Falling Into the Unknown

Meanwhile, in the real world (a real life situation)

Wesley Brown was doing his job, bagging groceries at Safeway. It was only two hours into his shift, and all was going well. Turning to the cashier, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

“Today seems to be going great so far. I really doubt anything bad will happen.”

His smile twisted into a frown a second later.

“I’ve probably screwed somebody over with that.”

-=-=-

“What the fuck are you on?” I yelled at the guard captain. “Just because you are busy this week in a ‘training exercise’ doesn’t mean you can’t get off your fat ass to come help us clear out the hive.”

“These training exercises are scheduled regularly. You should learn to read the schedule ahead of time.” The immovable unicorn said.

I slammed my palm into my face, sighing.

“Fine. I guess we’ll have to clear out the bug nest by ourselves. Just don’t expect anything from me after we do this.” I said, walking out of the office in the castle.

As I walked through the hallways towards the throne room, I sighed. In the week since we had caught Blueblood (and the unicorn who had him under a spell), Azure, Amber, and I had been preparing to tackle the location of the hive. There was only one complication: We could only scrape together four other guards who had volunteered to go with us.

The rest had clear out as soon as we said ‘hive’.

“There has got to be a better way to do this than bursting in the front door with half the Equestrian guard.” I mumbled to myself.

“I agree.” A voice said behind me.

Turning around, I noticed Princess Luna five feet away from me, followed by eight of the bat-like guards that she had.

“Hi, Luna. Any solutions you have come up with?” I asked.

To my surprise, she nodded. “We have been having troubles with getting the Night Guard accepted into many assignments. Our guard captain, Starshade, proposed that We send the Night Guard in with you.”

“Are they fit for combat?” I asked.

“We that they are.” She replied.

“Are they all Pegasi?” I asked.

“Some are. The mix is about 20% pegasi, 20% unicorns, and 60% actual Batponies.”

I sighed. “What do they have going for them?”

“Batponies have slightly less flying skill than Pegasi, but are faster on the ground, and can see in the dark much better than most ponies. They are also more silent walking.”

“So I’ve noticed.” I deadpanned. I hadn’t heard them sneaking up on me, after all. “Sounds good, Luna. Did you ask Celestia?”

She shook her head. “Tia may be older than I am, but we are Co-Rulers. I do not need to ask her for everything.”

I shrugged. “Ok, send them to the throne room at about four o’ clock tonight.”

Luna smiled. “Wipe those creatures off of Equestria, and We shall be thankful.”

“Can do. See you later, Luna.” I said, turning around and continuing on my way.

I smiled. It finally seemed as if things were looking up. As soon as we met with the assault team two hours from now, we would be boarding a small flight of chariots to go there by air. Although I would have rather taken the train, memories of what happened the last time came up into my head unbidden.

Shaking my head, I continued through the halls, until I reached the room. The guards didn’t even bother questioning me: They simply opened the door. After I literally had kicked one who had simply charged me as soon as he saw me across the hall earlier in the week, they showed me quite a bit more respect now. At least, I hoped it was respect.

I would hate to have a bad reputation.

Not.

I walked into the throne room. Celestia was at the end of it, simply sitting there. Personally, having her job would be hell: In between listening to retarded ‘nobles’, all she did was sit around, doing nothing.

“I assume that you did not obtain Captain Stormwind’s permission?” She said when I was halfway across the room.

“You assumed correctly.” I said. “However, I did get some other help, so I’m ready to kick some Changeling ass.”

“I assumed you would be going in alone, with your dislike of most ponies.” Celestia said.

I shrugged. “Even I’m not suicidal.”

She nodded. “I am thankful to hear it. You might be interested to know why a simple portal spell that brought you here went wrong, am I correct?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Go on.”

“Gladly. Have you heard of Discord from Azure or Amber?” When I nodded, she went on. “After he was turned to stone, his magic was reverted, but some ambient chaos magic still remains. Ponyville, being the center of his former control, still occasionally has spells go wrong because of these trace amounts. This corrupted the spell, and brought you here.”

“Well, I guess I’m stuck here.” I said, resigned to that fate.

A sad expression overcame her face. “You might well be. I am sorry, Tyler Maddox, but I cannot do much else. Discord himself may not be able to help you, and I am not releasing him to find out.”

“After what happened last time, I’m not surprised. He must have been a pain in the ass to get rid of.” I quipped.

“Oh, most certainly.” Celestia replied. “You may rest here until the others arrive, Tyler Maddox. You will find your things in the corner that you prefer.”

“Thanks.” I said, moving to the corner of the room to the left of her throne. I set up shop there the first time I had been forced the stay in the room (A.K.A., the night we caught Blueblood), and everyone nearby had quickly figured out that I had proclaimed it was mine.

As long as I was not bothered during my rest, I was fine with it. I didn’t really care what the ponies said about me: I hated half of them anyway. I found my backpack lying right where I expected it: Right in the corner. I took my Sa-58 off of my back (after several death threats, I had decided to keep it on my back permanently) and lay down on the backpack, drifting off into sleep.

-=-=-

“… Wake up, Tyler!”

I woke up to the sound of Amber yelling at me. I opened my eyes to see her face hovering one foot away from mine, staring at me.

“Yes, Amber?” I calmly asked.

“Thank Celestia you’re awake.” She said, sighing. “We’ve been trying to get you up for five minutes now.”

“Amber, can you please move away from me? I can’t get up.” I said.

Amber slowly backed away and headed towards a small group of ponies in the center of the room. I got to my feet, slung my backpack on, and grabbed my rifle, moving towards the group of ponies. I counted the four guards, eight Batponies, Azure, and Amber milling around.

“Ok, I’m ready. When do we leave?” I asked.

One of the Batponies stepped forward. “The chariots arrive in two minutes in the gardens.”

“Then let’s get going.” I said, turning towards the door of the throne room and walking out of it.

As we walked through the hallways, I decided to ask Amber about some things I have noticed.

“Hey Amber?” I said.

“Yes, Tyler?” She replied.

“Why are there an immense number of female ponies compared to males?”

“I don’t know. The ratio is somewhere around six-to-one.”

I gave a long, low whistle. “That’s pretty skewed.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Hey Amber!” Azure said. “Don’t forget to tell him about the time that you-”

“Story’s over.” She interrupted, cutting her brother off.

I gave a small smile as we walked through the final door to the gardens. Trees stretched out before us, as well as plants, with a good-sized clearing twenty feet along the path. In the clearing sat four chariot, empty and waiting. All four royal guards quickly moved themselves to two chariots, two each. I got onto one, and the Batponies, along with Azure and Amber, readied themselves for flight.

With a jerk, the pegasus guards lifted into the air, the two chariots accompanied by plenty of flying guards. I held on for dear life as it climbed in altitude, but slowly settled down. Sitting on the floor of the chariot, I rested my back on the side, waiting for the arrival.

It was time to hit them, and hard.