> Unbroken > by Dusk_Shine6995 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Meeting > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unbroken By: Dusk_Shine6995 Chapter 1: The Meeting It’s been two months since the changelings attacked Equestria at the royal wedding. Princess Celestia found herself thinking about that day... Trapped in that dreadful cocoon looking on as that evil changeling queen, Chrysalis, relished her victory over her and her subjects! However out of the very limited field of vision she had she saw two ponies standing shoulder to shoulder protecting a group of foals from a hoard of changelings. Somehow these two ponies seemed to be fighting off the changelings! The stallion on the left had just bucked a changeling into three others, while the mare on the right used her magic to pick up and throw 12 changelings into a nearby building. Celestias’ memory was cut short by the knocking on her bedroom door followed by a guard walking in with two ponies following him. “The guests you sent for have arrived,” said the guard. “Good, you may leave,” said Celestia gracefully. The guard left and the two ponies bowed. “Rise my subjects.” Celestia said gently. “After all, I should be bowing after seeing you fighting off an entire changeling horde.” The unicorn stallion, whom had been wearing a blank expression the entire time, smirked slightly and his mare companion beamed with a big toothy grin. “You saw that?” asked the mare, uttering the words in an excited manner. “Why yes I did,” Celestia said as she smiled brightly. The stallion remained quiet except for a muffled chuckle at seeing his friend grinning so much. “Would you mind having a seat please?” asked Celestia. The mare, who had yet to introduce herself, quickly found a pillow, and sat down. The stallion however said, “I’d prefer to stand if you don’t mind.” Celestia jumped a little at hearing him speak but nodded, showing she didn’t care if he stood. “Oh don’t mind him,” said the mare suddenly. The stallion rolled his eyes. “He’s just a stubborn little foal sometimes,” she finished playfully glaring at him. He returned the glare and shoved her head with a hoof. Celestia looked at the two, a question chewing at her lips, both in uncertainty and love. Just as the mare was going to tackle the stallion, Luna walked into the room. “Celestia, I was wondering when you were going to call in... oh did I interrupt something?” The mare blushed brightly and the stallion chuckled a little and scratched his neck. “I was about to ask them their names, Luna,” Celestia said smiling at her sister. “Oh ok,” said Luna shyly. “My name is Sound,” said the mare, “and this is my pal Fury.” “Sound?” the Princesses seemed to ask in unison. “Yeah, my name is Sound,” the mare, Sound, said smiling. “And Fury?” asked Luna. “Well his name isn’t really Fury but he has never told anypony his real or full name so I don’t really know if it’s a nickname or not,” the mare answered. “Well, from what Celestia told me, you two can handle yourselves in a fight,” said Luna appraisingly, “and better than some of our own military no less!” Sound’s jaw dropped at the compliment, while Fury only closed his eyes and smirked. “T-thank you Princess Luna for such a w-wonderful c-compliment,” Sound stammered. “It’s true. Most of our military forces were easily defeated by the changelings while you two took out a horde of them single hoofedly!” Celestia chimed in. Sound was so in awe she had to fight from fainting, even Fury opened his eyes wide at this statement. Fury trotted to his friend and gave her a helping hoof to keep her from fainting. “Are you two dating!?” Celestia blurted, as the thought she was suppressing finally fought its way into reality. Luna and Celestia gasped, and Sound and Fury looked at eachother then the princesses. They burst into laughter! “Fury and I DATING!” Sound said between laughs. “We may be roomies but we would never date!” Sound finished. The princesses looked at each other and began laughing as well. Being thousands of years old, they knew all about being great friends with somepony that they would never date, after all they had seen it millions of times. Once the laughter died down, Princess Celestia’s expression changed from a fun caretaker to a dead serious ruler. “Now down to business.” said Celestia sternly. Fury snapped to attention and Sound’s normally friendly face went deadpan. “The Changelings are a legitimate threat to Equestria now,” Celestia said angrily, “and our military isn’t trained for them yet and we will need time to do so.” “Meanwhile the changelings are on the move and building up in numbers!” added Luna. “We need somepony who can handle this threat, ready to aid anypony that could be threatened by this new danger!” said Celestia almost crying with disdain that she hadn’t been preparing for the changelings to begin with. “That’s where we come in, right?” asked Sound softly but forcefully. “Sort of...” said Luna seeing that Celestia might break into tears of regret if she continued to speak. “That is where a squad of ponies comes in.” “Does this squad have a name?” asked Sound. “The squad is going to be known as the O.C.I.D. squad.” Luna answered. “O.C...” Sound started asking but Luna cut her off, “Office of Changeling Intervention and Disposal is the name of where you will be receiving orders from.” “We...” said Fury. “When did we join this squad?!” he finished half confused and half angry. “Well...” Luna started but Celestia jumped in, “ We want you to lead this squad. As of right now, you two are the best at fighting changelings.” Sound was at a loss of words at this stunning development, Fury, however, had seen it coming and asked, “How are we the best when we have no training nor any proof of skill?” “You two fought off a horde of changelings and single hoofedly saved hundreds of little foals,” said Celestia admiringly. “To me, that’s more than enough proof of skill!” Fury stared questioningly and asked “What about training?” “That’s where I come in,” Luna said seemingly out of nowhere, “I know every form of hoof to hoof combat in Equestria and we have the best weapons trainers in the world!” Luna smiled arrogantly, while Sound had collapsed at the weight of what was going on and Fury just sat there comprehensively. Celestia stood up from her bed. “You would be taken great care of and trained under the best of the best,” Celestia said trying to convince them to agree to this. Fury stared at the floor thinking. Luna looked nervously at Celestia, who mimicked her concern. Then suddenly, Sound shot up from the ground and shouted, “WE’LL DO IT!” Fury looked wide eyed at his friend’s sudden outburst. Sound calmed down a little and said directly to Celestia “We will lead the O.C.I.D. squad.” “Sound...” said Fury. “FURY WE HAVE TO DO THIS!” Sound screamed at her long time friend. “EQUESTRIA NEEDS US... AT THE MOMENT WE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN STAND AGAINST THE CHANGELINGS!” Sound continued. She calmed down a little and finished, “We may just be two ponies but we are going to have a squad of other ponies to have our backs and help us.” Fury looked between Sound and the two princesses. “Alright,” Fury calmly said. “Fury we hav... wait what?” Sound asked puzzled. “I said alright...” Fury repeated, “you’re right Sound, I only doubted agreeing to this because of you.” “What?” Sound asked, even more puzzled than before. “We are the best of friends Sound, practically brother and sister, and if you didn’t want to do this, then I would never have been able to convince myself to do it,” Fury continued. Sound looked at her long time friend lovingly and curiously thought about his answer. Is he falling in love with me? “No I’m not, Sound,” he said, reading her mind, “I just can’t leave my ‘sister’ all alone in the big, bad world,” he finished with a playful wink. Sound slugged him in the shoulder and he turned and said, “Since you are up for it, then I’m in all the way to the end..." his attention shifting to the princesses and finished, "under two conditions.” “Name them,” said Luna. “The first one is to start our training immediately after this conversation is over,” he said. “OK and what about the second one?” asked Celestia. “We decide who is going to be in the squad with us.” Fury said winking at Sound. Celestia looked at Luna and she nodded in agreement. “Deal!” they said in unison. > Training Day > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unbroken By: Dusk_Shine6995 Chapter 2: Training Day “AGAIN!” said an angry Sound. She had been trying to beat Luna in a sparring match for eight tries now. “You need a break,” said Luna. “No I don’t!” shouted Sound as she charged at Luna. Luna dodged to the left and brought her forehoof down Sound’s nape hard enough to incapacitate the mare. Luna walked up to Sound who laid there, numb and unmoving. “I had to do it,” said a sorrowful Luna, “it was the only way to get you to take a break.” As Fury moved Sound to a more comfortable emplacement, she saw the sad look on Sound’s face and added with a smile, “I do compliment you on your hard work though.” “Thanks,” Sound said, feeling better. Then, Fury stepped into the sparring area with Luna. Fury stood there, eyes closed, and smirked. “What’s so funny, Fury?” Luna asked, confused. Fury slowly opened his eyes and stared into Luna’s. Sound grinned, knowing that look. Luna stood there staring into Fury’s eyes, she saw the fire in them and knew this was going to be fun. Fury shifted his footing and asked, “Shall we begin?” “Definitely,” Luna said with a smirk and shifted her footing as well. They waited... and waited... Luna was the first to make a move. She flew at him and threw a kick with her right forehoof. Fury blocked it, grabbed her forehoof, and threw a kick of his own with a hind hoof. Luna lifted her knee and blocked Fury’s kick and backed away from him. “Not bad,” Luna said, “ready to begin now?” Fury only grinned and nodded slightly. Sound sat there, jaw on the ground. “They were only warming up?” She thought to herself. “How crazy is this going to g...” She didn’t have time finish the thought before they were at it again. Fury made the first move this time, jumping into the air and sending a punch towards Luna. She stood on her hind legs and crossed her forelegs in a block. Fury didn’t give her time to move and brought his body down into a dropbuck sending Luna back a couple of feet. She landed on her hooves and before she could recover, Fury was on her again. He threw a forehoof kick and Luna blocked it, sending her own in return. Fury blocked hers as well. They had a strength contest for a few seconds as they stared into the other‘s eyes with determination. Neither gained an inch and seeing this, Luna sent a knee into Fury’s stomach. Fury keeled over. Luna took the opening and brought her forehoof down on his nape. Fury dropped to his knees and coughed. Luna began to turn around when Fury shot up and sent a kick into Lunas’ side. Luna fell, rolled, and jumped back up onto her hooves. “How is he still moving that pressure point always makes the entire body numb!” Luna shouted in her mind. She was jolted from her thoughts when she received a punch to the stomach. Fury sent another punch which Luna blocked. Instead of breaking away from each other, however, this time Luna grabbed his foreleg and threw him with all her might. To Sound, it looked like Fury was going to land flat on his back but instead, he flipped over and landed on his hooves at the last second. Luna flew to him and swung around trying to buck him in the ribs. He received the blow, however he used it for momentum and swung around and sent Luna flying with a devastating buck. Luna landed on her hooves and said, “The Counter Strike technique. Well done,” She sighed. “That’s enough sparring for the day. Amazing job, you two.” “Thank you, Princess Luna!” Sound and Fury said in unison. “Ahhh, I’m tired!” whined Sound “Well that’s not good, Sound,” Fury said, chuckling a little. “Why?” Sound asked, confused. “Because now it’s time to train,” Luna said, offering her a grin. Sound smiled. “In that case, it’s time to get started!” With a newfound determination in her eyes, Sound followed Fury and Luna to the training grounds. Sound and Fury’s jaws dropped when they saw where they would train. IT WAS HUGE! A gigantic obstacle course was on the far side of the facility, a sword training area just to their left, the mounted weapon training area to their right, and dozens of endurance training areas in between, filled with soldiers sparring and exercising. A scruffy looking soldier walked up to Luna. “So these are the new recruits I have to deal with,” said the stallion. “Yep,” Luna said, hiding her desire to laugh, “don’t go easy on them, Captain Blade.” “Do I ever?” asked Captain Blade, cracking only the slightest smile. “You two have a long day ahead of you,” said Luna, grinning and walking out of the facility. “Fifty push ups now!” shouted Captain Blade. Sound and Fury didn’t question it and started on the push ups. They started competing with each other from the get go. They raced to finish the push ups. Much to Sound’s dismay, Fury finished with more than five push ups ahead of her. “Not bad maggots,” said Captain Blade, genuinely impressed by the two ponies. “Time for agility training. Get your flanks moving!” he shouted. They sprinted to the obstacle course. Sound said Fury could go first. He got into position, got ready and then took off. He jumped over a log, crawled under a barbed wire woven roofing. He started on the rope ladder climb, nearly falling dozens of times before he reached the top. Fury was running out of energy when he got to the final stage jumping from stone to stone. He managed to finished the course in one minute and fifty seconds setting a new course record. It was Sound’s turn now. Just before she went into position, she gave a competitive wink to Fury. Sound was in position and ready to go. She bolted off when she was told to go. She cleared the log easily with a powerful jump, she landed right in front of the barbed wire, managing to crawl under it instantly after landing, and made it up the ladder in mere seconds. When she got to the stones, she didn’t stop to breathe and jumped past the first stone and landed on the second. She finished the course with an astonishing time of 1 minute and 2 seconds. All the soldier’s jaws dropped, as did Captain Blade’s. Fury, however, held out a hoof and Sound bumped it with her own. Captain Blade collected himself and gave an approving smile. “Maybe this won’t be a chore after all, maggots,” Captain Blade said slyly. Fury laughed a little while Sound cockily said, “You had nothing to worry about to begin with.” Captain Blade scoffed and shouted, “THIRTY PUSH UPS FOR BOTH OF YOU!” The two friends got down and did the push ups. They quickly learned to not brag. Captain Blade smiled as he thought, “These two aren’t half bad. Maybe the princesses were right to trust them with O.C.I.D.” Fury stopped at his twenty fifth push up and looked up at the captain and asked, “How do you know about O.C.I.D.?” Captain Blade looked at him surprised. “How did you know I was thinking about O.C.I.D.?” he asked. Fury finished his push ups, stood up, and said, “I used a mind reading spell on you when Sound started the obstacle course. I was curious what you would think of my friend’s speed on the course.” “Ten more push ups and never do that again.” Captain Blade said, annoyed While Fury was doing his push ups, he asked, “Will you at least answer how you know about O.C.I.D.?” Captain Blade sighed and said, “There is a reason the princesses want me to train you... I was the best of the best back in my prime.” “How so?” Sound asked as she helped Fury up after he finished his push ups. “I was the leader of O.G.I.D. back when Griffins weren’t so docile,” Captain Blade said nostalgically. “Office of Griffin Intervention and Disposal. Now I see the connection,” Fury said. “Yep and that is why Princess Luna assigned me to train you,” Captain Blade simply said. “So maggots,” Captain Blade resumed,“ shall we continue to sword training?” Sound and Fury nodded and started racing each other to the sword training area. Captain Blade whispered under his breath, “They are already ready, it’s unbelievable... but, then again, there is a reason the Princesses recommended them.” “Ten more reps maggots!” Captain Blade commanded. Sound and Fury had been practicing their sword techniques for twenty minutes slicing away at training dummies. They were finally done and a little winded. “Now it’s time for the fun part, maggots,” Captain Blade said excitedly. “And what might that be?” asked Sound. “Special weapons training!” he exclaimed. He led Sound and Fury to the special weapons area, which was a separate building. Sound and Fury’s jaws dropped to the floor at the sight of the strange weapons. Gauntlets that strapped to the foreleg and with a blade that came out making it possible for an earth or pegasus pony to use a blade without using their mouths’. Saddles with blades mounted at both sides of a pony’s neck protruding out 5 feet beyond their muzzles and so many more! “Get them on, it’s time to get to work,” Captain Blade said, chuckling under his breath. It took a good ten minutes to get the equipment on Sound and Fury. Once they finally had it all on, they walked up to the training dummies and got ready to begin. “Begin!” commanded Captain Blade. The pair went to work. Sound started out by eight quick jabs with her hoof blades while Fury did a front flip slicing through the dummy with his saddle lances. After half an hour of training they had gotten a hang of the strange weapons. “Impressive, very impressive,” complimented Captain Blade. “Today’s training is over. Get some rest, you’ll need it,” Captain Blade finished, with a smile. Sound and Fury got all their gear off and started heading for their quarters in the castle. “This room is so huge!" Sound excitedly said as she flopped on a bed. The room was well decorated and very spacious. It had colorful drapes around the windows and a maroon carpet. Fury smiled and said, “Sound, this room alone is bigger than our house!” “I know and I bet the carpet is worth more than our rent!” Sound joked. The two friends laughed together. “Sound?” Fury asked. “Yeah Fury?” Sound replied. “It’s crazy, eh?” Fury remarked. “Two roomies from Canterlot that were just skating by to keep their rent, now the leaders of the most needed squad in Equestria.” “Yeah... who would have thought it possible for us?” Sound agreed. “Well, we should get to sleep Sound it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” Fury said, chuckling a little. “Alright. Good night, Fury,” said a very sleepy Sound. “Night, Sound,” said Fury as he fell into a bed of his own. > The Rally Call > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unbroken By: Dusk_Shine6995 Chapter 3: The Rally Call Two weeks later “Congratulations maggots,” said a smiling Captain Blade, “you’re finally ready to lead O.C.I.D.” Sound and Fury saluted and then hugged each other. “Now lets go talk with the princesses on who else will be in the squad.” Captain Blade commanded the two and with that, they started heading towards the throne room. They were there within a few minutes but noticed the princess was talking with an embassador from Manehattan and decided it would be for the best if her royal duties were left undisturbed. Now they had some time to kill. Captain Blade said he’d see them later when they would meet with the princesses. Sound and Fury agreed to start exploring the castle. “Oh my Celestia, I’m excited, Fury,” exclaimed Sound. Fury simply nodded and kept walking with his best friend. “Should we head back to the room before we see the princesses?” Sound asked. “Sure,” Fury said simply. Once they got back to their room, they collapsed onto their beds. They had spent their last day of training sparring with every single soldier in the facility that morning! It wasn’t very difficult, thanks to Luna’s hoof to hoof combat training, but there were hundreds of them for both Sound and Fury to fight. Just as Sound was falling asleep, there was a gentle knock on the door. Fury got up to answer the door. It was Luna. “Hello Fury,” said Luna, “is Sound awake?” “Yes,” said Sound nervously, as she fell out of her bed. Luna barely managed to stifle a laugh but Fury chuckled a little at his friend. “Anyway, I was wondering if you two would come with me to my private quarters to discuss the other members of your squad. Celestia is already on her way,” Luna said. The two nodded and started following Luna up to her room. The pair noticed that this end of the castle seemed darker but in a friendly way rather than a scary way. Once they got to Luna’s room, she opened the door and motioned for them to go inside. “There you are! Let’s get down to business. We have a few profiles of some great soldiers here,” Celestia said seeming to be in a rush. “These soldiers are ready and will hmmph...” Celestia began to say but was interrupted by Fury’s hoof. Celestia glared at him over his hoof. “You agreed that we would choose the other members,” Fury said, deadpanned as he removed his hoof from Celestia’s muzzle. “We are letting you, these profiles are here to aid you in your choice,” said Luna who had now entered the room. “Your logic doesn’t make sense to me,” said Fury, confused. “It makes perfect sense, you are choosing who is in your squad so we have these to aid you,” said Celestia, who seemed annoyed that Fury didn’t understand. “I understand the use of the profiles,” Fury enlightened, “what I don’t understand is that we have soldier profiles when you said that they aren’t ready to handle the Changelings.” “Because these are our best soldiers,” Luna answered. “But you both said your armies aren’t ready to face the Changelings, meaning none of your soldiers are qualified to be on this squad,” Fury said, starting to get annoyed himself. This statement made sense to both Luna and Celestia. “If none of our soldiers are qualified then who is,” Celestia asked. “I have an idea for that,” said Fury. Celestia was about to ask but Fury started explaining, “We will come up with a test. The four who score the highest will be qualified enough for the squad. We will also be testing citizens willing to join your army.” “That’s... actually a brilliant idea,” said Luna. awestruck that they hadn’t thought of that. “You took two ponies from the streets of Canterlot to be the leaders of the this squad,” said Sound out of nowhere, “so where’s the harm in having other civilian ponies on the squad?” Celestia was pondering what they were saying, knowing there was no way to change their mind. There was a long silence “What kind of test will it be?” Celestia finally asked. “Written, specifically for who will be doing what,” Fury began to explain. “For example, a medic’s test may be ‘about taking a decision between helping in the fight immediately or helping an injured member to aid in battle after securing the injured pony. In this case, the best answer would be to help the injured member and then help in the fight.” “Surely there will be more to it than that?” asked a confused Celestia. “Thou did not let him finish, dear sister,” said Luna. “I’ve been researching something very recently,” Fury began. “There are relics out in the Everfree Forest. What their function is, I don’t know yet. However, we will send teams of four to retrieve them,” Fury finished. “You want to send untrained civilians into the Everfree Forest to find relics that you don’t know where they are nor what they do!” shouted an outraged Celestia. “I never said I didn’t know where they are, Princess,” Fury retorted. “I did however say that I don’t know their function. They are located in the dead center of the Everfree Forest. “What about the untrained civilians entering the Everfree Forest?” asked Luna making sure to emphasize on the Everfree Forest. “We will have the best trained units watching over them like guardian angels,” Sound answered for Fury. “How will we go about rallying our subjects to join this squad?” Luna asked. “Leave that part to me, my dear sister,” said Celestia, smiling slyly. “What dost thou have planned, sister?” asked Luna. Celestia merely kept smiling while leaving the room and added, “You two, be ready in two days.” “We are scared to ask what she hath planned,” Luna said, shaking her head as she left the room. The next day The ponies of Ponyville all franticly bowed as Princess Celestia landed in the town square. “Rise my subjects, for I come on official business and have no time for such formalities,” Celestia said calmly but forcefully. “Equestria is in need of soldiers,” she began to explain. “The Changelings that attacked Canterlot during the royal wedding are still a threat to Equestria. We are in dire need of any and all ponies willing to aid in the efforts to prevent the takeover of Equestria! If you are willing to aid Equestria in it’s time of need, go to Canterlot Castle by noon tomorrow!” With that Celestia took her leave. The ponies of Ponyville were shocked at the Princess’s sudden arrival and disappearance. Low murmurs erupted in the town. Out of nowhere, somepony shouted, “Those Changelings will pay for attacking our fair lands!” That phrase alone started an onslaught of hatred and rage against the Changelings. Everypony was ready to go hoof to hoof with some changeling scum. Among the ponies in town, there was one pony who snuck back into her home before things got out of hoof. Equestria needs me, needs my help, and I’ll be damned to Tartarus if I don’t answer its call! Moon Dancer thought, angrily, inside her home. I’m not going to wait. I’m going to Canterlot tonight! As that thought struck her, she was already starting to pack. However she wasn’t alone in her deep desire to help Equestria. “Equestria needs heroes that’s for sure; I will face all the trouble I must endure,” Zecora mumbled under her breath as she started home to prepare for her journey to Canterlot. Celestia had now made stops at Cloudsdale and Dodge City. She and her convoy of royal guards were now heading for Appleloosa. “Citizens of Appleloosa!” the Princess said as they landed. ““The Changelings that attacked Canterlot during the royal wedding are still a threat to Equestria. We are in dire need of any and all ponies willing to aid in the efforts to prevent the takeover of Equestria! If you are willing to aid Equestria in its time of need, go to Canterlot Castle by noon tomorrow!” She concluded and they flew off. Appleloosa didn’t get into a huge hub-bub over this news as Ponyville did considering there were less people but they were still ready and willing to fight! Ah’ll do anything to keep Appleloosa safe, thought Braeburn as he was walking back to City Hall with Sheriff Silverstar. “Sheriff, Ah’m goin’ to Canterlot right now,” said Breaburn, all of a sudden “Don’t let me stop you, sonny,” Silverstar said nonchalantly. As soon as Braeburn heard that he was already out the door and heading for the train station. “Spitfire, did you hear that?” asked Fleetfoot mid-routine “Yes I did but what should we do,” asked Spitfire as they soared past each other. “I think one of us should actually do something and sign up,” Fleetfoot said, nearly running into Soarin’ while she wasn’t paying attention. “Who would or should? You know as well as I do that we can’t just drop a member without any problems!” she exclaimed. Their routine came to a close with their signature firework ending. In the locker room, Fleetfoot said, “I think you should, Spitty.” “What? Me, joining the military!?” Spitfire nearly yelled. “Yes, you...” Fleetfoot started, “Equestria needs somepony to help and you’re the best of us hence why you’re captain of the Wonderbolts!” Spitfire sat confused and then asked, “What would make me a good soldier anyway?” Fleetfoot looked her long time friend and captain in the eyes and said, “Spitfire, you are loyal, tough, strong, smart and I know from experience you have a mean right hook from that drunk jerk who was hitting on us in Cloudsdale!” Spitfire didn’t say anything. She just hugged her friend. “Thanks, Fleetfoot. I think I’ll head to Canterlot tonight... mind taking over for me while I’m gone?” she asked with a slight smirk. “Of course, Spitfire,” said Fleetfoot, smiling. Spitfire left the locker room and started towards the train station. I may not be much of a fighter but I’m going to give it my all! she thought optimistically.