Chapter 21: War Isn't Fair

I spent the rest of the night laying in the ship in a cozy little grove in the wall, filled with blankets and a pillow. The ship has everything but an actual bedroom funny enough. I spent a few minutes thinking about the previous events of that day before dozing off, and entering the dream world. I can never quite remember any of my dreams... but as I woke up an image of... what I think was Luna flashed before my eyes before being forgotten to memory. What I DO know is I woke up today, feeling actually quite relaxed.

Letting out a big yawn I spoke up. "*Yawn* Hey Lucy... we all good to go?" I asked hoping for good news.

Lucy quickly, and happily, replied. "Oh yes sir! The ponies worked all through the night! We are now ready for lower, upper and space flight! The only thing we need to get working is the FTL drive and we can go home!"

Smiling I quickly woke myself up, and made my way to the door. "Excellent."

As I opened the door, what I saw I didn't believe. Every single pony that had been working on the ship, was barely awake and slugging around, finishing things like missing paint and final touches.

'Holy shit... when she said worked through the night...' I thought... lost for words.

Clearing my throat I quickly got everypony's attention.

"This... wow... I honestly can't thank you all enough for your help. Your own dedication to your job has helped countless people... not just me. In case Celestia hasn't filled you in already, this repair job means more than you could ever know." I said aloud as they all gave small smiles. "Means so much actually... I feel you all should get a few days off for your hard work!" I said with a smile, getting them all to brighten up and cheer. "Go tell Celestia that message is directly from me, and I'm sure she'd be more than happy to oblige."

As they shuffled away, I turned back to the finished piece of human, and now pony, engineering. Of course they had to have very detailed instructions next to them AND repair bots helping them along the way... but every bit helps right? Shaking my head I got into the ship and straight to the cockpit, where I sat down, getting a feel for the wheel.

'Ah... now let's see what this baby can REALLY do...' I thought with a smile on my face as I prepared to fly.

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I shot through the upper atmosphere, going no where near top speed but instead enjoying the feeling of flight as I made my way to Canterlot. As I neared it I began to pull back down below the cloud layer and flew directly towards Luna's balcony.

'Kinda hard to miss it when the thing is blue with a crescent moon on top...' I thought as I came up beside it and put the ship in hover.

I come to the door and open it, stepping out onto the stone platform. I knocked on the open doors before slowly stepping inside and looking around.

"Hello...? Luna you in here?" I asked as I heard a few hoof steps a bit farther inside.

"...Jake? How did you get in-" Luna began as she opened what I suspected was a bathroom door, and looked in my direction. "Whaaa..." She said in confusion.

Laughing I pointed behind me and towards the floating ship, smiling. "Well, I got the ship up and running. And I wanted to show you something." I said as she raised an eyebrow, but walked towards me anyway.

"And what might that be?" She asked as she gazed upon the ship as it hovered. "Wow... I still cannot believe this doesn't use any magic..." She said as she reached her hoof out and touched it's hull.

"Alright, you comin'?" I said smiling as I stepped aboard, followed quickly by Luna as we walked to the cockpit.

"Where are we going?" She asked as I gave a smile.

"Luna... have you ever looked up and thought... 'I wish I could go and see what's out there...'" I said as I looked up into the sky through the windshield.

Luna was quiet for a moment as she gazed up at the clear blue sky and it's never ending expanse, before looking down at the control panel.

"I have before... why?" She asked as she looked back towards me as I sat down.

"Would you come with me? Just for one trip when I leave? Not just to let you get out there... but I'm also going to need help getting the entirety of Earth Gov to believe me..." I said with a small chuckle. "A world of talking ponies... they'd have me thrown away in the nut house."

Luna stayed silent for a while before I decided to give her a bit of a 'Nudge'. I slowly began to ascend, getting speed quickly as we broke the cloud layer. In just under a few minutes we were leaving the atmosphere as I banked left and soared over the planet.

"Ever have a view like this?" I said smiling as we circled.

Nodding a bit Luna watched, lost for words for a few moments. "I can't fly this high.. the only time I've ever been this high was when..." She gave a pause before continuing. "When I was trapped on the moon... but I never actually spent the time to ENJOY the view..." She said as she walked as close to the glass as she could.

There was a calm silence as I soared over the planet on a tilt, taking in as much of the planet as I could. I never noticed how many similarities it actually shared with Earth. It was actually kind of eerie.

Finally, Luna broke the silence. "Yes." She said with a pause. "I'll come with you on your trip. To see the stars and... your world." She said with a tear in her eye. "Because you have no idea... how much it means to me." She said as she continued taking in the endless expanse of space, and the sight of the planet below.

"That's all I needed to hear... now, point where you'd like to go! This is your own private chariot for the time being!" I said as I put the ship on auto pilot, stood up and bowed. "Weclome Miss Luna! To Planet..." I paused awkwardly not remembering the planets name.

"Equis..." Luna whispered with a smile.

"AH yes! Welcome! To planet Equis' fastest tourist chariot! It seems our map has suffered a malfunction and cannot point out any of the land masses below!" I said with a smile as I walked to the window and held my arms out. "So we must visit as many as we can! For science!" I finished with a bow before looking back at the smiling princess. "So I ask M'lady... where to first?"

Looking at where she pointed I quickly sat down, took off auto pilot and looked back at Luna. "You might wanna hold onto something." I said with a grin.

We shot off towards the planet and the destination she had pointed out. We made it there in just under a few minutes, but Luna enjoyed every second of it. Upon arriving I came up to the nearest city and looked it over, seeing as there were a bunch of brightly shining... things walking around I had to squint my eyes a bit.

"And welcome to the beautiful..." I began looking at Luna.

"Crystal Kingdom..."

"Crystal Kingdom!' I repeated. "For all your... uh... crystal needs!" I said waving in front of me.

I was flying low so as I did so, many of the ponies were dumbstruck and looking at me through the window, and awkwardly waved back. Farther back I watched as a pair of ponies, one pink and the other white, looked on curiously. That was until Luna popped out and waved as well, causing them both to have their mouths drop open in surprise. I turned around and took back off, heading for the next area of her choice.

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We spent the next hour or so doing that over and over until I decided enough was enough.

"Alright, before I put the whole planet on high alert I think we should get back to your place. Ponies are gonna start wondering where you are... plus I have work I need to get to doing and this has made things tons easier by revealing a lot of the map of this planet." I said happily as Luna agreed.

So I shot off towards Canterlot at near top speed, with no worry of what happened before due to the G-force shield working at full capacity now.

'I still remember when they were testing these and they malfunctioned...' I thought as I shuddered. 'They had trouble cleaning that mess up even with a shovel...'

I shook my head to clear my mind of those thoughts as we arrived at Canterlot castle as I quickly flew up next to Luna's Balcony again. I followed her to the door as she stepped off and looked at me.

"Thanks for that Jake... it meant a lot to me. And don't forget you owe me that trip across the stars!" She said happily as she clapped her hooves together in excitement.

I Smiled and gave a small salute. "Yes ma'am." I said with a half ass-ed stance.

I was about to turn to leave when she spoke up. "Jake... wait..." She said as she looked away for a moment while biting her bottom lip.

"Hm?" I asked waiting for her to answer.

"Just... nothing. *Sigh* Just be careful alright?" She said in a low, caring voice.

"Hey... I'm a god damn super human in a space ship against griffons with spears. I think I'll be fine." I said smiling.

Shrugging she let out another sigh as she turned off and walked away.

"You don't get it do you?" Lucy spoke up through the speaker. "You know how much she cares for you right? She told me all about it while she was in the shower-" I quickly cut her off.

"YO LUCY. Can you NOT bring that up?" I said aloud as I closed the door and walked into the cockpit. "Plus... of course I know she cares. It's in people's nature to be worried about their friends."

Making an annoyed noise Lucy spoke up again. "In all truthfulness sir, you are very thick headed." She said in a huff.

"Awww but you love me for it." I said smiling as I turned and made my way to an area labeled on the map as 'The Griffon Kingdom'.

In a matter of a few minutes I was close enough to see all the Griffons flying around in the air, probably on patrol. It didn't take them too long to spot me as I saw them stare in awe for a few minutes before attempting to attack.

'Alright... your with Equestria.. and Equestria is at war...' I thought as I saw them coming for me. 'That means I'm at war...' I reminded myself.

A moment later I pressed a button and began speaking into the microphone, causing the three griffons to stop flying and listen.

"Just wait... I'll be right out." I said getting looks of confusion from them.

I ran and threw on my armor and allowed the helmet to cover my head before walking up to the door to the ship. As it opened I grabbed onto the top part of the frame and hoisted myself on top of the ship as it hovered in place. I walked to the front of the ship and looked at the Griffons in front of me as they scanned every part of me.

"I seek audience with your... king? Prince? Whatever the hell leads you. I'm here to settle the dispute between The ponies of Equestria and yourselves." I spoke out clearly as they looked between each other. "So you will take me there, and if you do not comply let me remind you I'm authorized to use deadly force." I said aloud.

A few moments later one of their eyes opened wide. "Hey.... HEY! He's the guy that took over that town in the mountains!" He said as the other two looked back at me, suddenly a bit more worried about their opponent.

A few silent moments went by before one of them nodded. "Alright... come with me." One of them said as they looked over my ship. "However you... plan on doing that."

I nodded and Lucy put the ship into a slow flight behind them as I stood on top of it. A few moments later my radar picked up a few extra readings coming up behind me, followed by more, and more. They began to get closer as I pretended to not see them, and they stopped just behind me, all but one. It was just a moment from making impact when I spun around and grabbed a griffon right out of the air by his throat, and slammed him into the top of the ship.

The reaction was instantaneous. All the dots behind me began flying towards my location as the three in the front turned around and came right at me. I quickly got into fighting stance and waited a few more moments before the fight began.

The first griffon tried to slash at me with his talons but I quickly jumped to the side and grabbed one of his wings, snapping it in half and as he howled in pain and fell off the ship. I turned and punched another directly in the face, knocking him out cold as I saw the sheer number of them flying down at me.

'Fuck this' I said as I reached behind me and grabbed my rifle, before turning it towards the nearest griffons and opening fire.

In a spray of plasma I took down a good Fifteen or so Griffons, half of them being caught before falling by their fellow kind. They all looked on at me with a new found fear.

"Rule number one! Before fighting someone make sure you have the bigger stick!" I said as I looked around at all the Griffons. "Now as I said before... TAKE ME TO YOUR FUCKING KING!" I screamed at them, pissed they had decided to play dirty.

They quickly dispersed and hurriedly led me into their kingdom. I reached the ground and jumped onto it, having the ship follow me overhead as I walked towards the main castle. As I did I saw a Griffon wearing a crown and velvety cape come running down the stairs, spewing many many choice words as he made his way to me.

"-ou dare come to MY kingdom and threaten my men... threaten ME?!" He yelled as he war within ten feet of me.

"Ohh... I'm not threatening you." I said as I fired at his feet, singing the area in front of them and probably burning his claws as I ran up and pushed him into the ground. "THIS IS THREATENING YOU!" I said as I bared down on him.

The Griffons next to him got out of their shocked state and went to try and pull me off, slash at me, and pounce me. Anything to try and get me off of their leader. But nothing was able to move me while I was in this suit.

In a flurry of movement, I leapt back and crashed into the ground... the stone ground cracking on impact.

With the press of a button, I activated the loudspeakers of my suit... my voice bellowing out and stunning the griffons in place. "You all don't seem to understand the danger you're in." My voice, amplified and altered by the suits loudspeaker boomed through the air. "From this moment on, a war with Equestria, is a war with humanity. I could rip most of you apart with my bear hands in this suit, and right now Humanity needs Equestria. You will end this war with them... or I will personally tear apart this entire kingdom. Tile. By. Tile." I said as I lifted my hand and signaled at my ship.

It turned and shot two of it's front Ion cannons, obliterating a nearby house which had been confirmed empty. The king looked back at me in horror.

"Y-Your insane a-and cruel!"

Oh that was it.

That was the final straw.

"... I'm cruel?" I said very slowly as I signaled another attack, which my ship agreed. "I'M CRUEL?! I'M NOT THE ONE WHO LET ENTIRE TOWN STARVE ITSELF TO DEATH WHILE ASSAULTING THEM FOR 'STEPPING OUT OF LINE!' IF YOU WANNA SEE CRUEL I'LL FUCKING SHOW YOU CRUEL!" I yelled as he visually paled.

My ship turned and blared a loud, terrifying screech as it's weapons locked onto rows of homes. Some Griffons immediately tried to stop me but I pulled out my rifle and shot one of them directly in the head, watching has his head exploded in a shower of gore and plasma, before aiming at the other Griffons... causing them to stop.

I was about to signal the attack as I looked back at the king, who was shocked and mortified. "This is all your doing! You brought this on yourself!" I yelled as my ship took it's place. "Now, I'll ask you again. Surrender, or you will get war." I said as I waited for his answer.

After a moment of nothing I began the signal when the king raised his wings in the air. "No please! Stop! We Surrender just... please stop this!" He said as he looked at me pleadingly.

I looked him over and nodded to the ground.

"Kneel." I said to him, getting him to nod sadly and kneel, as did the nearby Griffons.

I walked up to him, slowly, and looked down at him. "I showed you mercy this time. I am Equestria's ally now, and by extension so is Humanity. In time you will be judged by my own people... however that is not my judgment to make for now. But I cannot overlook a war with the Equestrians..." I said getting a bit lower. "Do you understand?" I finished in an unsettling voice, eliciting but a weak nod from the king.

I waved down my ship as it flew down and opened it's side door and climbed in.

"What in Tartarus are you..." The king said quietly as I turned and looked at his bowing form.

"Just a soldier following orders..." I said in a somber voice as I looked at the chaos around me. "Good day." I said aloud as I turned, shut the door, and took off towards Canterlot.

A few moments of silence went by as I flew back towards Canterlot before Lucy spoke up.

"What you did back there was cruel." She said in a low voice.

Sighing a bit and closing my eyes for a second, I replied.

"You know you would never harm an innocent Lucy... it's in your programming..."

Another few moments of silence went by before she continued. "But it still wasn't fair to them..."

"War isn't fair..." I said with a pause. "It's never fair."

Author's Note

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