Operation: Swordbreaker

Chapter 2- Pony Ops

Commander Ellise sat behind his desk, tapping away on the latest of Mac laptops when there was a knock on his door.

"Enter" he said, and the door opened to reveal Corporal Nathan Harper standing in the doorway, he stepped in and saluted his officer before speaking.

"Sir I've come to a decision" Nathan said, pausing to takes breath "I'm in." Ellise nodded and have one of his rare smiles before standing up and offering his hand to the Corporal, which he accepted.

"Good on you lad" the Commander said "Welcome to Operation: Swordbreaker." Dropping the NCO's hand Ellise regained his serious composure before sitting down and gesturing for Nathan to do the same.

"Now it's only fair that you know the full details of your mission" the officer paused for a moment "You already know what the... Natives, look like. The first step of this operation is to disguise you as one of them, so as to infiltrate there defences" Nathan blinked in confusion.

"And... How are we going to do that sir? I look nothing like a... Pony" Eliise nodded in agreement.

"Right you are Corporal, but luckily our good friend Dr. Velchiek has a way to remedy that, he as alluded to the fact that we currently posses the technology to... Remake your body into something that matches the native species."

"Sir.... Are you saying that your going to turn me into a Pony?"

"Why yes, yes I am." There was several minutes of silence as the two men just stared at each other, only broken when Nathan rubbed the area just above his right eyebrow, where he could feel a headache forming.

"Well I did sign up for this mission, when do we start sir?"

"Right now, follow me." The Commander stood up and lead Nathan down the hall, they met no one during their journey and eventually they entered a part of the compound that Nathan had not seen before and they came to a pair of double doors, pushing through them the two soldiers were assaulted by a bright white light, once his eyes adjusted Nathan could see that they were standing in a white tile, sterile-looking room, in the centre was a hospital operating table which was surrounded by an army of large machines in which blinked and beeped. Around those machines were several people in lab coats, none of them familiar to Nathan, standing next to the table though was Dr. Velchiek.

A smile could be seen on the good doctors face as the two soldiers approached, he reached out a hand to Nathan when he reached him.

"Good of you to join us Mr. Harper" the doctor said, shaking Nathan's hand "Welcome to the point of no return." With that happy thought, Velchiek dropped his hand and gestured towards the operating table.

"If you ready to get started, I'll have you remove your boots and your tunic before laying down" Nathan looked at the Commander with raised eyebrows and Ellise met it with a passive nod of confirmation. With mountains of uncertainty the Corporal slowly unbuttoned his tunic, slipping out of it and handing it to the Commander, then he knelt down and unlatched his combat boots, pulling them off his feet. Leaving Nathan only in a green t-shirt, combat pants, and wool socks.

"Up you come" Dr Velchiek said, patting the operating table, with yet another look at Ellise, Nathan claimed onto the table, the sterile paper crunching under him as the Corporal layed down and attempted to relax.

The Doctor entered his vision, holding a face mask connected to a plastic tube.

"If all goes well you'll wake up in no time, you will feel strange but try and relax." Without waiting for a response the doctor strapped Nathan with the mask and the faint taste of sedatives entered the Corporals mouth before he lost consciousness.

                                                              ~~*~~

Nathan opened his eyes. Too bright. He closed them again.

He felt nauseous, the room seemed to spin and jerk in random directions. He was definitely awake, however felt immensely tired at the same time, he could smell all sorts of things; disinfectant, soap bubbles, hospital smells. He could hear a multitude of sounds as well; beeps, whistles and pings, hospital noises.

Thus his blunt, soldiers logic told him that he was in a hospital, he didn't remember much, he wondered what sort of accident he had been in, or if anyone else had been hurt. Yet he didn't care either way.

They probably sedated me

Nathan opened his eyes again, this time it wasn't so bright. He tried opening his mouth to say something, his jaw didn't seem to want to function properly. Moving every which way except the way he wanted, eventually it obeyed and Nathan switched his focus to his tongue, but instead of forming proper English sentences the appendage lolled around in his mouth like it was attached to a mad man.

Suddenly one of the doctors entered his vision, he was a younger man with nice brown eyes and hair.

"You'll be pleased to know that the surgery was a success, just get some rest now while we finish up" Nathan mumbled something insane and his veins were pumped full of sedatives and the soldier fell into the misty swirly works of sleepy happy land.

                                                                  ~~*~~

Nathan slowly became aware of the fact that he was awake. He was in what looked like a hospital room. And he could kind of feel his body, but he couldn't really move it. That... was worrisome.

  He blinked slowly and tried to look around, but her head didn't want to move properly. Plus, it felt way too heavy in the wrong places, and way too light in the others.

Slowly the memories of why he was here returned to Nathan, there was no accident but there was a surgery, he remembered the operation he had signed up for.

I'm a Pony now aren't I? he thought, no really caring about the implications of what that entailed, rather Nathan was content to simply stay still and be lazy.

Again the same doctor from last time entered his vision, smiling pleasantly.

"Welcome back Mr. Harper, how are you feeling?"

"Fine really, besides the fact that I don't think I can move and I can't feel the lower half of my body"

"Yeah, that would be the sensitives, don't worry when you wake up again you'll be off the sensitives, you might even be able to go for a walk."

"That's great... I've been wanting to get out of... Bed" unconsciousness claimed Nathan again, leaving him with the image of the doctors smiling face.

                                                              ~~*~~

"So how long was I out exactly?" Nathan asked a bot annoyed.

"About a month and a half" Dr. Velchiek said "It took a while for to finish... Cooking I suppose... But everything should be fine now"

"...Should."

"Well we hope anyway, you can try getting up now."

"Well unstrap me first"

"Of course! These were only there to keep you from hurting yourself" Velchiek gestured towards the restraints and the brown-eyed doctor stepped forward from the observing medical staff and undid the straps holding Nathan down.

When the last strap was off his leg Nathan lifted his head a looked down at his new body, this was a mistake, as the familiar feeling of panic began to seep into the Corporals brain, closing his eyes Nathan recalled the classes given to all members of the  U.I.A.F about dealing with stress, panic, and PTSD. With controlled actions Nathan breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, repeating the process for a minute before opening his eyes again and assessing the Equine body that was now his.

His coat was a light tannish brown, a pretty standard Pony colour and nothing like a garish brightly coloured beings the he saw on the video feed. His actual hooves were coal black and shiny, moving down he could see that his tail (I have a tail) was a much darker brown, it complemented his coat nicely. Most notably was the mark on his flank, Nathan remembered seeing symbols on the flanks of the Ponies he had seen, his was the simple black silhouette of a longsword.

"Mr. Harper? Do you feel alright?" Velchiek asked.

"I think so" Nathan said "It's like I know this is my body but my mind doesn't want to accept it. Also... What's with the sword?"

"Disorientation is normal" the Brown-eyed Doctor said "Just take it slow, try moving your legs like you would move your old body."

"The sword mark is there simply because the general adult Pony populace seem to have one, what they signify are unknown but we gave you that as a reminder of your mission" Dr, Velchiek said.

Taking the advice of Brown-eyes Nathan lifted his right hoof, inspecting the naturally polished blackness that rivalled his parade boots, bringing it closer he brought to appendage up to his face and booped himself on the nose, after that he brought his two front hooves together in a soft hoof clap.

Giving a positive nod to the doctors they helped Nathan get out of bed, it took a few minutes   but eventually he was standing, albeit shakily, on his four hooves. What was immediately obvious was that he was only as tall as a persons stomach, which was rather strange for a normally tall person.

He was still very wobbly, his brain was working on the assumption that it's host was still in a Human body, therefore trying to work off a Humans centre of gravity while the body itself was working of its own, it was quite disorientating but after closing his eyes and concentrating Nathan was able to balance himself out.

"Glad your greeting the hang of it" Dr. Velchiek said "Now, if there are no health concerns I would like to move forward with rehabilitation and training"

"Everything seems to check out" Brown Eyes said "But I suggest having something to eat first, and perhaps getting more familiar with his new body"

"Alright then!" Velchiek said "I suppose you'll want to see a mirror Mr. Harper?"

"Of course" one of the nurses wheeled out a full length mirror and placed it in front of Nathan. He looked at the creature reflected back at him, his eyes were the same light blue that they were previously, tan coat that he had seen earlier and dark brown mane that matched his tail, the mane was longer that his Human hair, but as far as he could tell it still was within the parameters of military dress.

Priorities straight as ever he scolded himself, looking at his new face revealed unfamiliar features, although the expression it wore was certainly familiar though.

Turning away from the mirror Nathan was already becoming more coordinated with his new body.

"I am ready to proceed sir." He said.

"Good, but first some food."

                                                                  ~~*~~

Nathan stared down at the tray of food, slight annoyance and disappointment showing on his Pony face.

"So... No meat?" He asked.

"I'm afraid not" Dr. Velchiek said sympathetically "Ponies are vegetarians you see, better get into the habit" The Corporal looked at Commander Ellise who had arrived with the food, unlike the doctor there was no sympathy in his eyes.

"Eat Corporal" with a sigh Nathan looked back down at his serving of carrots and celery, broccoli, and cauliflower. He also had an apple and a cup of water.

Deciding that the apple would be the most simple, Nathan reach out with both hooves and gripped the apple before bringing it up to his mouth, and taking a large bite, after chewing and swallowing he would carefully turn the fruit and take another bite, once he got the hang of it Nathan finished off the apple in no time.

The vegetables proved even simpler, adopting a technique of grabbing them with his mouth and for thing them in as he chewed proved efficient and surprisingly clean. The only thing left was the cup of water, after staring at it for a minute Nathan came up with a solution.

He used his hooves on either side to raise the plastic glass of water. Then he clamped on to it with his teeth, then shifted his hooves around to the bottom, and then pushed up. Cool water poured into his mouth, and Nathan successfully downed the entire glass before carefully placing it down, his meal over.

"Good work! You seem to be mastering your new body splendidly!" Velchiek praised "With this much progress rehabilitation and re-training should take no time at all!" The Doctor was positive, but one glance at the Commander told Nathan that he didn't share Velcheik's attitude.

"We'll see" he said softly.

                                                                  ~~*~~

Training was hard, even by the standard of the U.I.A.F, Nathan had to literally learn to walk again, and from walking then came running, jumping, climbing, writing, handling objects, and of course; combat skills.

Running was the easiest, it took a few tries but Nathan eventually created a pattern to follow and it resulted in a fast gallop that even the Commander was satisfied with.

Jumping was horrible for the longest time, falling on his furry face time over time over time, constantly being motivated by the instructors assigned to him, not to mention the Commander himself, who's voice boomed across the gym without effort. With such great support it was only a matter of time before Nathan stuck the landing and mastered jumping about ten meters.

Manipulating things with his mouth and hooves took a lot longer. As the days went by, though, he rapidly started to learn how to use his hooves in ways he'd never thought of. For example, when it came to drinking, he was now able to balance the glass neatly with one hoof while tipping it back with the other.

It was fighting and combat skills that took the longest, wether that was because they wanted to focus on it was not of import, what was important was the difficulty in which it took to fire a pistol with hooves, the trainers eventually compromised by giving Nathan a attachment for his hoof that was essentially a hook to pull the trigger, after that it took no time to regain his old accuracy, unfortunately the Commander bluntly stated that he wouldn't be provided with such an attachment because they didn't know if the natives even had pistols, let alone devices for firing them.

Nathan was also put through a sword fighting class, why was beyond him but he didn't question it, no matter how bad a sword tasted in his mouth.

Finally he was instructed on everything they knew about Ponyland, from mannerisms to their currency and it was during this final briefing that the Commander gave Nathan his first major objective.

Clicking a remote revealed an image of what looked like a castle placed on the side of a large mountain.

"We think this is the natives capital of sorts, your first objective is to make your way there and discover their military base of operations. It is also relevant to tell you know if the communicative implants placed in your body, these will allow you to contact me when small windows are opened by the people here at Harmonics, understood?"

Nathan should have been upset about the implants, but he really wasn't, his sense of duty and excitement for the coming mission overwhelming any other feeling.

"Yes sir" he said patriotically.

                                                              ~~*~~

The day of the window seemed to arrive in no time, inside Nathan's nerves were having a field day, but he forced them down and kept a stoic expression on his Pony face.

Nathan stood in front of the portal listening to the machine hum and beep as the prepared for his transportation, suddenly behind him Dr. Velchiek spoke loudly.

"This is it! Prepare yourself!" The humming increased and Nathan had to close his eyes from the light created by the event horizon, squinting through he saw the picturesque green rolling hills that was his arrival point.

"Go now before the window closes!" Steeling his courage, Nathan walked through the event horizon into what would be either a new world or a new battlefield.