Falling Into the Unknown

The chariots flew through the air, pegasi and Batponies flying alongside them. Azure and Amber, along with the rest of the guards, had forgone helmets to make identification easier. It was slightly amazing to me how many different colors ponies came in, but here was another example. Even though there were only four pegasi guards with them, and all four were pulling the two chariots, they still had colors all across the range.

The Batponies, by contrast, wore midnight blue armor and had wings just like bats, although I guess the name was self-explanatory. They also had small fangs, apparently still there after centuries of living in normal society (I also heard they were Omnivores. Yay for team Omni: members, two).

And I had a feeling they were going to kick some serious ass.

“Landing in two minutes!” The Batpony at the head of the formation said.

I slung my rifle off of my back and into my hands, checking it. Yep, still eight rounds in the magazine, as well as five extra magazines in the front pockets of my Marine MARPAT BDUs. I had given the empties to Celestia to study: No use carrying them around when I can just ask – or pay – a unicorn advanced enough in magic (my former brony friend would have a field day of jokes there) to duplicate them.

Sort of like leveling up in one of those retarded MMOs that I never bothered to play, but less gay.

Anyway, putting aside any jokes, I was sure our forces would have a field day themselves in the assault. The letter had mentioned that it was only a training site, probably a hundred Changelings in total. It may seem like a lot, but remember: Most, if not all of them are going to be either young ‘trainees’, old ‘instructors’, and infiltrators (whatever that meant) all around. They weren’t going to be soldiers, so we would easily be able to punch inside and kill/capture most of the hive.

I pulled back the bolt on the side of my Sa-58, loading the first of eight cartridges in the magazine. One round of death, guaranteed to blow away anything in front of it. It’s kind of funny, actually: I got the guns in the first place for recreation, and to ‘protect myself’ from my fellow students. I never expected to actually use them in combat, much less against things that were straight out of a kid’s show.

Now that I had come here, to the universe I would have least expected, I had killed more than I ever thought I would have to. My score included several dozen ponies, a few griffons, and uncounted numbers of Changelings. It almost would have been sad, if I regretted it.

I did not.

My arrival here had brought me out of Earth, a place where I knew I would never amount to much more than a footnote in history at best: And that only if I managed to shoot a bunch of people, which was NOT how I intended to live out my life.

I shook myself out of my thoughts as the chariots descended on the clearing, along with the Batponies and my two friends. Once they touched down, the guards immediately unbuckled themselves, and I jumped off the back of the still-rolling, now-useless chariot, landing and immediately rolling to dissipate my momentum.

I brushed off the blades of grass that clung to my shift and stood up, rifle at the ready. The ponies and Batponies immediately started fanning out, with Azure, Amber, and I heading towards the center of the field.

Literally directly in the middle, there was a patch of ground that looked a bit raised, in a perfect square. It would have been unnoticeable from a few hundred feet up: But we were six feet away. Looking around the edge of it, I found a metal handle.

“Everyone over here!” I yelled to the guards. “Opening on my mark. Five.”

“Four.” All twelve guards, plus Azure and Amber, stood at the ready along it.

“Three.” Several of them pulled out spears, holding them with their hooves. How they did that, I still do not know, and it still puts me through a loop.

“Two.” I grasped the metal rung and tested its weight. Surprisingly, the grass covering, along with whatever it was covering, would be easy to lift and open.

“One.” I pulled.

The grass square came up easily, apparently covering a thin metal plate, about a quarter of a centimeter thick. It flew open, the sunlight filling the hole and showing a rock staircase heading down in a spiral. It was perfectly cut into the rock, and almost looked like concrete. Setting aside my concerns, I pulled my backpack off of my back and started shifting through my attachments bag. Finally, I found it: A flashlight.

I attached it to the rail underneath the barrel of my Sa-58, the flashlight fitting perfectly. I kept it off, to save battery.

“Well, is everybody ready to gown down the staircase to Tartarus?” One of the Batponies asked.

“You’d better be. Stay behind me until we hit an open section of tunnel.” I said, slinging my backpack into black on my back and starting to go into the staircase. It was circular, with an open area four feet side in the center, leading down counter-clockwise. Small, green crystals dotted the walls, casting a dim glow onto the staircase.

Behind me, I could hear Amber and Azure, as well as all the other guards, following me. I kept my rifle at the ready, pointed to my left in case something came up the stairs. Around eighty feet down, the staircase ended, opening up on a small tunnel with a door at the end of it. We walked down the hallway, on the guard, until we reached the door.

With one quick motion, I grabbed the knob with my left hand and opened it, aiming my rifle with my rifle hand as I entered. What I saw next surprised me.

The door had opened up onto a small room, with smooth rock floors and walls, and several bright white crystals hanging from the ceiling. Several pieces of furniture stood in it, including several obvious chairs and a few desks beside them. The room was about twenty feet square, and at the other end of it, four Changelings stood, staring at us.

I brought my rifle up and started firing, hitting two Changelings with three rounds each while the other two dove behind the desks. One popped up and started to charge a spell, but was stopped when two rounds from my rifle hit it, both in the head, sending it flying backwards a few feet in a small mist of green blood.

The last one launched several spells, missing with each one, before a Batpony rushed and quickly killed it, stabbing right through its shell-like skin with a spear. I reloaded my rifle, slipping the empty magazine into a pocket, before replacing it with a fresh one, pulling the bolt back to load a round.

Our group continued to the door. One of the Batponies ran up to it, turned around, and kicked it square with his back hooves, causing the door to literally burst apart. He turned around and started walking into the hallway beyond, with us following. Yet again, the tunnel was square and smooth, like they had spent plenty of effort trying to spruce it up. White crystals were embedded in the ceiling, giving off a bright light.

As we turned a 90-degree corner to the right, we came upon another door. I opened this one, bursting into the room beyond it. We were beyond the nice portion: This was bare cave, with white crystals giving off a large glow, lighting up the tunnels. Ahead of us, eight Changelings were wandering towards us, probably curious at the noise. They stopped the moment they saw us, and turned around, running around a corner in the cave ahead before I could raise my rifle.

“Keep going.” I said as we jogged forward, quickly rounding the bend. Ahead of us, the Changelings were diving off of what looked like a platform at the edge of large room. Moving forward, I could see that it indeed was a huge room. It was about a hundred meters deep going down, and went ten meters up from their location. At the bottom lay a courtyard filled with several dozen Changelings, and dotting the sides of the bottom lay several obvious houses: Constructions of wood, stone, and such.

As we were peering over the edge, the Changelings we had chased landed, and the ones in the courtyard started scattering. Now that I thought of it, quite a few of them were a dark gray instead of black, and looked about half the size of the normal ones I saw. Probably the ones in training the letter mentioned. So, given the fact that I was still (very) squeamish about killing kids, even if they looked like something in Spore gone wrong, I promised myself that I would make sure of my targeting. One more thing remained, though.

“Everyone, get down there and engage them.” Taking a deep breath, I continued. “Try not to hit any of the young ones, though. Even I have a couple morals.”

With that, the guards, excluding Amber, took a running leap and flew down the large room.

I raised a eyebrow at her. “Are you going to go with me?”

“Yep.” She said in her usual cheerful tone. “I don’t really want to let you out of sight.”

I sighed. “Ok, it’s a long walk down.”

“Who says we have to walk?” She quipped. “I’ll carry you down.”

“Really?” I said, blinking.

“Yep! Here you go!” She said, flying over to me and grabbing onto my shoulders.

“Wait!” I said, panicking slightly. “I’m not to sure about thiiiiiiis!” I nearly screamed as she hurled us both out into the chamber. I froze up, completely afraid to do anything. While I might not be afraid of heights, I hate the possibility of falling to my death as much as anybody.

Thirty seconds of decent later, she dropped me onto the ground, where I quickly got to my feet.

“I. Hate. You. All.” I put out slowly.

“Lighten up, Tyler, and grow a pair.” Azure said, walking up beside Amber.

“How did the fight down here go? I don’t see any bodies.” I said, changing the topic.

Azure’s face twisted into a grin. “Ten Changelings killed in the side tunnels, four fled into a side room we still can’t open, and sixty-two captured.”

“Really? Sixty-two?” I said, surprised. “Where are they all?”

As if in answer to my question, dozens of Changelings began to come out of a tunnel, led by several of the Lunar Guards. Quite a few were the ones I was used to, but, again, a little over half were much smaller and a dark grey, indicating that they were younger than the others. Apparently, the letter had not lied.

“Did you tell Celestia via that magic scroll thing she gave us?” Amber asked her brother, who nodded and pointed up.

I looked at the top of the cavern and, not surprisingly, several dozen white guard pegasi carrying eight unicorns were flying down. Moments later, they dropped off their ‘cargo’ and began to fan out, looking through buildings at the bottom of the cavern. The unicorns surrounded the Changelings and, horns glowing, teleported them, most likely to a Canterlot jail.

“Can you lead me to the room they are having trouble with?” I asked.

“Sure.” Azure said. “Just follow me.”

We entered the entrance to a tunnel. Doors stood out on the left and right, open and obviously searched. Several guard ponies were already walking the halls, checking each room over again. Finally, at the end of it, we came upon a pair of massive doors. Several unicorns were standing in front of it, examining the outside.

“-I just don’t see how we are going to open this.” One of them was saying.

“What’s the holdup here?” I asked.

One of the unicorns nodded and walked up to me. “The door is strengthened against fire, brute force, and explosive force. We are trying to open it with magic, but we can’t seem to get the lock open. We were about to go and-”

“Have you tried looking for a key?” I interrupted.

“… No.” The unicorn said.

“Have you tried making one with magic that fits it?”

“… Right away.” He said again, turning to the door and lighting up his horn. A loud click resounded throughout the room as the lock apparently opened.

“Next time, try the most obvious thing first.” I said, going up to the door.

I pushed it open, rifle at the ready. I instantly saw that it was a large, circular room, sixty meters in diameter. With five Changelings in the center, one large one and four normal ones.

“It’s Chrysalis! Get in there before she teleports!” One of the guards yelled.

Several seconds too late.

With a flash and a loud bang, a powerful teleportation spell activated, sending them off to god knows where. I blinked the spots out of my vision, seeing that they were no longer there.

“Can you track the goddamn spell?” I demanded of the unicorn next to me.

“Yes, I can. Just hold on!” He said, his horn lighting up with magic. Seconds later, it stopped. “I got it! Destination is a field a few miles to the south, between Canterlot and Ponyville, about thirty kilometers from each.”

“Can you get us near the field, a kilometer away?” I asked, pointing to Amber, Azure, and I.

“Yeah, just hold on…” The unicorn said, taking a moment to recover from the previous spell. When he did, magic lit up from his horn, and I felt the sensation of moving rapidly for a split second as the teleportation spell worked its magic (literally).

I opened my eyes to see myself, Azure, and Amber sitting in an open field. It was about eight now, and the sun was setting. However, the only thing in view was the two sides of the Everfree, Canterlot fifteen miles away on the mountain, and a lone, large building about one and a halo kilometers away.

As I went over to help my two friends, I could feel, inside of me, that this was going to be it.

This was going to be the end.