Through the portal

Through the portal

Chapter 5

Infiltration and promises

Janes body lay still, while dark blue magic around her started to form a body of it's own. A body I only knew too well. Victor and Anna stared at the black Alicorn for a moment in disbelief. Nightmare Moon held Tanjas arm in her jaws, and spit it out. Even though she seemed to have been reborn, I could barely make out a thin thread of mist connecting her to Janes face. Tanja stumbled a few steps backwards, while Victor let go of me so I fell flat on my back. I had no broken bones, but I still was unable to get up, after the beating I had just received. As I threw a glance over to Frank, I saw that he was no better off. Anna had let go of him, but he was only semi awake.

“What kind of monster are you?”, Tanja screamed, looking at her ripped off arm that lay on the caves floor.

“I could ask you the same question, you impudent foal! Taking pleasure in beating down those who have no chance against you, enslaving Ponies just for their magical power and destroying this land just because you can.”, Nightmare Moon hissed, and I couldn't believe my ears. Wasn't this the mare, that had wanted to plunge Equestria into eternal darkness?

“We do as we are ordered. The Ponies failed to meet our demands. We need energy, to run our machines, yet the Ponies refused to give it to us. Besides, this land is so full of resources, that it can supply the entirety of humanity for decades!”, Victor screamed at her, putting himself between Tanja and the dark mare.

“And the technology the Xerin offered us in return, only sweetens the deal.”, Anna added, cracking her knuckles and putting one hand over her sidearm.

“Technology? Energy? Resources? These are your reasons to destroy my beloved homeland?”, Nightmare Moon sighed, letting her head hang. For a moment it seemed that she was crying, but then I realized that she was actually laughing. It was a horrible sound. Not insane or bloodthirsty as I had thought it would be. Instead it was a sound like a thousand angry children, starting a temper tantrum at the same time. It reverberated throughout the cave, before she raised her head once again.

The formerly inquiring look on her face had been replaced by one of utter fury. Her mane and tail lashed out at Victor, who stood in front, but bounced off of his armor with no effect.

“I see....”, she whispered, and before any of them could react, or answer her, Nightmare Moon began her charge. First up was Victor. She dashed towards him, turned around at an amazing speed, and bucked him straight in the face. He tried to raise his arms in a defensive stance, but he was not fast enough. I saw his body fly a few feet backwards, while his head flew all the way out of the cave, and hit the leg of one of the DX that stood outside.

Tanja was next. She was the equivalent of myself in their group, being a close combat specialist. She stopped clutching at the stump of her arm, and charged at Nightmare Moon, as the mares hind legs were still in the air. With a roar that sounded like nothing a human could ever produce, she aimed a kick at her face. It looked like her foot had connected, but the dark Alicorn just burst out into another fit of laughter. Tanjas foot had gone straight through her face, as if it was mist.

Anna, frightened by this, started to back away slowly. Nightmare Moon meanwhile turned her attention to Tanja. Her mane shot out from her neck, and wrapped itself around her head. The force of this knocked Tanja to the ground, where she lay kicking and screaming in rage. Nightmare Moon brought her muzzle close to her ear and began to whisper.

“There you are, with your fancy anti magic armor, but you forgot your helmet! You are about to see why they call me “Nightmare Moon”.”

At that exact moment, her mane began to glow slightly and the screams of rage and pain, transformed into ones of terror. The Sergeant lay on the floor, her limbs spasming uncontrollably as she screamed like a four year old having a nightmare. She screamed for her parents, her husband and even pleaded to god, before it all became incomprehensible. The only things that came from her mouth then, were muffled gurgling noises and the magical mane that enveloped her head, retreated.

She lay there, her eyes wide open and rolled up to the whites. I could see foam on her lips and tears running down her face. Other then her arm, there were no external injuries that I could see, but I knew she was out of the game for good. Anna had almost reached me, and I realized that she was trying to get to her DX unnoticed.

“Watch out!”, I shouted as loud as I could. I didn't even recognize my own croaking voice.

Anna threw me a look that was full of hate, and began running. She almost tripped over the plastic bag, that held the alcohol that Victor had brought, but managed to stay upright. Nightmare Moon looked up, and saw what I meant. Without a moments hesitation, she started to gallop towards the fleeing woman. To my horror, the mare was not fast enough Anna actually reached her DX, and jumped inside the cockpit before Nightmare Moon could reach her.

However, seeing her comrades slaughtered like this must have had some deep emotional effect on her. I did not see the hatch to the cockpit close. I suppose she was in too much of a panic to find the right controls. That gave the mare enough time to reach her. Turning into mist entirely, she floated into the cockpit. I did not see what happened in there, and I didn't want to either. All I saw, was blood spraying out of the open hatch, as if under high pressure. Screams of unimaginable pain accompanied this display of power, before it went completely silent.

Nightmare Moon came out again, and looked directly at me. To my surprise, I was not afraid of her. Her eyes had lost the fury they had displayed only seconds before, as she trotted up to me. As she got closer I could see that her wings and muzzle were dyed a deep red. It almost reminded me of a lion I once saw, after he had taken apart his prey.

“Are you alright?”, she finally asked after a moment of silence.

“I... I guess I am... thank you. But I thought....”

“That I am insane? That I am dangerous? That I am a demon? All of these accounts are correct. But there IS something else. I am incomplete, and I have always been. When I take a host, I take part of that hosts personality and memories. Even feelings are a part of it.”, she explained, while examining my wounds. Her muzzle came quite close to me while she did that, and I hesitantly reached out to touch her. She let me do so, and so I coursed my hand down her neck to be sure that she was real.

“So you... are partly Jane?”

“Actually most of me is. I am more incomplete then I have ever been. The elements of harmony failed to destroy me, but they ripped me apart like a piece of paper. The largest of these pieces now resides in your friend. I was content with being dormant, and waiting for our death that would come soon enough. Being in the human world, and having seen your wars through her eyes, has made me realize that my ambitions were quite meaningless. I am unable to take on a new host, since a part of my last body is implanted inside of her. I love Equestria, even though I know my actions in the past may have given you a different idea. And since she passed out, and I now knew what was happening here, I decided that laying dormant was not good enough anymore. I could finally draw upon arcane energy again, and so I defended you. Basically.... she defended you. It was her last thought before she passed out. She wanted those who hurt you to be punished, and I was there to fulfill that wish.”, Nightmare Moon added, as she floated Frank, myself and Jane together with our gear back to the door to the bunker.

Luna had obviously felt her presence, and so she had disobeyed my order to keep the door closed. Instead she waited for us in front of it, tapping a hoof in annoyance.

“It is good to see you Luna.”, Nightmare Moon smiled, and I could not detect any sarcasm in there.

“So you have decided to show your sorry flank again, have you? Wasn't last time bad enough? We had fun for some time, but you took it too far. As sorry as I am to say this Nightmare, but you are no longer welcome here.”, the Luna Princess said, blocking the door with her own body. Nightmare Moon flinched when Luna said her name.

“You are quite hostile towards me, and I can not blame you Luna. However, I would prefer it, if you called me by my actual name, instead of that title the other Ponies gave me.”

“You have long lost the right to carry that name. You lost it on that day, when you possessed me. I had thought you were my friend.”

Nightmare Moon let her head hang, when the magical aura that surrounded us changed from dark blue to a pale white.

“I understand. I know I have disappointed you, and I am sorry.....”, she said, before she dissipated into nothingness.

“Such a drama queen....”, Luna chuckled, as I could only stare in awe.

“Where has she gone?”,  I wanted to know. She had helped us, and I was grateful for that.

“Oh, she wasn't ever really there. What you saw was merely a projection of herself. I suppose that she is quite tired herself now, and has retreated to your friends body.”, Luna explained while cantering through the door with us in tow.

An hour later

The Pony physicians in the bunker did an excellent joy patching us up. Frank and Jane, who had passed out before Nightmare Moon had started on Tanja, were both quite surprised that they actually woke up again. After explaining the situation to them, Frank became very serious. It was a rare sight, to see him with no emotion on his face whatsoever.

“You know that we are in trouble now, don't you Selina?”, he asked, and I could nod my confirmation. Of course I already knew that, if these DX did not report back to base in four hours time, then there would be a search party. If not that, then they could most likely be located from orbit.

“What do you suggest? We couldn't just let them roam free, so close to the base.”, Jane interjected, defending my decision to act.

“There are three DX out there, and there are three of us. Selina, you of all people know how important information is in any war. If we can somehow infiltrate the enemy base, using these DX, then I can maybe access their database and....”, Frank tried to elaborate, but was cut off by an all to familiar voice.

“You will do no such thing. We will bring these machines somewhere else, and free the Ponies that are inside. That way they can not find us here.”, Celestia said, as she walked into the sick bay.

“That is madness and a waste of an opportunity.”, Frank threw back, obviously irritated by the interruption.

“I will not allow that you use the Ponies in these machines any further. Their suffering shall not be prolonged.”, the Princess said firmly.

“Then all we need are volunteers. If we could find three Ponies that would help us in this operation voluntarily, then we would not...”, I tried to soothe the situation, but was interrupted as well, which annoyed me to no end.

“I will not allow it!”, she said, in a voice that made it clear that she would not argue with us on the matter.

Just as Jane wanted to say something, Luna, Twilight, Rarity and Applebloom came into the sick bay as well. They wanted to check up on us as they said, and thanked us for defending the bunker from intruders. Outside the door, I could see a black tail that quickly disappeared and the sound of wood on stone could be heard....

I dismissed that for the moment, for I thought that if that Pony wanted to see me, she would do so in due time. Right now, we had more urgent things to discuss. I explained the situation to the new arrivals, much to the displeasure of Celestia. All of them looked like they could not believe that the Princess was passing up this opportunity.

“But why sister? Even if you don't want them to use the imprisoned Ponies, then I think they have proven their loyalty by now. Just go up there, and look at what they left of their former comrades. We can trust them!”, Luna said. We had conveniently forgotten to mention Nightmare Moons involvement in the matter, to Celestia at least.

“Even if they are honest, I doubt they have any chance to succeed. The volunteers would go on a suicide mission, and I will not allow that.”, Celestia said, with a stern look on her face.

“Well Celestia, I think you are overruled. I also think this is a good idea, and to prove that I trust them, I volunteer to go with Selina!”, Twilight said, trotting up to my side.

“And I will go with the one called Jane. I think she could use my guidance.”, said Luna, positioning herself next to Jane, who looked a little perplexed.

We all looked at Celestia, since we would need a third volunteer, if we wanted to use all three DX. She however, just frowned at our little display of unity. She knew that she could not stop us, if two of the currently three conscious Princesses agreed to the plan. Grasping her last straw, she looked at me.

“And what will you do if you have to leave the machines behind? What will happen to Twilight, Luna and the third volunteer then? Or what will YOU do for that matter. Unless humans all look the same, I doubt you will go unnoticed.”, she said, hoping to take our plan apart with this.

“A basic illusion spell can fix that easily. All I need is a good look at the originals and I can make you look like them.”, Twilight explained, frowning at Celestia who had obviously hoped that Twilight would not remember that spell.

“But you still need a third....”, Celestia began, as Rarity suddenly stepped forward. She looked a little less tired then when we had last met, but I could see that she needed some rest soon.

“I get your hint. I will do it.”, she said, and stood next to Frank. I guessed she didn't want to be outdone.

“Rarity, are you sure? I mean, no offense, but you look horrible.”, I said, trying to see if she really meant to go through with this.

“I may be a little tired, but I can assure you that I know what I am doing. Thank you for your concern.”

With that, we had our three volunteers. After a bit more raging from Celestia, we went out to eat something. After all, we hadn't eaten anything since coming here, and all of us were pretty hungry. I was not surprised that most of the dishes we were able to get, consisted of dried fruits and old salad, but I wasn't complaining. It was edible after all, and that was all that mattered to me at that point.

As we were done, we met up with the three Ponies out in the cave. Frank was disgusted to see, what Nightmare Moon had done to Anna in the cockpit of the DX that he would be using. I just told him, that there was nothing we could do about it. He sighed, and started to release the three imprisoned Ponies. They were three Unicorn stallions. As before, the Nightguard showed up, and took them away pretty fast. It was kind of creepy once Twilight had completed the illusion spell, but I soon got used to speak with Victors voice. I could still feel my own body under all the illusions, so I knew she had not actually changed me. Frank was not too happy with being turned into woman. I wasn't even surprised when the first thing he did, was peeking into his own shirt.

Twilight, Luna and Rarity were suddenly not too comfortable with the idea of climbing into the chest of their respective DX. It took some arguing and reassurance, to finally get them inside. However, Frank decided against attaching all the IV's that had been attached to the previous occupants. He stated that he did not know if there was a Pony version of AIDS and he did not want to find out. On the other side, he was sure that they were not really needed either. The only thing that was not connected to a life support system for the Pony inside, was a ring that was to be placed on the Ponies horn.

“Besides, one of those IV's is most likely responsible for the administration of sedatives, to keep the Pony unconscious.”, a perfect image of Anna told me.

“If we are awake, then we can assist you with spells if we have to. I also think that it might be less unpleasant if we give our magic voluntarily, instead of having it forcefully drawn out of ourself.”, Luna said, over a radio we had given each of them so we could communicate.

It took us a few moments to figure out the controls, so we could start the DX up, but once they did start up, we were in for quite the surprise. There was nothing that even remotely resembled the cockpit I had seen earlier that day. Instead of a lot of buttons and two pedals, there were only four buttons and a screen. Just as I was wondering what the meaning of this was, a silvery circular object  descended from the ceiling, and attached itself to my head. I was startled at first, since all of my senses suddenly went blank, but they soon got replaced with those of the DX. It was unbelievable. I didn't even feel that I was in a machine anymore.

Instead it felt like I had grown several feet, and gained a few tons of weight. Moving was not hard at all, since it responded like my own body. If I wanted to move my arm, the arm of the DX moved instead.

“Wow! That's some freaky technology!”, I heard Frank say over the radio.

“Twilight, does it hurt?”, I asked, ignoring Janes cries of excitement.

“No. I just feel a slight tugging sensation on my horn. It's not painful at all.”, she responded.

“Are you really sure that you want to do this?”, I heard Celestias voice through the audio sensors of the DX. Turning around, I saw her standing at the entrance to the cave.

“I am more then sure. I already told you, that we want to help. This might be our best shot at getting crucial information.”, I said, only to be startled again, because after I said it, I could hear it again through the speakers of the DX.

“Just promise me, that you will bring them back safely.”

“I promise. We will do everything in our power to ensure that they return to you.”, I responded honestly, even though I knew that we would most likely die if we were discovered.

Celestia let her head hang, and nodded. Without another word she retreated into the cave, and we were off towards the enemy base. According to the data, the DX provided me with, it was not so much a base but a landed Carrier. Audio communication over long distances were impossible here, which was why they resorted to burst coms, a kind of encrypted chat-room, to relay commands.

We made good progress, as we headed down the mountain and through the ruins of Canterlot. It made sick. Even though I could not smell anything, I knew that the stench must have been horrible. I could see several burnt Ponies, while there was nothing more then skeletons left of others. The castle, that I had admired in the show, was now nothing more then a pile of rubble. It wasn't even a ruin. They had blasted it apart, obviously hoping to kill the Princesses. I could only imagine how many innocents had found an early grave when that thing collapsed....

Half an hour later

We had passed the remains of Ponyville a few minutes ago, and were now heading straight into the direction of the Everfree forest. Ponyville.... It was almost undamaged. There were a few buildings that had been damaged, but nothing else seemed to be wrong there. It was almost as if the Ponies had all left, and would come back at any moment..... It was creepy to say the least, to see such a wonderful town turned into a ghost town.

At the edge of the forest, we saw what we had been looking for. A long, dark gray, object that stood on several steel feet. It was the carrier, no doubt about it. We were asked for identification as we approached, and we happily gave it to them. All of us had been stationed at the same base as Victor and his team for quite a while, so we knew their service numbers. The radio operator thanked us, and wished us a good day. He also told us, that we could use hangar three and that I was to meet the General about an important issue. As I asked what that might be, I was told that the General had said “I would know what this is about”.

There it was. My very first problem. I had no idea what a General would want to discuss with Victor. I didn't even know the name of the General that was commanding that ship! At least I could find a floor plan in the DX database, which showed me where the Generals office was. I just hoped, that there would be a name tag, or I would be more then in trouble.

After “parking” our DX, some mechanics came over and asked us, if we wanted anything repaired. I told them that our machines were in perfect working condition, and that there would be no need for an inspection. The lead mechanic gave me a skeptical look, but nodded.

“Glad that there is nothing wrong with the sixty one this time.”, he whispered to another Mechanic, as he left.

“Hey... Selina... Did you hear that? Sixty-one. Does that mean that these are DX-61? I thought the thirty-nine model back home was the best we got!”, Frank whispered to me in Annas voice.

“I don't know what you are talking about.... Anna.”, I snarled at him, trying to remind him, that I was not Selina right now. He seemed to have gotten my message, as he retreated a few steps back, looking embarrassed. After a few more seconds, in which I made sure that the Mechanics were out of earshot, I gave them my orders.

“Tanja, you are to stay here. Make sure none of them gets close to the DX. You are allowed to use force if you have to. Anna, do your thing. I don't think I'd even understand half of it.”

Both of them nodded as I walked off. They knew about my “appointment” with the General, and trusted me to have something up my sleeve. I only hoped that they were right.