guards attempt to confiscate your weapons. After the incident with your people, and your little witch hunt and display once you finally found me. My guards noticed that you Humans were becoming increasingly rowdy. And in some cases raised your weapons towards my guards, We know that you have... Ammunition... That isn't paint. But its impossible to tell which ones had the lethal ammunition or the paint. so i opted to confiscate all of your weapons, since i have the vague understanding that they are interchangeable with their ammunition. It was a measure to ensure the safety of the guard. I'm sure you'd do the same had our positions switched."
"Alright Captain. Your not wrong, but in terms of the interchangeable ammunition, its not as universal as you think. Different firearms have their common calibers, yes. But the way the caliber is measured between the respective country of that weapons origin and another is different. For example. German designers measure the caliber of the weapon without the bore, but the Americans measure weapon caliber with the bore. So even though their both 9mm's, their ammo ins't interchangeable." Johnna stopped his explanation when he realized he lost the attention of the ponies he was trying to explain it to, he noticed that Twilight had been furiously scribbling down information onto a scroll during his manor rant. "At any rate, Captain Shining Armour. I Apologize for my childish behavior, and my peoples rash actions." The human said professionally, holding out a hand to the captain.
Shining looked to the Humans hand for several seconds, before looking to the princesses, then back again. Smiling, he took the humans hand and shook it. What happened next surprised everypony.
Johnna turned to and addressed the princesses. "You highness's, May i request that the solar guard also be responsible for our protection, at least until we can defend ourselves properly." The princesses were stunned at the Humans request, it was the last thing they were expecting. Even Shining's jaw was agape.
After looking to each-other Luna spoke up. "I don't see why not? What do you think dear sister?" All eyes were now on Celestia as she pondered the decision for several moments. Eventually letting out a sigh and nodding her agreement.
Shining let out a relived sigh, whilst his sister practically leaped out of her chair and wrapped her brother in a hug. Satisfied with the outcome, Johnna turned and left the tent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cadence poked her head out through the tent flaps, inhaling deeply, enjoying the clean and cool night air, she exited the tent, not bothered by the cold at all. After a short search, she found the Human she was looking for, Leaning against a tree not far from the tent.
Walking over to him, her hooves leaving a trail of prints in the frost covered grass. She sat next to him earning a confused expression from the alien creature. As she stared up at the moon, she felt a sudden warmth, turning, in an attempt to look at her back. She found herself under the humans T-shirt. Looking up at the Australian she saw that he now only wore a Singlet, as well as his other attire of boots and cargo shorts.
She opened her mouth to protest, but she was cut off by the humans response first. "Don't worry about me, Despite how frail my race may be to the elements and diseases, i'm honestly not bothered by the cold. Heck, my country spends most of its time in blistering heat, so when its cold or raining, we practically walk around with summer clothes on to enjoy the cold whilst it lasts."
Cadence looked up to the human as he stared at one particular constellation. "Is that one familiar to you?" She inquires. Earning a silent nod from the Human.
"Back home its called, 'The southern cross' It means a great deal to my culture, its Arguably one of our country's national symbols. That constellation was the symbol of our rebellion against the redcoats. Its also currently one of the primary features of Australia's flag. I look up at that constellation every night. it relaxes me for some reason. Puts my mind at ease..."
Cadence looks back to the human this time with a smile of realization on her face. But she soon looks back to the sky, waiting for an opportunity to confirm her theory about the 'Tough as nails' 'Australian'.
Several shadows watch the humans stockade from the darkness of a treeline. Peering at the unaware creatures through binoculars. Digital Binoculars.
A patrol walks past once more, but the shadows remain unnoticed. Their furious note scribbling and observations are abruptly cut short by a twig snapping above them. A dozen eyes snap upwards into the trees above their heads, before they all reach into their their bags and pull out lightly glowing bottles. Popping the corks they all quickly down the purple liquid. One by one as they finish downing the last drops from the bottle they =Telipoof= away.
A second after the last shadow disappears into a cloud of purple mist, a Batpony leaps from the tree canopy and lands in the purple cloud floating just above the ground.
Letting out a frustrated screech she punches the ground with a hoof. She missed her targets again, The Lunar guard had noticed the 'Shadows' watching the humans the day before, but hadn't managed to catch them, or even find out what, or who, they were.
Her minor temper tantrum was cut off when she noticed her hoof had brushed up against coming. Looking down to the ground, she saw a small fluffy dark brown feather, with a black spot in the center.
"Huh. I don't remember a bird having this pattern before..."
The bat pony places the feather in her saddlebag before returning to her 'Shadow' hunt.
Meanwhile, the humans continued their sleeping and patrols, oblivious to the events happening outside their stockade.
====================== That following afternoon... "Neihagra falls" ======================
Emily stood atop one of her teams Churchill mark seven tanks. Her voice amplified by the loudspeaker affixed to the turret. The ocean of people below her fidgeting nervously as to why, every human able to walk was called to a mass meeting on such short notice.
Behind her, hidden from the crowds view, the Princesses as well as the mane six stood in between Johnna and Dimitri. Their nervousness was obvious. Only Celestia and Luna held their facade. Their guards ponies stood either side of the humans.
Applejack leans forwards to her violet friend. "Hey, Twilight... Twilight!" Giving the lavender pony a light nudge in the flank, Twilight lets out a loud cringe inducing yelp. "Stop freaking out Twi. We're only here to make a list of what they need. I know you love making lists."
"I do love making lists, But theres so much that they need. I'm freaking out because we could miss something that they really need! What if we miss some sort of important medicine that they might require? What if they need things that we don't have or worse... Something we cant get!" Twilight's panicked rant was ended by Johnna placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Then thats our responsibility to request anything that we may have forgotten. That being said. We should only need the essentials. Medicine. Food, for the winter. and possibly some general help around, if thats possible."
Dimitri put in his two cents next. "But don't worry your purple head over it Twilight. If you cant help us with somethings, We'll just have to do it ourselves. Despite our comparative frailness to most of the creatures in this world. Humans are notoriously crafty and innovative. Its the reason we've managed to live so long back home, and this world is so tame it may as well be a playground!" Dimitri burst out into a confident hearty laugh that soon spread to the humans in the group, however the ponies weren't laughing, they knew the uphill battle they faced.
Applejack continued the conversation. "A'hm certain that if you po- erhm, People... need any help with physical labor we can get a bunch o' ponies to help ya'll out" she finished with a smile.
"Thats actually one of the things that we may need help wi-" Johnna was cut off when Emily climbed down the side of the Churchill and hopped the short distance from the upper glacis plate to the ground.
"Pardon me gentlemen, but we only have the entire confirmed number of our people in this world waiting to hear what you all have to announce. So, may we please start this?" She prompts whilst raising both her arms to the roof of the tank and bowing slightly. The human leaders and ponies all began to scale the side of the steel mountain before them.
Johnna walks over to the side of the tank facing the crowd before taking a seat on the turret and letting out a long held sigh Before pulling the microphone for the tanks loudspeaker to his lap to begin the meeting. "Sorry about that, I know we've all been working hard, and that I and the rest of your former team leaders have asked that you essentially sacrifice your lunch break to be here, And we're truly honored that you all deem us such a worthy occupation of your valuable time." He looked over the vast crowd with the look that a proud father would give his children. And this look was well deserved, Johnna and his friends in the leadership were all proud of the people whom accepted their word as law up to this point without complaint, They had made so much progress over the last few days at the falls. "As your all aware, we're very proud of you all! Over the short span of five days we've accomplished so much!" The Aboriginal said raising his arms wide to address the crowd before him. "Thanks to you all, we've already completed many of the structures necessary to giving birth to a prosperous town! We now have a saw mill and its accompanying-" Johnna leans over the side of the tank towards the crowd, holding the back of his hand to the side of his mouth, and speaking into the microphone in a low volume 'Let me tell you a secret' tone of voice. " 'And very generously stocked, if i do say so myself' " He said giving an eyebrow wiggle to the crowd. Eliciting chuckles from the mob. once silence was attained he finished his sentence as normal. "-Lumberyard. You've all worked hard to build the market place so that we may trade with the locals. Special thanks to the stone masons in the crowd." He was about to continue but he paused, spun on the ball of his booted foot and pointed to the crows with two fingers. "-You know who you are. *AH-HEM-Sworntoupholdthesecretmethodsoftheorderandwhatnot*. But thank you all for showing the common folk among us your secret tricks to making the stone masonry far easier." This highlighted hypocrisy elicited more chuckles from the crowd. "Am i to take it that this means we are to expect good things in the future from you all?" His question was met with cheers and whistles. "Fan-Bloody-Tastic! But continuing on. We've also cleared and prepped the fields for the winter grown crops, Build a water wheel hydro-plant, Constructed a very well adorned town hall, As well as clearing out an airstrip and building hangars for our planes! I'm sure the mechanics and security detail for the aircraft will WORSHIP you all for finally allowing them all a moments rest from traveling back and forth in this cold! I mean, just the other day i brought my toaster to the mechanics, and to save fuel i walked it to them, down the four hour trip! Eight hours later on the dot i returned home, and Emma asked me if the toaster fix was 'that simple'? And i replied with. ' Toasters fucked, And i was too' She asks-" Johna by now was starting to giggle to himself. " -'Elaborate' And i reply with the truth. 'Upon Jazzie seeing me rock up with a toaster underarm and my mouth open for a question, i found my self dodging several of the largest spanners she had... Thanks for the help Fixxit Felix, but its me toaster that needs fixing, Not me face'. I'll be hosting a vote for a new nickname for the grease monkeys among us. Sheila wont cut it for this one..." The crowd broken out into a short and light laughter. After Johnna had recovered from his laughing fit, he turned to the stone face Emily and very confused ponies, Dimitri was holding himself together barely.
"*Ahem* Right. Well at any rate, i'm both excited and saddened to report, that whilst we've done so much to forging a home, a place we belong in this strange world. We still have a long way to go! And thats both Exciting and crushing in the same moment, The former for the sheer amount of freedom and possibility's that we have to factor in for the long term of our people, and the prep for sharing our diverse cultures with the rest of this world! And the latter for the fact that we still don't have any homes built, and winter is already threatening to backhand us! And Victor of the lumberyard has already informed me that if the temperature drops another five degrees, the lubricant for the machines in the saw mill will freeze over and thats it for the season. And last time i checked, to build a house you need cut and treated wood..." The crowd fell deathly silent. "That was my response to the engineer. Poor bastard thought he broke the 'simple minded bogan from Straya' But we build them bogans like T-34's... So simple you cant break em, and in Waaaayyy to many numbers." The crowds chuckling brought the leadership comfort that the grim feeling of the meeting was abruptly smothered.
"Now then, we know that some of you have been socializing with the locals, Thank you. We need as much positive reputation as we can get at the moment... And at any rate, all of you should know that, whilst the ponies give us a hard time, and lock up their homes and businesses when we walk down the street, they don't hate us, they're only acting on instinct to protect themselves, their family's and their lively hoods. You cant fault them for this, im sure we'd all do the same if an alien race suddenly appeared in their world and lost their shit destroying everything." He said letting out a sigh and rubbing the back of his neck. The crowd was shuffling nervously and looking shamed. "But at any rate, some very Very, important ponies have come to address you all in this meeting, and as a matter of fact was the main reason this meeting was called. They've come to- Ah well, I'll shut up and let them explain." the Australian said with a chuckle and a smile, before placing the microphone down on the roof of the turret and joining his friends on the top side of the hull away from the crowd.
The princesses and mane six walk up the side right side of the hull roof. Celestia's golden aura releases the Microphone of gravity's grip and floats it over to the group, before opening their segment of the meeting. "Thank you all for allowing this meeting to take place, we're all deeply grateful for your trust in us, and i would just like to update you all on the purpose of this meeting. We're here to discuss the recent events of the past month, as well as come to an agreement on a plan for the quickly approaching winter, Finally the meeting will end in a list of needed goods and resources." The crowds silence was nerve sapping. Twilight felt as if she was suffocating under the stares of the mob. But despite this kept enough composure to keep her faltering facade up. Celestia Continued. "Firstly, Captain Shining Armour-" The crowds silence gave way to angered murmurs. Celestia patiently waited for the humans to calm down before continuing. "-Captain Shining Armour would like to apologize for the various understanding and numerous miscommunications that lead to the numerous altercations and tension between us-" Celestia was cut off once more by the crowds screaming bloody murder, when Shining appeared on the hull roof of the Churchill and moved forward to join the line of ponies.
Johnna was seething but before he could move forward to rout the mobs onset riot, to everyone's surprise, Emily stormed over to the princesses and gestured for Celestia to lend the microphone. Retrieving it, Emily holds the microphone to her mouth and shouts into it loud enough to cause painful feedback for the crowd, and even the sensitive hearing of the ponies. "OI! SHADDAP~ The princess here and her captain are trying to set things right with you ungrateful lot! So shuddit! and listen to their apology before you reach for your pitchforks!" The glare she gave the crowd would of been sufficient to cease the mobs uprising, but tone of voice made the crowd wither closer to the ground with every word. Handing the microphone back to Celestia, Emily joins the group of stunned humans on the other side of the tank.
"I Think the Prim and Proper Brit's spending to much time around The 'Uncouth Savages from the colonies'." Johnna said with a wicked smile.
"I Have my moments thank you. We're all human after all." She replied after Adjusting her uniform.
"And we all have that time of the month as well" Dimitri received a swift but playful slap across the face for his comment, leaving the group chuckling to themselves.
Celestia continued the meeting, Internally smiling at the deep rooted friendship between the group behind her. "Captain Shining Armour would like to address you all with a formal apology." Celestia's magic holds the microphone in the air in front of the captain. And Twilight affixes her brother with a nervous stare.
Shining clears his throat, "I would- No. I Apologize for the trouble and misdeeds that your people have had to endure at the hands of those under my command. Theres no excuse for the hardships your people have had to endure, and rest assured that my ponies had very little to do with the misdeeds. My lack of consideration for the emotions running deep through you all, as well as my lackluster planning lead to several major altercations between us. Also, I let my crusade for following orders dictate my actions, It was my undoing, and my undoing alone, My guard only follows the orders given to them, and are thus infallible. The error was mine, and mine alone,-" Bowing respectfully to the crowd he continues. "Please forgive me. I would be ashamed if my rash actions bought about turmoil in the relationship between our races."
A Voice from the crowd answers Shining's nervous internal pondering. "Ah, Don't worry bout it mate' We were all having a shit week. It happens to all of us." More voices joined in before someone yelled out.
"WE'RE ONLY HUMAN AFTER ALL!" That quote got the mob clapping the tune to the song and singing the song's lyrics.
After the crowds display Shining returned to a more relaxed posture, staying with the group as Celestia addressed the crowd once more.
"Thank you all for being so understanding. And Thank you once more for the interesting insight into your culture. I Suspect that we have a great deal to learn about each other, And this excites me to no end! Now, continuing the meeting. As your all well aware, winter is well on the way, and the more...'Hands', There are working the faster things can be accomplished. If you all agree with it, i'm sure your town will grow quite alot in a very short time. My little ponies are quite industrious, and they enjoy making new friends." The crowd all clapped their agreement to receiving the help. Once the clapping died down The solar princess continued. "Then its settled. I'm certain you'll all have a roof over your head, and a warm fireplace to live next to by the time that winter graces us. For the next part of this meeting i must introduce you to my sister, Luna." Celestia passes the microphone to Luna.
"Thank you sister. Greetings. I am, Princess Luna. Ruler of the night, and all it encompasses. I've already met some of you. And rest assured when i inform you all, My sister and I never forget somepony's name, nor the face that goes with it." The crowd began murmuring to itself, but maintained its neutrality. "As you're all aware, my sister raises the sun, and i the moon. But my power also encompasses the dreamworld." More murmuring left the crowd, a hint of nervousness tainting it. "Do not fear, i have not been wondering through your dreams. My role in watching over the dreamworld to to dispel nightmares and ensure that the subjects of Equestria don't suffer in their sleep. With your permission, I would like to extend Night-court out to all of you as well. I Shall not go digging through your memories without your permission and will only stay in your dreams long enough to ensure that you can conquer your nightmares. What say you?" After a few moments of silence. A dozen voices respond their agreement from around the crowd, and soon all are shouting their agreement. "Thank you for this honor." Luna said with a bow. "I shall now pass on to Princess Twilight Sparkle." Passing the microphone down the line of ponies, A Lavender aura enveloped the small device and levitated it over.
"H-Hello all. I'm sure that alot of you already know whom i am. I've joined this meeting, because i understand that you brought your own supplies and equipment with you. But they must be running rather low at least by now, Whilst every day your peoples technological advances over my own surprises me more and more, I understand that theres ultimately a limit o the supplies somepony can carry on them. I have thirty meters of scroll and two ink pots to make a list of all that your people need, Rest assured, I wont stop until i have acquired all that is on this list. So please, What is it that your people need? Medicine? Clothes? Tools? Food? Furniture? You name it. I'll get it!"
Twilight was stunned at just how short the list was... All the humans had requested was the bare necessities for living. Medicine. Food. And the odd building materials that they wouldn't be able to make for some time.
'Their surprisingly independent, thats both a great strength, and a great downfall.' She thought to herself.
The rest of the meeting went off without a hitch, Cadence's portion was about how she and her husband pledge to assist the humans in any endeavor that they required. And a weird moment about, 'wanting to learn human courting customs'?"
'I Dunno what she wanted or thought, she could accomplish with such an odd topic' Johnna thought to himself.
The solar sisters teleported back to their camp leaving the mane six, Cadence and Shining to wander around and acquaint themselves with the humans and their settlement.
Johnna was walking through town lost in this thoughts when Emily ran up to his side and gave him a playful nudge to snap him out of his thoughts. After a minor panic attack and a short stuttering session, Johnna regained his composure. "Gday there Emma. What are you up to? Besides scaring the crap outta me?" He asked with a chuckle.
"Oh Nothing much, Just following a friend through town looking for something to do. And yourself?" She inquires.
"O-K, Well, i was just off to check with the local engineer team, their numbers are getting smaller every day due to Jazzie 'Requisitioning' more and more of them to help get the planes ready to fly out here in a few days. so as you can imagine, finding one to ask about ways to keep the saw mill running longer into the winter is rather difficul-" Johnna's minor rant was cut off my someone in the background calling Emily's name.
"Shoot! I have to go see what this is... Talk to you later? Your tent? Or mine?" Johnna looks confused initially but agrees to her tent. Leaving the happy go lucky Brit smiling warmly as she dashes off into the crowd of busy humans.
Johnna turns around to continue walking his previous path, but stopped abruptly with a startles yelp after coming face to face with a one 'Mi Amore Cadenza'. "Well, Shes a nice... lady? Isn't she?" Cadence opens the conversation with.
"Yes, Shes a very nice person, shes been that way since we were kids. And i hope she never changes..."
"So, She invited you to her tent?" Johnna spun back to face Cadence.
"You know, were I'm from, its rude to listen into other peoples conversations." He says down to the Princess.
"I'll remember that one when i notice you listening into a conversation between Shiny and I" She retorts with a wicked smile.
"... Touche. Well played. And, If you must know. I wasn't listening in... initially anyway... I was looking for some firewood to cook up a secret stash of honey sausages that i hid in the back of the fridge in my command truck." The two began walking still in search of the local engineer team running about.
Cadence decides to restart the conversation after a long period of silence. "You know. The Grand galloping Galla is being hosted this winter. Its only a few months away, And i know for a fact that the princesses will invite you to it. So, Who are you taking as your plus one?"
Johnna lets our a loud exaggerated laugh "Plus one? I'm an Uncouth Terminally single Australian from out in the middle of nowhere in a country out in the middle of nowhere. If someone fancies me, then fuck. I'm the luckiest S.O.B in the history of both worlds!" Pulling his hands from his pockets, Johnna unwraps his '24hour CR1M's' Beef jerky packet and bites into a dehydrated meat strip he pulls from its depths.
"Cadence doesn't miss a beat and just replies with. "I know someone who has the 'Likes' For You." Cadence laughs at Johnnas priceless reaction. Which was him rapidly inhaling in shock and breathing in a slice of beef jerky.
After recovering, Johnna replies with "Noway, Sorry but... Nuh-uh. I'm not into horses." He whispers down to Cadence.
With a laugh she replies. "Ponies. And don't worry shes human." she notices this catches the Australians attention.
"Please, do tell..." He inquires.
Sensing shes caught him in her trap Cadence springs it. "You know her quite well, in fact, you must be the most oblivious male I've ever seen." Johnna was about to argue with the princess but caught her gaze and followed it. Straight to his childhood friend, Emily.
Cadence laughed on the inside until her mental self was a wheezing mess rolling around on the floor. Finally he gets the message, and the reaction was even more vivid then she had hoped. 'An Apple would'nt have a dream of being redder than he is right now!' She turned to Johnna, to see him staring at Emily whilst she helped carry bricks for the fireplace of the almost finished town hall.
She broke him from his trance when she bid her farewell to go find her husband. Ending their conversation with "Watch it 'Strayan'. You blush any harder and you'll burst into flames." With a chuckle she left the flustered man standing in the street redder than a firetruck. And smiling like an idiot.
================= 0930 Hours. Castle of Friendship. =================
Twilight sat at her desk, spike had just returned with yet another cup of coffee. The lavender Alicorn had done just as she had promised the humans, and procured every item on the list that they requested. However.
"I Just don't know whats bugging me about this Spike" The princess said in a half groan. "Their list makes sense for the most part. Food. Clothes. Tarps. Medicines. Excetera. But then you reach items numbers Fifteen. Twenty four. and Thirty eight. And it gets odd...What purpose does Brass. Potassium nitrate And Sufferer have to them?
It just doesn't make any sense!" She exclaims to the ceiling.
Spike drags another chair over to the desk and looks at the list. "Well, What are their individual uses?" He questions.
"Brass is an alloy of copper and zink. But the humans have requested it in a ratio which makes it mechanically near frictionless."
"They could be planning on making machines? What about the rest of the items." Spike continues.
"Well. Potassium nitrate has a wide variety of industrial uses from making fertilizer for crops to-" Twilight froze for a moment before Spike noticed a book fly off a shelf at the far end of the room, and to Twilight's side. Looking between the book and the suspect items she discovers the key fact she was looking for. "-A-HAH!" She exclaims.
"What is it!" Spike asks.
Looking over to Spike, Twilight's smile is ear to ear. "I think I've found what those items are for! They humans are possibly making black powder!" She says triumphantly.
"Black powder?" Spike repeats. "Isn't that the thing that makes fireworks... Work?" Spike asks.
"Yes. It is spike!" Twilight says with a sigh. "At least we know that they're planning a fireworks display! And not something with sinister intent." Twilight said relieved.
"Do you really think that they'll try something under the Dirarchs noses?" Spike questioned with a slight tinge of worry in his voice.
"I don't think so... But with their worlds record on trusting relationships i'm sure that they'll at the very least want to protect themselves. So i wouldn't be too bothered by it if they did. After all they'd just be acting on their instinct to protect themselves and their friends. But i just don't like it when Ponie- People lie to me." Twilight replied.
"Are those the only suspicious items on the list?" Spike inquires.
"Yes. From what i can tell anyway. But theres another series of items on this list that are exciting to discover!" Twilight said giddily. Before Spike could question, she answered his unasked question. "The humans have requested a number of vitamins and medicines for pregnancy. I'm excited to say that we may have alot of baby humans running around soon!"
Before Spike could respond his joy. A voice responded from across the library. From the shadows, Luna emerged... Rather, Materialized would suit that better...
"I too am overjoyed for the prospect of the humans foaling. But that only increases the urgency of our working with the humans... You've seen the kind of destruction their willing to cause to keep their friends safe, Imagine what they would do to keep their young safe..." Luna said with a smile. A smile that caught Twilight and Spike completely off guard and caused them great confusion. Luna of course was smiling for the deep rooted kinship that the humans have weaved around themselves. Although none of them are related, they protect each other as if their blood relatives. Just like her subjects. 'That being said, it still troubles me that such a young species in comparison to our own have access to such destructive potential... Tia and I must come to a conclusion on the humans weapon rights... They are not going to like it, but for the safety of both they themselves and our subjects we may have to confiscate or limit the usage conditions of their weapons...'
"I've some to update you Princess sparkle, The human town is coming along on schedule, Enough buildings have been completed to offer them warm shelter form the elements, They have basic industrial capacity, and have prepared their farmland for the winter produce and coming spring. And the list, that you have yet to send, is the last agenda for the winter preparations. I understand that the humans requested more tools, clothing, food, medicinal supplies and yet more brass. As well as more coal. I must admit the sheer amount of brass that they've been requesting is starting to concern me somewhat..."
Twilight looked to the Lunar princess in an all knowing expression. "I know what you mean. I just think I've solved a great puzzle as to some of the stranger items the humans have requested. I think their planning on making fireworks. They've requested half of the recipe for black powder."
Luna's shock was noted by Twilight, and was starting to make her nervous. "Exactly how much have they requested of these ingredients so far?" Luna asked nervously.
Her worry's mounting, Twilight replied with the information from latest send outs she kept on her desk. "After adding it all up they've requested... One hundred kilos of sulfur. And three hundred kilos of Potassium nitrate." Looking back up from her paper, the princess of the night responded in kind by having her warehouse managers stock ledger -poof- into existence.
"The humans have had one hundred and twenty kilos of brass sent out to them thus far, and theres another request for a further eighty kilos." The Princesses looked at each other in concerned confusion. The sudden realization of the amassing small orders of the strange items sprinkled in amongst the various others being requested. "What would they need over half a tonne in black powder for? What are they planning?" The blue Alicorn questioned aloud.
It was then that Spike's attention was pulled away from a gold shimmer on the desk, Leaning forward so that he may reach the item in question, he picked up a small metallic tube that was closed off on the wider end. A neck narrowed the opposite end significantly. Turning the object around in his clawed hand, Wonder glimmering in his eyes, the drake turned and asked Twilight what the object was.
Twilight turned form her conversation with Luna once she noticed the princess's attention divert from their conversation and not return. After staring at the object her assistant held in his claws. Most of the pieces clicked into place. "No... They could, but that isn't what they meant is it?" Twilight mumbled to herself. Once again awarding her with Luna's attention.
"Twilight. Do you know what the humans are planning?" She inquired. After receiving no acknowledgement. Luna addressed Twilight by name two more times, each rising in tone before Spike left his seat. Twilight lets out a surprised yelp when spike nudges her.
Luna repeats her question and Twilight looks from Luna to the ground regaining her thoughtful expression. "I... Its just a hunch. But... The mass order of brass and black powder ingredients may be the humans... Attempting to rearm themselves with their peoples real ammunition..."
Luna looks taken aback before her expression changes to one of a far more serious nature. "Are you certain this could be a possibility? Not just an event of the slightest chance, but an actual method to this madness?" The Lunar princess questions. Already fearing that she knew the answer.
Giving a shallow nod Twilight continues as Luna closes her eyes in a mix of betrayal, frustration and sadness. She keeps her eyes closed as Twilight continues the explanation behind her conclusion.
"When the humans were protecting us from their possessed comrades during the battle for Ponyville. I heard quite a few of them wishing that they 'wished their makeshift rounds were as accurate as 'gunpowder' rounds'. Could this 'Gunpowder' be derived from a similar manufacturing process as black powder?" Twilight mused aloud.
"What else have they requested that seemed odd to you?" Luna asked with a tinge of regret.
"I've had a mass order of cotton... About two tonnes of it. As well as three orders for twenty liters of Glycerol over the past three days... These wouldn't have seemed odd had they not gone in with the sulfur orders, but theres also bulk orders of Olive oil, Vegetable oil, Coconut oil, and Lanolin... At first i though it was for cooking or scenting soaps, but then i saw the lanolin, thats such an odd thing to ask for..." Twilight said in a confused, frustrated tone.
"Lanolin?" Both Luna and Spike questioned in unison. Causing Twilight to cease her mental tailspin.
"Its a type of wax that sheep produce to keep their wool in good condition." Twilight explained. Earning nods from the two opposite her.
"There is little chance for coincidence, the humans are up to something. And all these odd and exotic ingredients are adding to that suspicion, but its just that, suspicion. It would be most unwise to act upon a perceived threat... Especially is our only reward for that reaction would be an angry mob of confused and scared humans... Especially a well armed mob of angry confused and scared humans... But if they are in the process of cooking up something of concern in our midst we simply cant allow them to glide under our noses and complete their objective..." Luna though aloud.
It was then that a third voice joined the group from the shadows in the library. A familiar and exotic accent not native to Equestria clung to each word. "Well then its in my opinion that the humans cantPossibly be trusted, and also in 'my' opinion the humans should be observed without the guard intervening, as this may cause 'trouble'."
Everyone in the room turned to see the distinct form of a human walking form the shadows with his arms crossed.
"Care to have to common decency not to talk behind me back?" Johnna questioned through a glare.
================= Castle of Friendship. 2112 Hours. =================
Char moved with due diligence through the crystalline halls of the 'Castle of Friendship'. His trench coat flapping in the breeze that bellowed in through an open window at the end of the wall. The wind coming from the window had long blown out all the candles in the halls, leaving them shrouded in darkness. Chars apparel lit up the hallway in a brilliant red when a flash of light flooded in through a plastic covered hole that once sat a stained glass window, almost immediately the tall thin man jumped in surprise as a castle shaking crack of thunder reverberated through the walls, making many of the artifacts sat on pedestals in the room opposite him bounce and fall to the floor.
Chars cringe was legendary as he heard hundreds of years of fine china shatter on the floor in the room next to him, porcelain shrapnel even bounced out of the open door and rebounded off his feet and the wall adjacent to him.
As he continued on his way gingerly, to avoid stepping on or tripping over the debris in the hallway before him. Char looked through the open door and was greeted by the stereotypical 'Bull in a china shop' scene. Pretty much everything in that room. Was in at least seven pieces...
Clenching his eyes shut and cursing the extreme weather that he loved for destroying so much priceless art he continued his route looking for the library. The halls snaking round and round, seemingly in circles. Sure, He could have just came in through the front door. But entering a meeting between two of this worlds princesses and Johnna (Who has them by the proverbial balls no less) With the squad of guards posted at the front door would have been far less dramatic.
Finally finding himself in the castles foyer, he looked around and remembered the layout for the many rooms and halls that branched off from this cavern like room. Strangely. This was the only room in the entire castle that he'd found so far lit up. But, stranger still, Instead of candles. The foyer was lit by a strange type of 'Magical' Energy. Balls of almost what seemed to be fuel-less perpetually burning fire floated right next to the walls, each glowing with a brilliant lavender.
The rooms crystal walls were giving off an amazing refraction of lavender light that was breathtaking to say the least.
"I should see if i can have my birthday here or something..." Char thought aloud in a near silent mumble. After reaching up and taking a firm grip of the door... latches? Handles? Ring...Grip...Handle...Things? Char pushed the doors out of his way. Letting go. He let the heavy doors slow to a stop, leaving a large opening in the doorway for him to walk through.
Char's grand entrance was quickly ended once he found himself staring down the points of nine halberds. Keeping his composure. Neither Char's expression, or posture changed to this new series of events. Instead opting to keep them behind his back.
"If you don't mind. I'd rather you remove those from my presence, so that i may speak with your princesses. I mean neither the Night or Friendship rulers any harm. And, As I'm sure you all aware, I was summoned here." The guards kept their position. Neither creature so much as blinking. Chars blue eyes locked onto the squad leaders amber ones, and their stares simply drilled holes into each others souls.
Luna's voice boomed from the opposite side of the library. "Guards. Lower your weapons. He speaks the truth." At that. The Thestrals broke their defensive formation and returned to their previous posts around the room.
Char waited a moment. Before continuing his walk through the library and into the meeting.
The two humans and two ponies sat at the same table that Eliza and company had over a few months previous, this time, tea had been replaced with coffee. The weather outside of the large windows still that of lightning and torrential downpour.
The dim light of the room only being provided by the single lantern that sat on the table. The rooms walls, roof and floor rippling with the faintest, barely perceptible tinge of purple energy. Twilight's soundproofing spell had the entire library in its grasp.
Twilight's voice was quiet. But in the dead silence of the spell cast upon the room, her voice echoed off the walls and furniture like that of ghost giving hushed warnings to the unwary traveler. "I understand that you may have the best intentions, But you must understand, our ponies have forgiven you! they understand that your actions on that day were not that of your own, They saw the masses of your race defecting from the revolution forces and protect this castle and all within it! they saw you..." Twilight pauses on the latter half of that sentence. Evidently finding it hard to say the next few words. "They saw you... Dieing... to protect them..."
Char's calm and civil accent rolled across the table to the princesses opposite him. "Yes. And we understand this. But sadly. Just as your people didn't trust us in the beginning, We still don't have enough information about your peo-Ponies... To come to that conclusion for ourselves. In truth. We know little to nothing of your culture, Or your history. So, We must attempt to gain what little knowledge we can off of your guards or the trade caravans that occasionally roam through the settlement... As you can imagine. That if hardly the sources of information that can be considered... Reliable."
All attention turned to Luna as she spoke. "Well, If its information that you seek. Then we shall give you what you require."
Char was cut off by the Princess of the night shortly after he voiced his thanks.
"However. Your people must disarm. As a sign of trust to the common pony. The Solar and Lunar guard are your protection, As such. Weapons of such destructive nature are not required in this land of peace. Anything that your people can solve with violence, our little ponies can solve with a peaceful solu-"
Char rose from his seat. "I'm afraid that we are not getting anywhere with this meeting, Your highness's. For the last two hours. All we've accomplished, is nothing more than a back and forth debate about our peoples right to bare arms.
I'm sure that your people have your methods. But just as your people have your methods. We do ours. And, As far as disarming for trust is concerned. I'm afraid that i must yet again drive home a simple fact."
"That being?" Twilight inquires.
Turning his head to face the lavender Alicorn. Char continues. "The fact that Humans are physically weaker than that of any pony or griffon race that we share a border with. To the east. Theres Nova griffonia. The north? The crystal empire. And the south and west. Equestria.
To assume that in all of your races history that you haven't ever had to endure combat is foolish and naive. Where there is difference in culture. There is often war following shortly suite. In fact." Turning to face Luna. Char places his hands behind his back and stands straight. "If i do recall. You yourself, told a tale of you and your sister leading hundreds of thousands to their deaths in war. A war against your neighbors none the less."
Luna suddenly changes her expression from one of neutrality to one of melancholy. "That scar in our history occurred over two thousand years ago. Pony kind hasn't seen war in over two millennia since."
"So you say. But as i said, We know nothing of your history nor culture.and as such. We have only our own history and culture to draw our conclusions from."
Twilight looks up to Char and cautiously asks. "And that is?"
"Depending on who you ask, But the usual actions in the wake of an unprovoked massacre, is retaliation. And the subsequent rebellion has only added to the paranoia that all humans currently feel. As, throughout human history. Uprising and rebellion have traditionally been solved through arms, usually ending in the usurpers being crushed completely, or made example of. Would the response from such possibility's be anything but, Fear.
Fear itself is the reason for the rapid reactivation of our weapons. In fact. As we speak, The current count for our ammunition is in the nine thousands."
Luna stood and faced Char. "How can you expect our races to trust each other when one bares arms against another? How do you expect our races to trust each other, when you use the resources we willingly give you to aid your settlement in our lands are used to produce ammunition for your weapons?!"
Chars demeanour remained cold as ice, he simply replied with. "That same can be said of your ponies." This response caught both Luna and Twilight off guard. Both princesses looked to each other in confusion. "You preach that your ponies haven't seen war in millennia. Yet. Your ponies are still armed, are they not? They stand guard. Watching us, protecting us. But with their weapons always at a moments reach. Your ponies may be smaller than us. they may be 'prey creatures' as you call them. Yet, but an unarmed human against an unarmed pony. And the stark contrast becomes apparent. Ponies are faster. Stronger. Some can fly. Some can wield the power to turn us into potted plants.-" Char paused to look Twilight in the eyes. Causing her to look away. "And many can just use that energy to end us in immeasurable amounts of ways. Yet the fact never escapes me. You all think that we haven't noticed, but the guards 'Protecting' us. Are not so much as watching our borders for signs of danger. But are watching US. Your garrison of guards are nothing more that your watchdogs, making sure that we don't get another chance to rise in rebellion again."
Twilight looked confused. But Luna looked guilty. "Luna... Whats he saying?"
Sighing Luna addresses Char. "Thats a pretty bold statement on your behalf. Accusing the leaders of the nation giving your people aid of distrust and possible treachery."
The two stare each other down for a few moment before Char speaks. "But, Am. I. Wrong. Your highness."
Johnna simply sat and watched the events unfold before him. Whilst Twilight was looking shocked at the meetings sudden turn. And concerned for how this event would tax the relationship between humans and ponies.
Char spoke once more after the silence. "You still haven't answered my question Princess. Am i wrong? Am i wrong in coming to the conclusion that i have tonight. Are your guards not so much protecting us. But are, as a matter of fact. Protecting your ponies from us."
Another period of awkward silence thickened the air further as everyone stared at each other. Twilight, Unable to bear this a moment longer, spoke up in desperation. " We gave you land to call your own, We helped you build a settlement on it. We are giving you anything that you requested to get you through the winter. How is this not a sign of trust? How are we failing to prove that we care for the well being of your people?"
"Your actions of care have not been to so much as care for us. As it has been to pacify us. Don't get me wrong. We are grateful for all you have done. However. As long as you treat us like an enemy. We shall be at the mercy of action rather than words." Char turned to leave, and Johnna arose from his seat. "Rest assured however. Despite our rearming, We have to plans nor intent to lay harm upon those whom we are grateful. May your future actions evoke a sense of trust in us. Then we shall reconvene in order to discuss terms of a signed treaty. and possibly disarmament...On our terms." Turning back to face the princesses. Char bows respectfully. "I bid the both of you Good night. And Hope that in the near future. We can return to this location, in order to prove our trust of each other, and come to a consensus. Good night." Char turned and made his exit from the castle library.
Johnna turned and faced the princesses. "Ladies. The new armaments minister. Ironically, the man whom hates seeing death and destruction. Nominated himself for the position. Rest assured. As a race, Our Morales are secure and pure. We mean no harm unto any and all the inhabitants of this world. but we will defend ourselves if the time for it arises... i hope such a time never comes..." Johnna mumbles whilst looking to the floor in clear depression. meeting the eyes of both princesses. He simply nods his farewells before leaving in silence.
Once the Australian leaves the library, the Thestrals stationed either side of the doors, close them behind him. Both princesses let our their held breaths. And sat down.
"That could of gone worse..." Twilight said to seemingly no-pony in particular.
"I still don't think it could have gone any better. Sadly. As a race. The humans world is one of distrust. Or rather was..."
Twilight sat there thinking about how that sentence seemed off. "Wait...WAS?!" She bellowed.
Luna sat up and looked to the young pony before her. " This earth that they speak of. Its name is the same of the term used by the ancient tribes of Equestria to describe their lands. Also. Does it not seem a little odd to you how the humans use their hands?"
Twilight thought about this for a few moments, then looked to the empty cups on the table. "Now that you mention it... Johnathan and Char held their cups by gripping the handle with their hand. And when I've seen humans working on the settlement. They seem to use our tools far faster and more precisely than any earth pony I've seen." She mused.
Nodding Luna continues. "Correct. My sister and I have been doing some digging through the Canterlot library and its archives. And we've noticed a discrepancy in the records." Twilight's look of bewilderment spurred the night princess on. "Sometime before my sister and i were even born, ponies were recording their day to day lives and activity. this includes major events, yet seemingly every activity up to eighty years before our birth. Everything was tediously done. And very little mention of tools were found. Yet after that. Tools just randomly appeared in the artistic depictions. Tia and I had to dig through the articles that had yet to be restored. But, we found mention of a Pony by the name of Galacious Schide. According to the texts. He was an explorer. About three months before tools seemingly appeared from nowhere. He made mention of a strange cave. Made of stone harder than any he had witnessed before. He had only found such a cave because he heard the pained cries of a foal whom had fallen into its depths. After rescuing the foal he returned to explore it. And discovered strange symbols painted onto the stone walls. Structures and complex objects made of a cold, hard material he'd never seen before. Treasures. And Artifacts that seem to have little to no purpose. Until one day, he was exploring a section of the cave that had previously been flooded. And he discovered a new area on the other side of the water that had remained dry. A Wall in this room seemed to 'Come alive' with 'seemingly realistic artistry' of strange beings. After some time watch this wall, he saw that the Artifacts he'd discovered were being used to make these strange beings lives easier."
Twilight was awestruck at such records. 'What does this mean for Equestrian history? What implications did such a find have on ponies since then compared to before its discovery? OOOOOOOOOooooo i LOVE new discovery's. "Did Galacious note the location of this cave?" Twilight asked, excited as a school Philly.
Shaking her head. Luna replied. "Nay, he did not. But slow thy sadness young sparkle. For he mentioned enough of his surrounding location for us to estimate the caves approximate location." Luna said with a smile.
"And that is?"
"Judging by the landmarks he mentions. The possible location for this 'Cave' could be anywhere between Foal mountain, To the hayseed swamps."
Twilight perked up at having a possible location. "We must find this cave. It hold the possible key to Equestrian history!"
"I agree Twilight, But. We must priorities earning the humans trust first. Its imperative that we begin treating them as we would our fellow ponies. They are far more observant than they make believe. To be honest young sparkle. I think I may be the wrong pony for the job of seeing the humans settled. My banishment hast done me no favor in predicting the appropriate courses of action." Luna admitted as she hung her head in disappointment.
Twilight lifts Luna's head to meet her eyes. " On the contrary. Your banishment has made you the perfect pony for the job. Its preserved your opinion from the past. Where as Celestia has moved on and forgotten such times. And Neither Cadence or I was born back then, All we've ever known is peace and the effects of it on our judgement would impair us. Luna, Your the main reason why our diplomatic relations with the humans haven't fallen apart yet. Because you are experienced with matters and ordeals that are similar between both the humans Earth, And Equestria's Ear-" Twilight paused... Froze would be more accurate. She suddenly mumbled. "Oh sweet Celestia. The humans Earth and our Earth are the same planet aren't they?"
Luna simply nodded. "Tis but a theory. but we have yet to see it disproved. The train of thought was bought up when Tia noticed how much the humans kept bringing up the similarity between our world and theirs, that, coupled with the way the humans use our ponies tools, and for that matter, how their tools are very similar to the tools we use. And the very similar way the humans have created their primitive technology, such as using clay furnaces. Almost the exact same method that is described in early recounts of history. The more we thought about it. The more it made sense."
"We need to find that cave. And moreover. We need to earn their trust..." Twilight said looking at the moon. "I got it!" She yipped whilst summoning parchment and a quill in two purple poofs of magic smoke.
Quickly, yet precisely, The lavender alicorn draws up a flier. And hands it off to Luna.
Confused, the princess reads it, and smiles. "Yes. This should work wonders." Her smile widens before she teleports it to the Canterlot daily publishers. "We shall prioritize its production, and have at least one poster up in the town hall, Inns and hotels of every town and city in Equestria.
----------------------------- Human settlement. Hangar N-3. 0300 Hours. -----------------------------
The crisp, sharp air of winter bore down on the settlement of wooden structures. Thick plumes of smoke poured out of the structures cobblestone chimneys as the occupants inside struggled to keep their buildings warm. The muddy quagmire that the streets had once been have since frozen over into an uneven bumpy mess. Window shutters were closed and locked, the only light from inside the buildings visible from the streets being the faint amber glow of oil lamps.
The only life not indoors at this point being the rare patrol of unfortunate souls whom hadn't managed to evade the council during the roster roundup. Despite being in their winter gear. This consisting of a thick leather trench-coat with interior wool and fur linings. Gloves. Ski-mask. A beanie. Ski-goggles. And their standard steel helmets, the patrols still shivered. The Royal guards in the group wore their traditional armour over thick woolen clothing. The patrols mage's in a constant battle with the bitter cold, casting and maintaining a small fireball spell to ward off the snap freeze that his the settlement during the sunset.
The patrols stood out while on duty, sticking out like sore thumbs. This in part to the Humans winter clothing being mostly pure white with olive green splotches. And the royal guards knitted clothing being practically every colour available in wool dye, As well as having their gold armour reflect any light that shone against it.
Not all was frigid though. For the humans and royal guards ponies seemed to finally be thawing out a relationship with each other. The patrols chatted quietly during their rounds so as to not disturb anyone sleeping, exchanging stories, news, questions, jokes. Pretty much everything a conversation could drift to.
The only thing keeping the guards on edge in the pristine quiet of the settlement was the way the humans seem to always have a hand on a weapon at all times. To Captain Shining armours utter shock and amazement. He found out today that Dimitri sleeps with his PPSH under the blankets, how he found this out. Shining made the mistake of waking the twitchy Russian from his slumber early in the morning.
Dimitri pretty much leaped from his sleeping bag, kicking his blankets off and brandishing his sub-machine gun like it was his last stand. After Dimitri learned it was shining armour he immediately apologized, showing the freaked out captain that he was using paint bullets, and explaining that, after the events in The Everfree forest, He found it next to impossible to sleep unless he had his SMG within very close reach.
Rumors of this event traveled around the camp throughout the day, information or events often getting muttled or mistaken entirely. By the end of the day at dinner, everyone sat around the many fires eating proper meals, the menu being, fire roasted veggies (Provided by the ponies, freshly harvested from the Equestrian soil), and the last of the freeze dried chicken. During the first conversations of the evening meal, everyone found out very quickly that they'd all been subject to an unplanned game of broken telephone. Very quickly, the event was dropped when no one could agree on the actual events that occurred. Much to the relief of both Dimitri and Shining armour.
Now, a patrol of four humans and five ponies makes its way through the frozen streets. Both the former and the latter occasionally slipping on the transparent ice coating the road in places.
"Woah-Nellie...Ok-ie-ie-YE" With a spreading of legs, a recovery, a second recovery, and a third. A human thought he was in the clear for slipping and falling onto his rear, And he was right... Until he took another step. With a comically wide slip on his right foot, He found himself lying on his back in the center of the road. With the rest of his patrol laughing at him, as well as with him. Accepting a hand from his female comrade, hes pulled back to his feet. "Bloody hell. Just like home, only without snow." The chuckling teen said as the group continued to move.
An earth pony with a spoke with a merry tone. "Well don't fret. Snow will be falling by tomorrow evening at the latest. If anything is more punctual than our weather ponies. Then its in for quite the challenge for that title."
The blond haired girl started to skip ahead of the group before turning to face them all. "OOOOOOooooooo! I cant wait! This'll be the first time i see snow!" She stopped once she noticed the group staring at her in utter shock, their mouths agape. Crossing her arms she states flatly. "Australia. If you couldn't guess by my accent. I'm from, Australia." The three Canadians just nodded their acknowledgement. The guards ponies, just stood there confused. "Australia! the country thats mostly mountains and desert and crippled by drought far a large portion of the year, and flooded the rest." The ponies just nodded. Their confusion still evident, but they understood why snow wouldn't be a regular event in a place with such weather.
The groups mage spoke with a slightly strained voice whilst her spell fought off some of the cold. "Well, You'll love the snow Jessie. Its really pretty, and its so much fun to throw snowballs at everypony."
The Aussies smile returned once more upon hearing that statement. And the group continued on down the street, passing many dark spaces that spanned between the closely placed timber structures of the settlement. As the patrol passes one such darkened gap, a metallic crunch catches Jessie's attention, Causing her to instantly tap her closest squad mates on the shoulder and raise her Enfield .303 to the shadows.
The unicorn stop and looks back to the humans, whom where aiming their guns into the dark shadows as the sound of shattering ceramic echoes into the street from the space. "It's just a roofing tile." The humans don't change their stance, nor even batt an eye away from the location of the sound. Rolling her eyes she drops the fireball spell she'd been holding. Breathing a sigh of relief before shuddering from the bite of the cold. Her horn baths the street in a nearly unnoticeable orange hue, and the shattered remnants of two terracotta roofing tiles levitate from the darkness.
"..." The four humans stood their ground against the darkness, keeping their weapons raised to the darkness.
After a few moments, One human lowered his rifle. Followed by his two comrades shortly after, But something didn't sit right with Jessie, Keeping her rifle raised, she took a cautious step towards the darkness. The three Canadians raised their weapons once more upon seeing their squad mate moving towards the pitch black space.
Jessie takes yet another step forward. Several of the guards ponies began to slowly reach for their weapons, whilst moving into positions to defensively flank the humans should something go awry. Jessie was now no more than four feet from the darkness now, she had begun to slowly push the muzzle of her rifle into the darkness.
She suddenly jumps when the screech of static erupted from the radio being carried by a guards pony. The tinny voice crackled through the shortwave. " 'Union Bears', Where are you. Your patrol should have ended half an hour ago. Stop frolicking through the town and get back here, before we have to thaw your arses out and treat frostbite." The squad looked to each other, before the ponies returned their weapons to their scabbards and turned to leave. The Canadians shrugged and turned to follow, only pausing to see Jessie's reaction. As the mage walked further and further down the street the colder the air got around them. After several moments of glaring into the shadows, Jessie turned and left with her fellow humans to return to the warmth of the council building to write their report.
---------------------------------------- The exact same moment... But a few seconds later... In the shadows to the left... ----------------------------------------
The well seasoned voice whispered in the darkness to his compatriots. His voice coarse from a lifetime of drinking spirits. "Is she gone?" After several seconds pass, a shadow lowers itself down from its hiding place just below the roofs overhang. The little light cast by the moon catching the blade of the short dagger and its returned to its sheath.
The shadow whispers, Its feminine tone giving away its owner to those whom wait in the shadows for the patrol to be out of earshot. "Yes, This patrol left. Good thing too. We wouldn't have been able to silence them without blowing the mission. The blood would of froze into the street." Her talons finally reaching the frozen ground, she tucks her wings in, Mostly in her effort to warm up. "I don't like this place... Its way colder than back home. Even during the winter hunt..."
A Younger male in the four strong party spoke from the shadows. "A daughter of the high duke of Falcor, who loves hunting wild boar during the winter celebration... I'm Definitely wedding you when we return home." He said in admiration.
She chuckles to herself as she turns to face him. "Hah. Not in your wildest dreams, 'down for brains' ".
Both of them are hushed silent by their leader. His tall form standing at the edge of their hiding place for the time being. "Bear in mind, We're currently being hunted by the Equestrian Royal Guard. If you chicks keep on tweeting. Then we're going to be given away. And i'll be throwing you both at the guard as i make my escape!" He hissed back at them. The two shrank under his glare once the moonlight caught his white eye.
The Final member of the group finally spoke up, his hushed tone bearing that of sophistication, the kind bought in tutoring paid for in gold bullion. "Plea~se tell me that you haven't broken the devise Ermin?"
After a short check into the hessian sack on the floor she nods confidently whilst lifting over her shoulder.
A Shadow darts over the group, and they immediately quieten down as they look up. After a few moments, the outline of a Pegasus dashes across the dark sky, leaving a rainbow contrail in her wake.
The coarse, gravelly voice of the groups leader curses vividly at the sight. "Now we have to deal with those Cretans!" He hisses in a quiet rage. Turning to the group he addresses them. "Make sure you have all your personal effects accounted for. We complete our mission tonight! With the heroes of Equestria here, We risk being discovered if we stay any longer!" He states with quiet urgency.
With that, the group begins to move. Their target in sight.
The morning had a thick fog taking up residence over the still yet to be named settlement that sprang up over a week at Neighagra falls. The airfield was Practically abandoned. The many mechanics and ground support crews not being required in weeks. The many massive hangars that hat been constructed by both humans and ponies stood in their various places around the grass airstrip, as proud sentinels, protecting the great numbers of aircraft inside from the elements.
The weather took an unexpected turn this morning, the weather team in charge of the 'Neighagra falls' area had decided to use the day to teach their trainees the difficult art of creating the perfect snow. Suffice to say, The class of fifty two failed, quite miserably. Instead of snow in any description, They ended up creating a veil of mist rain. At the request of the council, Whom thanked the young weather pegasai in training for the event, the weather schedule was rearranged for snow at 3PM tomorrow afternoon, whilst the fine rain continued throughout the day. The reason for this being? The council saw it as a chance to level out, texture, then refreeze the currently atrocious dirt roads that ran through and around the settlement.
The days were seemingly getting shorter now, with the sun setting earlier than usual, and the nights lasting longer. The temperature continued to drop each day. Whilst everyone worked on fixing the bumpy, pot hole filled mess the streets and roads had become recently, The rain mist quickly froze to anything that it touched in the cold temperatures. Structures, Clothing, Plants, People, And, The vehicles. The mechanics went into a fit over how all the aircraft left outside during the morning, whilst they rearranged the hangars, were now frozen under such a thick sheet of ice that they needed to thaw out the landing gear with blowtorches before they could tow the planes back into their new parking spots.
Much to the sheer joy of the logistics team. The mechanics had managed to squeeze the aircraft so closely together into each hangar, that they managed to free up one whole hangar building for the logistics team to store the various items being shipped in form all over Equestria. The logistics team were overjoyed when they received the news, as now they didn't have to build a warehouse in near subzero temperatures.
Being bored, and having nothing to do. The mechanics decided on acting upon the next complaint that the logistics team had on their list, That also happen to be pretty close to a suggestion that Char had approached them with the night before.
Emily walks across the airstrip, Cadence and Rainbow dash in tow. The three carried umbrellas with them to keep the ice mist off them.
The girls all giggled whilst Cadence regales the effect of her little talk with Johnna. "He was redder than a tomato. His eyes glassed over. He looked like all of his birthdays came at once, he was a cloud away from orbit! To be honest, it was adorable seeing him like that, he looked like a foal who was just given a full cookie jar." She said with a chuckle.
Emily continued to giggle giddily. Rainbow hovered along side her upside down. "Someone else looks like they're on cloud nine." She says with a suggestive eyebrow wriggle whilst holding her hooves under her chin.
Emily recovers enough from her giggling to reply with. "Well, To be honest. I've had the biggest crush on that man for AGES!"
Rainbow dash continued to hover alongside Emily on her back in a reclined position. "I dont see what you like in him. Sure, hes cool an' all! But, your ALOT like Rarity. And John is so ruff-n-tumble, i cant seem to understand why you like him over somepony more......" Rainbows long awkward pause caused Emily to giggle whilst she simply finished the blue mares question for her.
"Someone more 'Sophisticated' " Rainbow flips back around to right-side up and flies in front of the group pointing to Emily.
"Thats it! Thank you! Sophisticated!" The rainbow maned Pegasus declared.
Cadence responded to the blue mares question. "Love is more complicated than stereotypes Rainbow, its a form of magic that runs deep in a creatures soul... You often look over such emotions as love, but you know when you've found your true love... The first time i saw shining. He was strong and dutiful. But he was also, so caring for those under his command, and most certainly to his family. Case in point. He was adorable and perfect!" The Alicorn regaled with so much affection to her husband it was almost heart melting.
The group resumed their walk to the 'Bomber Broadway' whilst Emily gave her two friends her reasoning. "I love Johnna because he's: Strong, Loyal to a fault, Caring, Truthful, He says it as it is, Easygoing and his rough and tumbled look is cute! He looks like a confident anime character! Its so bloody CuuuuuuuTE!"
The group rounds the corner after spending two minutes wrestling with a frozen gate latch. And are utterly speechless. Except Rainbow dash, who looked like a child who had their candy stolen. Placing both her hooves on her head she just yells with a voice crack. "WHAAAAAAAT?! Where are THEY!?"
The group looks around the fenced in gravel parking area, And to their surprise, not a single plane nor mechanic was to be scene. Emily walks over to one of the many sets of wheel tracks and follows their direction to one of the mighty wooden hangar doors.
After a short struggle, Cadence and Rainbow fly over to help Emily push the door open.
With a screech of protest the door finally begins to slide open. Once a gap large enough to squeeze through is made, the three girls enter the hangar and are blasted with a wall of warm air. The moment the groups inside their ambushed by a team of eighteen mechanics who immediately rush to the door and man-handle it closed once again.
The girls turn to the harsh voice yelling at them from across the hangars cavernous insides. Upon laying eyes on the buildings contents Rainbow was speechless. A smile that would make even Pinkie pies cheeks hurt spread from ear to ear on the mare.
Cadence herself was finding hard to formulate words as she stared in awe at the massive machines that packed the hangar. The many bomber aircraft were packed to tightly together that, from above, They must have resembled a slightly spaced out puzzle. "They're so, Large... Theres so... Many of them... How do you get craft to large to fly without lighter than air gasses-"
The stunned Alicorn was cut off by an overjoyed Rainbow dash dart off towards the ceiling whilst shouting "THIS. IS. AWESOME!" Her rainbow contrail was the only thing giving away her location in the hangars dark roof space. The lights flickered to life over the whole hangar and the sheer amount of aircraft parked in the building was suddenly apparent. "OH. MY. GOSH! Theres so MANY in here!"
"So, These are the airships your race uses to fl- Emily?" Cadence found herself looking around for Emily whom seemed to disappear. After looking around for a short while, cadence noticed Emily's feet standing behind the tail of one of the aircraft. Walking over to join her friend, she was about to ask what was wrong when she herself laid eyes on the matter.
Before the two was a rather large pile of random aircraft parts, interior wall panels lay stacked against the wall with sticky notes stuck to them with such information as aircraft type, number and refurbishment numbers. Bags of screws nuts and bolts were also duct-taped to the various panels.
Emily approached a mechanic and began to question her. "What are you all doing to these aircraft?"
The mechanic looked confused, and answered cautiously with. "We're retrofitting these aircraft to be used as transports, that being cargo and passenger transports. We've also rearranged the hangars to avoid any sabotage of the aircraft."
Emily looked dumbfounded. "And who gave you orders to do so? what if the need arises that we should have to use bombers?"
The mechanic clicked her pen and returned it to her breast pocket before crossing her arms. "Emily. I'm just doing my job. The job i'm paid quite well for. And thats to keep these planes in working order. Answering your question. According to weather reports, its going to get cold enough for oil to freeze in the vehicles, so the logistics team kept nagging us to convert the aircraft, and we responded with 'Sorry, cant help ya, speak to someone of adequate rank.' So they went to Char. Char approached Burnard, and asked if it were possible to convert the heavy bombers into transports to speed up the logistics needed to live through the winter. And i think the answers clear. And, as far as i'm aware, transports don't need bomb bays and armour plating. Thus all the piles of aircraft parts strewn around that wall."
With a nod Emily thanked the mechanic for explaining and walked back to cadence after exchanging pleasantries. The Princess had a genuine smile on her face. "Your disarming? Thats wonderful!"
"Yeah, don't count your chickens till they've hatched. We're only converting the heavy bombers. And i'll make that abundantly clear to Char when i see him at the meeting in half an hour." Emily said with a serious tone.
"Heavy bombers? Theres other types?" Cadence questions.
Finally smiling once more, Emily motions for the Princess to follow her as she walks through the forest of landing gear taking up most of the hangar. "There are many types of aircraft that humanity has crated over the years. Propeller planes, Jets, Helicopters, Flying boats, Airships, Aerospace transports. But the ones that we have here with us are a mix of propeller and jet fighters. Light, medium, heavy, and fast bombers. Close Air Support or CAS aircraft. Recon aircraft. And a handful of Catalina flying boats."
"Thats quite a list..." Cadence says with a slight tone of confusion. "So, What role do the, 'Heavy Bombers' Usually fill?" She asks in curiosity.
"Heavy bombers are multi-engine aircraft designed to carry the largest bombs that are required. As to their usage in battle. They're usually used in strategic operations, Historically those would be carpet bombing of enemy factories and fortifications. Thus, why each team only has between four to, in the Americans case, twenty eight of them, Their rather large targets that are easy to hit. And they only have a specific niche to fill."
"So what of the others then?" Cadence questions.
"Well, Fighters are, as their name suggests, the aircraft designed to take down other aircraft. but they can usually fill multiple roles, but they excel at fighting other aircraft. Light bombers are usually small single or multi engine aircraft that are either converted from other aircraft types or are designed with certain design constraints in mind. Medium bombers are usually twin engine aircraft that carry a lot of small bombs and are in between light and heavy bombers in size. They're usually faster then both too. Fast bombers are usually light or medium bombers, as the name suggests, they're designed to get in quick, drop their payloads, then get out quick. CAS aircraft are designed to work in cooperation with the ground and naval forces, they usually help by knocking out tanks and bunkers though. Recon aircraft fly high over the field of battle and report enemy positions, as well as updating maps and acting as radio signal relays. And flying boats... Well they're flying boats... their not really good at anything in particular, but they make great command aircraft as they don't need large open strips of open space to land, they just need a reasonably sized body of water. Meaning that they can follow the front line easier than other aircraft types."
"Hmm, your race really thought everything through didn't you?" Cadence thinks aloud whilst trying to remember this information for Twilight to gush over later.
"Well sadly my people have had over several thousand years of combat to learn..." Emily says with shame.
Cadence walks over and gives her friend a hug. "Hey now. Its ok. You and your friends are in one of the most peaceful empires to ever exist! It'll take a little time and a lot of effort. But you'll all find happy lives and know peace unlike anything you've ever known." She says with a caring smile.
Emily smile back with a glimmer of hope. "Thanks Cadence. I'll always remember that-" Emily was cut off by someone yelling obscenities from across the hangar. The sounds of tools hitting a steel floor echoed around the inside of the hangar, prompting Emily to investigate.
As Emily and Cadence walked over to the every increasing yelling. They heard Rainbows voice join in and hurried their pace.
The voice was male, and belonged to the person who yelled at them from across the hangar earlier. "Don't lie to me! It wasn't any of us! And the hangar was locked all night! The only way our shit could have gone missing, is by you and your lot flying in through the skylight that was busted when we opened the door this morning!"
The two rounded the corner just in time to see Rainbow dash and a rather well toned tall human standing in a room that had a chain-link fence wall. Rainbow fired back her counter argument. "It wasn't me you idiot! I just got here! And i was late for my shift this morning because i slept in! if you want my alibi checked, you can talk to Emily!
Emily yelled to get everyone's attention then spoke to the human yelling at the fuming pegasus. "Burnard. Whats your reason for yelling at Ms.Dash here." She demanded.
Burnard tossed a busted padlock onto the steel workbench that was sitting on the wall. "That. If from the skylight that was shattered last night." He then slammed a second padlock into the workbench. "And this ones from this storeroom. Some bastards pulled some sort of sick joke, And nicked most of our tools and several spare parts!" He then pulled a clipboard off the wall and continued his tirade by yelling the list out loud enough for everyone in the hangar to hear. "Look at this! Missing Item stock. FIVE, MAGNETOS. TWO, THIRTY CAL.S. A WRENCH SET. A SOCKET SET. THREE, POWER DRILLS. A TWO HUNDRED ROUND BOX OF THIRTY CAL AMMO. AND AN ENTIRE DRAW OF. BLOODY. AIRCRAFT. SCHEMATICS!" I accentuated each of his final three words by taking out his rage on an innocent filing cabinet. Delivering a brutal kick with each word that made the two ponies either side Emily flinch with each impact. "AND IF I FIND THEM. I'LL DO A LOT MORE THAN MAKE THEM SQUEAL!" He yelled at the ceiling of the hanger, seemingly addressing all the mechanics and ground staff in the building.
The two ponies looked up to Emily who just stood there with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. "Are you done Burnard?" She asks coldly.
The mechanic looks stunned as he drops the clipboard on the floor and his jaw drops. "Am i done? How can i keep these aircraft running when i'm missing tools! spare parts! The fucking Documents i need to find parts and components inside the aircraft!"
Emily uncrosses her arms and walks over to the irate man, placing a hand on his shoulder and speaking civilly to him she says. "Burnard. You've been fixing these aircraft for years. All of your mechanics have been fixing these aircraft for years. I watched you disassemble then reassemble an entire flying fortress when you couldn't find the cause for a lack of oil pressure. You don't need those documents. Your the best mechanic we have here. Your team is the best team of mechanics on Earth. If anyone can make it without silly schematics. You, and your team can!" Standing up straight she straightens the mans oil and grease stained fatigues. "Now. Stand up straight. Stiff upper lip. Behave like the twenty six year old you are!" She then leans in to whisper. "once we find the ones responsible, i say a year of pranking is in order. And i'm not talking about shaving cream bombs in their kitchen cabinets or buckets of water above their doors. I'm taking about the big stuff." She leans back and gives the now smiling man a sly wink of her eye.
-------------------------------- 1400 Hours. Settlement Town hall. --------------------------------
The Fireplace in the corner of the room crackled away furiously as Mcdonnel threw yet more wood into its blazing heart. The rest of the council sat in various chairs around the table. Most clinging onto steaming cups and mugs. Johnna sat in his usual seat for these meetings. Right next to Emily. He himself, was digging into his late lunch, And nothing, was going to stop him, to make that evident he had his pistol sitting on the table in front of him, The magazine stood upright on the table, and six paint rounds stood next neatly next to that.
No one spoke, but all watched the Australian as he helped himself to his meal of Meatless spaghetti bolognese. Robert resumed his fireplace management by throwing three more logs into the already overloaded fireplace. Dimitri spoke from his reclined position in his seat.
"Whats the matter comrade Mcdonald. One would think with all the fast food your people consume. You'd have more than enough blubber to not feel the cold. Or are all Americans this coldblooded?"
Mcdonnel Turned to face the smiling Russian and Crossed his arms. "Well Sergei Ivanov... Yeah, i've got nothin'. I'm too friggin cold to think!"
Just as Dimitri opened his mouth to fire back his reply, the door to the room opens and a blast of cold air fills the room. With a loud slam of the door the room begins to slowly warm up once more. Two previously missing members of the meeting finally arrived. As they remove the many layers of winter apparel they're wrapped in and hang them on the hat rack off to the side of the door, the forms of an orange earth pony and a yellow pegasus are highlighted by the gentle amber glow of the raging fireplace.
Placing her iconic stetson back atop her head, Applejack immediately begins to apologize, But is cut off by Fluttershy who immediately accepts responsibility for the two being so late. "I'm s-so sorry E-everyone... On the way here i found a Phoenix nest that fell from its tree in the forest. So Applejack helped me carry it back to the camp..." She began to shrink away in fear of the others responses, but to her surprise no one reacted for quite a while, seeming to think her story over for a time before Johnna placed the fork he was holding into his empty bowl and took a hearty drink of his apple cider. After this he give a dismissive wave of his hand before saying.
"Eh. Don't worry about it Fluttershy, It was most certainly a noble cause that took up our time. Completely worth it, And the pause allowed me to finish my lunch in peace." He said whilst placing his hands behind his head and sliding down into his seat.
Princess Luna looks around the room to confirm that all are in attendance before addressing all by clearing her throat. "Mayhaps we shall start this assembly?"
Johnna gave a wide yawn, placing the back of his hand to his mouth as he returned to sitting upright in his chair. "Thats rather Old-English-ie of you Luna?" He inquires.
Luna shuffles in her seat. "When I'm nervous i revert back to Old Equestrian sometimes..." Robert left his seat and began to walk over to the raging fireplace once more, But was stopped when Johnna leaned back into his seat, Standing it on its rear two legs and blocking the burly Americans advance.
"Robert. I appreciate warmth as much as the next person. But. Its a meeting. Not a sweat lodge. Please sit down, Its warm enough. If i wanted to summon hell on earth, I'd track down a politician."
With a chuckle from the humans, and confused looks form the ponies everyone was finally seated and the meeting began. To make an arduous story short. The matter of discussion started with everyone dispensing pleasantries, then reaffirming the plan to survive the winter. The matter of discussion then drifted over to future land rights and claim conditions. That one was interesting. Luna, supposedly having been a real sportsman in her time, put forward the notion of having the human military branches fight their Equestrian counterparts in a mock battle, Capture the flag and King of the hill style.
"It would provide a unique opportunity to train our officers, as well as promoting a tighter bond between our people. And it would certainly be interesting." Luna said with a smile. Her sister, Celestia could only smile at her sisters antics.
The topic of discussion then moved onto human dietary habits... Oh boy, that was an interesting experience...
"I thought you said your people where omnivores!?" Twilight exclaimed in shock at the sheer amount of meat based ingredients that the human cook books entailed. "Almost every one of these has meat in it, in some form or another!" She says in disbelief.
Mcdonnel just replied with. "Hey, We are omnivores, But we appreciate a good steak sometimes. Most of those recipes can be made without it, but they'll taste far different. Obviously. Just bear in mind, Humans have trouble with eating enough protein and certain fatty acids, the easiest way for us is to just eat meat."
Twilight is thoughtful for a few moments before she just says. "I see... Well, i see that this cookbook has a few fish based recipes. Pegasai have to eat fish occasionally for the same reasons. Since flying puts enormous strain on their wing muscles, and their cardiovascular system is always running in overdrive to allow them to fly in the first place without just getting tired locking up and falling from the fly."
"I'm sure we can trade meat for fish, some people are not going to like that, but as our resident Australian here says. And pardon my french. 'Stiff shit' " Robert says with a smile.
Cadence Slams her hoof into the table, making several people jump, and gaining everyone's attention, Causing her smile apologetically. "I had an idea..." She says with a nervous chuckle. "We could host a cooking fair. That way, our cooks and chefs can exchange recipes, ideas and cooking methods. We have nothing to loose and everything to gain by having such an event!" Everyone at the table nodded their agreement and a date was scheduled for the approximate time that the Logistics guilds warehouses would be build.
From Char spoke up. Resting his chin on his hands and whilst leaning onto the table on his elbows. He flawlessly shifts to the next point of the meeting. "As I'm sure your aware by now Princesses. Our heavy aircraft hangar was broken into last night. And several weapons, their ammunition, as well as tool kits and aircraft schematics were stolen. After the event i had the mechanics rearrange all the hangars, and as of 10AM this morning all of our aircraft are inside the hangars and under armed guard. I must affirm my reasons for doing this are to avoid possible sabotage of our aircraft and and further theft. Not that I'm in the capability of making requests to your highness's. But may you please consider posting guards at the skylights of the hangars as soon as possible.
Celestia spoke up, but her troubled expression could not be hidden as she mulled over the problems and threat of such technology being stolen and at large. "Please, if you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask, and yes, certainly. Guards shall be posed immediately upon this meetings conclusion."
"That you your Highnesses-" Celestia cut Char off with a raising of her wing.
"Please, You flatter us so. Just our names please, or Princess if you feel absolutely compelled by good manors." She says with a warm smile.
"Very well. Princess. Now then. Theres one more request that i must make, And I'm sure that the Logistics guild will be waiting for the answer on baited breath. We've just gone through the arduous task of converting our heavy bombers into transport aircraft. The larger ones being cargo, and the more modest ones passenger liners. With you permission. We shall use our aircraft to speed up the delivery of supplies and transport your ponies around this large empire of yours, it would most certainly be a good source of income for our people to kick-start our economy in this land. Also, and i know I've asked too much already. But our pilots are in need of practicing their skills, so if it isn't too much trouble. May we put on a recreational event known as an 'Airshow' so that our pilots have n excuse to fly their aircraft. This event will also have the added benefit for our economies start."
At the exact same moment the latter idea was pitched. Luna's, Twilight's, Cadence's And Rainbow dashes eyes lit up. They all looked to the older Diarch with pleading eyes, and after a short mull over, Celestia simply nodded her agreement. "Very well, I don't see the harm in granting permission to all of your requests. And to be honest, I'm quite excited myself to see your 'Aircraft' fly. I'm sure our stunt team the Wonderbolts will be more than happy to come and perform some maneuvers as well."
At the mention of Rainbow's fellow teammates going to perform next to the Humans machines, The rainbow maned pegasus looked as though shes explode from overjoy.
After prolonged silence no one else had anything to add to this meeting. So with a nod from all in attendance, Applejack walked over to her saddlebags hanging on the hat hanger and pulled out several tankards.
Rainbow leaned forward in her seat upon sighting the tankards being placed on the table. "Is that? Did you!?"
Walking back over to her coat, which lay abandoned on the floor. Applejack lifted her coat off the rather large lump it had been sitting on, and revealed a micro-barrel of cider she'd brought with her.
Rainbow leaped out of her chair and flew into the air over the table whilst yelling "AWWW YEAH! CIDER TIME!" She began to perform a midair dance in place over the table, but stopped shortly after and returned to her seat. " *Phew*... Its rather warm up there..." Everyone just laughed and looked back to Applejack.
With a wide smile she carried the barrel over to the table and began filling tankards. Sliding one to each member in attendance. "hope yer' like it. Its freshly made from the apples we harvested off the trees yesterday. Came from the east field too. The Apple family's finest."
The group laughed merrily as they all began to enjoy their delicious drinks.
The sun was still just starting to peek over the horizon. Its brilliant amber rays illuminating the thick fog that clung to the earth. The frigid air ensured that all outside this morning were in many layers of clothing and keeping gloved hands in pockets, the ponies were even wearing 'ear warmers' which the humans found made them look even more adorable.
A huge crowd had gathered along the fence line for the settlements impromptu airfield. The masons guild worked themselves to the bone overnight, covering the entire grass airstrip with packed gravel to ensure the planes had enough grip to not slide across the field on takeoff. This wouldn't be a problem usually, but the extreme weather, coupled with the failed training exercise of the new weather teams meant that everything was now covered in half an inch of solid ice, and no one wanted to take any chances with heavy bombers filled to the brim with fuel, speeding down a field with a town of wood buildings right next to the airstrip.
Being the first time the heavy bombers have even been started up since they landed at the airstrip, and were quickly locked away in the hangars. everyone was quite excited. Quite a large portion of the Guard currently taking residence in the town had yet to even lay eyes upon the metal beasts, Let alone see them operating. The a mob of humans stood on the fence line mingling with the guards ponies, Because honestly, Who doesn't enjoy hearing the bone rattling roar of four great big dirty radial engines, and the majestic sight of aircraft as large as B-17's and Lancaster's taking off?
The crowd hushed the moment that a metallic creaking echoed across the field. The hangar doors of two large hangar buildings on the opposite side of the airfield began to slide open. As the crowd leaned further and further into the chain-link fence in a useless attempt to get a better view of the hangars insides, but despite their efforts, they were rewarded with the same view as before they tried.
Several empty cargo trucks backed up to the hangar door and, after several minutes they reemerged, each towing the nose wheel of a huge aircraft. First, the huge nose of a flying fortress emerged from the dark confines of the hangar. Next into the early morning light was the square profile of the Lancaster. The ponies gawked at the sheer scale of the two monstrosities of engineering. Aircraft were continually towed out of the hangars until eight B-17's and six Lancaster's sat at the end of the runway. Whilst the mechanics feverishly kept track of the temperature of the aircraft's engines the pilots blazed through their checklists, double checking their every step to ensure that their added speed didn't end up causing dire problems.
Fuel trucks practically screeched to a halt either side of each aircraft and refueling staff scaled the aircraft and began quickly pumping fuel into the partially full fuel tanks. The copilots window of the lead B-17 slid open and he waved a neon yellow flag outside his plane. "We're starting the engines now, Watch yourselves." After several seconds pause for the ground-staff to move away form the engines and the refueling crew to climb down from the planes and move their trucks the pilot yelled out the window once more, his breath turning to vapor outside the confines of his rapidly cooling cockpit. "Clear Props!"
Silverstreak turns to Eliza and asked her human friend what the co-pilot meant by "clear prop"
Eliza just smiles and replies with "Its a verbal warning, he basically just spoke in 'Propeller head terms'. 'Please move away from my engines! I'm starting them and you'll very probably be seriously injured.' " The Bat pony was still confused and opened her mouth to ask Eliza to explain again, but the mare was cut off by a mechanical hiss.
With a whine, a groan, and finally a prolonged and cringe-worthy mechanical whimper. The engine spluttered and coughed to life. Then promptly and rather explosively backfired and stalled, the bang caused everyone on the fence line to jump and several of the ponies to yell in fear.
The pilot fully opened his window and stuck his head outside to get a better look at the troublesome engine. With a string of profanities that would made a sailor blush and hang his head in shame, And the mothers in the group hold their foals ears. The pilot attempted to start the engine once more.
The mechanics all started to look worried and continuously kept checking the engine temperature. Behind the lead B17, The Lancaster's Pilot yelled out his ritualistic words of warning, and once the ground-crew moved away from his aircraft's wings, gave him the thumbs up. With a mechanical groan and two seconds of whining the engine started up flawlessly. The ponies covered their ears with their woolen earmuffs, as the large camouflaged planes engine spat out six jets of flame then roared to life.
All the way down the line of craft, engines began roaring to life and many clouds of vapor very quickly began to rise into the sky behind the line. The lead 17' first engine still refused to start, Instead just opting to lazily whine. The pilot shut off the magnetos and threw his arms up. As the mechanics converged on the rebellious engine like hungry wolves the pilot stuck his head out of his window. His hairs stress induced graying streaks turning orange in the morning light. "Burnard! What have you done with my beautiful plane?!"
The mechanic turned and crossed his arms. Whilst looking up to meet the airman's glare. "We haven't touched the engines since the day you flew to this bloody airfield you codger. Just sit there and twiddle your thumbs like a good boy and don't forget the difference between your brake and accelerator pedals whilst i see what the problem is."
The thirty year old leaned back into his cockpit and reclined back in his seat mumbling to no one in particular. Now everyone on the sidelines were starting to get worried. Even the ponies understood this was obviously abnormal. The mechanics dispersed and moved back to the front of the aircraft. Meanwhile all the way down the flight line the other aircraft were performing the last of their preflight checks. Crews stood at various positions around each aircraft and were watching each control surface for any abnormalities. Flaps deployed then raised, rudders wagged back and forth, Ailerons waved up and down, and elevators pitched up and down. Each engines cooling cowls and vents were observed from safety to ensure nothing was jammed or iced up.
Burnard yelled up to the pilot to give it another try after making sure his crew were away from the flying fortresses wings.. After another cringe inducing five seconds the engine finally gave up and started after a cough or two. The pilot throttled the engine up to fifteen percent power so i would warm up quickly and start behaving. The rest of the planes engines started with little hassle and everyone was happy smiles. The cockpit was full of hollers and cheers, the ground-crew looked elated. and the fence-line was erupted into whistles and whoops.
After a further few minutes the ground-crew cleared the 17' for duty and the aircraft taxied to the gravel airstrip. Leaving the ponies in awe at their air shaking power. They could feel the air in their lungs rattling and couldn't hear anything but the loud roar of engines, even whilst they covered their ears with their clothing and their hooves.
A Single B-17 and a Lancaster sat on the very end of the strip, their tail wheels sinking slightly into the frozen earth. To mark the historic event of the first proper civilian flights in equestrian history. The communications between the pilot and control truck were connected to the airfields loudspeakers.
"Blue Four, Cattle-car. Checklist complete, Pre-flight complete. Requesting permission to takeoff for Appleloosa."
The voice of the Lancaster pilot echoed over the field next. " Purple One, Galloping Gurney. Checklist complete, Pre-flight checked out. Requesting permission to take off for destination Appleloosa." After several moments an ear-piercing screech echoed over the airfield.
"SORRY! Sorry! That was was a doozey Ey? *Ahem* Righto, Cattle-car and Galloping Gurney, Standby for current weather conditions and weather schedule throughout the next hour." After a five second pause. The controller spoke in a monotone voice, being sure to speak slowly and clearly. "Current conditions. Fog, Visibility, one hundred meters. Wind, None. Ambient air temperature, Zero degrees Celsius. Weather, Clear. Cloud cover, Dense... Current Weather In Appleloosa- Fog, None. Visibility, clear. Wind, Five knots, Direction, South east. Ambient air temperature, Thirteen degrees Celsius. Weather, Clear. Cloud cover, None, clear skies..." After a six second pause he speaks up once more in a monotone. "Weather condition upon your return will be the same. Snow will fall an hour and a half after your landing." Inhaling audibly the controller returns to his normal tone of voice. "Addressing all of you lot, its noteworthy that you are making history today! Your flights mark the first airliner and cargo flights performed by internal combustion engine aircraft in Equestrian history, You wont earn any tonnage hauling records, but your going to obliterate the airspeed transport records! and for that we leave our mark! Have fun out there. Or i'll have to come up there and beat it into you with a tuna..." All the humans began laughing at the Sexton hale reference. The ponies looked both disgusted and confused by the mans words, but they were happy for the humans to be so excited. and their own curiosity was nagging at them. They wanted to see the so-called 'war birds' fly.
The controlled said his final prayers for a safe and easy flight then addressed the line one final time. "Oh, And we here in the control truck thought it a nice gesture to give you all an Australian Treat. one that may be argued is overused but, What the heck, its a good one... Cattle-car, Galloping gurney... Cleared for takeoff, Have fun gents." With that done the sound of the microphone being hung-up echoed across the airfield. And the short period of silence from the loudspeakers ended with a familiar guitar tune playing through them. All the Australians instantly let out a hearty laugh, and all the other humans just smiles and started humming the lyrics that were about to come.
The loudspeakers gave the music a rather flat and tinny sound, but overall it was still a great quality.
The ponies listened to the song with great interest, lightly bobbing to the music. Certain parts of the lyrics had them looking quizzically at each-other, but eventually they just stopped caring about the lyrics and just enjoyed the music.
The aircraft on the runway lowered their engines power so that the music could be heard better over the roar of the engines and all of the crews were practically in a state of reminisce induced bliss. Some danced in their seats. Others grinned stupidly whilst humming. Some let a a few tears trail down their cheeks. And quite a few tapped out the songs beat on any reachable surface. The captains of both aircraft on the airstrip just crossed their arms and smiled whilst the song played out.
Eliza found herself quietly singing along, Her voices purity being on par with that of a churches choir. Her angelic voice caused most of the humans in the group to look at her with more than a fair amount of utter shock and disbelief, whilst the ponies just smiled and watched her sing passionately from her heart. Luke appeared from the group of awestruck people and hugged his girlfriend tightly whilst she continued to sing.
Once the song finished the roar of the B-17's engines filled the air of Neighagra Falls, The pilot released the brakes and the flying fortress lurched forwards, after a short while of gaining speed, the tail lifted gently from the ground and the hulking plane hurtled down the runway. As the Flying fortress reached the burning bonfire that marked the point of no return, The planes nose slowly tilted skyward. After a further few seconds, the landing gear left mother earth and the machines flight amazed the ponies and left the humans grinning like Cheshire cats.
When the Silver bomber was raising its gears and slowly getting smaller in the distance the Lancaster's Engines roared to life, and it too took to the heavens in a similar fashion to the aircraft before it.
The Lancasters Co-pilot hollowed his joy. "Scratch that one off the bucket list!"
The pilot after raising the flaps to their final position for the majority of the flight turned to look at his friend. "What would that be?"
If the airmen weren't wearing oxygen masks, the co-pilots toothy grin would of made the captain chuckle. "Why, We've already just broken two official records. and we have about seven more to go." He said with a smug laugh.
Meanwhile in the B17 cockpit there was a scene befit for a circus. The copilot and flight engineer had been at odds for picking a song to play over the bombers comm system. The navigator was repeatedly 'face-desking' whilst the gunners had completely tuned out and were having their own conversations.
As the captain was beginning to loose his cool he reached down into his seats side pocket and pulled out his smartphone. after plugging the aux-cord into the stereo that the crew had nagged Burnard to install for months before they arrived in Equestria. The captain scrolled down through his phones many many songs. Finally he sound the first song he actually enjoyed so much he recorded it. A song he heard when he went to a club back in Ponyville, before he was driven out by an angry bouncers glare.
The song echoed through the planes interior and the fight in the cockpit, much to the captains relief ceased. The navigator finally having some decent music to work to, and no longer hearing his fellow airmen bickering like children, managed to actually start catching up on organizing the mountain of maps the leadership dumped on his planes desk that morning.
The three planes continued their flight, seeming to chase the night as the sun rose behind them.
================ Two days before... Appleloosa. 0400 Hours. ================
Moonlight spreads a pattern of shadows across all in the room. The shadow of Venetian blinds coats everything inside. The only audible sound, is that of the quietly squeaking ceiling fan lazily rotating above the bed. Two ponies lay under the covers, snuggling contently.
That was however, completely destroyed compliments of the pained scream of a trains whistle. The window was left open when the couple went to bed, and now they both regretted that decision. A glance to the clock hanging on the wall across from the bed shows that the time is five past four in the morning. She turns to her partner. "Theres no trains scheduled for four in the morning? What could that be?" Her partner simply shrugged his shoulders. With a sigh the mare goes to get up, but a red foreleg pulls her back to the bed shortly after her attempted departure.
She turns and meets the sleepy, deep brown eyes of her husband. A warm smile spreads across his muzzle as he leans in and kisses her. After a few moments they separate. "Don't worry about it Sweetheart. Just come back to bed..."
With a pained smile she shakes her head, as she leaves her loves embrace she quickly makes her side of the bed. The sound of four hooves meeting the wooden floor notifies her of her partners departure from their bed. She turns and sees him in the midst of a long stretch. Once he finished he stands back up and reached for a pair of safety glasses that sat on the bedside drawer. After placing the safety glasses atop his head, Axel turns to his wife. Just in time to miss her adorning her light brown dress. It was a simple tunic design, however she had personally requested the towns tailor add lace frills around the bottom, just for a more feminine touch. Her red kerchief already bore her six pointed golden star. The badge of the town sheriff. He was, however, in time for her to adorn her belt and secure her saddlebags to it. Its brass buckle dazzled Axel for a few moments, catching the light of the bedside lantern as she lights it.
Axel's lover caught sight his squinted eyes and pained expression. "Is everything alright hun?" She asked with a very concerned tone.
Axel just smiled and swiped his white mane out from his eyes. "Heh. I'm fine. Its just, your brilliant radiance blinded me love." His mare smiles and prowls around the bed to her husband with a coy smile. She stopped just short of her slightly taller husband. And wrapped him in an embrace.
"Your flattery is most noted, dear." She says as she plants a kiss on his nose. "But you've already treated me to so much. And i must say, dinner was surprise. The silver necklace took my breath away a second time.-" She leans in whilst slowly closing her eyes, her voice dropping to a whisper. "-And that romantic bath and massage you gave me was truly divine sweetie." Once their kiss ended, they broke their embrace and both moved into the kitchen. Passing the many photos of the two's fondest moments hanging proudly on display all over the cream coloured walls. The house wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination. It was your average Appleloosian home. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, And one massive backyard that was mostly sand and cracked earth. Since the two had no foals yet, they used the remaining two bedrooms as a small study, a guest room.
Axel opened the ice box and retrieved a chilled canteen. After a short jog to the front door he passed the canteen over to his mare as she walked through the threshold. Realization twinkles in her eyes as she sees Axel with the canteens cord in his mouth. She smiles affectionately. "Thank you my 'Gentle-colt', I completely forgot about that. What would i do without you." As she takes the canteen Axel smirks.
"Dehydrate in the blistering sun. Before slipping into the pub and breaking up several bar fights that you started yourse- Ow Hey!" Axel said in his best 'Rich snob' Canterlot accent, however his thick western accent made that a rather difficult and odd sounding endeavor. He was cut off by the smiling Sheriff whacking him with her hat.
"Har-Har. Thats enough from you, your such a kid sometimes. And your always so impossibly cute and innocent! Its like your a plush!" she said giving him yet another bear hug. She was cut off by the sounds of doors opening across the dirt street. "I've got to hurry and see whats going on... See you at lunch. I'll come by the shop." With a happy nod, Axel released his wife from his embrace and they both parted ways, heading opposite ways. Axel, heading for his wagon shop. And the sheriff heading for the town train station. She paused for a moment looking back at her lovers figure disappearing into the early morning darkness.
She was snapped back into reality when her deputy slid to a halt off to her left. After a short period of ragged breathing from his bolt over from the other side of the town he addressed and briefed her. "Sheriff Pinto! The train that has arrived at the station is flying under a flag I've never seen before! I Asked the trains guards-pony for a manifest and his trains purpose for arriving in town and his words were 'Sorry colt, its a private matter i'm afraid. We're operating on decree of the crown. So no worries'. And he just ignored me after that!"
She looked at the many curious and worried faces poking out of the many doors of the buildings lining both sides of the street. She addressed all of them in a calm, but authoritative tone, a thing she learned from the former sheriff. "Don't worry everypony. We'll attend this matter. Return to your beds and sleep soundly till' morning." She and her deputy, A still fairly young stallion of royal purple colouring with a chalk white mane and two Enormously expressive deep green eyes, stood and began making their way to the towns train station.
The sheriffs expression was borderline fury, as she advanced on the station with a mission. To not only her surprise, but that of her deputy. The platform was empty. After looking around confused for several seconds she was caught off guard by a rich cultured voice from behind her.
"You must be the Law enforcement for this area. We're here on important business, a sort of... mission if you will." Rolling her eyes and forcing herself to swallow her scoff, the sheriff turned to address the Canterlot snob whom just rolled into her town on the morning breeze and was already acting like he owned the place.
"Yeah, And the last thing i need around here is you Canterlot folk causing your usual amount of trou-...blllllllle...." Turning around. Her expectations of a well groomed and manicured pony noble were promptly shattered as eyes eyes met the apparent crotch of someponys Really red pants. Looking up she suddenly felt a shiver fly down her spine and make her coat stand on end. Her eyes trailed up the strange creature before her. Finally coming to a stop on his face, at least she assumed it was a 'He' by the masculine tone of his voice.
His mane was long and seemed to have partial curls, it was a really blonde colour which seemed to nearly glow in the flickering yellow light offered by the many lanterns space around the platform. His attire was completely red, save for the ornate yellow trimming and decorated his sleeves, collar and buttons. The creatures eyes here small and beedy. Their positioning on the front of its head seeming to mean that this creatures species is or was predatory in nature. And the sheer amount of detached wariness that his seemingly pure, yet simultaneously cold eyes portrayed helped not in making her feel comfortable around his presence. Sheriff Pinto was by no means a shy mare, nor was she a push over, but this creatures sheer height, being almost double that of her own, was impressive and would make even the most masculine stallion caution his actions around this creature, But his expression and eyes seemed to drill a hole through her very soul.
His posture was strange, his forelegs were behind his back. 'I don't like this... is he hiding something... spaced...hooves? Taking up as much space in his posture as possible? He;s acting like he owns the place... And to be honest he would if it weren't for me and Just Wind here... I doubt anypony else would stand up to such a strange creature...'
The creature spoke once more. " I Beg your pardon Ma'am. But are you not this towns law enforcement officer?" He said calmly yet in a strangely quiet tone. Pinto was snapped back to reality once she noticed he had pointed a claw in her direction. She was about to drop into a defensive stance but held herself steady as she noticed his claws didn't, in fact, end in talons or anything sharp of any kind. to her surprise the creatures... paw... ended in rounded fingers, much like those of a dragon, but strangely different, they were thin, almost frail looking by comparison...
Giving her head a slight shake the brown pinto mare regained her derailed train of thought. Taking the offered paw she shook it politely. "Yes, I'm Serenity, Although around these parts ponies just call me 'Sheriff Pinto'. So. What brings you to my town?" Serenity inquires.
"Allow me to act upon your comment from earlier. I, And those in this train-" He paused to point to the siding just out of sight of the platform that the train was currently parked in. "- are here on official business of the crown, So rest assured in knowing that we mean you and our fellow townsfolk no trouble. If you have any questions or concerns, please locate and talk to me, and i shall personally deal with the problems. If any of my people cause you any trouble or heartache, then you have my express permission to arrest them and notify me of the reason for your doing so."
Serenity mentally kicked herself for letting her deep rooted disgust for nobles get the better of her actions. "And what would that business on the crowns permission be?" She asked with a raised brow. The creature looked to her deputy with an expression that was making the young stallion increasingly nervous. He placed his partially clenched paw on the guard of the rather alarmingly long sword that hung from a leather belt around his hips, this made Just Wind twitch, as he suppressed his urge to take a step back. And i cant blame him either, The creatures sword was on the ridiculously thin side, but it was slightly longer than that of a full grown pony. 'The reach from the weapon would be impressive alone, but with design like that, its clear that this swords made for quick, agile movements, and due to a lack of weight it would be most effective in the thrust...' . However it was clear to the seasoned sheriff that attacking or intentionally being imposing or threatening wasn't his intention. The manner in which this creature casually placed his partially clenched paw on his weapons hilt suggested that he did this out of habit. 'So, This creatures nervous twitch may be to place his paw preemptively on his weapon... Rather defensive of you, for such a large and imposing creature... It may be frail... if its paws are of any indication.' . Serenity Promptly snapped her train of thought onto the cause of this creatures sealed lips. "My deputy stays. He's to know what i know, its the best course of action to avoid confusion and thus conflict. Don't worry, hes trustworthy, i have yet to hear a single secret slip form his muzzle."
"Very well, Time is of the essence in this matter. I'm Char. Armaments minister for the Covenant of Twelve. And our objective is your shipment of coal and those whom signed their signatures off on the towns notice. In two days from now. We're having two rather expensive aircraft arriving in this town to transport those whom signed on. As well as transport the coal."
The sheriff was awestruck and almost unable to contain herself. "You have an Airship capable to transporting THAT much coal?!" The strange creature smiled.
"We have many more than that. And thats all your going to hear on the subject. At least until we're in a secure location. We've had quite a number of alarmingly dangerous and expensive items and equipment go missing lately. And i fear that sabotage may be the next possible step for whomever is doing this. Rest Assured. I Trust you. Thats why I'm informing you of all this. Your skills must be of exceptional consideration. Both your empires Diarchs recommended you as the first choice."
The two tone brown pinto sheriff sudden froze up at the sudden information bombardment. She moved no discernible muscle to any in her presence. Char tilted his head in confusion. "Did i break her?" Leaning down to her eye level he lifted her voluminous mane and was greeted by a frozen thousand yard stare. Waving a hand in front of her face she didn't blink nor even bat an eyelash. "Hello? Mad'am?" Char turned to the now obviously panicking deputy. But the human kept his polite culture rich tone. "Do i have you permission to move her to my personal car on the train? You may join us, And don't worry, this train in neutral soil for The Covenant of Twel-" Char was cut off by a heavy thud against wooden floorboards. Both he and the deputy turned to the source of the sound to see the sheriff has fainted.
She was incoherently mumbling. "P-Princess-esss-s R-R-recommen-ded... MeeeEeee...He.He.He... Dream...come...true..."
Char looked dumbfounded. "Well, look at that... I Did break her... Opps..." Char and the deputy blinked at each other for a moment before Just Wind just shrugged and lifted his boss onto his back. 'If we're in neutral territory then attacking us is considered a declaration of war... at least it was back in the history books...' .
"Well... L-lead the way..." With a smile char lead the way to the rear of the train. helped the deputy left the sleeping mare onto the caboose, then walked through three cars to their destination.
The inside of the car was painted light grey. Panels with cream colored fabric that was trimmed in gold thread and stuffed with some sort of insulation lined the lower half of the wall, and the same cream colored stuffed fabric lined the entire roof of the car. Chestnut furniture was spread around the car. To the front of the space was a rather large bed with black sheets and thick blankets. A thick black curtain that when drawn, would completely enclose the beds space, currently sat against the wall. A cast iron Potbelly stove sat on the right wall next to what could only be a kitchen counter top. Continuing his visual exploration his earlier assumption was confirmed once he spotted the icebox and many cupboards.
Just Wind was about to place Serenity on a wooden bench when Char raised his hands. "No, No, No. Put her on my bed and place the top quilt over her." Just Wind shot char a look that would make a Minotaur nervous. After a split second of confusion Char laughed loudly. "Don't worry. I Don't intend on doing anything to her, you have my word as a gentleman. Its just that a bed is far more comfortable than sleeping on a hardwood bench yes? Besides. What kind of man would i be to be so rude." Char moved into the cars miniature kitchen and set about pulling out a glass bottle of milk, a jar of biscuits and cookies, a cast iron kettle and a handful of coal. Looking at the perplexed stallion he spoke casually. "Tea? or coffee?"
Serenity began to stir as her mind came into a focus. She kept her eyes closed and sighed quietly in her warm comfort... Her mind wandered back to the events prior. She giggled at how strange that creature looked. and how her deputy had a mental short circuit whilst being in his presence. she made a mental note to train him to look past a creatures exterior. 'I'll have to work on that with him...' . Her mind trailed over the creature telling her the problem his people were currently facing with things going missing and buildings being broken into, and how the princesses recommended her services for the job. she couldn't suppress a small squee of joy at that fact. She then moved onto how she collapsed onto the train platform but she was just so warm and she found a great deal of comfort in lying down on what must of been a bed by the feel of it. 'Wait a minute... Warm? Bed? Wasn't i on a train platform at 4AM in the morning?'
...
Her eyes fly open and she sits upright. Her notion of being back home and in her own bed, promptly shattered. The quilt over her was warm, soft and comfortable. But its dark blue coloring with its white snowflake patterns were far less colorful than the quilt on her own bed.
She looked around and took stock of her surroundings. What ever room the good sheriff had found herself in it was cordoned off by a black curtain, Giving the small enclosed space that she occupied a generous amount of darkness and oddly enough soundproofing. 'How thick is that curtain?...'. looking to her left. Serenity found her magic inhibiting cuffs on a bedside table. They block the magic of those who earn the right to wear them, and even if the creature didn't have or use magic they were still thick enough to ensure that they wouldn't be able to break out of them. She released a held breath.
After a few more moment she quietly sighed and climbed off to the side. As she slid down off the side of the bed her eyes shot open wide in horror at the fact that she couldn't feel the floor beneath her hooves. Before she could let out a surprised yelp, her felt one of her hooves lightly brush against the wooden floor boards. Looking over her shoulder, Serenity sighed as she released her death grip on the bed sheets, and slid the remaining embarrassingly short distance to the floor quietly. 'One hoof before the other...'. Her left hind hoof was first to meet the warm embrace of the wooden floor. Followed shortly thereafter by her right, After balancing on her hind hooves for a moment she quietly set her fore hooves down on the lacquered floor and snuck over the the bedside table. Taking her cuffs in her mouth she realized that somepony had removed her saddle bags.
Cursing her foul luck as of late, Serenity gently placed the cuffs against the floor. Every little sound she made caused her a great deal of mental strife as she snuck her way to the curtain. Her cringe ended once she arrived to the curtain, A Painfully long distance of two feet, when your every step is punctuated by the clack of a hoof against the wooden floorboards. She'd been quiet... But anypony who'd been listening for the sounds of her escape would have still caught on at a moments notice.
Lifting an ear, Serenity listened for the voices in the thrall of conversation in the same room she'd found herself in. The delicate and acute muscles twitching slightly in excitement at hearing the sounds of ceramic cups being placed on some sort of surface, And the voices of the strange creature form the station and her deputy having what seemed like a casual conversation.
Lifting her left fore hoof she slowly pushed the curtain open to that it had a barely perceptible gap between it and its sister. Squinting she looked around the new space she'd uncovered for herself. The narrow gap in the curtains didn't betray much of the next room, but what it did, Shocked her to no end...
---------------------------------
The delightful conversation about good Equestrian vacation spots Char was having with Just Wind, Was swiftly cut off the curtain surrounding his bed being ripped open, And a dirt and dust brown mare practically leaping across the train cars interior towards the now very confused Char.
Upon seeing the silvery cuffs in her mouth char ducked low whilst simultaneously reaching behind himself with his hands. Expertly dodging the cuffs and catching the Earth pony mare, Preventing her form flying through the closed window. The Sheriff. Having dealt with a crazed Griffon that the humans would like akin to the insanity of Hannibal lecter. Managed to somehow right herself into a position where she could slap the cuffs onto one of chars wrists.
To say that she suddenly found herself Utterly terrified at her newest discovery was a titanic understatement. The moment she slapped that first cuff on. His magic began to back flow through the other cuff and into the lawmares hoof. She felt as if she was being struck by lightning. This creatures sheer magical strength was causing her a great amount of physical pain. She quickly snapped the last cuff on his other wrist and what happened next. Left her quivering in fear.
Char let out a pained howl that made her feel guilty beyond measure. And both the Sheriff and her Deputy went wide eyed.
Arcs of yellow magical energy zapped from Chars wrists to the cuff and back to his wrists again. The crystal in the center hoop of the chain linking the cuffs glowed a brick yellow glow that lit up the interior of the car. Arcing magic made the air in the car fill with a strong static charge. The air began to taste of ozone and the rather alarming sounds of cracking electricity filled the air. Char fell to his knees his eyes glowing yellow under his clenched eyelids.
Serenity glanced down at the crystal in the cuffs and her eyes bulged as she saw that the naturally deep purple gem was now glowing an angry red. The many runes carved into the iron bands that made up the chain and cuffs changed from electric blue in colour, to a pale white, And with one final pained howl from the stricken man the cuffs exploded into splinters, the remnants falling to the wooden floor beneath the mans clenched fists.
Char was Physically shaking... A Mixture of pain and rage fueling his body's involuntary response. He was curled tightly over his knees on the floor, the top of his head resting on the floor as he drew shaking deep breaths. Serenity gulped and was confused on how to continue. She herself was still furious about waking up in another males bed after falling unconscious. She turned to her deputy and noticed his glare of betrayal towards her. And suddenly she felt sick...
'Why do i feel like I've just made... one catastrophic cock-up?...' She thought to herself.
Both their attention was pulled to the downed man. Still curled up in a ball on the floor. His angered growl sending shivers up the sheriffs spine, But then much to her confusion. After about five seconds his growl was replaced with chuckling then lighthearted laughter.
Both Swift wind and Serenity looked to each other in different mixes of confusion and concern. Char then leaned backwards and sat on his ankles. Looking up to the roof of the train car he regained his composure, before breaking out into more giggles a few second later.
Swift wind turned back to his boss before saying with a deadpan. "Great. You fried him like an egg... Job well done Sheriff." Chars giggling became a guffaw of laughter as he slammed his fist into the floor boards, and turned to face Swift wind.
"Well done? More like Over done!" Char broke out once more in his laughter as the two lawponies were left confused. Realization suddenly dawned on their faces. And they both started giggling at the unintended pun.
Char broke his laughter, and looked at them with a look that would make a hydra bid farewell and make a hasty retreat. "I can understand why you would be angered at waking up in a random strangers bed. But trying to kill me? really? Was that really necessary! And what the hell are those?" He said pointing to the metal shards on the floor.
Serenity was going through a jarring series of confused emotions from the sudden emotional whiplash of the creature before her. But she went wide eyed once Char asked if she was trying to kill him. "Wha-? NO! I wasn't trying to kill you! Those-" She said pointing her hoof to the remnants of metal on the floor. "-Were magic inhibiting handcuffs. and you somehow managed to break them... When they should be good enough to even keep a minotauri shackled..." Serenity shook her head. "But- You! Do you always make it a habit of bedding mares?!" Serenity exclaimed with a mild fury.
Char laughed loudly and shook his head. "I see females here are just like those back home. No. I wasn't 'Bedding you'. I was being a gentleman. Your deputy was about to lay you down on the wooden bench i was sitting on prior you jumping me. But i declined him and generously offered my bed instead for you to rest on. I told him to just place you on the top sheets and pull the quilt over to keep you warm. We may be in a desert but we are still in winter, that just highlights the need to keep warm in the early hours of the morning. Whilst i do have a potbelly stove to warm my quarters. Its simply too small to make a good enough difference-" Char was cut off my Swift wind.
"Too small to make a difference? Its like... thirty degrees in here!" Char looked in confusion before smiling.
"Humans have no fur remember Swift. It was the main reason that we all ways wear clothes." The stallion looked to the floor.
"Oh, Thats right... I guess i forgot... Well then? still how hot do you Humans usually like it?"
Char stood up with a wobble, and made his way to the table, The sheriff moving out of his way politely. The man practically fell into the bench and slid across to the window side of his seat. " It will depend on who you ask really. i however prefer the room temperature in winter to be around twenty eight to thirty degrees. And its currently eighteen." Char said, nodding to the thermometer hanging on the wall.
Serenity felt her mind perform a back flip. 'Wait a minute... It was so hot only a moment ago! Whys it back to being cold again?'
Char sat up in his seat and reached for a bowl that was sitting in the middle of the table next to the window. He dragged it back to himself and picked up a long handled teaspoon. he eagerly plunged the spoon into the bowl and lifted it towards his mouth. The lawmare took note of the cereal and many pieces of dehydrated fruit that was heaped onto the spoon. The sweet tangy scent of various assorted berries reached her nose and helped put her at ease. 'At least he seems to be able to eat grains and fruits, that means he wont need to rely on eating meat, meaning everypony in my town wont be on the menu...'
After swallowing char heaped another spoon and held it in front of his mouth. After a pause that the lawmare failed to miss, he spoke in a thoughtful monotone as he examined the spoon of heaped cereal before him. "I don't know..."
The mare had a double take. "Excuse me?" She inquired with confusion.
Char looked to her and replied with. "I don't know how i broke out of those cuffs. Humans are supposed to be incapable of using magic. We have legends of people whom could use powers similar to magic, but those are just that, legends. The princesses themselves even scanned a large quantity of us and said that we are, As of current, 'Incapable of using magic'. Apparently our bodies are still absorbing it. According to your princesses the worlds magic is supposed to be a constant, yet my people arrive here en-masse with no exposure to magical energy at all. And that had caused an imbalance in the magical field of anywhere we spend a sufficient amount of time. Its supposedly due to our equipment and we ourselves being to dry of magical energy, that we're absorbing all the excess in our surroundings... or... Something like that anyway. As the Princess of magic described it. 'We're akin to empty buckets that have been submerged in water. The water being the worlds latent magical field. The overflow is being pulled into us because we are a magical void, And this is preventing the magical energy of the environment around us from replenishing until we have equalized with the magical energy around us.'" He said in a tone that was somewhat close to what Twilight, The princess of magic. Sounded like. Serenity had met Twilight once, and managed to get the purple pony to lend her a book on desert agriculture. It was one of Serenity's most happiest memories. Meeting one of her idols.
It was then that the mares mind stopped working for a moment. 'Wait... If his people are incapable of using magic because they've not yet reached equilibrium with the world... and he was able to make the magical canceling cuffs break...'. She turned and looked to the metal splinters on the floor. And gulped quietly. 'Then what will their magic levels be when they have reached their nominal limit?'. The thought terrified her. But she was broken from her line of thought once Char regained her attention via a light tap on the table next to her. The action making her flinch in surprise.
The mare returned to her neutral expression before turning to face Char once more. And he spoke to her with all the professionalism expected from a diplomat. " Do not worry. I don't plan on holding the events from recently against you. I can see clearly that it was all a grand misunderstanding and it was obviously my fault for not leaving you a note or something. Now. The aircraft en-route tomorrow morning will arrive by about 1PM in the afternoon. And whilst they can land on many surfaces including sand. They prefer landing on packed surfaces or better yet paved surfaces. And on the way in the train pretty much circled this town and i found no signs of any paved surfaced or even cobblestone roads for that matter. I did notice the vast area of flat empty space next to the rail line. That would work perfectly for an airstrip. The princesses informed me that the local tribe of... Buffalo. Would be 'willing to assist in compacting the earth in the space required' what ever that meant..." Char said taking in yet another spoon of his breakfast and munching happily.
Serenity nodded and opened with. "Firstly." Char turned to acknowledge the mare next to him. His deep blue eyes meeting her emerald green ones. "I'm so sorry about how i flew off the handle like that... It was rather uncharacteristic of me... And, i know you have the permission of the princesses, but why do you need a compacted surface for your airships to land on? Don't they fly using lighter than air gasses? Can they not float?"
Char clicked his fingers. chuckling as the ears of both ponies flicked in his direction at the gesture. "Well, my people have used lighter than air vehicles before, however they just... Lost their popularity once faster alternatives came along. Now we use Aeroplanes." Char lifted the fruit bowl situated on the table. Removing two apples form it and placing one in front of each pony, then he slid a notepad from underneath the bowl and placed it back in its spot. Removing a pen from one of his vests pockets. He flicked through the book to an open page and began drawing. His sketches were crude but accurate, He had drawn five images. One of an Airship, More specifically the R101 class. He drew a sketch of the fairy swordfish. One of the B17 And one of the Lancaster. His final drawing was of a Helicopter, the Mi-26TV transport helicopter.
Swift craned his neck to get a better view of chars quick sketching. Whilst Serenity was mesmerized by the way the Human before her was using the pen. Moreover, she was confused about where Chars pen was getting its ink from, There was not an ink pot in sight. Swift asked char with the curiosity of a child if those are the vehicles the humans used to fly, and char nodded with a smile.
Finally finishing his work five minutes later he clicked his pen once more, And noticed the ponies ears twitch again as their eyes locked onto his writing implement. placing it back in his pocket he thought to himself about how twitchy and cautious these creatures were, and how adorable it made them all look. "This first sketch is of one of our old Airship designs. The R101 as they were dubbed." The ponies looked at the picture and the small list of provided specifications for it.
Both ponies eyes shot wide open and Swift exclaimed what Serenity was thinking. "ITS HUGE!" With a smile char returned his notebook to his possession and spoke whilst flipping the page.
"Yes, And it was also one of the last new Airship designs to actually be built. One of the R101 class ships had a catastrophic failure when its hydrogen cells ruptured and somehow caught fire. The entire ship burn town and crashed in mere seconds and killed a lot of people. It was the final straw an a long series of airship related accidents. And practically ended airship production all together. Flipping to the next page Char place the notepad between the ponies once more. "This is the Fairy swordfish. A Modern-ish version of the 'Bi-plane'. The Bi-plane was the first class of aircraft that humans were able to fly without lighter than air gas. however they didn't become popular until stronger engines became available, The way most human aircraft work now, is there is a special engine that burns combustible fuels. Mostly liquid fuels based off of oil.-" Serenity's ears perked up at hearing chars explanation.
'Sounds A LOT like the design Axel's father made. I remember he showed me a while ago when we were courting...'
"-The burning of fuel creates mechanical energy, which is then used to spin a propeller, that in turn pulls the aircraft forward, and once it reaches a sufficient speed, the force of air pushing on the wings provides the lift necessary to lift off the ground, It's sort of like how Pegasai wings work, except without flapping.
The ponies were still taking all the information in. Char had been more than patient waiting for them to digest the sudden dump of revolutionary information.
Char clicked his fingers to snap the ponies out of their stupor. The man was finding it hard to not 'Daaww' at how cute they both looked when their ears flicked. "The only ones you have to worry about are these two." Char said and he pointed to both sketches of the b-17 and Lancaster. " All they need is a stretch of relatively flat solid and clear land to land on and take off from. As well as a flat solid road to move down to the railroads loading area so we can load the coal into their cargo containers." He crossed his arms and reclined in his seat as the two lawponies looked to a large map of the local area that one of Chars underlings had brought to the table.
Serenity placed her forehoof on the map. "This here will work. we'll have to contact the buffalo though and see if they can change their stampede route for the next two days. that should have the ground hard enough for your airships to land. best part, theres nothing to crash into to injure. And its close to the railways stockyard." she said with a smile.
"Your helping a lot of people right now. You both have my peoples thanks and dept. Now then. We were hoping that you'd come with us on the return to to the settlement, Our engineers got more than a little overzealous when they heard about the story between you and your significant other. And i'm afraid that they've gone overboard in designing your home in the settlement." Char said whilst looking to a very shocked Serenity.
"I'm sure it cant be that bad. And why do you have to move? We happen to have quite a lot tying us down to this town. at times i'm the only pony keeping it from falling apart at the seams. And Axel runs the only wagon repair shop for at least a twelve hour train ride in any direction." Serenity said with no small measure of concern.
Char nodded. "I understand. But please, Just think it over-"
Char was cut off by the lawmare. "I'll have to discuss it with Axel As it stands. He has the mos to loose from moving. The family business operates and thrives in this town."
Char sat up. "Well, Assuming that we manage to somehow manage to produce fuel without any refineries. You can keep this branch of the family business open. and open a new one in the settlement. Our aircraft having nothing to do are doing our pilots no favors in terms of honing their skill. And to be honest im sure that everyone is getting a little nervous because of it. The mechanics cant maintain aircraft that never leave the hangar. Meaning they don't get paid. and if the mechanics don't get paid, they're going to find jobs in other roles, and the vehicles fall apart slowly over time. And no one wants that, because we all love to see those vehicles working. Its... Soothing." Char said looking distant.
Serenity stood and walked towards the cars exit. "Once again, i have to speak to Axel about it. I'm supposed to meet him for lunch in a few minutes anyway. Apologies about flying the coup during our meeting, but family matters come first."
Char smiled warmly. "As they should. Go. And have fun. All we need is your ok and we shall begin prepping the discussed land for the aircraft arrival."
With a nod Serenity left the train car. A 'Yep' being clearly audible. Swiftwind broke into a short sprint to end up at his boss' side. biding farewell to Char he too left. The door to Chars abode closed with a quiet click.
Char now being alone in the train car. Just slid down in his seat and after a groan that lasted for a full ten seconds just mumbled. "I HATE Diplomatic relations." He started chuckling to himself.
-----------------------
Serenity made good time across town as Swiftwind was living up to his name. Swift had been meaning to speak for the last two minutes across town, but he had finally mustered the courage to actually do so. "... Sheriff..."
Pinto turned her head to address her partner, whilst still maintaining her brisk pace. "Yeah Swift? What is it?" She said with a genuine smile. Swift wind paused for a moment, what he had just spent the last week trying to tell his boss had all but vanished from his mind in the duration of the smile.
"Sheriff. Go with them. I can look after the town." Serenity froze up. and the group stopped in the middle of the street.
"Swift. Are you sure? I mean, your still only a-" Swiftwind cut her off before the word 'Kid' could leave her muzzle.
"I'M Ready Ma'am." Serenity's possible counterargument was smothered under the full weight of his determined grin. The look of somepony whom owned the town. And wouldn't let anything hard it or its ponies.
After a stunned pause for a few moments Serenity just smiled warmly at her rapidly growing up deputy. "Thanks Swift. You've just lifted a huge burden from my shoulders." She said Graciously. Returning to a merry pace Swiftwind bit her fair well for the day as he departed to find something constructive to do. Turning, he headed for town center with a big idiot smile plastered over his face.
-----------------------
The ding of the door bell triggered Axels automatic business twitch. "Welcome to Axels Wagon Wrights. Where We have the Right to Fix yer' Broken Wagon for free if your not satisfi- Oh, Hi Honey!" The red stallion smiled as he spotted his wife entering the store. "Whats got you in a chipper mood? You been looking forward to lunch?"
With a nod of her head serenity replied. "I've also got some interesting news from up north, You may call it one of those 'Once in a life time' Opportunities.
Axel smiled. "Oh, Please Do Prey-tell." He said with a coy smile.
----------------------------------------------- Appleloosa. One Excited explanation later... -----------------------------------------------
Axel sat in his chair with the wide eyed expression of the century. To be honest, This reaction was not to the Information dump Serenity had just dropped on his head. But rather, how his wife looked when she told him the story of her morning. This excited side of her nature very rarely came out. And when it did Serenity was a force to be reckoned with. This was her 'Adventure seeking' side, However. Her excitement was also attributed to the princesses recommending her to solve a mystery only she can supposedly solve in a timely manner.
Serenity's capture of the griffon escapee/fugitive Lambard Silentwing had sent her spiraling into the spotlight as 'A hero of Equestria'. So many ponies came to Appleloosa just to meet her. When things started to get really freaky and ponies started to ignore the couples personal space and privacy, Axel and Serenity had sent a desperate letter to Canterlot. The princesses had sent the mane six to disperse them all. Serenity was 'sqee'ing like a schoolfilly having met her idols... And the mayor was in tears and sobbing into his desk over the sudden tourism cut off... 'Oh the taxes, the BITS!' he'd moan. you could hear him from the street for days. But who could blame him? The sudden influx of Ponies had made more in a week than the town usually earned in six or so months.
But this seemed too good to be true. Moving to a new location, in scenic Neighagra falls no less, free of charge? And isn't Neighagra falls a nature reserve? And once more, Axel may finally have the chance to produce the self propelled wagon his father had dreamed of... Thats if all this 'Human' told Serenity was true at least.
Axel finally opened his mouth. "Are we sure he wasn't just lying to you? Don't get me wrong, Business around here is starting to go stale, but its a nice quiet safe town, I know we've both come to love it here." Serenity thought about it. But she replied with.
"He drew both Just wind and I pictures of vehicles from his world, and gave us short descriptions of how they work and what they were used for. But. To answer your question, no we haven't seen a real one up close yet."
Axel sipped his coffee, nodding to everything Serenity continued to explain. "Well then how can we be sure that they're telling the truth and not just trying to foalnap you or something? Need i remind you of the 'Las Pegasus weekly' incident?" They both cringed at remembering how Serenity was jumped and essentially foalnaped Serenity in a back alley. Axel couldn't help but smirk upon finding his wife that she'd knocked two of them out before the third and forth made off with her. They didn't get very far though. When Serenity Bit down on one of the assailants wings. Those two poor pegasai spent a week in the town clinic recovering from their crash landing on a cactus.
Serenity laughed a guffaw. "Come now love. Don't you think your being just a mite ridiculous, If the Princesses themselves are recommending you and I go there to live, even just for a short while until the Humans get on their feet. Don't you think its worth it? A change of pace? Nice soft grass and nature all around? Its the perfect environment to raise foals when we manage to get a moment to ourselves." Serenity asked her husband with a raised eyebrow and an almost pleading voice.
Axel sighed. It was true that their jobs had practically been full bore since their marriage. But the wagon wright had been steadily getting on top of his work load, opting to replace the Apples aging wooden wagon wheels with steel ones, rather than having to carve out four new ones every month. The sand and harsh rocky Appleloosian ground wasn't kind to transportation. The Apples themselves kept on fantasizing how'd they would 'Connect to the rail line and replace their wagon wheels with train ones.', And that would almost certainly end most of Axels business. With a concerned flick of his tail. He asked his spouse. "Did he at least show you the summons letters?" He asked.
Serenity sighed as her heart fell into her stomach. "No." The afore mentioned 'summons letters' are letters signed by the princesses themselves and closed with an enchanted wax seal that can only be broken and opened by the destined recipient. "Char said that in a logistical blunder he took the letters himself from the post office to his office. Then as he put it. 'Put them in a place so safe. He forgot where he himself put them.' " The sheriff looked up at Axel from across the tiny coffee table. "But he was assured by his NCO/Assistant that they would tear apart the building until they find them."
Axel looked into his wife's deep emerald green puppy dog eyes and felt his will to say 'no' sapping away quickly. 'Damn shes too cute when shes like this...' "Sorry love. No letters. No moving. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just trying to protect us. Moving the family business is going to be an astronomical task, and unless they can prove to me that they can move it without busting anything up, and that we're going to be safe and have enough space to raise a family. I'm afraid i believe we're best staying pu-" Axel was cut off by a 'bass-y' rumble that only grew louder and louder each moment. They could tell the sound was coming from the sky from inside the house, and it was coming from the north, but that was about it.
Both ponies looked to each other before running outside.
As they almost tumbled over each other and down the steps into the searing Appleloosian sunlight, Axel looked up. As Serenity looked to the main street of town to see what was going on and found everypony looking in the same direction as her husband. Looking up Serenity saw a blight silver glint diving down from the sky at an alarming rate of speed. At about one hundred feet it leveled off. And as it darted closer, it grew in both size and noise. As it got close enough for its shadow to flash over the towns main street, it caused a small panic and some of the townsponies dashed in every which way screaming 'DRAGON!'. As it howled over head a small tube was dropped from it. A tiny and (To be honest) rather adorable looking parachute opened up and the tube floated gently towards the train station.
The marvel of Engineering howled over the shops roof and disappeared, apart from its ear piercing sound.
Looking for the strange shiny flying machine. Axel found it and poked his wife to get her attention. When serenity looked to Axel he pointed to the machine. She caught sight of it just in time to see it perform a triple barrel roll. Before rolling inverted. And soaring into the sky during eight rolls. As it was almost out of sight. Two streams of thick white smoke started trailing from its wingtips and it stalled, falling sideways back towards the town below.
Again only one hundred feet from the ground did it pull up. It roared over town center, Screaming past Axel and Serenity standing out the front of the repair shop and Serenity could of sworn she heard a 'Yeehaw' as the vehicle passed by. Then it did another barrel roll before turning sharply and heading back north at high speed. Within about twenty seconds it was out of sight once more.
Serenity turned to a stunned Axel with an 'I told you so grin'. Clearing her throat she caught her husbands attention once more. "SO. About moving to Neighagra falls?"
------------------------------------------------------- Location. Two hours from Appleloosa. Present Time. -------------------------------------------------------
The eardrum murdering monotonous roar of the three aircraft's engines drowned out all other sounds in the air as they continued on their mission to Appleloosa.
The radar operators seat in the back of the black widow continued to seat its Pegasus occupant. Whom was enjoying the sights from way higher than he usually would be able to fly (within reason). He was by far a fit pony. But compared to most of his fellow E.U.P guards he was of the 'slightly more marbled' variety. And compared to the element of loyalty herself. Well. She made him look like he'd done nothing but sit on his rump all day eating junk food. Then again. She made ALOT of the E.U.P Guards look that way.
Shaking his thoughts clear he resumed looking out the window. And was again reminded that this vehicle was Not designed for creatures of his body type. For the umpteenth time during the flight, the guards sound canceling headset slid off his head, and he was forced to fish around the side of the seat for the piece of kit whilst his sensitive hearing was deafened by the growl of the engines.
Squeezing his foreleg through the narrow gap between the seat and the cold wall of the plane and feeling his hooftip glance off the band of the headset. The Pegasus tried again and again to flick it forward out of the narrow space and onto the floor of his compartment. After half a minute he growled and opted to try using his wing to retrieve the blasted thing. Sitting at an odd and completely uncomfortable position between the seat and wall, whilst resting atop the radar set. He managed to unfurl his wing and began reaching around the side of his seat.
After only a few moments he felt his primaries brush past the head band, Acting quickly he wrapped his wings 'fingers' =((-Authors note: I know that sounds weird but Pegasus ponies primary feathers are flexible and pegasai use them like fingers.-))= Around the headband and pulled them from the dark crevasse beside the seat. "Yes!" After taking the head gear into his mouth he folded his wing and sat back down, Placing the accessory over his ears and sighing in their immediate effect at blocking the deafening noise.
It was then that he noticed the quiet voice addressing him. whilst he listened into the quiet voice and was trying to figure out what it was trying to say. He heard a faint tapping above his head, Tilting his head back and looking up. He noticed a green bar tapping against the compartment wall behind his seat.
Reaching up he took possession of the green bar and brought it down to his eye level. Squinting to read the very fine dark text. He read aloud. "Granola Bar with fruits." His curious inspection of the green bar was abruptly ended by a loud yell cutting through his headset speakers.
"WHEN I SAY TURN THE HEADSET VOLUME UP, TURN IT UP CLUSTER CLUCK!" After recovering from his minor panic attack the pegasus was addressed once more at a far more 'inside voice' volume. "Righto, our head screwed on now? Sorry. But i hate repeating myself more than thrice. And i was trying to get your attention for like. Five minutes." The pegasus' aggressive reply was cut off by the voice of the gunner.
"Ease off his ass captain. He probably doesn't know how to turn the volume up and down on these things. That being said. Hope you like the granola bar. A lot of the NCO's are fighting each other like packs of hungry wolves for a chance to eat something as sweet and crunchy as that."
The pony's attention was drawn once more to the snack. As he gripped it to open it. Their aircraft was shaken violently by an explosion so loud even the noise canceling headsets failed him.
The radio through the headset speakers was filled with a mixture of pained and confused yelling.
The Co-pilot looked up from his smartphone as he continued to scroll through to the next page of his Ebook. With an audible groan he leaned forwards to the dashboard.
The captain looked over from his traditional view outside his windshield to see his number two aggressively tapping the glass lenses on the gauges for engine number one. "One's still misbehaving hmm?" He too leaned over to see the gauges whilst asking. "Over temp or under?"
The copilot slammed his clenched fist into the top of the dashboard. "Under again! Bloody things saying that engine one is only 2*C for engine temp. And its telling me that the water and oil cooling is at -1C and 5*C" The copilot undid his seat belt, Picked up a small portable oxygen bottle from beside his seat and stood up, unplugging his oxygen mask from the cockpits connection he plugged his mask into the small bottle he carried with him. He walked over around the back of the Pilots seat in order to see his set of engine gauges. And much to his disdain, they read the same. "That mechanic is getting Such a backhand when he get back there. He gave us a faulty aircraft!"
The pilot then looked to the gauges for engine two and cocked his head. Releasing one hand form the controls he tapped his engine gauges. And the response was alarming. "Tom." The pilot addressed his counterpart. "What do your gauges for engine two say? Please tell me the temperature isn't dropping rapidly..."
The copilot picked his oxygen bottle up once more and placed it in his jacket pocket before leaning down and checking the captains gauges, and in a confused mix between a hobble and a jog returned to his seat and buckled himself in. Disconnecting from his small O2 bottle and plugging back into the massive one behind his seat.
He looked at his gauges and muttered an obscenity before looking over the captains back and out the left side of the cockpit "Nup. engine twos doing it now. I don't think its the gauges cappi." The pilot and copilot both checked their throttles and found them at the same cruise position they left them in at the start of their flight. They both looked to each other in confusion.
Their confusion was shattered and quickly replaced with alarm when their plane started an orchestra of wailing and beeping warnings. A flashing red light in their dashboard grabbed their attention.
"SHIT! Cappi. Engine one and two are overheating." Looking out over the left wing the copilot saw two streams of black smog erupt from their respective engine nacelles. "We've got oil leaks-" The copilot was cut off by a rainbow prismatic flash that was so bright all colour faded to white in his vision. Followed by an indescribably violent explosion. He was left deafened and blinded as he felt the aircraft lurch suddenly left.
He felt sick.
His vision was a blinding white
His hearing was nothing but a migraine inducing ringing.
His only senses not deprived being that of motion.
And they were in a downward spiral.
Chapter 35 - "I-I C-can Still F-fly Th-th-this? ..."
Four shadowy forms watch the scene that may as well have been from an old world war two movie.
A B-17 spiraling from the sky on fire, Oily black smog trailing its vertical trajectory towards the ground twenty thousand feet below.
Had it not been for their amazing natural eyesight, as well as the rather expensive 'Cats eyes' potion. They'd have missed the sight.
A Young male voice spoke up, impressed by his handy work. "Whooo! HAHA! Lookit' fall outta the sky like a newborn pony! HAHAHA! Wonder if it'll make a similar mess on the floor!" His female counterpart looked over to him, utterly disgusted, but not entirely shocked. But none the less appalled. If there was a set line nobody crossed. That would surely be at the top of the list, The VERY top. 'Why would father even break this prick out of prison. He's Thestral shit crazy!'
Personally. She felt a little disappointed with the 'effective' results of their 'Device'. After all of the rumours she'd heard of the 'Capabilities' of the human aircraft, she'd figure such a small experimental bomb would do far less damage. She continued looking at the devastated machine as it rolled over onto its back and kept spinning down towards the earth. She noted the occasional piece of paper or stray objects that would be flung out from inside the craft as it spun.
The leader's coarse voice broke the silence of the cave. "Let's go, It is clear the device has done its job effectively, our employer will be pleased with this news." As he spread his wings to fly out of the entrance of the cave, a cultured voice called loudly from the shadows of the cavern behind the group.
"Wait a moment sir. I wish to see more, we now know the device works, but I wish to see how we could improve it, perfect it, in any way. Such a cheap device could always be more effective. Also. The show isn't over yet. From what I hear, these 'Humans' have a surprising capacity for stubbornness when it comes to dying." He looked down at his glasses as he cleaned a lens with his shirt.
Whilst thinking it through he turned to his group, he watched for their reactions. 'One shrugged, and the annoying little shit groaned. Welp. That's my mind made up!' "Fine, We stay till it hits the ground, then we move." He said in a casual tone. A Lopsided grin appearing on the opposite side of his face from the now complaining youngest member of their group.
Everyone in the cave turned back to look out into the midday sun and resume watching the crippled flying machine flat-spin out of the sky like a crippled bird.
The first sense to waft back into a blurred mess of dark shadows and ghost images was his vision.
Following behind was his sense of motion, The copilot became vaguely aware of his head resting against the window on his right. But soon found he lacked the strength to move it.
A full minute later his hearing blasted back into focus. Startling him into awareness. His hearing was assaulted by blaring and angrily wailing alarms and warnings. The one that tunneled to the front of his rapidly growing list of 'To do's' was the engine fire alarm. The shrill ringing of the bell behind his dashboard more an annoyance than an alarm.
His first reaction was to sit up and look at his gauges. But instead discovered a sickening feeling when he realized he couldn't move his head. It having been pinned to his side window from what he knew had to be G-forces.
With a great strain on his neck, he managed to tilt his head back. Looking up out the window above his head, The sight he saw made his heart sink further into his stomach. Out the window where there should be clear blue void, he instead saw mother earth spiraling up to embrace him. . . Scratch that. HE was falling to mother earth's embrace.
A Panicked look out his side window confirmed his fears. He and his plane. Where upside down and flat-spinning. The presence of a cloud of both oil and kerosene spiraling around his wingtip didn't help ease his fears.
"Cappi! W-Wa-ke up! We're flat spi--" The copilot froze in absolute fear. The kind of fear where one sheds tears of dread.
After a closer look out the windshield in front of him, The poor teen discovered a narrow streak of crimson liquid trailing across the slab of glass. his vision narrowed in on the little ice crystals that began forming inside the trail. And slowly followed said trail to the left side of his windshield panel and across the divider to the captains, The one trail turning into two, then six, then a dozen. All splaying off in their own directions seemingly without the purpose of direction, much like the trails wood-eating insects leave behind in their wake.
Then he laid eyes on his captain. The middle-aged man's body was not spared the wrath of the strange gravity that the inverted flat-spin exerted on the stricken plane.
The young co-pilot was paralyzed. He felt the cold hands of shock wrapping its fingers around his shoulders. The spinning light from the outside world making the limp bloodied rag-doll that he'd fought hard to befriend all those years ago steadily strobe between vivid gore-filled detail, and shadowed silhouette. Each time the light lit up his partner in crime, a seemingly new detail was brought to his attention.
There was nothing in his hearing now but muffled white noise and harsh slurred noises. The co-pilot could do nothing more than stare in mortified horror at the scene that would make 'Jason'' director envious. The roof, windshield, dashboard. Every surface on the frozen teen's side of the plane had the captain's blood staining it.
After seemingly a lifetime of staring. The co-pilot was shocked back to reality by a flurry of rather hard slaps. A shake. Then another four slaps until he was in his right mind enough to raise his hands and block the remaining blows.
He was greeted by the sight of his tail gunner. Who must have dragged himself to the front of the plane whilst fighting the Weird fields of gravity produced by the planes violent horizontal spinning.
As the pilot looked at the new scene before him he found with a small amount of amazement that his T.G was kneeling on the roof panel to his rear-high and right.
Then his hearing began to focus once more as the gunner gripped his head in his hands and yelled. "Earth to major tom! FLY the PLANE!"
The Co-pilot was brought back to a flimsy state of reality as he looked further above his head and out the window. The planet below had come into a sharper contrast of detail from before. And still spun towards him.
"Strap yourself into the flight engineers jumpseat." As the gunner made to fight his way across the roof of the cockpit the acting captain made a realization. His vision hadn't cleared up. It had remained a near-black shadowy blur, the same as when he groggily came too what felt like centuries ago. "Change of plan! Undo the captain's seat belt and buckle him into the engineer's jumpseat. my eyesights dodgy. I'm going to need you to help me operate the aircraft." The copilot did as he was instructed and unbuckled the captain's limp body. With a wet thump, his body seemingly levitated to the roof of the cockpit. The sound made the co-pilot shiver and teeter on the precipice of another panic attack. He dared a glance and noticed the captain's left leg had almost been amputated, Thus the source for a majority of the blood all over the cockpit. He Also noticed the man's shredded uniform, the entire left side of the once proudly worn regulation clothing and non-regulation lucky jacket reduced to tattered red rags.
Looking back out the window and feeling a sense of looming dread at the rapidly approaching surface below, then looking to his altimeter, the glass lens on the gauge shattered by the shrapnel that sprayed the cockpit. The gauge showed the long white arm rapidly spinning counter clockwise, whilst the shorter arm spun back slowly, hovering at around three hundred fifty-five. The number wheels towards the bottom of the gauges face spun back rapidly, but the current reading at a glance was thirteen thousand feet.
The copilot turned to look over his seat. "Hurry! Untie his scarf and wrap his left leg in it before the wound! Use the nozzle of the fire extinguisher to tighten it and knot the scarf around the nozzle!" His gunner made to do so, Struggling in the inverted perception of his world whilst groggily battling the low oxygen in the aircraft. Looking to the Altimeter once more the co-pilot found himself bouncing his knee rapidly on reflex as the numbers wound past twelve thousand two hundred, eleven thousand nine hundred, eleven thousand six hundred. "HURRY!" He desperately yelled behind his seat.
Eleven thousand two hundred. Ten thousand nine hundred. The metallic clicking of a seat belt to his left informed him of his fellow crewmate securing his seat belt. Looking to his left he nodded to his friend. "Do as I say. I'm going to get the plane out of the spin using the stick and rudder, you use the controls I tell you."
At his nod, the acting captain began his recovery procedure. "Set engines one and two to Wartime emergency power and throttle back engines three and four to idle." The eerily calm, short-haired grease and blood covered twenty-one year old followed his instructions. "Ok now, hold on." Acting on instinct the Co-pilot kicked his rudder hard on the opposite direction to the counterclockwise spin they were in, whilst pulling back on the yolk in an attempt to slow or stop the spin and bring the nose of the aircraft down.
The engines on the left wing angrily growled their monotone roar as the plane slowly began to cease its spin. The co-pilot found his speedometer to be damaged and not functioning. "Whats your speedo read?"
"Huh? What?!"
"The gauge that has 'Km/h' written on its face." The co-pilot said calmly reading his Altimeter once more, 'Eight thousand. shit'. Next, to him, his crewmate read the numbers.
"One hundred ninety. Two hundred forty. One hundred- . . . Holding two hundred forty."
Reaching forward using his muscle memory the acting captain pulled the lever for the flaps to the take-off setting. 'Come on you fat old bird. You haven't failed us yet! You've been through worse!' At his mental encouragement, the B-17 slowly started to pull its nose towards Earth.
After several more moments, the nose of the seventeen-ton aircraft pulled further and further down until the aircraft was diving straight towards mother Earth.
The plane began to rapidly pile on speed as the two crewmen pulled back on their controls. The sound of wind rushing into the cockpit through the now 'cheese grater' walls of the cockpit blurred into an ear-piercing scream that drowned out the roar of the engines in the steep dive. "Speed?!" The co-pilot yelled over the shrill scream of the air.
"Four hundred seventy. Four hundred ninety!" His counterpart yelled over the wall of sound.
"SHIIIIIIIT! NNNNOO- YOUU DONNNT!" The co-pilot growled through grit teeth as he placed a foot on the dashboard in front of him and pulled back with all the remaining strength he could summon.
Looking out his window the Co-pilot didn't see his life flashing before his eyes. The vivid sickening detail of the ripples in the tan-colored sand dunes that filled his windshield took up too much space for it. "Speed!"
"Five hundred twenty. Five hundred fifty!"
The straining crewman fought the locked up controls of their plane as the sounds of groaning and tearing metal radiated from the plane around them. The desert floor was slowly replaced by a blue sky centimeter by centimeter in the top of the windshields. "C-ON GIIIIRRRLLL!" The crewman both pleaded whilst clenching their eyes shut, expecting a gut-wrenching crunch of steel and aluminum, and a hopefully quick end as their aircraft was reduced to a field of chaff across the desert floor.
But they were instead greeted by the continued groans of protest from their aircraft as well as the feeling of ascension.
They both looked to each other in adrenaline-fueled ecstasy. They hadn't been reduced to a flaming crater smeared across the desert floor!
That was until there was a metallic crunch followed rapidly by four more in short order. They looked out their respective windows. They were still climbing. But... what was?
As the Co-pilot moved to level the plane he soon found the familiar ice-cold grip of anxiety gripping his heart. His yolks inputs weren't doing anything. "Oh-ho no, Please! Give me a break!" The copilot continued to push his control yolk further forward in hopeful attempts to push the nose of the aircraft down to level, but the seventeen-ton bird refused to heed his instruction.
The windshields were filled with a blue void as the nose of the aircraft continued to force itself further and further vertical. 'Roll, Nothing. Pitch, Nothing. Yaw, DAMN IT!'. Looking back to the Altimeter the watched as the numbers spun down from a rapid clockwise motion to a crawl. With butterflies in his belly, he continued looking at the gauge as its arms began spinning counter-clockwise once more. Five thousand. Four thousand nine hundred. Four thousand seven hundred.
Looking up and out his window he noticed the plane had begun rolling to the right as it started recovering from its stall. Thinking fast, he slammed all four of the throttle levers forward into emergency power.
As the sight of sand dunes filled the cockpits windshields once more the flying fortress continued to gently roll right, increasing their distance to the ground slowly by adding a curve to their path. "Speed"
"Three hundred fifty. Three hundred sixty." The gunner yelled as he continued trying to fight the dead controls. The banshee scream of the air rushing into the cockpit through all the holes returned as they both fought their dying aircraft out of the death-dive.
After assessing all of his options the co-cheese made a decision that was beyond risky, but better than crashing. Reaching forward once more he pulled the flaps lever to the landing setting. Almost immediately an angry red light lit up on his dashboard along with the hostile growl of an alarm, telling him that his flaps were deployed past their over-speed limit.
The nose of the plane turned for the blue abyss once more. And as the copilot reached for the flaps lever, a metallic crunch alerted him to the fact he just lost yet another piece of his plane. holding the lever he waited a moment and noticed the plane slowly yawing left.
He retracted the remaining flap as the plane gained airspeed. The pilot-in-training took several minutes to examine and test his aircraft's control authority. And noted, the faster the plane flew when level, the more the nose wanted to pitch up. When he slowed down the nose dropped rather quickly. The aircraft had a habit of rolling to the right side slowly. But that could be canceled out and used to steer when the right flap was deployed.
'Ok. Pitch is controlled by speed, and rolling via flaps... flap. But I still have no yaw control...' His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of an engine revving up to his left. When he looked over to the outboard wing for the first time since he had recovered from the flat spin, his breath hitched and he felt his heart cannonball into his stomach.
Half of their left wing was missing. And only engine two remained on the said wing. Looking over his shoulder and out the window to his right and over the wing behind him partially, he discovered that he had both engines but again half the wing was missing, though far less than the left wing.
"H-Heh-eh... I-its Ok-kay... I can still fly this..." The young co-pilot found himself nervously laughing at his luck... Or semi-lack thereof. "Ok... Emergency checklist..." Reaching into his seat's side pocket, he groaned when he found it empty. Sitting up he became aware of an object landing in his lap, looking at the severed hose resting on his knees he rolled his eyes as he undid his now useless oxygen mask and threw the thing over his shoulder. "Wish I knew how bad the plane was messed up beyond what we just caused..."
He turned to his tail gunner 'Gunnie' in the seat next to him. "I've got the plane. You check the captain and go inspect the damage." He raised a hand to forestall his friends counter-argument. "All I have to do is adjust the throttles and pull the flap lever back and forth occasionally. I'm partially blinded not crippled." He deadpanned.
After a few moments, his T.G nodded and undid his seat belt. Moving around behind the seat he took stock of the captain. Whilst this was going on the co-pilot attempted to make contact with anyone over the radio but found he was just talking to himself. A Tap on his shoulder bought his attention as his friend reported. "Cappies got a really low pulse but he's still alive and breathing."
With a relieved nod the copilot addressed his fellow crewman once more. "Good. Now, go down below and see why the radio isn't working and ducky isn't responding. Whilst your down there, please squeeze through to your position and tell me if you see the elevators and rudder." No sooner as he was asked this. Poor Gunnie's eyes shot open in absolute horror.
"GO!" The acting captain yelled whilst giving him an encouraging pat on the shoulder and turning back to the controls. With that, Gunnie turned and moved for the shredded and empty door frame the wooden cockpit door once once sat in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Cave in an unknown location near the badlands... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A whistle of genuine amazement sounds out from just inside the cave as its owner's coarse voice makes his thoughts known. "Well lookie at that... If I didn't see it I'd say you'd be pulling my wing... Especially after seeing a bomb of similar size level a railroad bridge..."
Ermin's brain was currently processing a series of emotions that confused her. Above the strongest one, That being of confusion as to how something could survive a blast as violent as that. She was also dealing with a strange maternal instinct at seeing something so stricken refusing to die. She found herself willing The doomed flying machine on its journey to civilization.
She also felt guilty in having been a part of, and actually enjoying such Violence. From her position in the mouth of the cave, she could still make out parts of the machine falling to the desert floor below, Small puffs of sand marking the impacts to the ground. Ermin found herself hoping that the humans inside it weren't too badly hurt.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile inside a certain wounded B-17 named 'Cattlecar'... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Gunnie' the gunner walks through the door, having completed his survey and live commentary of the aircraft. And upon returning to his seat simply said. "As Johnna would put it. 'She's Farked'. Duckies fine. He's just passed out from a lack of oxygen, and he has shrapnel in his shoulder. As for the radio. The explosion left it with a parting gift..."
"Let me guess, In that it was parted? A part of it here, A part of it there. And a part of it waaaay over there lodged in the wall?"
"You got it," Gunnie said whilst nodding his head at his acting captain understanding the reference. "Tom. We're not lost, are we?"
Tomas cursed his luck. Gunther 'Gunnie' was right. He really didn't have an idea where he was going... "The maps-"
Gunther shook his head. "No luck captain. The blast blew the front window cap off the plane. They're all gone. We're lucky duckie was wearing his seatbelt." Tom winced at the thought of one of his 'Family' members. Yes, As part of his crew, he was thus in extension family. Falling a few thousand feet to a rather brutal death...
However. Luck shone her graces upon them. As the copilot noticed that in all the chaos their poor bird had recently been in, the signal flare kit had remained steadfast in its velcro straps. Pointing to the box, Tom began layering a frantic barrage of instructions on poor Ol' Gunther. "RedGreenGreen! Fire Red. green. Green! With any luck we still have company!"
Doing as instructed by his friend, and what the instructions on the lid of the tin box said, Soon three beautiful orbs of colour were arcing through the air. After a few more minutes the roar of engines reached them through the swiss cheesed cockpit.
Looking out of the left window. Both crewmen saw the sight of their knights clad in black armour. Off their left-wing...Stump... Was their escort Black widow.
With a gentle wing rock in salute, the two crewmen in the front of the aircraft nodded and pointed due west according to the 17's compasses. Leaning forward, Tomas noticed four white vapour trails of what could ONLY be a Lancaster.
Giving a nod and a thumbs-up, the Blackwidow pulled away slowly and carefully. "Wow. We must be more fucked up than we look from in here. For HIM to be careful flying around us." No sooner than that sentence was finished did the cockpit blackout and the hulking form of the radar/interceptor blitz past the nose of the stricken 17. The prop wash of the widow nearly causing what was left of Cattle-car to sideslip.
Once the two teens managed to retain what control they could afford the acting pilot simply replied. "When I land this bitch. I'm kicking that ass in the balls!"
Gunther simply responded with. "I'll help you!"
The pegasus in the glass rear of the plane held on for dear life, as he found himself in one moment, looking in awe at the flying machine that seemingly made a deal with Cerberus. The next thing he knew he was hurtling towards the ground at a forty-five-degree angle. The huge behemoth of engineering quickly shrinking to nothing in the deep cobalt skies of the deserts approaching Appleloosa.
"Are we crashing?! Why are we diving so fast!? What's going on!?" He cried out.
The voice of his friend behind him reached his ears through the headsets. "Don't panic we're not crashing, and for the record these particular planes capable of going twice as fast. The airbrakes will open up in a few moments. And we're diving so fast to gain speed, We're rushing to Appleloosa to warn them what's happening. They're not answering the radio. Listen. Here's the plan. When we get there. We're going to pull up into a sharp climb and stall out over the town. You are going to bail out as we begin stalling. And fly down to the train station. Ask for Char. And tell him what's happened. If he asks you to verify your story. Tell him 'Leroy says Leroy you say?' and he'll leap into action. Got it?"
"Got it!" He replied with a nod he realised no one could see.
"Good. We'll be there in five minutes. Also, tell him that Galloping Gurney is landing first and Cattlecar is seven minutes...ish behind. And tell him to answer the bloody radio!"
"Got it!" A mechanical whirring surrounded him. Looking left and right out the sides of his glass surrounded the world. He noticed fins that looked like huge metal fly swatters that had folded out of the wings. And felt his ride begin slowing down.
The next five minutes passed by with nothing noteworthy happening until he heard the howling roar of the engines die down, and felt his stomach seeming to try jumping down into his rear hooves. Looking out his glass area he noticed the entire township of Appleloosa filling his windshield and shrinking with distance as the aircraft continued clawing for altitude over the sleepy wild west style settlement. With a shout from his friend he unbuckled his seatbelt and made his hasty exit.
He tumbled free from the glass panel snowball he'd spent the last few hours crammed in and found himself sighing in relief after breathing the fresh Apploosian air, before frantically diving as he remembered what was about to be falling after him from above.
The dusty, sun-blasted trail road snaked out into the many, many kilometres of Appleloosian apple orchards and other various croplands filled with hearty fruit and veg.
A cloud of dust was being kicked up, as a vehicle drove down the road at a modest speed. However this vehicle wasn't of Human origins, but the machinations of a sadly departed inventor.
(Heres a photo of a Unimog)
Serenity hugged Axel tightly as they rode the four-wheeled machine down the road towards their favourite picnic spot. "I can't believe that this works as well as it does," Axel said quietly through an emotional smile.
The Pinto mare sitting beside him gave him a peck on the cheek, "I can, Your father was always brilliant and clued on when it came to inventing machines... It was almost like his non-official special talent, after all, working with and making machines to help him in his craft..." She said with a distant smile.
Axel wiped some sweat off his brow with his free foreleg, "Whew-" he said with a chuckle, "Glad I thought of adding the canvas top to Dads original design. The suns oppressive around here."
Serenity Smiled Coyly at her gentle colt. "Well Hun, we DO live in a Desert." The red stallion next to her chuckled as he pulled over off the road, having finally reached their destination. As he climbed out of the vehicle, he bolted to the other side and offered a hoof to his mare. "My arent you buttering me up today," she said through a smile whilst accepting his hoof, and climbing down to the hot sandy floor.
She walked the remaining short distance uphill and stood in the shade of a lone Acacia tree that stood guard atop the hill she currently stood upon.
Serenity looked around. Although she wouldn't miss this weather, she would certainly miss this spot. From where she stood, atop a relatively flat-topped yet steep-sided hill that looked out over the massive gulley that laid between Appleloosea and the rest of Equestria. The lone river cutting through the vast flat expanses being the only source of green as far as the eye could see in the direction of the more hospitable parts of the country. The silvery glint of heat mirages making the usually orange sand and sandstone of the gulley appear to be that of a very large lake.
Axel returned from the vehicle with a basket on his back and a folded embroidered blanket in his mouth. With a flick of his head, he demonstrated his practice in the art of spreading a blanket without the use of hand nor hoof. As Serenity had seated herself atop the blanket, Axel had already set up the various plates of food and had removed the cloth coverings.
The couple filled their plates without a word, then quietly sat and admired the peace of the location, A silence so quiet it would have been Eerie, had it not been the norm.
Serenity sighed, "I'm going to miss this place..."
"Yeah..." Axel agreed. "Despite how much everyone complains about it... Home is home... You hate it when your there, But you hate to leave it," He chuckled at the paradox of life. Looking over to his other half, Axel asked the question that had been burdening him since they had talked that afternoon. "Serenity, Love, Earlier today... you talked about raising foals..."
The mare looked her stallion up and down. "Yes? What of it?" She asked curiously around her sandwich.
"Are you sure it's safe to raid foals around Aliens from another world?-" Axel raised his hoves to placate any potential argument "-I mean, they may not be dangerous, they may even be very friendly... But what if our foals pick up some of their bad habits? You haven't been reading the papers because you've been so busy, But these humans, they were corrupted by some sort of evil magic and they levelled Ponyville and a hoof full of small hamlets!"
Serenity hugged her big red stallion. "I appreciate your concern, but if they had such habits or were that dangerous the princesses wouldn't let their ponies interact with them"
Axel looks down to his spouse, "Yeah, Yeah I'm just overthinking everything as usual aren't I?" Serenity's chuckle, was cut off when axel gently put a hoof to her lips.
Serenity looked up at him confused and noticed his ears flicking around... She too eventually noticed it, a quiet sound, like a monotone growling echoed throughout the gulley.
Both ponies followed their ears' direction and turned to look into the gulley, they were speechless. A balloonless airship was currently speeding towards them from Equestria's general direction to the east.
It was going at nearly twice the speed of the fastest airship the couple had seen in their lives, during their first date at the Canterlot naval exhibition. Its growl grew louder, and louder until the couple were flattening their ears against their skulls as the enormous behemoth roared overhead, scattering some leaves from the tree above them to the artificial winds.
The couple watched on as the aircraft continued flying like a Batpony from Tartarus towards Appleloosa. A quarter of a minute of stunned silence later Serenity let out a loud cheer. "Whoo! That must be one of the aircraft Char said was coming to pick up coal and passengers!"
Axel looked at the mare beside him. "Coal? as in that crap tonne of coal in the town siding?! Those airships can move all that coal?!" He asked in amazement. "There are trains in this country that would struggle to move that much coal!"
"I know right!-" Serenity said through an excited grin, "-Incredible isn't it!" Serenity noticed that Axel wasn't looking at her but rather through her. She turned around.
Her vision just granted the view of a black smear making its way slowly across the valley. She got up and ran to the Unimog, Grabbing her binoculars from the dashboard.
Bolting back to Axel's side she extricated the binoculars from their fabric bag and held them in her hooves, Adjusting the zoom knob, she gasped as she saw the mangled mess that was by some miracle still managing to fly.
She hoofed the binoculars off to Axel as she made for the driver's seat of the Unimog, pressing the ignition button. Axel had looked through the binoculars, and it didn't take his engineering grades to know that the aircraft was in massive trouble. He quickly returned everything to the basket and stuffed the blanket into it as well. As Serenity hopped over into the passenger seat to let Axel climb up he tossed the basket into the flatbed of the vehicle.
Axel made a U-turn and proceeded to floor it to the town.
Despite their several kilometre head start, the wounded aircraft still eventually caught up to them, slowly passing overhead, spewing white and black clouds of smog as it did so. As they remarked at the way it was almost flying sideways to go forwards, and the massive chunks of it that were obviously missing, it started raining.
Serenity looked at the hood of the Unimog to see small pools of black, translucent red and clear liquid running off the sides of the hood. "Axel honey, can we go a lot faster... I have a hunch ponies in town are going to be panicking a lot more than usual...and this time for the right reasons..." Axel put his hoof all the way to the floor and the Unimog sped off down the dusty road.
The Lancaster's crew battled with the radio to get the blasted thing working, but it was evidently FUBAR. So they resorted to landing as fast as possible, to get the news to Char on the ground. That being that Cattlecar had spontaneously exploded and flat-spinned into the ground.
They had other reasons for rushing, as throughout the aircraft's electronics had begun randomly experiencing malfunctions since the explosion that caused Cattlecar's demise... Besides the radio not working. Random alarms had been going off, despite there being no change in the status of the aircraft. Gages were freaking out, and the compasses were behaving like they had flown into the Bermuda triangle, just... Spinning around aimlessly.
To make matters worse they had to lower their altitude because their Oxygen system had somehow failed. Yeah, that was the one alarm that was actually working as intended...
Apparently engine one was overheating as well, according to the temperature gages, but the RPM's counter for that engine showed it was actually losing power as if it was cold... The planes current blasé disregard for functioning normally was really starting to grate on the pilots' nerves. As well as the rest of the crew, since the pilots had them run ragged making sure systems that were still working normally weren't failing.
On the bright side, the dive the pilots made to get down to a more hospitable altitude had the added benefit of making the plane reach its turnaround point faster. But one thought was still hanging on the crew's mind...
"How do we land without a radio?" The copilot asked
"By disregarding regs and landing on the strip anyway? Assuming they have one-" The flight mechanic started
"Trust me, mates, with the plane behaving like this. I am landing regardless if they have an airstrip or not." Added the captain.
And no sooner had he said that a new alarm began blazing away. The three crewmen in the cockpit turned their attention to a furiously blinking red light.
"Huh. I can't fucking win! Jasper. Jasper!" The pilot called for his radioman, who soon appeared between the two pilots. "Check the port and starboard fuel tanks, now we've got a low fuel warnin-" his instructions were cut of by the tail gunner squeezing his way into the cockpit doorway.
"Oi guys! We've got fuel pissing out the starboard wing!" The pilot let out a furiously yelled curse.
"What IS Working?! Can we have THAT list?" He yelled in frustration.
"The emergency fuel light, and the boiling vessel." The tail gunner counted on one hand with a chuckle.
"GETOUT!" the captain yelled whilst turning around in his seat and pointing towards the cockpit door. The gunner left chuckling, at least he thought his joke was funny. "-When you get back there, bring me back a bloody cuppa would you?" The captain called out over the intercom.
"Whilst the captain and Allen brawl each other, James. Where the heck are we? you've got all the maps back there mate." The copilot asked over the headset.
"Erhm... ... ... we're approximately five minutes from visual range of the town? I'm having trouble navigating here, bear with me... it's all the same out there, flat desert and these equestrian maps look like they were drawn with bloody crayons! No altitude or grid bearings, it's just landmarks that you can see from the ground and flight time based on 'wing-power' whatever the heck that is!"
"You are doing fine" The copilot reassured him, "Your praise from the captain will have to wait till we land, he looks like he's about to blow all the fuses I'm afraid. Attention crew. Prep for landing." The man finished.
Just before the Lancaster began a gentle climb to clear another ridgeline the flight crew checked the fuel gauge once more. The needle just ticked below the last five lines on the 'red zone and began spinning back forward up to one-quarter tank. "Welp, there goes the emergency tank. we're neck high in the shit now..." Mumbled the flight engineer.
The Lancaster crested the ridge and the beautiful sight of the Apploosian township appeared on the distant horizon. The townships lone belltower acted like a sight for the bomber to line up on during its final leg.
As the copilot was reaching for the emergency checklist for the sixth time this flight the tail gunner burst in through the cockpit door. "GUYS-"
"OUT!" Yelled the captain.
"-Cattlecars still in the air!" He yelled
"The fuck?" Exclaimed the flight engineer and navigator, the latter leaning back in his seat to look into the cockpit from his station just outside the door and facing the wall.
"They're being held up by a string from god but they're still hanging in there! It looks like they're taking a path around the right side of the ridgeline!"
"YEAH! Good on the stubborn bastards!" Yelled the captain in celebration. He keyed in his microphone, "Attention crew. take your seats and prepare for landing."
By this point the town had started to draw closer and had begun filling his windshield, the pilot pulled his stick back and pulled the bomber into a climb, making a lazy left-hand orbit around the town. The flight crew looked out of the flight decks windows looking for a place to land.
"There's the train yard... Look! there's Char's train!" called out the navigator.
The flight crews attention was drawn to something they knew the town normally wouldn't have. the words 'Land Here!' burning on the ground, the flaming words flanked by two blue smoke plumes rising into the sky.
"There's our target." Chimed in the captain. "Taking her out," He said as he levelled his controls and flew the plane a few minutes away from the town, giving the crew ample enough time to ready themselves, and giving himself plenty of time to line up properly.
The copilot was cruising through the emergency landing checklist, checking with the captain every so often as per the procedure. Finishing the checklist by flicking a switch labelled 'EMG.LND', a double chime rung out in the cockpit and a voice spoke through the cockpit speakers.
"Emergency mode activated. Stand by." After a few moments, the voice returned. "Two thousand"
"Gear out," the copilot said, lowing the landing gear lever. "flaps?" he inquired.
"Fifteen" replied the pilot. The copilot lowered the flaps to the said setting,
"Loweri-" the man was cut off by the system once more.
"Fifteen-Hundred"
"Lowering throttles to thirty percent" He finished, to which the captain said his affirmative. the co-pilot pulled the throttles back to thirty percent and the engines roar died down to a much quieter monotone hum.
The pilot barely took his eyes off his target, a roughly two kilometre-long stretch of open space flanked by apple orchards on the left side, and a railway line on the right.
"One thousand"
The plane flew through some turbulence causing the left wing to drop a little, the pilot acted fast and kicked the rudder to the right whilst turning the yolk left. After a short delay, the bomber's nose kicked around to the right causing the left wing to raise back to level, slowly the aircraft returned to its landing run as normal.
"Five hundred"
The pilot called "Flaps thirty, Throttle forty" The co-pilot nodded and complied. The pilot made sure he was lined up for his final run in and begun staring at a single point on the top of his dashboard. Using his peripheral vision to get a more accurate perspective of their current altitude from ground level and rate of descent. "Is everyone buckled up and ready?" he asked the crew, receiving calls of affirmative from the lot.
"One hundred"
"Flaps full. throttle twenty" he called. The copilot leaned forward and made the adjustments.
"Fifty.. Forty... Thirty.... " The pilot pulled the nose of the bomber up gently, steadily increasing the planes flare. "Twenty... ... ... Ten... Retard!" The co-pilot pulled the throttle levers to their idle position and both men begin applying pressure to the brakes.
Just Wind stood next to Char, The red clad man was rather miffed as he continued yelling into the box he held in his hand. But like the last twelve times he had tried, no reply came back.
Just Wind continued to watch in awe as the enormous machine drew closer, its black form filling more and more of the sky, and its growling grew closer and louder. the groups of ponies who had gathered at the end of the temporarily fenced off space saw the monster's intentions of landing and began parting, bolting in opposite directions as it roared overhead.
Its nose pointed towards the sky just before its wheels touched down on the compacted sand strip, compliments of the buffalo tribe, who themselves were watching from the shade of the apple orchard on the left of the strip. its wheels made a very loud screeching as the aircraft reconnected with mother earth, two clouds of white smoke puffed from underneath the machine and a moment later a loud screeching filled the air.
As the flying machine started slowing down its tail slowly lowered until its little, and rather cute wheel made an adorable squeak as it too touched the ground.
The machine came to a stop just before the middle of the strip. "Wow, that was im-" the town deputy never got a chance to finish his sentence, the black-bellied vehicle started to roar at a deafening volume. and everyone turned to see what was happening.
The machine started rolling forward once more, before sharply turning to the left and rolling off the strip. It was at this point that Char and Wind noticed the streams of clear liquid pouring out of the right wing.
"Blast!" Yelled char as he yelled and waved at the 'tanker truck' that he had offloaded from his train. The biped pointed to the plane and the trucks sirens blurred into life, the vehicle speeding across the compacted sand towards the enormous plane. As the plane came to a stop once more, it had partially sunk into the sand beside the strip, the tanker came to a rolling stop next to it the truck crew jumped out, running to the sides of the tanker and collecting hoses, before spraying foam all over the wing and the ground.
All in attendance watched the spectacle and news ponies took photos with their box cameras. The left-most engine cut out, and molten metal started leaking out the bottom of its nacelle. the leak turned into a pouring rain of molten metal that had begun splattering against the sand. As the fire crews ran to the other side of the plane and hosed the engines down, a hatch opened in the bottom of the craft, and a ladder deployed from the door and crewman began rapidly filing out and getting distance from the Lancaster.
It was then that gasps and yelling caught the duos attention... They turned to a sight that had them both in stunned silence... The last plane was flying past the mountain ranges twelve kilometres from the town's perimeter, making a long, slow, lazy right hand turn.
"Where are we Gunther. do you see the town?" Thomas asked his gunner/now acting copilot.
They both looked out of the cockpits cracked, blood-stained windows and eventually, gunter yelled in joy. "OVER THERE! ON OUR RIGHT!"
"Brilliant! That's the only way we can turn!" Thomas said with a laugh of joy. The teen reached for the flaps lever, alternating it up and down between the 'raised' and 'combat' settings, the stickers indicating the settings that he'd stuck to the side of the painted-on numbers had become illegible thanks to all the blood staining the cockpit, but he knew the settings off by heart at this point.
Slowly the plane began a lethargic, lazy right-hand turn. The pilot only allowing it to pitch five degrees to the right, lest he risks the nose pitching down.
The turn took five minutes, but they eventually had their nose lined up with the town. The sight had them both worried, a plume of black smoke reached into the heavens, the origin of the smoke being a straight stretch of ground that was a slightly lighter colour than its surroundings. "That must be the runway," Tom said. A blue flare shooting up into the sky confirmed his suspicions. "bloody shame we don't have the emergency checklist booklet. Gunther, flick the switch on the dashboard saying 'EMG.LND' ".
The gunner did so, the crew was greeted a moment later by; "Emergency mode activated. Stand by."
As they approached the township they heard a tapping on the roof of the cockpit. Both teens looked up through the two shattered plexiglass roof windows to see a pegasus clinging to the aircraft.
"What the hell are you doing out there?" Gunther yelled. The pegasus just handed them a hand radio that was already turned on. Before letting go and flapping off, racing back to the town in front of them.
"One thousand"
"Cattlecar?" the voice was distorted, but Char's voice was a welcome one as the crew made their final lineup for finals. "Cattlecar, respond!"
Gunther pressed the radios button down. "We're here Char! The Co-pilots wounded, The navigator's wounded and unconscious, currently strapped into a spinal board that's been strapped to the floor over the wing spars. And the pilots had a leg amputated and is also unconscious!"
The silence on the other end of the radio was damning. "And what's the status of your aircraft?"
Gunnie pressed the button but Tom gave the report. "Char. Clear EVERYTHING in front of me! I've got no flaps on one side, I'm missing engine number one, I have no rudder, no elevators, no ailerons, and I'm only able to fly the plane by dropping my only right flap and adjusting the throttles!"
"Five hundred"
The plane began veering off course to the left, Tom cuts engine fours power and throttles up engine two. the plane begins to roll aggressively to the right and he slams all the throttles forward, lowering the right flap to its landing setting.
The plane levels off but had lost two hundred feet of altitude in the process. "Gunther, what's the speed?" Tom anxiously asks.
"You're a bit too fast, decrease throttle thirty percent," Char calls out over the radio.
"Three hundred twenty an hour" Gunther replies.
Tom bites his lip in concentration and pulls back engine fours throttle a little, just as his hand returns to his yolk the B-17's nose starts slowly drooping back towards the earth, and Tom's forced to slam the throttle back forward again. "Shit" He growls. "Are you sure you buckled Ducky up properly back there?" the gunner looks to his friend alarmed. Tom looks him in the eyes. "'Cause this is gonna' be rough" he mumbles as he looks through his windshield.
"One hundred"
The copilot looks between his window and the landing gear lever... "uhhhh, Uhhhh. FUCK!.." he yells in indecisive frustration as the strip fills more and more of his windshield he reaches for the red-handled lever. He looks back between his windshield and the lever, reaching for and retracting his hand in indecision...
"Fifty" There was a metallic thump, then a loud knocking sound filled the cockpit from engine twos direction.
He pulls down the landing gear lever to deploy, and a mechanical clunk announces the gear being released. Almost immediately the nose drops violently for mother earth. Tom yells out a string of curses as he reaches for the lever once more. but the electronic male voice reading out his altitude makes him just yell out "I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY! BRACE! HANDS ON THE DASH!"
They both brace themselves against the dashboard as the negative G's tries to pull them from their seats, their shoulder straps digging into their shoulders painfully.
"FortyThirtyTen"
There was a loud metallic crunch, Two loud pops, and tom temporarily blacked out for a few moments, followed shortly afterwards by a feeling of ascension, Positive G-forces pushing him hard into his seat.
He became aware of a falling sensation and felt the plane slip sideways to the left as it fell back towards the ground. With another much harder metallic crunch he felt a sharp pain in his lower back before his head slammed into his dashboard and he was knocked unconscious...
"Good, They're Doing good!" Char mumbles to himself. "A little more to the left... There you go"
"Are they going to make it?" Wind asks Char almost inaudible. "They are gonna make it!" he yells as they were about to cross the end of the strip. It was then char noticed that the landing gear wasn't down, Just as he pressed the button on the radio to inform the flight crew he saw the gear being lowered, and felt his stomach fall into his boots...
The moment the gears wheels left their bays the B-17s nose fell straight for the ground. The gear had barely enough time to fall out of their bays before the plane lawn darted into the strip, as it slammed its partially deployed gear into the compacted sand it blew all the tires, and bounced back twenty feet into the air.
The tail kicked out to the right, what was left of the left wing fell towards the earth, and with another gut-wrenching crunch the plane crashed into the earth. The nose of the craft bounced into the air once more, but not having enough energy to get the rest of the bomber as high, the nose tilted up into a forty-five-degree angle, then the plane seemed to lose all its speed, hanging in the air for what felt like minutes in that position, finally the nose fell back to the ground the bomber slammed into the ground, Hard. The right wing flexed violently downward, the wing eventually bending inverted with a groan and a muffled crunch.
The entire weight of the plane fell onto the bombers chin, crushing and rolling the bombardier's position under the cockpit. The cockpit bowed in half as the plane's momentum rolled the entire chin into the cockpit's floor. The right-wing broke off with a sickening crack, spilling a tidal wave of the remaining fuel all over the runway.
As the plane skidded to an abrupt halt nearly on its left side, the crease that had formed under the tail finally gave up with the sound of shearing aluminium, causing what was left of the tail assembly to shear away from the fuselage and slam into the dust of the torn-up strip.
For what felt like an eternity everyone watched in horror. and to Chars surprise the first ones into action were Just Wind and several of the town's locals. They galloped full pelt towards the smoking wreck.
Char broke out of his fear-induced paralysis and Began Yelling ordered to shell shocked firefighters. Who piled back into their truck and sped towards the downed bomber.
Blitz breeze didn't know who he was supposed to be looking for, Tartarus, he didn't know if anyone was still alive after a crash as violent as this, but his years in the air navy taught him to never leave a fellow airman to the clutches of the keepers, he'd fight the spirits of harmony tooth and feather for them!
He had flown a quick lap around the heavily smoking wreck, looking for a point of entry, Eventually finding a crack in the bombers spine large enough for him to fit through.
He was now inside the hazy smoke-filled cavern that was the airship's interior, Bundles of shredded wires and cables dangled from the roof and aggressive hissing filled his hearing as metal pipes and rubber hoses on the walls sprayed fluids and air into the middle of the dark space...
"IS ANYPONY HERE?" He yelled as he brushed a tangles rats nest of wires aside. About three feet in front of him he saw two bundles of wires meet in the middle of the space and a shower of sparks filled the dark void. Taking the immediate facts in, he pushed himself forward as fast as possible to let go of the bundle he was currently holding.
"HELLO? IS ANYPONY ALIVE IN HERE?" He shielded his eyes with a hoof and coughed as the thick grey smoke burned his throat and the wires in front of him met once more. The zap and shower of sparks had lit up the dark space enough for him to notice something odd. After the wires met a third time and separated he bolted between them, the sparks singeing his coat.
By now his vision had dropped to a mere foot, his eyes and throat on fire in the impossibly thick grey smog. shrapnel holes through the aircraft skin sent small God-rays of light through this part of the wreck. He couldn't see anymore, he felt around with his forehooves until he felt them brush up against some wet fabric. he felt around the fabric some more and felt the soft touch of skin. Something was wrong though he couldn't lift the Human. He felt around and found that he was strapped to the floor!
"FAUST DAMN IT!" he yelled as he felt around the space for something sharp. He was starting to find it difficult to breathe at this point. His hoof hit something hard and the sound of a glass bottle rolling caught his flicking ears. He wrapped his hooves around the neck and shattered it against the opposite wall behind him. He ran his primaries over the mess of shattered glass and found the largest piece, Coughing he crawled back across the floor, hoarding the last of the fresh air closest to the floor as he began cutting the straps... and his primaries in the process.
He cursed and grimaced as he felt the nerves in his primaries screaming in protest at the glasses sharp edges. 'it's ok, they'll grow back in four to six months- BUCK! Sunna'va whorse that hurt!'. To Blitz' release the strap finally cut through, and the others slackened. "Thank Celestia! there was only one strap looped around a lot of times!" he mumbled as he pulled the cordage free and dumped it on the floor.
There was a spark in his peripheral vision, and the entire room lit up orange. The blaze of instinctual of panic ignited in his legs, and he froze turning his head to look in the direction of the flames. The fire slowly crept towards him, he noticed the flames licking at the air hissing through one of the torn rubber hoses.
He stood up, spread his wings, feeling dangling wires tickling his feathers, channelled his magic, and gave a mighty flap of his wings, nothing happened, he looked to his shredded primaries. He had channelled the magic to use 'Gust' but the spell, like many in the pegasus repertoire, uses the base of the wings and the primaries to cast...
Breaking out into a mess of wheezing coughs, Blitz breeze bit down on the Humans collar and begun dragging him deeper into the wreck, remembering that there was a busted out hatch close to the ground on the left side. There was a rush of air, and pausing to look up, Blitz saw that the fire had reached up to the rubber hose, and there was now a blazing inferno consuming the path he had originally come through. on the bright side, he could now see, and the blaze had the benefit of forcing fresh air through the wreck like a wind tunnel, but now the fresh air made it hurt to breathe...
The pegasus continued pulling the unconscious human towards the exit.
He heard the yelling of ponies outside of the plane in his direction of travel, asking if the humans up there were alright and yelling for axes, pickaxes and prybars. He saw the light pouring into the wreck from the busted open hatch and redoubled his efforts, finally sticking his head out into the blazing hot sunlight of Appleloosa, and finding it felt freezing compared to where he had just been.
There was another Rush of air, this time going in the opposite direction, another blaze had kicked up from the front of the aircraft, and there were terrified screams from that direction...
Blitz Hauled the Human out from the wreck and fell to his knees wheezing and was almost immediately swamped by ponies, both he and the one he'd rescued were dragged away from the inferno wrapped mess of mangled silvery metal. Huge columns of oily black smoke tore the sky in two.
Axel sped out of the apple orchard and skidded the Unimog to a stop, Serenity let a gasp of horror escape her at the sight of the mangled mass of metal, clouds of heavy grey smoke pouring out of it in a fog bank that slowly rolled across the ground.
Axel pushed the pedal down as far as it could go and sped towards the crash site, skidding to a stop a mere twelve feet away.
Serenity jumped out and bolted towards the caved in front of the machine. Inside the bowels of the wreck, she could hear somepony yelling if anypony was alive in there.
She stopped a foot away from the silvery front end, looking for a way up to the glass windows that must of been the control deck.
The entire front end had been crushed in, and at some point had collapsed sideways, partially breaking off from the rest of the torn and mangled mountain of metal.
She scaled the side of the flying machine front end and stared through the blood-stained glass, feeling her heart sink. Smoke poured from uncountable pinholes scattered through the side of the machine. She began frantically tapping a hoof against the glass and yelling out if anyone was alive and needed saving.
The metal beneath her hooves started warming to the touch and the smoke began turning darker...
She spun on her forehooves and gave the glass window a buck. Turning around she inspected her handiwork, nothing. she bucked again, And again, Thrice, Four, Five, six, seven times. She bucked once more, putting all her strength into it, but the glass just seemed to flex with an unnatural amount of strength.
Growling she reared up on her forehooves and ploughed through a vicious buck against the glass, and cried out in pain as her hoof fell through the panel, the sharp points cutting into her hind leg.
Smoke erupted through the new hole in the cockpit, and after a few moments, Serenity stood back up and yelled into the haze for anyone alive to call out. Her ears pivoted as she heard coughing. Then a bloodied hand burst through the busted out the window and begun reaching around for something, anything.
"Get some tools! Picks Axes, Axes, Shovels, Prybars! ANYTHING! HURRY!" Serenity screamed. Axel yelled out her name and Leaped up the side of the smoking mass in two bounds, He began slamming an axe from their woodshed against the shiny metal side of the cockpit.
Soon six more ponies joined him, smashing and cutting into the side of the cockpit, they eventually figured out that smashing out the windows and the struts between them was the fastest way in. as they pulled another strut out the side of the airframe, a humans head appeared from the black smog, coughing violently, before anypony could grab him though he disappeared back into the blackness. A few moments later two limp arms appeared through the hole, and everypony latched onto them and pulled as hard as they could. Eventually hauling the unconscious human from the inky blackness. Serenity gasped when she saw that his leg was missing, but she didn't have a chance to stare, as soon another pair of arms appeared out of the smoke rising through the hole they had cut into the wreck.
As they were pulling there was the sound of sparks and the black smoke inside the cockpit lit up in dull orange. The limp human they were currently pulling from the hole was bleeding from his forehead.
With a near-deafening whistling sound air began rushing into the cockpit through the hole the ponies had cut but also through the cheese grater like sides of the space. The severity of the fire became known only then. A massive gout of flame erupted from the cockpit doorway and quickly began filling the room.
The human from before looked horrified as he scrambled up the side of a seat and hurried to haul himself out the hole. desperately reaching for the hooves that began pulling him free.
The man screamed as the roaring flames licked at the legs of his overalls, and Serenity herself was starting to yell out in pain as the metal skin of the flying machine reached an unbearable temperature. The human rolled down the side of the wreck, tearing his overalls on the way down on the jagged shards of metal sticking out. ponies leapt off the caved in cockpit in all directions, only stopping to drag the humans away from the violently burning mass.
The only conscious human thus far was writhing on the floor trying to put out his flaming clothing before being sprayed down with firefighting foam from the tanker crew.
Serenity tried to stand, but was reminded of her injury when a sharp lance of pain bolted up through her left hind leg. she fell onto her flank and for the first time inspected the damage, four one inch deep gashes wrapped around her leg, and was bleeding heavily. As Axel rushed over with the town doctor Serenity had used a scrap from her dress to tourniquet the leg. Instead directing the doctor to the humans after a short argument.
Serenity Limped over to the group of humans as a pegasus and another human was dragged over to the group, the doctors from both Char's train and the town clinic began treating everypony quickly, Char's medics wheeling over cylinders of oxygen and plugging in masks.
Serenity looked over the group. 'An amputated leg, What must be third-degree burns all over both legs of another, Unconcious with a head injury, and unconscious with a shard of metal sticking out his shoulder. And one pegasus that is struggling to breathe, and finally. A mare with a wrecked hind leg. Could have been better...' Serenity looked over the mess of mangled metal, watching streams of it drip and run in small orange rivers downhill away from town as firefighters battled the blaze. 'But thank the Sisters...That was too close...'
Axel sat down next to the sheriff, Nuzzling her neck as he mumbled, "Please, I know it's your job to help ponies, but don't do things that are going to scare me half to death like that again... at least for a few years..."
The mare smiled and pecked him on the cheek, "No promises love."
Everyone threw themselves into the sand as a loud explosion rocked the strip. Followed shortly after by another.
"What's going on?!" yelled a terrified stallion Serenity recognised as the mayor.
One of the human medics yelled out over another explosion. "The fires reached the aeroplanes Oxygen bottles. Keep your head down or you might lose it to shrapnel!" Another two explosions rocked the field, and shards of smoking metal rained down around the group. Then they stopped.
A mare went to get up but a human pulled her down. "That was four, wheres the Fi-" his question of cut off by a hissing sound, and a loud pop. after a minute the humans let everyone get up and put more distance between themselves and the flaming ruins of the plane.
Char stood at a safe distance, after having made sure that everyone was alright, he stood there, pondering one question. How.
Char stood at the beginning of the crash site, the sun just rising behind him, igniting his trenchcoat in a brilliant flare of red colour.
The man stroked his chin as he remembered the carnage of the previous afternoon. His mental recollection was stopped by some troops addressing him by name on their way past, a fresh group of ten passing by his other shoulder as the shift change happened.
A few hours after the crash, when the raging wildfire that had been mostly fueled by the B-17's oxygen supply system was extinguished, and the fuel covering half the improvised airstrip was drowned under fire retardant foam, Char had noticed something concerning.
The locals had emerged from the clockwork and had begun exploring the wreckage. The man had to order several mechanics to seize the components the natives were carrying offsite. One particular stallion, blue in colouration, was stopped whilst towing a wagon full of fragments of torn aluminium from the aircraft skin, and one of the blown shock absorbers from the landing gear legs.
The red-clad officer had put a stop to their salvaging efforts with a force of guards, and the words; "Make haste, the locals are recreating the aftermath of 'Operation Babylift', if you don't stop them and secure the site, we may never know the cause of this disaster!". From that point onwards at least then guards had maintained a ring of defence around the two aircraft...Aircraft and wreck...
With the morning sun, Char had another problem. They weren't on Earth anymore... At least the Earth they knew... There was no National Transportation Safety Board, anywhere. Adding even more to the problem, The town needed the coal, and his train was due back soon to be used in another supply run. The current problem had Char's mind spinning its wheels, and despite ending up bogged, he sighed and accepted the facts.
As a group of mechanics that had ridden the train with him, in the event that one of the aircraft needed maintenance, walked past, he addressed them. "Gentlemen, And lady." They stopped and turned to face him, "In lieu of recent events we're forced to take drastic measures. In our brilliant foresight, the council never anticipated a crash in the recent future, and never formed an organisation in the Council to deal with it, so you are all promoted, congratulations," They looked to each other in confusion, "Until the National Air Transportation Saftey Board is a formed and trained unit, you will have to suffice. Use your tablets and phones, Take photographs of every part, component, piece of shrapnel and anything that is not of natural origin. on less identifiable or possibly key components place down a ruler near them for the photograph, then place down a red flag with a letter and number. Catalogue all flags and their locations on a map of the area. then bag and tag the artifacts. I'll see to requisitioning ore cars and some flatbeds from the Equestrians. Also, inform your fellow mechanics to begin dismantling Galloping Gurney after their initial report on its damage."
"Sir?" One of them asked in confusion.
"We're taking the surviving aircraft. And Cattlecar's wreckage, with us back to the town. The longer we stay, the more trouble we're going to have... And I don't plan on sticking around long enough for the media to crawl out of whatever cracks and crevices they're currently hiding in."
Char looked over the group, seeing them all nodding in unison until the woman of the group, a sixteen-year-old by the look of her face, asked in her Irish accent, "But sir, what about the Widow?"
Char crossed his arms. "After completing their initial search, the engineers couldn't find anything wrong or out of place with the P-61, so I've instructed its crew to fly back to base... I don't like the idea of this. But from my preliminary look at the site when the sun was setting, I found that the aircraft had at least one thing in common," The mechanics seemed to lean in, interested in the cause of the catastrophe. "It seemed odd to me when I was looking at both aircraft, that they both had damage to the left side. The Lancaster for example suffers an engine meltdown on engine number one, a meltdown so violent that the engine and its nacelle melted and basically fell off the left wing. and The B-17, Well. You all saw it, most of its shrapnel and initial damage it had before its... 'landing'. Was on its left side. The weird thing is, I found no soot or residue on that side of the aircraft, apart from the location of the wing fuel tanks. And further still, all the paint and the windows within line of sight of where engine number one should be are burnt and blistered."
After a few moments of concerned processing, The Irish lass asked, "Sir. Are you telling me, that the Equestrians rigged a...-"
"Stow that thought Mad'am" Char chastised. "We don't know who or what caused this incident, but not considering sabotage or... other means. would be plain foolish, coincidences are a figment of the human imagination, and two failures around engine one are highly suspect. Keep your thoughts and your manners in check. For all we know, it was one of us. Rest assured the council will hunt down those responsible, and parade them through the streets in chains to their court sessions." He looked them all over, "Make haste, We leave in four hours."
Everyone nods and walks off to their respective jobs.
Serenity couldn't sleep. Every time she nodded off, an image of the burnt, bloodied or mutilated humans would flash before her eyes. The sound of his pained wailing filling her ears, and jolting her into awakeness.
Axel had tried to calm her down, but she needed some time alone. After going to the town clinic to check up on the humans she found them in varying states of alive. The previous evening she had entered the clinic waiting area, to find five humans sitting in the chairs, their knees bobbing in anxiety, some hunched over a knee, chins resting on steepled fingers.
Currently, she looked to the desk mare, who was sorting through a small pile of paperwork regarding her latest patients. Mostly forms from their admittance, others being medical sheets dropped off by the towns doctor.
she adjusted her position on the barely comfortable waiting room chair, 'These were evidently not designed for an overnight stay...' she mentally lamented,
The waiting room smelt of Acrid smoke and a strange nose turning smell she'd never known until the afternoon prior, despite the near suffocating amounts of air freshener currently floating around the room The new scent overpowered all others present. the unique scent reminded the mare of the liquid the Unimog Axels father built ran on, sun water, named such because of its yellow-orange colour, and the fact that it burned easily...
Serenity was broken from her thoughts by the creak of a door hinge. Looking across the room to the humans she saw they were all staring aptly in the same direction. Looking to the double door leading further into the building, the town doctor Swift Recovery stood.
The room's silence was head-splitting, Finally broken by the doctor's quiet words, words almost deafening in the anxious silence. "You may see them now".
In the same second his sentence ended the humans were halfway across the room and walking to the doctor, the exceptionally long legs and strides lending them far more speed than Serenity could match.
As the humans ducked low to fit through the door frame, the pastel blue-coated and pink maned stallion led them down the narrow hall, taking a left-hand turn and arriving at the last door at the end of the hall.
The door opens to the largest room the modest clinic could offer. Even then, the only two beds that could fit the humans were designed for minotaurs, the only such examples in the clinic. Thanks to beds the room sky-blue walls made the room feel cramped, a ceiling fan spun with a depressed squeak each lazy revolution. A mattress sat on the floor in the far corner beside the rooms only window, the B-17's navigator and radio operator, Ducky currently sitting upright atop it reading tomorrow when the war began.
The two people currently occupying the beds were the B-17's Copilot, Tom, Currently sitting upright in a fresh set of clothes, whilst his legs were discoloured, miraculously their damage resembled that of a severe sunburn, rather than the extreme blistering and burns they had previously. The other bed contained the aircraft's captain, Tim. Bandages wrapped the thigh of the leg hanging in a sling. Highlighting its missing lower half as he looked out the window at the wreck of his plane, and the pack of engineers currently dismantling what remained of it, like ants picking apart their catch.
Ducky had looked up from the charred pages of his book, the moment the door swung open. As the group entered they noticed the mattress neatly tucked into the nearest corner of the room, on the floor to the right of the door, Gunther sitting atop it, his back resting in the corner of the walls with a half-eaten bowl of apple porridge in his lap.
The silence in the room was so thick that it felt like one could cut the awkwardness with a knife.
The captain slew the silence, simply saying. "I won't let, THIS" He gestured to his leg bitterly without looking in its direction. "End my career, and if those desk jockeys in the council think otherwise, I'll bend over backwards to prove them wrong. Just you watch me." Tim turned to address the group, then stared past them. "You hear me Char? You can tell them that. And do me a favour. When you catch the pricks that killed my plane, Let me have five minutes with them."
The group turned around to see the fairly imposing figure of char, standing bolt upright in the doorway, his left arm behind his back, and his right hand idly curling a rogue lock of hair. Finally, he replied. "I can't promise you time with them, but you have my word we'll find the cause. Be-it, mechanical, or human."
"Not Human," Tim replied. "This wasn't anything one of us could make."
Char raised an eyebrow. And Tom added, "Yes, it was the strangest thing ever, the whole flight engine one was being a little bastard. It was constantly too cold for its current RPMs and we just chalked it up as a gauge failure. the 17' could run on three engines if worst came to worse, we knew you were carrying spare parts on the train in case something failed. So we continued on. Then everything went FUBAR. Engine one spontaneously overheated, the RPMs dropped to basically nothing, acting like the engine seized, then there was a deafening explosion of rainbow colours. When I came to... I was being slapped awake by Gunther over there-" The copilot explained whilst pointing in the gunner's direction, everyone looked to the small teen as he waved, then picked up his spoon and continued eating. "-And we were inverted, in a flat spin, loosing about three hundred- four hundred feet a minute in altitude. With Gunther's help, we got Tim into the rumble seat and we managed to recover the plane from the spin, but in the process, we lost most of the control surfaces. and you saw how well that helped the landing." Tom said with lament whilst looking out the window.
Char nodded, then looked down to the doctor, asking the stallion. "The Covenant of Twelve thanks you for your medical care, When are they capable of moving?" The doctor looked taken aback and replied.
"Well, Technically right now, but they will require follow up treatments to make sure they heal correctly." To this Char nods, and turns to Serenity,
"Thank you for what you have done as well Sherrif, without you, three of these men may be dead right now."
The law pony shook her head. "Just doing my job sir. Protecting lives."
The man crosses his arms. "Have you put any thought into my offer? We are departing as soon as possible to prevent any further damage to our species reputation. And as is clearly shown by this trail of carnage, we need your services, and I can assure you the council will pay for all expenses-" Serenity cut him off.
"Apologies about being rude. But my husband still needs to deci-" The law pony was interrupted by a tapping on the window. Everyone's attention turned to the red and white pony in the view. "Axel?"
Ducky got up and slid the window open. "I've already got our stuff packed. Where do I drag it? the train station?" he said with determination.
Char smiled in relief. "That won't be necessary, I'll have my people assist you in moving all your belongings to the train loading platform. We depart in the hour. Now excuse me. But I have to find the Mayor and inform him that I'm requisitioning half of the town train cars and flatbeds for three days."
Serenity looked up at the blond-haired human. "Can you do that?"
Char shrugged. "Can I?" he asked with a chuckle as he walked out. as the man rounded the corner he yelled. "You can arrest me later again if you please, just leave the taser handcuffs out of the plan."
Everyone in the room looked to the sheriff in confusion. "It was a misunderstanding." at their continued staring she insisted. "Honest!"
The custard yellow, camouflage green and brown speckled mass of aircraft flew gracefully over the sleepy river port town of Flankfurt, the monotone hum of its three nine hundred and ninety-nine horsepower fourteen cylinder radial engines was barely audible for the just waking towns ponies. Even if they looked up, they wouldn't be able to see the aircraft thanks to its robins egg blue colouration across the belly, even despite the navigation lights being left on in an effort to make the plane more visible to any fliers.
The clouds were about three thousand feet below the aircraft as it continued its flight towards the Equestrian capital, Canterlot. The flight so far had taken the Z1007 Alcione close to eight and a half hours, the reason for this? The aircraft was flying high and slow in a calculated effort to save fuel. Canterlot had built an airstrip within the last forty-eight hours but lacked refuelling facilities. So the crew were forced to take on as much fuel as their converted bomber could carry, both in its onboard fuel tanks and in jerrycans, the removable fuel bladder currently taking up seating rows 6-9 didn't hurt either.
All of this extra fuel granted the airframe far more range than it had any rights having, in fact, it was so heavy on takeoff that it took up almost all of the town's runway. So long as they kept their airspeed low, they could make the capital, ditch the fuel bladder and the twenty-six empty fuel cans. Then fly back on the added fuel tank in between the bomb bay doors and the wing tanks at most of the aircraft's actual cruising speed. Just in case they were to retain twelve additional cans of fuel for any unexpected incidents or requiring to fly in a holding pattern on their return.
The crew's only complaint? Their planes wooden construction didn't retain heat very well at this altitude, thankfully the return trip would be at a far more comfortable altitude. One where they wouldn't need to lug around oxygen bottles everywhere they went inside the craft.
It was just another hour and a half to the city. Then a four and a half hour flight back to the town, due to the ridiculous flight hours the aircraft was carrying two extra pilots and three additional crewmen to act as flight attendants. The Z1007 was chosen because it was light enough to efficiently make the journey, it had a short takeoff run, enough capacity for passengers and cargo, and the redundancy of having three engines made it safer for the Equestrian passengers due for the settlement.
In the process of converting the aircraft most of the armour plates had been stripped, along with the bomb bay, racks and door mechanisms. The two 7.92mm and one of the two 12.7mm machine guns, their ammunition and mountings had also been ditched in the lightning efforts. The few surviving pieces of armour that had survived the lightning, the forty-millimetre thick ballistic glass windshield panels. The mechanics were in a time crunch, and the council didn't entirely trust the natives.
Probably too thin varnished floor panelling had been installed in the fuselage along with red carpets as soundproofing had been hidden behind intricately carved stained balsawood wall panels. Plexiglass windows had been cut and installed into the sides of the fuselage when the fairly expensive red velvet seats had been installed. Larger seats for griffons, and optimistically Minotauri had been installed over the roots of the wing spars.
The tail of the aircraft housed the galley, lockers had been fastened to the walls with all manner of snacks, beverages and meals, most of which catered to the vegetarian nature of the Equestrians. For the moment, however, the floor and countertops of the galley were heaped tall with square thin-walled aviation fuel cans. Almost half of them empty at this point.
The cramped forward most section of the aircraft was separated from the rest of the fuselage by a balsa panel wall. This forward most section was for the crew. A narrow table with a carved chessboard and three chairs were fixed to one of the aircraft's ribs, and two canvas cots were stacked one above the other and were mounted on the bulkhead wall for the bombardiers blister underneath the cockpit and protruding out the aircraft belly. A rack-mounted to the wall at the foot of the beds held the only remaining weapon of the aircraft, the mounting and glass turret for which remained in the roof of the cabin, just behind the cockpit. The weapon wasn't mounted in the turret in order to keep the passengers calm. Whilst airships were not a new technology in Equestria, most of the common working-class ponies, unless they had wings, had yet to experience flight. Having a black weapon barrel sticking out the roof of their transport may not have sent the best of messages.
The last hour was a confusing one at best, engine number one had begun behaving oddly. The baffling thing was, despite the occasional half-second long stutter in RPMs every twenty minutes, the engine hummed away normally, the gauges showed they were functioning nominally. But each time the engine's familiar and routine rhythm was interrupted the thirty-three-year-old captain's eyebrows knitted together in concern, his eyes darting to the RPMs gauge just in time to catch the needle flick back to normal operating readings. It was as if the aircraft he had flown for the last decade was pranking him. Letting the man get comfortable just to set off his sixth sense, experience.
One of the flight crew entered the cockpit doorway, "That's another can chugged. What's our ETA? We have four cans left for our flight out to the city Enzo-" The wooden aircraft shuddered as it passed through a rough patch of rising air. The crewman bracing himself in the doorway.
The Pilot tossed a rogue length of his white and red scarf over his shoulder, then reached for the throttles and pulled them back to idle. The constant monotonous growl of the engines fell to a quiet hum as the co-pilot returned to his seat behind the captain. The crewman nodded and returned to his seat, having gained all the information he wanted.
The planes nose pitched downward by the beckoning of her flight crew and began quietly descending for Canterlot in large, lazy orbits of the mountain the city was perched on.
The captain noticed that engine one was running far hotter than it had been, but it was still at acceptable levels. The odd behaviour had the man periodically checking the gauge whenever he had the chance.
"Are the cans secured back there?" The co-pilot asked over the intercom. A moment later he received an affirmative. The plane shook once more, "The wind shear coming off that mountain is crazy, buckle up back there." The twenty-year-old called back over the headset.
The Pilot flicked the switch for the Betty receiving three beeps a moment later.
For ten minutes the aircraft lost altitude in slow left-hand orbits over the mountain, but they had spotted the airstrip in the midday sun, and flown a fly-by of the strip to familiarise themselves with it.
Despite their sunglasses best efforts, as they were finally lined up on their approach into the cities runway they had to shield their eyes from the blinding light reflecting off the marble and gold city.
The betties altitude callouts were useless, the cities position on the mountainside meant that there was no way for the aircraft to judge the distance from the ground accurately. But there was a reason why the captain had decided to use it.
The aircraft shuddered violently as the flight crew was finishing their landing procedure, dropping twenty feet, then another thirty whilst starting to drift off to the left. The cockpit was filled with the digital voice. *Wind shear, Wind shear, Wind shear*
They still had plenty of altitude though, they were flying in on visual flight reference, and despite the ungodly amount of updraft rising up the side of the mountain, they found themselves on the right course. They had to add more power than usual for the landing since the updrafts would cut off about a hundred meters before the runway
As they flew over the open space before the airstrip Enzo had to raise the throttles to fifty percent in order to maintain altitude after the updraft cut off. But the crew were glad to hear the rubbery shriek of their tires meeting the pavement. The longest trek of their flight was over, and they had the rest of the day to themselves. At least once they dumped the remaining fuel from the tank in the cabin into the wing tanks, stripped out the rubber fuel bladder from the said passenger cabin, reinstalled the seats in its place, neatly ditch the empty fuel cans, and inspected their aircraft.
Their hard labour completed two hours later, a deflated rubber bladder sat on the airstrip, in front of a small mountain of jerry cans. As the pilots were on their walk-around inspection, and the flight navigator and radio operator checked their charts and sorted their paperwork. The majority of the crew lounged about, some having fallen asleep whilst sitting in the shade of the plane with their backs resting against the tires. Two crewmen reclined on the wing wearing their sportsman helmets. Watching movies on their HUDs using the helmets auto tinting visor.
Two crew members were absent however, rather, they opted to go out on the town in search of good eating. The two crewmen walked the cobbled streets, admiring the ornate works of marble and plated gold, purple slate also made up fairly large portions of the cities structures, thus breaking up the nearly overwhelming glint of the buildings in the sun. Overall a fairly pleasing aesthetic... Once one was in the shade and could actually admire the architecture.
The streets were laid out in such a fashion that the sun never reflected directly onto the footpaths, but some placed just couldn't be saved, Intersections were thus avoided when possible by the duo as they hunted for a restaurant of their taste, the tantalising scents of food making their mouths water. Following their noses, they eventually found a street that reminded them of France with fancy and Fru Fru restaurants lining both sides of the street. They both took a moment to check themselves over, straightening their dress uniforms and ensuring they looked sharp, it was a fancy city after all.
As they walked down the narrow street they glanced through windows as they passed by, the diners just talking over tiny plates of artwork instead of hearty food. They found something interesting after a few minutes, a venue selling 'Traditional Canterlot Dishes', intrigued, the taller of the group leans down to reach for the door handle. But his attempts at depressing the large brass lever are futile. Looking through the window of the door they see a green unicorn with a heavily gelled mane shaking his head and pointing to a small sign on the bottom of the door's window. "Closed" he reads, looking back to his buddy. After receiving a shrug in return they went on their way, but as they passed the glass front they saw the restaurant was almost devoid of empty tables.
The airmen look at each other in confusion, "Maybe they're at capacity? or out of food?" The shorter suggested before they continued onwards further into the street, their eyes locked onto a sign with the image of a pizza slice hanging over a doors mantle, "a fancy pizza joint." As they approached, a bipedal bull taller than they were lumbered his way through the narrow doorway and into the street, standing in front of the door with his arms crossed. The glare they received down the Minotauri's nose was enough to get the message across. So onwards they went. "Don't think the worst yet Franco. Logical explanations of course."
They paused at the door of an ice cream parlour and after a moment altered their course for the door. The moment that the shorter man reached for the door handle, an audible snip informed them the door had been locked. They looked up at the window as a huge cardboard sign with 'Closed' hastily drawn across was slapped against the glass, held in a magical grip.
The shorter of the two groaned out a sigh and removed his crush cap, running a hand through his receding hair before aggressively placing his cap back on. They walked down the street further, the heat radiating off the buildings starting to make them agitated as they continued onwards in search of what was fast becoming dinner.
Looking around. Franco noticed the number of ponies shooting fairly concerning looks in their direction, or just avoiding the two entirely. "So much for embracing other cultures." The teen scoffed. As if on queue, a white unicorn foal ran out in front of the two and stopped in front of them.
The two men stopped and gazed down at the two-foot-tall bundle of fur and baby fat as it glared up at them and yelled out " Hideous violent monsters!" before spinning around and kicking the toes of Franco's steel-capped boot. Earning a confused look from Franco.
And the shorter mumbling, "Rude gremlin" under his breath.
As the two sidestepped and walked around, they were about to pass the foal, the mother came bolting from a store on the corner they were about to pass, scooping up the young one whilst screaming, "Don't hurt my son!"
"Ma'am we had no-" The elder of the group was cut off by Franco saying.
"Don't bother Luca. They have a pretty strong opinion about humans already, let's just find someone who'll serve us and leave." As the taller man was about to continue walking a tall Earthpony stallion barred his path, causing the taller human to nearly trip over him.
The glare the yellow pony gave him was unsettlingly telegraphing a swift buck at some point. The Italian took a steady step back, his gloved hand inching slowly for his holster. "Franco. Don't." Luca said slowly and with caution, the teen looked around and noticed a mob slowly forming a circle around the two.
To his left, a mechanical click reached his ears, and a sideways glance showed a carpenter with a folding knife at the ready. "Don't touch the foal colt." His alcohol aged throat rumbled.
"Like my friend said," Franco begins. "We had no intention to. We're just looking for some-" He was cut off by a pegasus mare hovering above the hostile situation.
"There's nothing for your kind here! Leave!" she growled.
Franco and Luca both placed the palms of their open hands on the grips of their service pistols. Paint rounds hopefully would incapacitate a pony depending on the species. Might break a pegasi's bones. Would sent an earth pony to the floor wheezing if a throat shot was achieved. Aiming for Unicorns was a futile effort at best, shields and all.
Franco's hand began closing around the grip of his sidearm. And Luca clicked off his safety. "This is rather out of character for you ponies, isn't it? Considering you play the part of the helpless peace-loving victim so well and all." Franco said sardonically.
Luca noticed a unicorn in the front charging his horn, he tensed his arm ready for the draw. The impending violence was halted by a store vendor at the end of the street hawking his food. His voice echoed off the walls of the buildings flanking the narrow cobbled road. "Freshly baked goods! All species and social statuses welcomed! All species and social classes welcomed, Fresh baked goods! Hey there you lovely guards mares, care for some fresh tiger rolls? And we have some smoothies for you my parched looking Captain!"
The mob began rapidly dispersing and returning to their daily life, still glaring daggers at the two humans as Luca clicked the safety of his weapon back on, and Franco rebuttoned his holster.
The two walked uphill to the end of the street, passing a squad of patrolling guards as they did their rounds. Franco said bitterly on his way past, "The hospitality of the ponies of Canterlot has warmed the core of my heart with their mobbing, I'll be sure to pass my report on to my leaders."
"Huh? Pardon?" A mare clad in golden armour asked in genuine confusion.
"Had you been twenty seconds earlier you wouldn't have had enough restraints for the arrests you were about to make. If you had been twenty seconds later, you certainly wouldn't have had enough body bags for us either." The mare took a double take and glared at the six-foot-tall teenager as Luca stomped on his boot.
"What my friend here means to say, is that we were nearly mobbed by at least thirty ponies whilst we were peacefully trying to find a restaurant that wouldn't slam their door in our face. And like he also said, consider Canterlot on the 'Red list' for our settlements tourism guide." With that being said Luca grabbed Franco by the arm and hauled him in the direction of the vendors continued cries. "If you be a smug ass punk like that again-" the shorter man begins. "-I'll show you why they used to call me 'The mafia' back in my village. Capiche!" Franco's retort never came, his stubby best friend's tone was all he needed to know he wouldn't have a word in edgewise.
As they approached the crest atop the sloping road, they noticed the purple tiled roof of the two-story building first. The unremarkable second story came into view next, followed by the glass standard storefront the other stores had, the only difference?
The crier wasn't a pony. He was a gryphon. And a fairly small one too. Luca had read some books that the princess of friendship had let him borrow before they left the forest they had called home. Your average gryphon was about four foot six, and twice the build of your standard three-foot-tall equestrian.
This Lynx falcon mix was about three foot nine so by contrast, the seafoam white female hippogriff standing beside him was about a half foot taller than he was...
As they approached the storefront the couple smiled, turning for the door they welcomed the duo inside the establishment. Franco walking in behind Luca, his thumbs hooked around his holsters belt.
The inside of the store was pleasant. The white room was fairly tall, allowing Franco to stand at his full height, even if his Elvis-ish hairstyle was parted by the ceiling.
"You two usually go picking fights with the towns your in?" The gryphon asks with an eyebrow raised.
Luca crossed his arms, "Only when they fabricate an excuse to attack us. That's out of character for Equestrians isn't it?" He inquires.
The hippogriff replies with, "Yes, but Ponies are very protective when foals are involved around beings they don't trust, and your species has a very negative stigma following just behind you. But, Herd mentality and all aside. If I may inquire? You weren't really going to shoot them were you?"
Franco pulls his spare magazine from a pouch in his holster. Tossing it onto the stout oak countertop, the couple look at it questioningly. "Paint rounds. From our pistols? Very nasty bruise, winded definitely, fractured bones probably in pegasi. Hopefully no death in the long run. There's been enough of that..." The teen mumbled absentmindedly.
Luca straightened up, "Before we risk seeming to be ungrateful as well as rude, I am Luca and this is Franco." The thirty-two-year-old points between himself and his friend in introductions.
The gryphon opened his beak, but was beaten to the introductions by the hippogriff, he just shook his head and smiled as he walked to a clay oven to pull out trays of cupcakes, "That loveable Tomcat is Galefront, and I'm Slipstream." She informed, mirroring Luca's gestures. "Come, sit!" she insists whilst ushering them to a booth.
"You don't know what a relief it is to finally find someone wanting to serve you," Luca said gratefully. "After being cooped up inside an aircraft for two days. It's nice to have some open space to walk and some propper food."
"Yikes," the griffon said as he continues sorting the cupcakes into seven bags "Sounds like you've had it rough, being stuck on an airship can't be that bad though right?" he jokes with a chuckle.
"Sorry but, not an airship, an aeroplane." Franco corrects, "Far smaller. A lot less luxurious. But just over triple to top speed. We flew in high and slow to save fuel since Canterlot doesn't have refuelling facilities for our plane yet. We'll be putting the pedal through the floor now that we're on the return trip tomorrow." Franco said with a smile, "Our people have broken several world records here in just shy of a few days. They're most likely smiling like Cheshire cats back there right now."
Luca watched Slipstream, something Seemed...odd in her deminor. She seemed tense, and would occasionally glance out the shop's glass front. "Something, wrong? Ma'am?" The stout Italian asks in concern.
"Oh, no, no." The hippogriff said dismissively with a shrug. regardless, Luca glanced to Franco, the taller stick figure of a man giving a nearly unnoticeable nod.
"Here we are!" Galefront said with a loud and proud chuckle. "Finest hot chocolate in the city, Princess Luna herself says so!"
"Oh! You know the princesses?" Franco asked with a smile in curiosity. The man leans over the table, his right hand resting on his knee. "This I've gotta hear!"
"Nah, Not her sister or the princess of magic. Luna comes to our humble establishment for quiet time, away from the castle and its schedules. Sometimes even Celestia herself drives Luna batty until she comes here.-" He freezes, then bursts out laughing when he notices his accidental pun. "Sorry, I just surprised myself with that one. But in all respect, we don't mind her at all, she's nice."
"Mm-hmm, She has so much love for her subjects," Slipstream said with a smile. "Wish my mother showed that much appreciation for me," she said bitterly.
Her breath hitched, she flushed... Brown?, then batted her partner with a wing "Come now honey, Don't I show you enough love?" he asked with a cheeky grin.
"More so than good manners or taste should allow you shameless Lech," She said with a smile and an affectionate nuzzle. "And I love you for it-"
Luca cleared his throat, causing the couple to look in their direction. He was getting confused now, he knew creatures from this world were very expressive, but... this was preluding to something he really didn't want to think about. And for some reason, Slipstream started swaying, just enough to be barely noticeable. "Sorry, but. This hot chocolate is amazing. I don't suppose you'd be willing to part with the recipe?" he said with his brows raised.
The griffon nipped his companion on the ear and responded. "Not a chance. But if you talk me into it I may let you take some of the recipe, secret ingredients obviously not included of course." He said with a grin.
Franco now noticed it, Slipstream seemed to be acting slightly drunk. The teen opened his mouth to speak, but a glint in the silver vase on the table caught his attention. Looking down at the reflection on its meticulously polished surface he noticed two ears poking out above the roof of the building across the street.
Abruptly the six-foot Italian turned in his seat, looking across the street. He blinked "Wow, it got dark fast... Oh, right, the sun stays high until it's lowered... How am I still not used to that? It's been months..."
"I've prepared some bags of assorted muffins for you to take with you, your crew must be hungry for some good eating," the griffon said beaming with pride. "Free of charge! consider it our welcome to the city!"
"Sorry-" Franco replied. "But I don't think we'll be safe walking back across the city to the airfield after today's incident. May we stay here for tonight?"
The couple looked taken aback. Luca looked furious. "Franco! You cant do that! That's beyond rude! And they've been too kind already, there must be at least nearly forty dollars worth of muffins in all these bags-"
"It's fine, we have a spare room upstairs. Your welcome to stay! Simply walk up the staircase down that hall, your room is the first door on the left. The bathroom is the next door over." The hippogriff said with a warm smile.
Luca looked to the couple and watched Galefront as he looked between the crewmen and his spouse for a moment before simply nodding. "Are you sure? You've done so much for us as it is."
Slipstream waved a talon dismissively, "Pfft, it's fine." she replied as she stood and began walking down the hall. "Have a good nights rest. We'll see you off in the afternoon."
"Actually.-" Luca said with a finger raised in correction. "At about nine AM. Our aircraft should be departing by ten."
"Will do! We'll have breakfast ready for you," she replied as she continued down the hall with Galefront on her heels.
Luca went to chastise Franco on the spot now that they were without company, but Franco preempted him with "Not now, walls have ears"
Luca frowned but followed silently as they ascended the stairs and entered their temporary room. No sooner than the door was closed Luca growled for Franco to spill it.
"We had a tail on us. I noticed their reflection in the vase. There was something on the roof across the street looking at us through the glass front of the store, it hid from sight when I turned, but I saw their ears."
Luca nodded in concern whilst rubbing his chin. "Indeed, concerning." He mumbled as he drew his sidearm. The elder man removed the painted magazine loaded with purple-tipped paint rounds and cleared the weapon's chamber. He dug another magazine out from his holster, "You noticed the behaviour of our host? She was twitchy, tense." Franco looked down to the rounds in the magazine, red tips...
The sun rose, surrounded in a supernatural golden glow that the pair still had yet to get used to, Bathing the modestly sized and humbly furnished spare room in a warm aura.
The two airmen had taken the night in roughly six hours shifts, thusly they were both rested yet predictably cranky initially. Until Franco pulled two sachets of Smooth, Italian coffee from his flight jacket. The potbelly stove in the corner had already been heating water for a while at this point, compliments of Franco.
The two had been checking the room for any gear they may have left behind, their preflight briefing had politely ordered all the flight crews taking off on that day to ensure they didn't lose any gear.
So, after rounding up the runaway ballpoint pen and an errant pack of spearmint chewing gum the pair opened the door and made for the staircase, walking through a heavenly wall of warm air carrying the scent of bread, fruit, honey, oats, coffee and scrambled eggs they entered the hallway and made for the stairs.
Once the crewman reached the bottom they slowed to a walking pace, straightened their uniforms and calmly strode into the bustling bakery. They were humbled by the crowd of working-class or the hard done by that bustled in two ques that snaked around the store.
To Luca it became abundantly clear how the foreign couple and their business had survived in the city, they served the customers the nobility or prideful store owners upturned their noses to...
Franco was astonished to see a mare, in particular, carrying three foals in hessian fabric pouches that were slung over her back, one foal was sharing a pouch with the daily groceries.
The duo jumped as Galefront cleared his throat in passing them, a tray of steaming loaves in one talon, "You gents can take the table behind you if you want, I'll bring over your breakfast the moment I'm done emptying this tray."
Dumbfounded the pair did as instructed, Luca turned to his friend, "Not quite the image that pops to mind when thinking of the city huh?"
An orange Earthpony stallion whose coat seemed browner than its natural shade turned to face the two humans at the table. "Actually your correct, ironically, we are the ones who make the city function behind the scenes," The orange stallion offered a hoof to the crewman. "Furnace flare. Coal fireman. I used to serve aboard the air navy ships before they switched to flame crystals. Been unable to find work anywhere until I drifted into Canterlot one night, turns out the cities beating heart is fueled by coal furnaces deep in the mountain. Steam is used for heat and mechanical working and is condensed at the intersection of each block and filtered to be used as fresh water." Franco smiled and shook the offered hoof. Luca Introduced the pair and explained why there were in the city in the first place. "No way! Small world after all! I'm actually the holder of one of the tickets for that flight, took just about every bit I slaved away to scrape up... Choking in clouds of coal dust in the depths of this mountain. But if what your counsel offers is true. It'd be worth every cough I 'reckon."
The group was joined by Galefront, the griffon placing down a tray and handing Franco and Luca a bowl of porridge each, a healthy dollop of honey in the centre and a ring of sliced strawberries around the edge nearest the bowl. Two more cups of coffee were passed off to them as Gale noticed the pony they were conversing with. "Ah! Flare! I have your usual, just a moment and I'll get it for you!"
As the griffon made to rush behind the counter Franco asked him to wait as he fished in his pockets for the twelve bits he had been paid for taking the flight, the tall teen offered to buy Furnace Flare a bowl of porridge and a coffee as well. "That's really not necessary!" the orange pony insisted, "I get free meals on the flight!" Franco just shrugged and Galefront handed him back most of the currency.
"How much do you think that bowls worth? you ain't dining at one of those fancy restaurants down the street." the griffon replied smugly as he disappeared behind the counter.
Furnace Flare laughed, "Your one of only..." The pony paused in thought, "Three? Three store owners in this city that doesn't charge your customers prices so obscene they have to sell their firstborn foal." The stout stallion joked.
"Yes," The griffon simply replied, "And look at all the poor they could be helping, all the business they turned away for the sake of their pride and reputation. Abominable." The tom replied through a toothy grin.
Franco turned to the chatty pair, "If there were more of these kinds of stores in Canterlot you would find that the atmosphere of the city would be more... Lively. Rather than just bustling and sophisticated." He finished the sentence with his best impression of a British nobleman's accent.
"True that." The griffon said pointing a talon at the Italian.
"So! How was the city you grew up in?" Furnace asked with an air of excitement.
Franco paused in thought, "Assuming that Humans live in cities now are you?" Furnace looked as if he was about to apologise before the teen waved him off. "-Nah, I'm just playing with you. I lived in Anzio, Italy, which was before I joined the Historical Paintball Society. I chose to take up one of the offered apartments, Don't get me wrong, I loved my home. The air was fresh and carried the salty scent of the ocean that I long for so much now... But after all the economic crashes, and the sea level rising making real estate so expensive. It wasn't viable anymore, I was fresh out of an orphanage and after about a month I was on the street. It was like a miracle from above when that team from the HPS went through the slum I was in and stuck their posters all over the walls." He recalled. Furnace looked more than a little guilty about digging up the past now. but Franco continued. " But the past is the past, And right now in the present, I'm in a far better place, obviously. I have food, shelter, My own shelter" he corrected. "And a girlfriend so hot in both body and spirit it burns to be in her presence," He said through a dreamy smile.
As Galefront returned with another bowl of porridge, Furnace Flare seemed to release a tense breath, "At least your life thus far is on a high note, Personally I'm hoping to settle down in your town, find some work, save some bits, buy some land and put a house on it. And whilst I'm at it I'll hopefully find some love along the way that isn't made of soot encrusted iron."
Franco wrapped an arm around the off-colour orange pony and pumped a fist, "That's the spirit! Cut your own path through the forest of life!" After which he paused awkwardly, the bakery had gone dead silent and everyone inside was staring at the pair... "What? It's true! The future is what you make it! And you all have the option to grasp that future, there's an aircraft on your fairgrounds that is flying back to my people's settlement in about an hour or two, you don't have to worry too much about funding, I'll pay for your tickets if you need. The Council that runs our settlement is willing to offer land grants, and you and your family will never be safer anywhere else. As it currently stands our borders are the most secured in the country, and probably the world, and that's not even mentioning how much we prioritise health and safety."
Luca tapped Franco's shoulder, "Ohhhh crap," he mumbled. "That's the Captain, isn't it?" The older of the two asked.
Franco turned to look out the window, to find the street was devoid of humans. The jingling of the establishment's doorbell caught the teens attention and sure enough turning to the door, Franco saw the sight that made his breath hitch. The captain locked eyes with Franco's, and through the man's calm demeanour the teen could see a barely withheld rage simmering over.
The eldest member of the crew walked over to their table and sat down, steepling his fingers. "And-" He begins with a pause. "-Where have, you two been?" He inquired calmly.
Luca addressed his elder. "We were intending to return to the plane-"
The captain cut the man off, "Oh, Indeed were you?" he said with a raised eyebrow.
Galefront joined the conversation. " They were almost mobbed yesterday, my wife and I offered them lodging for the night so that they may return to you safely today." Enzo's eyes met the stares of Franco and Luca. "They've been quite polite I assure you. They even offered to pay us, but our hospitality is free." The griffon said with a smile.
Enzo turned to face the two, "That's good to hear. Do you both remember the schedule?" At their nods, he continued "Good, Because if you are late for that as well, you'll be walking back." He sat there thoughtfully in the white noise of the business. "What caused the mobbing?"
Franco tapped a finger on the table in a seemingly random rhythm. As Enzo closed his eyes the teen explained. "A kid ran out in front of us, blocked our path while we were looking for food and seemed intent on yelling slurs and the title 'monsters' at us 'till he turned blue. When we finally walked around the gremlin and continued on our way the mother ran out into the street screaming for us to not hurt her son. Then a whole bunch of ponies came out of the woodwork and were about to run a lecture on 'peace through any other means' when Galefront and Slipstream here bailed us out."
After a short pause, Franco stopped tapping. The captain opened his eyes with a nod, "I'll have to inform Johnna of this incident. Until that time you two are to be escorted back to the aircraft by-" Enzo paused, looking out the window, "Where is Falco?"
Galefront walked up to the glass window that made up a significant portion of the store's frontage, and seemed to glare through it into the street, "It appears your companion has gotten himself into trouble with some guards." the tom said whilst pointing.
"Merda." the elder cursed as he rose from his seat and made for the door. "You two-" he addressed as he pointed in the crewmen's direction. "-You are to be at the airstrip by no later than ten-thirty. You hear. And don't forget anything, I don't feel like that much paperwork."
Luca saluted, "Yessir!" he responded clearly. With that, the captain bolted from the storefront and down the street.
Luca and Franco both let out a held breath and deflated into their seats. "That certainly could have gone worse... by small margins," Franco replied.
"You don't say, the Captain looked as if he was about to crucify you," Luca said whilst he rubbed his temples.
The teen looked at his friend as he picked up his earthenware mug. "Yeah, why is it that he Always thinks I'm the one that gets us into trouble?-"
To that Luca scoffed. "Gee, Maby that's because you Are always was the one getting us into trouble." the man cut off his younger friend's venomous retort with, " At any rate, The captains made our itinerary quite clear, We should probably be going. Will you be walking with us..." The elder paused shortly in thought. "-Furnace?"
"I have to return to the broom cupboard I've been lodging in to get some things but I'll be on that airship, don't you doubt that." He said pointing a hoof for emphasis.
"Dually noted. Come on Franco. Get your coat, check your pockets, we're leaving." Luca said as the pair rose and collected their things. At this time the last of the customers were leaving and Slipstream walked across the room to join the group.
"Leaving already? But your early." She inquired. "Why don't you stay for a while longer?" the mare insisted.
"I'm afraid we have to leave, There's plenty of jobs that we have to do on the aircraft before we take off. And I'm needed there anyway, I'm the Aircraft's cook you see." The man explained, and Franco shot him an odd look but none of the ponies noticed it.
"Well then let us walk with you there. I'm curious to see what this 'Aircraft' you keep on talking about looks like." she said with a smile. To which the pair simply said their agreeance.
As the group left the store, Slipstream and Galefront grabbed saddlebags from a cupboard near the door, saying that they needed ingredients that were sold in opposite ends of the city. Furnace Flare bid temporary farewells and bolted up the road that leads further up the mountain. The group of four proceeded on their walk through the bustling city streets as servants of high ranking ponies and/or nobles quickly darted from one side of the street to another, buying goods and doing some blitz shopping on their own behalf in what little spare time they managed to scrape up from their energetic pace. The hordes of ponies certainly noticed the group, most of them dashing around the mottly group or barely avoiding a collision. Some stopped to stare, but most paid the group no mind, they had more important things to attend to after all.
As the group passed a particular intersection Luca noticed Slipstream staring at a dark alleyway with a forlorn expression but continued on her way regardless, Galefront slipped up to her side, putting himself in between his wife and the narrow alley.
This was yet another piece in the confusing puzzle Luca was trying to piece together, Granted it was none of his business but... He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with this picture... The entire time he was near this pair he felt like something was watching him. Playing the ignorant was something that took patience, and Luca could rapidly feel the instinctual urge to turn around becoming oppressive.
Luca spun around on his heels and raised his hand into the 'Draw' position over his holster. His ears for some reason had picked up on the word 'Target'. He scanned the crowded streets but try as he might he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
He was broken out of his concentration by Franco gripping his arm and manhandling him back into walking. "Are you trying to make an international incident?" He hissed.
"Let's just get to the plane," Luca said as he picked up his pace. The group followed the man as he leads the way through the streets and soon enough they were at the fairgrounds. The lone aircraft standing out starkly in the large sparse space.
The pair was awed by the massive (to creatures of their stature that is) heavier than air flying machine. Sure such things existed, but they were a mere hoof full of barely used prototypes made by the airship industry to just quietly claim patents.
A crewman was standing on the right-wing, pointed to the group, laughed, then raise his arms and yell. "The brave explorers return!"
The sarcasm dripping from the crewman's exclamation didn't phase Franco, who just tossed up the bag of muffins on his way past as he walked towards the tail. As he was about to ascend the ladder into the aircraft he paused and insisted on giving the couple a tour of the aircraft, a markedly short tour since his fellow crewman were constantly finding their paths blocked by the quadrupeds inside the aircraft.
"And there you have it guys," Franco said as he watched the griffon and Hippogriff couple leaving the aircraft. "Nothing too special, certainly not a luxury cruise or anything," he said with a laugh. "But what she lacks in fine dining and gold plated sinks she makes up for in speed and flight performance. And who needs bubble baths when you get to your destination in just under half the time?"
"Indeed," Slipstream said with a nod "I never understood how ponies can enjoy taking days to fly from one side of the country to another, with these you can go to Las Pegasus and still be back before dinner."
Luca rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Well, that may be a bit optimistic for this particular aircraft, but we have a lot faster back home."
At this Galefront asked, "Why didn't you bring one of those then?"
Enzo walked up behind the couple and replied. "Because the faster ones are either too small, too big, or have maintenance issues." The couple jumped and turned to face the man. "Thank you for bringing these two back by the way. I greatly appreciate having my crew in one piece at the end of the day."
"It was no problem." Slipstream said with a smile. "They were awesome company anyway," She looked to the sun, then back to Enzo. "Apologies, but we should really be going. We have to buy ingredients for the evening bake. Will we be seeing you around again any time soon Mr?"
"Enzo, Enzo Ricardo, And no. Not for a few months at the minimum, I'm afraid, We burned through most of our fuel simply moving to the site we built our settlement on, and we can't afford to keep burning fuel constantly like we are currently. Our flight out here was simply the Council trying to boon the population of the town so that the work in the spring thaw won't be as hard."
"Shame, But that makes sense." Slipstream said in thought. The Seafoam green mare offered a talon. "T'was a pleasure meeting you sir!" She said chipperly. Enzo, after a moment's hesitation, took the offered talon and shook it. Slipstream then shook the hands of both Franco and Luca before becoming her husband to follow her. They said their goodbyes as they walked off across the fairgrounds back towards the gates leading into the city.
An hour had passed and the crew were starting to have their first experience in the 'hospitality business. So far things were going smoothly, apart from the occasional noble, of whom the council had invited a few, deciding to play difficult and/or insulting either the crewman or their 'Airship' of being lacking in both 'personality' and 'elegance'. Enzo and Luca had already sent several crewmen outside the aircraft to run another 'inspection' fearing they may try and strangle the high ranking ponies before long.
They were still waiting on half of the passengers to arrive but they too eventually turned up in time, including quite a few ponies and families that didn't have tickets originally. At one point even a Minotaur couple had decided to take a leap of faith after hearing the word spread from that quiet little bakery. The baggage was starting to become the biggest problem, The crew on luggage screening was having to explain to every, single, creature that boarded the flight why they were being searched. The engineers had also counted on the passengers bringing luggage, but the nobles insisted on taking surplus, the surplus that took the precious time that could otherwise be spent flying being spent on the ponies digging through their baggage trains and repacking only the 'Essential' items. And the various species of ponies that had come along had perplexingly different quantities of baggage, Pegasai took barely anything of note, opting to carry their little possessions on their person, Earth ponies usually had one large bag and a single small carry on... And the Unicorns... Ho boy... Two or three large bags and quite a few brought four or so small carries on's. The radioman had instead come up with the idea of leaving any excess luggage at the temporary Human-Equestrian Embassy building for a train then truck ride to the settlement later, and Enzo snatched that gem of an idea and had put it into action immediately.
As the last of the passengers were on their way through the crew's security screening. Furnace Flare came bolting across the fairgrounds with a small curious filly and a small baby bag on his back. The stallion ran to the end of the rapidly shrinking queue, as he attempted to scale the ladder Franco climbed down and picked up the filly and the bag. "Told 'Ya I'd make it!" He gleefully exclaimed as he regained his breath.
"Just barely, Your wife joining you?" Franco asked looking around.
"No, I lost her when my little flower here was brought into this world." As the stallion finished climbing the ladder he turned and caught sight of Franco's barely hidden grimace, the stallion cut him off as he gestured for his child. "Don't get me wrong, I miss her, But-" He looked to his foal, "Her memory is strong, and I have a little bundle of joy for company." the Earth pony said as he rubbed noses with his foal.
As Luca showed the family to their window seat, Franco smiled before he moved on to boarding the last two passengers.
Roughly five minutes later all the aircraft seats were filled and Franco was leaning out of the aircraft's door watching the number one engine. Enzo finished the engines prep work and turned the engine over. Engine one stuttered but started up with very little complaint. Franco disembarked from the aircraft and ran around the rear to the right side whilst the captain checked engine one's gauges and started engine two.
The third engine spun to life without a problem and hummed away happily. With a nod, Franco boarded the aircraft once more and pulled on the cord to close the door. The ladder folded up and into the door, just as it closed he heard someone yelling. Franco cracked the door open, his eyes falling on a familiar griffon waving his arms around.
The teen opened the door. "Yes, Galefront? What's wrong? Did we forget something?" Franco noticed the duffel bag that was around the griffon's back. "Are you coming with us? Wheres, your wife?" Before answering the tom rushed up the ladder and aboard the aircraft.
Luca walked down the aisle dividing the middle of the seat packed cabin to see what was taking Franco so long when he saw the griffon gently putting his back down. "What's going on here? Galefront? Wheres your wife?"
"I'll explain in a moment! Close the door! please!" Confused Franco grabbed the cord and pulled the door back closed. "Is there somewhere far more private I can explain?" The griffon asked in between breaths.
After a short pause, Luca leads the tom to the front of the plane, bag in tow. The man leads Galefront down the steps into the crew area of the aircraft. Galefront sits down on the wooden floor and gently places his bag back down.
The group heard the engines roar louder and felt the plane lurch into movement. A small bounce over a stray cobble would make the humans check their footing every now and again as the craft taxied towards the tarred strip.
"Ok, You're on board, And it's a secluded private space, explain please," Luca asked suspiciously.
With a nod, Galefront opens his mouth and is knocked over to the floor as the brakes screech in protest. Above them, they can hear the captain angrily yelling in Italian out the cockpit window for some ponies to get out of the way. Luca climbs the two steps and climbs the other three to his right to see what's going on in the cockpit.
A black pegasus that looked oddly like one of the ponies from the street earlier stuck his head through the captain's window and said firmly. "STOP! In the name of the Law! You're being detained for searching."
Chapter 41 - An awkward truth, and a plan formulated.
It was past midday and the aircraft still sat on the taxiway, all its passengers and crew stranded within its confines. The large tan and brown craft was surrounded by a constant vigil of Equestrian secret police. Watching the wooden bird from their cover, the rooftops and even looking through the windows of the aircraft. As if attempting to find probable cause or reason to board and seize those within.
The door in the tail of the aircraft was open, the crewman standing guard having been ordered to not let anyone in, and call if approached by the Police. He was however instructed to never block passengers from leaving, rather, he was told that should they wish to leave that they should consider their choice because if they disembarked they could not return to the aircraft for their safety.
Such interactions had yet to occur however. Another crewman had begun serving out a chilled bottle of fairly expensive Equestrian champagne to keep the morale up. One noble in particular took notice of the human crew serving the common pony such an expensive drop and seemed taken aback by the generosity.
This noble could also see the captain and two other humans standing in a separate compartment to the front of the aircraft, having a rather animated discussion with the griffon whom is apparently responsible for this delay.
Though the white pony couldn't make out any of the conversation, he certainly felt his confusion and anxieties grow as the captain drew a curtain across the doorframe...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Enzo turned to face the griffon before him once more. "There. You have your privacy, Now explain yourself. Why are they after you, And where is your Wife? Shouldn't she be with you?" He questioned.
"If I had half the luxuries of a law-abiding legal citizen, I'd say your nose belongs not in my families activities or endeavours, but considering your currently sheltering me, I think it best to follow along..." Galefront mumbled.
"Goodman, Now, The answers to my questions." Enzo plied.
"The answers to both your questions lay talon in talon. The reason why I'm wanted by the police is... Well...-" Galefront looked down to his bag as he was interrupted by the disembodied voice of his wife.
"Oh for goodness sakes Gale! If you won't tell them I WIll. They won't turn us over."
"You stuffed her into the bag!?" Enzo hissed at the griffon, Deliberately keeping his voice low so the passengers couldn't hear. The grizzled Italian turned to Franco and Luca whilst scratching his stubble. "She was bigger than that bag wasn't she?"
As Franco shrugged in confusion the bag engulfed itself in a gout of purple flames that once abated, revealed none other than Slipstream. "Oooor, of course, she could be the bag too I guess... still not the strangest thing I've seen..."
The room stood around in awe staring at the hippogriff as she looked around, smiled then commented that she liked the scent of the wood that made up the aircraft's frame. In response, the captain turned to Franco and asked, "Magic?". The man shook his head whilst shrugging, then Franco closed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"So that explains it." All in attendance turned their attention to the teen. "Slipstreams a changeling," Franco said as he opened his eyes to examine Slipstream further. "Why all this trouble though? from what I've heard, Changelings are accepted as safe and trustworthy citizens within Equestria's borders."
Slipstream let out a long, shaky, weary sigh, Her face suddenly darkening with years of cheery facades and happy disposition wearing away, showing just how tired her spirit had become. "Changelings from the Crystal hive have been 'reformed', and as such the crystal hive changelings have been accepted. But this, 'Reformation' is anything but... The other hives are clueless as to how they managed such a metamorphosis from what they were, to what they are now..."
Enzo rubbed his chin. "And what do normal changelings look like then?" He asked with a raised brow. Slipstream looked at him and was engulfed in heatless purple fire, The creature that stood before him was radically different from the 'fluffy' Hippogriff she had been before. A black carapace encased her form, the chitinous 'skin' still appearing as soft as normal skin, however in paces, mostly the vital areas such as the forehead and chest, obviously thicker and much more rigid plates of the bone-like material grew. Slipstreams spine seemed to also be protected by smooth segmented plates of chitin each layered over the one before it, running from the top of her head, behind the base of her curved horn to the base of her tail. Large purple, iris-less eyes stared into the captain's soul as he looked on in pure curiosity. Her eyes were seemingly bottomless purple, with glowing white 'pupils' framing the spark of what Enzo somehow knew was Slipstream's soul.
As he continued to examine the alien from before him he noticed that her entire body, despite being charcoal black in colouration, had an almost metallic purple sheen to it that her insect-like wings shared, it was highly noticeable where sunlight shining through the rooms only window hit her side. Speaking of side the man noticed that her belly from just below her ribs to-, 'Yeah, not going any further that way' Enzo thought, whilst forcing his minds mental image away from the fairly disturbing route it was taking off-topic, he noticed that Slipstream seemed to blush at that thought... odd. But back on topic, from the bottom of her ribs to presumably about where a horse's pubis bone was, was almost completely translucent, a light metallic purple sheen being the only thing hiding a perfect view of her insides.
"Yeah, Not quite what you're used to huh? I can almost taste your revulsion at the sight of me." the changeling said bitterly as she broke eye contact, tucking her tail between her legs and whilst standing, somehow made herself seem to curl into a ball...
"Quite the contrary, True I'm not used to seeing one's insides from the outside, but to be honest, like I said earlier, You're not the strangest creature I've seen around here. And no offence, but, anything besides humans doesn't swing my door if you catch my drift." Slipstream didn't turn her head but her eyes looked to the captains polished leather flight boots. The man rubbed his stubble covered chin and continued, "As far as I'm concerned you could be a 12-foot tall goo monster. So long as you mean well, and you can put up with me as much as anyone else, we're all living beings, with emotions, and aspirations and all the baggage we carry through life... Friends? Right?" Enzo said as he crouched down, removed a glove and extended his right hand.
The room seemed silent as Galefront processed the situation with what Luca noticed as a slight glare, nothing hostile or angry, more akin to an expression of tensioned concentration. His expression melted away into a relieved smile as Slipstream slowly extended a hoof and shook the captain's hand.
As she unfurled herself and began to stand almost upright, still uncomfortable with the situation, she looked around to all in attendance. Her eyes rested on Luca for a time but eventually, she let out a relieved sigh. "That went better than I was expecting... so... what now? Are you going to turn me over to the ministry of defence?"
"Actually" Franco cut in, "You still haven't explained why they're after you. I gathered from what you explained that the crystal hive has somehow... Changed... but that was about it." He questioned as he sat down in one of the chairs around the small table.
"Uh. Yeah sorry," Slipstream said as she shapeshifted back into her hippogriff disguise, "I feel more comfortable like this... More like a member of society rather than a sideshow. But as I was explaining before I... drifted off-topic. There are five other hives that my queen knows of besides the Crystal hive. Yellow, Black, Red, Blue and the 'Lovelings'. Whilst the Red and Blue hives share our non-destructive infiltrator methods of acquiring love, that being to usually place ourselves into adoptive families at a young age, or finding a member of the society we blending into to start a family with. And the 'Lovelings' methods are, well an answer in their name. The black hive seems to follow the Crystal hives old methods of actively replacing and or kidnapping members of society and aggressively siphoning their emotions.-"
"Sorry, you guys, 'Siphon' emotions?" Luca asked. however, the second part of his conversation was intercepted by Franco.
"The changelings feed off of emotions." Franco was, in turn, cut off by Slipstream who hastily clarified the incoming misconception.
"Changelings can actually eat solid food as well, whilst we can only eat moss and algae in our changing forms, we gain the dietary habits of the creatures we shift into. so we can eat solids, it's just a far less efficient process for us... Emotions not only nourish us but replenish our magic, and whilst food does the same, it lacks the almost immediate rate of regeneration unique to emotions."
The humans nodded along at her points. "To be fair," Luca said. "That all makes a lot of sense. So, IF I'm gathering this correctly. You are being hunted by the cereal box Gestapo out there because they think your kidnapping children in the night or spying on their government or something like that, right?"
Slipstream opened her muzzle to explain, but was cut off by a loud "AHAH!" That stole the attention of everyone in the forward compartment. A white pegasus in chain maile armour aimed a drawn crossbow at the window. "Come out you two, We know what you are! Jigs up! Don't make this more- HEY!" The winged pony yelled indignantly as Franco stood in front of then leaned against the small plexiglass porthole.
"Dunno about 'cereal box Gestapo', but they certainly have the Gestapo's annoying relentlessness down pat," Franco mumbled in annoyance as Luca hung a random crewman's oil-stained overalls over the windows frame.
Just as Franco was freed up to return to his admittingly small seat, the crewman on watch yelling from the tail of the aircraft bid the teenager and captain to walk for the aircraft's door. On his way past, Franco tasselled Slipstreams mane. Earning a soothed smile from the tired changeling.
On his way past, the captain asked one final question, "What would they do with you if they caught you, and to what extent does their power extend? I'm not handling you over regardless, from what my crewman tell me you're an upstanding citizen and don't deserve this kind of attention."
"To be honest" Slipstream started as she stared off into the distance. "I don't know what they'd do to me..." She remained silent and unmoving as she continued to stare in the same direction, as the captain began to leave once more she snapped out of her trance and spoke. Desperation framed her next words. "-but I remember, when I was walking through the Hayseed swamps, back when Gale and I lived in Foalsbry, I was walking through the forest that bordered the Hayseed swamps looking for flowers to flavour a rather troubled recipe and I... I saw a group of ponies with EMNI badges dumping changeling bodies off of a wagon into the swamp... I resolved myself to never be caught after that."
She noticed the captain's moustache quiver. As he turned to leave once more she finished, "They have no power over foreign territory, but that hasn't stopped them in the past. They'll eventually get us if they have enough time to think of a plan." The Italian nodded as he ascended the steps into the passenger cabin, taking care to close the curtain once more.
Enzo made his way down the narrow walkway between the seats as he continued towards the rear of the plane. In passing he smiled and shook the hooves of a group of retired EUP guard officers, he offered a bored-looking colt his chrome ballpoint pen and a sheet of paper to draw on and even gave a crying filly a mint and a hoof bump on his way. Overall he was very glad that the general mood hadn't fallen too far thanks to the efforts of his crew.
He was nearing the door now, passing the final few rows when he was gestured over by a white stallion with a well kept blue mane and a moustache that was a worthy rival to his own blond one. "Excuse me, captain. But I was wondering how long the delay would last."
The captain nodded in thought and replied. "Won't be much longer now. If I may inquire, is that your only question? nothing about the fact we're surrounded by police?"
The stallion smiled nodded, "Oh I'm well aware, I heard Slipstreams voice from upfront just as you were beginning to walk this way. Those EMoNI Agents are a dreadful and Antiquated relic of past desperation. Slipstreams heart is of pure gold."
The man was taken aback by this revelation. "And what of Slipstream do you know, if you pardon my asking."
The white-coated noble smiled genuinely. "I have my own agents running around. On a lower payroll of course, but they have a straight and true moral code. I like knowing that the streets are safe for my fleur and Jubilee to walk at night. My wife, Fleur de Lis, runs Canterlots orphanage and is a chair holder in the Equestrian Cross. And my agents also work for her, scouting areas of the city most in need of medical care." After a pregnant pause, he asks, "You don't actually intend to turn Galefront and miss Stream over do you captain?"
The captain tapped Luca's shoulder, "This man. Get him whatever he wants." The captain smiled to Fancypants and continued the last few rows to the door, catching the ending of Franco's argument with the Agents.
"For the last time. No Warrant, No entry." The teen insisted sternly.
"LISTEN HERE HUMAN!" A batpony sneered.
"NO, YOU LISTEN HERE, YOU QUADRUPEDAL COUNT CHOCULAR MASCOTT! Unless you can pull a warrant out of your captain's ass, you're not taking a step inside this aircraft. Period."
Enzo walked up behind Franco. Patting the teen's shoulder he nodded as they traded places. The Elder human stared down the planes door ladder to the grizzled grey earth pony that stood before him, flanked either side by a cloaked bat pegasus hybrid.
"Afternoon." Enzo greeted coldly.
"Indeed, Likewise." The grey stallion mumbled. "Are you going to hand over the suspects and grace my city with your departure?" He added sternly. "Or am I going to give the order to have you and your crew dragged down this ladder-" He tapped a hoof on the grated surface of note. "-Kicking and screaming."
"Do you have a Warrant?" Enzo asked.
"Buck this! I've had it with these humans. Captain, Let's just arrest them! They attempted to harm a foal yesterday!" A Batpony mare to the Earthponies left hissed. "What more cause do you require? They attack and level two dozen townships across the Heartland than they attack a colt!"
"I'm not even going to argue with you, at my age I know a waste of time when I see one. And I have better things to do with my time than arguing with children." The Bat pony hissed in fury at Enzo's comment, taking a low stance and moving forward a step.
Her Captain cracked a hoof across her nose, causing the hybrid to recoil in shock. As she rubbed the blood from her nose she glared at her officer and noticed his stare at Enzo. Following it she saw that the Humans grip rested solely around the holster for the revolver he had stepped over his hip. She looked the human up and down and saw the stare of somepony who would cut you down if you gave them a reason to, and with a final wipe, she straightened her stance as he sat back down next to the captain.
"We don't have a warrant." The grey pony rumbled in frustration.
"Then you have no way of legally boarding my aircraft, its interior from that step upwards is considered foreign territory. So, If you board, my crew and I Wil defend our aircraft to the last."
"We Outnumber your crew substantially. And possess the finest and most advanced muskets under the crest of the crown." The agents captain said with a grin. "Your little pocket weapons can barely penetrate our armour."
"Good for you. We have a 12.7mm Machine gun that has a fire rate of seven hundred rounds per minute. And we certainly have more than enough bullets to put-" The captain paused in thoughtful calculation, "-, yeah, I'd have to say about three hundred and fifty rounds into all twenty-ish of you."
"Bipedal Dog." The batpony mare hissed as the man pulled up the ladder and locked it in the door.
"Technicolour cringe monster," Enzo said matter of factly as he slammed the aircraft's door shut and locked it.
The captain turned to face the stunned stares of everypony on board. Adjusting his collar he yelled over the silence of the cabin. "PREP FOR TAKEOFF! WE. ARE. LEAVING."
------------------------------
The captain turned to his lieutenant, ignoring her freely bleeding nose. "Prevent them from leaving. I'll go and get this 'warrant'." he grumbled as he stood and left for their office in the castle.
"A counterfeit warrant for a counterfeit pony." The bat pony said with a smirk, "Fair trade". She began barking orders and the fairgrounds were awash with activity.
As the passengers cheered, Enzo hurriedly made his way to the cockpit, in passing Franco he ordered the teen to stay inside the aircraft and perform the engines and control surfaces check from the roof gunners position.
Luca had sprung into action, performing the preflight safety briefing once more to refresh the passenger's memory, “Attention Ladies and Gentlemen, I know we've been over this already, but once more as a refresher. Inside the pocket of the seat in front of you, you will find the safety card for this particular aircraft. Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with your safety card upon the completion of this briefing.
The Tray table in front of you should be in the upright and stored position during take off and landing, or when you hear the fasten seatbelts chime.” Luca took the pause in the briefing to press a button on a wall mounted panel in the galley, a doorbell chime (literally a doorbell) rang throughout the cabin's speaker system. “Please take this moment to find your seats if you have not done so already. To secure your safety harness. It is important, parents, that you secure your own harness before tending to your children's harness. In order to fasten your harness, push the clip into the buckle and pull the loose strap to tighten.
The aircraft has 4 Exits. One in the rear of the aircraft on the left side. Two amidships, one over each wing. And a forward ladder hatch in the crew area. In the event of an emergency, the crew will be responsible for opening the doors unless otherwise instructed. Those seated adjacent to the exits are required to be willing and able to assist in an emergency when prompted. If you are unwilling to do so, and are seated adjacent to an exit, please notify the crew now.” After a pregnant pause, Luca continued.
“For your safety, the aircraft you fly on today has been equipped with the necessary equipment to render aid to you in the event of an emergency. There is a life jacket stored in a yellow plastic pocket Under your seats. To correctly wear your life jacket, place it over your head, and secure the plastic clips. Just like your seat belt, pull the loose straps to tighten to a tight fit.” Luca continued the briefing whilst donning the appropriate example. Continuing whilst gesturing and showing the appropriate articles. “Your life jacket has a water activated strobe light, and a whistle to attract attention to yourself during a rescue.
In order to inflate your life jacket, Please wait until you are OUTSIDE of the aircraft, upon reaching open air outside of the aircraft, grip and pull the red tags. If your jacket needs a top-up, simply blow air into it using the orange tubes. Your life jacket has a watertight wax sealed package attached via cord, this package contains needed survival tools, a first aid kit, and three days rations.
In the event of an emergency landing, you may be asked to wear your lifejackets, please do so in such a case. You may also hear an announcement 30 seconds before touchdown, the announcement will be the following. 'Brace. Brace. Brace. Heads down. Stay Down.' Please follow these instructions if it made.
That Concludes this saftey briefing. Thank you for your attention. If you have any equestions or requests. Simply press the button on the side of your seats armrest, this will ignite a light above your seating row, you will be tended to shortly after. now please read your provided saftey cards. fasten your seatbelts. And prepare for takeoff." Quietly sucking in a deep breath he tore a postit note off the wall next him. The captain having stuck there on his way past.
Upon reading he addressed the cabin. “Attention passengers. Due to the rather obvious delay in our schedule, regrettably, we've missed the 'Comfortable take off window'. Which means that takeoff will be notably more rough than usual. Please remain calm during the turbulence. Our civilisation has been building heavier than air flying machines for almost two hundred and eighty years. And we build them damn well!” He said with both poise and confidence.
--- Meanwhile...
Enzo threw himself into his seat and opened his window, as he was earlier instructed the copilot had gone through both positions, all three engines basically ready to start. “CLEAR PROP!” Enzo yelled out his window as he flicked each of the three starter switches on the panel to his left, a smile spreading across his face. “Legally breaking the law,” he said to the much younger pilot in the seat behind him. “Why can't this crew just spend a normal day together?” The copilot simply laughed as Franco yelled out over the wheezing whine of inertial starters and the sputtering cough of awakening engines, noting when each prop spun up.
Once Luca stuck his head through the cockpit door and informed the pilots that the preflight briefing was done and everyone was buckled in, the elder wasted no time in gently pushing the throttles forward. The aircraft softly lurched into motion, lathargically zig zaging across the fairgrounds to the beginning of the end of the freshly tarred runway.
Enzo started the control surfaces test, sequentially testing the Ailerons, Elevators, rudders and flaps, each time waiting for Franco to yell to inform him that they were working properly.
The captain's concentration was broken by his Copilot swearing and pointing. Enzo looked up and felt his moustache tickle the underside of his nose as his lip curled into a sneer. The Secret police had blocked the airstrip, parking their armoured wagons halfway down its black surface. The captain asked the copilot, “How much distance do you think we have before hitting them?”
The teen was silent for a moment, tapping the map secured to the top of his flightsuits thigh in thought. “According to the map provided by their hignesses, the strip as a whole is five hundred and sixty meters long..." The teen straightened in his seat as he opened the window beside himself and popped his head out to get some bearings. counting the silver spraypaint he'd marked each fifty meters of the runway with the evening prior. "I'd have to saaaay, about three to four hundred meters... say, what was the original plane on this run?”
To his younger partner in crime, the captain simply smiled as he pushed the throttles forward to full whilst holding the brakes. “A B-24 Liberator.”
After a few moments, a very audible squealing filled the inside of the aircraft as the power of the planes three engines pulled it forward against the strength of its brakes.
An angry tapping against the plexiglass above his head made him look up, an irate and familiar batpony was dripping blood from her nose onto the panels above his head, yelling something the captain couldn't understand nore cared to as he released the brakes.
The plane refused to move for a time, Enzo noticed his plane was wrapped in the sparkling prismatic glow of magic. Sticking his head out of the window to his left, he saw a group of unicorns struggling to keep their field around the machine, those whose magic wasn't a flickering mess being slowly dragged across the bitumen with their colleaques wrapped around them in a vain attempt to hold them down.
Enzo slid his window panel closed in annoyance and pushed the throttles as far forward as they'd go with a mechanical tactile click sounding out from his throttle levers, causing them to jolt into 'Wartime emergency power'. The lurch forward was impossible to ignore because of how rough it was, purple flame spewed forth from the exhausts as a water/methanol mixture was injected into the air the engines were hungryly devouring.
The engines howled bloody murder as the tan flying machine went from a walking pace to tearing down the runway and rapidly gaining speed. The captain's attention was momentarily broken by the sight of misty contrails swirling around his cockpit, the propellers spinning so aggressively that the air on their tips was compressing into a mist.
He spared a glance to his violently vibrating speedometer. One hundred and thirty-seven kilometres an hour... One hundred and forty-six...
“Hurry!” Yelled a frankly terrified Sargent at his squadmates. The ponies of the Equestrian Ministry of Inteligence formed a firing line and lowered their paper cartridge rifles level with the ever growing Machine, though such action was meerly a vague threat at this point. There were too many nobles aboard to risk any harm by their hooves.
Firing his tan coloured horn as the officer amplified his voice. “STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!”, His repeated yelling yielded no other result than the three-engined aircraft hurtling towards him, his wagons, and the agents under his command with ever-increasing speed. “Are they suicidal?!” He yelled in panic. As the aircraft loomed towards them, the warmth of his beloved Diarchs sun had forsaken him as the mechanical deamons shadow envelouped him. It would be meere seconds before impact now, there was nowhere to run as his vision was filled by an impossible heavier than air machine the size of a steam locomotive with two flatcars attached to its sides charged him and his friends. His prey response tripped, in the ensuing blind panic, he creates a magical shield bubble over himself as his soldiers scatter like cockroaches, hurriedly getting themselves out of the way.
After a brief moment of emotional petrification he didn't feel the heat or hear the primal roar of a fireball, but felt the suns motherly embrace on his shield. Looking around, he found himself, his wagons, and everything else intact and upright. To his back, the tan brown and green beast climbed ever higher into the sky with a gutteral dronning, several pegasi in hot...or more aptly stone-cold pursuit, as the machine did nothing less than completely mock their flying abilities.
The captain heard a guards mare screaming in pure fury. As he turned to her, he noticed his sister, the bat ponies tail and main raggedly cropped short, "You think you've gotten away? Not even the Carrion will find your stone cold corpses! YOU HEAR ME!" She screamed into the heavens as stray strands of purple mane and tail blew all across the fairgrounds.
“Keep the nose up! Keep the power on! I'm taking us to sixty-five hundred. Then I'm lowering ones power to thirty two percent, setting two to cruise and three to fifty-five percent.”
“Yep” The copilot replied to his captain. As he double-checked his gauge cluster, “Any idea why engine one decided to drop eight hundred revs for a hot minute back there?”
“No, But this engine is rapidly trying my patience. And you can bet the little shit will be getting a tear down when we get back!” The captain hissed as he fought the plane through a particularly rough patch of air. “Are they still behind us?” Enzo asked his co-cheese.
The young Pilot-in-training turned in his seat, looking past Enzo, and out the roof of the glass greenhouse style cockpit canopy. It took him a few seconds, but he managed to spot a cluster of specs in pursuit of the aircraft. “They're hanging in there. But they're fading fast.” He said into the crew intercom whilst glancing at the speedometer. “334kph Indicated Airspeed. Those cute things have some speed to their wings. Shame we can't take this to twelve thousand feet with passengers, eh?” He inquires with a smirk.
"A pitty. Keep engine ones radiators half open, I noticed the temperature gauges spike when we lost power with it."
"Aye." Responded his cohort. "I'm hungry, want anything?" The teen asked as he reclined in his chair and pushed it back to allow his leave.
"Cuppacino, thank you." replied the captain. With a nod the teen took the three step ladder down into the galley. "And a ham and cheese croissant!" Enzo yelled behind him, who which his number two simply waved over his shoulder.
"Excersize old man." he said with a chuckle.
Enzo lost the throes of his chuckle to a yawn as he adjusted his seat to sit in a more comfortable lower position. Activating the autolevel as he reached his designated altitude he tapped engine ones gauge cluster. Satisfies it was working as well as it hopefully was he resorted to checking his map and looking for landmarks.
---------
In the cabin the passengers were awestruck... well, barring the pegasai of course. But to those without wings, most of them far too poor usually to afford airship tickets, this was an unforgettible experience. One that Franco couldn't help but smile at as he poured Fancypants his glass of wine.
"It truely is wonderful isnt it?" He heard the blue maned smartly dressed stallion inquire. "The looks of joy they all have. Its truely something we need more in this world."
Franco stopped the bottle whilst placing it back in the food trolly. "Oh come now, you guys havent had war in a millenium, your living a safe and sound life and in ideallic peaceful communities." The young man said as he placed the vegitarian spaghetti bolegnase on the ponies tray table.
"Is it really though?" The noble inquired once more.
"hmm? I'm afraid I don't follow." Franco said with a cocked brow.
"We havent seen war in over a millenium yes. We live in saftey, in communities. But dare I say they are not ideallic by any stretch. I've had the displeasure of seeing the bi-monthly reports from the towns and even the cities in my feifdom. Education rates are dropping. Homeless shelters are filling up. Average lifespans are decreasing. Its not the publics fault. Nor is it the nobilities... In most cases at least..." He corrected with more than a little resentment, "The population has boomed in the recent hooffull of decades. Ballooning as much as twenty-seven percent."
Franco begun to serve the passengers in the row infront of Noble. A Young ornathinian and her little brother, their feathers groomed but largly discoloured. "Well thats contradictory, back home any population boom is a welcome one."
"Indeed. It would be here as well, If the various factors of industry could keep up with it. Farmers are farming the ground barren trying to feed everypony. Hectares of forests are taken down bi-monthly to build housing and make room for factories to produce the goods Equestria needs to maintian modern living and keep her economy going round. Dispite my best efforts, I can't stop this perpetual downwards spiral into what is forseeable ruin... As it is we have been stuck in these ways for too long I'm afraid." He mumbled in thoughful remorse. "Where did we go wrong? What turn was it? We swathed a path forward and paid no heed where we were actually going until we started tumbling down hill."
Franco stood there thoughtful, giving the children he was currently serving a cheese toastie and some fresh applejuice. "You know." He started, "It's not my place to say this. Heck, I'm a decently well paid buttler wearing a compony sponsored aprin at the moment. But your not in this alone anymore. Trust me. We've been there. We're currently in our third industrial revolution back home, Our economy had collapsed, yet agian," The teen mumbled in no small part mild annoyance as much as embarrasment. "If you really need it. I'm positive that our leaders will jump into the pot with you to get you back on your feet. In fact with how industrious Humans are by nature im sure we will have a bright future working together."
With his inspirational mini-history lession over Fancy raised a glass of wine in toast. "Well then. To crafting bright futures together." Franco looked around before pollitly borrowing the eldest bird persons juice glass and finishing the ritual before apologising and giving her a free blueberry muffin... then giving her sister an orange and poppyseed one. He was also a sucker for puppy dog eyes and pouts.
With a light shudder the aircraft went still, the cabin brightening as the cloud they'd been flying through finally parted behind them. The clear, deep saphire skies engulfing all the windows of the cabin, with the jagged mountain range Canterlot was carved from steadily shrinking behind them off their port side.
The Z-1007, Plywood and canvas giant of the 1940's continued on its course for home. Navigating the skies with a neandering gracefulness only a world war two giant could manage to have.
A Woman in a tidy looking dress of simple grey with red trim stands in front of a Blackstone monument surrounded by various flowers, notes and innumerable photographs of missing people. The monument was dedicated to the missing and as yet to be found missing sportsman, Brothers, and sisters in mock arms that had yet to be heard from… she should know, her own son was among the listed missing…
Her grip on the Channel seven microphone tightens as she says the ending of her report, “Don't worry, kids. We're still looking for you!”
Axel looked out of his car's window as the train speed down hill. He could feel the segments of track meeting under the passenger car's wheels speed up as the train gained momentum down hill, much more than usual. It all made sense, The train was currently carrying way more weight than it was ever designed to with the two disassembled flying machines and seven ore-cars of coal aboard.
The stallion felt temporary butterflies as the train hit the bottom of the downhill segment, then was pushed into his seat as it started forcing its way again gravity using momentum. The further the train got up the hill, the more lethargic its rhythmic chugging got. By the time the locomotive crested the hill, even the train's driver and engineer were starting to nervously death grip the brake should they find themselves suddenly going down the hill in the unintended direction.
Axel watches the world beyond the glass barrier slow to a snail's pace, before the tilt of the downhill leg became apparent, and the train started to once again slowly gain speed.
The pony was lost in his own thoughts, mostly concerns about what life in the Human settlement was going to be like… He'd never left Equestria's borders before, the closest he'd gotten to a foreign cultural exchange was shopping in Canterlot's Neighpone-town. Yet here he was, aboard a train occupied by aliens, heading to an alien town in the middle of what constitutes as nowhere…
Yet the look in his wife's eyes… The look of excitement that she always seems to have on overdrive. If she didn't have the bearing of an Adult mare in a position of respect, she'd be absolutely vibrating with sheer energy alone at this point.
And then there's this 'Char'. Self-proclaimed armaments minister of a yet to be recognised fledgling empire. Supposedly with something of offer for the both of us, A Permanent position for Serenity as law enforcement in a town of soldiers, not guards. Soldiers. As for Axel? Well, Not a word thus far, but on the faith of his personality alone. He had to say he trusts this Human. The others have been warm and receptive as well. Maby they're not the savages rumour and press made them out to be… Still best to be cautious however, As father always said. 'Son. The economy is a living beast, your beast of burden one minute, and a rabid monster the next. Roll with the blows and strike when advantageous'.
He still couldn't believe it. Humans existed. If that simple fact turned out to be true, then what of the old dusty legends from the Canterlot library book his friend used to bring home…
If Axel had a definitive stand to take, it would be one of… Excited apprehension. Looking forward to what was to possibly come whilst dreading it at the same time. You would have to be both blind And deaf to have not heard of the Humans' little... Outburst...
The Humans really seemed to have been keeping true to their story of being possessed and not acting their usual way. These Humans at least were pretty chill, Actually very pleasant to be around! They minded their manners and were always polite and cordial.
Axel's Mind wandered to the supposed 'Deal' the armaments minister was cooking up for him. His wife was wanted as local law enforcement, but he was wanted for some other purpose yet to be explained... And there returned the apprehension. Looking out his window across the dark snow swept plains, his vision was dragged to the movement of a reflection in the window. The sight of Serenity in a pair of rather fetching socks, of all things greeted him. With a smile, he turned to answer his wife's voice, trailing off his name with a sickly sweet tone.
"Stop stressing. You'll end up getting forehead wrinkles again." She jokes with a flick of his brow using her tail in passing to the bed. "Now! Snuggle time!"
His answer was simple, All it needed to be; "Yes, Ma'am."
The Princesses walked down the black marbled hall with a casual stride that their retainers struggled to match without keeping a brisk trot. The princesses didn't move at such a speed as to inconvenience their caring personal staff without reason, the sounds of yelling were echoing sensitive information through the closed meeting room's door and a considerable distance down the hall.
Celestia opened the door with her golden aura, and, After a moment of watching the middle-aged ponies of obnoxiously high rank and responsibility Yelling, Hollering and barking back retorts at their peers, she gestured for her younger sister to enter the room. Following a moment later after Luna has silenced the considerably large table of Officers, Intelligence agents and advisors with a liberal useable of the Royal Canterlot voice.
"Honestly, Fillies and Colts, Aren't you all a little old to be screaming in each other's faces 'till blue. That's behaviour I expect from foals on the schoolyard playground, rather than my command and intelligence staff. A few officers scorned at themselves, whilst most looked to their peers with raised brows of curiosity at the possible reactions. Fewer still actually apologised openly, but those who did, started a chain reaction out of courtesy. "Now then. Since that's dealt with. We can begin this meeting." The solar Diarch turned to the left side of the table, "What does the Ministry of intelligence have to report?"
The greying stallion sat up straighter. "Nothing to report on the home front. However, there are... Rumours. Humans. More of them, supposedly. Talk of the Wingbarian navy, actually-" Celestia was about to cut the officer off with a question but was beaten to the punch.
A General slammed his orange hoof against the table on his side. "Rumours THAT ARE RIDICULOUS! Surely you cant be so gullible as to believe that a SURFACE vessel can reach twenty-eight knots on boilers alone. Especially vessels of the size reported-"
The well aged stallion across from the Orange (now rapidly reddening) General. "-How many times have I need to wave the report from their last escapade in your face before it sinks into your thick-"
"Sir." Luna states the title with dangerous enough drawn out infliction to heed the old pony pause.
"-Quite. These Humans are a wild card. Their existence must be either confirmed or denied and dealt with. The latter even is no pelts off our backs. The former however is troublesome..." He tailed off thoughtfully.
"Oh? How so?" Celestia Inquires.
To which he answers, "Their vessels are many multiples the size of our Horizons class ironclad and many magnitudes faster I'm afraid. There's simply no surface vessel in our fleet besides the Royal class schooners that can keep up with these supposed Human vessels. The only hope of catching them would be with airships... The only snag is the Wingbardian's already tried that." The mere saying of that statement made every either cringe or lean in curiously.
"And how did THAT go?” Luna inquired.
“The typical Wingbardian 'Get off of my property' style of greeting ended in half a dozen inflatable lifeboats filled with cold, wet and hungry griffons washing up on a public beach back in southern Wingbardy. Since then, the ships have dropped off the face of Equis. And before that question is asked. The fleet appears to consist of six or so warships and a dozen or so more unarmed or lightly armed vessels."
Luna leaned in further, resting her chin on her steepled hooves. "Do go on."
A mixed group of adults, teens and some, what most would call kids, stood outside a mahogany door. They were shaking each other down, straightening each other's appearances and mentally preparing themselves, trying to shake their nervousness.
The other side of said door? The chambers of the elected council, the Twelve who hold everyone together. On this side of the door? Frigid winter winds threatening to steal the tubes of rolled up blueprints and what this group hoped to be the best laid plans for both theirs as well as their peer's future.
As the group's chaperone. An older woman of greying visage gripped the door handle and steeled herself, the winds died down to a mere breeze. Looking up, the group took in the calming view of the night sky, It may as well have been an oil painting it was so grand and beautiful. Constellations, Alien ones, and a few familiar ones that had since recently appeared, spread across the sky, connecting a true canvas of stars and twin milkyways.
The group after a few moments heard the sound a shattering glass and with one last shaky breath, kicked some snow out the way of the door and pushed it open.
Upon pushing through the oncoming assault of warm air smelling of pine smoke, the group stood inside the chambers. Or more aptly. One of the larger log cabins. The Council had elected on building temporary structures initially, postponing the serious building until the spring thaw, where something more substantial and much more permanent could be constructed.
The group tightened their white-knuckled grips on their blueprint tubes. They were tasked with planning the new home, their future… their friends and families collective future.
The group stood by the door for a moment, shaking themselves free of snow before shedding their camouflaged winter gear. Turning into the decently sized room, the group found the mahogany round table that earned the council members their nickname. The politicians of Camelot.
Dimitri was half hidden by the table. Currently mopping up a spilled drink whilst Johnna picked up pieces of shattered earthware from the floor. The tail end of Emily's reprimanding was barely heard, she was keeping her voice down in being mindful of the off duty guards, a group of six ponies and six humans sleeping along the back wall. Speaking of guards, there were currently six active guards, three humans and three ponies of various breeds, mostly shielded from view by the long waving shadows the crackling fireplace spawned. "Honestly, Johnna, Do you not watch where you are going at any point during your life? First, you almost get run over by an armoured car. Then you walk into a glass window next to the sliding door. Now you walk into Dimitri and spill his scalding hot-cocolate all over the both of you."
The Tanned Native Australian looked up at the whitewashed British woman. "I beg your pardon? Was it not I how found you that bundle of oranges you were looking for? I happen to have fantastic vision. I just value watching where I place my feet... Furthermore, I was just distracted. Much like you currently are, you never noticed this lot walking in.” He quipped whilst pointing a thumb in the engineer's direction.
The fact he didn't even have to look in the group's direction certainly surprised some. But with the council member's eyes now resting squarely on them, they opted to join their leaders at the table. As they settled down in the provided collapsible canvas chairs, they prepared their drawings and notes as Johnna and Dimitri changed into new shirts.
Erric Pushed a bowl of beef jerky towards them, from which they stared in shock for a brief moment before, thankfully, 'requisitioning' the whole bowl. Meat products have been getting VERY scarce as of the last week. Meat almost completely disappeared from the meals after that Monday, it was now Saturday, and they only had meet in Friday's dinner. It was some kind of hearty Fish stew. A pair from the group knew the reason it was so thick, it was because the cooks had creatively used the staling bread loaves from the various teams MRE's to thicken the menu up. Beef Jerky, Beef Jerky, was never going to have a chance in frozen hell of being turned down. It was Jack Links too!
The group collectively devoured the hickory flavoured dehydrated meat as if they were starving carrion whilst finishing their prepping.
Eventually they collected themselves and began by introducing themselves. From left to right and coincidently shortest to tallest. Danik, The brown eyed blond haired Swedish boy of fourteen years of age, the group's resident medieval history nerd. Markov and Nikita, Twins of identical appearance. Slavic square jawed and dirty brown hair, with arms that make them look like they could squeeze a dragon's head off its shoulders. Jessica. The 19-year-old Emerald eyed redhead of the group, she held herself with the relaxed slouched posture of a commoner despite her pristine uniform and proper, posh, English accent. Roselynn, Tallest sixteen-year-old you'll ever see, still stamping snow and water out of her US issue GI jungle boots. And Jackson Black, The six-foot seven, built like a brick building Kiwi. A Terrifying unit of a man (currently sniffling near constantly,) being their supervisor.
Robert leaned forward. "Welcome to the meeting all. Roselynn, I though i ordered everyone to be issued with winter boots, why are you still wearing those?"
"Comfortable." Was the single word reply.
"Fair enough. You get frost bite, and I'll be pissed." He gently reprimanded.
"Fair enough.” short replies... Her typical contribution to any conversation...
Shaking his head he turned the group as a whole. "What do you have for us? Start with the Basic premise and why you chose it."
Clearing his throat. Jackson spoke up. "After great and careful deliberation, we chose a circular city. As to the reasoning for this? It is generally the most efficient design given the listed parameters you, the council, provided. Those being; - Easy access for essential good and trades from ones apartment or home. - Easy rapid response for emergency services to any given point inside the city perimeter. - Easy and effective access and deployment of public transport. And finally public safety and convenience."
Johnna rose his hand, catching the group off guard. "Yes? Sir?” Jackson asked cautiously, in more than obvious confusion.
The other Native spoke with an air of boredom. "Please don't sound so even toned and robotic... I'm struggling to stay awake as it is... And you just made us all sound like Stiff Automatons. You can call us idiots, you know. Come on! To my face."
As the Kiwi was about to respond to the teen's goading, Emily Slammed a Fist into the Aussies Shoulder. "Quit being rude!"
Rubbing the afflicted limb he responded. "They need to loosen up. Look at them! You can use each of them as a spirit-level, they're that ramrod straight." He turned from Emily to the group. "Breathe. Recline. Relax!" He picked up the beef jerky bowl and ran a finger through it. Sucking the beef crumbs off the digit. "After all, You've Already eaten us out of house and cabin-" He preempted her swing this time, leaning back and dodging the first swing, But not the follow-up. Straight to his groin.
“Manners” Emily chided with an even tone as Johnna slowly slid out form his seat and under the table with winded curses and strained gasps. “I'll tame this one yet." She stated matter-of-factly whilst sharing a knowing grin with the two other women in the group.
Clearing his throat, the Kiwi continued. "The specifics of what we have here are actually fairly staight forward. At the center with have a five hundred meter, to one kilometre wide circular park. The emergency services share this space with the park, The hospital actually uses the park as a free roam garden to encourage patients to exercise."
“Do continue” Ling Instructions whilst making a continue gesture with her hand.
"The City is divided into rings. As many as we require. Each ring is two city blocks deep, the next ring from the centre is the public services. Schools, Librarys, Public workshops, Ect. The rings after this is where we without a doubt spent the most time planning.
The next rings are mixed residential and small business. Each building is limited to an absolute maximum hight of four stories-"
"Forgive the intrusion, but why? Would it not be easier to plan the city for high density?” Roberts questioned.
"-Well yes. But no. The Actual reason for this is the reason why we were stuck with using above ground tram services as public transport. We originally planned and wanted a suspended track monorail, To get not only a high speed public transport system but to keep the trains out of the streets. We eventually binned that idea though because we learned during our research that the Equestrians can't guarantee a set quality of concrete. Furthermore, we have no industry, as you're aware. So we have to outsource all the materials and a considerable portion of the labour. The Equestrians have skyscrapers, but after our tests, I wouldn't go anywhere near the deathtraps… At any rate, without a guaranteed quality of concrete from all these different companies, we limited the potential risk by limiting the structure height."
With an understanding nod, the American motioned for the group to continue.
"Where were we? Ah, so each ring is two city blocks deep. The next ring is mixed business and residential. Ground floor and sometimes second is business, second to fourth floor is residential. This provides business space within easy walking distance of one's living space. And with the amount of insulation needed to meet the thermal and fire safety requirements, soundproofing won't be very much of a problem."
Emily raised her hand. "Quick question. With a ring based city, how do you plan on proving the nessicary living space for everyone. I remember we specified each home should have a backyard."
"Glad you asked. Because that was the next point we were moving onto. The structures are only on the street front, the rest of the space inside the ring is for, and we're rather confident this will work, a public use area. Instead of segregated backyards we opted for a back yard space where privacy is granted Via hedges, but each yard is gated into a communal space that makes up the interior of each rings many compartments, or segments, which ever you prefer defining them as. this communal space is perfect for adding a small park and/or playground. The idea is to allow parents to let their kids roam free without fear of them getting hit by a car or being kidnapped."
"And how exactly do you plan on getting this to work?" Dimitri Inqures.
"Neihborhood watches, Each compartment has its own watch, and the ends of the compartment are secured via four meter tall gated steel fences. The gates are always supervised, by the watch so theres very little chance of kids actually leaving without permission or supervision."
"And how can you ensure this?" The Russian continued.
"The Ponies are big on their free roam and personal freedoms. Much more so than us Humans tot he point planning them into this project has been a sort of detriment... thats the wrong word... Great Difficulty-"
"A hole in the head?" Johnna moaned as he clawed his way back into his seat.
Jackson simply pointed in his direciton whilst nodding the affirmitive. "There we go. The Equestrians are also very big on their Community trust. Everyone tends to know someone, or have a friend who knows someone down to a near familial level. Noone locks anything here. They sleep with their doors and windows open. They leave their wallets and valueables strewn about their homes. And with about three to four families per building there will be at least someone to perform the watch."
"Fair enough" Johnna stated. "I have one problem with this though, We did state that all the teams were supposed to be able to gather together and bond. To prevent people from filing back into their national and culteral clicks. To be clear, we still want to preserver our cultures but we dont want people seperating and segregating back into them. Our bonds make us strong. Lets not help eachother break them."
"We throught of that too sir. The next ring after that is for Public Recreation. Plaza's, Malls, Arcades, Swim centers. Amuzement parks even. Concert halls and Sports arenas. The five square block deep recreation ring will cater to these. before returning back to two block deep mixed purpose rings."
"Ok, Now then, The big one. Public Transportation."
"We ended up choosing Trams as our choice. Its the most viable. The overhead power cables keep the power hazard off the ground, as well as removing the pollution and colision risk of buses and taxis, and being only a quarter as costly as deticated rail services. To cut down on costs the tram networks are divided into two seperate types, Inter and Intra ring services, this further reduces the difficulty of setting up the network and makes public understanding easy. Each ring has four tram cars that travel in a clockwise direction. Each inter-ring road has its own tram line with four tram cars. If you can or want to walk your encouraged to do so and certainly can. if you need to get somewhere fast or have alot to carry, take the trams."
"And how about personal transport?" Ling Inquires once more.
"Under designated buildings there are public carparks, and inside each ring compartment there is a designated foot path and bicycle path, Inter ring biking is done on the road, as keeping the bikes off the footpath was viewed as a safer option for all involved. "
"Very good!" Ling praised with a satisfied grin.
"Now for the big question" Erric says ominously. "Defencibility."
"The Ring system is one of the most optimal systems for this too. Each compartment has capabilities for its own NBC rated shelter, and the Spoke and hub style we chose for this design allows for the minimal amount of heavy AT and heavy machine guns to defend the city as a hole. The central hub can be used as a defencive position and allow such resources to fire down the 'spokes', If your say an attacking force, you have to force yourselves into a narrow chokepoint in order to move to the next ring. Every building has a basement, so tanks are unable to push through them and are stuck on the roads. And concrete multistory buildings make fantastic MG and sniper nests."
The council members nodded before moving onto more nicer topics such as decorations and public utilities layouts before thankfully dismissing the engineers team they had assembled for a week of well earned vacation.
Jackson was about to leave through the door into the blistering cold when he paused. "Just a question." Many brows raised in question before he asked. "How are we getting our initial connection to the rest of Equestria? The grounds too frozen for Rail or road work. The Equestrian rails are far too narrow for our use, and Lord knows their roads are horrific. A Sedan like you guys comissioned from Ian would just sink into those dirt roads the moment it drizzled and go skidding off into the shrubs on their gravel ones... Are we getting fuel refinement setup? How else would we get the tar needed?"
"That is filled under confidential for now. Rest assured, we're working on it. Hows Axel and Serenities home coming along?"
"I havent talked to that team in the last thirty two-ish hours. But from what i last heard they're in a mad rush to get the thing done, they got the walls, second floor and attic in... They were quote un-quote. "Speed running" the wood floors installation and the painting. " With a nod he laughed. "They'll get it done in time, the tour may come with a second guide instructing them not to touch the walls or roof or masonry, but they'll have it standing on its own and ready to move into, even if they end up high on paint fumes..."
"Thanks! We'll check it out in the morning. Watch yourself out there. If you eventually see Rebecca and her lot can you inform them that their meeting date has been moved back three days since they missed this meeting."
"Will do." The Kiwi said with a dip of his leather hats brim. The moment he turned and stepped through the door the shrieking howl of the frigid winds cut right through his leather trenchcoat, his winter gear and straight to his bones. With ashudder he mumbled to himself, "Bloody winter... Wheres summer when you actually WANT it..." He turned for home, A Humble bunk, his three alotted blankets, and his six year old, just the softness he likes them pillows... all seven of them...
The Fog started Abating...
The red and green duo of lights ahead of the bridge continued flickering as the bridge crew held on. The vessel Heeling to port hard enough to give the crew still standing butterflies, the rest having been long since thrown off their feet and sent slamming into the various stations and seats.
As they finally cleared the fog bank the seas became mirror calm. A cry of amazement came from the port bridgewing. The captain. A Blond haired Italian in his late thirties stode out on his bridge to the platform. He had weathered a great many storms. His first ship was lost to one such dervish. A wave so large she had simply broke her back.
He was glas for his black gloves, lest his crew actually saw his white-knuckled grip on the handraililng. The fog bank wasnt a bank... It was a wall. A wall that stretched several thousand feet into the heavens... The seas were calm right up to its very edge. Forcing himself to release his deathgrip on the raililng and maintaining his composure he began barking his orders.
"Schitinno! Ahead one quarter. Bring us aloneside the MV.Blackforest." Turning to the rest of his bridge crew he rapid fired his want, no, his need for information. he ordered everything from their GPS location to reports from damage control and the party sent to secure the sticken mixed cargo vessel. Ariving back at his seat he summoned a medical team to the bridge over the shipwide intercom.
"No GPS satilites found sir, we're in the dark!"
"Damage control is reporting a fire in the fuse room from seawater ingress, they're working on it."
"Crew aboard the Blackforest reports all systems nominal, they're running their bilges to evacuate the water atop the oil cargo. They only have one working engine now, the other had a short due to rats, cables and seawater ingress. Fried several of the fuses and the engine went into limp-mode."
"Whats the status on the Barker?" The captain inqured.
"Barkers gone sir, we lost her in the storm... Nothing on radar either...."
'Damn it. Just what I need. What else could-'
"Sir.Damage control has isolated the shorted fuse box. Its to the sea-sparrow MLRS. The Main gun's fusebox wiring loom is scorched, they're going to see if we have any spare cable spooled up somewhere.
'DAMN! I had to THINK IT DIDN'T I!?' The captain chastised himself as he slumped over the hand railing. His vision settled on his now useless, for now, OTO Melara. "At least the engines still work..."
"Sir, Damage report from Engine room. The storm appears to have messed with the engineering station they're attmepting to reboot again."
The fire continued to crackle away in the corner. Dimitri was hunched over the table, Cigarette snaking its way between his twirling fingers. His last. No one made to show it. But everyone was watching. Curious to see if the man would finally kick the bad habit of his. Finally, with a dejected sigh his decision was made. Whilst snapping the paper tube of tobacco between his fingers, he mumbled. “Had to Quit sometime eventually. Totally not because the ponies have shit sticks for cigs..." Turning his in the solid oak chair, he discarded the last he'd ever be able to enjoy. Flicking it across the room into the fireplace with a scowl.
No one said anything, but were a lot more peppy, all smiles. One question was on everyone's minds however. Johnnas fifth glass was downed and *thunked* quietly against the mahogany table. "Where's char? I wonder if he's actually found a half decent drop... This Equestrian 'Spirits' Tastes disturbingly similar to American beer... All water, No alcohol."
"Because we actually value things like flavour. Believe it or not friend. Not every culture likes recreationally drinking Aviation fuel." Robert said whilst feigning hurt.
"Don't get me started. I felt like I was running a dagger through my own heart today. I caught some of my blokes trying to Bogan engineer a distillery together. At first, I was about to offer them a helping hand until I saw they looked like cornered mice. Looked up, and saw them trying to hide a barrel of brake fluid."
Dimitri leaned forward, eyes wide in concern. "Oh no. They were actually about to try to make that?"
"I'm sorry, Make what?" Emily inquired in concerned confusion. "What kind of weird cultural Alchemy are you two referencing?"
Dimitri ripped a piece of paper from the notepad that each leader had unceremoniously discarded around their seating at the table. After hurriedly scribbling down a general order to all officers, he handed it off to his tertiary commander to send off. "A dangerous, stupidly so, way of getting alcohol. Some brake, coolant, and even compass fluids have alcohol as ingredients. Each culture had their own way of getting rid of the toxic parts of the mixtures, but It's still so dangerous that it's only tried out of desperation or dangerous amounts of frustration. The O'l Soviet method was to strain the fluid through a loaf of black bread. Obviously, discarding the bread afterwards. But the fluid was still too dangerous. I should know."
"No." Robert said raising his hands.
"Sadly-" The Russian said whilst crossing his arms and shrugging. "-Guilty. Was on deployment back in the day. BTR broke down at an airfield that hadn't received supplies in months. We ran out of our last bottle of Standard. Decided to help a bunch of aircraft grease monkeys I'd offered a glass to share with a project. The end result was a bottle. Barely half a glass in after the thirst kicked in, and I lost vision in my left eye. Didn't get it back for eight months."
"Yike." Johnna mumbled.
Dimitri's silent nodding was accented by the audible scratching of a dozen ballpoint pens frantically scribbling down orders. "Y'know. Reminds me of the time I blew up the old man's shed-" The plucky native Aussie started. Only to be cut off by moaned 'Of course's' from those around the table.
"So that's where you got that constant canteens worth of yours. You make it yourself!" Robert all but Chastised the Australian.
"Hey! Your infliction applies, I'm an alcoholic. That canteen lasts me the whole event!" He defended.
"No-one Accused you of an-" The American paused. After a prolonged silence he recoiled, "YYeghk! You gave me a swig from your back wash canteen!" Everyone around the table recoiled and physically leaned further from the Aussie.
“OI! Never disrespect a good drop like that! Little sips, you moron! Little sips! How did you think I made i through those tests they put us all through!”
After three minutes of rowdy back and forth between those at the table, the room was silenced by a shrill whistle. Those around said table went silent to turned to the direction of said whistle, a wall full of angry glares and bunk beds.
"Ah. Sorry…" They unanimously apologised with shy awkwardness. They were awarded by grumpy mumbling and aggressive blanked and pillow adjusting before all was quiet save for the crackling pops of burning wood.
"Oops." Robert mumbled.
"Where were we? Before I mean," Ling asked before Dimitri pointed at a visibly confused Robert.
"Ah. Right. Yes, Where's Char? His train was supposed to arrive back here six hours ago... It's certainly not like him to be late to his own party. Especially when it involves anything to do with his new job."
"I Don't know. But it is most likely that the tracks are blocked-" Erric's first contribution to the conversation was abruptly ended by rapid rasps against the stout wooden door. "-Ah, This must be him now!" He nodded to the two guards posted either side of the door. The wooden construct opened to a wind and snow swept porch with... A Small grey and blonde pegasus...
After a moment of being stunned to silence, the group of leaders around the table unanimously all but ordered the guards to drag the mare into the warmth. As she stood there shivering, she stuck a wing into her bag. As a unicorn, mage removed her snow crusted scarf. Pulling the limb back in recoil, she walked into the corner near the hat rack and tipped the contents of her mailbags on the floor in the corner. Sorting through snow to pull forth the mail.
"Is that mail for us? People in this settlement?" After a short pause the mare nodded. "Oh please! Let use do that! Sit next to the fire you poor thing!" Emily practically ordered as a command of love as she rose from her seat to escort the lazy eyed pony to the fire. "Johnathan, Be a dear-"
"Yeah Yeah, I'm on it. Bloody hate snow..." He found himself squatting in the corner digging letters from the snow pile, brushing them off and piling them on the floor. Just as his fellow leaders sat the shivering mare down in front of the fireplace he inquired, "Ditzy Why are you out and about in this weather? At night no less. its-" A glance up to the shadow obscured clock above the fireplace mantle showed, "Wow, Since when was it ten pm?"
Ditzy doo looked over her shoulder at him and said with a chilled stutter, "The Equestrian Express mail service prides itself on getting your mail to who ever it needs to as fast as possible. No matter sun rain, snow, or winds."
"You could at least wear something thicker than a knitted scarf!" Dimitri said as he returned from the back room of the cabin with a stack of blankets.
"Oh I was... I got blown into a tree and lost my winter cardigan..."
"We'll get you a new one if you don't mind. Honestly, this is ridiculous. We don't mind getting our mail late!" To that the mare shook her head.
"That wouldn't Do! Not with mail as important as this! There's one addressed to each of you here!" That got everyone looking at each other in a mix of curiosity and concern.
"John?" The group collectively asked as he discarded a pile of ornate envelopes on the table to bring ditzy a mug of minestrone soup from the electric stove pot in the centre of the table.
Jenet checked the letters finding them all in the same ornate enamel white envelopes. The visage of Canterlot decorated the front of the paper in gold filigree, with Luna's Cutie mark to the right of the golden city. Celestia's to the left, and Twilight's high in the centre above the tallest spire of the castle.
Looking through the messy pile, she found the one addressed to herself and flipped it around to find a purple wax seal with Twilight's cutie mark emblazoned in its centre. Wiping her butter knife off on her napkin, she popped the waxes seal, the barely perceivable buzzing static shock when she did was not lost on her.
The paper inside was Enamel white, the three rulers cutie marks at the top, their names and ranks under them, Curiously Luna's and Celestia's ranks were missing. With Twilight's being the only mark with the rank of Princess underneath it. The next most striking thing was the entire bottom third of the letter was full of 'easy tear here' strips and small blank forms she recognised as tickets. The centre third of the letter was family crests and coats of arms. Many, Many, columns of them. Then came the top. Golden text. 'You have been invited to the most prestigious celebration of the year past and the year coming,'
The french team leader looked to her friends. "Guys, You need to look at this... We are invited to a Gala."
"A what?" Asked Johnna.
"A Ball" "A Banquet" Replied Emily and Erric simultaneously.
"Formal or-"
"What do you think?"
"...-Fuck"
Chapter 45 - Now Arriving, Please stand clear of the yellow line!
"ALL ABOARD~! Train Fifty-Seven!" The conductor yelled from the platform of Ponyville station.
Axel noticed a deshevelled and rather flighty white and purple mare hurridly helping her friends or family load her pittifuly impressive mountain of luggage into the trains undercabin stowage. Why the ponyvillian farmer needed that much luggage he'd never comprehend, but she made it by the skin of her teeth. The conductor clearly contemplated rushing the train out the station to keep the already hard fought for schedule. But alas his upbringing taught him to be patient and pollite.
Finally though she had finished, bid her cohorts goodbyes, and boarded the first class cabins.
The locomotive lurched forwards as the driver bid the machine to make up for lost time, even if it was against regulations to give passengers an unsmoothe ride, at least according to his retired train driving drinking buddy back in Appleloosa.
Axel was thinking about how strange the Char the Human has placed his car. At the back of the train, In fact, This train had no caboose. Just this car. This train was also much longer than was most likely legal. Then again, Char had permission to do shaky things for the safety of his people... To an obvious extent. And this was very clearly pushing the grey ink that the document was politically written in. The fact the small, mass-produced locomotive could even haul this monstrosity of a logistics nightmare was amazing.
Four first class passenger cabins. Four second class cabins. Eight Coach cabins. Two double length flat cars with flying machines of various states of dismantlement and TWELVE canvas topped ore cars filled to overflowing with Appleloosian coal.
Make no mistake, the mine cobble railroad bedding was letting its opinion of the load known as the train swayed just enough on the tracks to be alarming. The bed of the railroad would obviously need maintenance after this train had its way with it.
But that was the last thing on everypony aboards minds. There was only five stops left on this train. Hayburg. Freisia. Stahlland. Trottingham And finally. The Human settlement. Yet to be named. Axel was momentarily broken from his thoughts when the door to the car was slid open, Before he could turn he heard Serenity's voice.
"Hun? I'm hungry, are we heading to the dinner car soon?"
Turning to serenity to respond with a simple 'sure', his voice died in his throat. There she was, Serenity, As beautiful as the day he married her. Wearing an absolutely new dress, a dress half the Canterlot nobility would wage a war for, he knew they didn't have when they boarded the train. "Wo- Love. You look beautiful in that1 I- I mean, you look beautiful out of that always but wh-Where did you get that dress?"
Doing a twirl, the ruby red silken garment rode on the weak breeze the motion generated. Simply floating in the air for a second or so, reflecting – No, refracting the light given off by the cars lights before the weight of actual tiny rubies gently pulled the flowing fabric back down. "It's beautiful isn't it?" She practically squeed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror mounted to Char's Tallboy. "The mare in the first class car made it for me! Char was being questioned by Fluer-De-Lis because he asked her about checking over the wounded aircrew, and happened to see me asking the conductor for one of those info-maps of the Human settlement- Can't go offending anypony there afterall! The Nice-"
"FLUER-DE-LIS IS ON THIS-" Serenity cut off her stallions surprised exclamation with a hoof gently placed on his nose.
"Shut. Now then – where was - Ah! The nice mare that held up the train for an hour at Ponyville station turned out to be Lady Rarity-"
"THE Rarity of the elements is on this tr-" Again, a brown hoof came to rest on Axel's nose.
"Shut. Let me finish!" Axel nodded quietly. "Lady Rarity happened to overhear my explanation of how we basically dropped everything and moved- or rather are moving- to the Humans settlement to help them out and decided to do something special for me!" The giddy sheriff made another ecstatic twirl. She was a blur of magical needle and thread! This dress only took her thirty or so minutes!"
"Sweetie, you've been gone for an hour and a half." Axel gently informed her.
"Oh... Maby more than Thirty minutes. But it only felt like fifteen!" Axel chuckled with the mare.
"Come on! I'm so much more hungry than I realised I was." The wagon, wright said, as he opened the door leading into the next car for his wife. His stomach exclaimed its rumbling delight in such a declaration. "Oh! Almost forgot, Theres only one dinner car! Cant meet a bearer of the Elements of Harmony and a Noble without looking presentable!" He galloped back into the car and upturned his carry on bag to retrieve his mane comb and a tie.
As the pair made it to the canvas covered turntable that sat over the coupling between the first and second class sections of the train, the pair hurriedly made themselves presentable once more. 'The luxury of a simple canvas cover over the space between the coach cars evidently was too expensive for the train's owner.' The pair thought with equal amounts of annoyance at the fact their previous efforts back in chars car were made moot, and the train companies cheapness.
The pair finished their inspections of each other, Serenity adjusting Axel's tie in the nick-of-time as he gently pushed the door open and the pair quietly entered the cabin.
The first thing that became apparent when they entered the car was the many quiet murmurings amongst the diners. The second being that the reason the coach cars were quite less populated, was because they were all here. In the usually reserved dining car.
The quiet murmuring, fell into three distinct tones of conversation. Nobles and rich slobs complaining about having to share their five star dining experience with commoners, and Nobles cautiously examining and discussing the food brought to their tables. And the coach passengers also doing the latter.
The second was the fact that the industrial river city of Stahlland was currently blitzing past the windows of the dining car in a gas lantern lit blur. Equestria's beating industrial heart, Stahlland itself, was a city named after its mostly Germane population and main industry. Mining of iron ore and the production of steel. The city itself provided the majority of the countries steel output.
The couple made to join their fellow coach passengers, but instead were intercepted by the waiter and directed to the large first class table.
Taking their seats in between of all ponies Rarity and prince Shining Armour. Char sat opposite to them, Fluer-de-lis on his left and Lady Applejack on his right. Fluer was currently conversing with the Human. But the conversation of politely shut down, by Char simply informing the noble mare that he actually had little to no sway over the medical portion of his people 'government'. His primary concern was the defence of his people and their territory, not much else.
Serenity was snapped out of her shyness by Rarity asking. "How's the dress treating you, darling? Does it need any adjustments?"
The Pinto mare simply shook her head with a grateful smile. "Thank you for making this for me! I wish you'd let me pay you!"
Rarity raised an alabaster hoof. "Receive payment for a gift? I think not. Besides. You're going to need all the bits you can get when you arrive. Who knows what the local economy is like..." She mumbled with a little apprehension. "Personally, I was invited by the Humans council to see about setting up a boutique and getting their textile industry on its hooves."
The orange and blonde mare to Axel's far left suddenly emerged from her thoughts and introduced herself. After exchanging pleasantries, it became known that Applejack was summoned to discuss not only food importation into the human territories but exportation. The details were not shared beyond that simple explanation, but it was clear to both Elements knew there were ulterior motives for their invitations.
Dinner turned out to be a simple but very unique affair. The griffons and lone abyssinian in the dining car were quite at home with the amount of meat in half the dishes. But the pony friendly options were to die for! Dishes the pair had never heard of, Such as the airy and sweet and creamy Pavlova cake. And something called Quiche. The former was the perfect desert that without a doubt with be a staple of the pair's after dinner sweet teeth. And the latter was simply an explosion of flavours and moisture in the mouth. So many flavours from the various vegetables and the 'secret ingredient'. Char informed all at the table that it was a friends family recipe. If all Humans can cook like that, then Equestria is going to rapidly become overweight!
The highlight of the dinner service, interestingly enough, wasn't the food. It was the stop at Trottingham. All in attendance couldn't do anything besides silently stare at the twenty-something car long train of various box and clearly overloaded flatcars. The train was struggling now, even with the two additional black painted, modern steam locomotives (,Each twice the length of the one currently pulling) pushing this train. It, in fact, took the collective magical power of the accompanying Royal guards detachment's mages to give the locomotives the help required to begin advancing down the tracks. The first five minutes of such effort were measured in mere inches. But eventually the trains collectively chugged and wheezed their way faster and faster down the tracks.
By nine dinner was wrapping up as everyone returned to their own cars to sleep off the inevitable food-comas. And alas. As much as the Axel and Serenity wanted their snuggle time. They, too, were not immune to the all mighty power of the food-coma.
The pair were awoken with a start by the hair raising scream of a pair of industrial locomotive whistles. As their vision was assaulted by the light of their Solar Triarchs sun they heard the sound of another, but far more muted whistle.
"Now Arriveing~ Train Fifty-Seven! Please stand clear of the yellow line! Please Stand clear of the yellow line! Remain clear of the Blue zone! Blue zone is for disembarking passengers first! Await embarking instructions! the unfamiliar voice shouted before giving another muted blast of a whistle.
They both shotup ramrod straight in 'last minute' shock. The trains stopped. They just stopped moving! Looking around the cabin Axel found his bags contents still strewn about the floor and table, Serenity found her dress neatly on its coat hanger but the cabin was a complete dive from their after dinner midnight binging on the dining car leftovers fridge... The cooks encouraged it... The pair wasn't about to let that food go to waste! ... Everyone was there okay!
In a whirlwind of action they hurridly threw everything they had back into their bags. Rarity's gift was delicatly rolled up and placed in Serenities trunk and the couple disembarked the train after triple and then quedruple checking all their persona litems were accounted for.
Disembarking from the train they stepped out onto the fridgid platform to see a large portion of the passengers mingling with friends and loved ones. The guard detatchment had moved on to their barracks with parade efficiency. Literally. They could still hear the instruments.
Looking around the pair notcied a young female Human holding up a sign with their names on it. When they approached and introduced themselves the Human replied with. "Pleased to meet you! I'm Karey, Johnathans assistant. Come with me and we'll head to your new property." She said with a relieved smile. As they began walking she said over her shoulder. Regrettibly Johnna won't be joining us. As much as he wanted to he was summed to an emergency."
"Hope noones hurt" Serenity asked.
"No no! But by the way he rushed out the room it seemed serious." Came the reply. The woman momentarily turned her eyes skyward, trying to find the aircraft that accomponied the deep monotonous drone currently splitting the air. The effort yeilded no result. The sky simply an undulating mass of cloud that only stopped at ground level as a dense fog.
The trio walked down the main road of the- Well, It could only be best described as a shanty town. All the buildings were constructed in the cheapest way possible. The fastest way possible. And as many as possible. They looked like Board game pieces. Just placed down Again, and Again, and Again. On and on side by side in grids, only the bare narrowest of alley ways between the walls of each building with the exception being the main streets. As they walked, the buildings continued to emerge and dissapear from the fog infront and behind them. Axel would be thankful for that info-map Serenity aquired on the train the night before. As it currently stood, he had Absoultely no clue where he was...
Overall the Humans hadent modified the terrain very much as all. The only thing they'd done is mostly cut out rough streets in the topsoil, using the excavated material to level the terrain enough to slap some reclaimed wood cabins on and called it a season. No wonder they needed all that coal! Those buildings would struggle to keep rain out of them let alone the winter gale that threatened to steal Serenities scarf.
Karey has noticed the concerned looks between the two. "You dont have to worry about us. We dont eat sentient creatures." The twenty-three year old said to calm them down.
"It's not that" Serenity started. Axel finished it for her.
"It's just the horrific inefficiency, if you don't mind me saying. these buildings look like they can't keep out a stray draft let alone anything other than snow." he spoke quietly so as not to offend any passers by in earshot.
"None taken, In fact, These are only supposed to last us the snowy season. Johnna has been running our engineers ragged to cook up a working city design. That way the moment the snow thaws and the ground hardens we can get the ball rolling, and finally have some place to definatly call home. The fact we're built on a riverlocked island makes that a breeze. we can mostly skip perimiter defences and move straight into living and commerce space. It seems that your royalty, in trying to move us away as far as possible from your population centers. Has actually done us a favour." she stated.
Serenity stuttered, taken aback. "I-I'm sure the crown didn't have those particular intentions when moving you all out here. to be fair. I suspect the reason for that was far more a favour than this beautiful island."
"Wasn't meaning that as standoff-ish. But you have my attention." Karey inquired.
"Well. It's obvious that most nobles dont have a good view on your people,-" Serenity started, Waiting for the Humans reply to see how she followed along.
"No secret there love." Came the evntual response.
"Something you probaly already know is that Equestria's land divisions are a little weird. Despite the nation being modern. We still have a commanding triarchy, just like the three princesses, The land is still tended to and divided under noble feifdoms. With respective nobles overseeing their lands and managing things like taxes, education rates, farming, industry and so on."
"That seems. Oddly backwards if you don't mind my saying so." The Human cautiously probed.
Serenity shook her head. "From outwards it appears so. But from the inside each noble acts as a non elected head of state. the role is inherited, passed from eldest to youngest."
"Ok now that seems odd." Karey interjected. Stopping the pair as they came to an intersection. At their looking both ways they found the streets empty. Their confusion was answered when a wheeled armoured car towing a trailer full of downed lumber emerged from the forest bordering the intersection and rolled by at a jogging pace. "They're clearing the area we intend to build in of ground debris. As I was saying. Would'nt it be more prudent to pass the torch onto someone with more experience?"
"I suppose so?" Serenity thought aloud. "From an outward point of view that makes alot more sense. The actual reason for that rule is so that the people can get used to the next in line for the title. Whilst the first few years of being young and stupid pass the new noble by, they are monitored, taught and advised by their predecessor. Overall its a much more stable system from our experience."
"Fair enough." Karey agreed with a nod.
"That brings us full circle. Do you know who's in charge of the fiefdom you find yourselves in?"
"Until fifteen minutes ago I didn't know there was a noble in carge of this area."
"Ok, Fair enough-" Serenity pausd at the humans chuckling.
"Be careful there. Your picking up the accent of "The Savages" As that particularly entertaining read of the news paper stated."
Serenity shook her head with a bemused smile. "Do all you Humans view potential insults as humourous?"
"Only a disposition of a few cultures. My culture specifically is renowned for its ability to find just about anything funny and possessing a dark humour."
Serenity nodded and continued, "You are currently standing on the land of Marquis Fancypants. Overall. The crown gave you a home run. Lord Fancy is by far leagues better than anypony else you could of been stuck with. Moving you here was the correct choice. Not only will Fancy let you have your space. But he isn't xenophobic... Sharing a border with the Nova Griffonia, Stalliongrad and Yak clans after all."
"So we're ona border state. That can't be a coincidence-" Karey Spun around on the heel of her boot before tackling a rather surprised Serenity and Axel to the ground. As both fought to get free, their Prey insticts kicking into overdrive, they pressed their ears into their skulls as the ear splitting wail of a siren filled the air. A White jeep with red crosses painted on it speeding through the intersection. As it passed the vehicle jostled up and down as they drove over the steel capped toes of Karey's boot. "Bloody idiots!" She yelled into the street. "SIRENS THEN SPEEDING THROUGH INTERSECTIONS! NOT THE OVER WAY 'ROUND!" She yelled louder after them.
After apologising to the couple and bringing them back on their hooves with the help of several bystanding Humans and ponies. Karey had found her toes very much cramped in the foot wear, but otherwise spared. After not so delicatly removing the warped boot, her elegant way of fixing it was to have another pair of humans in a green painted verson of the exact same vehicle, run the boot over again, this time right way up. Strangely. It worked by the second attempt, and the trio continued the rest of the way.
"So, How do Humans run their governments?" Axel asked. Earning a chuckle from Karey. Along with nearly thirty minutes of explaining. "Wow. Thats complicated... And annoyingly inefficient."
"Eyup. Monkeys on typewriters" Karey simply said.
Axel noticed that the buildings had abruptly ended. But continued following Karey across an alarmingly large expance of nothing but open ground. Perfectly level frozen mud, for about a minute they continued walking forwards into the foggy nothing until the dark outlines of trees emerged from the light grey veil.
They walked deeper into the forest... But eventually the mud road turned into a smoothe but grippy fine gravel. proceeding further up the windey road they passed a great many flower beds and eventually reached a cobbled set of steps. Looking up the pair noticed their new home... By national standards home was loosely putting it. A Noble would be more comfortable calling this a home!
The entire front facad of the home was a beautiful red brick with black slate window frames and accents. The front door was protected from the wind and weather by an overhanging porch that must extended the whole perimiter of the building itself. The entire front wall of the house overlooking what must of been the garden they walked through was made glass. The overall architecture was so much more evolved down the 'Modern' architenture trends some bold designers in the nation had been trying to popularise... It was so simplistically beautiful with its straight lines and bolt but complementary colours. As the trio stopped at the door Karey placed down Serneity's trunk and motioned to the stout hardwood door.
"Don't let me open the door to your new home for you. Go ahead. Might want to avoid touching the walls though. The guys and gals were in a mad dash to get this finished" She chuckled, whilst silently praying that the walls where finished being painted and everyone had already cleaned the Hiroshima level mess inside and left...
Serenity opened the door. Axel coughed, Catching her off guard before seizing the chance and sweeping the mare off her hooves as he craned his neck, bolted under her and lifted her off the ground of his back. Stepping inside as she playfully batted his ear.
-=+ One and a half hours before the train arrived to the settlement... +=-
The universe was warm and dark. All senses simply suspended in the humid black void. Something muffled, a voice... The soul floating in the void couldn't make out what it was saying...
A Name? His name?
What was the voice mumbling, he wondered.
"Josh! Joshua! C-on man!" A Sudden jolt. Something was hitting him. "JOSHUA! PULL UP, FOR FUCK' SAKE!" A Particularly vicious slug to his helmet jolted him to lucidity.
He felt the pull of G's, forcing his back into the seat. Joshua couldn't see anything through the grey mass in front of him, but he snatched the stick into his hands. An alarm begins chiming away with sinisterly calm electronic tones followed by a prerecorded message of one of his colleagues, voice tinny through the speakers in his cockpit. 'Obstacle Ahead.' That was all the warning he needed to pull the stick, but he found it fixed steadfast, only moving two inches if that. 'Obstacle! Obstacle!' 'Obstacle Ahead! Pull up!''That's not good...' Joshua pulled the throttles back to thirty percent to avoid flaming out the engines, as well as fighting the urge to deploy the speedbrakes, lest they ripped off from the stupid high speed they were currently shallowly diving with.
The planes 'Borrowed' Radar. Requisitioned by Char from a Black widow that had no spares was tested and put to work as testing equipment. If the radar didn't like what it saw, he didn't like it. '*Whoop Whoop* 'Pull up! Pull up!' *Whoop Whoop* 'Ceiling breech! Pull up Pull up! Pull up Pull up!' "Damn!" he growled out as he placed his foot on the dashboard in front of him. Pulling back with all his might did nothing more than raise his risk of earning himself a hernia. Glancing down, he noted the speed indicator's needle just tickling the red indicated compression speed. "Your boys in the Design department know their math." His congratulating wasn't well appreciated as they continued plummeting through the cloud wall.
"We're below the eight thousand foot ceiling! Get us back up there! We're going to hit a mountain or something!" The engineer in the back seat pleaded in this South American accent.
"Working on that Rio." He said whilst pausing to think. A glance to the altimeter showed that they had at least a few thousand feet till something bad happened. Joshua, a pilot of coming on fifteen years experience, searched his memory for a way out of this, when he remembered his first Messerschmitt two six two flight.
With all the strength he could summon from his legs, he kicked the stiff rudder pedals, alternating between left pressure and right pressure. He continued this for several seconds, the pedals starting to lighten their load. A glance to the speed indicator showed the plane slowing, slow but steady.
'*Whoop Whoop* 'Obstacle Obstacle, One-Thousand.' "PaX Tower to Jynx flight. One of you is below the assigned ceiling, pull up now. That is a safety directive." The voice initially made him jump as the static filled transmission was blasted into his ears at full volume.
"Jynx flight to PaX Tower, understood. Fighting her back to altitude, Standby, Do not respond back to me until advised." he grunted back through the throat mic currently wrapped around his neck as he pulled tighter and tighter on the stick. "Come on lady, you have to respond sooner or later." He mumbled to himself. The craft he was jockeying began to slowly pitch, the gentle movement causing a great increase in G-forces due to the speed. "Thaaaats it. C'on girl."
"PaX Tower to Jynx flight. Your straggler is off radar. Confirm status?" 'Thats really not good' Joshua renewed his efforts to pull on the flight stick. Looking down at his artificial horizon, he realised the plane had indeed managed to reach level flight, slowly climbing back into positive rate of climb.
"Ok. We're Good!"
"We're Good?"
"Yes. We're climbing. The aircraft has shut up. And you can stop being nervous and yelling into the mic." Joshua was checking his gauges when he felt a glove cuff him upside the head.
"I told you to be gentle with her! Shes made of ply-" The engineers incoming angry rant died in his throat. As the pilot rolled the plane inverted and held it there.
Joshua then spoke with blood chilling certainty. "Hit me again whilst I'm flying and conscious," He taps the very visible red and yellow ejection handle for the Rear seat, "And you're walking home." Having gotten his point across, the craft was rolled back right side up.
As the aircraft the two were flying breached back above the cloud layer into cobalt blue clear skies, the pilot spotted his two other pilots and their own engineers.
The prototype aircraft climbed and levelled its wings with the other two experimentals. Joshua's craft was a prototype with twin over fuselage mounted Jumo-004 engines, the same engines as on the Me-262. The plane itself was a confusing mix of different aircraft features. The tail of a Mig-15, fusilage of a SU-8 ground attack aircraft (turret and under tail gun included) and the nose of a F-86 sabre. The most confusing thing was this mix breed from hell had a compound delta wing. The aircraft itself was supposed to be a Multirole heavy interceptor/ Fast frontline bomber. So far the only thing it had shown proficiency for, besides accelerating dangerously quick in dives, was almost folding the fuselage in half every time it tried turning. Then again, this is what concept/Prototype aircraft are for. Testing. overall, the craft showed promise. Assuming they could fix it.
"You're awfully calm for someone who almost ate shit." His fellow pilot commented.
"Nah. Just a close call." Joshua responded back. Taking a deep breath to steele himself.
The aircraft off his right wing were both modifications of each other, Essentially J7W Shinden' with stretched noses and much bigger compound delta wings. The only real difference between the two besides their engines, one being a contra-rotating prop, the other turbojet, was the wing and canard sweep, the jet obviously having a steeper sweep.
The engineer in the second seat taps his fingers on the console in front of him. "That lever was put up there for you stick jocks to not have to worry about the rear guy. Thought you'd love the idea of a backup safety measure for your best buds."
"Oh we love the idea. But if you hit me like that again I swear I'm gonna-" Joshua was cut off mid-sentence by the ATC tone screeching in his headset once again.
Not being able to rip the headset off due to his helmet, the pilot found himself fumbling with his volume controls to turn down the tinnitus inducing beep. "PaX Tower to Jynx flight. Be advised. Unidentified air traffic currently passing your Five-o-clock. They are not responding to communication attempts. Return to Base."
The two other test pilots radio'd back their affirmatives, but Joshua had a moment of pause. "Jynx flight to tower. What is their current course of travel?"
After a moment's pause and what felt like an eternity of silence from the other two pilots, the tower responded. "Their current path has them heading for Paxi. Two flights of Seafires are being dispatched to intercept. ETA is four to six minutes."
All three pilots shook their heads after looking to each other from their own canopies. "Jynx flight to PaX tower, Negative. We'll intercept. We're already up here. Give us the bogeys current altitude and heading."
"PaX tower to Jynx flight. Standby." After a few moments the controller returned to the transmission. "Jynx flight, Interception authorised. Current heading is three-one-zero, Altitude Six-one-zero-zero, Distance is seven kilometers. Two flights of Seafires are still set to intercept. ETA remains three to five minutes. Authorised for live ammo if the bogeys are threats to civil safety. Watch yourselves out there, possibility they may be Corrupted are high."
"Affirm, Jynx flight." Joshua throttled up and turned for the heading.
The engineer in Joshua's back seat was about to chastise the pilot for not completing the transmission properly when he found himself push deeper into his seat, the trio of aircraft performing a hard right turn. After the aircraft had levelled out, the pilots were each instructing the engineer in their rear seats to switch the ammo from paint to live rounds. The process to switch from paint to slugs was a procedure involving the unlocking of padlocks and the insertion of two keys. A way of making sure the test pilots didn't accidentally kill each other during the mock dogfights.
The pilots flew with sixty meter spacing, scanning their respective patches of sky for the two bogeys. After about three minutes, one of them spotted and cried out, "Talley Bogeys! nine-o clock low! Estimated altitude six thousand."
Collectively, the remaining heads both swivelled to the appropriate location. Joshua himself noting the peculiar sight of what was obviously a native owned airship keeping pace with what was very obviously a multi-engined human aircraft.
Joshua rolled and began closing the distance to the two craft. His fellow wingmen following slightly behind at differing altitudes.
"What are you going to do?" The South American accent from behind him asked, breaking his concentration momentarily.
"Say hello." Joshua simply responded.
"Oh joy. Please don't kill anyone..."
Fancy pants was sitting calmly in the seat next to the captain. The copilot was currently flying the aircraft, and all the passengers were seated and dead silent but for the occational nervous whisper.
Another meaty punch rang out from the front of the plane. Risking a glance forward the captian watched, as a pair a tan griffons and a brightly coloured bird person continued landing punch and punch into Franco's belly. Retribution for their airships dismantled engine, curtesy of the machinegun currently being uninstalled from its emplacement by a second garishly coloured anthropomorphic bird.
A cat person was carrying a very leaden sack of the passengers various valuables from the front of the plane. What would of been a far more apt description was, Struggling, to carry the sack through the narrow isle between the seats. He had exchanged his recently discharged flintlock with the brown pegasus that flapped down the isle behind him to reloading. Sack in one clawed hand, cocked and ready pistol in the other.
He called the rest of his boarding party from the front of the craft, leaving behind an unconcious and bloodied Franco on the floor.
He passed the sack off to the duo of griffons as they simply walked off the threshold of the aircraft's tail door and out into the slipstream.
After clearing his throat he finished off the theatrics of his blatant Robbery with what would of been a thank you speech, however he found himself pausing incredulously after looking down to Fancy Pants and the captain, the former still wearing enough gold and silver to capsise a barge, and the latter still glaring a hole through his soul.
After verbally assaulting his underlings, ripping the captain out of his seat by his collar and shoving him ontop of a seat row occupied by a mare shielding her foals. he proceeded to wordless gesture to fancy, who simply rolled his eyes and started essentially undressing. The cat had ordered everything from his monocle down to his cufflinks and even the buttons from his suit. After witnessing that the captain was glad that they didnt know of the cargo hold currently stacked floor to ceiling with luggage beneath their feet.
After his thank you speech, during which he had grabbed the captain by his scarf and slammed him back down in the seat next to Fancy Pants, whilst repeatedly flagging most of the passengers with his gun. Simply requested for the Duo of recently returned griffons to carry him back to his ship, at least, he did try. The faintly veiled order was drowned out by the sudden screech of jet engines.
The airship pirate gave the pair another order over his, and their, very, very clear tinnitus. The duo departed as the last few of the pirates filled their way towards the only exit they knew of, the rear port side door, and begun waiting for the griffons and pegasus to return for them.
Enzo's crew at the front of the plane had slowly begin rising, ready to rush the last two should the order from him arrive.
Another screech of jet engines filled the air aroundthe Z1007, this time capturing the amazement of the pair of parrot people currently hauling a sack of siezed weapons and a Twelve-point-seven millimenter Breda machinegun that captain Certainly wasn't letting them have.
Whilst they were distacted watching the jets flyby his aircraft, Enzo made haste with all the stealth of a cat burglar from his seat to the wardrobe behind Fancy's seat row, opened the door, pulled a faux wall panel out the back of the storage space, and reached into the back.
Everyone aboard the aircraft, Including the perplexed pirates, heard the hollow mechanical sound from the weapon the captain held.
The pirates turned to see what the noise was, only to see Enzo dash into the corridoor behind them with a trenchgun aimed at them.
The bird holding the machinegun promptly dropped it to draw his flinklock as the same sime his buddy did the same with the sack.
Enzo yelled with the feral feriocity of a father whos house had just been broken into. "GET. OUT." When both bird people raised their arms as fast as they could, Enzo slam fired four buckshot shells into the walls next to their faces. blinding them with splinters. Charging them, He cracked the bird closed to him over the cheek with the barrel of the weapon before shoulder checking them both out of the aircraft.
As he watched them fall, the griffon twins dashed past the tail of his plane after them, and a shot cracked past his head. Looking up and to his left, he saw the Pegasus stuffing one flintlock into his waist sash and drawing a second.
Both took aim, but Enzo was faster. Slamfiring the remaining two shells in the pegasus' direction, the captain heard a yelp of pain, the pony dropping the pistol and dashing for the saftey of his airship.
Well. Relitive saftey, That much had just been proven by the headsplitting *Brrrrrrrrrrt* that ripped the air around everyone in half, the exact same moment one of the airships engines dematerialised back into his base componants.
Soon two more aircraft dove into the fray as the sounds of musket cracks and gattling guns clacking away filled the air. By the end result was the same. One by one, the three aircraft would made a pass of the ferociously fighting dirigible. Each time they went past. The burp of either a twenty millimeter chaingun, or the orchestra of sound six thirty millimeter cannons sang filled the air. Causing more and more of the airships componants to simply cease to exist. After the seventh pass, the fantasy flying ship had been liberated of its six engines, and the quite frankly terrifying siege mortar on its bow. The largest of the trio of aircraft screeched towards them, leveled its nose, and let loose a constant barrage of rounds that cut the all ships masts down from bow to stern.
The several second long burp from its two chainguns had dealt the deathblow the the pirates dreams of sailing off into the sunset with their loot. Their once expensive looking airship was less ship now and more airraft. The three planes having removed all means of propulsion from the craft.
Enzo watched as the three fighters ascended back high above the pirates stricken airship. Circling overhead like sharks, without a doubt appraising their handywork.
There was a crack of a musket, and Enzo had to hold on for dearest life as the Z1007 pitched down, then heeled violently to the left and right under rudder. He was thrown partially out of the doorway, looking downwards into the circulating quagmire of angry stormclouds a thousand feet below him. Thankfully he was stopped from being flung out of the aircraft and into open air because his arm had been jammed into the handgrip next to the door.
Looking up after having collected his frayed nerves, he spotted a Griffon from the twin discarding a spent musket and returning to his ship.
The captain pried his arm free and fell backwards into the aircraft after realising his legs were seized with fear. The man of experience gathered his runaway emothions and tried smothering them under professionalism, but meerly managed to unconvincingly smile, as he rose to his feet and bolted to the front of the aircraft on shaking legs.
He practically collapsed upright onto the ladder into the cockpit, Upon climbing up the few steps he noticed he co-pilot. The teen had one hand on the yolk. The other gripping the top of his thigh. Removing his scarf, Enzo improvised a tourniquet as his best fried mumbled. "The bastard tried to kill me... I leaned forward to check the backup compass and when I sat back up I had a round go through my leg." He hissed in a hushed pain.
"You'll be fine," Enzo turned towards his stunned radio operator standing behind him, the man having picked himself up off the floor meere moments ago. "Get the first aid kit!" He quietly hissed.
As the crewman dashed off to the crew compartmen, Enzo sat down in his position. Several of his gauges had been smashed. the pirates evidently finding the fragility of such advanced equipment amusing. "Shit..." He sighed.
The sound of jet engines grew closer until the elderly pilot looked over his left shoulder and saw the large jet off his left side. He was gesturing for radio communications, to which Enzo shook his head, The radio had been the first victim. Meere moments before Franco. And it had by no means been spared any less of a thrashing.
The pilot next to him begun shaking his head adn tapping his visor in thought. when the person in the back seat passed a small whiteboard over his shoulder.
After watching him having gestured for the marker, Enzo waited whilst the pilot scribbled down a message. A few moment later, the whiteboard was pressed uncerimoniously against the side of his bubble canopy.
After squinting a moment Enzo read the message. "Need Directions old man?"
Chapter 47 - Oh my gawd... We killed him... ... He did it!
The bickering filling the room had finally begun threatening to burn out the last of Johnathan's patience. The teen was finally at the end of his rope. A rope he wished he could turn into a physical noose to shut up the pony 'Noble' his, Yet to be built, city, shared a border with.
The pony had all but barged into an already running meeting, with the singular goal but to argue with the council over, of all things, the import taxes the Humans had put on the aggregate stone he was selling them. Or not selling them. Or selling them. Or not. At this point, Who knew, and he was sure, No one cared where the Noble's end decision would land him.
Everyone in the council chambers almost 'HUZZAH'd' when Karey burst through the door and informed them of a matter that required their immediate attention.
Donning their coats, all council members bolted from the doors of the improvised town hall and into the waiting car. The vehicle lurching forward and taking off down the fog curtained street.
Enzo was the sole man in the cockpit. His younger Co-pilot having been released of his duty to have his leg tended to. The jet that he recognised as a prototype that his drinking buddy was slated to fly, still sat off his left wing. The prototype test bed using his salvaged radar to guide the damaged Z-1007 back to Terra firma.
The captain was currently finishing off the checklist sitting on his lap. Engine one had long since quit on him, not surprising really, it was already misbehaving all the way up to this point. The Gatling fire it had taken in their escape from the frankly pissed off pirates and their floating hulker had finally done it in. Enzo was frankly glad. It was one less thing to worry about, His plane could still fly on two engines. The thing that still twitched a worried nerve in the back of the ageing mans mind was the metallic Thud that he had heard from the engine when he had to pull its extinguisher.
The pilot looked over his left shoulder at his buddy next to him to see his rear seat occupant holding the whiteboard up. "You still there, Enzo?" Enzo nodded, and the engineer tapped the back of the pilot's shoulder, before scribbling down a response. Holding the board back up, "Reaching second waypoint, turn ten degrees starboard on wing tilt."
And that, it clearly, was going to be. An instrument only landing. The clouds bottomed out on the deck, visibility was barely fifty meters. And unfortunately, there was nowhere else to land. Not that they had the luxury of finding someplace else. Franco needed a hospital for the swelling of the brain the pirates had left him with, and the port side fuel tanks had the water tightness of a cheese grater.
Having to split his attention between flying his own craft, and looking over his left wing for further instructions on how to actually make the runway, Enzo was stressed, suffice to say. This is how people get killed... And he will be bringing this up with the Council. They required an ILS beacon, an actual ILS beacon.
The plane shuddered as it passed through a rough pocket of air. The ageing Italian heard his radio operator curse aloud as he burned himself on his soldering iron. He was in the middle of a desperate attempt to get the radio fixed, so they could at least use the Lorenz beam, a form of radio guidance for blind conditions landing.
"Luca! Luca! Get up here and help me find the thirty ohm resistor! The tray fell off the bloody table!"
Fancy Pants watched as crewman Luca, with whom he'd been having a riveting conversation on fishing with, was called up front by a fellow crew member.
Excusing himself, Luca undid his seatbelt, stood up, and made his way forward. He moved with a slight crouch and flatly placed feet, the answer two why was given when the craft pitched aggressively to one side before righting itself. After finding his balance, he made haste forward and turning to his right, bracing himself on the occupied seat rows either side of him.
Fancy could faintly hear the conversation. Parts of it being drowned out by the various sounds of displeasure coming from the aeroplane. "I need you to help me find--resistor- gold, two blacks and orange band."
Looking out his window, Fancy was getting more than a slight bit uncomfortable. Not only was visibility out of his window nonexistent, but the ride got rougher and rougher as they descended back to the ground. Looking forward out of his window he watched as the rigidly constructed wing flexed up and down in the turbulence.
Then, There was light. Blue void filled the noble's window. A narrow gap between the clouds. Black rain laden clouds above. Fog thick as cotton below.
Luca took his seat next to fancy and buckled in. Pulling the belt taut against his waist. At Fancies concerned look he simply stated that it was a precaution he took, he had made a promise to his mother that he'd be 'extra safe'. Not that the provided excuse made him feel any better.
A shouted "AHAH! YES! WHOO! I DID IT!" filled the cabin as a tingling sensation began in Fancies old silver filling. At first, he thought it would require a long overdue trip to the dentist, but the noble recognised a pattern.
Enzo waved off his old drinking buddy. With Luca's help the radioman had managed to at the very least get the radio's receiver board working. His buddy had done well, they were lined up in the same direction as the runway, but they were off-centre to the left. The Lorenz beam let him know this by a steady and constant series of high-pitched beeps.
Gently pushing the rudder pedals, Enzo brought the Z1007 right, slowly a new tone began to overlap with the existing one until a constant series of monotone 'dots' and 'dashes' filled his headset. The Lorenz beam confirmed to him, he was on course for the centre line of the runway.
Enzo looked his GPWS system. The shattered screen didn't bolster confidence, but it appeared to be working?
'One-Thousand.' Yes. Yes it was working.
The pilot heard the sound he had been waiting for. A constant series of evenly spaced out long monotonous beeps. The signal for him to begin the standard glide slope.
Pulling power back he watched his indicated airspeed intently. Listen for the sounds his plane gave him. The rhythmic hum of its two remaining engines at thirty percent power. His eyes glanced over to his Altimeter. On course, On target.
'Five-Hundred.'
'come on Enzo, you old geezer. Third time lucky.
Two or three minutes pass, Enzo wasn't counting, He was focusing on landing his injured bird.
'One hundred'
Then his plane gave him a warning that made Enzo's seat cushion cease to exist. A two-tone beep. 'Wind Shear, Wind Shear, Wind Shear'
Acting fast, Enzo pulled the throttles back to idle whilst keeping his hand at the ready to add more power in need be.
Then he felt his que, The aircraft started rising again. He pitched the nose down gently until he started descending gently once more.
He heard the tone he was waiting for. A series of rapid closely space beeps.
He felt his plane begin to lose altitude and set his throttles to forty percent. The engines quiet hum at idle now filling the air with a dull droning.
The plane shuddered with a muted screech as rubber met slush covered compacted gravel. The exhausted pilot slowly applied increasing brake pressure until the wooden behemoth came to a halt of its own accord.
The ageing man felt drowsiness now tugging at the outer vestiges of his consciousness as the stress from the last few hours bore down on him like a tidal wave. The cheers of the passengers in the back made him smile as he applied just enough power to get the machine lazily rolling forward.
He pressed the left toe brake forward as he found the familiar taxiway that lead to the terminal.
Seeing the wooden structures looming in the dense fog, He halted the craft using the brakes and cut the engines. He reclined in his seat, or more aptly slid down in it. And just stared up through the glass greenhouse canopy of his cockpit. His thoughts lost to roaming the grey cottony void. His mind wandered back to his wife... What was she doing now? He wondered if his grandkids were doing alright in school after he got their school bully punished by the principal. He wanted the familiar feeling on his pet Staffy pouncing on him wanting petts.
For the first time since ending up in this world, Enzo felt his eyes water, as sirens filled the air.
It had, as always, been a quiet, boring day in the station. You'd think with it being winter there would be a fire at least somewhere, but, no use in complaining about good forture. "Ey. Ey, Ryan." The firefighter looked up at his buddy. "Darts?" He asked between mouthfuls of his tuna, mustard seed, thousand isle and onion sandwich.
"Yeah, Sure." Ryan mumbled as he put his book down and walked across the room to the darts cabinet. After opening the doors and straightening the board. Ryan collected the two sets of darts, walked over to a duct tape line on the floor, and passed his friend a handful of red coloured ones.
Flipping a coin, Ryan took his stance. Rotating his shoulders to loosen up, and raising his offhand in front of him to aim, he laughed as his friend called him a try hard.
Performing a few practice swings, Ryan reared his throwing arm back, Just as he loosed his dart... The piercing wail of the stations siren filled the building.
The fire chief walked out of her office and yelled, "Alright. Which one of you Boston boys complained that it was too quiet around here?"
Ryan was glad that he already had his flash hood on, otherwise everyone would have seen his expression, Monkey puppet meme incarnate.
She continued. "We have a plane coming in hot, three engines. One out. Its leaking fuel, oil and other types of fluids. So, Full protective gear, and I want us there yesterday so get a move on!" ---- That was how Ryans morning had started. Now he was driving a fire truck across the airport, still looking for this damned plane. It had lnaded in this soup thick fog miraculously, and was now obscurred by it. What made him feel worse. Was the rest of the emergency services convoy was following him around the place like he knew where he was going...
The radio crackled to life, Air traffic control had been tipped off by staff in the airport lounge that the plane had parked infront of the terminal. So thats where Ryan went.
The moment he saw the black form of the plane looming in the fog, He began slowing down. Good thing too. Because some idiot darted out infront of his firetruck and was knocked through the air by the front bumper.
Locking the parking brake, Ryan and the Firechief kicked their doors open and stormed to the front of the truck. She was yelling down at the groaning mess of Human, "And Who, May I ask. Doesnt have more than two braincells to rub together? You hear sirens and see lights coming. You STOP-" Her tyrade came to an end when she saw who it was... "Johnna?"
Ryan froze. "Oh my gawd... We killed him..."
A Guard in full gear emerged from the fog, Or rather, The muzzle of his Enfield .303 did...
The firechief pointed at Ryan and simply mumbled, "He did it."
The class was quietly talking amongst themselves. The teacher had just walked in from the secluded entrance door behind the stage, casually tossing his books and notes onto the desk standing before the stacked crescents of student seating. The reverberating slap of hardcovers against the desktop acted as a call to order. Silencing the students and beckoning them to their seats.
"Good evening class." The teacher greeted.
"Good evening Mr.Frankston." The class parroted.
"I take it you reviewed the prerequisites for the final test?"
"Hard deck of three thousand feet. First match is in teams of three vs three teachers, second is one on ones with a teacher."
"Very good." He paused to drink from his water bottle, after screwing the cap back on he placed it down and proceeded to rattle on for several hours about mission parameters and so on. "Again. Tests are tomorrow. No surprises there. We've been hammering the date into you. Along with the parameters for your success. You'll pass. Without a doubt. Just to Affirm. Your team will have an AWACs you must defend as well as your mock ammunition depot. The AWACs is not mission-critical, but, it will make your lives a lot easier out there. Please note. Each member of your team that gets his ass shot down tomorrow will deduct massive amounts of points from your graduation scores. The fat, slow, abacus grunts flying that radar station count as your teammates as well."
"Tell us something we don't know, teach!" was yelled from the back.
"There is nothing you don't know."
The class could tell that was a lie, the teacher's shit eating grin gave away that much. It put them all on edge.
"See you in the air tomorrow, Childrenz" He said with a gremlins voice.
A Blue and grey Pegasus with streaks of metallic silver through his feathers kicked the apartment door open, teeth clenched around the twine carry handles of a reinforced paper bag full of two litre colas. A Unicorn followed behind him through the warm light in the doorway, The amber luminance almost cloaked her very own sap coloured coat. She was holding three large boxes of pizza in her yellow magic. The last member of their party was a Human. Her tanned face was framed by blond hair, a rogue lock of which hid her left eye, her emerald green eyes scanned the apartment, 'never could be too careful', she'd always say. Only being about five foot two, she was on the shorter end of the scale, but her demunative size lent her well in the cockpit.
As the Unicorn placed the pizzas on the coffee table, occupying the space between the rather expensive couch and the frankly massive flat screen TV. The Pegasus rolled the glass bottles of soft drinks onto the table and darted off to the apartments' bathroom.
"I thought the point of males having those things was to crimp off the flow." the blonde stated with a chuckle as she threw herself down onto the couch with a weary sigh. As she picked up the remote and started the TV, the Pegasus's voice echoed down the hall.
"Thats not how it works. Told you ladies this plenty of times, If you want another 'Hands on Demonstration I could-"
"Grey, I swear. If you keep bringing that one time up. I'll break it off and beat you to death with it." she said whilst opening one of the flat green boxes and removing a slice.
The fridge door opened by the accord of yellow magic, several large plates of custard slices, Compliments of the frankly. ADORABLE. Little french confectionary store in the apartments ground floor, floated across the open living apartment and came to rest atop the table.
After a flush and the run of a sink, Grey Front joined his fellow wing-mares on the couch. "Really. Of all the movies you two could have picked. You picked one about truck drivers?" The stallion groaned.
He dodged a piece of popcorn and was hushed by the blond. "I'll have you know. Black Dog. Is. A. Fantastic movie. Shutup and watch!"
"WHere is he?!" The slightly panicked voice yelled over the radio.
"Black 3, We're critically damaged, RTB." Crackled over the comms
"Affirmative Black 3. We'll escort you to the theatre border." There was a beep as the female voice key'd the mic. "Well done guys. The Awacs is fucking off back to their carrier now."
The blatant sarcasm that replied over the radio in response, had the remainder of the teaching staff of the school rubbing their temples in frustration.
One of the teachers walked over to the microphone standing on the desk. " Horizon team. Your done. RTB. Horizon leader. You are qued for holding. Good luck for the one on one."
--------------------------------------------------- The consoles chirped desperately. An angry Growling filled the cockpit
The grey Pegasus looked at the MFD's in front of him. The left one read 'Low Fuel', the other, 'Radar Spike'. "Shit." He briefly looked forward, then resumed looking around his bubble canopy. "You see him?"
"No. Nothing" His backseat replied. "He's playing with us. This is pissing me off!"
"Your telling m-" His response was interrupted by the aircraft. 'Chaff! Flares!' "Smoke in the air! Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" He felt as the engineer/co pilot behind him, his wing-mare popped flares and chaff through his flight stick. "Where is he? He was off our three-thirty!"
"He's off our six now! He's dancing between our tails!" came the response.
In alarm he turned in his seat to look behind him. The grey pegasus slammed the throttle into one-hundred-twenty percent. Snapping the stick left and pulling back. After a second, reversing this. Extending the airbrakes and cutting the throttle, He kicked the rudder left. Both crew members were slammed into the right side of the cockpit before being pushed into their seats.
"Fucking. Hell, Grey. Layoff the Pilot shit for a bit will you! I have enough bruses from las-" Her joke died in a grunt, Grey having messed up a cobra in his panic. Overachieving. The fighter went hyper-agile and performed a backflip before slipping into a flat spin. The plane immediately let its displeasure at this known, the Betty yelling 'Over-G' Repeatedly.
The students Kicked the doors to the school open. Screaming "WHOOOOO!" they sprinted down the stairs, across the front garden and to the car parking. Vaulting into the top down convertible and canvas topped jeep styled 4WD they had their destination set. The nearest Pub.
The band slammed out the music as Grey, his wing-mares in his arms, Sung out 'Blitzkrieg bop' in karaoke. The patrons spurring them on with raised glasses, mugs, shots and schooners.
Salted peanuts added to the already liberal amount of confetti and spilt drinks all over the navy blue carpet, but the pub staff and owner had long since joined in the festivities. They had a lucrative cleaning deal with the local venue cleaners, so all in good fun.
The table sized clock in the main wall of the pub read two-thirty AM.
Johnathan found himself with a physical form. The pub having changed to an unknown but familiar cityscape. Ponies and Humans, Griffons and Diamond dogs. Even some cat people carrying out their day to day lives, the majority of which with smiles.
He was trying to make heads or tails of the city he found himself in, spinning on the spot and looking around at the stymulus overload in confusion.
The majority of the building where four to five stories tall. Combined ground floor business top floor living structures, With the of so common glass fronted skyscraper splitting the skies and towering over the entire district he stood in. The amount of greenery everywhere was simply stunning. Pink Cherry blossom petals rained down from the skyscrapers towering above.
A Voice caught his ears, A crier. "EXtree! EXtree! Get 'Yer news here!"
His ears zeroed in on the cries, eventually spotting the Griffon sitting in a folding chair across the street. After his way t othe curb and checking both ways, The Australian found himself awestruck at the sheer scale of beauty of the surrounding city. The road stretched off for what had to be at least two kilometres into what looked like a Central Park. Overhead metro tracks running over the road from left to right at multiple intersections towards the centre.
He abruptly jaywalked, which earned him an angry blow of a whistle and a reprimand that spurred him faster across the road.
Walking up to the Griffon, he handed Johnna a newspaper with a chipper "Two Dollars fifty." Looking up at Johnna as he checked his pocket for his wallet the half Falcon half tiger Griffon gawked before waving a talon dismissively. "Johnna?! Don't worry about it! It's free! Never thought you of all creatures would visit my humble store! It's an honour!" The griffon said in joy as he shook the mans hand.
"You sure. I have-"
"Free."
"I have mo-"
"Free." He parroted with a smirk.
"Thanks." Johnna said gratefully as he tossed the griffon a five dollar note anyways and smiled. Turning he looked at the front cover. The sound of the city dying down to silence around him.
The front page read. "World at War! Changelings Close the technological gap and Advance on Salt lick city! Humans washing hands of responsibilities!"
Looking up, Johnna was standing in a black abyss once more. The only sound that graced his ears was the crumpling of papers as his grip faltered.
The persisstant ticking of the granfather clock in the corner filled his hearing. The room remained black void. But he heard the most pompous accent he ever had speaking. "So it is agreed then! We will keep this 'Fleet' A secret until we can ascertain their technology ourselves. The fleet of these new Humans is almost out of fuel and supplies anyways, the fact they happened to sail into New Mareland's port was a fortunate happenstance."
Murmurs of unanimous agreement filled the room. Except an angered grunt from a pair of familiar voices. Three ponies came into materium, Celestia. Who looked to be struggling to keep up her neutral visage. Luna. Who Had long since buried that hatchet and looked to be ready to 'cull' some bloodlines at the next excuse. And fancy pants. Who abruptly Slammed his hoof down on the invisible solid wood table, Scooped up paperwork and stormed out of the room with his advisor.
"Uh Oh. Some colt is having a tantrum" Came from the opposide side of Luna. Johnna knew this. Because the navy blue mares teal eyes looked to gain a red glint in the candle light, her now slitted pupils radar locking on that voices position with intent to kill.
Fancies voice. Low in tone, but filled with the urge to inflict both physical and emotional damage replied. "It won't be I, who has a tantrum. But it will be the families of the sailors. Braking down your doors. Dragging you, and your Skeletons into the torchlit mornings-"
"-HOW DARE YOU!-"
"-BECAUSE YOU POMPOUS, STUCKUP, STUFFY, MILDEW CRUSTED AND FRANKLY ARROGANT ASSES. WERE SO GREADY. YOU SENT AN ENTIRE ARM OF THE NAVY TO THEIR CONDEMED DEATHS! MY LOYAL SAILORS!"
"RRRREMOVE YOURSELF FROM THIS MEETING, Marquies Fancy Pants. You are hereby banned from attending further mee-"
"Bite Me. Then again. Thats probally threatening you with a good time Senator." Fancy snapped back as he turned and crossed the threshhold of the door. "If the rumours your son spouted before dissapearing are to be-"
"GET OUT YOU ABBERATION!" An evidently furious noble accent boomed from across the room.
Fancy left the room of speechless nobles and princesses, A smirk on his face. "I didn't hear you deny your incest relationsh-"
"BY THE CREST OF THIS EMPIRE! FANCY PANTS THE SECOND OF HOUSE FANCY OF APPLECREST! I ABJURE THEE!"
The shit eating grin that alabaster and blue noble wore as he past the frankly stunned to inaction guards was legendary. "You can 'Abjure' All you want. The fact that you require a signed piece of paper by a grieving mare at the most basic of levels. And your RULER At the most unspeakible of such. A document that was so vaguely worded by your great grandfathers that it masked the fact it was mutany of the crown-"
"GUARDS! SEIZE HIM!"
The poor stallions on brass armour were stunned to silence.
"SEIZE THAT. THAT. THAT-"
"Dont bother Gents." Fancy adressed the white ponies. A pat on ones pauldron causing him to flinch back into concious thought. "I'll remove myself before the old fool has a stroke. The rest of the pit vipers in this stuffy room would use that to take me out of the picture." As he ushered his assistant out into the hallway and hoofed her his paperwork he turned to all in the room. Gripped the door handles. And slowly closing the doors. He said in adress. "Dont think too hard Gentlecolts. Don't want to ruin the castle staffs fine dusting now do we?"
"FANCY! YOUR REQUESTS FOR MATERIALS TO ASSIST IN BUILDING THE HOOMYN CITY, ARE BURNED. YOU ARE DO-"
*SLAM*
The room came into foccus. This room was well known to Johnna. He and his friends in the council had spent an aweful long time designing it after all.
This was the central lobby of the city hall. The gold patterned white marble floor having lost its luster and gained a layer of dust and pebble sized debris. Pot marks, score and witness marks lines the floor and walls of the room.
The clip clop of hooves filled the room, a Stahlhelm wearing black bugpony walked into the room, not seeing the clearly paralyzed Johnna, before contueing his patrol.
It paused. The sound of an engine filling the room. Then light. Johnna Jumped as the brass plated doors behind him exploded into a storm of tempered glass fragments. A black armoured car screeching to a halt in the middle of the lobby.
The back doors kicked open as a squad of four Humans, Armoured head to toe in Ceramic composite armour looking like an anime fan. A general, and State police official were locked in a room until they all went insane and asked to design armour.
Each new trooper who left the back of the van causing it to jump on its suspension, as the clack of rubber and hobnails filled the cavernous room.
The changling stared at the scene before him, horn lit. Clearly Confused. Then it promptly dropped its rifle and fled in terror, as Four MG-42's answered his call to 'Halt'.
Two Armoured humans pursued him, Their red gasmask lenses illuminating the hall they dissapeared down. the other two. Were joined by... Johnna. A Much older. Worn, looking Johnna.
Walking up to the center of the room. Greybeard Johnna the trenchcoat wearing badass accepted a shaped charge the size of a basket ball. Placing one in the center of the floors golden pattern. Just offset about three feet right. And four in the other corners of the room.
Piling into the van, they reversed back outside. And an almighty bang filled the air. The glass cieling of the town hall exploded into a hailstorm of saftey glass shards and the sound of crumbling masonry filled the now roofless room.
As the dust settled. Johnna stared in awe. Under the floor... It was-
The smell of smoke filled the dark space. Johnna blinked and was standing on what was obviously a bridge. Windows shot out of their brass frames. Blood painted the walls, roof and pooled on the floor. And the only two souls occupying the derelict looking room was a man in captains uniform. Several fingers on a wrapped hang clearly missing. Blood pooling under his perferated boot and at his waist line over his left hip. He blinked blood from his eyes as he used the ships wheel as support to keep vaguely upright.
The second officer on deck was operating the emergency engineering station, which itself had clearly seen better days since past. She eyed the captain resolutely but obviously concerned. "Thats it sir! The fire is in the forward magazine now! Our ammo is gone! We need to-" She was interupted by a primal fury. A gutteral and viloent gurgle that wrent the steel of the bridge in places. The shearing scream of steel filled the room and the room was bathed in orange flashes. "There goes the blowout panels! Shes done!"
Standing she rushed to the captain, who at this point looked to barely be concious. "I Have a duty. To my crew. To my nation. To my fleet. To God damn Liberty and Democracy. And I Will Take my foundering Lady. And Cut those Green blooded bastards where it hurts!" He said pointing a bloody finger towards the towering dark painted capital ship facing down their frankly ruined bow. He gripped her collar and dragged her down. "Casey. You've B'n Good to me girl. Go settle with that Griffon you always harp on about." He grunted as he pushed her into the arm of the recently arrived engineer. His overalls covered in blood, oil, and soot. The new arrivel Reeked of marine diesel.
"We're not going anywhere unless you come with us you 'Ol Coot." He yelled angrily.
"Thats Rude. I'm barely a day over thirty-five," He sniggers before getting stuck in a wracking cough. "Ow. Bloody broken ribs..."
There was a screeching wail of the air being torn by artillery rounds, as towers of water erupted around the admittingly dwarfed fast cruiser.
"If you don't go! We don't go!" They both said in unison. The stood strong, even as splashes from the incoming battleships secondary batteries turned the water around the stricken ship into white foam.
"Why. Why are you kids always. So. Damn .Stub-" The captain was cut off by the low pitched reverberating moan of a ships fog horn. Two blasts of it.
Two more blasts Filled the air. Causing the younger crew members to cover their ears. Then Two more.
The changlings had stopped firing in the mean time. The crews of both ships. The Cruisers being far away in motor-lifeboats, and the changlings crew wondering what the heck was going on.
Looking around, Both crews spotted a fog bank forming a meere few hundred meters off their side. An almost orchestral thumbing of engines. The beating hearts of many ships, A fleet even having filled the air. Then. As the fog surrounded the pair. The sound of parting water.
The cruisers crew looked on in shock amazing. A Mighty bow of similar hight to the changlings own pierces the fog like a spear. The imperial seal of Japan adorning it.
As more of the ship cut through the ocean into view. It became known that it was a super battleship of unknown type. But it was the flags atop the ship that caught the greybeards attention. He gasped. "Grand Admiral Dan Arashi... He's here?"
"I've never heard of him..." Casey mumbled.
"Because." The old sailor coughed. "He's supposed to be back on earth... How did he get here?"
A light signal flashed the bridge of the now listing cruiser hulk, 'we will take it from here'.
Johnnas perception faded with the brain rattling, lung crushing roar of twenty-inch guns.
Beeping filled Johnathans tinnitus filled hearing. After a few minutes he found the strength to crack open a sleep filled eye and peek around.
The room was dark. The window was open, wafting in a welcomed fridgid breeze. Light curtains dancing lazyly in the air currents.
Trying to lift his hand, he found it non compliant. Looking down he found why.
His arm. In a splint. Was being pinned to his lap, By a gorgeous Brit. His gorgeous Brit. That he still had yet to propose to...
Why was he in a hospital?
...
...
...
"Oh." He mumbled, his memory having returned enough for him to piece together being ran over then yelled at before blacking out. "Hmm... Eyep. Emilies gonna be pissed."
"Oh you bet she is." A familiar voice answered from his lap. Looking down, He locked eyes with her. Her glare at him was akin to that of a concerned mother watching over her injured child. At least the closest thing he could relate it to anyways... "I'm going to have to marry you before you kill yourself via your own stupidity. Aren't I?"
Johnna Rested his Head into the supernaturally soft pillow behind his head. "I was going to propose a date at the firewor- Is this a cloud?" he said gesturing to his 'pillow'
Looking out his window into the six-PM starlit night, he watched as a grey mare walked her Colt. A Blue and grey Pegasus with streaks of metallic silver through his feathers down the steps of the hospital and to a candy cart. "See deary, I told you that the hospital here wasn't scary."
Johnna sighed, "I think,We're gonna be allright."
For his comment he recieved a cuff upside the head followed by a rib breaking hug.
(Heres a photo of a Unimog)