Prologue: Operation Avenger
Authors Note: Nothing new with the story, but check the Authors note at the bottom. Hopefully, the news contained within shall please you.
Prologue: Operation Avenger
Current Location: Ethereal Temple Ship
Operative Status: 5 K.I.A., 1 Critical Condition
Hostile Status: All K.I.A.
Recalling Operative
An oppressive silence hung in the air. The silence of a newly sealed tomb. Broken within seconds by angrily hissing sparks flying from shattered and melted equipment. I'm the only one left. I looked around for a few seconds before realizing that I couldn't see. Panic gripped me for a split second before I realized that my eyes were closed. Why were they closed? Tired.... so tired..... No, wake up! Get a grip of yourself! Come on. Open your eyes. Another burst of sparks flies out of the wrecked SHIV right in front of me. They skitter along the smooth floor of the ship like little worms. Sunlight, bright and golden, flows in through the forward view-screen. The ocean stretches out below, thousands of miles down. Not far enough. A flash of remembrance, accompanied by pain as I try to stand up too quickly. The black that had been slowly creeping into my vision now floods forwards, trying to overwhelm me.
"Time... I need... more... time..." I don't even realize that I've spoken the words aloud. The frantic battle to get here, to this point, comes back to me in chaotic flashes. Exiting the Skyranger. Loosing the rookie to a Muton ambush. What was her name? Joanne. That was it. Joanne. She was the medic. Katie, our sniper, had almost gone berserk with rage, emptying pistol round after pistol round into the cooling corpses of the Mutons. She only stopped when her pistol had clicked dry, at which point she had fallen to her knees and begun to cry. Christopher had stayed behind with her as Pierce and I had continued forwards, along with the SHIV. Together, we had survived the Sectopods, but Pierce had died shortly after. Two Muton Elites had pinned us down, and Pierce stuck his head out at just the wrong moment and had gotten a burst of plasma to the head for his troubles. And then it was just me and GOLIATH. I was shot in the stomach as we charged them. We entered the next room together to find our target there, waiting. The Uber Ethereal.
The one behind it all. Every abduction operation, every city nearly burned to the ground, every nation lost, every singleoperative killed defending the Earth... it was all because of him. His orders. His soldiers.
My failures. I was shaken quiet suddenly from my reverie when the ship shuddered violently beneath my feet, almost causing me to lose the balance I had just regained.
The HELL was that?!? Christopher shouted over the radio. Good, he was still alive. I pressed my fingers to my helmet and activated my built in headset. Say what you would about the engineering boys, but they always gave us the best toys.
"This is Commander Tauros. I'm ordering a full retreat." Chris's response was almost instant. Jon! You're alive! Thank God! Where's Pierce? The question hit me like a sledgehammer. If I'd had any tears left to shed, they would've fallen. "...He's dead, Chris. They got him. Listen, you need to get out." There was silence on the other end for a long time. "Chris? Chris, do you read me?" When the response came, it was subdued. Yeah... yeah, I read you. The ship gave another lurch. Something in my gut told me that this thing wouldn't stay together for much longer.
"Listen, you've got to get out. Take Katie and get out NOW!" I could tell that he was about to start arguing, so I cut him off before he could begin. "Listen, we don't have much time. Either you're getting out now, or not at all." The question that came was not the one I was expecting. What about you? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before answering. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Naturally, Chris saw through the blatant lie almost instantly.
Like hell you will! Get over here now! My eyes glowed with power for a split second as I sealed the bridge doors with but a thought. "I can't. The bastard rigged the doors so that they would seal if he died." The lie hurt, even though I knew it was necessary. "Take Katie and get out. That's an order." I knew he wanted to argue, to try to find a way to get me out. So I didn't give him any time to speak. "You spread the word, you hear?"
Jon..
"You tell 'em it's over. You tell them we won. For me." My shoulders sagged as I delivered the final blow. "For Pierce." Then I turned off my radio, effectively muting any other arguments of objections Chris might have had. Blood dripped from the hole in my guts, mingling with the alien ichor that slicked the floor and made the otherwise simple task treacherous. I nearly slipped and fell many times. The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that failure would spell doom for the entire human race. Slowly, I limped forwards, never faltering, never slowing down. My goal began to pulse more erratically, signalling the impending doom of the ship. After a seeming eternity, I finally stood before the Ethereal device. Amazing, how such a little thing could do so much. The air around me rippled and distorted as waves of untethered psionic energy blasted out from the sphere. With extreme effort, I imposed my will on the sphere. I made it mine, beholden to my will. Stop the black hole. The self destruct sequence was halted for the moment. Go up. There was a shudder as the ship resisted my will. Go up. Another shudder, then slowly, grudgingly, the ship began to rise up. Slowly at first, but quickly gaining in speed. Higher and higher, until it passed the clouds. And still, the ship rose up. Below me, the Earth shone. A beautiful gem, ravaged and broken by war. And yet, despite all the punishment, despite the best efforts of our inhuman enemy, the Earth had survived. No, we had more than survived. We had endured. We had weathered the storm, and come out stronger and wiser for it. But, we had not come through unscathed. And now, one final sacrifice was required. One final soul to be reaped, to ensure the continued existence of the rest. A small price. A fitting price. MY price.
With another thought, I activated the self-destruct. As the world vanished in a flash of light, heat, and pain, I felt one thing: Peace.
The lonely planet of Equis, far from the sight of the Ethereals, was ready to go to war. The Zebras and the Ponies were experiencing increased tensions as the supply of resources gradually shrank, while the demand grew ever larger. One ordinary night, however, an anomaly occurred. Night suddenly became day as a strange, swirling hole opened in the skies above Equestria and emitted... something. Whatever it was, it exploded almost as soon as it had exited the wormhole, bursting apart in silent wrath. From the castle on the mountain, a goddess looked out into the sky, angered by the sudden rebellion of her domain, and gasped in shock and horror as she saw something far too small to be a piece of debris falling from the sky, A pegasus? Why would a pegasus would be flying so high, so late?
Without a word of warning to anypony, not even a note telling of her departure, Princess Luna flew as quickly as she could towards where the poor being had landed. What she found would change the fate of the planet forever.
Author's Note
Whelp, here's chapter one. Hope you enjoyed, and I'll get the next chapter out when I can.
Hello, hello, hello!
Now, because I love y'all so much, I'mma give you a 'sneak peak' of Chapter 2! For all of you who have been here since the beginning, thank you all so very much. Both for your patience and your support. For those of you just joining, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1! If you would be so kind as to leave a comment below, I will be sure to respond to it as soon as possible.
Now, the reason Chapter 2 has taken so long to get up is that it's lookin' to be a LONG one, folks.
This is DamienSmith, saying TTFN.
Chapter 1: Before the Storm
Chapter 1: Before the Storm
Luna flew as quickly as she could, a tinge of panic lending her speed as she raced towards her objective. Smoke billowed and curled upwards from the impact site she was headed towards. The landscape blurred below her, such was her speed. Yet the Princess of the Night feared that she still wouldn't be fast enough. A red glow on the horizon alerted her to the nearness of her objective. The alicorn crested a hill, and saw a scene torn right from Hell. Fires burned everywhere, illuminating the devastation around her. Thankfully, nopony lived anywhere around here, so there was no property damage or, more importantly, injuries. Acrid smoke filled the air, giving the whole place an air of evil. Before long, the smoke forced the princess to land.
Her eyes burned from the sheer intensity of the billowing clouds. The second her hooves touched the ground, a slight whispering started in her head. She couldn't quite make out the words, though. She didn't realize that she had stopped moving forwards until she consciously thought about it. She shook her head and continued to move forwards. Very quickly, she came to the crater she was looking for. It was the deepest one, and had the most smoke rising from it. Surprisingly, there was very little fire that the Moon princess could see or hear. She took another step forwards...
And screamed in agony as a spike of pain was driven through her mind. The pain was too much, and Luna passed out. When she came to, she found that she had curled up into the foetal position and had a mild headache. She exhaled shakily and got up. The crater was steep, and she almost fell many times. When she reached the top, it was almost time for her to lower the moon. She looked down and saw a... a...
The alicorn stood there in stunned silence, trying to comprehend what exactly it was that was lying below her. A smooth skin of some metal covered its entire body from head to hoof. Its forelegs weren't of the same proportions as its hind legs, and ended in what appeared to be dragon-like claws. Where the muzzle and face should be, a plate of some reflective material connected to the rest of the skin. There was a skull motif of some creature she had never seen before on it. A golem of some sort perhaps? Then why wasn't it moving? And where was its master? She took a step forwards to get a better look and slipped on something wet, warm, and sticky. She landed badly, and her wing caught on the golem's skin. There was a barely audible snap, and then pain flooded the princess. Everything went black.
* * *
Canterlot Castle, Equestria
4:00 a.m.
3 hours after initial impact
Three hours ago, Celestia had been woken up by panicked shouts and yells from the castle staff as a ball of fire had come roaring down from the heavens and turned night, briefly, into day. After her initial grogginess had worn off, it had taken somewhere close to an hour to sufficiently calm down one of the staff to the point at which the unicorn stallion could give her a coherent answer to "just what the buck is going on here?!?"
Looking back on it, Celestia winced at how harsh she had been to the poor guard. She had been tired, confused, and severely irritated at how nopony had seemed capable of recovering from their panic. After the castle staff had finally been calmed down, it had taken another hour and a public speech from herself to calm the populace of Canterlot and convince them to return to their homes. After which, the Solar Princess had gone back to her room, hoping to return to her warm bed and sweet dreams.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. She had spent half an hour just tossing and turning, battling with the growing sense that she was forgetting something rather important. So, Celestia had spent another thirty minutes fully waking herself up. Showering, brushing her teeth, mane, and tail, that sort of thing. Oh, and coffee. No morning was complete without a nice, steaming cup o' joe to jolt your systems awake with a burst of caffeine(Celestia did love her coffee). Just as she was finishing up, a tentative knock sounded at the door. In a good mood now that she'd had time to wake up and come to terms with the fact that she would be getting no more sleep tonight, Celestia called out in a sing-song voice.
"Come in!" The door opened slowly, creaking very loudly on un-oiled hinges. Celestia winced, and made a mental note to have that fixed as soon as possible. It was Lemon Slice, one of Celestia's personal hoofmaidens. "Yes, Lemon, what is it?" The yellow pegasus seemed oddly reluctant to speak. Celestia felt a small frown form on her face. "Lemon? Is something wrong?"
"Well..." Lemon froze up, unsure of how to say what she had been told to report. Finally, she decided that being blunt would be best for now. "Princess Luna seems to have locked herself into her chambers again, and she refuses to answer any of our attempts to come in." Celestia's good mood evaporated almost instantly.
"Again?" Celestia's voice held no anger or irritation, only sorrow and concern. Lemon hated seeing her ruler like this.
"Yes, milady. She's been ignoring us completely." Celestia sighed softly as her shoulders slumped. The moment of weakness passed so quickly that Lemon wasn't sure if she had actually seen it or if it had just been a figment of her imagination.
"Very well. Take me to her, please," the Solar Princess said, resolve filling her and lending her new strength.
Minutes later, they stood before Luna's door. Celestia raised a hoof and knocked ever so softly on her beloved sister's door. "Luna? Is something wrong?" Just as Lemon had warned her, no response came. "Sister?"
Celesia knocked again, slightly louder and more rapidly this time. "Luna, please talk to me." Lemon watched as Celestia's frown grew deeper and deeper as the minutes passed with still no response. "Luna, this isn't like you. If there's something wrong, tell me, please!"
Author's Note
That's all for now, folks! More coming soon, though, I promise! Please remember to leave a comment, and if you're a new reader(or old), thanks so much for giving my humble story the time of day!
See y'all tomorrow!
