Chapter 15: Friends and Fights

There was nothing but darkness, my consciousness floating there in an endless abyss. No matter where I turned, more black greeted me for eternity. I couldn't make a sound, I couldn't even feel my own breathing.

I closed my eyes, a coolness shrouding my body...

I inhaled sharply, my eyes shooting open to the feedback of blurred surroundings. I shook off the ripple of nausea and swallowed, wincing slightly at the dry pain in my throat.

Clearing my throat, I glanced around the empty room. "…Luna? Lucy? Hello?" My voice echoed through the bowels of the ship, a short silence greeting me back.

Then, a rapid flurry of hoofsteps beat against the ground as the nearby doors slid open and Luna entered. "J-Jake?! What are you doing up already! Lay down and stop stressing yourself!" She said aloud, rearing up one her hind legs and pushing down my shoulders.

I pressed against her surprising strength, sitting myself up fully and lightly brushing her away. "Whoa whoa... easy there, relax why?" Looking around the room, I furrowed my brow. "Side-note... why am I in the med-bay?"

Luna set the hologram disk beside me, where it lit up causing Lucy to appear looking at me with concern.

The ai was the first to speak up. "Well we... well more like Luna, brought you here after you collapsed." She stated with a nod, taking in my confused expression. "Obviously we managed to get you stable, but it seems your body is one of few who react… quite sporadically to the serums."

My eyes widened in surprise. "R-Really? But, my ancestral report showed no red flags!"

Lucy nodded slowly. "Yes… on your father’s side…"

There was a silence for a few moments after that, before Luna butted in. "…what does that mean? What about the mother?"

I glanced at Luna for a second before shrugging, "Never knew her so we don't have any files on her medical history. If I had to guess, Lucy already told you about the enhancements... but what she didn't tell you was how experimental they are. We can't just test my DNA either. Apparently, it’s something only present in older individuals… something the serums bring out and really really hate. My father’s records came up clean, but my mother… well she’s been out of the picture for as long as I can remember."

After a few moments of silence I looked up, just in time to see Luna as she leaned forward and pulled me into a hug.

She shook her head, "Oh, you poor thing! Never to know a mothers love!" She exclaimed, hugging me even tighter. "Nopony should have to suffer such a thing!"

I sat there for a few shocked moments before clearing my throat, breaking her focus as she loosened her grip.

Pushing her back, I shook my head and chuckled. "It's alright, I've gotten over it a long, long time ago. In fact, it was never a problem… you can't miss something you never had, right?" I reasoned with a sideways smile.

The pony blinked a few times. "W-Well, we-" Luna began but stopped, looking away as if someone had called her name.

A few moments passed until she blinked, turning back to me. "We are afraid we have received some unsettling news..." She started, a tinge of worry speeding her words along, "-originally, we'd planned on sending you the… ‘materials’ today; although some of the items we simply do not have or even understand…” She paused, looking back towards the same direction as before, “-but something has come up."

I sat in silence, before shaking my head, "Wait... what do you mean 'Somethings come up'? This is possibly, no… this IS more important than whatevers come up!" I stated, my volume climbing with each word. "I mean, we’re talking about an entire species-"

Luna turned back to me, fire in her eyes. “And we must protect our own!" Her retort was loud, but was quickly stifled at my surprised gaze as she took in a breath and calmed herself. "Sorry... you didn't know... anyways, it seems the Griffon Empire has ignored our pleas for peace and have... invaded Fillyfjell, a small town up north of here near the mountains."

I cursed myself for being inconsiderate... but at the same time I couldn't just let this happen. This was valuable time wasting away as both Lucy and I don't know the extent of the repairs until we see how difficult it is to get the parts.

"Well why can't you and your sister go and take care of it? Don't you both have like, crazy high supplies of magic?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes we do but... it seems the Griffons have uncovered some sort of artifact that dampens magic. So this could be quite dangerous used against the two of us at once." Luna replied.

"I see... so I guess you'll be going to see your sister then?" I asked causing her to nod. "Alright, take me with you."

This sparked a look of surprise from her as she looked at me with caution. "And why is that?" She asked back.

"Because I feel like she would want to hear what I have to say."

She inspected me for a moment before rolling her eyes and walking towards me. "Alright fine, place your hand on me." She said.

I did as she said and as her horn began to charge she let out a chuckle, getting my attention.

"What's so funny?" I asked seriously.

Chuckling again she gave me a sideways look. "Today I found myself getting ordered to do things by others, which has not happened in a long, long time. Today just keeps getting stranger." She said with a small smile as there was a bright flash of light.

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I blinked furiously trying to remove the spots from my vision as I shook my head. When my vision finally began to clear I noticed where I was. I was standing beside Luna inside of what appeared to be a very elegantly made hallway, looked to be chipped out of stone with some laces of gold all over the place. I turned my vision to Luna to see her looking forward towards a set of double doors.

"Are you ready?" She asked me, giving me a worried look.

"Yeah why wouldn't I be?" I asked as I heard a loud scream from behind said doors.

There was a terrifying sound of something along the lines of a plasma emitter firing and something hitting the floor as I turned to Luna.

"What the hell is going on in there!" I asked her.

"It's my sister... she's not happy with what's happening right now. I think the events of today mixed with what just happened is too much for her."

I nodded back before walking towards the door. I paused for a moment and smiled back. "Hehe... ladies first?"

Rolling her eyes she opened the doors with her magic and trotted in, with me closely behind. When I went through what I saw was amazing. There was a completely diamond and gold chandelier hanging high above the room with gold laced around the walls with all sorts of decorations fixed in them. Each window had a different tale on it. Looking closer a lot of them looked similar to the ponies I met back in Ponyville. Not just Twilight but the others as well. On the floor leading all the way up to the front of the room was a beautiful red carpet with amazing trim along the edges leading all the way up to a solid gold throne.

That was, if the room didn't have a giant streak running through the middle, where anything nearby was either burnt up or melted completely.

"Sister! You need to control your temper or we will run the castle into the ground fixing damages like these all the time!" Luna spoke up as she trotted up the carpet towards her sister who sat in the throne looking completely stressed out.

It was now that I noticed the guards standing next to me had their weapons drawn and pointed towards me, even if they were just spears I still wasn't armored.

"Guards! Lower your weapons! He is a guest!" Luna shouted back when she noticed the guards behavior.

The guards lowered their weapons and took up their normal stance next to the doors, but still looked tensed from my presence.

"Luna I'm sorry but... everything just came out of nowhere... I really need a vacation." Celestia said as she rubbed her temples with her hooves.

"Then do as I said and take a break! I can handle the kingdom by myself for a week!" Luna exclaimed as she walked next to her sister and gave her a small push.

"Thank you dear sister... I may take you up on that request... but only after we have dealt with-" She stopped as she noticed me across the room. "Oh, I didn't realize you were there, my apologizes Lieutenant." She said as she got to her hooves.

The guards immediately took interest in me after she was finished talking.

"It's alright Ma'am, just Jake is fine."

I made my way towards her as she motioned for me to follow while she left through a back door. I filed in after Luna and looked around. The room was much much smaller than the last room was, this room having no decorations and just a round table with a map on it.

"A war room..." I said as I leaned on the table, examining the whole thing. "I heard you may have a Griffon problem? Where is this town of yours... Fillyfjell was it?" I asked Celestia as she gave me a sideways look.

"You told him?" She said to Luna who nodded back while blushing. "*Sigh* Alright well since you already know... its here, right in the mountainous area, north of Ponyville." She said as she tapped her hoof on a section of the map.

Nodding I looked up to Celestia. "So, what do you plan on doing about it?" I asked back as she let out another sigh.

"Honestly? There is nothing we can do about it. The area is very easily defend-able so we can't do an aerial strike so they now dominate the skies. That means they have lookouts so ground troops are out... and they seem to have a counter to our magic so there goes unicorns." She finished shaking her head.

"Well it seems... you need some assistance." I said giving a small smile, causing Celestia and Luna to give me curious looks. "Tell you what... if you go ahead with your plan on helping me fix my ship, I'll get your town back TONIGHT." I said with a smile causing them both to open their eyes surprised.

"Tonight?" Celestia said back, unconvinced, "I feel like that is highly unlikely without the aid of numbers OR magic."

Luna then spoke up, "Actually sister, from what little I've seen of his 'ship' the amount of power they hold is astonishing without even the need for magic! He may very well be able to help us!"

Celestia looked to be deep in thought as she looked up from the map to me. "I don't know..."

"And..." I said as they leaned in a bit, wanting to hear what I had to say. "When you fix my ship... I'll end this little dispute between you and the Griffons in no less than a day tops." I said smiling.

Celestia stood there pondering what I had just said for a moment before motioning for Luna to follow her out the door. "Wait here." She asked me as she closed the door behind her.

Some whispers could be heard by the two for a few minutes before the door cracked open and the two walked back in. They were silent as they made their way to the other side of the table, opposite to me. The whole time Celestia looked straight ahead. When she stopped she faced me and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, before releasing it and looking straight into my eyes.

"How do we know... with such power you say you have... you will not turn on us when you have your ship repaired?" She asked in such a serious voice it almost didn't fit her motherly character.

I pondered this for a few seconds before connecting my eyes with her's as well. "Other than my own word... you don't. But I guess the only question is, what would you rather? Inevitable defeat to the Griffons, or a chance to fight back with me even with the risk that I may not be telling the truth?" I asked back as she closed her eyes and nodded.

"I had a feeling you would say that... alright. We both accept these terms and are ready to supply you with whatever you need for the ship, and for the mission." Celestia said as she gave a quick glance to Luna.

Smiling a bit I placed both my hands down on the table. "Alright then... let's get to work!"

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I once again found myself blinking out the spots in my vision after teleporting with Luna. I walked up to the ship and went inside, Luna close behind me.

"Alright, Lucy we're in action, I'm taking the armor and won't be back until probably tomorrow. I don't know your signal strength but there is no way you can contact the suit from the range I'm going to be. I want you to delete yourself from the suit, so you can only contact me when I'm in range." I said as I began taking the suit out of the charging port.

"Alright sir... but why delete myself from it?" Lucy asked confused.

"Because it's a waste of space, I plan on flying this ship soon anyway. I would rather have the storage space in the suit's drive for other things. Not like they could afford better storage capacity when going for protection anyway." I said back.

"Alright that sound's reasonable enough." She said as she paused for a second, "Alright it's done."

"Okay, Luna, I need you to stay here and focus on telling ponies where to put things and what not, Lucy will help you through that. So while I'm gone, your the one in charge here." I said to Luna getting a nod in reply. "Also, tell me again why you can't just teleport me to the town?"

Luna rolled her eyes and began, "Because even though the town is really only composed of Pegasus and Earth ponies, the Griffons still have their own Unicorns and Arch Mages working for them. If we were to teleport you anywhere near them you would show up as a beacon to them."

Nodding I gave a small smile. "Alright good point. Carriage it is. Are you sure they can handle this weight?" I asked pointing to the armor that I had halfway on."

"Yes the carriages are magically enchanted to hold more weight." Luna said, apparently oblivious to what she had said previously.

"Wait I thought you said they can detect magic?" I asked as I stopped putting on armor for a moment.

Rolling her eyes for the hundredth time, she explained, "No... that magic is much more subtle that a teleport, the Unicorn's would have to be actively searching for it to notice it."

I raised my hands defensively after locking the helmet into place. "Whoa sorry! I'm no magic expert remember? Anyway, I'm ready so let's go." I said as I lifted my plasma rifle up and attached it to my back's magnetic holder, along with some spare clips against my waist. "Also Lucy, can you start work on manufacturing some more magazines for the plasma weapons, I feel we may start running kind of low after this." I said pointing to the half empty magazine in the rifle, and the two spares on my hip.

"Yes sir." Lucy spoke up from the console.

"Jake... if I could ask you to do one thing for me..." Luna spoke up as she neared me. "Could you please try not to kill any of them? I know your a soldier and all but... if you can just maybe... I don't know..."

"I'll do my best to take as many of them out non-lethally. But no promises if things get hairy." I said getting a nod from Luna. "Alright, lets do this." I said towards Luna as she teleported me back to the castle's hanger.

"State your business!" A guard shouted as he readied his weapon to his side.

I stood straight and looked down at the guardsman. "First Lieutenant Jake Carson reporting for the mission to take back Fillyfjell from the Griffon Empire."

The guard eased up and lowered his weapon a bit, "That's you? Got some proof?" He asked as I pulled out a piece of paper given to me by Celestia. "Alright, follow me to your carriage."

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The ride to the town was long and uneventful. Celestia offered me a meal before I left but I declined as I didn't think of how long the trip was.

*Growl*

"Ugh... I should have accepted the meal... I didn't think this was gonna be a four hour trip." I said quietly to myself as I watched the two ponies pulling the carriage ahead of me. "Hey I know I'm not in this suit but, aren't you guys cold!?" I shouted to the two as I leaned against the front of the carriage.

"No sir! We Pegasi are weather resistant!" One of them shouted back.

'Well that explains why half the population of this town are Pegasi...'

"But I could hear what you said about being hungry, check the bag on the floor there we brought a bit of food along the way as a snack!" He shouted over the wind.

I knelled down and opened the bag and saw a bunch of apples.

'Heh... why not...'

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"Alright! The town is less than half a mile that way!" One of the fliers yelled out over the snowstorm as he pointed ahead, causing a small dot to appear over my HUD in the direction he indicated. "This is where you get off!" He yelled as they began to descend.

"Alright got ya! No need to go down boys! Thanks for the snack!" I yell back as I hop off the edge and begin to plummet towards the ground.

As I impacted the ground I threw some snow into the air and steadied myself.

"Alright, let's get to work." I said as I looked down to my wrist.

I pressed a few buttons and my armor and weapon flashed for a second before changing to the color white for good camouflage, before trekking onward towards the town.

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After about an hour of walking through the blizzard nearly blind, I could see a faint light ahead. I increased my pace watching not to trip on any rocks in these godforsaken cold mountains. As I reached a nice distance I could easily tell this was the town by the Griffons walking around. I had been given a quick rundown of what they looked like and what I should watch out for before I left so it wasn't too surprising when I saw them.

I stayed as low as I could to the ground as I drew my rifle from my back and quickly moved forward as a Griffon patrol went by on foot. If I wanted to do this, I needed to know how many of them there are here, and to do that I needed information. Keeping low to the ground, covered by the snowstorm I began to sneak towards the two Griffons on patrol. As I neared them I could hear the two of them chatting to each other.

"Yeah the kid wanted extra rations just because he asked!" The left Griffon said aloud.

"Pfft, I say we just let em' starve. It's not like we're usin' em for anythin!" The one on the right said back.

'I said I would try not to be lethal...' I thought to myself as I came up behind the one on the right. 'That just means don't let em' die...'

I brought my rifle up and shot into his leg, causing blood to spray out for a second before the heat of the plasma singed it closed with third degree burns. The loud shot and howl of pain went unheard to all but two people during the snowstorm. I ran up and bashed him in the head with the butt of my rifle, knocking him out cold before pointing my gun to the other griffon now cowarding under my gaze.

"Now, you're going to lead me somewhere to drag him, somewhere without any other Griffons. And when we get there..." I say as I inch closer to his face as he tried to pull back into the snow. "You're going to tell me everything I want to know..."

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