Starship troopers Chronicles: Shimmering Sunset

Uhgh I don’t feel good..wait..... Am I dead? Hmmmm...It’s all black.

Well damn, I figured that the afterlife was abit more interesting. I was really hoping I’d wake up in a heaven where I could eat smoothies all day long and surf the beaches of Hawaii. What? I always wanted to learn how to surf, don’t judge me you jerks.

Wait a second, why does it feel like my eyes are closed? Oh, right! My eyes are just closed.

With some effort I opened my eyes and was greeted to a deep dark starry sky with the moon high in the- Wait what? It was the early morning when last I checked at that moon looks too much Like Earth’s moon, what happened? How did I get out of my Hellhound? I needed to find out.

My body protested, mostly my left shoulder, as I lifted myself into a sitting position and took in my surroundings. Well I can tell you right now that these types of trees didn't grow on Nemerosa and was that a bat that just went by? I was in a clearing in the middle of a very dark and creepy forest that gave me chills up my spine, when I looked behind me I saw the fallen over shape of my Marauder laying on its back. How I ended up outside it baffled me but I didn't dwell on it, maybe Doc or Gauss pulled me ou- Oh Shit I forgot about them!

I cupped the side of my helmet and turned on my radio "Doc, Gauss, you reading me?" Nothing.... Just static "Lieutenant?" Nada "Anyone?" only silence greeted me... Not another squad....... Not again...

I started to hyperventilate as my heart slammed against my chest, I had failed another squad. But before I could dwell on it more, a rustling sound to my right peeked my hope and I turned towards to sound. It was coming from a large bush that covered that part of the forest, I reached up to my Helmet's lamp and clicked it on and bathed the darkness with a wide and bright beam of light.

"Doc?" I called out the Medic's nickname first because she had been the closest to me when that blasted mirror had done whatever it did, plus she was a good friend. My hope was instantly dashed as it wasn't Doc or anything human that exited the bushes but what looked like a wolf.... A wooden wolf...... How the hell is that possible?

“Nice doggie, or uh tree, nice tree.” I said and slowly stepped back from the thing as it growled and its breath was so bad I could smell it from a few feet away.

I instinctively reached behind me and was relieved as I drew my Morita and pointed it at the wooden wolf, I flicked my visor down and turned on my scanner. The visor game me some kind of error message, the computer had no idea what to make of it except that the thing was made completely out of timber wood. So what would that make it a Timber Wolf? Heheh, catchy.

I started to back away slowly while keeping my weapon drawn, before I flipped back up my visor I switched to thermal, it didn't even register, the Timber wolves had the same body temperature as the area around them.

"Ok Sunset, calm down" I told myself as the Timber Wolf stalked forward towards me, its wooden teeth showing as it snarled at me.

"There's just one... You can handle one" I said and flicked the safety off my rifle, right before two more came out of the brush "Ok three then" Five more, then ten, then, oh dammit. "Me and my big mouth" I muttered.

I could rush over to the 'Hellhound' but by the time I got the canopy open those things would be on me and the moment I fired they would all rush me. The best choice was the easiest one.

“Fuck this!” I yelled and started running away.

I cocked my Morita's grenade launcher and fired one off into the pack, I managed to take out a few and while they were distracted I double timed it towards the other end of the clearing. I just hope the tracking device in my Marauder still worked so that I could find it later after I lost the wolves.

With increased speed I ran into the forest proper and the wolves were already at my heels.

Fun fact about power suits, they are lined with Pressure-Receptors and all sorts of little devices, all courtesy of Heinlein Incorporated. The Mobile Infantry’s number one weapons and equipment manufacturer. These babies are a godsend in combat, they enhance muscle movements so a trooper is just as maneuverable and fast as if they weren't even wearing it.

Post war power suits went a little further and actually increased a trooper’s natural abilities. We were better, faster and stronger, the technology was actually pretty simple I’m told.

But even with these augmentations these freaky looking wolves were still keeping up with me and I had to fire back blindly to ward them off. I wasn't sure of how long I had been running but it must have been a good long while and let me tell you those bastards were persistent. It almost didn't seem they could even get tired, which probably had something to do with how they were made of wood, which meant they were probably susceptible to fire.

‘God dammit if only my Marauder wasn't on its back then I could have turned these things into piles of ash!’ I thought as I jumped over a rock and kept on running.

I was finally losing the Timber Wolves until, in all my rotten luck, I happened to run right into a cliff face that seemed to go off for miles in both directions. I was well and truly cornered, the cliff was maybe 20 meters high and I didn't have time to fire off a lizard line and it was too dangerous to climb without assistance. But then I realized that my suit had one more trick to add to it's résumé but I waited for the Wolves to get closer. I mean, it would be rude of me to leave without a goodbye kiss, right?

“That's it....just a little closer.” I said, getting ready to turn around the moment they were close enough. My Morita was not aimed at them and I tried to make myself look as harmless as possible.

“Yes come get the lively juicy trooper....And.. Nope!” I yelled when one came at a running speed to bite into me.

I kicked on my suits jump jets and launched myself into the air and up the cliff all the while flipping off the now angry Wolves, one of which was actually on fire as he got burned from my jets.

I used up all of the fuel for the jets though, so when I reached the cliff edge I felt them cut out and I had to grab onto the ledge to keep from falling to my death.

I pulled myself up the cliff and sighed with relief when I was finally safe. I took a moment to look back down and saw the Timber Wolves still there and the one I had burned wasn’t moving anymore.

“Aww I’m sorry was I too hot for you?!” I yelled out and was about to keep taunting the wolves when I heard a familiar sound. I looked out across the forest treetop it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust but I noticed something flying towards me.... Make that three things. What were they? Were they birds... Planes?

It was when I flipped down my visor and zoomed in that I knew that lady luck had just kneed me in the stomach. Because flying at full speed towards me was a trio of Ripplers, and they already spotted me. Their war cry echoed out and it seemed to even scare the wolves away.

"Oh come on!" I yelled as I dove for cover and checked my ammo count, 200 rounds left in the clip with about seven more full clips to spare, now all I had to do was watch out for those barbs they fired.

The Ripplers finally got within range and started firing barbs from their mouths which impacted the bolder and ground around me, sending chips of broken rock all around. The good news was that judging by how the barbs weren't corroding whatever they hit meant that these weren't part of the Kamikaze strain of Ripplers, the bad news was that they still could kill me if I was hit with enough.

Intending to take them out quickly I leaned out of cover and started firing at which-ever one came close but they were tricky to hit and I had to change position constantly so I wouldn't get hit. Finally though I was rewarded as one of the trio fell from the air in a bloody green mess, unfortunately this pissed off his brothers as they increased the rate that they fired off barbs meaning that I had to dodge more and more, at this rate I was going to get hit. I ended up dodging and running around more than I was firing, and none of the eggheads back on earth had figured out exactly how many barbs they could fire. But Sargent Sunset Shimmer is no quitter.

“Come and get me you overgrown shit flies!” I yelled and stepped out of over, sidestepping as I brought my visor down to help me aim. I waited until one of them was within range and gave it a full automatic burst from my rifle.

I was rewarded again as another went down, but then it crashed in right next to me, knocking me back a few feet. I fell on my back and tried to get up, cursing myself for not moving sooner. The last Rippler took advantage of this and flew over me in a strafing run and I was unable to dodge its next attack.

The next thing I knew I was slumped against one of the boulders with a 7" barb stabbing into my stomach through my armor. I took a moment for my brain to register the pain.

"Argh! God, it fucking hurts!" I screamed so loud I almost hurt my throat as I doubled over in pain. I could already see my blood starting to pool around my injury. I didn't pull the barb out though despite the pain, if I did then I'd bleed out faster. Though at the moment that would have been preferable as the last Rippler landed and was menacingly crawling towards me. It made a strange groaning sound, which I guess must have been a laugh because its eyes were on my injury. Either that or it was growling with hunger and wanted to eat my intestines.

One of my eyes was painfully clenched shut but through my other one I saw my rifle just barely out of reach. I still had my sidearm but I seriously doubted that little pistol could have enough punch to bring down the bug that was almost on me, there was own thing I could do though but it was very risky.... Not that I had much choice at the moment.

Slowly, I reached behind me and pulled out my shock stick but keeping it to my side out of sight of the Rippler and not extending it. As it got closer I could see that the bug’s attention was fully on my wound now so it hadn't seen me pull the shock stick out.

‘Come on you ugly bastard.... Just a little closer.’ I whispered as I felt sweat roll down my face and I began to feel dizzy. I then heard the words of my old drill Sargent Zim.

‘If you’re going to die then die like a trooper.’ Thanks, Gunnery Sargent.

The Rippler was indeed drooling as it now had its face right in my face and was about to fire a barb into my face so it could eat in peace. But before it could I ignited the shock stick and jammed it into the bug's compound eye making it screech in pain as the electricity surged through its brain (Or what counted as its brain, you ask my opinion, bug brains are the size of walnuts.) and ruptured vital arteries. The damn Rippler’s screaming nearly blew out my eardrums.

It died twitching as it rolled off the side and crashed down atop the Timber Wolf I had killed earlier, leaving me breathing heavily and almost wheezing with pain. For the longest time I just lay there not moving, just enjoying being alive for another day, but the pain of the still embedded barb brought me back to the present and I reached my hand into my medical pouch and retrieving it a second later.

I nearly dropped a small grey canister with a red cross on it but I held tight. I took a small moment to calm myself down before getting a firm hold on the barb. I braced myself and held my breath only for it to be taken away as I yanked the barb out. I’m pretty sure my scream could be heard for miles, and that one did hurt my throat. I’m not ashamed to say I cried….but it was just a few tears and it didn’t stop me from doing the next steps.

As could be expected there was blood and quite allot of it so I quickly stuck the nozzle of the canister into the wound and filled it with Medi-foam which hardened outside the wound and acted as a bandage to keep it both clean and stop blood loss, it would keep any damaged organs in place and help stop the bleeding and prevent any hemorrhaging from wound, another benefit was that it would regenerate damaged cells quickly which in laymen's terms meant that it would heal my over time. Don’t ask me how, I’m a trooper not an egghead. Though I would have preferred an auto-doc it was like robotic surgeon but with small needles and could stitch back together damaged muscles, veins and arteries.

The foam however did not contain anything for the pain as it was still there and my eyes were starting to feel real heavy, it was then that I saw the Timber Wolves stalked out of the forest, they must have found a path to get up the cliff somehow, or they were a different pack of wolves. They knew I was hurt and defenseless since I could barely muster the strength to keep my eyes open and blackness was already filling my vision.

But before it fully took me I saw the Timber Wolves' attention shift from me to something behind me, and just before I lost consciousness I saw them engulfed in a white just as it all went black...... Again.

Twilight closed the door to the library and locked it behind her before joining her waiting friends, the light and oddly powerful magical surge had disappeared quite a while ago but Twilight had been able to pinpoint the general area that it had originated from, Pinkie had also stopped shaking as well which worried Twilight at the thought of what the ’doozy’ had been.

All Twilight's friends were geared up to go with saddle bags packed with provisions and other items that they might need in the Everfree. Pinkie pie even had on a miner’s hat with a lantern on top of it.

"Ok girls, are you all ready to go?" Twilight asked enthusiastically, eager to go and learn new things.

"We're all with you Twi." Rainbow Dash told her with nods if approval from the rest of her friends.

"Let go kick some flank!" the Rainbow maned Pegasus made to speed off in the direction of the dark forest but was stopped by Applejack who grabbed her by the tail.

"Hold yer horses now Rainbow" Applejack told the speedster.

"We still don't know if whatever caused that light is dangerous or not." Applejack said while adjusting her Stetson and looking to the others.

"Applejacks right" Twilight agreed "And we need to stop by Zecora’s so we can ask her to be our guide" the potion brewing Zebra knew every inch of the forest and Twilight was sure that they were going to need her help if they were to get to the bottom of this mystery "Come on girls, Let go!"

Before they left though, Fluttershy stopped them with a barely audible "Wait, Look!"

A large shape was coming down the dark street, it stood on four long legs about that ended in pale grey claws and its carapace was a dull shade of blue with white faded dots that looked like snow, under its main body was two large limbs that ended in two bladed pincers and it's fangs gleamed at the end of two small mandibles, it's most dominating feature was the two large storm grey eyes that projected intelligence. It was considered by many to be some mutated form of changeling, and while it did look frightening, the ponies of Pony Ville had grown accustomed to the creature and knew it was friendly.

Twilight sighed in relief at then familiar creature and Applejack waved over to it.

"Hey Snowflake!" she greeted warmly "Why ain't ya back at the farm?"

"What's that it's carrying?" Rarity asked as she pointed at the thing Snowflake was carrying in its strong arms. As Twilight squinted to get a better look she recognized what it was.

"Girls! That's a human!" she exclaimed as she rushed over to Snowflake, it was indeed a human like the one's she had met in the human world, from what she remembered the body shape suggested that it was a woman, but she was wearing some sort of weird bulky Armor that hid her figure, her face was hidden from Twilight by a helmet that reminded her of the ones Royal Guard ponies wear.

"Ya mean like you became when you went through that mirror back the crystal empire?" Applejack asked, stepping closer to get a good look herself.

"Yes, but what is one doing here and why isn’t she a pony?" Twilight said as she studied the unconscious human. The saw the foam filled wound and the blood around it.

"Oh dear Celestia, she's hurt!" Twilight immediately took the unconscious human with her magic carefully and made her way over to the library.

As she rushed into her library Twilight instructed her friends to get the first aid kit from the kitchen while Fluttershy followed her up stairs to the guest bedroom. She gently set the human down on the bed and let Fluttershy examine the woman, after the rest of her friends had brought the first aid kit they left the yellow Pegasus to her work and waited downstairs. Fluttershy had the best experience with things like this, she treated her animal friends all the time and from and number of creatures.

Snowflake was already downstairs waiting downstairs by the time the others returned, being 8 feet high the insect like creature took up quite allot of space in the spacious library. At the moment it was mandibles first in a book, holding it up with its clawed arms. After a quick greeting and more waiting everyone started to find something to do while waiting for their shy friend to finish with her work.

Rainbow Dash was reclined on one of the couches with a Daring Doo book in her hooves, Pinkie pike was having a game of eye spy with Applejack. Rarity was reading a magazine that had been on the coffee table, Twilight was however pacing left and right restlessly, questions endlessly floating in her mind. Such as how the human had gotten here when the mirror portal would not open to the human world wouldn't re-open for another year and a half, and why wasn't she a pony? All those who passed through the portal transformed into the natives of the world they went to. In fact Twilight felt herself wondering if Sunset Shimmer actually looked older than she did before. So many questions.

Twilight stopped pacing as she saw a number of items on the table next to Snowflake, they probably belonged to the woman upstairs, she walked over and picked up one of the items, a helmet with a torch built into it which was still on and shined quite brightly. Twilight took a moment to turn it off before it blinded some pony, then she turned it over in her magic grasp to study it, it was pale grey with black stripes just like the rest of the woman's armor that reminded Twilight of a zebra, the only exception was the glossy green flap.

The helmet's left side had writing in bold white letters, Twilight had learned that the Equestrian language was nearly exactly the same as the human Language English so she could read what it said, Twilight nearly dropped the helmet when she read the writing.

CPL. SHIMMER.

Twilight instantly teleported to the guest bedroom surprising both her friends downstairs and Fluttershy upstairs, she had to be sure it was really her. Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her skin when Twilight teleported into the room, luckily she was just finishing up and was in the process of washing her hooves clean after helping Sunset.

Twilight's suspicions were confirmed as soon as she lay eyes on the woman, she was definably older than when she had last seen her and her crimson and yellow hair had been cut short but there was no mistaking who the human was.

Twilight's friends burst in to find her just staring in shock at the woman "What's wrong Twilight?"

"Yeah, you just teleported up here without saying anything to us!"

"It's her..." was all Twilight said, it was as if she was in shock.

"It's, who Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"This is Sunset Shimmer"

There was a collective gasp as the name was mentioned. Everypony knew who that was, Celestia's student before Twilight who had stolen the Element of Magic and escaped into the human world. After the incident, Twilight had explained that Sunset used the element of magic to turn herself into a demonic creature and enslaved her fellow students at Canterlot High. She was going to use her new army to conquer Equestria but Twilight and her friend's doubles had managed to defeat her. Last Twilight had seen the girl she had been adamant to stay in the human world to try and make up for her miss deeds. But yet here she was.

Fluttershy had returned to tending to the woman's injury, she hadn't removed the odd Armour for some reason and when Twilight asked why the Pegasus merely shrugged.

"Oh there's no need, this Foam is doing most of the work already" she said as she put away the contents of the first aid kit.

"I wish I had some of it for my animal friends, her wounds already almost finished healing, all I had to do was some stitching."

"Will she be alright?" Rarity asked.

"Oh yes, she just needs rest now." Fluttershy said brightly

"Ok girls, let’s leave her alone for now" Twilight said now she had been assured that Sunset would be fine she started herding her friends out, now she needed some answers "Let’s go talk to Snowflake and see where it found her"

Snowflake was waiting expectantly for the six mares to come down, as if it anticipated what they were going to ask.

"Snowflake where did you find that human?" Twilight asked calmly, the insect reached into a tiny bag that it had hanging from its left arm and pulled out a notepad, Snowflake had no way to speak normally, not even like a changeling and had to write down what it wanted to say on a notepad it carried around everywhere.

After a few quick scribbles Snowflake ripped off the sheet and passed it to Twilight.

‘In Everfree forest, she was about to be eaten by Timber Wolves’ Snowflake had managed to scribble all this down on the small notepad with surprisingly good penmanship.

"A Timber Wolf couldn't make that kind of wound." Fluttershy said confidently, when everyone looked at her to explain she hid behind her pink hair.

"Well, Um, it looked Like it was, um, made by something like a jagged knife" she said quietly.

Snowflake scribbled down something else.

‘She was already hurt when I saved her, she killed the creatures that did it though.’

Fluttershy nearly fainted at the mention of the word death. She knew some of her animal friends were carnivorous but they only killed to feed themselves. But that still didn’t shake her dislike.

"Oh how ghastly!" Rarity said followed by Applejack angrily stating.

"Ah bet that good for nothing Shimmer probably attacked em first!"

Snowflake wrote something else down and handed it to them.

‘No, they attacked first, they were some sort of giant flying insects about my size. They spat these.’

As Twilight finished reading the note Snowflake had already uncovered a blood soaked barb from a bag and set it down before the five mares, it was seven inches long and jagged with a sharp edge, just like Fluttershy had said.

"Did you recognize the insects?" Twilight asked "And how did she kill them?" More scribbling followed.

‘No, I've never seen anything like them and she used that on the table” it then indicated to Shimmer’s pulse rifle.

‘to kill two but used a rod that crackled with electricity and stabbed it into the last on in the eye after it shot her, I couldn't remove the rod.’

"It's ok, I'll question Sunset when she wakes up." Twilight announced while yawning "We'll leave the expedition into the Everfree forest for tomorrow, you girls should head home and get some rest"

"Are you sure Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked with concern "I mean she killed three things Snowflake's size that spat barbs and could fly!"

"I got to agree with Rainbow Twi." Applejack agreed "We should stay here tonight and watch her."

"I'll be fine girls, Humans don't have magic and I'm sure I can keep her in line. Besides too many of us here at once might just scare her." Twilight said confidently.

"And in the morning I'll send Celestia another letter about her, it will be fine I promise." Twilight said with a smile.

Her friends looked unsure "Well ah don't know Twi..." Applejack said while shuffling her hooves "But if ya say ya'll be alright then ah trust ya."

Twilight saw her friends off, Snowflake was carrying Fluttershy to take her home since the poor Pegasus had yet to awaken. Once they were all gone Twilight locked the door and sighed before making her way up stairs to her room passing Shimmer's room.

Inside the unconscious woman started to stir and slowly her cyan eyes blinked open as she suddenly shot upwards in the bed.